So it's time for me to eat more fish in my house and the wife goes to the fish market and sees wild caught fluke- i love fluke. Of course this gets me thinking about RI fluke regs :fury:. Can anyone justify why comm fishermen can take 14" fluke and i can only take 18.5"? Speaking for myself and some freinds 18.5 are far and few in between while i could sink my skiff with 14" fish. Just seems VERY unfair.

I find that odd for a while, Don.
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It would be cool to be able to keep a couple for the table without having to go out on a big boat in deeper waters.I think there's more rec fisherman estimated than comms in RI in theory.That's my guess.I either spend a 100$ +/- 25$ on a hit or miss party boat or go buy a few filets for a fraction of that. :wall:

I don't agree with a lot of stuff. Glad you are feelin better bro :)

sucks doesn't it

I wish striped bass had similar regs,when there is a quota it has less of an impact on the fishery.Don't get upset at regs Don,stay away from politics too.

I wish striped bass had similar regs,when there is a quota it has less of an impact on the fishery.Don't get upset at regs Don,stay away from politics too.

you're right chris :), thanks! too much time on my hands...

You didn't miss much this morning Don and you can fluke with me anytime the warden grants a pass to you.

plenty of fluke in the right size out there don :uhuh: seabiscuits too :uhuh: mmm sea biscuits!! :drool:

I'll never understand it either...I'm sure there is a reason $$$

i think it's a dragger thing. Many, many of the fluke that come up in the nets are small. I think it is an effort to try to cut down on the dead throwbacks. There are some awesome fluke in RI now, at least last weekend in Newport area. I found small fish inshore and jumbos to 8 1/2# out further. Awesome jumbo seabass too. The bottom has large schools of squid. Did I mention dogfish. Art

i think it's a dragger thing. Many, many of the fluke that come up in the nets are small. I think it is an effort to try to cut down on the dead throwbacks..... Art

If this is truly the case, then what they are doing is setting regs based on the boats and not on the fish stocks.

If the draggers are catching way too many 14" fish, logic would dictate that there aren't many large fish. It only makes sense.
Instead of basing regs on what evidentally is a fish stock issue, they choose the wussy way out and say that since you're catching these small fish ANYWAY, why not make it your legal size?

In otherwords, they don't really care about the fish stocks as long as the fishing industry can still make some $$.

Any guess what will happen if the average fluke size caught by draggers drops below 14"???
They'll change the regs to accomodate that smaller size, what else!

OK, I know this sounds a little too over-the-top, but you can't tell me that something along these lines hasn't been done before.
Remember a few years back when they INCREASED the recreational regs almost every year yet did almost nothing to the commercial regs? How about the shortened season?

Let's hope that they haven't pushed the envelope too far!

If this is truly the case, then what they are doing is setting regs based on the boats and not on the fish stocks.

If the draggers are catching way too many 14" fish, logic would dictate that there aren't many large fish. It only makes sense.
Instead of basing regs on what evidentally is a fish stock issue, they choose the wussy way out and say that since you're catching these small fish ANYWAY, why not make it your legal size?

In otherwords, they don't really care about the fish stocks as long as the fishing industry can still make some $$.

Any guess what will happen if the average fluke size caught by draggers drops below 14"???
They'll change the regs to accomodate that smaller size, what else!

OK, I know this sounds a little too over-the-top, but you can't tell me that something along these lines hasn't been done before.
Remember a few years back when they INCREASED the recreational regs almost every year yet did almost nothing to the commercial regs? How about the shortened season?

Let's hope that they haven't pushed the envelope too far!

I find your logic a bit illogical. They do catch smaller fish, and they go back as dead discard, against no quota. A 14" fish is marketable and will go against a quota. And the comm regs did change along with the rec regs. By INCREASED regs I assume you mean attempted to decrease landings. No arguement here, I see your thought process regarding the disparity, just trying to help.

The commercials have strict reporting and the State and NOAA close the fishery down when it gets close to the quota. No such monitoring for recreationals. Would you rather have those 14 inch fish thrown back overboard dead or have them counted against the commercial quota?