2012 Fluke regs...here are some of the options.....

[BigAl13]

I understand where your coming from but a 2 fish limit im staying home

[NJ Guy]

Im not sure where your fishing but some areas i fish im casting at the beach and there casting at me and though were not filling the coolers both sides are catching. I fished only from shore untill last year when i got a boat and even though its a little harder moving around theres keepers there.

I am fishing in Point Pleasant Beach in water an average water depth of 12 feet near the mouth of the inlet. The throwback to keeper ratio can be easily 50 to 1. And there is a lot of 16"-17" fish mixed in. I can also watch 20-30 other fisherman in my area on a daily basis and very few keepers are caught.

If the size limit was 16" with one keeper or two keepers then that would actually put everyone on a much more even playing ground of 1.5 fish per man because then the bay guys would have a fair share at the quota. As of now boat fisherman in the Ocean are taking the majority of the fish home.

2 fish at 16" im staying home as well... Thats barely a meal for me  i just got back from Burger king i ate 6 or 7 burgers i need more than a 2 fish limit 


and i fish the bay ALOT and trust me they are there! if you know where to find them you can have equal success versus fishing the ocean

[IKAT]

2 fish at 16" im staying home as well... Thats barely a meal for me  i just got back from Burger king i ate 6 or 7 burgers i need more than a 2 fish limit 


and i fish the bay ALOT and trust me they are there! if you know where to find them you can have equal success versus fishing the ocean
[/quote]

I will vouch for NJ Guy on the burgers and they look like this

[Capt. Carl]

As i stated....i will be running shark trips June thru Oct!

[Andys Delight]

I remember back in the day when I was younger thinking 6 pack charters were waaay overpriced.  Now that I own a boat I realize how stupidly wrong I was, but I did have at least some good reasoning back then.  I always figured why bother with paying a charter when I could catch keepers right from the shore.  Granted I had little chance at a prized doormat, I was definitely going to have meat.  Nowadays it's damn near senseless trying to fluke fish from the shore.  You'll still catch them, but you're very unlikely to get keepers with any kind of regularity.  Now if I were a charter captain, I would want the regs to stay at 18 inches, this way you're pretty much the only option (other than party boats) for fluke fisherman to catch any keepers.  Since I have a boat and am not a charter captain, I wish they would lower the regs down to 17.  That way I'm not burning tons of fuel just to get to the deeper waters.  Just my 2 cents. 

[IKAT]

As i stated....i will be running shark trips June thru Oct!

If you keep saying this the shark s will be banned next

[BigAl13]

Nj guy your probably fishinv right next to me ill see you this season

[fathergll]

Im not sure where your fishing but some areas i fish im casting at the beach and there casting at me and though were not filling the coolers both sides are catching. I fished only from shore untill last year when i got a boat and even though its a little harder moving around theres keepers there.

I am fishing in Point Pleasant Beach in water an average water depth of 12 feet near the mouth of the inlet. The throwback to keeper ratio can be easily 50 to 1. And there is a lot of 16"-17" fish mixed in. I can also watch 20-30 other fisherman in my area on a daily basis and very few keepers are caught.

If the size limit was 16" with one keeper or two keepers then that would actually put everyone on a much more even playing ground of 1.5 fish per man because then the bay guys would have a fair share at the quota. As of now boat fisherman in the Ocean are taking the majority of the fish home.

2 fish at 16" im staying home as well... Thats barely a meal for me  i just got back from Burger king i ate 6 or 7 burgers i need more than a 2 fish limit 


and i fish the bay ALOT and trust me they are there! if you know where to find them you can have equal success versus fishing the ocean

And thats part of my point. The mentality of a boat guy not even bothering to go fluke fishing if the limit was 2.Right there that tells me they are taking a giant portion of the fish. I guarantee you no shore based guy would say that because they are lucky to take home 5 a season. When I said "boat in the bay", I just made a general assumption of the boats that fish the bay. I'm sure some sharpe can do well in the bay on a boat and there's a big difference between a guy in a 10' rental boat and a sharpe who is knows every hole cruising around in his 21' Grady White outfitted with sonar. Obviously if you fall in the ladder then you can produce good results just from sheer quantity of fish and covering areas. 

I was just using 2 fish per man as an example since 1.5 fish per man was the average per trip they stated. I'm sure you do decent from a boat, i'd be interested to hear what you keeper ratio is, but my eyes don't lie to me when it comes to observing what others are catching and reading the reports since 18" was implemented as a size limit.


There was an interesting thread is on stripersonline from 2010 about this I just found
http://www.stripersonline.com/t/742711/my-throwback-to-keeper-ratio-fluke/120

From reading it 50:1 is about right for shore fisherman...heres some comments;

"I didn't read the whole thread, but 50:1 sounds about right for me during the last few years from the surf"

"Hundreds of fluke caught this year with not one keeper to show for it, from the beaches and jetties. Lots of 17"+ fish, but the only fish I brought home was an 18" fish that an old timer offered me, he wasn't interested in keeping it, so he gave it to me."


