Things Are Different This Spring, Real Different… Alright… I’m just gonna come out and say it. The striped bass fishing has kinda sucked so far…for me anyway. I guess it’s bad for business for me to admit that here, but I’ve never been one to hold back on the truth, whatever the consequences may be […]
Category Archives: Striped Bass
What Does Recreational Fishing Really Mean?
Is “Limiting Out” Becoming Passé? Top photo: Releasing a bluefin tuna I’m not gonna lie, man. I kinda dislike the term “limiting out”… Actually, I hate it. Mostly because it implies a certain, perhaps outdated, way of thinking – that your fishing trip wasn’t really successful unless you killed the maximum allowed under the current […]
ASMFC Management Authority Challenged by Maryland Lawsuit
After the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC’s) Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board adopted Addendum II to Amendment 7 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass (Addendum II) in January 2024, it was generally assumed that striped bass management issues would be put on a back burner until a new stock assessment […]
Striped Bass: Lessons from the Last Stock Collapse Could Help Prevent the Next One
When the Chesapeake Bay striped bass stock collapsed in the late 1970s, people tried to figure out why. Recreational fishermen were quick to point fingers at the commercial sector, which was not yet burdened by significant regulation. There were no gear restrictions and no annual quotas, and the fishery accounted for a larger share of […]
The Science is the Science
Is the Science Perfect? No, But Without It, We Got Noth’n’ Hey, man… I’m gonna admit here that sometimes I have a real hard time understanding the science behind fisheries management decisions. What I mean really is not just the nuts and bolts on how fisheries scientists get to the numbers that they do, but […]
The Striped Bass and the Flounder
In 1984, New York’s recreational fishermen took home about 14.5 million winter flounder, a harvest that totaled about 13.9 million pounds and dwarfed the 1.35 million pounds of flounder that was landed by the state’s commercial fishermen in the same year. Winter flounder made up over one-third of the nearly 40 million fish landed by […]
Real World Striped Bass: Part II
Read Part I of this series. Top photo: striped bass with a catch-and-release scar On and Off the Water Observations of 2023’s Fishing Season Last go around, we detailed some relevant on-the-water/real-world observations regarding last season’s striped bass fishery. Primarily how the new 3″ slot limit likely increased dead discards, ahem, a LOT. This go-around […]
Real World Striped Bass: Part I
Read Part II of this series On and Off the Water Observations of 2023’s Fishing Season There aren’t many anglers around who wouldn’t agree that the striped bass run in the New York Bight this fall was downright EPIC. And the spring/early summer? ‘Twas really good too. Indeed, I said similar things last year, but […]