Fluke regulations in NY

[Haron]

Anybody knows what's new in 2008 regulations regarding Flukes and Blackfish? Just received from DEC yellow page with regulations effective September 2007, and it says about Flukes: "No possession allowed". Today spoke with ranger at Floyd Bennett Field ( getting new fishing permit) and he said that he still haven't received anything new about changes, so one should obey current regulations( 4 flukes 19.5"). Well, for now I'm not even sure if we gonna have season or not :mad:

[njdiver]

Anybody knows what's new in 2008 regulations regarding Flukes and Blackfish? Just received from DEC yellow page with regulations effective September 2007, and it says about Flukes: "No possession allowed". Today spoke with ranger at Floyd Bennett Field ( getting new fishing permit) and he said that he still haven't received anything new about changes, so one should obey current regulations( 4 flukes 19.5"). Well, for now I'm not even sure if we gonna have season or not :mad:

Here is what I've found:

NY. summer flounder recreational fishery
2008 proposed options, subject to ASMFC approval

these are the options they gave us

1/ 19.5 in 2 fish may 24-july 13
2/ 19.5 in 2 fish june 14-july 22
3/ 19.5 in 2 fish july 4-august 4
4/ 19.5 in 2 fish july29-sept 1
5/ 19.5 in 3 fish may 24-july 11
6/ 19.5 in 3 fish june 14- july20
7/ 19.5 in 3 fish july 4 aug 7
8/ 19.5 in 3 fish july 31-sept 1
9/ 20 in 2 fish july 4- sept 1
10/ 20.5 in 4 fish may 15-sept 1*****

2007 landings estimate 666,753
2008 target 361,000
2008 revised target 239,704

http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/showthread.php?t=567309

[Haron]

Thanks!
It's really sad news, so maybe it's about time to sell spearguns :(

[njfisherman11]

i could be wrong but i heard they accepted the 4 at 20.5

[Haron]

i could be wrong but i heard they accepted the 4 at 20.5

I hope you are right, last season the smallest fluke I got was 21"...

[njfisherman11]

I hope you are right, last season the smallest fluke I got was 21"...

Spearing or rod and reel?

[Mattedhead]

http://spearboard.com/image.php?u=4366&dateline=1203180840
Either he speared it or lands his Flounder with a gaff...:D

[Haron]

Spearing or rod and reel?

I don't go for flukes anymore with rod and reel. I have more fun and luck spearing them. By the way the 11Lb fluke in my avatar I shot in 6' of water! Just stepped in from the shore and here he is, couldn't believe my eyes!

[njfisherman11]

http://spearboard.com/image.php?u=4366&dateline=1203180840
Either he speared it or lands his Flounder with a gaff...:D No shit really? I was asking because it would be hard to believe that someone could rod and reel fish for flatties and not catch any under 21". On the other hand i can believe it since he only spears and can pick and choose what he wants to shoot.

[Haron]

No shit really? I was asking because it would be hard to believe that someone could rod and reel fish for flatties and not catch any under 21". On the other hand i can believe it since he only spears and can pick and choose what he wants to shoot.

I went a few times on party boats fluking, after the new regulations came out , and after catching about 20-30 fish of which 99 percent were in 18" - 19" range and only a few keepers, I just quit it. And you may not believe it, but actually I haven't seen many small flukes near shore where I was hunting. As I have mentioned, mostly they were keepers.

[njfisherman11]

I went a few times on party boats fluking, after the new regulations came out , and after catching about 20-30 fish of which 99 percent were in 18" - 19" range and only a few keepers, I just quit it. And you may not believe it, but actually I haven't seen many small flukes near shore where I was hunting. As I have mentioned, mostly they were keepers. i believe ya, i know your average size fish up there is larger than our average size down here, i've only speared 1 flounder so far 19 incher, can't wait for the day when i see my first doormat, hope it gets my heart pumping like it was when i shot my first buck!

