SGR Weakies

[Gumada]

Headed out of Manasquan this morning ocean like glass. Hit a couple lumps between the inlet and the reef. Covered with fish. I couldn’t figure out what they were. Dropped a jig tipped with spearing, bang fish on, spike weakies 8-10” by the thousands ! School after school under the boat for a good mile. Hopefully they return when they grow up.

[Detour66]

Like clockwork them small weakies show up in that area around this time of year. They are a lot of fun to catch. It's good to see they are still around. Tight lines!

[bulletbob]

Every year, they show up as spikes, and then promptly disappear never to be seen again as adults.. Bluefish/Striper food.....

[dakota560]

Every year, they show up as spikes, and then promptly disappear never to be seen again as adults.. Bluefish/Striper food.....

Bob the spikes are coming from somewhere. For the old timers on this site, check out John Skinner's video in the below link which was filmed May of this year. Sit back and enjoy, it'll bring back memories of just how fantastic weak fishing was, how it still can be if properly management and certainly give hope we get a second chance at rebuilding what once was an amazing fishery that was destroyed. Every inshore stock with predictable migration patterns and inshore spawning is subject to exploitation if not managed properly. Protect the tide runner breeders, protect the spawn, regulate harvest and this fishery will flourish the same as any fishery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCZH97CJap8

Not exactly sure where the video was filmed, my guess would be Long Island Sound or the general Montauk area.

Either way, some of those thousands if not millions of spikes are obviously getting through and promoting the future of the stock. Hopefully this time around, measures are put in place to manage the stock properly and we learn from our mistakes. Also take note of the comments below the video, sounds like weakfish are staging a comeback in other areas as well. Would be a tremendous success story if this fishery was revived to what it once was.

[bulletbob]

I saw that Skinner video a while ago.. Not overly impressed.. He got intel as to where they were, and as we know, when they around, they are typically willing biters IF there aren't a million boats on them in which case they shut right down. They are always around in eastern LI[Peconics] in spring and summer, if you know where and when...

As someone who remembers being able to go out and catch BIG tiderunners fishing out of a 8HP rental skiff at the end of the Ammo pier all summer long[as long as you got there EARLY in the morning before the fluke guys got out], that fishery is still in a collapsed state as far as I am concerned..

Don't know where all those fish went, but once they were gone, that was the end of it, like Whiting... Porgies came back as did Stripers, and to a lesser extent Sea Bass which was down for a few years... Weaks have been MIA for what, 15-20 years???.
The young ones that are seen in fall every year never seem to make it back north.. I think most of them get eaten, but of course, could be way off base..

[dakota560]

Bob wasn't trying to impress you or anyone else, just pointing out I've heard of more weak fish caught in the last 2 or 3 years than I have in the last 30 combined. I take that as a positive as I do the reappearance of blowfish in Barnegat Bay. Some of those spikes I agree succumb to predation from stripers and blue fish during their southerly migration. No different than they did back in the '60s and '70s when the stock was healthy and they're were just as many if not more blue fish and stripers around. In my humble opinion, natural predation isn't the reason the fishery collapsed. Commercial and recreational overfishing was and if the regulations are changed to address protecting the spawn and over fishing, the fishery has a chance of recovering after more than 40 years of being as you put it MIA.

Fwiw, I'm not sure I've ever seen a baby weak fish in the stomach of a striper or bluefish. Bunker, mullet, sea bass, small sea robins, mantis shrimp, sand eels, snapper blues, herring, flounder and fluke yes. Never cleaned a bass or blue with a weakfish or saw them spitting them up on deck. I'm sure they have, just don't believe that's where many of them end up. Have seen spikes the size mentioned at Shop Rite, Wegmans and Kings but that's a whole different conversation.

[Skolmann]

Not exactly sure where the video was filmed, my guess would be Long Island Sound or the general Montauk area.



Saw that video when Skinner first posted it. I’m 99% sure it was in Peconic Bay.

