Fluke Report Wednesday July 3, 2019

[Prowler 5]

Hey gang, we fished to the South again today and had to released so many flukes ‘well over 300’ there were so many 17" fish! It’s such a shame that we have to throw them back when they're legal to keep in other States. However, we did get some really nice keepers in the mix. Tomorrow is 4th of July and it's going to be another beautiful day out on the ocean, so bring your family out. We will see you in the morning. Thanks

[dakota560]

Hey gang, we fished to the South again today and had to released so many flukes ‘well over 300’ there were so many 17" fish! It’s such a shame that we have to throw them back when they're legal to keep in other States. However, we did get some really nice keepers in the mix. Tomorrow is 4th of July and it's going to be another beautiful day out on the ocean, so bring your family out. We will see you in the morning. Thanks

The states that have size limits 17" or under are Massachusetts, New Jersey (Delaware Bay), Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. These states represents a negligible percentage (about 6%) of the recreational harvest limit.

Problem is these fish will be caught commercially before our season is over or netted heading offshore during the fall migration. The fish we're releasing will be brought to market or killed in the process of commercial landings. If that weren't the case, we'd see recruitment skyrocketing which it's not it's declining and we'd see explosive growth in these age classes of fish, neither of which is happening. What we are seeing is significantly higher commercial catch levels of these larger age class fish which recreational discards are subsidizing. With the resources NOAA / NMFS have available to them, it's unconscionable these are the resulting regulations that are supposed to be managing the fishery to health.

[Pennsy Guy]

You've got to remember that back in the 1800's when those agencies were formed, it was, ultimately, for the safeguard of the commercials...and...it still is, regardless...