Yep, it's that time of year again. Soon the winter meeting of the ASMFC will be before us and we will watch as they, the commissioners, their proxys, their henchmen and women, kick the proverbial can down the road. What's at stake is deciding what to do with Addendum III to Amendment 7 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Striped Bass.
What does it all mean? It means if we don't do something then the chances of rebuilding the striped bass by 2029 will be about 30%. If we make the proposed changes into law, reducing mortality (F) by 12%, it increases the chances to 50%. If we decrease F, by harvest and C&R by 18% in 2026 that chance goes to 60%. The ASMFC had that chance this summer and they punted, again. So, yeah, good luck with all of that. And know this, if the stock is ever "rebuilt", the minute they say it is, anglers, commercial and recreational, will be lobbying to "open" it back up. And the vicious cycle, and the dogs chasing their tails, and the can getting kicked down the road, will happen again.
Now there are people better than me who are all up in the know about this. I think I have a yeoman's handle on it. I think Charles Witek, who pens the One Angler's Voyage blog , HERE, breaks things down nicely, even though it's a tad above my mental capacity sometimes. I try and digest it and then break it down for the bottom dwellers like myself.
There are a few things on the table to meet the 12% reduction. Commercial, recreational, tagging, measuring and Maryland. That's what's up. To read it all from the horse's mouth you can read the Amendment III document that went out for public comment. It's actually a relatively easy read. Check that out HERE.
There are two things out there that should be of concern, at least for law abiding anglers. No- Target and No- Harvest. It's basically an honor system. If there's No-Target you can't "fish" for striped bass at all. Not for the table, not catch and release, nothing. Why it's an honor system is like how charter Captain's fish outside the three-mile line and say they're "fishing for bluefish" while chasing bunker pods with 30 's and 40's blowing up on them. No- Harvest means you can't be in possession of them, at all. So you can catch and release them, but then there's that 9% F which has been stretched to 14% to as high as 40% depending on who's doing the lecturing.
To implement No-Harvest they will go to the Wave system of seasonal closures. There's six waves, each two months long. Then there's the span of states that are included in each region. You need to do that because striped bass are migratory. They are in state A in May but not state C and vice versa. Below you can see when New Jersey put's a beating on the striped bass.
So Wave 6 are our honey hole months, right during the fall run. When anglers act like bucks (male deer) during the rut. When they are so horned up they run into cars, jump off of bridges, and
fight to the death. I've seen guys kinds doing that ditching their trucks and running down the beach towards a blitz. Also included in the document was the data that showed that New Jersey
has the best anglers on the East Coast, as we catch 36% of all the striped bass. No you idiot, we just have the best fishery for the longest period of time over other states. New York comes in second at 25%, maybe because they have a different start time each spring, when New Jersey is open.
So, in my opinion, the No-Target won't happen. People suck. You can't enforce it. Guys will be trolling Mojo's for bluefish. Yeah, okay. But what you will see are No-Harvest with seasonal closures. That means say, during Wave 6, during the fall run, in New Jersey, there will be X amount of days where you can't kill a bass, at least for the table. You can still throw a double-treble hooked plug 1,000 feet behind the boat and hook, multiple times in the mouth and eye, a 40 pound bass, and reel it up current, for 7 minutes, haul it over the rail, plop it on the deck, shake the hooks out, hold it up for a photo, release it, and say "She swam away strong", but you can't harvest it.
If you look at one of the charts in the document you see for All Modes, wait, let me get on this. We have two groups, recreational and commercial, kinda. I have always said that ANY fishing operation that charges money should be a commercial operation, period. Net them, spin them, fly them, spear them, drop dynamite on them, if you're getting paid then it's commercial. Like you need a license and insurance and you're a business. But people don't see it that way.
The way the ASMFC sees it is you have for-hire (FH) and private/shore modes (PS). In this addendum they are calling for what they call Mode Splits, the FH'ers will have a larger slot (28 - 33 inches) than the PS'ers. That's not fair. Period. There was also talk of allowing the FH'ers to have less No-Harvest days. You know, the recreational head boats from Captree, the ones that say "We boated over 300", and , "They're all too big, hard to find any keepers". Mmmm.
