[JBird]

Personally, I think 8 fish is a lot. 6 fish with a lower size limit would be fine as very few people limit with 8 anyway. People would still pay to keep 6.

Almost all of our "options" are 8 at 18" with various different season lengths. How were these season lengths determined? I don't understand how size and bag can remain the same under such varying season lengths.

Go ahead and keep the season long but how about this: up until around Memorial day limit the bag to 1 fish at 17". This will cover incidental catches. (Like doormats trolled on Stretch plugs) From then on 6 fish at 17".

There are a lot of 17-18 inch fish out there from my experience working deck.
Also, there is no law against releasing big fluke...something to consider in non-pool, non-tournament situations.