New Striper Regs

[Finnicky]

Mike I agree there is always a risk involved when in the water. If you can't see the dive flag then that falls on the divers. Put it high where everyone can see. Most divers wil be during slacker tides as well. Common sense by all parties goes a long way but you can't assume everyone has it.

[Earesponsible]

Mike I agree there is always a risk involved when in the water. If you can't see the dive flag then that falls on the divers. Put it high where everyone can see. Most divers wil be during slacker tides as well. Common sense by all parties goes a long way but you can't assume everyone has it.

I agree completely. I really don't think it is going to be that big a deal. The diver #s are going to be vey few and as we all know slack tide sucks for fishing the pilings and rocks H & L. I recently bought an extra jumbo dive flag Mike, not a bad idea for anyone.

I did have someone a couple of weeks ago who rolled up to me while I was in the water at a piling. I motioned to him and he waved back, then continued toward me and proceeded to fish the piling directly next to me on the same set. I held my tongue initially as my boat was a little farther away from me than it should have been. My driver then came in close with the boat as I moved to the next set of pilings. Amazingly, the H & L ers also moved to the next set with me and began to fish! I politely informed them that they were a little too close for comfort. They angrily reeled up and moved away grumbling about it. I guess they saw me in the water and figured they were being safe knowing where I was, but they really had no way to know that I was the only diver in the water.

Anyway, as Finnicky stated, you can't assume everyone has common sense.

[wetboat]

And spearing now allowed....

I sent my letter in support, looks like it paid off.

I got 5 dollars there will be a lot of citation divers caught during this years fall rock season

[Mike Avery]

I got 5 dollars there will be a lot of citation divers caught during this years fall rock season

And if you're going to do a release photo, please support them properly, don't hold them up by their neck. Better to just leave them in the water and take your picture. Is it better to leave the hook in them or to try to get the hook out?

[Chris Newsome]

As to the why. . . The harvest has been down for the past several years. Mostly based on a lack of effort, which is generally attributed to the economy and gas prices.

I call BS on this statement. Are these your words or those of the VMRC? What data is there that supports this statement.

[GATORMAN]

I will always try to respect the dive flag....when I can see it. There are times when the waves are little up and the flag is hard to see. There are times when the outgoing is ripping hard and flag gets pushed on the inside the pilings even though the diver is bayside and my stretch is bayside. There is a big potential for gear conflict even when we do our absolute best to be safe. If a diver wants to jump on the water when there are hundreds of boats trolling and jigging there is a risk involved.

Always amazing to me when a change for all users of the state's resources tends to bring out all the "possibilities of problems." In this case the howl goes up before the first diver has entered the cold water and the first conflict. A larger percentage of striper fishing is done at night, while spearfishing will obviously be done during the day. I admit to concerns during striper season because it seems to bring out the worst of the 10-15% of boaters who don't even know what a dive flag is or what space to give, let alone how to troll around an anchor rode for someone working a spot - rod & reel or diving. But can't we just all get along?
Mike...Diving along the pylons when tides are "ripping" just doesn't work well. Divers will mostly work the islands and then only work other structure during slack tides. Anyone who fishes for stripers knows you don't catch too many when the current isn't moving. That should reduce a little of the conflict on the non-island areas of the bridge.
Bottom line is that I have always felt regulations should be made for maximum reasonable participation, and elimination of the slot protects the "spear & release" potential. As long as the majority respect each others' rights to the resource, it shouldn't matter whether you take the fish with a spear or a rod.
One more note: Regarding the concern about lack of catches during the years cited...As I recall, it was very difficult to find a fish within the legal 3 mile limit during that time. Most folks who caught were either lucky because they happened on a school that came in, but most who were "lucky" were going way into the fed zone to do so. The past two winters have been exceptional for legal, within 3 mile rock catching - especially for the North Carolina trawlers .

[Kevin Smith]

Chris,

I still think the VMRC is doing the bidding of our Governor Mc Donnell and they are allowing this in an effort to distract the recreational anglers from the menhaden issue, so I agree this is BS.

Kevin
Weekend Mistress

[Earesponsible]

And if you're going to do a release photo, please support them properly, don't hold them up by their neck. Better to just leave them in the water and take your picture. Is it better to leave the hook in them or to try to get the hook out?

Just be careful with the spines, this species tends to harbor a razor sharp projectile that can be discharged for self-defense.

[Tom Powers]

The lack of effort is attributed to the recreational fishing survey data. Maybe a better choice of words would have been reduction in angler trips. BTW I am not sure how much I believe the numbers, but the trends are probably valid. I do stand corrected that the effort (by this metric) was up last year, but it is still down as compared to historic numbers.

Also 2010 was the year that the water temps dropped in early Dec.

And yes I do agree that the stocks are down. So is our allowed harvest in the bay.

Year Angler trips in Nov/Dec
2005 715,000
2006 572,000
2007 394,000
2008 330,000
2009 322,000
2010 254,000
2011 475,000

Catch (number striped bass)
2005 258,000
2006 461,000
2007 237,000
2009 245,000
2010 75,000
2011 122,000


Quotas for some of the recent years.
2006 1,554,302
2008 1,642,000
2010 1,538,000
2011 1,430,000
2012 1,430,000

[Tom Powers]

"A larger percentage of striper fishing is done at night,"

That may be true if you are casting the light line. But there are lines and lines of boats trolling up and down the bridge during the daylight hours. Also there are many folks that cast to the islands during the day (not troll off of them) both during the spring and winter seasons.

We will see how it goes gear conflict wise.