Croaker, fyi.

[ccx2]

Was working on Ft Monroe today and saw three com boats fishing nets off of buckroe beach, must be catchin some croaker. Also heard from a friend that heard from a friend that some have been caught off the james river pier. Kinda early but ya never know.

[diggy23662]

i was told by one of my commercial fishing buddies that they are slaying moster rockfish off of buckroe, and he is one of the guys doing the slaying!

[kendall]

their in the james as well....along with the bunker,mullet and a few crabs.....

[manmind]

Was working on Ft Monroe today and saw three com boats fishing nets off of buckroe beach, must be catchin some croaker. Also heard from a friend that heard from a friend that some have been caught off the james river pier. Kinda early but ya never know.

Yeah this is Waaay early:eek::scratchchin3:, I haven't know them to come in this soon in the past

[BottomKnocker]

Is it legal for the comm to net stripers in the bay now? Or does closed mean just to the recs?

[racn35]

i heard from dennis who heard from tony who heard from billy who heard from a friend that heard from a friend that some have been caught off the james river pier.

i was over there and asked a guy fishing if he had caught anything and he said he heard from a friend that heard from a friend that some have been caught

[Tom Powers]

The commercial fishery in the bay has the same quota as the recreational "target" quota. They fish on an Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQ) where each person in the fishery is issued a specific share (in pounds). That share can be transferred in whole or part with certain restrictions. They are also issued tags but if they run out they are allowed to get more once their paperwork is up to date. Once an individual have harvested their share of the ITQ they are done for the year. By design such a fishery will never reach their assigned quota because a certain fraction of the harvesters will not harvest all of their quota for various reasons.

Here is a link to the regulations regarding striped bass. CHAPTER: PERTAINING TO THE TAKING OF STRIPED BASS (http://www.mrc.state.va.us/regulations/fr252.shtm)

The Commercial season is open on Feb. 1 through Dec. 31st. There are mesh restrictions and size restrictions in the spring. For instance on March 26th through June 15th they are limited to 18 to 28 inch fish within the bay.

[ccx2]

i heard from dennis who heard from tony who heard from billy who heard from a friend that heard from a friend that some have been caught off the james river pier.

i was over there and asked a guy fishing if he had caught anything and he said he heard from a friend that heard from a friend that some have been caught

Yeah , thems the ones im talkin bout:D

[Tunablitz]

Lot of them boys are perch fishin..

[Mike-JacksonCreek]

Guys, there are rockfish in the Potomac now, gill netters in the Potomac just below Ragged Point have been getting rockfish for about a week. There are probably about 4 gill netters working, one of the bigger ones is Mike Gadwell out of Bonum's Creek just below Ragged Pt (near my home). There was a large group of fish just off of Cape Henry when we had that warm spell recently, those fish moved up the bay. From now thru March is when a large portion of the commercial catch will be made. From 26 March until afterMay there are commercial size limits (none over 28"). There are also rockfish in the Rapphanock.

Also, and this will irritate some of you....the Potomac fishery has its own quota, the entire quota is 110,000 tags) gill nets, pound nets, hook and line), average 14 lbs a fish. Thats almost the same as the Va commerical quota ($1.6M). The Potomac regs are based on total tags where the Va and Md quota's are based on poundage vs tags. Starting 25 Feb thru May there are size limits, nothing over 36". The only real impact restriction, in my opinion, is that in March gill netters are limited to 2 nets in the first 2 weeks, and 4 nets in the secons 2 weeks.

[Mike-JacksonCreek]

Guys, there are rockfish in the Potomac now, gill netters in the Potomac just below Ragged Point have been getting rockfish for about a week. There are probably about 4 gill netters working, one of the bigger ones is Mike Gadwell out of Bonum's Creek just below Ragged Pt (near my home). There was a large group of fish just off of Cape Henry when we had that warm spell recently, those fish moved up the bay. From now thru March is when a large portion of the commercial catch will be made. From 26 March until afterMay there are commercial size limits (none over 28"). There are also rockfish in the Rapphanock.

