Debunking the 9% Striped Bass Mortality Myth

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the New York Fishing Podcast. This episode is going to look into some of the numbers that we deal with in news in order to maintain our fisheries management. Right now, there's an emergency coming into play. For those of you don't know about it, there's gonna be like this rolled a dice slot size of striped bass between 20 and 31 inches. Anything over, that's a throwback. Anything under, that's a throwback. And this is all coming out at a time when we're in the we're in the process of changing things and the way we look at data, and when I start to look at this whole thing, it looks like more of an aberration than an emergency. So I'd first like to talk about a number that I have disagreed with and always had a problem with, from the first time I ever heard it, and that was the 9% mortality rate that recreational fishermen have upon striped bass. When you look at this, and you look at it over the entire guesstimate of fish that are caught, we are being blamed for killing 3 million striped bass a year when we release them. I'm not sure how it's possible. 3 million fish? think about it. Do you think someone may have seen some of them somewhere. Yeah, every now and then we'll see a floater, but 3 million, i don't know. I'm just not buying it. I never could buy it. Studies that they base all this on were conducted in the 90s. This was a different time. This was when you would laugh that if you released the fish. This was a time you could use a baby blackfish and, you know God, hook every single bass there was. They loved them. They were like candy. It was a different world. Then we took fish to eat and now we have this. We're talking about 1990. Things was so so much different then. So now here we are. We're in this, the new century, when we're in the new fisheries day and age, where we know every fish there is. We could save every single fish there is and we know exactly how to do it and whose fault that it is. so I'm gonna go back to 9% now, these studies. So you understand I don't want to get too deep into the woods because you'll just get lost. I'm still getting lost. I'm doing it for 35 years, so I don't want to get too deep into it. But the majority of these studies for catch and release fishing were done where you know fish would be caught and then thrown in pens. So I want you to think about the difference of how we fish today and how we fish that. Forget about everything else. Forget about the fact that there's been 30 years of educating on how to release these fish and save these fish. There has been a whole new ethic brought into the saltwater fishery to a certain extent, so why has that not been taken into account? Forget about everything else. Let's not talk about how you used to be able to use treble hawks. You'd be able to snag I mean, you could do whatever you want with it. The people would gaff them and release them so that they could catch a bigger fish. That's the way it was, and then you will look at it weirdo. In fact, i saw a commercial the other day I thought it was pretty funny with two guys talking about like, what do you mean? you're going to let it go so it could get fat and you could catch it again, or what are you going to tie it up? right, we're going to eat it? I mean, that's how people thought And you can't blame them. I mean, people started fishing to eat fish, so anyway. So here we are. Now they're blaming us on killing 3 million fish last year. So how that's possible, i really don't know. How they know that, i really have no idea. But now it's our fault because because of this And so now we get this I call it the lottery slot fish You're only allowed to catch a five year old fish. Don't worry about that, your class doesn't matter. There's so many of them that we could. Just those are the only ones we're going to catch. So again, let's go back to to looking at these numbers Now last year, last they're facing these numbers, these emergency numbers on what happened last year, now last year. We all use circle hooks. We've used some circle hooks for bait. So why don't we look at the recent Massachusetts study which shows that fish caught and released in the spring on circle hooks Had a 2% mortality rate 2%. Now you take that 2% across the board And all of a sudden we go from killing 3 million fish to 600,000 fish. We should be credited for what we do. Because let me tell you something Anglers, i know where we're all of this mindset that, oh, we got to save these big fish, we're going to save all the fish. What's going to happen is you're going to save all the fish and you're going to lose them, because remember one thing the best thing possible ever for striped bass would be nobody fishing for them No one. And I'd like to speak to the saltwater fly fishing crab. There's a lot of you guys out there right now and I feel some of you don't care about this, even though you should, but don't think you are not next. I mean, how horrible is it to fight a fish on a fly rod? Oh, my God, how long would it take? Oh, no. What if you had a 50 pounder on a fly rod? What do you do? Do you fight the fish till it's dead because that's what you got to do And bring it up to the side of the boat? Oh no, you fly fishing man. No, no, no, no, no, your trouble. I think we need to end that. That's got to save a lot of fish up and down the coast. You see, no one here is thinking. Everyone is a target, everyone The people on the shore, the people fishing inland you can't fish offshore or some stupid three mile rule. You can't go to here and there. So don't think that this is not a step towards further regulation, especially in those fawny areas, and I'd like to also mention that all these emergency regs it was such an emergency that 50% of the fish in the Chesapeake Bay which we should be fishing they're all exempt from this. So, look, folks, just keep on doing what you're doing, but you need to stand up for yourself. You need to get the word out that you don't like this. Because, again, i'm going to tell you, the best thing for striped bass is if no one fishes for them at all. Is that what you want? I don't think it's what you want. We want a healthy fishery, we want to take care of these fish, and that's what we're doing. There are pictures all over the Internet of everything, and It's very hard to see Anyone treat the fish better, not trying to put that fish back in the water the same exact way. So it's time we get credited for what we did. Recreational fishermen are not being represented enough. Yes, yeah, they listen to us on boards, but we're not organized. There was a time I can remember I was trying to make strike bass a game fish. I wasn't alone, i had people. We had 400 people show up at Jones Beach. We ended up on all the news and We actually put the laws in place that you're dealing with today here in New York, which you don't even realize the home run that you had that. So it's time we wake up. We need to question this. Stop thinking that everything they're telling you is a hundred percent gospel. I'm not saying they're lying, but they're working on Numbers. That almost impossible. And he made themselves admit they could be 50% wrong and then in some cases I've seen 80% wrong. So Let's keep our eyes on thing. I don't believe the 9%. It's time for us To be represented correctly where the people on the beach, where the people have cleaning things up. We're the out there where the people bring into the balloons. It's time that we need to stand up. This regulation coming right now. Everybody's thinking it's no big deal. Well, let me tell you, this is just one step in another direction. Now, what if they say next year Oh, my goodness, we caught too many of that year, so now we can't catch any. And That will include catch and release, because you are killing Three million fish a year just releasing them. That's what we've been hearing. It's time we stand up for this, for what we're doing and all the work we've done, and stop using all that gear that kills all those fish. It's time for us to be credited for that, and Those are my numbers on bass. I got a lot more coming up. I mean it's very involved and I don't want to get you to Wrapped up in numbers, but we need to organize and stay behind this movement. We need to let people know. I mean this is happening no matter what, but we need to set the stage now to make sure it doesn't happen again without everything taken into account. Okay, yeah, more on this next weekend. Thanks for listening. Please subscribe to the channel and Get out there. Fishing is great. Thanks again.