[Tiderunner]

Just this past Friday, Nov.23, 2001 I was fishing the West End II Jetty. There were a couple of guys with their wives/girlfriends catching small 19" to 23" bass on clam,bunker and 80 # test line. The problem was that they were keeping them. They were asked to throw the fish back because of the small size. Their response was that they were going to keep them for dinner. We told them what the regs were, but they didn't care. Then suddenly out of the blue came a DEC officer walking down the jetty. Next thing I see is a small bass becoming a flying fish. Flying back into the water belly up. The DEC officer saw this and took great pleasure in writing a $50.00 ticket for one of these guys. After the officer left another short bass was caught. Instead of keeping the fish I convinced this guy to let me tag and release it. When they finally left, they left behind most of their garbage. I just don't understand people these days! To top it all off, the fish they caught were picked up by their gills and not by their mouths. Even if they were released the damgae to their gill plates was enough to kill them.
Education, Education, Education, Fines, Fines, Fines is the only way we can change this problem.
Tag & Release
Tiderunner