Think we will see Whiting in our lifetime?

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by 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.

A lot of us helped..The PB's actually got there late in the game... Just a few years after they moved into the UB [and west] area in the spring, the fish were already in trouble.. When areas are stacked up with fish, no matter what the species, we fisherman seem to get complacent and think they will always be there year after year, all we have to do is go get them.. its just not the case..
Back in the 70's and 80's, I never for one second thought a day would come where I could not go and catch whiting or flounder when the water was cool in the spring, late fall, and winter... I do hope the whiting come back before I'm too old to fish anymore.. Same with winter flounder... bob

[NoWorries]

There's alot more going on with these fisheries, flounder and whiting than just over fishing from recs and commercial. Climate changes have influenced , increases in populations of cormorants (fish eating birds) and seals and other mammals. The striped bass come back of the late nineties too , fluke and bluefish too ! During the months of June and July flounder are still here in numbers but in deep water and are caught while targeting ling and seabass. AND in Jan and Feb are caught in fyke nets inside rivers and bays in good numbers too. I've read that certain pollutants from fertillizers and pest control and other sources has had an impact on the percentage of male and female flounder too. Making spawning less effective. THere's no money for these studies and very little has been done to put into use any info gained from studies that have been done. On the bight side, In the last 2 years thru our winters and into spring I've seen encouraging signs of increases in flounder numbers in my area as caught by hook and line fishermen during the winter and spring. Ling rebounded last winter with some great catches thru a mild winter. There have been more cod caught in NJ waters the last few winters than in many years. There's still good numbers of whiting up north of Cape Cod too . Regulations for fisheries in the last 20 years have changed everthing but unless more is known on "what to do" besides just hit the recreational fisherman with more restrictions, I believe some of this will remain unchanged. Just my .02

[italianfisherman]

Originally Posted by NoWorries

There's alot more going on with these fisheries, flounder and whiting than just over fishing from recs and commercial. Climate changes have influenced , increases in populations of cormorants (fish eating birds) and seals and other mammals. The striped bass come back of the late nineties too , fluke and bluefish too ! During the months of June and July flounder are still here in numbers but in deep water and are caught while targeting ling and seabass. AND in Jan and Feb are caught in fyke nets inside rivers and bays in good numbers too. I've read that certain pollutants from fertillizers and pest control and other sources has had an impact on the percentage of male and female flounder too. Making spawning less effective. THere's no money for these studies and very little has been done to put into use any info gained from studies that have been done. On the bight side, In the last 2 years thru our winters and into spring I've seen encouraging signs of increases in flounder numbers in my area as caught by hook and line fishermen during the winter and spring. Ling rebounded last winter with some great catches thru a mild winter. There have been more cod caught in NJ waters the last few winters than in many years. There's still good numbers of whiting up north of Cape Cod too . Regulations for fisheries in the last 20 years have changed everthing but unless more is known on "what to do" besides just hit the recreational fisherman with more restrictions, I believe some of this will remain unchanged. Just my .02

I DO AGREE...

[NoLimit]

Leroy's Fish House

"We Smoke Anything"

And I remember picking up whiting at night on the beach they were so thick in the wash.

It wasn't because of party boats