February seabass

[fishy]

I agree Capt.

[tautog]

Sea bass are a panfish that do well with higher harvests. Higher harvest make the fish spawn earlier which leads to increased biomass. Limits should be a higher bag with a smaller size limit. The best offshore and inshore fishery was when we had no limit or 50 fish limits. You want fish changing to male as soon as possible to maximize spawning potential.

[Madcrab]

Originally Posted by tautog

Sea bass are a panfish that do well with higher harvests. Higher harvest make the fish spawn earlier which leads to increased biomass. Limits should be a higher bag with a smaller size limit. The best offshore and inshore fishery was when we had no limit or 50 fish limits. You want fish changing to male as soon as possible to maximize spawning potential.

I guessed the DEC doesn't know that.

[tautog]

Apparently they do not or more likely do not care. Most of them still say all sea bass over 9" are male. I sometimes catch females that are legal.

[Rocky]

The system is broke and it has been for a long time. Keeping recreational fishermen and party boats off the water because they can seems to fit their agenda well.

[bigal427]

So your saying the more sea bass that are taken the more sea bass there will be. Where did you get that info would like to read it? Also I have caught many keeper female sea bass that where over the limit and males that where not.

[tautog]

Captain Monty on the Morning Star has lots of research. Sea bass change from male to female based on size and sex balance. If they do not switch before keeper size then it leads to a near permanent imbalance sort of like what we see with fluke with almost the entire harvest being female.

[blindalfred]

As always there's still a lot of uncertainty (and self-interest) about how to regulate the fishery. Here's an interesting article to start with:
https://news.rutgers.edu/research-ne...5#.XEtw6FxKjmY

[AndyS]

Originally Posted by RC.

For many years I fished almost weekly for offshore sea bass. Once they lowered the limit from 25 to 15 fish, I stopped going. It just didn't seem worth the $200 to $300 in fare, tip, tackle, etc. and the 24 hour time commitment to go catch 15 sea bass, often while getting an ass-whoopin.

There were a lot of trips where the fishing was just stupid and you could catch 15 fish in the first hour. Then what do you do for the next 6 hours? Playing c&r makes little sense when so many die anyway. It's not so much about the meat you bring home but more the overall experience. For those reasons I'd prefer to have more of the catch available in the summer months. I do miss those trips though so I understand why others would disagree.

If I were hell bent on opening up the season in the winter, I'd argue for January when fishing is more consistent. Some years the fishing would slow by mid February or at least the average size of the fish became smaller.

RC

He nailed it !!! I get sick looking at 15" sea bass being taken when I know there are 6 and 7 pounders to be caught.

[TomKaye]

I just got a text that says sea bass will open 2/1 thru 2/28/19.
It refers to a website njsaltfish.com, not the official DEP website.
NJ DEP site still shows sea bass closed.
Anybody know if this February opening text is legit or is it still a proposal ??
Thanks in advance for any official input or a link.