The east end of LI has had a very good weakfish run the past 2 years.

[dakota560]

Thanks. Would be great to see that fishery come back. In my opinion, not a great eating fish but not bad either. But great to catch and no more beautiful fish in the ocean. Loved the fishery.

[bulletbob]

I just never saw Weaks as a great food fish.. They are ok, a bit above say Bluefish, but not in the same league as Sea Bass, Flatfish, Cod/Hake/ Pollock/ Haddock etc,, I guess I didn't realize they were getting blasted still by netters.. I DO recall the "pound nets" in Raritan Bay somewhere between the ammo pier and officers row if I am not mistaken... I think those nets took a LOT of big breeders back in the day but that was decades ago... If guys are seeing foot long weaks on ice labeled "sea trout" these days, well then there's our answer as to why we don't see the spikes back the next year as young adults.... bob

[bunker dunker]

they caught them as far north as new hampshire this year.

[Gumada]

Not great eating, but if you smoke them like trout they are delicious 😋.

[bulletbob]

Not great eating, but if you smoke them like trout they are delicious 😋.

meh.. you could smoke your socks and drawers and they would taste good.:D
Not a reason to net them out of existence.. I can recall guys night fishing between the channels off SH taking 100 pounds of them and selling for a nickel a pound to local fish markets, just to help pay for gas... This was before size and bag limits of course, and we thought the fish would always be there... Until the day they weren't... bob

[Billfish715]

I realize that many of the members who either post or lurk on this board were only a twinkle in their father's eyes when the weakfish were all over Delaware Bay, Sandy Hook/Raritan Bays, and Peconic Bay on Long Island. For all of you who were too young or not yet born back in the "good old days" let me give you a few terms to look up on your favorite search engine. There were only three lures you needed back then. One was a "Jelly Worm" Size and color did matter on any given day and they were sold in quantities from ten to a hundred.
Nordic Eels in various weights were standard items as were tiger tails in a natural color.

Latex tubing was being sold by the yard to fishermen who tried to make their own lures or refurbish what they had. If you were fishing for weakfish back then, you will remember what you used. If you did not use artificials then you bought dozens of sandworms. No matter what you used, there were weeks and weeks when weakfish were all over. Some were truly trophy sized.

In the fall, you could count on catching some in with the bluefish schools along and just off the beach. Mixed in were the occasional striped bass as well. All of the migrating fish were gorging on the vast schools of sand eels that were on every high piece along the coast. Recently, the weakfish migrate along the shore in early September in rather respectable numbers although they are not much bigger than a foot. This has been going on for many years. Considering how many fish migrated south, the number of fish that returned as adults in the spring was minimal.

Yellowfin Tuna by the hundreds at Little Italy; Giant Bluefins in the Mud Hole: Ling and Whiting at the Annex or Klondike: Whiting at the Long Branch Pier: Blowfish in the surf: Bluefish (day and night) at Barnegate Ridge, Manasquan Ridge, Acid Waters, Klondike; Fluke along the beaches everywhere: Boston Mackerel in the Spring........are all memories I can only share in stories with nieces and nephews and grandchildren.

Enjoy today. Fight like hell to keep what you have. When things get close to any resemblance of what they used to be, be prepared to conserve the resources.

[Capt Sal]

I love weakfish !! My dad's favorite fish was weakfish. My nephews and nieces loved to catch them. From Delaware Bay in the late sixties early seventies to the tremendous runs in the late nineties and into the turn of this century. The negative comments about them make me sick ! If you ice them down they were good table fare and smoked was even better !!! I wish we had the runs like we did. It was good for everyone because they were local and you don't have to be an expert to land them. Not only that i love the colors on these"Tide Runners". To post negative ridiculous BS on this site is not helping anyone. I know many PB and Charter Capts. along with many private boat owners that wish this fishery would revive itself. My Grandfather told us they had this happen in the Thirties and it bounced back ! In this day and age we need to read things that are positive and give us some hope for the future. Just my opinion but i hope there are others who will agree with the logic. Wouldn't it be great to go down to Party Boat Row and see a sign saying 'Magic Hours Weakfish" ??

