Shore Catch Charters lands a 58# Striped Bass!
Capt. Gene Quigly quided angler Rich Karpowics to a 58#
striper in 8ft of water this morning June 10th, 2004!
The fish ate a live bunker, was weighed, photographed
and released! Click
here to see the photo and more details!
Way to go Capt. Gene and Rich! Not only landing a monumental
striped bass, but also for releasing such a giant for
our striped bass fishing future 
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Striped
Bass Fishing Poll - Why We Go Striper Fishing
I've always wondered
why we fish. I don't mean why I fish, I know that, but why we,
as a group, fish. It turns out, at least in the results of our
5 day long poll, that people fish for reasons that are very
different from the reasons we've always been told. Imagine that
I'm thinking about running this poll longer and from the main
page of the site so non-members can also vote. I wonder if the
addition of non-members would change the results drastically?
Anyway, some disclaimers about this poll before anyone emails
me to tell me why the information is wrong or anything else
along those lines
The questions asked are shown exactly as they were asked. There
was no viewing of or discussion of the ongoing poll results
to possibly sway folks who had not yet voted - the results were
not viewable until the poll had ended. The questions were just
off the hip questions, there was no research or science of Herculean
effort to make them anything other than questions I've always
wondered about. The results of the 216 registered SurfTalk members
are presented below. There was some problem with question number
7, it didn't give folks who were not members of the groups in
question 6 any option...question 7 can pretty much be discounted
for that reason but it's included here because it was included
in the original poll.
For ease of interpretation,
the number one and number two (in multiple choice questions)
most popular responses are highlighted in a different color
- number one choice being red and number two choice being blue.
If you have any comments or questions about this poll, feel
free to contact me at tims@stripersonline.com - if you'd like
to link to this information from your site, please link to this
page instead of to the page you are reading as this
one changes...sometimes
.
This material is copyright protected and is not to be used in
part or whole without permission - linking to this page is the
only legally acceptable manner of displaying this information
on another site.
Poll Results: Poll - Why do we fish? (216 votes.)
1. What's your primary reason
for striper fishing?
I enjoy striper
fishing, regardless of what I catch 50% (109)
I want to catch a lot of stripers. 3% (6)
I want to catch big stripers. 13% (28)
I want to catch a striper I can take home to eat. 3% (7)
I want to catch a striper big enough to hang on the wall. 3%
(6)
I want to bring home as much fish as possible. 0% (1)
I enjoy striper fishing, regardless
of what I can keep. 25% (55)
None of the above. 2% (4)
2. What's the most important
secondary reason for striper fishing?
I enjoy striper fishing, regardless of what I catch 18% (38)
I want to catch a lot of stripers. 12% (26)
I want to catch big stripers. 28% (61)
I want to catch a striper I can take home to eat. 9% (20)
I want to catch a striper big enough to hang on the wall. 2%
(4)
I want to bring home as much fish as possible. 1% (2)
I enjoy striper fishing, regardless
of what I can keep. 25% (54)
None of the above. 5% (11)
3. True/False: I would fish
more frequently if there were more big fish.
True 35% (76)
False 65% (140)
4. True/False: I would fish
more frequently if I could keep three instead of two.
True 2% (4)
False 98% (212)
5. True/False: I would fish
more frequently if the size limit were reduced.
True 3% (7)
False 97% (209)
6. I am a member of and support
the following groups:
JCAA 5% (10)
RFA 8% (17)
CCA 18% (39)
None of the above 72% (156)
7. True/False: I feel that
the groups I belong to represent me well.
True
60% (129)
False 40% (87)
8. True/False: I don't know
enough about the issues to know if I'm being misled.
True 45% (98)
False 55% (118)
I think a couple very interesting
points can be made from these result. The first is, apparently,
very few people fish for striped bass in because they would
like to take one home to eat. In fact, 97% percent of the respondents
listed other primary reasons for striped bass fishing and 91%
of respondents didn't even choose that as a secondary reason
for striped bass fishing.
Another interesting point is
only 3% of the anglers that responded would go striper fishing
more frequently if the size limit were reduced and only 2% would
fish more frequently if they could bring home three stripers
per day instead of two.
And one thing I wish some areas
of the recreational fishing industry would consider, at least
in regards to the striped bass, is that one third of the anglers
that responded would fish more frequently if there were
more big fish in the population. Only 3% would fish more frequently
if they could kill more while 35% would fish more frequently
if there were more big fish. It's impossible to guess if those
anglers that responded are representative of striped bass anglers
everywhere, but I'm certain that these results do reflect a
very contrary picture to some of the impressions I've gotten
from the media for years. The majority of respondents fish because
they want to fish, not so they can bring a fish home. Almost
none would fish any more frequently with a lower size limit
or higher bag limit. To me, that's very interesting...not necessarily
scientific, but very clearly represented by the 216 people that
participated in this poll.
The
original poll can be seen here. Thanks to all those
that participated, I look forward to the next one :-)
Tim Surgent