"All I know is that I only kept one fish all season. I fish in Coney Island Brooklyn right off the steeple chase pier. I drag and use live bait, must have caught over 100 fish this season but no luck with keepers."

"I would take 50:1. Unfortunately I have a whopping 2 keepers thus far and have caught over 400 fluke. Boat ain't helping. The two keepers I caught were in the bay, 22.5 and 19. Boated over 100 in one day, nada. 17" would change that ratio a lot."

"50:0"

"I don't know what my final count this year was but I got 3 or 4 keepers this summer with hundreds of throw backs and lots of time put in."


"The keeper ratio has been horrible. Mine also is about 150:1 out of 5 days of fishing. Bucktail and gulp."


"My son and i were averaging a keeper on most trips.We fished mostly the inlet or from the beach and we had one day with 90 fluke and not a single keeper."



The funny part is another disgruntled shore fisherman wrote the same thing I did   

"Currently they do it by size and bag limits but the keepers are skewed towards boaters since most larger fish stay in deeper water. Sure some come in but the majority are offshore or in deeper channels.

A guy in a boat gets pissed when he can't catch a limit and is still disgruntled when they get 2-3 keepers per person in a trip. A guy in the surf gets pissed when he can't get any keepers all season and is throwing back .5 to 1 inch short fish. In all fairness I think having a different size and bag limit for land based anglers would be the better way to go. If we just lower the size limit for everyone the boaters are just gonna harvest most of those fish before the surf angler has a good shot at them anyway....."

[IrishAyes]

fathergll , I agree with you 100% on having different size limits for the shore bound fisherman vs the boat fisherman. I know if I fish close to the beach I will get a hundred fish with maybe one keeper in the bunch.

When I was in N Carolina several years ago there was a size limit for flounder caught in the bay and a larger size limit for the inlet/ocean side fishermen. No reason it can not be done here, but that would have to be done by the regulators.

It could also be a shore bound and boat bound difference in limits and not bay/ocean as it is down south. I guess it's just too much figuring for them to do to consider it. 

[NJ Guy]

 I do agree with different size limits for shore and boat but that would all depend on the states ability to enforce it. For me my 4-6 hour trip keeper average is usually 5-9 keepers between my wife and i. Thats not saying we didnt have bad days especially after irene. We also deadstick 6+ rods and bucktail another 2 rods... When im fluking no rod holder is left empty lmao



The only reason i would stay home with a 2 fish limit is because not including any bait or tackle i spend 15-20 thousand dollars a year storing maintaing and fueling my boat. Wouldnt be worth the fuel and hassle for a 2 fish limit


Never heard of having diffferent limits for bays vs ocean and inlet....I was thinking about this the other day what if i went out on my boat right now and went out front and caught a limit of striped bass. I have a 10 mile ride through the bay (where the season is closed) what if i get stopped on my ride home 

[Andys Delight]

I do agree with different size limits for shore and boat but that would all depend on the states ability to enforce it. For me my 4-6 hour trip keeper average is usually 5-9 keepers between my wife and i. Thats not saying we didnt have bad days especially after irene. We also deadstick 6+ rods and bucktail another 2 rods... When im fluking no rod holder is left empty lmao



The only reason i would stay home with a 2 fish limit is because not including any bait or tackle i spend 15-20 thousand dollars a year storing maintaing and fueling my boat. Wouldnt be worth the fuel and hassle for a 2 fish limit


Never heard of having diffferent limits for bays vs ocean and inlet....I was thinking about this the other day what if i went out on my boat right now and went out front and caught a limit of striped bass. I have a 10 mile ride through the bay (where the season is closed) what if i get stopped on my ride home 

That's why it can't work.  No way that can be enforced short of busting people who have legal offshore fish once they get in the bay.  Conversely you wouldn't be able to fish the bay, get a couple keepers, then move offshore looking for better grounds.  Unfortunately fish don't have signs that state where they're from and they can't talk. 

It would create an issue similar to to the NY/NJ Fluke limit differences.  Think about the guys who have slips in Jersey City for example.  They live in Jersey, come down the river through NY and fish in Jersey in the bay/ocean, but they have no choice but to go through NY waters to get back home.  Because of that their only option is to always fish by the more stringent NY rules (2@21 inches) or risk getting busted.  With an offshore/inshore difference those of us who travel through the bay would be limited to the bay's restrictions. 

[bugmannj]

I personally would go with 5,6,or 7 after last season of releasing over 50 17.5" fluke for the season. When you pay big $ to go out on a party boat and go home with nothing because the fluke were "short" by half an inch or less it makes more sense to go with 17.5 size limit.