[porgylber]

I love weakfish !! My dad's favorite fish was weakfish. My nephews and nieces loved to catch them. From Delaware Bay in the late sixties early seventies to the tremendous runs in the late nineties and into the turn of this century. The negative comments about them make me sick ! If you ice them down they were good table fare and smoked was even better !!! I wish we had the runs like we did. It was good for everyone because they were local and you don't have to be an expert to land them. Not only that i love the colors on these"Tide Runners". To post negative ridiculous BS on this site is not helping anyone. I know many PB and Charter Capts. along with many private boat owners that wish this fishery would revive itself. My Grandfather told us they had this happen in the Thirties and it bounced back ! In this day and age we need to read things that are positive and give us some hope for the future. Just my opinion but i hope there are others who will agree with the logic. Wouldn't it be great to go down to Party Boat Row and see a sign saying 'Magic Hours Weakfish" ??
Sal - I don’t think that anyone disagrees with you regarding the fish making a comeback. We’d all love to see it. The more, the merrier!
Regarding taste, that is a subjective matter. My wife for example loves bluefish more than anything else that I catch! Most here find the taste to be revolting. Tastes vary.
I’d rather not see this place turn into a site with nothing but positives. Reality needs to set in. I can do without sunshine on my porthole!

[Captain Rich]

I remember catching weakies in the late 70's in Delaware Bay that were as long as my arm. The fishery was not sustainable for two reasons. First the net boats would come into the bay and grab the fish when they came into spawn, boats would come in loaded to the gunnels. Yes they would drive the price from a dollar a pound down to a nickel a pound. Second when the fish migrated down to the Carolinas in the winter, the net boats down there knew where to find them and continued pounding the stocks. To be perfectly honest, recreational fisherman overfished them also, there were no limits back then.

[shresearchdude]

Hello all,

I've got a great pic of @18" weakfish I was reeling in that got great big bites out of it by larger bluefish. Oh and it was one of the weakfish that I caught and inserted an acoustic tag in that was used as part of the data set below.
Here's a study to consider. While I'm not such a big fan of models that tell a story of what might happen....sometimes science can illuminate things that we don't see...

https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mcf2.10095

[bulletbob]

I love weakfish !! My dad's favorite fish was weakfish. My nephews and nieces loved to catch them. From Delaware Bay in the late sixties early seventies to the tremendous runs in the late nineties and into the turn of this century. The negative comments about them make me sick ! If you ice them down they were good table fare and smoked was even better !!! I wish we had the runs like we did. It was good for everyone because they were local and you don't have to be an expert to land them. Not only that i love the colors on these"Tide Runners". To post negative ridiculous BS on this site is not helping anyone. I know many PB and Charter Capts. along with many private boat owners that wish this fishery would revive itself. My Grandfather told us they had this happen in the Thirties and it bounced back ! In this day and age we need to read things that are positive and give us some hope for the future. Just my opinion but i hope there are others who will agree with the logic. Wouldn't it be great to go down to Party Boat Row and see a sign saying 'Magic Hours Weakfish" ??

Weakfish are wonderful gamefish, and I would love to have them back.. They were always a great favorite of mine... Saying they are not that great to eat is NOT negative .. its an opinion.. Look up the word "subjective"... Some like them, some don't.. I ate them, they weren't bad, not great either.. Thats not being negative, or angry, or contrary, its just a personal opinion....

[PortlyRedhead]

Thanks guys as always for your spirited conversation.

I encourage you to read this recent article from On The Water magazine that argues that predation by bottlenose dolphin is what keeps spike weakfish from reappearing the next year.

https://www.onthewater.com/what-happened-to-weakfish

[bulletbob]

Thanks guys as always for your spirited conversation.

