I attended the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission meeting Dec. 16, when the 2026 regulations for striped bass were decided. This was a hybrid meeting. I attended virtually. There were 515 people in attendance, with six staff members from the ASMFC.
The meeting began at 10 a.m. and ended at 2:30 p.m. There was considerable discussion about the regulations, and one disappointment was the change in the number that each sector – recreational and commercial – must give up in 2026 in order to comply with the rebuilding plan.
At first, the commercial representatives moved and seconded a motion to reduce the amount of their catch from 9% to 1%. When that motion failed, they came back with another to reduce their catch from 9% to 5%. That motion passed.
The recreational sector will still have to give up the entire 9%. The good news is the current regulations will remain the same in 2025.
Each state and area will have different regulations. Delaware will have to figure out a system to reduce its take of striped bass by 9% via seasonal closures in Delaware Bay. The coastal waters from Connecticut to North Carolina will be regulated by no-harvest days.
Maryland will have seasonal closures in the Chesapeake Bay, with no-harvest and no-target fishing, and no-striped-bass-only fishing trips from for-hire boats. Virginia will have pretty much the same conditions as Maryland for its portion of the Chesapeake Bay.
In the past, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia have come together and made the regulations the same for summer flounder and black sea bass. I doubt this is going to work for striped bass. There is just too much difference in the methods employed for fishing for stripers in the Chesapeake and Delaware bays.
I must admit, I was expecting a harsher reduction than 9%. We will probably lose a few days of the Delaware Bay summer season and the same for our ocean season. Otherwise, things should pretty much remain the same, and that’s a good thing.
Christmas memories
I am sure everyone has great Christmas memories, and I thought I would share one with you.
I believe my greatest came on a Christmas when my boys were young and we were living in the Newark area.
My good friend Ron Pickle was working for Trojan Yachts. The company was introducing smaller models than the usual big boats they were known for. I met Ron when I was assigned to do a boat test for one of these new models rigged for fishing for Salt Water Sportsman Magazine. The test went well. We ran offshore, caught a nice wahoo, the boat did a great job, and Ron turned out to be a really great guy.
As conversations on fishing trips usually cover a wide range of subjects, we somehow got to the fact that Ron had a small rowboat that he had made at the Trojan plant covering the woodpile at his mother’s house. He said it was pretty dirty, but if I would like to have it for my boys, I was welcome to it. I said I would be delighted to have the boat, and I was sure my boys would love it.
I picked the boat up from Ron and carried it to another good friend, Butch Lloyd, also known as Fuzzy Bear. Butch and his dad had a gas station in Newark, and that’s where I cleaned up the little fiberglass boat and got it ready for Christmas.
I needed to store the present somewhere close by so I could have easy access to it on Christmas Eve. Fortunately, my next-door neighbor, the late Tim MacMillan, was a good friend and fellow fisherman, so he was more than willing to help with the project.
Come Christmas Eve, Tim and I carried the boat over and placed it under the tree after the boys and Barbara had gone to bed.
To say that my family was surprised would be a major understatement. The boys were ecstatic. Barbara was just a bit less so. Hence, the name of the boat, Mother’s Worry.
Barbara belonged to a ladies’ group that met about once a month for tea or whatever. They were all complaining about what a mess their homes were with all the Christmas stuff lying around. Barbara said she had a boat in her living room. End of discussion.
In those days, we had a camper at Bayshore in Ocean View, and that boat saw good use every weekend, as Ric and Roger rowed it all over Indian River Bay. They caught a few fish, dug a few clams, but mostly just explored. What could be better than that?
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Eric Burnley is a Delaware native who has fished and hunted the state from an early age. Since 1978 he has written countless articles about hunting and fishing in Delaware and elsewhere along the Atlantic Coast. He has been the regional editor for several publications and was the founding editor of the Mid-Atlantic Fisherman magazine. Eric is the author of three books: Surf Fishing the Atlantic Coast, The Ultimate Guide to Striped Bass Fishing and Fishing Saltwater Baits. He and his wife Barbara live near Milton, Delaware. Eric can be reached at Eburnle@aol.com.
