This is one %$%$%$%$ed up group of fishery managers. They really are a bunch of fools.
Oh...but the comms can take 14" till the cows come home.
THEY HAVE NO FRIGGIN IDEA HOW MANY FLUKE WERE CAUGHT BY RECS LAST SUMMER. IT WAS NOT MANY...NOWHERE NEAR THEIR ASSUMPTIONS. GIVEN THE FUEL COSTS AND THE SEASON LIMITS, THE SOUND WAS VOID OF ANY REC FLUKE FISHERMEN FOR MOST OF THE SUMMER. I know, I was out there many days, not behind some desk making bad assumptions about how many fish were caught by people who didn't go fishing much.
Bottom line...the fluke will not come back to their desired levels UNTIL they :
A) Improve the forage food situation (ie. STOP POUNDING THE HELL OUT OF THE SQUID EACH SPRING. ( I counted 22 squid boats one day off of Cape Poge in less than a square mile) Personally, I feel they should
not take 1 squid UNTIL they have all finished spawning, then well after they can fish them)
B) Stop dragging them in deep water offshore all winter. Leave them be. I think they spawn then.
C) Stop all dragging inshore. Comm fishing inshore has to be less indiscriminate.
D) Stop out of state boats from coming up and raping our waters (and we should not go down and rape theirs)
E) NO TOSSING BACK ANY FISH CAUGHT IN A NET. NONE. No cherry picking jumbos and tossing back dead or near dead fish . All fish count towards their quota.
F) All fish have to be counted. Rec and Comm. Recs need to report the amount of fish they take. I think the facts will shock fishery managers...it is a lot less then they think. The assumptions they use are ridiculous.
This subject gets me
As for the season.. I don't care what the size/creel limit is...but keep it open from May to Oct. 8 weeks? WTF?
They now believe the mortality was increased because they raised the limit so high that you had to release a lot more to get a keeper and since they assume 10% die you get more dead small fish. However, unlike bass, fluke become mature early and we are killing a big part of the spawning mass.
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