I encourage you to read this recent article from On The Water magazine that argues that predation by bottlenose dolphin is what keeps spike weakfish from reappearing the next year.

https://www.onthewater.com/what-happened-to-weakfish

Great read,, thanks for the link.. Not sure I buy all of it.. Dolphins were out there 40 years ago too, when NJ waters were loaded with 8-12 lb tiderunners ..

I think commercial bycatch, large blues and the resurgence of Stripers has had more of an impact than dolphins, but hey, I'm certainly no expert....

[tautog]

The best big weakfish years were among the worse striper years. When I was a kid, it was much easier to catch a 10lb weakfish in Raritan Bay than a 10lb striper other than a few weeks in the fall. Also dogfish really pound on the spikes as they leave the Bay along with the blues and stripers. Definitely seeing a resurgence in Peconic Bay and the Long Island Sound. Hopefully it will shift southward. Even if we could just get that 3 or 4 weeks of good fall fishing for 16"-22" fish, I'd be very happy.

[june181901]

When I was stationed at Dover AFB in the mid 70s we'd go out of Bowers Beach and get tide runners. Always used squid strips and they were fun to catch. Can't recall ever getting skunked.

[Jigman13]

I little birdie told me they're getting nice ones now at sun up and sundown behind the hook around man made structure.

[Capt Sal]

Weakfish are wonderful gamefish, and I would love to have them back.. They were always a great favorite of mine... Saying they are not that great to eat is NOT negative .. its an opinion.. Look up the word "subjective"... Some like them, some don't.. I ate them, they weren't bad, not great either.. Thats not being negative, or angry, or contrary, its just a personal opinion....

When are you going to post a "POSITIVE'' report??? You must be board to sh- in upstate NY LOL

[bulletbob]

When are you going to post a "POSITIVE'' report??? You must be board to sh- in upstate NY LOL

No, we have plenty to do up here.. Just don't think Weakfish are all that wonderful a fish to eat is all.. same with porgies, and several others including several fresh water fish that I will eat when I catch them but aren't all that crazy about[lakers]..

If thats what you construe as being negative well then thats fine, I'll accept your definition. I think its wrong of course, but I'll accept it for the sake of argument.
That seems what you like to do the most on this board anyway-argue..... bob

[NJ219bands]

I tagged 493 weakfish in NJ. All 7 of my tag returns were in the same year that I tagged the fish. Looks like weakfish don’t live very long.

[dakota560]

Thanks guys as always for your spirited conversation.

I encourage you to read this recent article from On The Water magazine that argues that predation by bottlenose dolphin is what keeps spike weakfish from reappearing the next year.

https://www.onthewater.com/what-happened-to-weakfish

Thanks for posting, interesting read. Not sure I totally buy the predation theory for a few reasons, some already noted in this thread. Years ago when the weakfish biomass was at all time highs, so were bluefish and striper stocks. They found a balance and co-existed. Were there bottle nose dolphin around then too, absolutely albeit maybe not in the numbers today.

When an inshore stock declines, so often bass and bluefish are blamed. Do bass and blues eat just about everything, yes. But their primary forage are bunker, sand eels, bait fish in the higher water column and crustaceans in the lower water column. Are weakfish eaten by both, I'm sure but not convinced they're why so many spikes seemingly disappear. Lot of people blamed the collapse of eels to the same when it ended up the actual cause was the commercial market in Maine netting and selling the baby's to Asian markets that hit a high of $2,800 a lb ten years ago. Same with winter flounder, bass ate them all. Look at the data, commercias found them offshore and it was open season on spawners year round. Did bass eat them, absolutely. Did that fishery die because of bass or bluefish predation, absolutely not. Commercial operations killed that fishery.

