Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

    
    My grandparents live in Buzzards Bay, and my grandfather told me
    a couple weeks ago that the limit was reduced to 28". While there
    I checked the herring run and they (herring) are in. There's not many
    but they're coming.
    
    Walt 

	They ought to let folks keep stripers *up* *to* 28", and leave
	the big ones for spawning and breeding.  It's my understanding 
	that it's the big cows who do most of the reproducing.

	Leaving the limit at 36" will just decrease the breeding stock,
	won't it ?

	/Ken

    There seem to be two ways of looking at it: the numbers of fish that
    breed and the effectiveness of those that do breed.
    
    The reasoning behind the 36" limit is that most fish that reach 36"
    will have reproduced at least once. I'll note that there is some
    evidence to suggest that while this is true for males, for females it
    is not so clear.
    
    The reasoning behind releasing fish larger than 36" is to allow the
    most prolific breeders, the really large cows that are upwards of 48",
    to remain in the breeding pool.
    
    There seems to be merit to both camps, which is why for some species, a
    slot limit is in effect. (Example: bass must be 28" to be kept, but all
    fish over 48" must be released.) This provides perhaps the greatest
    benefit, although it is also the most restrictive.

	I've also heard that smaller stripers taste better... one more
	reason for a slot limit.

	/Ken

    Well I've NEVER caught a keeper or kept a non keeper so cant confirm
    one way or the other how they taste.. :-(
    
    	I'll let you know shortly though.. :-) hopefully.

    I received a prompt and courteous reply from the F&W people that
    they'll try to get the new/approved regs up on their web site ASAP...
    
    fwiw: When the (enormous by all accounts) Year Class '93 gets into that
    "cow" range, that'd be a good time to consider adoption of a slot
    limit, as there would actually *be* a healthy number of fish above the
    slot. In the meantime, reduction of the min length for both sport and
    commercial landings may well ensure that far fewer fish will ever reach
    that size...
    
    /dave

>    Well I've NEVER caught a keeper or kept a non keeper so cant confirm
>    one way or the other how they taste.. :-(
    
	Same here...  came within a 1/2 inch of 36", then didn't get out
	much the last couple of years...

	This year, this will change ;-)

	/Ken

    howdy all and esp Ken, having never fished for stripers in NE, but
    having caught wipers (a sterile cross between stripers and white bass)
     and white bass in fresh water...and having eaten my fair share of both, 
    I'd say the taste leaves something to be desired. True, the white bass 
    are OK fried, but the wipers were always a little "mushy" for my pallete,
    fried or baked..so I'm wondering...those that have eaten a
    keeper..what's yer opinion on taste/meat firmness compared to other fish?
    
    deadhead 

    Dave T.
    
         Mass F&W has a web site. Could you give me the address as I can
    never seem to find it?
    
-.1
         Baked in milk they taste very good "But" swimming in the water
    and reproducing is where they taste the best.
    
    Bob M. who kept one last year and tried it. More fun to catch than they
           are to eat!!!!

    	I kept and cooked a 39"er and the meat was very firm and taste was
    excellent. I beer batter fried steaks cut from the fillets. The fish
    went from being alive at 5:30 am to in my freezer by 9 am. I noticed
    little to no difference in either taste or texture from the fish I ate 
    fresh vs. the fillet steaks I froze and ate later.
    
    	Ray

	_wipers_ ???  ;-)   Never heard of that combo!  Cool name!

	/Ken

Fresh striped bass on the grill is very hard to beat.  I usually keep one or two
a season for chowing.  All the rest go back in the water.  A 36" fish will feed
6-8 adults.

    re: .8
    
    Is it safe to presume that these "wipers" and white bass were caught in
    fresh water - and perhaps not-very-cold fresh water? The latter factor
    can often be detrimental to some species of fish when it comes to
    plating the buggers...The precious little s/w striper I've partaken of
    was done on the grill and was lip-smackin' tasty ;^)
    
    re: MA F&W Web site 
    
    The key was to search AV for "+Fish +Wildlife +Massachusetts" and it led
    to:
    
    http://www.state.ma.us/dfwele/dpt_toc.htm
    
    And, fwiw, you can find most (if not all) State O' Mass agencies from:
    
    http://www.state.ma.us/
    
    Click on the Agencies icon at the left, and then use Edit...Find to 
    locate specific entries (there's a LOT of 'em!)
    
    hth,
    
    /dave

    re: .7
    
    	Hah! You too, eh Ken? I've vowed that my first keeper goes back
    	so, I'm going to have to get two before I taste striper (I refuse
    	to buy it).
    
