Striped bass:

[Jigman13]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

I dunno, I guess I don't understand the need to poach, and take the chance these guys took and lost.. We're not talking stretching one 17 3/4 fluke so it 'makes the cut" here... Do these guys need this meat to "feed their families"?
Lots of free food out there these days, food pantries everywhere... Are they selling them?... I never thought Stripers were all that great anyway, they seemed to me to have an oily rag kind of taste for some reason.. Not awful, but not great... I tend to be VERY naive' about everything, and try and see the more positive side of human nature, so instead of saying these guys are low life slime I just shake my head and try and think "what was the mindset?... Why was this necessary? Was selling these fish going to bring them big bucks?.. Was an extra hundred$$ or two going to make them rich?... If you can afford to live in NJ, is the price of a few hundred pound of poached in the round striper going to put you over the top?.... Honestly,, I just don't get it, why are we always seeing these stories?... bob

The amount of illegal striper sales in New Brunswick, NJ during the season is asinine. They poach right from the raritan river and sell them openly on Facebook and in the small stores and bodegas. 99% of what I've seen and heard, it's central American immigrants--I watch them run short fish to their cars by the dozen along the Amboys all the way down thru Cliffwood Beach and keyport.

They ignore interference and rarely speak English.

I've spoken to marine police about it. They're aware. But they're stretched too thin. Impossible for them to regulate from northern Middlesex county all the way through monmouth bayshore beaches. They'd need over a dozen guys. They prob have 2 or 3. It's a shame. Watching a resource get blatantly abused is terrible.