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This is the New York angler fishing podcast brought to you by NY Anglercom, your secret spot online, hosted by the man who introduced New Yorkers to the world of online fishing, mr George Scott.

Hello and welcome everyone to another episode of the New York fishing podcast, brought to you by your friends at New York Anglercom or NYAnglercom. So I have some news just in case you haven't heard, because a lot of people didn't hear, because no one bothered giving anybody a heads up. We are now fishing a one year class of striped bass up and down the coast and that would be 28 to 31 inch limit. This regulation came into play because of what I would consider an aberration. I don't believe that we can accurately count numbers of fish. I'm around fisheries management now pushing 40 years and they're really correct. It's not their fault. How do you count all the fish, but they're really correct. I heard hey, let's go to a 12 inch blackback flounder. Hey, let's go to a 14 inch fluke. That's going to save the fluke, wait, 16. Wait, you had 12, now you got to go to 6. My point is they're never right. It's hard to be right. So now we have an emergency regulation that comes into play in the middle of the striped bass season, based on numbers from last year. Okay, so we all know it was coming. We're all told about it. The industry is the most affected by this type of regulation reduction, especially midstream. Imagine being in a business and you're selling I don't know a hero for 10 bucks and then you go into the store and you're still paying 10 bucks, but they're giving you a half a hero. So right now, when you're preparing to go striped bass fishing, understand that our fisheries managers and scientists are so good that they're able to tell you that in two there was so many fish that were hatched and born whatever they are in 2015 that we can only kill those. They weren't enough before, they weren't enough after. But we cannot kill any other fish. But but the 2015 year class? Keep looking at, just thinking after a second. So we're talking one year class. That's definitely. It can't turn out well. It just cannot turn out well. I mean, the writing's on the wall. We see it all the time. So now we're going to take all those fish, or we're going to try, or maybe they're hoping that there's going to be less pressure on the fishery because fewer people are going to fish for striped bass right now. I know there's a lot of people that doubt that and there's a lot of people. That's not going to affect it all. Personally. It's not going to affect me because I have a boat, i do a lot of catch and release. It's just not going to affect me at all. But if I was a charter captain that has anglers most charter captains have anglers and know what's going on they may think twice. Or now you put that charter captain in a situation where he's got to go baited for everything because he has to spin the wheel and hope he's going to land on number 10 or he is not going to get that elusive 2015 fish. So now let's get to what I see as the real problem besides all this that we've been going through all this. But the real problem is the authority that is given managers under these emergency situations, what they consider an emergency. And if it was such an emergency, why is it that the commercial fishery is allowed to keep that fish? Why is that? I'll tell you why. Because you see we don't actually manage fish in numbers. Why, i'll never know. We manage fishing pounds. So not only do we need to know how many fish there are, we also need to know what they weigh. So if you're a commercial fisherman, obviously you're getting paid by the pound, so you want to make a fish. But why do they get to keep it? Oh, because they don't really take that many, but this is an emergency. It's an emergency. It's such an emergency that you just pulled a carpet, the plank, right out for the next two weeks while people adjust or hear these new regulations. And the worst part about the whole thing here in New York state and it really disappoints me because I thought we had better communications to the point where they would have given us a heads up Yeah, i get it. Oh man, they did it right away. This one did it right away. That one did it right away. They're not taking any fish. Look at their numbers. Doesn't mean anything to them. In fact, that's like their size. That is the perfect slide. So here, now.

So here we are.

