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-   -   Striped Bass (http://www.spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=56634)

Kale 01-06-2008 09:41 PM

Striped Bass
 
Hi guys,
My name is Kale, I live and dive in California. We have transplanted stripers here but we're not allowed to spear them. I'm doing a little research about the fishery on the east coast and am looking for info about the regs and how you guys hunt them. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I want to know the striper regs for your states...spearfishing vs. h&l? Ocean vs. freshwater? bag/ size limits? How well do you guys do on them and are they something you hunt for regularly? Thanks,
Kale

fishyak 01-06-2008 10:17 PM

Re: Striped Bass
 
hey kale, we have alot of stripers here if you know where to look! the regs are the same fresh and salt, im not sure if there are any purely freshwater stripers... they have to be 28" in salt water and i guess the same in fresh although you need a license for fresh water. good luck if you are coming out here!

gabe

fishyak 01-06-2008 10:20 PM

Re: Striped Bass
 
oh, and hook and line are the same as spearing as far as regulations, that goes for all game fish at least here in rhody, i know you cant SPEAR stripers in massachusetts, connecticut, or new york but you can rod and reel them..someone correct me if im wrong, i dont really know the other states regs

Lightfoot 01-06-2008 10:34 PM

Re: Striped Bass
 
I think you can shoot them in AZ in fresh water of course. The Colorado river and the connected lakes hold a lot of them and they still get plenty big. I think carp and stripers are the only fish you can shoot though. I'll try and find it in the regs and post it.

goodvibrations 01-07-2008 08:56 AM

Re: Striped Bass
 
You can shootem in NY. One fish over 28" and you can keep second if it is 40" or better. Most of us that hunt them use a variety of guns 90cm or better or Pnuematic. Many outfit their guns with reels because if you hit a big one and it is not a kill shot they will often pull off the spear. How big do the West Coast bass get and how common ae they? I know that they are transplants but I would think they would flourish in that enviornment.

jmik90 01-07-2008 05:07 PM

Re: Striped Bass
 
in nj you can shoot two over 28in,i see big schools of little ones on the jettys all the time but most of the bigger ones are deeper,the biggest ive ever seen around here was 60lbs.

Kale 01-07-2008 05:10 PM

Re: Striped Bass
 
Thanks guys,
That's good to know that you are allowed to spear them in NY, NJ and RI! The striper here are pretty hard to find in diveable water and we can't shoot them anyway, but I've seen some hogs 40-50#. Why is it illegal in other states? California puts them with steelhead and salmon as off limits. I can understand salmon and steelhead because they are native and would be a pain in the ass to shoot in the ocean and it would be hard for wardens to differentiate between river shot and ocean shot, and they congregate in rivers and would be easy to spear there. Freshwater spearing is pretty much illegal in California except trash fish in certain areas at certain times. Striper, on the other hand, are non-native, do damage to native fish populations and I've never seen a place in fresh water where they could be poached like salmon could. The places where they tend to live are either in freshwater or dirty bay water. But we do see a few in the ocean where we could spear them if were legal. So I really don't understand why we can't shoot them, at least in the ocean. Thanks again for the info, let me know if there are any other states you guys are allowed to spear them in:thumps:
Kale

TriggerNJ 01-10-2008 12:58 AM

Re: Striped Bass
 
The stripers originally stocked in California came from NJ. Fish were collected from the Navisink and Shrewsbury River estuarys. Most of these were small fish thought to be from the Hudson River (NY) stock. They were stocked in San Francisco Bay in 1879-1882. These stripers also moved north by themselves and established a population in Coo's Bay and the Umpqua River in Oregon. Other stockings were tried throughout California after the San Francisco success but none became established anywhere else. In 1899 there were 1.2 million pounds of striper taken by commercial fisherman in California. By 1935 the striper fishery was being depleted by commercial fishing so California fisheries managers influenced by recreational fisherman put a stop to the commercial fishing. They rebounded by the 1960s but are thought to have since declined due to water loss in spawning streams and nursery rivers from increased agricultural irrigation. ......Just some interesting info about CA stripers taken from a few books I have lying around. I thought it was cool as I live right next to the places where the fish were collected.

TriggerNJ 01-10-2008 02:03 AM

Re: Striped Bass
 
Our regulations are different state to state here. Stripers were in bad shape along the East Coast at one point due to commercial fishing/habitat loss and so on. Couple this with stripers migratory nature and you get some interesting regulation. For the history of how striper regulations came about check out Striper Wars by Dick Russell. He lays it all out from the beginning. Stripers go up rivers and congregate to spawn in fast moving sections. I've seen video of them spawning in a real shallow river. In the video you can see them breaking water and rolling on their side. In NJ we are currently allowed two at 28'' or better. Our spear regs follow the hook an line regs too. I mostly shore dive for them so during their migrations is the best for me. In spring/early summer I usually see the biggest fish. By mid summer in gets a little tougher for me to find good sized fish (they like cool water).Small to just over keeper size seem to be everywhere in the surf and along jetties throughout the seasons. For quantity fall is definitely the best time of year. In fall the Chesapeake Bay fish move south along the NJ coast in mass. I do a lot more hunting and looking at stripers then shooting though. I only shoot two or three a year. Their my favorite to hunt by far and taste great but I'd rather eat some of the other sandwich size species we get here.


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