You better read this before you do, they should hand these out to everyone that purchases a fishing license imo.

I really encourage catch and release on the big stripers and they are not that good eating as the smaller ones. So next time you get the fish of a lifetime, take a pic of it and release it properly so it can spawn more fish.

Yeah, a good idea to release the big girls. It'll help the fishery out and keep our sport alive.

On a side note, people eat freshwater clams (corbicula sp.)?!? Man, them delta boys are roughin it

i know huh! haha, i wouldnt....

hey norcal.. thanks for the post.. buddy of mine got sick on a bunch of mussels once too.. and they were store-bought

any way...

as i have released every striper i've ever caught, just wondering, you mentioned that the larger ones are not as good eating as the smaller ones.. what's the difference (other than mercury)? flavor? texture? just curious, thx.

p.s. they should probably post that in the asian markets, they have a good number of dead stripers in there

norcalkat wouldn't know the taste difference cause he doesn't know how to catch the small stripers. He catches big stripers. But if you must know, let me explain in a simply way that a fisherman would easily understand.....

It is like having a girlfriend in 20 somethin yrs. old vs. a 40 somethin yrs old...... It's that good.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! thats the best way to describe it! LOL!

The Stripers you see there are Hybrid stripers, they are a mix (not sure with what) and farm raised.

Demi moore 40 or kirstie alley 40? Lmfao

hahahaha! you guys crackin me up!

On a older fish aside from being exposed to the elements of mercury, the meat can be mushy and not taste as good. The smaller ones (18" to 27") are pretty young 3 years to 6 years old. I usually don't go over 24-25" if I decide to keep one and as you can read above you only want 1 serving a month. On a 25" striper that's about 3-4 servings off the 2 fillets you can cut off. So most of the time I vacuum pack my fillets and eat it through out the year.

I am not here to tell people what they should or should not do, we are all grown up's and can use better judgement on what you think is best for yourself and your family. Just thought this bit was some good info and some people could benefit from it.



I wanted to add to my statement that farm raised fish can be not as tasty either....most of the time they are in small pieces of water and dont get movement in them to keep them active and thriving and end up eating their own waste at times.

Hey, I wouldn't eat corbicula store bought or no...only stores I seen carry em are the delta bait shops anyhows. The primo catfish bait out that way, unaware they were eaten as well.

The ones in the markets are either farmed white bass/striped bass hybrids from overseas or out of state, purebred stripers farm raised out in Davis (the ones in the live tanks) or the "wild caught, product of USA" are tagged fish out from the east coast. The mercury contamination in the bay/delta is a legacy of the gold mining out in the Sierras waaay back in the day, and these guidelines wouldn't apply to those fish you see in the market. CA stripers are not commercially caught or sold.

Nice .. good to know, thanks guys!

catch and release on strippers is a definite MUST..but if i catch a 40-60 pounder, he will get mounted....Just sayin

i am with you also! I caught my best so far this year and need to get into the 45" + fish, I did earlier this year and he broke me off.....

i just want to catch fat hogs and kiss em goodbye ...and i'm not talking about kirstie alley

Striped bass is SO yummy though. Oh well. When I catch my first striper I'll think about this thread.