Quote:
Originally Posted by hammer4reel
Approx a dozen draggers been working around Shark river spots for going on 3 weeks .Those boats are filling their quotas weekly (1500 # each )
So the fish are here , difference is they don’t need them to bite .
.very few fish being caught by recreational fisherman in the same area
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Dan another angle on this, you're comments mean in the last three weeks 12 commercial boats in a relatively small area harvested 54,000 lbs of fluke. And remember they can keep 14" and up and kill everything else caught in their nets. I wouldn't be surprised an additional 54,000 lbs. or more were killed and thrown back dead in the selective harvest process by commercials. Last two years with an asinine 1" slot, at least the recs had a shot at this year's shorts which the Prowler commented on in his post the other day. Slot should be 14" - 17.5" or something comparable but then NMFS would penalize the recs next year for over fishing their quota three fold. We're boxed in and fish 18" and larger are disappearing from the stock. They have to be, that's all that's being harvested while the younger age groups intended to fill that void become collateral damage. Harvest the breeders and kill future recruiting classes, these people have their heads in the sand. Couple that with the southerly winds and cold water and it doesn't paint a pretty picture.
Just got a report from a charter guy from Massachusetts saying the same thing, lot of bites, but keepers are extremely hard to come by and their size minimum is 17.5"! Well see what the rest of the season holds in store but in my opinion it's not a pretty picture and asinine regulations are catching up with this fishery.
