Fluke Season is Open

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Blackfish Doug

Sorry Bob your not going to get any sympathy from me I know what it's like I lived it. As far as that $15 an hour that's a big BS I lost my job 10 years ago. I have a great resume & in the last 10 years I couldn't come close to making those $15 an hour wages that you claim are out there. I have no medical insurance & thank god my wife does & 60% comes out of her pay. I have not taken a vacation in over 10 years because time off is no pay. How about using Christmas,New Years Day & Easter as days you got to make up there are no paid holidays at my job. You see there are no jobs out there tons of time off as you claim. I know if there was work out there giving you $15,top benefits, & tons of time off sign me up I will be there tomorrow. Ask anybody who graduates from college & ask them if they wouldn't take that. I don't know where you got that from but it's not from this state & that's for sure. You obviously don't know anybody in the business & overate the job market in a big way. And by the way I did give quite a few School bus company's my resume as well & I never heard the phone ring once. I live a drug free life & have a good driving record as well. Right now I'm too old to do this type of work but when I first lost my job I would have taken that position in a heart beat. Right now I'm happy just to have a job & I'm glad that I had somebody out there that was willing to hire me. Thank god it was not in the commercial fishing industry but the benefits are the same. I would love to see you work a commercial boat for 2 weeks & see what it's like . The grass is not always greener on the other side.

I would not work on a commercial boat.. From what you write, its just above abject poverty level.. I was making $15 an hour when I left Forked River in 1991 and I am NOT a very skilled person. If someone in NJ can't make close to that in 2016 there are problems I am not aware of. I live in a depressed area of NY state the looks like a soviet era eastern bloc territory.. Its no problem making $15 or more an hour here if you can drive a truck or bus, turn a wrench or hammer a nail.. Please don't try and tell me the economy is better here, thats nonsense.. Its been poor here for decades.

If someone that works on a commercial boat can't eat or pay bills, they can make $12-13 an hour stocking shelves at Lowe;s or Home Depot.. I refuse to believe the situation is as dire as you say.. I am uneducated and poorly skilled and these days half crippled, and I make that much, and even entry level bus drivers start at $14+ an hour here... Is NJ REALLY that much worse off than NY state??.. Hard to believe..

[NoLimit]

Bullet Bob - The problem in NJ is that hardly anyone knows which end of a hammer to hold.

Everyone that is laid off went to college and worked for ATT or Verizon or J&J and they were Directors of Hand Holding, Meetings, and Coddling. They lost those cushy jobs and now they are "overqualified"

[pectoralfin]

The 14" commercial size has been the same for more than 10 years. Why?
Because the filets are just the correct size for the food service industry. When the feds calculate the allowable catch for the recreational sector, they factor in an estimate for the mortality of the released fish which, again, lowers the quota. If they did that for the commercial sector, their quota would be zero! By catch is a big problem, but why not use the same criteria for both? If any of you have been surveyed, you know what a joke it is. A five year old could put together a better survey.

The feds love this infighting because it takes the spotlight off of them and puts it on us. People hate when I claim that the commercial and recreational fishermen have the same goals. They make a living from fishing, we do it as a sport but we want to bring something home. We have something in common.

Perfect example. The feds calculated that the recreational fishery is a 58 billion dollar industry and the commercial is a 50 billion dollar industry. But if you read the second page of that report, the feds added in 30 billion dollars which is the value of all the seafood imported, thus the commercial impact is only 20 billion dollars. That's the government for you, treating everyone fair and equally,and it will only get worse.

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by NoLimit

Bullet Bob - The problem in NJ is that hardly anyone knows which end of a hammer to hold.

Everyone that is laid off went to college and worked for ATT or Verizon or J&J and they were Directors of Hand Holding, Meetings, and Coddling. They lost those cushy jobs and now they are "overqualified"

Got it,, I can accept that... I was'nt trying to be a prick toward Blackfish Doug.. Just expressing my feelings that if the commercial guys are struggling, there are other options for hard working, resourceful guys.. If they stick it out year after year, they MUST be making money,. In this day and age, in a modern cosmopolitan place like NJ, I don't buy the "love of the sea" thing.. A man[or woman] has to eat and pay bills, for himself and his family. These guys are scraping the sea bottom to death because there is still money in it.. If there really isn't money in it, and they are going broke, they really can't be very bright... bob

[Capt Sal]

Fact is that when the"commercial" bunker boats devastate our menhaden in the bay there is big money made. I give two shits what the mates get! Anyone could be a mate on a purse siener. If there was no money in it they would not be doing it. Killing stripers,weakfish and god only knows what else. Gill netters set up on Shrewsbury Rocks and kill stripers that are thrown back dead. All of this to bring a few blues to market and some skates. I should have respect or feel sorry for these people? Millions of juvenile ling and whiting floating in the mud hole? These are the people i should feel sorry for? Hook and line or cast nets will never deplete any fishery!
The reduction boats are also making a killing. Killing the menhaden and lining there pockets! Fact is they have more power and money. Who cares what the mates or let us call them deck hands make per hour. They are raping the fish stocks and getting rich in the process! The local Commercial fishermen use to blame all this on foreing countries fishing as close as 12 miles. Well now we have a 200 mile limit and no Russians or Japanese. Who do we blame now? There are some younger people on this site that will never have the opportunity to experience what us '' older guy'' had.We have to fight for the right to harvest a few fish for our use. Can't make 15$ an hour in NJ commercial fishing??? Illegal aliens make that as day laborers in NJ.