Lot of people blame the shrimping fishery and numbers killed in that process. Commercial today can take 100 lbs of by-catch. With the number of fish in the schools were talking about that pass us in September, how many spikes are killed in the process of harvesting 100 lbs. of "by-catch". Number has to be enormous. Last year I had my boat before losing it in the Seaport Inlet Marina fire, we came across a stretch of dead spike weakfish floating on the surface which had to be two miles long south of Mantoloking. Acres and acres of dead 12"-15" fish, a complete waste of a fishery everyone would love to see recover Don't think they were killed by bottlenose dolphin. It was the same waste of a resource many here witnessed years ago of acres of dead whiting in the Mud Hole from small mesh draggers which killed that fishery back in the 80's.

For 3-5 years, fisheries management should do away with the by-catch allowance since having it means some commercials will actually target these schools causing insane amounts of discard mortality. All to harvest 100 measly pounds with low end market value. Think about how many small purse seiners or other commercial operations threaten these schools during their southerly inshore migration and while staging in their southerly wintering grounds.

Again does predation contribute, absolutely as it does every fishery. Does it explain the seeming disappearance of spikes every year, don't think so. If bottlenose dolphin are the suggested cause, what did they eat when there were no spike weakfish. And if they are the problem, why aren't they eating all the juvenile bass, blues, bunker etc that have similar north south migration routes.

A very interesting point in the article, if dolphins are supposedly the fish eating the spikes with imbedded transmitters, why aren't the monitoring stations still capturing the signals even if the transmitter is excreted. On the other hand, if the fish ends up in the market, don't think ocean based monitoring stations have that kind of reach. Makes you wonder.

[Tombro]

In 2005 we bought a new boat and slipped it in Lanoka Harbor. This was new water to me, as I had been out of Keyport years ago. Up that way I got weaks up to 13#, on live bunker.
In Barnegat bay I learned to anchor in places like Tices shoal and Meyers Hole and chum with grass shrimp. We had spectacular light tackle fishing every summer late July/August. Once Labor Day arrived, the weaks schooled up and were chasing bait in the open bay waters. We caught them on bubblegum FinS fish. Around this same time they were leaving the bay and just outside the inlet you could read them on sonar, and catch them two at a time on a hi lo rig with scented squid strips. Large croaker were a welcome bycatch. Our final shot at weaks was when the spikes passed by in late October. Two or three at a time!

Then about 2010 or so it declined one year…then was pretty much gone. The whole fishery. Not sure what sector, man or beast, was pressuring them. I sold that boat in 2016, but am now back to SW fishing out of a new boat out of SRI.

And got two 14” weaks at Elberon rocks a week ago; there’s hope.

[dakota560]

The oceans food chain and natural balance that exists for years, which includes predation, doesn't change on its own in one years time. Environmental factors as well usually have effects felt over a gradual period of time unless we're talking about something like the Valdez oil spill. Recreational fishing activities won't ever change a fishery in a year. Commercial fishing can, has and will especially with inshore stocks accessible year round.

Weakfish spawn in numbers, reach sexual maturity within their first year and have a significant growth rate which means they're a durable stock. How many people on this site have seen dolphin surround schools of weakfish or found copious amounts or even one in the stomachs of bass or blues and, if they're supposedly further offshore as the article suggests, tuna for that matter. Like others, I've caught an occasional 4-6 lb weakfish over the years sea bass fishing in 150 feet of water but never saw or caught a spike offshore. So the question is what's happening to all these juvenile fish. Whatever is happening is most likely happening inshore and personally I don't buy it's natural predation from dolphins.

[bulletbob]

The oceans food chain and natural balance that exists for years, which includes predation, doesn't change on its own in one years time. Environmental factors as well usually have effects felt over a gradual period of time unless we're talking about something like the Valdez oil spill. Recreational fishing activities won't ever change a fishery in a year. Commercial fishing can, has and will especially with inshore stocks accessible year round.

