Originally Posted by
kwin
and what am I to do? The Department have encouraged harvest. The limit is 10 per day with no size restriction. As long as there are stripers in your water source and/or they have the ability to breed successfully (which they do in DVL) they will always be there. Raising the limit is an empty regulation change because most anglers cannot or are not harvesting even 10 in a day. If my angler survey data indicates that is happening, I will look into it. Until then, it remains at 10 per day per person w/no size limit.
Now as a management objective (since they are never going away) I would like to manage for larger average size because I believe that is what the angling public prefers and I have high management standards. I've never heard anyone complain about catching a 20+ lb striped bass. Therefore, in order to acheive that management goal, the objective is to reduce their overall numbers to decrease density dependancy and average size should improve, hence promotion of harvest. Look at Lake Perris for example, striped bass do not spawn successfully there and are only introduced if/when water is moved down from Silverwood....low density equals larger average size. Reducing the density of striped bass should also benefit other species by reducing intraspecific competition for food and space.
The truth is striped bass angling at DVL has increased from 850 hours sampled in 2009 to 11,422 hours sampled in 2011. Harvest rates have increased from 57 reported kept in 2009 (a 52% harvest rate) to 3,459 reported kept in 2011 (a 92% harvest rate). The average size has decreased due to increased densities of the species over that time period despite higher harvest rates. The data collected indicates harvest rates have increased, which is good, though I believe striped bass fecundity out paces angler harvest. The only question is can the amount harvested by anglers be enough to allow appropriate densities to see a larger average size? Time will tell. In the meantime I encourage harvest of striped bass within DVL and every other inland water where they are present to acheive larger average size striped bass.