HOW MANY FISH CAN I EAT?

Or should I say,
How many fish should I keep?

  In the past, you could keep all the rockfish and sea trout you wanted as well as Yellow perch and flounder. What happened! We had a depletion in the fishery and a creel and size limit had to be implemented to protect the stock we have left. Before the Rockfish moratorium fishermen could
keep all the Rockfish they wanted 12 inches and above.  We brought them home and gave them away to family members, neighbors and friends. When a moratorium was put into effect do you think your neighbors and friends cared? Were they at any of the D.N.R. public hearing in an attempt to get the fishery back on track?

  We need to look at the White Perch and Hardhead that is now in abundance.  There is no regulation in size or creel limit on White Perch. My question is do you really need to keep all the White Perch you catch and just give them away? The Hardheads are somewhat protected with a size limit of 9 inches and 25 fish a day.

  My other question is do you really need those 25 Hardheads? Maybe so if you only fish once or twice a year but most fishermen like you and I fish almost every weekend. The next time you go fishing for any specie practice Catch and Release if YOU are not going to make a meal of your catch. The future of fishing for you, your family and others is how you manage the fishery today. Filling you ice cooler full of fish you don’t need does not make you a good fisherman; it only indicates how greedy you are by showing off and adding to the depletion of the available stock!!!

P.S.G. MEMBERS LET’S CONSERVE WHAT WE HAVE AND NOT ABUSE IT!
CATCH WHAT YOU CAN
KEEP ONLY WHAT YOU WANT TO EAT!!!

George M. Bentz
P.S.G. Group Leader
E-mail gbentz@erols.com
Drizzle Bar Charters: http://www.baycaptains.com/drizzlebar/