If Ling go down???

[bulletbob]

and are regulated like everything else... I wonder??
Would the party boats be able to weather it?..
I feel bad for those guys. Winter Flounder?.. nope..
Whiting??.. Nope, all gone
Weaks in summer?.. nope, gone as well.
Mackerel?.. nope didn't show....
Ling have become a mainstay.. They help these captains fill coolers for their fares..
I have seen some pretty dismal reports this fall and winter on ling fishing.
I hope it gets a LOT better come around April or so..
If the ling fishery collapses, and the NMFS " steps in to fix the problem", I fear for the guys that depend on them for their customers.. They are on eggshells already at times..

The mainstay fisheries that have kept these guys in business decade after decade are dwindling due to regulation... If ling stocks are going south
[ I hope NOT], I really wonder how it will play for the NY NJ party boat captains... Not looking for fights or arguments, just making conversation, and I hope my concern is overly exaggerated, and is nonsense.
Its just that I didn't see a lot of good ling fishing reported the past several months, and last head boat trip I went on in Dec, not even one was caught.
It WAS a tog trip, but several of us tried for ling without a touch, using Clams and Smelt { at Scotland}..
Kept an eye out since then, and it looks like most of the past 2 months was a pretty slow pick on them.

I truly hope they swarm inshore in great hordes in March/April for the sake of we that like to fish for them, and the captains that need to find them and put us over them... bob