Think we will see Whiting in our lifetime?

[Capt Sal]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

Just wondering.. I remember when NJ party boats stopped sailing for Tog in about mid November.. It was Whiting time, and believe it or not no one gave a crap about Tog.... Fall Tog season was about 6 weeks maybe.. Started early mid Oct, and were done when the Whiting and Ling came in solid inshore.

The whiting/ling boats had decent crowds but were rarely packed, because the fish were close in, and ALL the boats sailed for them,, so there was always room. In those days, if I recall correctly most of the bigger faster boats as far north as AH would sail all winter as long as the bay wasn't locked with ice. [As it WAS some years]... I sure miss those days.

In my opinion, if the Whiting come back strong, it will take a LOT of pressure off the blackfish, as it will give guys another option... I realize it will probably never happen.
The big foreign draggers took most of them, and a lot of us recreational guys did our share of damage as well, taking home galvanized garbage cans full, and running them over to Leroys on rt 36 to have them smoked... I hope they come back, but to be honest, I fear I may never see another one.. They were easily one of my favorite fish way back when. bob

The foreign boats crushed the whiting?Our own draggers out of Belford did a number on them also.They still drag and sell ''spikes''.They still purse sien for bunker in the bay.I wonder how many weakies and stripers died as by catch.My oldest son is 40 and got in on the whiting run when he was a boy.My youngest son Jamey who mates for me is 34 and never got to enjoy our whiting run.Sad isn't it.Let us not worry about what we had let is worry about the future!

[bulletbob]

Not really "worried" about it Capt Sal... Just sad is all...
... If those fish were still where they should be, your job would be easier, it would give your clients more options, and the pressure on other species would be lighter..

Think about this.. Imagine if the Whiting came back in numbers, as well as the Winter Flounder... It would be a great help to all other stocks of inshore fish species, as well as the guys like yourself that take guys out to fish for them.. The past is gone, I realize that.. I am worried about the future.. Some of these fish really need a break from the guys that are dragging them off the bottom before they can even spawn.... bob

[Knot Guilty]

The only thing wrong with winter flounders is the season and bag limits.

[SaltLife1980]

Originally Posted by Knot Guilty

The only thing wrong with winter flounders is the season and bag limits.

Could not agree with you more.. if they just gave us a decent season and bag limit everyone would be happy and more boats could target them..

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Knot Guilty

The only thing wrong with winter flounders is the season and bag limits.

So you're saying the bays, rivers, tidal creeks are full of flounder of all sizes?, as they were all my life, until maybe 20 years ago?..

If I fished off the wall at Shark River or off Shore in the Shrewbury River, or the beach of Raritan Bay with sandworms, I can still catch a few dozen??.. As someone that used to fish for winter flounder a LOT, I find that pretty hard to believe.. It was nothing to catch a 5 gallon bucket of them in a few hours 100 yards from shore in Union Beach when I lived there.. Same thing with the Shrewsbury. I have a difficult time believing they are still around in those kind of numbers..
Hey, you guys still live there of course, and I moved away in the early 90's... maybe things have changed, but even in the 90's I noticed the catch sizes were shrinking each year... If I am wrong, I defer to the locals to set me straight on the numbers... bob

[Blind Archer]

Being a Raritan bay local my whole life and having some un-imaginable catches through out the years, my first notice of the decline in flounder was in the early 90's. Before that, the party boats really didn't work the west end of the bay too often. The spring run marquis were lit up with "Bay Flounder" and a new era of pressure on the pre-spawn females was in gear. The loss of roe ripe females from the year classes started the numbers to fall off to where a dozen for a couple of hours was decent catch. If the Boston harbor flatties can be fished out to warrant the current limits, Jersey certainly could too! Just curious, with the warming waters, does any one have insight to the New Hampshire and Maine whiting and flounder fisheries ?

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Blind Archer

Being a Raritan bay local my whole life and having some un-imaginable catches through out the years, my first notice of the decline in flounder was in the early 90's. Before that, the party boats really didn't work the west end of the bay too often. The spring run marquis were lit up with "Bay Flounder" and a new era of pressure on the pre-spawn females was in gear. The loss of roe ripe females from the year classes started the numbers to fall off to where a dozen for a couple of hours was decent catch. If the Boston harbor flatties can be fished out to warrant the current limits, Jersey certainly could too! Just curious, with the warming waters, does any one have insight to the New Hampshire and Maine whiting and flounder fisheries ?

Thank you.. I didn't think I was crazy... I too recall when the party boats started fishing off Union beach and even further west... A few years later the numbers started to drop off fast.. I am NOT blaming the party boats, OR recreationals, OR netters.. I think we all took too many fish when they were easy pickins... Did anyone REALLY need a couple of full five gallon buckets of huge flounder, every time out?... I recall some of those fluke sized Raritan Bay flounder having yellow tails btw...
I recall one day fishing just off the old busted down Keansburg Pier[before it was built back up].. My brother and I were in a little tin boat, and 2 big party boats from AH showed up... Water was shallow maybe 12-15 feet..
The two boats got real close together, and started revving their engines together.. The water in back of the boats was just churning like crazy.. They did it for a minute or two.. The only thing we could figure out is that they were stirring the bottom up, loosening little critters to draw flounder under the boats.. never saw that before or after that one time.
Look guys, I'm on your side. I just want the fish back where they were, and where they belong.. Big numbers are great, but in my opinion even recreational guys can put a huge amount of pressure on certain stocks, and flounder and probably blacks, are those kinds of fish, because they are "in range" for a good number of fisherman, for a good part of the year... bob

[Blind Archer]

Yeah I guess I kinda made it sound like the PB's were the culprits. Not by themselves I must admit ( I helped too!) Before they made their presence known, only us locals and a handful of boats from Staten Island would be on these west end fish. The west end was still off the map to most flat fisherman until the more visable boats showed up. Round shoal would be loaded with fish just comin out of the mud and many never had the chance to drop their eggs. UB was unreal in the spring and pretty good if you had a slow dropping fall water temp.