Last month the ASMFC approved Addendum III to Amendment 7 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Striped Bass. While we know the Board kicked the can downtime road in terms of reductions in harvest for the recreational and commercial sectors, they did make some changes which will become law. One of them is how to properly, and legally measure striped bass.
During the meeting I kind of turned it all off in my head once they decided to not take some action in regards to reducing the harvest numbers which may have included some No-Target and or No Harvest seasonal closures. But now the measuring stuff comes into play, especially since we're now about to enter the medium sized fish fall run. Historically, in my opinion, it's giants early, normal sized fish next, and then the micros when your guides ice up and you're pissing out of your balls.
Measuring fish has always been a thing when you're taking one for the table, telling your buds how big your fish was, or when claiming you best your PB, or personal best. Let's be honest, 26 inch fish easily become a keeper, 28 inch fish a 30 incher, and a 46 inch fish a 50. The only real way to know is to take out a tape measure and measure it properly. When I catch a larger fish and want to know it's weight I take its length and girth and do the Length x Length X Girth / 1200. When fish are rounder then they are longer weight becomes a better indicator then length if it was a "good fish".
Anglers have, for ever, pinched tails, even snipped tails off, to make them legal. We see the Edward Scizzorhands moves in effect when it's summer flounder season. With New Jersey's 3 fluke @ 18 inches catching 17-3/4 inch fish all morning can tempt some anglers to take some drastic, and illegal, action to put one in their stomach.
But now when it comes to striped bass we know how to properly measure striped bass, from Maine down to North Carolina. This becomes important when you have a slot limit. When it's over and unders then it's just one length measurement, but in a slot you have two. Currently the ocean wide slot size is 28 inches to "less than" 31 inches. Ocean fish are basically those fish out front, excluding the Chesapeake and other waters that have specific limits. And New Jersey has their Bonus Tag program, which is one fish 24 inches to less than 28 inches. Less than 28 inches fellas.
To properly, and legally measure, striped bass the tail must be squeezed together. It must be a straight line measurement after squeezing together the upper and lower forks of the tail. It can be a double edge sword. It can help you when your fish on the sand comes in at 27 -1/2 inches, and hurt you if it's 27 -3/4 inches unpinched. And if you're having problems with the later, remember the fishes mouth must be closed. Opening it up wide will lessen the length.
Massachusetts did a study regarding pinched, natural fan, and forced fan total length measurements. I would assume the study, of 413 striped bass that were studied, was to see how many fish get included or excluded in the tight slot window.
And you're not only inning and outing fish by size, but year class as well. We only have a few good years before the last seven year YOY drought. In the end, and I always say it, dead striped bass are less striped bass.
And tis' the season for bunker, whatever the reduction boats didn't harvest this year. Peanuts, cupcakes, and adults make their way in and down depending on the wind. Remember, west is best. I'm going to do a post on wind and fishing this winter after doing some research. When the wind is from the west the bait hugs the beach and fishing is good. When anglers reach their frustration limit after throwing plugs, metal, and rubbers, that's when the old reliable snagging hook comes out.
Snag and drop used to be a thing before treble hooks were banned when using live bait. But don't think for a minute everyone is in compliance. In order to reduce mortality they made using circle hooks law when using live or dead bait. But alas, those crafty couldn't leave that go-to type of fishing alone. There would be no snag a bunker on a treble and transfer it to a single circle hook. That'll take too long and they might miss the bite. So they used their brains and came up with an alternative.
"You say I can only use a circle hook for snag and drop?.....Take this". So what we see now are weighted circle hook snagging hooks. I'm not judging, but, is that what the ASMFC and the states had in mind? Does it effectively reduce injury and death to fish that are snagged and then released? I don't know. It's either guys just pushing the legal limits, or it's a smart alternative to 10/0 treble hooks.
When "they" said circle hook, did they mean circle hook(s) on a single set-up? I don't think so but I checked New Jersey's Saltwater Marine Fisheries regulations (above) and didn't find any specifics, just circle of J-hooks for striped bass. I am sure you will see the regulations and wording change to a single circle hook when using live or dead bait in the future.
And then in the funny but not so funny post of the week. So here's what I think is a glide bait. They've been a big thing for freshwater largemouth bass and are now being used more for striped bass. There are plug guys, metal guys, fly guys, and there's glide bait guys. Sorry, and girls too.
Glide baits generally have a set, or pair, of treble hooks, one on the front half of the lure and one on the back. If you haven't seen the action of them then they're pretty cool when you see them swim.
But, like other baits that have a pair of treble hooks, you never know how the striped bass is going to attack and attempt to swallow it. The above pic doesn't bode well for "Swam away strong". If that boat has a, let's say, upper and lower, set of hooks then they're going to have to open up a surgical suite and call the on-call trauma team in to remove that bait.
Besides the surgical procedure involving sausage sized fingers and rusty needle nosed pliers, anesthesia wasn't paged so there's no airway management going on, and the additional time out of the water isn't good. And if that rear set of not-pinched treble hooks snips the gills, they better have a few units of O- on hand at the blood bank.
The Heimlich maneuver won't save this fish. It'll save a human whose kid swallowed a rope of mozzarella off a slice from Pizza Hut but not from those turkey bones lodged in the family dog's throat next Thursday.
So go one set a trebles on the head, flags off the back, and barbless hooks only. You can say what you want but remember God's looking down on you when you're trying to rastle those hooks from deep down in the gullet of a bass with blood running down their lateral lines and into the water.
