Smoothdog - I think the days of us flaming each other need to end!
Honestly some days we sound like a bunch of PMS women complaining about dang near everything! (No offense to the ladies of the site )
I agree with RedStripe about the reefs - go out on a Saturday afternoon and the boats will be three deep fishing BUT I betcha the SeaBass are stacked up like Cord Wood! Can you imagine what they are doing in the areas that donât have that kind of pressure? As I have seen first hand - eating anything and everything they can shove in their mouth!
Again, I would Love to hear what You, Redstripe, Phin, SkinneeJ, Sells and everybody would deem acceptable for SeaBass limits!
36 Contender Fisharound
Are We There Yet?
I personally believe that sea bass should simply have an increased minimum length limit and a reasonable bag limit. I believe C bass reproduce at 8 inches. How much more fecundity do we get when we make a minimum length of 14 or 15 inches? Strangely, they manipulate the bycatch mortality rates such that this sort of regulation change will have little to no impact.
I feel the same way about cobia. 33" minimum is ridiculous. They do not get a chance to reproduce but for one season at that length before they can be harvested. But we are looking at closed spawning seasons, which coincidentally fall upon the time when the Broad River is full of boats chasing (or waiting on) them??? Florida doesnât want the season to start when we need it to start. Florida doesnât want what we need. Guess what, though, our DNR has shown the SAFMC how there are two dif. strands of the stock. Weâve been spending our state money on restocking. SO tell me again why we need to be lumped in with 3 other states in terms of management⌠???
As usual Phin is spot-on.
Down and Out your desire to do something and unite into one voice is admirable but why reinvent the wheel? Just join RFA and your voice will join with an already great movement. If you are already a member maybe send a little extra money when you can. Keep your representatives in your contact list and send them an E-mail on occasion. Let the ones who support us know you appreciate their efforts on our behalf and the ones who donât support us need to hear that we are watching what they do and will respond at the polls.
All these closures are total BS but they are only the tip of the iceberg if we donât get some of our people in key positions.
Already a 3 year member! I appreciate the efforts of the RFA and honestly the time and energy of the guys here on the forum BUT are we all together on this?? We need to all agree on what we would like to see happen!! You mention contact representatives okay - and say what? This is BS? The limit should be XX, The season shouldnât close! Joe Fisherman contacts the same representative and says, this isnât that bad, the limit should be xxx and absolutely no closures! What happens next is our representatives then rely on the âBest Available Scienceâ! My point is if we all start asking for the same thing then our representatives and the people who can change this will know exactly what we are looking for! Remember one thing - Obama was elected because everybody wanted change, just change!! Yep they Got it!! Be careful what you ask for!!
Some will argue that artificial reefs do not increase fish populations. They only aggregate fish and make them easier to pick off. Some would say that artificial reefs could be bad for some fish populations.
Yes, I am aware of the argument. Habitat is habitat, plain and simple... Yes, if you put an artificial reef in a well known spot, publish the coordinates, and make it as accessible to pontoon boats as you can, then it will see more fishing pressure than "hidden" live bottoms. That's a no brainer! Those aren't reefs created for fish. Those are reefs created for fishermen.
But, if you do what Alabama has done and open the area up for âsecretâ reefs (given some constraints), then you are talking about endless (LOW PRESSURE) habitat.
Also, itâs pretty hard to argue that it doesnât work. Here is the snippet from my article that explains it:
âSemi-private reef building in Alabama has a proven track record with incredible results. The latest calculations of maximum sustainable yield in the Gulf show that a full potential stock in the Gulf could yield anywhere from 11 million to 25 million pounds of red snapper annually. How are those numbers possible considering that early catches in the 19th century on virgin stocks reported significant population declines with only 2 million pounds of harvest annually? Some scientists feel strongly that artificial habitat in the Gulf is the reason for this unrealized potential.â
In other words, when there was a âvirginâ stock (pre-reefs and oil rigs) catches of 2 million lbs annually sent the population into decline, and sent fishermen to the Yucatan to look for new fish stocks. However, SINCE the new habitat has been created, the full stock potential is estimated 11-25 million lbs annually. Want to tell me how those
quote:You mention contact representatives okay - and say what?