[BigAl13]

17.5" is good for size. Im fine with that its the ridiculous bag limits I dont care for. Everyone keeps saying lower the size give the guys some meat to bring home, I dont get that lowering the size limit comes with lowering the bag limit, So ok know the guy has 4 keepers yah, 4 fish just cost him $60- $100. Its still cheaper to buy them I dont know maybe its just me.

[fathergll]

It could also be a shore bound and boat bound difference in limits and not bay/ocean as it is down south. I guess it's just too much figuring for them to do to consider it. 

I'd say at least start with shore bound and boat bound regulations. To me thats a no brainer. Are they trying to encourage people to jump in boats and use up more gas resources to hang with these regulations? 

They could also further expand this by exluding kayaks and rental boats from the larger limits. Maybe larger vessels get only checked for the 18" limit?

The only reason i would stay home with a 2 fish limit is because not including any bait or tackle i spend 15-20 thousand dollars a year storing maintaing and fueling my boat. Wouldnt be worth the fuel and hassle for a 2 fish limit

I understand that and wouldn't blame you for not leaving port for a 2 fish limit. I was just reenforcing my point on who is taking the fish and who isn't. You're catching more keepers in a day than a lot of land based guys do in an entire season. Something is wrong with that considering Fluke has always traditionally been a staple of fishermen in shore durning the summer months.

[fathergll]

That's why it can't work.  No way that can be enforced short of busting people who have legal offshore fish once they get in the bay.  Conversely you wouldn't be able to fish the bay, get a couple keepers, then move offshore looking for better grounds.  Unfortunately fish don't have signs that state where they're from and they can't talk. 

You could still at least seperate land vs boat regulations. Thats a no brainer.

[BigAl13]

That's why it can't work.  No way that can be enforced short of busting people who have legal offshore fish once they get in the bay.  Conversely you wouldn't be able to fish the bay, get a couple keepers, then move offshore looking for better grounds.  Unfortunately fish don't have signs that state where they're from and they can't talk. 

You could still at least seperate land vs boat regulations. Thats a no brainer.

Its the nature of the beast the bigger fish are usually in deeper water where you cannot access from land and I feel for you guys on land, however it is what it is. You cant catch BFT or mahi  or any big species from the beach either so why does fluke have to be different. I understand what your saying but you cant skydive without a plane, so hop on a boat and catch some keepers and fish for a better shore target species i/e stripers blues from the surf

[fathergll]

That's why it can't work.  No way that can be enforced short of busting people who have legal offshore fish once they get in the bay.  Conversely you wouldn't be able to fish the bay, get a couple keepers, then move offshore looking for better grounds.  Unfortunately fish don't have signs that state where they're from and they can't talk. 

You could still at least seperate land vs boat regulations. Thats a no brainer.

Its the nature of the beast the bigger fish are usually in deeper water where you cannot access from land and I feel for you guys on land, however it is what it is.

Mark my words, somewhere there is a commercial captain quoting that exact same line.  Nature of the beast indeed

You cant catch BFT or mahi  or any big species from the beach either so why does fluke have to be different.

heh....I knew someone was going to give the exotic species example. Thats the reason I specifically stated "Fluke has always traditionally been a staple of fishermen in shore durning the summer months"

Thats the difference, people catch a lot of fluke inshore, I mean ALOT of fluke and they don't catch Bluefin tuna and Mahi in any where near the quanties of Fluke. Thats a strawman arguement

Riddle me this, what do you propose landbased fishermen/bay fisherman to target durning the summer months? If I want to go fishing at 10am in late July which species is the best bet? Oh and lets not forget theres boat traffic around as well

I understand what your saying but you cant skydive without a plane, so hop on a boat and catch some keepers and fish for a better shore target species i/e stripers blues from the surf

Stripers and Blues? Oh come on fluke is practially the best option in the summer. So the answer is to hop on a boat? 

[NJ Guy]

Its a imperfect system i guess bluefish would be the primary target in the summer months... Either that or hop on a boat...

I mean  lets be honest fishing from shore for any specie wont produce at the level of a boat. But thats just how it is. I used to be a surf fisherman so i understand your pain but i really think enforcement of these kinds of regulations would be very tricky.


Hey you ever want to hop on my boat for fluke fishing just give me a shout 

[fathergll]

Its a imperfect system i guess bluefish would be the primary target in the summer months... Either that or hop on a boat...

Even Blues are lousy in the summer. I mean by the time mid June comes any decent sized blues stopped blitzing the inlets and shore for the most part

I mean  lets be honest fishing from shore for any specie wont produce at the level of a boat. But thats just how it is.

100% true. Its just that fluke is that last option to fill the void in the summer for landbase guys(and rental boats/kayaks)and fluke really has always been a big bay/inlet species and the regs have killed that off for the most part.

Heck give the land based fisherman 16" 2 fish a day and the boat guys can keep the 18" at 8 fish 

Hey you ever want to hop on my boat for fluke fishing just give me a shout 

 

[BigAl13]

Totally different note how do you only quote certain lines