Weakfish spawn in numbers, reach sexual maturity within their first year and have a significant growth rate which means they're a durable stock. How many people on this site have seen dolphin surround schools of weakfish or found copious amounts or even one in the stomachs of bass or blues and, if they're supposedly further offshore as the article suggests, tuna for that matter. Like others, I've caught an occasional 4-6 lb weakfish over the years sea bass fishing in 150 feet of water but never saw or caught a spike offshore. So the question is what's happening to all these juvenile fish. Whatever is happening is most likely happening inshore and personally I don't buy it's natural predation from dolphins.

well stated.. Seems like every time a fishery drops off a cliff in a short time frame, nets are the probable cause if one looks at the situation rationally.. I mean species after species with a long history of abundance gone over a few short years, and everyone is left scratching their head over how it happened.. Typically from what i have seen it coincided with an increase in popularity as a food item.
Once people will pay for them, species seem to get scarce real fast..
Its been going on for years... Dolphins???.. Not so sure they are the main reason.... bob

[dakota560]

This is a 1994 / 1995 assessment but read the article in the attached link regarding continuing problems in the weakfish fishery with discard mortality with juvenile weakfish from non-directed trips from shrimpers, as well as collateral damage from pound nets, long haul seiners, the trawl net fishery and purse seiners. Older article but I'm sure it's still applicable today.

https://books.google.com/books?id=xz43AQAAMAAJ&pg=PP5&lpg=PP5&dq=Mr+Sanderson+Environmental+Impact+Statement+and +Regulatory+Impact+Reviewfor+Regulations+for+the+A tlantic+Coast+Weakfish+Fishery&source=bl&ots=ipg_EJ0pkK&sig=ACfU3U1aKU5JG0U5bKQWYITjMrpDD8NdXw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiejaqzvI3zAhUNZd8KHU9yD8IQ6AF6BAgCEAM#v =onepage&q=Mr%20Sanderson%20Environmental%20Impact%20Statem ent%20and%20Regulatory%20Impact%20Reviewfor%20Regu lations%20for%20the%20Atlantic%20Coast%20Weakfish% 20Fishery&f=false

There's quite a bit of material out there about the carnage these inshore fisheries have on non target species including weakfish primarily from southern states. A majority of the commercial weakfish annual catch comes from North Carolina. If we see the young of the year migrating south but not coming back north the following spring, doesn't take a genius to figure out there's an inshore problem in the southern region. Personally I believe the shrimp industry has a greater economic value to the economy than the lowly weakfish and we have another fishery for that reason losing out.

Can only imagine how many of these beautiful fish are killed in the process of targeting higher value species. A shrimper or any commercial operator can keep 100 lbs. of by-catch a day but they can catch 5,000 lbs that get tossed and weakfish have a 100% discard mortality factor. In other words if caught at any time in the gauntlet of nets up and down the coast during the migration, a mere 100 lbs. are harvested and the remainder thrown back dead. Exactly what I witnessed off Mantoloking years ago.

I think everyone knows what's going on but fisheries management can't acknowledge it publicly because of the backlash they'd get so instead we get another lame theory like ocean acidification, climate change, global warming, density differential or environmental issues just like summer flounder when the real answer is weakfish commercially caught don't contribute to the economy the way other species do so they end up being collateral damage in the process of harvesting those other higher market value species. Remember nets have no conscience and don't discriminate between species. They take everything in their way and have near 100% mortality rates.

Maybe bottleneck dolphins are contributing in this fishery holding it back, but at some point common sense needs to be factored into fisheries management.

Look at the two charts I've attached. Major catch in the 80's, declined but still significant in the 90's, destroyed the spawning stock, recruitment fails and the fishery disappears. A definite trend in fisheries management for stocks that have collapsed or are a mere shadow of what they were years ago. I guess some species are simply a victim of their lesser contribution to the economy and not worth saving.