    	Let me know when you want to go fishing!
    
    			Robert.

    re.13
    yes, wipers and white bass were caught with crappie and a few small and
    large mouth bass, as well as catfish, drum, and bullheads with an
    occasional walleye...all when air
    temps were in the 90's in eastern Colo...the water is above 40 for
    sure. The cats taste the best. the white bass were OK and the wipers
    left something to be desired. Warm water fishing out here is FUN! The
    weather for the most part is hot in the plains starting in May. But I
    still prefer a cold mountain stream full of small brookies.
    
    deadhead 
    
    deadhead

    
    
    	The new Striped Bass recreational size limit went up on the
    	Web for MA.  The the size limit will be 28" with a bag limt of
    	one.  The commercial size was also lowered to 28" but all the
    	new regs for commercial are not final yet.  The Web was updated
    	on April 25.
    
    		Happy fishing.
    
    
    				Joy III
    
    				George

This may have been discussed before....but what's the rule?

I'm a NH resident.

NH's rule is 32" minumum length for stripers.

I launch my boat in MA and catch a 28" striper.

Can I legally transport this fish back into NH?

Thanks,

Joe

re: -1

	No one knows if I get my a$$ arrested??

    Yes, you can transport it back to NH.  If you get stopped just tell
    them you read it here.
    
    -donmac
    
    (be sure to write)

    
    My dad and grandfather fished the cape cod canal monday morning.
    Two fish were caught, one small one and a keeper. 
    
    Walt

I finally heard from the State of Maine Marine Fisheries.
The 1997 regs are 1 fish between 20 and 26 inches and
1 fish over 40 inches per day. That should make it easier
to get some Striper steaks on the grill.
Jim

    Steaks? From a 20-26 striper? Steak tips, perhaps...

       I fished Newburyport Harbor last night on high tide, but
    no signs of any schoolies. note: my bait was frozen herring.
    
    						maybe next week,
    							Bob
    

    Fished the CC Canal for several hours last SAT night and Sun. morning.
    Didn't have a herring permit but I managed to beg one off a neighbor.
    Tried seaworms and lures (bucktails in white& chartreuse), Deadly Dicks
    and a mackeral looking bomber with a teaser - nothing! I was on the
    right hand side of the Herring Run (Brook). As I was leaving, I stopped
    on the left side (~50' from earlier but to my left") watched 3 keepers
    pulled within 30 minutes - these were 36"+. Saw 4 more pulled as well
    but they were sub-28. With the Canal tournament on, there were at least
    500 fishermen on the same side as myself. Had a great time anyway - too
    bad I had other non-fishing priorities to consume my time.... 

    I had a friend fish the Merrimack last Sunday (May 18). He didn't see
    any one from shore catch anything..He heard that a few small schoolies
    were being caught, but things were still real slow.
    
    stan

The schoolies are in the Merrimack !!!  A friend flyfished joppa flats Sunday
morning annd caught several fish.  I don't know about keepers yet but I'm sure
they'll be a biting this weekend because I can't fish...

Baitmaster

    >A friend flyfished joppa flats Sunday morning
    
    Tide was high at 9:30 AM on Sunday - which wouldn't have left much time 
    to hang out on the flats on foot...

    Wow!!! Caught lots of schoolies in Newburyport Harbor last night
    on high tide and a full moon. They didn't like the frozen herring,
    but they loved the bucktail jigs. Average size was 19" and all of
    them were caught on light tackle (8 lb. test and 10 lb. test).
    
    						what a wild night,
    
    							Bob
    

    3 of us fished from 4:00ish to 9:30ish on outgoing tide. Between the 3
    we boated about 20 schoolies. Nothing big but a good way to start the
    season. Most were caught next to the rocks at the mouth of the river.
    Bait fish and birds were everywhere. Reminded me of the move "The
    Birds"...
    
