Charter boats and striper regs.

[mchottie]

I wrote a reply earlier, but erased it and was prepared to let this thread die.

Since Jimbo replied, he also echoes my initial draft:

.09 Recreational and Charter Boat Summer and Fall Fishery in the Chesapeake Bay and Its Tidal Tributaries.
(a) A person may not catch or possess more than two striped bass per day.

That is flat out false - You can catch and release all day long if you so choose. You should have BOLDED the word possess because if you possess, it counts towards your creel limit.

And to add some humor to this thread, if an angler onboard a charter catches a legal fish, pulls it out of the water and it LANDS on the boat deck, there's your LANDED fish for the captain!

[nhunter344]

I wrote a reply earlier, but erased it and was prepared to let this thread die.

Since Jimbo replied, he also echoes my initial draft:



That is flat out false - You can catch and release all day long if you so choose. You should have BOLDED the word possess because if you possess, it counts towards your creel limit.

And to add some humor to this thread, if an angler onboard a charter catches a legal fish, pulls it out of the water and it LANDS on the boat deck, there's your LANDED fish for the captain!

I agree the thread has gone off the rails with over attention to minutia, but isn't the purpose of all these laws and legalese to remove any doubt as to what the regulations are? For example, if I was completely new to fishing and wanted to stay in compliance with regulation, I would interpret "A person may not catch or possess more than two striped bass per day." as even if I catch two 6" dink stripers while perch fishing, I'm done for the day so I don't accidentally catch a third. Changing it to catch and possess would bring it more in line with how I feel the rule is currently enforced.

I see both sides of the argument. Everyone has done their homework and consulted people who should know what the regulations are and have received differing answers. The problem here is the way the regulations were written. If sworn DNR officers have multiple answers to the same question, something is wrong. If a knowledgeable online fishing community cant agree with something as simple as whether the boat or captain gets a fish, then something is wrong with the way the code was written.

Maybe we should all convert to tandem kayaks so we can keep a lawyer on board in case we get stopped by DNR?

[Jimbo]

Maybe we should all convert to tandem kayaks so we can keep a lawyer on board in case we get stopped by DNR?

Great idea!

[dirtyjake237]

This is by far my favorite thread to date, thanks to all who posted. I really needed a good laugh after a long week in the office. This has my vote of becoming a sticky and recommend we turn this into an interactive role playing drinking game at the next meet and greet. I call dibs on playing the part of the dnr officer.

[mchottie]

For educational purposes, I think we can all agree this specific regulation is a bit lacking, and needs to be more definitive.

Dirtyjake, I think the commercial fisherman are hoping that all the yakkers just catch two dink 6" stripers and assume they have to quit!

[Oldbayrunner]

Hi ,

To follow up on what Erik said, by the absolute letter of the law, nobody should catch/possess more than two striped bass per day, and the captain or mate should be the one to catch and retain the "boat fish." What is going to be the case on the water is what an NRP officer is actually able to prove in court. So if an officer spent the morning keeping track of how many fish an individual on a charter boat caught and threw in the cooler, potentially they could issue a citation for exceeding the daily catch/possession limit. What is more likely is that an officer would conduct an inspection of a vessel at some point during a fishing trip, count the fish, and as Erik described if the fish are within the total boat possession limit, not be too concerned about which individual put which fish in the cooler. This would be the case both for private boats and for charter boats, as well as species of fish other than striped bass. As for the "boat fish" - this was meant to clarify that the captain and mate(s) cannot retain two fish a piece. In essence, they have a reduced creel limit when they are taking paying parties out.

Hope this helps, although I know we're essentially confirming that we are working with shades of grey.

Sincerely,





dnr.maryland.gov
Jacob Holtz
Program Manager
Fishing & Boating Services
Department of Natural Resources
580 Taylor Ave., B-2
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
410-260-8262 (office)
443-758-0239 (cell)
jacob.holtz@maryland.gov


So glad you all had a good laugh..... I'm done with this thread now. Glad to see you all feel the fishing regulations are a big joke.

[Jimbo]

Oldbayrunner, I dont think anybody here thinks the regs are a joke or meant to offend you.
Generally the folks here are experienced fisherman and respect fishing regs.
To the extend that some humor was drawn from the thread, it was around the premise that the regs are unclear.
From my experience, most of the SL community is generally on the same page regarding bag limit/catch and release, which as you pointed out, passes muster with DNR.
Personally I don’t have a problem with a group of fisherman coordinating/splitting the catch within the total bag limit or catching and releasing.
Nor do I have a problem with someone who personally prefers a more conservative approach.


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[Big Mike]

Die monster die


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