We are strapped with this reg and we don't even get a heads up. There's an open line of communication. There were people sitting around a table talking all the time And the state had to know that this was gonna have a negative effect on the sport fishing, recreational angler. And when I view it, it frightens me to think that that's how they think of us in the industry, that they couldn't say, okay, asmfc said the second of July, it will go into effect the second of July. I mean, doesn't that sound like the same thing to do to send out a press release and say, hey, folks, get ready for this, this is coming. Rather than already today I have to have 15, 20 emails from people asking me if it's true. But no, we don't have that open line. I'm scared. I'm afraid of the issues that are facing us and the fact that we are being treated just so insignificantly. The wreck angler is always treated like a piece of crap. We just are. We always have been. And please don't say, george, you know you're exaggerating, you're this, you know, just look at it all. Just look at it all. And while this is happening, we're actually doing a PCB study to see if we can open up the commercial fishery for the West Because, you know, somehow it's that curtain where the striped bass goes past a certain point And all of a sudden it's too high in PCBs. Well, i don't know, they're trying to open that up, but this is an emergency. It's an emergency. It's so bad we had to shut you down without even the courtesy of a heads up, email, phone call, anything. So this is the way the state has been treating us in many ways recently. Say what you want about our past governor, i always said it. The man was a fisherman and he cared about fishermen, but I don't see anyone caring about us at all. And if anything anything showed that, it was this, because it's not like they didn't know that the industry was concerned and wanted to know what was going on. And don't they have that right? Don't they have the right to know that the trip that they had planned for today it's got to be a change. It's got to be a change. So they're going to have to fish for another species to keep the person happy if he can catch it right. And all the plans that go into a charter and there's a lot of them wind direction, tide, they stand. The other thing. Many people think that plan has changed overnight And you have to hope that you're going to deliver some kind of fish. So listen, folks, this is going to affect not it doesn't affect the recreational angle, like me or like a lot of people but it does affect the industry and not just the charter boat people. Let's not forget about tackle shop people. How many times today and tomorrow and the next three to four weeks are they going to be as is it true? Can I? I have to throw up. I can only keep something between 28 and 31 inches. Yes, you have a better. You have a better chance of buying a scratch off date. Take it or play in a slot and try to catch a slot. Yes, that's true. So this, i don't know, can call administration, i don't know. But the people in charge right now obviously do not care about the recreational angler. It's been shown time and again and I'm not going to get into it here. I have a lot of respect for a lot of people that work there, but but this, this move, is very disappointing, very, very disappointing. And for those of you that aren't aware, which most people are not aware, i'm not even supposed to be aware, i'm not even allowed to. Nobody's even allowed to talk to me about it for some reason. But you've got a group of anglers, many of which claim to represent you but they've never heard from you. They don't even know who you are, but they represent you. And they are now putting together a survey of how you would like your salt water license. Not do you want to sort water license, it's. How do you want the money from the license spent? Now, i'm not going to get too much into that, because we all know what happens to that money. You know, like the school lottery money, it all just blends in in the end. I guess that's why I'm not part of the conversation, because I'm not a believer in it. But I also know that it's coming. It's coming, but please keep in mind the way you were just treated. They are going to stuff us with whatever they want because they don't care about us, because we are no longer organized, nor are we respected. And, to be honest, i've been at many of those meetings And with the way some of those people conduct themselves at their meetings, they don't deserve to be respected. We used to get things done when we were respected and at the same time feared because we were organized. So when you get the survey, i'm not sure what's coming out, but I do believe the money's already spent somewhere in the budget Or it's part of the budget, i don't know. But you're getting a license next year, 2014,. You will be fishing with a saltwater license. I think it's only starting at ten bucks they're talking, but I'm guessing it'll be 20. So now we could add that to the industry. That'll be another hassle that the industry is going to have to deal with, And you know what they're going to do. They're going to cut you right off. It's going to be a day before fluke season. Whoop, there's not enough two-year-old fluke. Gotta stop, gotta go down. That's what you're going to get. You have no respect. Nobody cares about the recreational fishing industry. If I was a charter boat owner or a tackle shop owner right now, i would be, so I know what's involved, i know what they do, how they order, how advanced things have to be and what you're preparing for. So look, they don't care about you, they don't care about me, and this is going to continue with every fishery there is. They're coming after the surf shark fishermen because they take too many pictures, and people see those photos and they believe that those kids are causing sharks to come. In short, i mean technically I guess it is while it's getting real then, but I mean there's. I don't think there's ever been a registered death from a shark in New York waters, ever in history. I think that one little sand tiger bite, which I still think was a bluefish So, but now they're going after you. Next. I'm telling you it's coming. I wonder what the bycatch release mortality is on a striped bass caught on a fly. What do you think that is? How many of those bass do you think are able to survive? The small ones, okay, they're tough, but how about the bigger ones? Should there be a ban on targeting bass with flies? Should there be a ban from fly fishing in the Hudson River for striped bass? This isn't look, this isn't like outrageous. I think you'll save a hell of a lot more fish. So it's coming for everybody. I'm just trying to make that point. They're making us use circle hooks. Now The next thing you're gonna know is you gotta have a heavy fishing line and you gotta have an X ratio reel. Don't think it couldn't happen, because it could. They have that ability, and recreational anglers are nothing but a nuisance. We fish on a beach, we're dirty, we're fishermen, we're the drugs of the earth, when the truth is, we're the stewards of the fishery. We take care of the fishery. So, folks, i hope you get a good feel for what we're in store for. We are in store for a license that they're gonna shove down our throats because you're gonna tell them everything you wanna tell them and they're not gonna listen, just like now, who knows?

Maybe they'll say it's an emergency.

They're gonna use some kind of an excuse So, and then supposedly we're gonna have real numbers. But I don't even wanna get into that. That's a whole nother story. This issue we knew was coming. It was not the state's fault. The state did not want. I'm not saying that they didn't want them, but this came out of the ASMFC. But the communication and the disregard for letters and emails and things that were sent show me that we are in a different space than we were with the last governor. So watch out for your survey and remember you gotta spin that lucky wheel to get between 28 inches and 31 inches, because we're so good that we know that there's more of those swimming than bigger and smaller. That is how good we've gotten. Pretty amazing, huh? Consider when we just found out a couple of years ago like they take ones out to the canyon every now and then. All right, folks, i'll be back again with more bass news and more fisheries news coming up. There's a lot going on. This show is not about hey, what are you catching? And we're catching it. There's plenty of that on the internet. We will have a lot of hell too. I have a Cobia special that's coming out. I'm just waiting on one last piece and we got a lot of good stuff coming. Please subscribe to this. It's gonna come out. You know, i mean regularly, because now, with this ability to turn all this into content, it's easier for me to do this. I actually didn't sit and write all day, so thank you all for listening. Thank you to those who subscribe wwwenglercom, your secret spot online.