The slow death of Party Boats

[Abrasion]

Do you guys think its a function of restrictive government policies or is it the "Captain In a Box" crowd offering charters for a bit more money than a party boat? Is it something else? Anything that can be done to reverse it? A healthy party boat population is essential to bring in new fishermen from all walks of life. I would guess the vast majority of you first caught a saltwater fish on a party boat.

My first fish was on the Barvic.

[travisboy]

my first saltwater fish caught on the SEA KING off STATEN ISLAND .

[Capt. Lou]

Without doubt , Belboy, Perth Amboy , cut my teeth on salt species ! PB's will survive if the fisheries do , when there's a lack of fish then no one will survive !
Look at GOM Cod season 1 month 1 fish ! That's tough & to survive u have to adapt or give it up ! Plenty of other fish up there but cod was money fish !
Maybe they can make doggies a sport fish , they did a great job regulating those!

[bowhunter]

The rise of open boat charters has to be taking its toll. I personally would be on head boats a lot more if I couldn't cruise the internet open boat forums and catch a ride on a charter at the last minute.

[BCinerie]

1977 bluefish on the Gambler ! On a bengal banana.

[lingding]

Whiting on the Teal out of Shoals Dock Staten island. I was a kid and helped the mate clean the boat. They let me on for $7.

[tombanjo]

Bingle banana. Bengal was the striped version.

Fluke on the Rainbow, 1960.

Not sure if Abrasion wanted to trip down memory lane with this thread.

[bulletbob]

I must disagree.. well, kinda.. I have not gone on any party boat with less than 20 guys in YEARS.. usually , its closer to 40 or more, even on lousy weather days during the week.. I see reports here once in a while from a captain stating, "we sailed with only 10 guys yesterday". but man I never see that... Personally, I think they will be fine as long as they get half a break on bag limits, size restrictions, and seasons.. thats a big question mark of course..

Also, we see Ling declining, mackerel too, Tog under immense pressure all year, and old "bread and butter species like bay/river winter flounder, whiting, weaks gone, or almost gone, so who really knows, maybe a few more captains will get disgusted and pack it in... On the other hand, we may see a nice resurgence of oh I dunno, lets say flounder and mackerel, and in a few years and the party boat caps will get some eased regulations, and get a longer season.. I hope so.. Anyway, if the regulations don't get any more restrictive, I think they will survive pretty well.. If more species disappear, and regulations get even tougher, and they have nothing to fish for, well, I guess they will have a real tough time.. We need fish for them to catch. No fish= no fishermen.. I hope thats NOT the case....... bob

[Abrasion]

Trips down memory lane welcomed!

My best day EVER was on the Sea Devil. It was the day before Thanksgiving. There were 6 of us. We all knew eachother. Bob needed a min and we all went into our pockets to make the min. 2 guys showed up right before sailing and explained to them that it would cost them an extra 20 above the normal fare to make the min and they told us to f-off.

It was literally a fish every drop for 8 hours. Just the 6 of us. There had to be hundreds upon hundreds of bluefish siting above hundreds and hundreds of stsipers sitting below them. The challenge was not catching fish, it was who could slip something through the bluefish and get a striper. Never had a better day. I know I had triple digit bluefish and at least 50 stripers. Never ever seen anything like it. To this day, even though I now have my own rig I still fish every day before thanksgiving with the same 6 guys

Hope Capt. Bob is enjoying retirement

[Duffman]

What are the numbers of rec fisherman today compared to say 20-30-40 years ago?

When I was a kid all we had was outdoor things to do. Sports, hunting and fishing. Today? If you can get there faces up from the phone screen it's a miracle.

My kid and his buddy fish with me all the time. There friends, not so much and have zero interest. Just wondering if the number of people out there is down.