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| Just one of many keepers landed in the last week. Keepers are around in staggering numbers right now. |
In the last week, my son Jon and I have landed 100 stripers from both shore and kayak. The amazing fact is that 80 of them have been slots or over slots. Think about that.....4 out of 5 fish were keepers and just 20 of them were good size schoolies. The smallest fish of the week was maybe 24 inches.
I've been doing this for over 60 years and I can tell you that there has never been a period of time that had more good size fish than now. Many will say the population is top heavy with few small ones around. Yes, that could be a future problem. But, right now, fishermen are enjoying incredible fishing for good size fish from 28 to 35 inches.
Even over slot fish are fairly common. In the last week, we had several fish over 40 inches.
However, there is an ugly side to this incredible, easy fishing. Abuses have been many as more and more unsavory characters have cashed in on the easy, abundant fish. I've seen blatant abuses where fishermen will walk out of a spot with 2 or more fish. Still others will send a runner to the car with a fish to hide in the trunk. They will continue to catch stripers, and the runner just keeps going back to the car with fish. And, others will keep those hefty 26 inch schoolies. While DEM enforcement will respond to most calls, by the time they get there, the lawbreakers are long gone in most cases. My suggestion is to not to confront these abusers. Most know they are breaking the law but they just don't care......just a reflection of what is going on in society in general. If you see any abuses, call the RI DEM at 222-3070.