[bulletbob]

This is a 1994 / 1995 assessment but read the article in the attached link regarding continuing problems in the weakfish fishery with discard mortality with juvenile weakfish from non-directed trips from shrimpers, as well as collateral damage from pound nets, long haul seiners, the trawl net fishery and purse seiners. Older article but I'm sure it's still applicable today.

https://books.google.com/books?id=xz43AQAAMAAJ&pg=PP5&lpg=PP5&dq=Mr+Sanderson+Environmental+Impact+Statement+and +Regulatory+Impact+Reviewfor+Regulations+for+the+A tlantic+Coast+Weakfish+Fishery&source=bl&ots=ipg_EJ0pkK&sig=ACfU3U1aKU5JG0U5bKQWYITjMrpDD8NdXw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiejaqzvI3zAhUNZd8KHU9yD8IQ6AF6BAgCEAM#v =onepage&q=Mr%20Sanderson%20Environmental%20Impact%20Statem ent%20and%20Regulatory%20Impact%20Reviewfor%20Regu lations%20for%20the%20Atlantic%20Coast%20Weakfish% 20Fishery&f=false

There's quite a bit of material out there about the carnage these inshore fisheries have on non target species including weakfish primarily from southern states. A majority of the commercial weakfish annual catch comes from North Carolina. If we see the young of the year migrating south but not coming back north the following spring, doesn't take a genius to figure out there's an inshore problem in the southern region. Personally I believe the shrimp industry has a greater economic value to the economy than the lowly weakfish and we have another fishery for that reason losing out.

Can only imagine how many of these beautiful fish are killed in the process of targeting higher value species. A shrimper or any commercial operator can keep 100 lbs. of by-catch a day but they can catch 5,000 lbs that get tossed and weakfish have a 100% discard mortality factor. In other words if caught at any time in the gauntlet of nets up and down the coast during the migration, a mere 100 lbs. are harvested and the remainder thrown back dead. Exactly what I witnessed off Mantoloking years ago.

I think everyone knows what's going on but fisheries management can't acknowledge it publicly because of the backlash they'd get so instead we get another lame theory like ocean acidification, climate change, global warming, density differential or environmental issues just like summer flounder when the real answer is weakfish commercially caught don't contribute to the economy the way other species do so they end up being collateral damage in the process of harvesting those other higher market value species. Remember nets have no conscience and don't discriminate between species. They take everything in their way and have near 100% mortality rates.

Maybe bottleneck dolphins are contributing in this fishery holding it back, but at some point common sense needs to be factored into fisheries management.

Look at the two charts I've attached. Major catch in the 80's, declined but still significant in the 90's, destroyed the spawning stock, recruitment fails and the fishery disappears. A definite trend in fisheries management for stocks that have collapsed or are a mere shadow of what they were years ago. I guess some species are simply a victim of their lesser contribution to the economy and not worth saving.

So well presented as always!

Tom's excellent post illustrates the simple fact as usual, the problem with Weaks not surviving year to year is most likely due to the fact that humans are simply killing too many... Not killing and eating such as what happens to Blackfish these days in an era of fish pots/Live fish markets/ Sushi-Sashimi restaurants, but simply killing because they were unfortunate enough to be in the same area as a more desirable/marketable/profitable species, and got caught in the nets targeting those "better" species...... Makes me sick,....... bob

[dakota560]

All you need to know from the research report in the attached link can be found on pages 19 and 20 regarding "scrap catch" involving weakfish and other inshore species being used for pet food, fish meal and baiting crab pots. So in essence we're losing this resource to what is affectionately known as the "trash fish" industry.

That and the last paragraph at the bottom of page 32 starting with the statement "A continuing problem in the weakfish fishery is incidental by-catch and discard mortality of small weakfish in the non-directed fisheries, such as the south Atlantic shrimp fishery and the scrap catch of weakfish from the pound nets, long haul seine and the trawl net fisheries, in particular the fly net fishery which is shrimping.

That's really all you need to know. Those beautiful tide runner weakfish we all enjoyed in years gone by are being killed in massive numbers as juveniles for scrap as collateral damage in the massive netting that takes place in their wintering grounds, primarily North Carolina and Virginia. It really is a tragic ending to a once incredible fishery. No wonder those millions of spikes we see migrating south in the fall every year mysteriously never reappear in the spring.