So here's the chart,
I haven't smoked enough pot (Actually I never have) to be able to sit digest all that is seasonal closures but you can New Jersey falls within one of the regions and No- Harvest for us during Wave 6 is around 30+ days. Let's just say they close striped bass fishing to New Jersey during Wave 6 by 30 days. That means that 50% of November and December is closed to harvesting a striped bass. That's pretty significant. I just hope they realize most anglers are done by December 10th.
Let me knock out the commercial quota stuff and New Jersey. We have no commercial fishery. We used to have one but after the moratorium, in 1991, Jersey traded that in for the Bonus Tag Program. The jury is still out in my head if this is a good thing or bad. Good, as we don't have netters or rod and reelers commercially catching bass, and bad, as it's just more dead striped bass. There's arguments each way.
In the amendment they are calling for New Jersey to have a reduction in commercial quotas from 200,798 to 176,702. That means there will be cuts in the Bonus Tag Program. Now, we never come close, at least in honest reporting, to 200,000 pounds of striped bass. So anything done will just be on paper to appease the ASMFC gods.
Now that's all ocean side stuff. Let me look at things closer to home, like on the Delaware River and Bay. No changes here! It just goes to show you the insanity of how boundary waters are managed and even talked about. I fish the Delaware River and I jump from New Jersey and Pennsylvania on just about every outing. But in discussions, like below, they just mention Pennsylvania.
The above is all a bunch of bullshit. Good for the angler, bad for the striped bass. Remember, the Chesapeake is number 1, or it was, for striped bass spawning, the Hudson number 2, and the Delaware number 3. Writing it off because NOAA's MRIP data doesn't cover these "area specific fisheries" is a joke.
Two states, same water, 1,000 feet apart, with different regulations, no enforcement, and a pool of anglers that varies from the best to the worst as far as intent, method, and following the law. At times both of these rivers can hold big spawning, like I'm on my way to go spawn right now, fish. They should be protected better and not just written off because of some volunteer-at-the-dock anglers survey, aka MRIP.
So what about that Delaware River. No changes here! Let's look at that April 1st to May 31st. New Jersey, is closed, no fishing for them, I guess you can target bluefish. Now, I have asked the game wardens from those on the river bank to the offices what that means,
"You just can't keep them". During the same period Pennsylvania is open, you can fish, and you can keep one fish per day 22- 26 inches. And what about if you're on a boat? C'mon man. Do they run a rope down the middle of the river? Stupid is as stupid does. The above illustration was from a post HERE.
So there you have it, at least some of it. I left Maryland, measuring , and tagging out so you can look that up if you like. If you're into striped bass then you should give it all a look. And, you should send in a comment. I think if not we may see the FH'ers, just recreational fishermen who jump on a paying boat, be held to a different standard than the rest of the us.
Also, why should they be able to harvest bigger fish? And, share with them your opinion, not sure if it ever matters, about the Waves and No-Harvest closures. And lastly, if you're in the know tell them the science behind the MRIP data is sketchy at best, unless you think it's fantastic.
Each state will have a public hearing where you can go and hear this in person. For New Jersey, it'll be held on September 16th in Manahawkin. Don't you think if they really wanted good participation they would hold it somewhere mid-state? C'mon man.
As we move into fall the bass will show up. Do your best. Go down to one set of treble hooks. Pinch the barbs on your flies and plugs. Try and keep them in the water as long as you can. And try not to send them off doing the triple Lindy off the he'd boot that's 18 feet above the water line or into six inches of water on the beach.
And always have a pair of hemostats, not those rusty ass huge pliers on hadn't in case you have to do some surgery before you kill that fish anyways. Watching them truly "swim away strong" is a beautiful thing. And yes, I'm talking to you, how many fish do you know that you killed this year? Just do better, and have fun.