Re: 2014 Fluke Regulations
 

great summary paul... I like your mentioning of a "cut back" on seabass in mid-summer, my only reservation about the roundabout date of July is too early - we still have a decent seabass fishery in July - maybe propose it from roughly 7/15-8/30 (5 fish, 4 fish, etc.)

Keep up the good work in keeping us informed!

Re: 2014 Fluke Regulations
 

Thank You Paul for the update and all of your work.
Steve

Re: 2014 Fluke Regulations
 

If they are going to shorten the season for fluke, they should start it later, like early June, and give us more time to fish later in the season, either the end of September or beginning of October. The fluke bite really didn't pick up last year til later in the season, end of June, early July. This was because of the water temps still being too cold. I would think that after the winter we've had that it's going to take even longer this year for the temps to warm up enough for the fluke bite to start.

Re: 2014 Fluke Regulations
 

I'm with Marc on this. If we have a choice I would rather the season start later and end later. Besides the reasons he mentioned, we have Stripers to fish for in the Spring and once the water warms up warms up they leave and the Fluking gets better.

Re: 2014 Fluke Regulations
 

My son,Capt Jamey has his boat in Delaware. He says there is no need for the16'' fluke and feels Delaware will go way over the there quota!

Re: 2014 Fluke Regulations
 

My thoughts exactly. Looking at my log from last season confirms that. Entire May and all of June, ice cold water, jigs were cold, caught numerous ling on 6" grubs, many four spots and spotted hake using same.
I would like to see a later start. Also considering that for the last few years, we seem to lose the last week of august and/or first week of september due to an early offshore storm stirring up the water and making it impossible to fish the end of the season.

Re: 2014 Fluke Regulations
 

agree 100%

6/15-10/15

that's roughly 120 days!

Re: 2014 Fluke Regulations
 

Russ, the line you are referring to is about NY exceeding its target quota for sea bass, not fluke. For the record though, according to MRIP, Ct, NJ, and NY all overfished their fluke quotas last year. That information is available on page 9 of addendum XXV if you would like to check it out.

Re: 2014 Fluke Regulations
 

I'm not so sure I'd like a mid June start to the fluke season. I've done very well catching quality fluke in the back bay, south shore of Raritan Bay & the Navesink River as early as Mother's Day. Granted not all fluke fisherman have access to these types of waters, just pointing out that there is quality fluke fishing in others bodies of water other than the ocean.

Re: 2014 Fluke Regulations
 

I for one feel that the earlier the start of the season, the better. We have a blast catching fluke in the rivers and estuaries very early in the year. Before there was ever a closed season on fluke we were catching them in April. I love fishing pre-memorial day when boat traffic is light and the shorts to keeper ratio is 1:1. Why chase them out on the lumps when they are at the end of the dock? most years, with last year being an exception, we have a major weather event that cripples the fluking around September 1st making the rest of the season a crap shoot.... just my 2 cents.