Winter Fishing Hits the Skids

Winter fishing has taken a dive.  What started off as real good fishing a month ago has hit the skids in recent weeks.  I continue to fish several times a week and I hit a lot of spots, yet I am lucky to get even one fish.  My last three outings have produced a grand total of 2 small winter holdovers.  It's not good. But, it's winter fishing and its trademark has always been inconsistency.
The interesting thing about winter fishing thusfar is the lack of keeper fish.  This is consistent with what we have seen all year. In  past years about one winter fish in twenty has been a small keeper about 30 inches long.  This year I've caught close to 200 winter fish, yet not one fish has been a keeper.  While there have been good number of schoolies around all year, the numbers of keepers have fallen drastically this year for RI shore fishermen which is bad news for the upcoming season. It will only get worse next year. Most of us who fish a lot know this, but there seems to be no push from management officials to conserve what we have and reduce the mortality rate of keeper bass for the upcoming season.  Don't expect any changes in the regulations for 2014.