Jmac ;;
Mu uncle would rell me storis about them when I was a kid ............ so it had to be 30/40,s .he had a flyrod / with a float .that they only used for squetaeague .. & all they did was fish grass shrimp /
In the seventies we started catching very small ones in Mt hope bay ...... I din,t even know what they were til we kept a couple & showed them around ..............that was beginning of the last cycle ......... we started to smoked them in E/G bay on yellow uppermans // as they got larger /the numbers got smaller ... we than would catch descent size commercial tubing /but they were a by-catch ;
they end came when they were being caught on pogies .
But there still must be a few around because B/M who is a shore fisherman in RISSA had the RISSA record a few yesra ago & I think it was the very next year he broke his own record. probably the largest from shore in RI .. I think its 16+ # ..
I few years ago I had a early summer where they were potting in my minnow traps .I guess that was going to be the start of the next local cycle / but the amount of bass, blues, fluke .add the seals & commarants . probably ended it befor e it really had a chance to get going ;;
never in my life I,ve I seen a fish si soft // if you caught in the morning / ya better have kept it on ice or in the water ......... even if you stacked them in a cooler & it was a long day .they were history ;;
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