It was great to see striped bass of all sizes last weekend while fishing the waters off New Jersey. While its clear there are major issues with the striped bass population here in the Northeast at least we are seeing the smaller fish out there that seem to have been absent in the last few years...
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Teaching conservation to kids is an important part of raising a responsible fisherman or women. Conservation is about using common sense. Fish are living and breathing creatures and should be treated that way especially if you plan on throwing them back. I think in many cases, younger generations can teach the older generations a lesson here as many older folks were not raised with conservation in mind while pursuing the outdoors. As a culture, thankfully, we are now much more aware of the importance of it. It drives me crazy when I see guys kicking fish back into the ocean after un-hooking them. It's an awkward thing to approach someone when you see it happening too. What's the right solution?
With my son, conservation goes hand in hand with learning how to fish. One thing we did last summer, was to plan a "beach cleanup day". It wasn't a fishing trip but since we mostly fish from shore I took it as an opportunity to teach him about tides and how to read structure on the beach (he's only 4...) all the while we collected three garbage bags full or trash. It's amazing the things that wash up on our shores.. yuck. All in all it was a great experience to learn about the ocean we fish and the effects of the trash that litter our shores. Which, besides being unsightly, can be potentially dangerous to humans, birds, fish, etc. Raising awareness by doing simple things like beach cleanups is a great way to help raise conservation minded kids.
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