    

    I meant to put in previous not we fished friday afternoon/night..

    Sunday evening May 25 I fished Great Bay NH for a couple hours. Got one
    schoolie fly fishing.  The water temperature was 50 degrees ... pretty
    cold for this time of year.
    
    Let's hope the water warms up soon,  mark

	Fished Devils Bridge Sat and Mon.  Sat. we kept the first three which
were a foul hooked 33, a 34, and a 35.  Threw back the next 12 of which 2 were
shorts and the others ranged from 31 to 36.  Mon. went back to the same spot,
and got a small blue and one short Striper.  Another boat from the marina 
fishing the same spot, using the same lures got 22 fish that same Mon.  I don't
understand.
	For those interested, the Striper had sea lice (sp?) on them, so they
were fresh from sea.  Of the three we cleaned, one had a sea robin in its
stomach, and little else, the others were un-identifiable.  I would have 
expected them to be full of squid, but not so.

	Rick

OK... WHERE is Devil's Bridge??

	From the size & quantity of fish, I'd guess somewhere on the Cape.

	What "lures" did you you? 

Thanks,

Joe

We launched in Salisbury around 5:00p.m.  yesterday and started at the 
very top of the tide around woodridge island.  There were no fish anywhere.  
The water was clearer than I've ever seen it.  We finally headed up above 
the rt 1 bridge and found fish.  I caught 12 to 15 schoolies in short order
there.  All but 2 on the flyrod using a small white deceiver.  They
were smallish 12"-18".  There was a boat anchored right next to us fishing
herring chunks on the bottom.  The landed a fish that I'd estimate at 34"-36".
Definitely a nice fish.

The new ramp at Salibury is really nice.  However, for all the money they
spent on it, They still haven't installed a light bulb.  It was very dark
coming in last night.

Mark,

RE: .33

	Devils Bridge is south of the Cape.  Its just off Gay Head, Martha's
Vineyard (south west part of the island).  We were using "witches" or 
"parachute" (sp?) rigs.  Like a large bucktale except there is a skirt that
comes forward and flows back in the water, making them look like a squid.
My son in law and a bunch from work chartered a friend of mine's boat on
Wed.  They fished the same spot and got 34 keepers between 7 of them.
	Hopefully the north shore will start seeing some large bass this
weekend or next.

	Rick

    Can some please provide directions to the dam site in Lawrence where the
    striper fishing is good ?  From land, not sea - don't have a boat.
    
    (I understand there was unfortunate accident there yesterday/last
    night)

Fished the outgoing tide at the Merrimack R. yesterday (Sunday), launching out of Salisbury St. 
Park.  They did an excellant job on the ramp and docks.

Picked up about 20-25 schoolies out on the flats on light tackle using rapalas, sluggos and white 
grubs.  Also fished mack chunks with only a couple of pickups.  Went to Badger's Rocks after 
the turn of the tide (around 4:00 PM) to spend a few more minutes before we had to leave.  

Made "one last cast" into a rip with the mack chunk and ... WHAM ... ZZZzzzzz.... the line 
starting peeling off my reel (15# test) and I couldn't stop or slow the fish down.  Had to pull the 
anchor to chase it as it was heading across ... over... thru the rocks.  

After a 10 minute struggle, I boated my first keeper of the season (on my 1st trip out!).  It 
measured 39" and about 25 lbs.   

They're there!

-Joe-

    Way to go Joe! Hopefully I'll be heading out soon. 
    
    Gus

    I got out on the Merrimack on Saturday (May 31). Worked the out going tide 
    for 4 hrs. No one was getting any bits. It was dead. Went toward Rt 1 
    bridge and worked the flats. Were  able to get schoolies on flies and
    plugs. Went back to the toothpick and we hit a school of stripers. On
    mackerel, I was only able to land one that was 25 inches, a couple at
    24 inches. After 20 minutes, they were gone.
    
    Maybe next week I'll get that 1st keeper.
    
    stan