2024 and 2025 Fluke Options Poll

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by hammer4reel

I agree with some of that , but commercial guys are not targeting restaurant sized fish .
They want fish 4 pounds and up because in a good market they make 1 dollar more per pound .
So here in NJ when they are allowed say the 3000 pound weekly , they earn an extra 3k.


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Just curious, what part of the market does 4 lb. plus fluke cater to. Restaurants don't want fillets that hang off the plate. A 4 lb. fish is not what restaurants are buying because of size and thickness. Jumbos are maybe the target of sushi markets, but not the restaurant market and I'm assuming the restaurant market would swamp the sushi market in daily and year round demand. I agree jumbo size fish draw higher market prices but I believe the demand for 16" to 18" fish is much greater. I could be wrong but again what my sources have told me.

[hammer4reel]

Originally Posted by Broad Bill

Just curious, what part of the market does 4 lb. plus fluke cater to. Restaurants don't want fillets that hang off the plate. A 4 lb. fish is not what restaurants are buying because of size and thickness. Jumbos are maybe the target of sushi markets, but not the restaurant market and I'm assuming the restaurant market would swamp the sushi market in daily and year round demand. I agree jumbo size fish draw higher market prices but I believe the demand for 16" to 18" fish is much greater. I could be wrong but again what my sources have told me.

I have more than a few friends commercial fishing . They get more money for fish above 4 pounds .
A restaurant serves a portion , not a 1/4 fish in many places .
Otherwise patrons getting a white side fillet would complain about those others getting a brown side etc .
The THEORY that commercial guys target 16-18” fish is one started by recreational fisherman .
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When better fish are around their paychecks are substantially larger .

When the market is overrun with fish when the 7 day boats are boating 30-35k a week of fish , small guys don’t even want to fish because it brings the price down to low to make a profit on the smaller state landings .

IMO if you follow NC landings for most of the year they are enormous, in a state that only has a 2 week recreational season .

Those boats are way overfishing all the states north of them to fill those quotas .
It’s not the local commercial boats fishing here with much more conservative bag limits .

[emcjim]

I agree with the most popular choice: 145 days, 3 fish @ 18. The party boats need the long season. We ae down to 3 in AHMH, unless a new boat moves into 1 of the 5 vacant slips. Any young captains out there that want to get into this business?

[FishingSinceIWasThree]

These poll numbers are totally different from yesterdays' poll numbers...TOTALLY DIFFERENT....more fake polls and votes

Our country and culture is totally corrupt....needs to be completely overhauled

# 2 was in the lead and the numbers have all been subtracted from #2

don't believe anything you see anymore

[frugalfisherman]

Sushi restaurants want the bigger fish and I imagine a lot if not the majority are shipped to Japan.

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by FishingSinceIWasThree

These poll numbers are totally different from yesterdays' poll numbers...TOTALLY DIFFERENT....more fake polls and votes

Our country and culture is totally corrupt....needs to be completely overhauled

# 2 was in the lead and the numbers have all been subtracted from #2

don't believe anything you see anymore

Look at the OP's post. The poll from yesterday you're referring to had bad dates and was replaced with the current poll.

[hammer4reel]

17 voted with almost 800 views .
Shows how few guys actually get involved , yet will bitch when we get screwed with regs we may not want .

.

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by hammer4reel

I have more than a few friends commercial fishing . They get more money for fish above 4 pounds .

The THEORY that commercial guys target 16-18” fish is one started by recreational fisherman.

My point remains. If commercials are targeting 4 lb plus fish, 16" to 20" predominantly female breeders are falling victim to discard mortality especially during the winter when they're being towed from deeper waters and exposed to colder temperatures on deck. And how many 4 lb plus males do we honestly believe are being harvested as opposed to predominantly females.

My theory, as you refer to it about restaurant size 16" to 18" being the primary size fish targeted, isn't from recreational anglers, it's from one of the top commercial guys in the industry.

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by reason162

That's a point people seem not to understand - lowering size limits doesn't automatically mean harvesting more males. You could just as easily be killing females without giving them a chance to spawn.

Proportionately yes it does. If you retain fish which it appears you do, how many 18" plus fish have you caught over the last 5 years that were males? I"d bet you could count them on one hand.

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by hammer4reel

If they claim the biggest biomass of fish is under 18”
Letting them breed an extra year l would think is beneficial.
While larger fluke will have more eggs , it’s claimed older fish carry eggs that are not as fertile .
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In one breath you're saying commercials prime size fish to target are over 4 lbs. and then you say a majority of the biomass is made up of fish under 18 inches. How many 4 lb. 18 in fluke have you caught in your lifetime?

The people saying larger fish while having more eggs are less fertile than younger age classes are the same guys harvesting those older breeders to rationalize their catch. The juvenile female fluke when they first attain sexual maturity are said to produce approximately 400,000 eggs a year. Large breeders can produce up to 4 million a year.

There might be some truth to the fact that larger breeders on a relative basis are less fertile but there's no science that suggests that differential in fertility comes close to mitigating the incremental eggs a larger breeder is capable of producing.