Great Fishing in Montauk NDR

C

Capt. Jack Passie

Well-known member
It was one heluva day on the Windy yesterday. My charter cancelled so I got a crew together and went out commercial Striped Bass fishing. I burnt up 60 tags for a total weight of 648 pounds and add on another 300 of Bluefish
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Jack, wow thats alot of fish. what is your fishing techniques when fishing commercially? stripers have to be in a slot? best, mark
 
Nice mess of fish! Those are some nice blues, a "big" one down here is 16".
Do you sell the blues commercially too?
 
They were all caught rod and reel Trolling is what I do best. This year I am allowed to catch and sell 224 Striped Bass between 24" and 36". Only 164 tags to go
 
Nice mess of fish! Those are some nice blues, a "big" one down here is 16".
Do you sell the blues commercially too?The Blues get shipped to market too. The last return I got from the Hunts Point Market was $140 . Its a days pay. Several of the Bluefish were 15 pounds
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For the life of me, I don't understand why we don't manage migratory fish the same way we manage migratory birds--with a consistent federal framework.

Those of us at the north end of the migration, where the last few seasons have seen very few fish rounding Cape Cod to support our fishery, have a hard time with the commercial harvest to our south. Imagine your state had a 1 duck limit on black ducks, and you heard those of us in Maine were going out when our charters canceled to fill some of our 200 + commercial tags so we could collect a few bucks from the commercial duck market. Then imagine you saw my photo of a pile of 60 dead black ducks headed for market. You'll have an inkling of how my friends who guided stripers back when the coastwide population was higher feel looking at these pictures. Most of them have given up guiding; the ones who remain have been losing money for several seasons because there just aren't enough fish to make it this far north any longer.

Jack, I don't blame you for following the rules they way they are written--but the rules are stupid and need fixing. It's a coastwide migratory population, and it ought to be managed as such.

Sorry for the rant.
 
Jeff its tough to manage both sides of the fence. I am definetely on your side, its been a while since we have had a good showing of decent bluefish or trout in our area . A lot of older guys in my area blame it on a russian seine netter in my area a few years ago but i find it tough to believe. Same thing will happen with the tog and seabass in my area. The quota of 25 fish per person is a sham, we have private boats day after day showing up with 250 seabass. unreal. I wish all those guys got to catch a fish or two on a popper too see what there missing. I am happy hear those(capt jacks) fish were caught hook and line though not a trawler or seine! if we could go back to hook and line this world would be a better place. Great Fishing capt jack please dont take this as a dig!
 
Don't blame it on the Russians , they haven't been here for 30 years. We have to look in a mirror to see the blame for the state of the fisheries
 
In Jersey they blame the decease in fish stocks on the sport fisherman. I find it hard to believe we take more fluke, stripers, and blues than the commercial guys. Montauk is on my bucket list!
 
According to all the statistics I've seen, we recreationals take more stripers than the commercial guys too. (My rant about the lack of coast-wide striper regs includes more about the divergence of recreational rules than on the commercial side . . . . . I love that NJ uses the fish allocated for a commercial fishery to give recreational fishermen the ability to take 3 stripers a day instead of two.)

There have been some recent discoveries of a pretty significant illegal striper harvest for the market, so that may balance the scales a bit, but the bottom line--just like with duck hunting--is that those of use who use the resource need to take responsibility for its current state.

Stripers are hard, because year-to-year production varies so much, and there can be long periods without a good year class of juveniles. Even without harvest, the status of the stock would probably be pretty variable.

I'm getting good reports of stripers here this season, but the last 3 or 4 have been really tough for those us north of Cape Cod. I really do know a lot of guides who have given up guiding on stripers--and that used to the bread and butter fishery up here, allowing folks to sell fairly profitable trips at the peak of the summer tourist season.
 
For the life of me, I don't understand why we don't manage migratory fish the same way we manage migratory birds--with a consistent federal framework.

Those of us at the north end of the migration, where the last few seasons have seen very few fish rounding Cape Cod to support our fishery, have a hard time with the commercial harvest to our south. Imagine your state had a 1 duck limit on black ducks, and you heard those of us in Maine were going out when our charters canceled to fill some of our 200 + commercial tags so we could collect a few bucks from the commercial duck market. Then imagine you saw my photo of a pile of 60 dead black ducks headed for market. You'll have an inkling of how my friends who guided stripers back when the coastwide population was higher feel looking at these pictures. Most of them have given up guiding; the ones who remain have been losing money for several seasons because there just aren't enough fish to make it this far north any longer.

Jack, I don't blame you for following the rules they way they are written--but the rules are stupid and need fixing. It's a coastwide migratory population, and it ought to be managed as such.

Sorry for the rant.
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We can't keep ANY bluefin at all ever, and they breed here and winter here. They are managed exactly the way you are proposing (federally) with their framework, so careful what you ask for. Its ridiculous to me that NE guys can keep them both recreationally and commerically, everyday they fish for them, and i can't keep one a year that comes up dead. So i understand your pain, but your proposed regulations might not help.
 
I am on the fence. Up here, or over here as the case may be, we have the North Pacific Halibut Commission to manage the quota for commercial and sport catch alotments. They also determine an acceptable amount of by-catch for halibut caught as part of the trawl ground fish industry. Due to the commission being heavily loaded by industry and the industry being owned and operated out of Seattle rather than Alaska us locals get the shaft when it comes to our share of the resource.

There have been attempts to shut down the charter sport fishing fleet. It is currently a limited entry system and has shut down some remote lodges that relied on halibut charters from the cruise industry. They were not in business long enough to show a consistant use of the resourse and their quota was too low to support future business. If they even earned a quota, as was the case for folks that had just opened their charter business.

The by-catch issue is huge up here due to its effect on halibut and king salmon stock. The majority goes to waste due to the rules for how it can be used. They don't want to flood their buddies market and cause a price drop. Some of the by-catch waste gets used for charity food stock and sent well out side the market.

If any federal system for management becomes too heavily controlled by industry the sport fisherman will lose out on the public resource. Either through restricting how they access (charter/guide license reduction) or direct access (reduced limits). Industry will just keep on taking what they allow themselves to take.
 
Kris:

I'd propose one coastwide management plan, just like we do for ducks. There might be lots of ways to implement that, and what works for tuna might not be appropriate for stripers, but we wouldn't have some states (like Maine and NH) managing for very limited sport harvest for conservation purposes; others allowing a lot of recreational harvest but shutting out the commercials (I'm looking at yo. u, New Jersey); and other states managing stripers as a commercial fishery.

We all bitch about the duck regulations (where's my early teal season up here where they actually breed???), but it's a framework that has worked remarkably well for conservation and mostly avoided regional and user-group conflicts over who gets the ducks. Certainly better than the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission . . . . . which drove striped bass (among many other species) to near extinction back in the 80's, and seems very capable of doing so again.

John, again, I'm sorry. This isn't aimed at folks who follow the rules, but at the folks who make them so badly.

Suspending the rant . . . . for now.
 
Certainly better than the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission . . . . . which drove striped bass (among many other species) to near extinction back in the 80's, and seems very capable of doing so again.

John, again, I'm sorry. This isn't aimed at folks who follow the rules, but at the folks who make them so badly.

Suspending the rant . . . . for now.Jeff it wasn't the ASMFC that drove Striped Bass to near extinction in the 80's it was over fishing. By guys like me and 10,000 guys like me. In those days before regulations, licensing and having to prove you had a history of selling Striped Bass in order to get a license. In New York State and up and down the east coast Striped bass were over fished and sold by everybody that owed a rod and reel or a gill net. Every teacher that was off for the Summer every construction worker that was laid off, Doctors and Lawyers that had a boat was shipping fish to market. It was 365 days a year 24 hours a day. In 1986 NYS put a moratorium on catching Striped Bass, effectively putting me out of business. You take the price off of the fishes head and the recovery was miraculous.Based upon historical landings each state was given its quota, to do with as it saw fit. Conn. and NJ chose to keep Striped Bass as a game fish, no commercial fishery. In Rhode Island and Mass. its a free for all, opening on a day the state sees fit and fishing ends when the quota is filled . I believe that in Rhode Island in order for a fish to be marketed it has to be over 35", no slot size. I do not know what the size limits are in Mass. Here in New York, we have a tagging system. In order to get Striped Bass tags you had to prove a history of selling Striped Bass and that 50% of your income comes from fishing, In my case all of my income comes from fishing, whether Commercial or Chartering. This year I am allowed to catch and sell 224 Striped Bass between 24" and 36" everything else is released. No new Striped Bass licenses are issued. When somebody dies you can will them to a family member. Monday was a good day, I had a charter was Shark Fishing on Tuesday the boats that went out tagging stroked it. At $4.50 a gallon for diesel there wasn't much profit. My New York State Food Fish License costs me $250 Striped Bass Tags another $.50 ea. My Charter license costs me another $250. All this comes right off the top before I ever sail a trip or sell a fish. I've heard it a million time s" Boy Capt you've got the best life, what a way to earn a living" They should only know what its really like. I could go on for hours but that's enough for now
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Kris:

I'd propose one coastwide management plan, just like we do for ducks. There might be lots of ways to implement that, and what works for tuna might not be appropriate for stripers, but we wouldn't have some states (like Maine and NH) managing for very limited sport harvest for conservation purposes; others allowing a lot of recreational harvest but shutting out the commercials (I'm looking at yo. u, New Jersey); and other states managing stripers as a commercial fishery.

We all bitch about the duck regulations (where's my early teal season up here where they actually breed???), but it's a framework that has worked remarkably well for conservation and mostly avoided regional and user-group conflicts over who gets the ducks. Certainly better than the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission . . . . . which drove striped bass (among many other species) to near extinction back in the 80's, and seems very capable of doing so again.

John, again, I'm sorry. This isn't aimed at folks who follow the rules, but at the folks who make them so badly.

Suspending the rant . . . . for now.
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Why are you sell he'll bent on commercial fishing?
 
Nice catch... How many days you went out and didn't even pay for fuel? People don't think about that. Fished commercially before getting a paying job. Remember shipping to the market and getting a bill, the price wouldn't cover shipping [price drop].
 
Capt Rich G, your reply brought up a memory. I worked on a 55' dragger out of Freeport (The Skimmer) on Woodcleft Canal, we steamed to the mudhole in January and loaded up on the whiting. By the time we got back to the dock the market was flooded and we ended up selling the fish for .03 cent. What a shame, didn't even pay the fuel. I remember bluefish .08 cents a pound gutted. Of course this was in the 70s.
By the way the strippers in the bay are thick now. My father who is 79 still jacks crabs and watches the strippers on the edge of the lights. Good luck with the fishing.
 
By the way the strippers in the bay are thick now. My father who is 79 still jacks crabs and watches the strippers on the edge of the lights. Good luck with the fishing.
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BWAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH John, I mean no offense and I know you meant striper and not stripper, but it still is funny.....
 
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