Fishery managers are meeting to discuss potential changes to striped bass limits, to protect the species as it has been declared overfished.
Striped bass are the iconic game fish – not just around Cape Cod, but up and down the Northeast. This week, On The Water magazine's Kevin Blinkoff walks us through a short history of the fish, including its stock collapse in the early 1980s and subsequent years of rebuilding.
Blinkoff says fisheries managers may propose to address this recent decline by raising the striper limit in Massachusetts to 35" or 36", or perhaps by moving to a slot limit. Whatever they come up with, anglers will soon have an opportunity to submit comments on the proposal, which will likely be enacted for 2020.
And we roundup the local fishing action, including the appearance of bluefish, bonito around the islands, and offshore fishing lighting up. Give it a listen.