Extended Winter Flounder Season?

Originally Posted by hammer4reel

I would have rathered a normal season with a higher daily bag limit.
flounder are one of the most expensive fish to target.

used to be the great yearly kick off.
even when making your own chum, its alot of work for a meager 2 fish per person.
I would have thought with all these reduced seasons for 6 years already that the stocks would have been rebuilt alot better

Dan,

Couldn't agree with you more. I remember growing up in the 70's and 80's I'd fish with my family all winter long for flounder, even with three feet of snow on the ground. We always caught fish. This was from the shore, not a boat with 10 lbs of chum! Fished mostly Shark River at what is now the boat launch, and when the fish moved out of there we headed to a street parallel with the Pt Pleasant Canal, think it was Maxon St. When the flounder migration was in full gear, we'd fish the wall at the Pt Pleasant Inlet or fish the at the Shark River Inlet. It was common to catch 40 to 50 flounder a day and remember some trips pushing a hundred or more fish. We never took that many as mom and dad were sticklers about taking only what we could eat. My point is there were just as many recreational guys fishing those days and the flounder fishing EVERY year was just lights out. You'd catch, many 2, 3 and 4 lb fish and you would equally catch MANY what we called postage stamps....small flounder that could barely swallow a blood or sand worm. Very solid cross section of varying years classes which is one sign of a very healthy fishery.

And now we have today. I can't help but think once again that our beloved flounder fishery has succumb to the commercial netting pressures while off shore. Back in the 70's and 80's there were just as many bass and blues around so I don't think the fall off in this fishery is due to predatory changes in the food chain. Like whiting and every other species we discuss, if you don't protect the stock and eat into the critical mass needed to perpetuate their numbers, you end up with what we have today. It couldn't be any sadder than what has happened with the flounder stock as they ALWAYS represented the beginning of the season, were great for families to fish, excellent fish to get your children started in the sport (plentiful and easy to catch) and they could reel them in, you didn't back then have to spend an arm and a leg to fish for them and a boat wasn't necessary. It was a tradition of sorts for many families to dust off the cob webs of winter and prepare for the season ahead. PLUS they are absolutely great table fare, far better in my opinion than their cousin the fluke!

It's disgusting to be talking about 1 - 2 fish creel limits, closed seasons, sand and blood worms which cost a dollar a piece to use for bait (one of the most insane things I've ever witnessed) and a resource which is a shadow of what it once was and what it still could be if this world got it's act together. One by one we see these very important resources pushed to the brink and nothing ever seems to change. Sad we never learn from our mistakes! Would still look forward to an open season with 2 fish but man it's beyond belief what has happened to this fishery! And as Hammer pointed out in his earlier post, this is after a series of closed seasons! I still wonder what goes on of shore during these closed seasons!

Dakota