We’ve been on quite the roller-coaster ride since the close of the 2024 fishing season, trying to follow rumors and meetings about what to do with striped bass regulations for 2025.
First, the rumors. They were all over the map and claiming to be from credible sources. The first and most ominous one was that a complete closure of the fishery was coming. There were less dire scenarios, too, of partial closures or catch-and-release fishing only.
I tuned in to the state’s Div. of Marine Fisheries online public hearings. But that didn’t really help: my head was spinning after each one. Basically, the agency was saying that it looked like the probability of the stock rebuilding to sustainable levels by their 2029 target year was less than 50 percent.
Given that, they could essentially do anything they wanted to the regulations without going through the process of formally adding an addendum. Those of us who fish for striped bass thought, “Oh boy. Here it comes. We’re doomed.”
The 2018 class of stripers produced well above average numbers of fish. While that sounds good, it means most of those fish will be keeper size in 2025. Extrapolating from that, the DMF figures that fish mortality will increase by roughly 17 percent in the season ahead.
The public meetings involved Marine Fisheries throwing out suggested rules without being able to tell us how they would really work if adopted. One idea was a 30-day closure in every East Coast state. But was it going to be 30 days in a row or 30 days broken up into smaller increments, maybe a week here, a week there?
The devil is in the details, but they never gave us any. The charter and party-boat owners and captains were beside ourselves. What if they decided on a 30-day closure in July or August? That would devastate the recreational bass fishing business. Their workaround was even crazier. They talked about the idea of not allowing targeting of striped bass — meaning charter captains could not advertise that they are targeting striped bass, but if it’s bycatch, caught while targeting another species, fine — just throw it back.
What were we supposed to do with that? Tell customers we are only going for bluefish with a wink, wink? I’m glad these web meetings were voice only and not video, because I needed a strong drink to get through them.
Then, just when we thought the striped bass season was going to be a complete dumpster fire, guess what? They decided to keep everything the same as last year.
The recreational rules will be one fish per person per day within a size slot of 28 to 31 inches. Only circle hooks will be allowed when bait fishing. And no gaffing of fish will be allowed.
Can you catch one keeper fish, clean it, come in to dock, toss the fillets in a cooler, and go back out, so that if you are boarded you look to be in compliance? No. But it’s done every day: the law is limited in its effectiveness because of how little policing is done on the water.
The rule on circle hooks is meant to minimize damage to the fish, in case it needs to be released. But that’s just for bait fishing. At the same time, swimming plugs are still allowed for others. These lures have three separate treble hooks that make mortality pretty much inevitable for a fish that is released. This makes no sense, but here we are.
Commercial fishermen, by the way, will be limited to 15 fish on open days which must be 35 inches minimum in length until the quota is filled. Open days for harvesting are still Tuesday and Wednesday starting on June 16, with a possible Thursday opening after Aug. 1.
Why all that drama — then no changes? Marine Fisheries came to the conclusion that more research and data are needed. Given the drastic cuts to many government agencies now underway, what if the additional research and data they hope for never happens? Then what?
