askpops@onthewater.com

Here I sit brimming with mostly accurate information (I promise 80-percent truth and may even do a little better) but I need more questions. Come on now, everyone cannot know everything! So send in your queries and I’ll take a shot at an answer. How about: “How do you tell a char from other trout?” Answer: next issue, if anyone is curious.

Pops,
I’ve never caught a tagged fish before. I was recently watching an episode of On The Water TV where they guys were catching and tagging stripers. Up until now, I expected to see a tag on the fins or tail of the fish. I was surprised to see that a cut is made in the fish’s belly and the tag is inserted, so that there is a plastic piece inside with a string coming out. It seems to me that this is quite an invasive procedure for the fish. They mentioned that the cut will heal in a week or so but never spoke of the damage that might be done to the fish, if any. Do you know why this does not hurt the fish, or have any idea why they tag in such a way?
-Jason Zannetos

I too wondered about this tagging technique, but it is apparently fairly harmless since the tag return rate is as good as the returns from fish tagged by jabbing a tiny harpoon toggle into the muscle of their back. This harpooning probably causes more muscle damage than a slit in the belly, as tagged fins or tails adversely affect the swimming ability of the fish and come out more easily. I don’t think any method of tagging does the individual fish any good, but the information gained from this minor harm should help in the preservation of the species by providing information about migratory habits and growth rates.

Dear Pops,
I’m an avid striper fisherman and have been fishing the Great Bay, Piscataqua River and Portsmouth Harbor areas for about 13 years now. I also hunt these waters for waterfowl in the fall/winter season. Conservation is something that I am passionate about, and I have been lucky to see the success of the striper conservation program firsthand here in New Hampshire. There seem to be more stripers coming every year, and the bunker are starting to show up in larger numbers than I have ever seen in my relatively few years here.
I recently had the opportunity to go out on a tuna charter and was a little concerned at the way the guides dispatched every dogfish that was mistakenly hooked. Now, I do understand that dogfish foul lines and steal bait, which creates more work for the guides and reduces their chances of hooking “the big one,” but I have also heard that the spiny dogfish population may be in danger. Rumor has it that the spiny dogfish is being commercially harvested for fish and chips in the United Kingdom. I have also heard that the spiny dogfish gives live birth to only a handful of pups, which makes it even more vulnerable to overfishing.
Is the spiny dogfish in danger? Should responsible sport fishermen be more adamant about conserving these mischievous little bait stealers?
Nate Loomis
Durham, NH

I don’t think the spiny dogfish is in danger of extinction, but the toll taken by gill-netting has greatly diminished their numbers in many areas. The fish and chips rumor is true, and dogfish make fine eating if treated properly. You are also correct in citing their slow propagation rate, yet I don’t think hook fishermen pose any threat to them as a species.
I think the gratuitous killing of any shark, or other living creature, is despicable.

Dear Pops,
After finishing four years of college in Atlanta and four years of bass and catfishing, I have relocated to Boston to get back to my inshore saltwater roots. I moved here about a month ago, and I am excited to have the opportunity to do a little inshore fishing this fall from the surf. I’ve been down to Fan Pier and Castle Island and have had some success landing stripers to 32 inches. Unfortunately, the impending onset of autumn’s 40-degree daytime temperatures is particularly unwelcoming to our beloved stripers, which undertake their mass exodus south once water temperatures fall below the mid-50’s. An old Dominican man told me that once the stripers leave, cod and pollock can be caught by those nocturnal, hard-nosed, hot-chocolate-wielding pier rats who can withstand 15- to 25-knot winds and 30-degree temperatures. Please tell me, is there any truth to what he was saying (or was it his flask of brandy talking, masking his denial that the local bluefish and striper runs are on their last leg)? Please reply.
Omari Fortune
Boston, MA

Always pay attention to old guys hanging around the waterfront, Dominican or not, because with a little judicious editing you can learn much from them. I say this proudly because I am one of them.
Your man was right; cod and pollock are taken from shore there in winter by the stout of heart, with or without a flask of brandy. He was also right in his denial of the idea that bluefish and bass runs are on their last leg. So listen up, Sonny!

Hey Pops,
On some of the popular fishing programs on TV, the guys can tell the weight of a fish as soon as they pull it out of the water. Is this just experienced guesswork, or can they determine weight from the distance of the fins on the fish, or what?
I would also want to know how you can tell the gender of a fish. Particularly the striped bass, so I’ll know to put back those beautiful female linesiders to help preserve our great sport.
One more question: In the state of Maine (where I fish for stripers in the summer) there is a slot limit dictating that a legal fish must be between 20 to 26 inches or above 40 inches. Why is this in effect in Maine, but in the lower New England states the legal size is 28 inches?
Thanks for your time, Pops, in answering these questions.
Mitch
Worcester, MA

With experience one can become very good at estimating the weight of fish caught by other people, often with less than a 5-percent margin of error. I once could do this with giant tuna, but now I am limited to fair accuracy with blues and bass.
No, you cannot tell a small bass’s gender by any external sign, but any bass you get weighing over 10 or 12 pounds is almost certainly female.
The disparity in bass fishing regulations between states is a puzzle to many of us who would like to see one set of regulations for striper catches on the entire coast. Some states adjust their laws to benefit commercial fishermen, some to benefit sport fishermen. Slot limits are usually set in order to preserve a good breeding population.
I think we make a serious mistake by limiting commercial fishermen to the biggest fish and best breeders in the striped bass population. I think we will see a decline in the striper stock in the near future, and once again the decline will be caused by greed.

Pops,
I am mystified by the following fly-rod phenomena. Occasionally when casting a normally rigged fly rod, the line will somehow get twisted around the rod between the last two guides. How the heck is this possible when the line never came inside the rod tip guide? What causes this and how do I prevent it?
Thanks,
Davis Yetman

I too have witnessed – and I think caused – this remarkable and seemingly impossible behavior of a fly rod and line. I think it is a unique talent for some of us to do something magical when false casting, or at least on our back cast, that causes a loop to form which is drawn through the top eye of the rod. I wish I had been spared this talent, but alas! I will check with my fly-casting guru, Jim (Prince of the Pool) Rusher, when he shines his salmon-finding light on me this very month and see if he has an explanation for this mystifying phenomenon.
Please keep the mysteries coming.

I really need the questions, guys, so do not delay!

askpops@onthewater.com