Striped Bass Regulations

[Mark Steiner]

I agree with both of you! Switching to another species is always a great strategy and Captain Bob really knows how to successfully do just that! I also like to play the striper bite as long as it lasts so if you have chosen to keep one, use some hooks with the barb removed for extra challenge on your angling skills or single hooks lures such as a jig with the barb removed. Many will shake it out but I can see some great catch and release tournaments going barbless. Hell we do it with trout.

The other side of the coin is that there will be more stripers around this year and many stayed South last year due to strange weather patterns. It's certainly not the recreational fisherman that has caused the decline in general and I don't even want to get into that!

[Capt. Bob]

Just a review of the surrounding states regulations. Maine is still out for public comment. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York will have a 1 fish at 28" or larger limit. New Jersey is trying to get a 2 fish slot limit.
The good news is we are in agreement that we need to reduce the harvest to help bring back the fish stocks. Also, if you catch your fish in New York or Rhode Island, a 28" fish is legal in those states as well as when you reenter Connecticut waters. For many years , each state had different size limits and you were risking a violation transiting your fish. We are finally all on the same page in this area.