Are the fish really smaller?

[Flounder]

The same article appeared in Newsday, the Long Island paper. "Are the fish really smaller?" is a difficult question to answer. There were certainly more 50+ pound Stripers caught is the Sixties. More teen Weakfish too. I had a better chance at a 10# Fluke then, or at a 10# Blackfish (I haven't ever caught either). There were LOTS more Flounder then, and so bigger ones as well. Bluefishing is NOW just what it was like then, the cycle is obvious, 5 years ago an 18# fish was a given during the season. Watch a 14 pounder win this years WICC tournament. Cod are MUCH smaller. Come to think of it, can you name ANYTHING that's bigger? (No, not me, the FISH) If a winning racehorse is retired to stud, if dog breeders blend bloodlines trying to reach an ideal, if Texas fisheries have a program called "Share a Lonestar Lunker" where they are trying to breed a record Largemouth, I guess Genetics work. By taking all the LARGE fish over the years, we have left the SMALL ones to breed, and now the Chickens are coming home to roost!

Sorry, but "I calls 'em like I see 'em"

Flounder