JCAA Fluke Tournament Results

[Angler Paul]

2022 JCAA Heavy Hitters Fluke Tournament Final Standings

I’d like to start by thanking all of our tournament participants and congratulating the winners. I’d also like to thank all the FB groups, websites, publications and tackle stores that helped publicize our tournament. Special thanks to the shops that handled our weigh-ins as well!
We had a total of 35 boats in the tournament of which two boats fished on Thursday, four on Friday, eleven on Saturday and eighteen on Sunday. Sunday was the day that participants could have won 25 k for the largest fluke caught over 12 lbs. The insurance that we paid for that prize really ate into our profit but at least we did make a small profit. Gerard Scarano and his crew were the big winners in the tournament. They had the largest fluke in the tournament at 6.5 lbs that was caught by Marc Atlas. They swept the single fluke Calcuttas as well as the three fish Calcuttas with a total 16.3 lbs. They won a total of $7,775 which is very good for a tournament with only 35 boats. Greg Ryback came in second with a 6.3 lb fluke and Kevin Cole was third with 6.11 lb fluke. Fourth place went to Jerry Posterino with a 5.81 lb fluke caught by Dick Larson and Jay Lemelin took the fifth and final prize with a 5.54 lb fluke.
Amazingly, Jake Jakubik won both sea bass Calcutttas and took home a total of $2,363 for his 2.2 lb sea bass!

Paul Haertel
JCAA Tournament Chairman

[Gerry Zagorski]

Thanks for posting this Paul and congrats to all the wining teams!

[Billfish715]

Kudos to you Paul for the support and promotion of saltwater fishing in NJ. You were there to be an advocate for the Save Summer Flounder effort and vocal at the rally a few years ago at Fisherman’s Supply in Pt. Pleasant. When you and your committee discuss this year’s tournament, will you compare the results from past years? I’m interested to hear your take on this year’s overall fluke fishing compared to other years.

How does 35 teams compare to other years? How would a 6.5# 1st place fluke have held up to previous winners? I’m only curious because I’ve been wondering about this year’s fluke numbers. Would there have been more teams if fuel prices were lower or if there were more and bigger fluke to catch?

Eventually the Mid-Atlantic committee members will be evaluating this year’s fluke totals in order to determine next year’s quotas and seasons. What “guesstimates” will they use from this season? My impression of this year’s fluke fishing is not very flattering. That doesn’t matter. Only the impression that the Council feels matters. I’m hoping they look at the numbers with an open mind and look carefully at the mess they’ve made of the fishery with their “ management “ plans.

If you feel that your tournament could have had a larger subscription and that with a larger fluke population, more teams would have taken a chance and entered, please let your feelings be heard. A chance to catch more and bigger fish will draw more tournament entries.

Congratulations on continuing your efforts to support fishing and those who love to do it. I hope the tournament is even bigger and better next year.

[dales529]

Nice job Paul

[dales529]

Billfish
Here is another idea. Instead of being the question guy how about becoming the answer guy. You have knowledge and concern about the fishery. Enjoy your posts. There are ways to research the data you seem to crave albeit you may be frustrated like many before you that have done the work but at least you can know you tried rather than just ask.

[Billfish715]

As you know, information about the current season won't be known or evaluated until after the season is over. Data from previous years is available and I've used it to draw conclusions about what has been done in the past to affect conditions in the present. My conclusions are that the current system is not and has not been working based on the intentions that were professed by the scientists and data analyzers. My solution is radical and will be met with political and financial resistance from the commercial fishing lobby. It's the same solution that has been voiced by many of the fishermen on this board and from other fishing organizations. Close the offshore fishing/spawning grounds to commercial fishing during the spawning period and restrict commercial fishing in areas that are identified as spawning grounds.

As for the questions which I posed before, in order to better understand what is happening now and be able to evaluate data now, the questions that I asked were to search out current data. If indeed there is a feeling that tournament entries are affected by the perception that there are fewer fish to catch and fewer big fish to catch, then that is relevant. If the tournament winning fish are smaller than in previous years, then that is relevant as well. Perhaps it's a sign/validation that the fluke stock is in trouble.

I'm as curious and concerned as the next guy about the future of fluke fishing. I'm sure you are too. Answers have been suggested by too many fishermen to count and there's nothing much to show for it. Rallies and testimony before Congress, courting various state legislators, not to mention the monetary donations that have been made for representation have not changed things very much.

We've become conditioned to seek bigger and bigger fluke at a time when those breeders are being scooped up by the commercial fleets, placing the fluke stocks in serious jeopardy. We are becoming almost as greedy as the commercial fishermen. I'm old enough to remember when catching a couple of 14-15 inch fluke was quite enough for a dinner for two. Try now to convince fishermen that it's okay to keep fish that size. What has changed in the last 40 years? The regulations and scientific engineering of the fish stocks, that's what. Today's new anglers and even the old timers are made out to be criminals if they ( God forbid ) keep an undersized fluke.

You are correct. Questions are always going to be asked. Answers will always be discussed. There's a mind set that has to change among the legislators and a willingness to admit the errors of their ways. For me, yeah, I'm always curious and always questioning. I do remember how things used to be before government interference, and they were a helluva lot better than they are today.

Oh, as for the data.........I'll defer to Dakota and his research.