Also, and this will irritate some of you....the Potomac fishery has its own quota, the entire quota is 110,000 tags) gill nets, pound nets, hook and line), average 14 lbs a fish. Thats almost the same as the Va commerical quota ($1.6M). The Potomac regs are based on total tags where the Va and Md quota's are based on poundage vs tags. Starting 25 Feb thru May there are size limits, nothing over 36". The only real impact restriction, in my opinion, is that in March gill netters are limited to 2 nets in the first 2 weeks, and 4 nets in the second 2 weeks.

[kendall]

YOU'D THINK IT WOULD BE OPPOSITE.....IF YOUR GETTING CLOSE TO THE QUOTA WOULDN'T YOU LIMIT THE NETS TO 2 SO YOU DON'T CATCH OVER THE LIMIT AND THROW DEAD ONES BACK.....?
i REMEMBER SEEING ARTICLES IN PAPERS WHERE THE PLANE OR COPTER TOOK AREIA PICS OF THE DEAD FISH FLOATING FORM THE BOATS THROWING THE DEAD ONES THEY DIDN'T WANT BACK....TO GET BIGGER ONES.....

[NNMountaineer]

I wouldnt doubt there are croakers in the James right now, I have caught them in the Warwick River in March in years past.

[captfisher]

They are gill nets and they are smoking the Big Bass from the lower Bay to the upper Potomac (a 70 pounder came from the Potomac last week). These guys deserve to make a living too..., but why does VA. make us wait until May 1 to catch em? Why does Maryland and P.R.F.C. make us wait until April 18 to catch em? It's for a good reason, the guys with the graphs feel the fish need to spawn first. I agree...so why is it that the gill netters are allowed to blast em now before they get a chance to spawn? I'm not saying they should'nt be allowed to get their share of the stock, just why not wait and let em spawn first? I been in the business fishing both sides since 1984 and I will tell ya this it ain't gonna last like this! Just like a bunch of Goverment office workers to make a corporate decision to remove a mother duck from her egg filled nest only to pay a bunch of scientist to study what happened to her ducklings and scratch their heads as to why they did not make it.

[Debra Christine]

Capt Fisher,
I could not agree more. When it comes to fisherys management my views exist on 2 levels: 1) how can i make enough money as a charter business for my sole income 2) How should the rockfish fishery be managed in order for me to continue this for the next 30+ years. What baffles me is that rockfish are on the decline, and yet each spring rockfish full of eggs are gill netted during their migration towards the spawining grounds. Were not talking a few fish here... probably over 200,000 if the tags are filled and i am sure they are!!!

I have heard that maryland's recreational target number for migratory stripers is about 32000 for a spring season. And maryland has to wait till April 18th in order to all the spawn to take place before the fishery is opened. Even though there is catchable fish long before this date. THIS MAKES NO SENCE.... Lets allow the killing of 200,00 fish each year full of eggs for less than $2.00 per pound, But make the guys that have spent $40,000 on a pick up, $50,000+ on a boat,and ect ect ect, to generally kill a minimal amount of fish. The recreational anglers comletely outnumber the commercial people, there is so much more revenue generated on the recreational side then there is on the commercial side. You wanna talk economic stimulis... Take the 200,000 fish allowed to the gill netters and open that number of fish to the recreational side of the fishery in MD & VA. You will some money spent to chase a fish. But I guess, this is my own personal dream land. This is what happens when f#%king politics get involved with managing profitable wildlife. Politics= he who has the best representation is allowed to destroy & profit the most. The whole system is just WRONG and needs an over haul.


But I guess if POLITICAL FISHERIES MANAGEMENT holds true to form, Somthing will be done just about the time that you can hardly catch a rockfish.

Get the nets out of the water!!!

[KenG]

Recreational fishermen can't agree on anything. If one or more of the lawyers or politicians on this board could mange to organize all the recreational fisherman a one group, like the NRA, we would be unstoppable. It won't happen though, we are to much like religion! Every body has their opinion and the other guy is wrong. So we sit and watch as the organized commercial groups lobby and win time after time. If anyone ever does form a national group with an affordable membership I will signup.