Spearfishing stripers in Mass.

[oceanpout]

wow and i thought that all good comedians were in vegas boy was i wrong

 

[scubastew]

perhaps that bridge the toothfairy is selling will come in handy for any aspiring good comedians among us?

~stew

 

[scubastew]

if it's spear GUN fishing it probably wouldnt be that "sporty", though if you had to manually spear a striped bass, now that could get a primetime slot on ESPN 8 ("The Ocho") right after DodgeBall.

 

[oceanpout]

This is the cached copy of http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/185/ht04pdf/ht04588.pdf.



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Page 1
By Mr. Walsh of Boston, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 4588) of Robert Clavin for legislation to authorize the taking of striped bassby spearingn.Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture. No. 4588 HOUSE . . . . . . .The Commonwealth of Massachusetts?????? PETITION OF: Martin J. WalshRobert Clavin ?????? In the Year Two Thousand and Eight. ?????? AN ACT RELATIVE TO STRIPED BASSBe it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in GeneralCourtassembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: An act relative to striped bass A petition by Rep. Walsh of Boston by request Section 100B of chapter 130 of the General Laws, as so appearing inthe 2006Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word ?line?,in line 3,the following words:- or spearing.


look at the letter the toothfairy e-mailed me

 

[decapoddiver]

"The taking of striped bass by any other means other than hook and line is prohibited."

Current MA Abstracts
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries - Recreational Fishing - Regulations

I'd like to know how the hell a person can measure a Striper (which has strict size limits) underwater before they spear it.

 

[RIOceanographer]

I'd like to know how the hell a person can measure a Striper (which has strict size limits) underwater before they spear it.

I'm not a spearfisherman myself, but I know a lot of die hard spearfishermen and they don't have much of a problem (here in RI it is already legal to take stripers as johlar mentioned above).

The rule of thumb for spearfishing is that you don't shoot anything unless it is clearly well over the minimum size. Some people also put index marks on the barrel of the gun help them gauge sizes.

Just don't get careless/greedy and shoot fish that might be anywhere near the minimum.

 

[ScubaSarus]

"I'd like to know how the hell a person can measure a Striper (which has strict size limits) underwater before they spear it."

That may explain why I occasionally see a dead fish with a hole going thru it.

 

[oceanpout]

it is good to here there is a bill in the house that wood make it leagal in mass as for measureing i think it would be easier than feeling a little tug on a fishing line setting the hook then when you land it you sea it was a undersize schoolie that you just gut hooked and he ends up not surviving the fight however most smart stipper fishermen use cicle hooks to avoid gut hooks

 

[oceanpout]

i think the fish with the hole in it is from people who dont know how to handle a fish properly and use a galf to land them i highly doubt it was from a spearfisherman but i cant say that for sure i was not there went it was galfed

 

[decapoddiver]

it is good to here there is a bill in the house that wood make it leagal in mass as for measureing i think it would be easier than feeling a little tug on a fishing line setting the hook then when you land it you sea it was a undersize schoolie that you just gut hooked and he ends up not surviving the fight however most smart stipper fishermen use cicle hooks to avoid gut hooks

The striped bass fishermen who use bait (the minority) do use circle hooks for the most part. As for myself, I flyfish so if the bass is gut-hooked, I was WAY late setting the hook

All I ask is that when you do your first spearfishing for stripers, you let me tag along :14: