Fisherman report saturday night

[Fishfinder]

Decided to go out on the Fisherman out of A.H. and try for some bluefish and maybe a striper. My buddy landed the only keeper striper at 29" on the boat. The bluefishing was pretty good with lots of action. Must have been 150 fish caught on the boat and most were in the 7 to 10 pound range with the pool fish at 15 pounds. Toward evening when we were off in the deeper water out from Sea Bright you could see several big schools of bunker scattered about Some were getting blasted from underneath. The captain tried to get close and drift through but that didn't work out. One guy hooked into a thresher shark of about 7' and fought him for a good 30 minutes before the line broke. We moved back where we started and spent the last hour with several blues coming over the rail. The mates did a great job and really hussled all night. The end of the night I was pretty pissed of when several buckets of blues were suddenly deserted by whoever was catching them all night. What a waste. It's not like you can throw the fish back after they're gaffed but if you catch all you're going to eat then you ought to take your line out of the water. After we got back to the marina I could see a pile of blues up on the cleaning table of the Prowler V that looked like they were also abanded by those who caught them. I say that because all of the fishermen were already off the boat.

[fishanuk]

That is a tragic waste of fish. Maybe somebody would come along and grab them for crabtrap bait. Guys should be more mindful of what they can take. Obviously, these guys aren't aware of species conservation.

[JerseyBrian3]

I think that some time the pool contributes to this. Somebody may have no interest in eating the fish but doesn't want to take a chance of throwing the money fish back. One of the drawbacks of the pool. Can you chum blues for blues? Maybe the boat has a way to atleast recycle the wasted catch.

[bgreene]

Oh I hear you dude - keep what you eat, throw back what you don't.

On a night boat from Belmar, my buddy decided it was time for catch and release, but the mate said no - any fish not wanted are kept by the boat.

That discussion didn't last long, as the last word was - I paid, I caught it, and I've decided the fish goes back to the sea, which it did.

Just because there are " lot's of bluefish" doesn't mean waste them, as typical of our species - the human species I'm talking about.

[Fishfinder]

I'm not sure what the answer is. Maybe we should start a movement called "no fish left behind" for party boat fishing.