[Togfather2530]

All this talk about wages lol. It's supposed to be about fishing. I made 81$ an hour on contract last week lmfao. JOB stands for just over broke. If you really want to make money and are ambitious enough you can. A job is usually not the best approach though. There is money in any business including charter boats, party boats, and commercial fisherman. Some do better than others though. funny to read though

[Blackfish Doug]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

Got it,, I can accept that... I was'nt trying to be a prick toward Blackfish Doug.. Just expressing my feelings that if the commercial guys are struggling, there are other options for hard working, resourceful guys.. If they stick it out year after year, they MUST be making money,. In this day and age, in a modern cosmopolitan place like NJ, I don't buy the "love of the sea" thing.. A man[or woman] has to eat and pay bills, for himself and his family. These guys are scraping the sea bottom to death because there is still money in it.. If there really isn't money in it, and they are going broke, they really can't be very bright... bob

Bob I don't think that you were being a prick to me. Just that it hit me at home when you made the statement about how good the job market was out there & it's not. When I first lost my Job everybody told me the same thing you were saying go to home depot,Lowes etc. I don't know if you noticed lately not as many older people are being hired there anymore.They have guidelines to the amount of people in the age group they have to hire.Also the hours that are being given out are not enough just so they don't have to offer you the medical benefits, paid holidays plus vacation.This practice is going on in a lot of company's that hire the entry level employees. The older you get the less opportunity is out there. Age discrimination is going going on in a major way now. Most of the people who work in my age group are doing it to make up for the supplemental insurance we have to pay for & that's not cheap. I know that there is money in the commercial fishing industry. But it's not as great as people think & the people in the middle are the people making the money not the actual people who catch the fish. Some of what I don't like is the pinhooking for Fluke. The 14" Fluke was meant for the offshore Fluke fishery not the inshore rod & reel commercial fishery. The pinhookers can release 14" Fluke to live another day. I believe the inshore fishery should be the same as ours. If we can only keep 18" fish for rod & reel they should as well. I'm not in favor of the abuse in that industry as well. But there are plenty of fish for everyone to share these days. It's the regulations that are hurting everyone plus the areas we no longer can fish in that hold the fish. Here in the great USA we have no go zones for fisherman something that I guess were going to have get used to.

[Blackfish Doug]

[QUOTE=pectoralfin;439782]The 14" commercial size has been the same for more than 10 years. Why?
Because the filets are just the correct size for the food service industry.
That may sound true but this size limit was not designed for that it was for mortality. The offshore people should be able to keep whatever they get nothing survives that goes back. If they could just catch their weight quota & go back in it would serve everyone better. Read my post about Pinhooking rod & reel commercial fishing that's where it needs to be corrected. 14" fish should not be allowed to be kept by commercial pinhookers. The 14" fish can be released & survive to live another day. I also believe that the live fish should not be able to be kept. Look at Capt Monty all the blackfish caught & being kept on his boat must be bled. I also believe he does not allow any live fish to be kept for consumption. Bait fishing is different that can be kept alive. Cut out the live fishing altogether & just see how much everything improves.

[NoLimit]

Originally Posted by Capt Sal

Fact is that when the"commercial" bunker boats devastate our menhaden in the bay there is big money made. I give two shits what the mates get! Anyone could be a mate on a purse siener. If there was no money in it they would not be doing it. Killing stripers,weakfish and god only knows what else. Gill netters set up on Shrewsbury Rocks and kill stripers that are thrown back dead. All of this to bring a few blues to market and some skates. I should have respect or feel sorry for these people? Millions of juvenile ling and whiting floating in the mud hole? These are the people i should feel sorry for? Hook and line or cast nets will never deplete any fishery!
The reduction boats are also making a killing. Killing the menhaden and lining there pockets! Fact is they have more power and money. Who cares what the mates or let us call them deck hands make per hour. They are raping the fish stocks and getting rich in the process! The local Commercial fishermen use to blame all this on foreing countries fishing as close as 12 miles. Well now we have a 200 mile limit and no Russians or Japanese. Who do we blame now? There are some younger people on this site that will never have the opportunity to experience what us '' older guy'' had.We have to fight for the right to harvest a few fish for our use. Can't make 15$ an hour in NJ commercial fishing??? Illegal aliens make that as day laborers in NJ.

Worth Repeating! and anyone that sides with commercial draggers deserves to catch nothing.

[seazu]

Originally Posted by nolimit

worth repeating! And anyone that sides with commercial draggers deserves to catch nothing.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!amen!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!