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17" Fluke size limit Bites.

7K views 34 replies 20 participants last post by  BassinBilly 
#1 ·
I was really hoping for a 16 or 16.5 inch size limit this year.
My boat limits me to mostly inside the Inlet and its harder to get keeper size fish .
The skiff rentals & charter boats wouldve benifited too.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,
Alan
 
#6 ·
Size matters...

Alan,
if your forced to fish the bay because of the size of the boat,stick with the bass.I personally enjoy that more. Fished them the whole summer last year,numbers go down as the water warms up but I had fish to 39" on bellies.On flat days hug the beach for fluke,you know you should pull a few nice ones out there.
p.s. Alan the way you fish you need a 22 or 23 ft'er
paulie
 
#7 ·
Paulie, I love to eat fluke though!

I know I need a bigger boat, might get one too. I hate debt and am saving to escape from working in NYC . When I bought the Whaler I did so knowing it was a quality boat with a quality engine & I'd be able to sell her easily & just wrote a check with no loans ect.. { She'll go on E bay if not here }
I can work the beaches as you say on nicer days also, I'll catch my fair share, meanwhile I'm working on a fish streaching device in my basement!.
Turns a 15" into a 17" with a couple twists of a knob!
Alan
 
#10 ·
Hi Alan,

I am the first one to say I have no idea how the powers to be figure these limits and size.

I have tried to read some of the data and end up totally confused, another senior moment!.

They seem to claim that even at 16 1/2" and 4 fish we MIGHT go over the limit!!!!!!!!!!! Heaven only knows!!!!

How do you satisfy the 1/2 day, 3/4 day, full day, twice a day party boaters and also satisfy people who have a boat???????

Think about this. Bigger fluke arrive in the bays early. They all don't get caught, nor do they leave till the fall.

I would targety those fish. It might not be easy to find them BUT they are there. To find them is the REAL CHALLENGE. With a shallow draft boat I would be up on the flats at sunrise and sunset and in deep water around noon. We are talking about the south shore bays.

In the sound there are big fluke in very deep water all summer long. Very few if any one at all tries for them.

Personally, I would be fine with 16 or 16 1/2" fish and 4 or 5 a day would be fine.

I will trade a days worth of keepers to catch a 10 # plus doormat, measure and weigh it, take pictures and video tape its release.

Go on the hunt, yopu might be suprised.

Have a good season.

Capt Neil
 
#11 ·
Looks like it is up to the recreational fisherman to rise to the occasion in the face of adversity (again). Guess we are the real "doormats". No guns, no fish, no fun!

One inch. Some women say that is the difference between fantasy and reality.

What the ****....just my $0.02
 
#12 ·
Fluke Stretcher

Scalawag,
I may have an answer to your dilemma. Instead of a fluke stretcher, make up some bogus model that claims to stretch the male ...... Advertise it on late-night TV and you may soon be able to afford that home in the burbs and your new canyon-runner boat. Good luck
Paul
 
#13 ·
Capt Neil....

Hey Cap....

I fish the North Shore out of Northport on my 20ft Seaox ctr console...
The fluking is really good through most of June with quality fish.
When it slows in July and august I spend alot of time thinking that there are big fish in deep water I should be trying for.

Bottom line is.....Think I could get you to come aboard sometime so we could put our heads together over where these 10lbrs are hiding?
 
#14 ·
I never fished the sound, except from the shore once or twice.

I drove to Wildwood park last week and walked around a bit a place my ex- girlfriend and myself loved to stay at.
The bluffs, seashore of the N.Shore in that area takes ones breath away, the first thing that comes to mind is " Ice Age"
Man but those big rocks are a scary sight to someone who's drifted into bouys while fluking a couple times LOL!
I should start a thread about this subject & might if no one chimes in but can a novice handle navigating the LI Sound without ....well killing himself??
Any tips/inf. on fishing the long Island sound Suffolk area ?
Ive got a trailer, will travel,
Alan
 
#15 ·
If you are not happy with a 17" size limit, go to Huntington Bay this weekend. Capt. James in Huntington had a boat limit today upto 11 3/4 lbs. There are so many sea robin in Greenport area today. Still I could manage to catch 4 keeper upto 7 lbs. in front of Greenport Harbor. There are very few throwback.

k song
 
#17 ·
The way fluke grow, & the fact the fishery is fine....

we dont have to let the commericals have them all @ 14" and we get 1 keeper out of 10 out @ 17.
Its just stupid I think. Our grand kids will still have Fluke 1f we could catch a keeper too once in a while.
 
