Snapper Slaughter

[Billfish715]

NOT! Check the bluefish regulations for this year.
https://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/pdf/2020/digmar20.pdf

If you pay to fish on a party boat or for hire vessel, you may keep 5 bluefish. If you fish from a private boat or rental or from shore or from a dock, you may keep 3 fish. That includes snappers! That's right. I guess that the snapper population is being decimated by hundreds of 10 year olds who are a threat to the survival of adult bluefish.

Is anyone tired of being told what to do and how to do it by a government bureaucracy? If you pay for them, you're entitled to more fish. If you don't pay, you get less. Hmmmm? Who decided on the bag limits? How were they decided?

No size limits on bluefish but size limits on everything else? Explain that please! I can keep three snapper bluefish but I can't keep a 16" fluke! The more the "scientists" profess their wisdom, the more they spotlight their lack of common sense. Maybe ti's not the scientists who show a lack of practicality or sense.

The governmental decision makers will always fall back on "scientific data" to guide them. The scientists present numbers from their mathematical calculations from data that is partially complete. They are the professionals and they should know, is the excuse the decision makers use to decide out fate.

Gerry might be on to something. The "fish police" will be so busy checking fishermen for social distancing and face mask violations that they won't have time or the effort to check size and bag limits for my catch.

[Jigman13]

I keep zero bluefish lol

[AndyS]

Make sure to sign up for the Saltwater Registry.

[Foul Hook]

How about when you get 10 or 12 of them in a cast net when trying to net spearing? I guess l'll have to cherry pick my best 3. F'ing ridiculous

[chrislars]

Ha, they will all just go way off shore like they have been the last few summers, never to be caught!

[Billfish715]

Maybe the question I want answered is: " If rebuilding the bluefish stocks to former levels is going to be based on the scientific theory that no size limits are necessary and that only using bag limits will do the trick: why can't the same theory be used for striped bass and fluke? If keeping three 12" snappers doesn't hurt the chances of a bluefish comeback, then, keeping a couple of 16" fluke shouldn't affect their recovery either. If only bag limits are used to restore the bluefish numbers, why wouldn't it work for striped bass too?

Something is really wrong with the science and how the science is used to regulate recreational fishing.We are encouraged to harvest the large female fluke so they can't spawn and expect the stocks to recover. We don't harvest the large female striped bass so they can spawn. We can keep any size bluefish and yet, they will still be back to the acceptable levels they once were.

[Capt. Debbie]

Same here! Catch and Release for fun.

Originally Posted by Jigman13

I keep zero bluefish lol

[Hookmanski]

Originally Posted by Jigman13

I keep zero bluefish lol

x2, they're super fun to catch but you couldn't pay me to eat one!

[RAMMFISH66]

Pound for pound, they are fun to catch..good fight and release for another day!!! I don't agree with the science of rebuilding the stock but o'well...

[reason162]

What other juvenile gamefish are you allowed to harvest, use as bait, or amuse children with?

I do agree that the limit should be constant regardless of private or charter/party boats. 3 is plenty across the board.