Striped Bass from various perspectives
 
  • In article Catering to a concert crowd in the July 15 Philadelphia Inquirer extolling the virtues of the new dining court at the Philadelphia Orchestra's Mann Center for the Performing Arts, legendary Philadelphia chef/caterer Steve Poses is shown serving striped bass, an entre he was featuring on his buffet. A patron is quoted saying "The food is delicious. The fish, especially, is excellent." The Inquirer calls Poses new undertaking - Bravo @ the Mann - "Among the city's newest and most enjoyable dining experiences." (It seems as if New Jersey residents actually do have access to the striped bass their state's waters are full of. While, thanks to the efforts of a handful of sports anglers they can't eat these delicious fish within the borders of their own state, they only have to travel across the Delaware to enjoy them - at the Mann, at Striped Bass, one of Philadelphia's premier restaurants, or at any other restaurant outside of New Jersey committed to providing its patrons with the freshest, highest quality seafood available.) 
  • "Capt. Joe Occhipinti Jr., Little Hawk, Atlantic Highlands, had Steve Hughes and a party of seven from Holliswood, N.Y., out, and they caught 16 keeper stripers up to 20 1/2 pounds, and 20 big bluefish while chunking on Flynn's Knoll. Hank Gilbertson, Rumson, caught his limit of stripers nearly every night this week while drifting sandworms in the Shrewsbury River." By John Geiser, Asbury Park Press  6/20/98 (Contrast this and the following piece with those by Mr. Geiser from last year noting the lack of larger bass Link to Small Fish quotesor to the third paragraph of the Jersey Coast Anglers Association "argument" for keeping New Jersey's striped bass as the personal property of the sportsfishermen - and, of course, all those "subsistence" fishermen that are such a significant part of the JCAA's recreational striped bass fishing community Link to Jersey Coast Anglers Association Consumer Legislation page)
  • "The Team Mullet invitational striper tournament...held over the weekend, was won by the Spring Lake Live Liner Fishing Club with 299 pounds. Dave Partusch had three bass from 20 to 25 pounds and Ray Smith had two 30-pounders to lead the winners. The Asbury Park Fishing Club was second with 214 pounds, Shark River Surf Anglers were third with 112, Berkeley Striper Club was fourth with 69, Team Mullet was fifth with 17…. Al Bauer, Brick Township, and Stan Yocius, Point Pleasant, caught four stripers from 18 to 22 pounds, trolling red tubes and swimming live herring north of Manasquan. Capt. Phil Dulanie, Canyon Runner, Point Pleasant, dashed up to Sandy Hook with the Pete Monatec charter from Woodbridge and they limited out on striped bass up to 20 pounds. By John Geiser, Asbury Park Press 6/16/98 
  • "Hearing on the Hill

    • On June 11th the House Fisheries Subcommittee held an oversight hearing on the spiny dogfish fishery and the bycatch of striped bass. Several government witnesses and the ASMFC testified that the bycatch of striped bass in the dogfish fishery is not a significant concern. However, the hooking mortality of recreationally caught striped bass had a more significant impact on the striped bass resource." in The NFInsider, 06/12/98 (Note: the feeling is that this hearing was prompted by anti-commercial fishing, anti-seafood consuming groups in yet another effort to make the commercial harvesters look bad. Obviously it didn't work. It did, fortunately, bring into the limelight the issue of bycatch mortality by the sports angling community. As soon as the hearing transcript is available we'll post relevant parts of it - and a link to the full transcript - here.) 
     
  • A New Jersey angling organization's feelings on sharing striped bass with consumers "Mr. Reichle states that the striped bass has recovered and there are more than we know what to do with. I guess Mr. Reichle doesn't fish much. If he did he would realize there are more striped bass because recreational anglers haven't been taking many home due to current size limits. We are catching many small striped bass but few keepers. The recreational and subsistence anglers have few opportunities to take home striped bass because there are few keeper size available.... Our message needs to be loud, clear and immediate. We will not tolerate the opening of the striped bass fishery to commercial interests in any way." by Tom Fote on the Jersey Coast Anglers Association website. Note that 1) his "estimation" of the availability of large striped bass to the sports angler is somewhat at odds with those of the professional outdoors writers and managers referenced below, and 2) what the JCAA will really "not tolerate" is sharing what they obviously feel is their striped bass with 7 million non-fishing New Jersey residents. [Link to Jersey Coast Anglers Association Consumer Legislation pageto read Mr. Fote's comments or to develop a fuller appreciation of his organization's stand on "who deserves the fish" directly at the source].
  • "AN ACT CONCERNING FISHING RESTRICTIONS ON STRIPED BASS.  

    • Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:  That chapter 490 of the general statutes be amended to eliminate restrictions against commercial sale of striped bass taken in Connecticut waters and require the Department of Environmental Protection to develop regulations regarding such sale and to monitor the effect of such regulation. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE: To allow taking of now-abundant species as many other states are doing." Introduced by REP. WINKLER, 41st DIST, General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, January Session A.D., 1997 
     
  • "William Wood observed: The Basse is one of the best fishes in the Countrey, and though men are soone wearied with other fish, yet are they never with Basse. It is a delicate, fine fat, fast fish, having a bone in his head, which contains a sawcerfull of marrow, sweet and good, pleasant to the pallat, and wholesome to the stomach. When there be a great store of them, we only eate the heads, and salt up the bodies for winter." (New England's Prospects, William Wood, London, 1634) - In The Encyclopedia of Fish Cookery Link to Encyclopedia of Fish Cookery
  • "When her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip dined at the Waldorf in 1957, Claude Philippe, with a Gallic regard for Americana, had prepared, 4,500 pounds of striped bass for the royal feast. Monsieur Philippe, who currently heads the Lucullus Circle in New York, presented the fish with a champagne sauce surrounded by golden fleurons. The bass had been caught a scant 24 hours before in the salty waters of Montauk. Her Majesty pronounced the fish a culinary masterpiece, and somehow it seemed that Captain John Smith had triumphed in the end."- also In The Encyclopedia of Fish Cookery Link to Encyclopedia of Fish Cookery
  • "The recovery of striped bass; not necessarily something we are solely responsible for, but we certainly were a part of. It was accomplished through host partnering with the states that are part of the Atlantic States Marine Fish Commission, and other agencies. But I can tell you what we have achieved. Our information, records go back to the 1880's. This year science showed that there are more stripe(d bass) as in any time of the history of this nation...." - from the testimony of Rollie Schmitten, head of the National Marine Fisheries Service, before the Fisheries Subcommittee of the House Resources Committe, on September 11, 1997 Link to Hearing Transcript(use the "find in frame" command to reach this section - about 25% of the way down the document)
  • "Expansion of striped bass commercial fishery fast approaching

    • This year undoubtedly will be the last year that recreational fisherman concerned about the rebuilding of striped bass stocks will be able to argue against expansion of the commercial fishery.    
    The young of the year index from the Chesapeake Bay last year was 59.3, the highest ever recorded. Mark Gibson, chairman of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Technical Committee, said the reproduction in the Bay was phenomenal. 
    'It was right off scale,' he said. 'they've never had anything like it before.'"  By John Geiser, Asbury Park Press 1/12/97 
  • "Striper laws in need of reform 

    • The striped bass hard-liners must agree to some regulatory changes soon or the coastal management plan will be regarded as a farce. 
    Capt. Phil Sciortino Jr. fished the Shrewsbury River with a party Tuesday morning and they caught over 30 striped bass of which three were keepers. He was out the other day and two anglers caught over 50 bass and no keepers. 
    The uninitiated might assume quickly that they were catching juveniles reminiscent of the days when I fished the Chesapeake Bay and we kept a stringer of legal, 12-inch rockfish to make a meal.This was not the case. These were not stripers in their second year. They were 6- and 7-year-old fish that measured from 24 to just under the legal 28-inch minimum, and weighed up to 12 pounds. 
    Striped bass under 28 inches are all over the New Jersey estuarine and ocean scene. John Bushell Sr., Betty and Nick's Bait and Tackle, Seaside Park, has been talking for weeks of big numbers in the Seaside and Island Beach surf, and Scott Albertson, Scott's Bait and Tackle, Little Egg Harbor Township, sees them in Great and Tuckerton bays" by John Geiser, Asbury Park Press and The Home News & Tribune 4/30/97 
  • "Stripers deluge party boat anglers

    • The marine radio and a spirit of cooperation Thursday provided a lot of party boat anglers with action they will not soon forget. 
    Capt. Alan Shinn, Miss Belmar Princess, Belmar, was catching bluefish near the Klondike Banks when the word came from the grounds off Monmouth Beach: "Striped bass all over up here." 
    The party boat Brooklyn was the first into them. Shinn called Capt. Jimmy Morenz of the Miss Take II, Highlands, who was putting 60 bass, some more than 30 pounds, in the boat when he sent out the word. 
    "We had plenty of blues when we heard about it around noon, and I was the first to get there," Shinn said. 
    From that point, it was hectic jigging." by John Geiser, Asbury Park Press 6/27/97 
  • "The striped bass, a fish that was in such decline along the East Coast that it was totally protected in local waters until just a few years ago, produced the second greatest number of citations (Awarded by the State of Delaware for large "trophy" fish caught in 1997) at 156." by Bob Jones in the Wilmington (DE) News Journal 6/10/98
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