squeteague - what's your opinion on this fishery?

[fishweewee]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

Eel grass beds are essential for Squeteague habitat as is bait.

Most definitely true. That's the first thing I look for when looking for weakfish habitat. If you aren't cleaning eel grass off your lures every few casts ...

Flap, I disagree with you on one thing.

Weakfish are DELICIOUS. Better than striper.

[chris L]

they are tasty , a taste some hate but others love . they dont refrigerate well and become mushy after 2 days .

In my opinion they should be managed better . not too many commercials fish for them here in the north but the southern fish get hit the hardest . We have a 10 fish limit and in my eyes its too many . If they refrigerated better then that would be fine . since they spoil quicker than most take what you need for the night and leave the rest . I have caught 12# weaks here in Ct ( 3 years ago ) on a number of occations and 1 maybe 2 would feed a family no problem .

[Nebe]

heres my opinion-

I thought they were extinct???

[spence]

Only Squet I ever saw was in a fish box at Sakonnet Seafood

-spence

[Pete_G]

I've caught 5, all were incidental catches. 2 from the boat that I spotted on the depth finder were over 30ft deep in the middle of a school of stripers. The other 3 were all near or after blue fish blitzes from shore.

I've fished several of the "known" weakie spots around the area pretty hard but I've never actually caught one when I was trying to.

[striprman]

Back in the 70's and 80's we caught many nice ones up to 14 pounds in the........river. They may still come there and with the return of pogy schools, one can hope.

I really enjoyed catching them

They must be kept on ice as the meat turns soft, mushy real quick. The fish in the picture were pulled from an ice filled cooler, immediately filleted and the fillets bagged and put back on ice. The meat is very good, kind of like cod or black sea bass.
I think I would be more conservative if I catch any more, might keep one or 2. Those were the days of "100 pounds + one fish", no commercial fishing licence needed to sell fish.

[Finlander]

We had one 7-1/2 lbs while fluke fishing two years ago in 30 feet of water near the pink house. Greating looking fish, tasted good as well, the family keeps asking me to catch another one?