Culling Striped Bass

[esquired]

After reading the thread about the fresh dead striper found earlier this week I have a question

Is it legal to cull striped bass - ie exchange a smaller caught fish for a larger fish caught later?

If so, does anyone do this and is it possible to keep the caught striper alive?

[Marine Tom]

I've read about people doing it here on the BB. I think it was legal, but why would someone do it if they are not in a tourney is beyond me.

Give me two 30 inchers for chow and I'm set.

Unless it's 80lbs I'll release any fish outside the boats limit. Not that I'm releasing any fish as one must catch 'em first.:p

[esquired]

I was under the impression that it is illegal but was unable to locate any mention of it in the NJ Regs. In MD they clearly state that it is illegal


I just checked the ASA rules and they do not mention it either.

[Clamboni]

It's legal to cull live fish in NJ. It's illegal to put a dead keeper back.

[esquired]

It's legal to cull live fish in NJ. It's illegal to put a dead keeper back.


Can you point me to anything in the rules or regulations addressing this point?

In other states it clearly says that once the fish is in possession it counts towards your limit - you cannot return it even if alive without violating the law.

[LONG OVERDUE]

While at the ASA Captains meeting, they had a couple of Striper tubes on display. I would imagine the only reason you would want to keep a striper alive in a striper tube would be to be able to cull it if you caught a bigger fish during a tournement.
:huh:

[bigfish4me]

While at the ASA Captains meeting, they had a couple of Striper tubes on display. I would imagine the only reason you would want to keep a striper alive in a striper tube would be to be able to cull it if you caught a bigger fish during a tournement.
:huh:

Or release it after the way in

[Don C]

Or release it after the way in
I thought it was a live fish tournament now. They encouraged you to release your catch unharmed after the weigh in.

Don C

[Mddletown]

Do you think it makes sense to take a dead striper and throw it away? Common sense should answer this question fairly quickly.

There are tubes that keep stripes alive and a lot of tournies use them.

[bornband]

I think you need to ask yourself is it really important to keep that bigger fish? Is it really worth the extra meat to kill a fish for no reason? Whether it is in the regs or not it is common sense isn't it?:confused:

[hammerhead10]

I believe that culling is permitted in NJ, but what's the point???

Big fish are only good for 2 things: winning tournaments and bragging rights. Is it worth killing a fish for bragging rights? I think not.

As for the table, give me a small fish any day. It broke my heart when they did away with the slot fish, because that was the best eating. The NJMFC is considering restoring the slot fish allowance, and I'm hoping they pass it. I only keep 1 fish per trip, and if I get one over 29", back it goes into the drink. Personaly, I'd rather catch schoolies on light tackle than bigger fish on heavier tackle. I think ya get a lot more action from a teenager than an old fart ennyhow. (That doesn't always hold true with women though).

:D

[esquired]

Let me make myself clear - I am dead set against culling! My question only had to do with the legalities of doing this - as I said above, Maryland law is VERY clear that you cannot cull striped bass.

Thanks for all the responses

[Clamboni]

No, I don't know of anywhere it's in writing, but I fish tournaments with a fisheries biologist that wirks with the state and we cull, and I've never heard him say anything about it.

[esquired]

No, I don't know of anywhere it's in writing, but I fish tournaments with a fisheries biologist that wirks with the state and we cull, and I've never heard him say anything about it.

Are they ASA Tournament? I know the ASA encourages the use of Tuna Tubes but they seem to be more for C&R then culling


BTW - they use the Tuna Tubes in MD where it is illegal to cull stripers

[Bet On It]

We saw a dead "floater" late saturday morning in the bay must've been 32 inches long. It was on it's side and looked as though it might not have been totally dead yet.

[Clamboni]

Are they ASA Tournament? I know the ASA encourages the use of Tuna Tubes but they seem to be more for C&R then culling


BTW - they use the Tuna Tubes in MD where it is illegal to cull stripers

I'm talking about freshwater bass tournaments.

Is it illegal to cull any fish? or stripers specifically? The tubes definitely seem more to C&R.

There's some states that have laws barring culling, but they have exceptions for tournaments.

[fishingfever]

First off - just to clarify for the benefit of the thread. I presume the culling question is with respect to releasing LIVE fish (i.e. being kept in a baitwell or tank) to upgrade to a larger, keeper sized fish.

Throwing a dead keeper from the cooler into the water to be able to keep a bigger one is just wrong :naughty: - no way to debate that one.

I fished on a charter about a month ago in Montauk and, believe me, culling is commonly done up there, including the charter I was on. The fish released seemed to respond very well and I don't think it caused any undue stress to the fish while in captivity (i.e. they were not kicking or banging around while in the tank).

My view is pretty impartial to whether you do it or not, but if you do the focus has to be on keeping good oxygen flow to the fish while in captivity and releasing ONLY healthy fish. The only acceptable places I can see doing this on board is if you have a large livewell or the tuna tubes - keeping fish on a stringer boatside would seem to stress the fish too much.

If the captive fish is freaking out and beating itself up in the tank (again, I didn't see any fish doing this while in Montauk), then it's chances for survival diminish.

As an aside, I haven't had the luxury of experiencing this issue on my boat yet - we can't seem to catch close to our limit to start worrying about whether to cull or not!!;)

[David599]

Let your conscience be your guide. We dont toss back dead fish in order to keep a bigger fish.

Somebody with common sense ought to apply reason to the fluke regs. Catch 10 fish, throw back 9. How many die later on, esp if gut hooked.