[Haron]

Have you tried Sandy Hook area? I have friend of mine, he's fishing over there with rod and reel and gets really nice flukes and stripers all the time. He told me about couple of hunters diving that area and getting flukes bigger than mine( about 12-14 Lb)
What I have noticed, that big flukes starting July-August are really close to shore and not on the mussel beds or near rocks but buried right in the sand, ( you probably noticed that light colored sand changes to brownish sand, that's what they like). And their bellies are full with sand crabs.

[njfisherman11]

Thanks for the suggestion, i'll have to keep it in mind if i ever go up there, i'm in Southern Jersey. We usually have excellent flounder runs but our fish tend to be smaller. Last summer the flounder never really showed up in the surf and thats where i do most of my spearfishing, so i'm hoping it will be different this year. It was just decided last night that jersey will have an 8 fish at 18" limit but its going to be really bad in 2009 if we don't get other states to join the ssfff. Please tell all of your fishing buddies in NY to check out www.ssfff.net they are working on fighting the anti fishing groups. This is not just a NJ thing, the issue we are dealing with is the Magnuson Stevens act which applies to every fishery in the entire country. The ssfff has hired a scientist to review the summer flounder stocks and prove that the current stock evaluations being used by the Government are flawed.

[Haron]

Thanks for the suggestion, i'll have to keep it in mind if i ever go up there, i'm in Southern Jersey. We usually have excellent flounder runs but our fish tend to be smaller. Last summer the flounder never really showed up in the surf and thats where i do most of my spearfishing, so i'm hoping it will be different this year. It was just decided last night that jersey will have an 8 fish at 18" limit but its going to be really bad in 2009 if we don't get other states to join the ssfff. Please tell all of your fishing buddies in NY to check out www.ssfff.net they are working on fighting the anti fishing groups. This is not just a NJ thing, the issue we are dealing with is the Magnuson Stevens act which applies to every fishery in the entire country. The ssfff has hired a scientist to review the summer flounder stocks and prove that the current stock evaluations being used by the Government are flawed.

Will definitely do that. I don't really understand where they got those numbers, looks like nobody ever dove around NY-NJ area, they should see how many flukes were there last year. Every 15 square feet held nice fish last summer. They should stop commercial fleet which decimate fish population, cleaning bottom off of everything alive. That would help IMO.

[njfisherman11]

To be honest with you the commercial fleets are on our side with this one. They have strict regulations as well and this is their livlihood. The Government claims that the summer flounder population is hurting yet in the 40 years that they have been doing stock assessments we now have the highest numbers and they said the target population is almost double what we have now. The anti fishing groups have big supporters such as Sunoco. The oil companies support these so called environmentalist because they want to make up for their oil spills every year when realistically they have no clue whats being done with the millions of dollars being donated. They are having the same problem down south with a species of grouper because of the Magnuson Stevens Act. So the only way we can defeat these organizations is if all outdoorsmen across the country join together. This is a federal law so every state has its say if it is brought to congress for evaluation. We need to spread the word and make sure everyone writes their representatives. Please make sure your local Bait and Tackle shops are aware of this, because without a flounder fishery they will be out of business.

[smellsfishy]

The NY DEC website has regs from Jan 31 2008:

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/7894.html

Fluke is "No possession allowed" year round.

It looks like they shortened the tautog season as well. It now ends in April.

[smellsfishy]

They also reduced Tautog down to 4 from 10. More restrictions to come...

http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/41818.html

[smellsfishy]

So apparently the regulations are proposed regulations at this stage and are open to comments through early April. I've sent them an email asking for the Month of May back with at least a 1 or 2 fish limit. The other thing I suggested would never happen in a million years ... and that's a spearfishing exclusion. Anyways, guys shoot them an email so our spearfishing voice can be heard !

[njdiver]

Here's the URL for a printable document:

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/fishlimits.pdf

They did neglect to mention the maximum carapace size for lobster.