I refrain from suggesting what size limits and creel limits should be, frankly I am not qualified to make that recommendation.
I will let them know who speaks for me..(RFA). I let them know who does NOT speak for me also.
I let them know I do not support anymore closures or further restrictions. In one letter I gave a quick run-down of the amount of money I would not be spending as a result of the closures that are in place.
Try to keep it short and to the point. Main thing is to let them hear from you so they at least know it is important.
I don't know...maybe it is a waste of time, but I feel like I have to do something.
There are no more sea bass, or red snapper. They are extinct,donât exist. Ask any NMFS or DNR person. They are no longer in existence , but they will fine you out the wazoo if you get caugh with them.
The bsb limits could be 5/person and 15"min total length and no other recreational limits would ever be needed as they morph from female to male @ around 11 or 12".None but males could be kept that way insuring prolific #s for my lifetime.This would put fisheries âexpertsâ out of work though so it will never be implemented.This is ALL about a bunch of political mumbo jumbo and Iâll bet a lot of CCA guys wish they could travel back to 2000 and start over with their lobbying.I find it ironic that I have been hammering their precious red drum(see CCA logo) to the tune of 3/person/day for fishfrys when I normally would have been out catching seabass on the nice calm winter days instead.Donât get me started on weakfish.
âModern day Robin Hoodism-Steal from the sucessful and give to the poorly motivated.â
A couple weeks ago we went to Caperâs reef to see if there were any sheepshead. We couldnât get fiddlers, oysters or clams past the bsb to give the sheeps a chance. I am not exadurating when I tell you that on every single drop we brought up a bsb that had 3 to 10 of his buddies following him all the way up to the surface. We could have free netted the followers. These were HUGE green, knotty head bsbâs too. So if the bsbâs donât get caught and continue to reproduce in swarms what is going to happen to all the other species that canât get a meal?
If youâre not effecting the world around you in a positive mannerâŚyouâre taking up too much space.
quote:Went out last Tuesday for Triggers and must admit what I saw really concerned me:
Nearly every BSB we caught, large (biggest ever) and small (60-80 w/ 2 people) had crabs, shrimp and sea cucumbers hanging out their mouth - along with our baits!! It appears they are destroying their own environment.
My thoughts exactly! But what do we know - think you are a Federal Fish Biologist or something??? [:0] You must be mistaken â As I have been continually informed by the various government agencies that BSB are currently undergoing âoverfishingâ! Must be a new species or something! I guess you and I need to get our facts straight before we post!! BUT I can promise you come June - I am going to drop my double chicken rig down and limit out!! Not sure if it will take me one 1 drop or 2! Probably need to leave around 3am that morning just to get a good spot since they will be hard to find!
i may be wrong but instead of completly closing the season couldnât they downsize the bag limit and up the size limit on them in the winter? i mean you guys say those BSB are so plentiful out their i just dont see how the dnr could not understand that⌠i mean when those bass get a certain size they get big greenish lumps on their heads, couldnt we just keep 3 or 4 of those? this is exactly why i want to go to college and be a marine biologist to do what i love and fix these kind of problems that real fishermen need to be in charge of, not politicians and such. So maybe by hte time i am old and my kids are ole enough to enjoy the great fisheries around chucktown the problems will have been fixed. and thats the end of my rant.
There is no greater fan of fly fishing than the mud minnow.
Just a suggestion, if we can get some people together who have some good facts about the junk science on the arbitrary fishing closures. Fox and friends is doing a news piece about the erosion of folly beach. theyâre weather guy rich reichmuth will be broadcasting from the end of the beach by the morris Island lighthouse to bring national attention to the erosion situation on March 11th between 6-10am. might be another way we can some attention to our situation. even if we can get some signs in the background and someone to speak on the issue if we get approached? I donât know just grasping at straws here. what do you think?
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