#19 ·
Size don't matter

Well I fish out of sheepshead bay and for a long time it really didn't matter what the size limit was people kept shorts anyway to cut for bait. And these people complain about commercial fishing Give me a break. if size is all that matters and not going out to have a good time away from it all. Go to the fish market
 
#20 ·
Bucktail, couple things.........

Its early, water still cool. plenty of fish around many people caught 15 fish today no problemo, except for 1 keeper out of 15.
Recs. should definetly be allowed to keep fish around 15.5-16" if commericals get to keep 14's. These fish grow @ a fast clip.
READ THE REPORT FROM BASSMAN909 Sunday May 5th... said I caught 25-30 Flike by the big M with 1 keeper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Americans stand up for your Flukin Rights!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alan
 
#21 ·
fluke

CHANGE! Nobody likes change! Remember how we were all whining when NOREAST changed its format and made us all log in?> Now that we are all logged in it seems the whole site runs better and smoother....17" isnt bad, before you know it you will be glad that our fish quality imporves...think back to what 36" did for stripers, it was great.

HOOD
 
#22 ·
14

O.K. - so I don't post that much here, usually confine it to a weekly recap of my fishing on the "Reports" board.

But there seems to be widespread resentment of the Commercial's legal ability to keep 14" fish.

Since I am a vendor to the NYDEC @ Seatuket, I get frequent opportunities to pick their brains on the various seemingly strange regs that get produced out there.

The reason that the commercials get to keep the 14's and we do not is because the commercial quotas are poundage-based not individual-fish-counted.

Since the dragging of fluke will result in a high percentage of sub-17" fish caught and killed in the trawl nets, regardless of repeated mesh size increases over the years, the smart thing to do is to allow the commercials to keep those fish and let them count towards the total poundage caught. They would only have to shovel the dead 14-17" fish back over the side for crab food. So logic says, let them keep them and let the poundage limits be achieved all that much quicker. Get them the heck off the fluke sooner and onto the squid or dogfish or whatever it is they fish for when fluke are closed to them. I like that thinking.

Of course the best solution would be to outlaw the trawlers altogether, but that ain't a-gonna happen. The DEC people are actually quite sensitive to this beating that the commercials are alledgedly taking in the media (and of course on post boards like this), and feel that the recs not the comms are the ones overfishing the Fluke, therefore WE bare the most watching.

I must say on reflection, that I agree with the 14" Commercial limit, but disagree VIOLENTLY with the characterization of recs as the abusers. I let them know it in no uncertain terms too. They were quite taken aback and perhaps not at all used to hearing our side presented in such a way. Maybe in ANY way for that matter.

Hmmmm, on reflection, maybe that's why they don't call me all that often anymore.

Anyway, if they would have granted catch limits more in keeping with the actual historical record regarding commercial catches vrs rec, then maybe I could buy the second, rec-overcatch position.

And this doesn't even take into account what I believe is the bad science involved in the fluke bio-mass computations.

But I do understand and agree with the thinking on the Comm 14" size limit.

rgds, Leprechaun
 
#23 ·
I fully understand that we all need to work hard on maintaining/rebuilding the stocks. It is just very frustraiting to go out and catch a ton of short fish, repeatedly, and not be able to bring a couple home for dinner. Let's look at the regs, 7 fish at 17"s, who really needs to bring home 7 fish at that size? I just don't understand why they could'nt make it three or four 16" or 16 1/2" fish. That is still a decent meal or two for four people.

I know that there are places around the island (like Greenport, Montauk) where there are bigger fish, but that's not were a lot of us fish regularly, so that's a moot point.

One last point on B. Attitudes post, everything you said make sense, the one concern I have is what happens to the under 14" fish that die in those nets? Just a thought

All in all, the way this season is starting, by June we'll be saying, thank god for all the Bass. And once again, it will be a waste of time to Fluke Fish in our area.
I hope I'm wrong.
 
#24 ·
2 great posts, Leprechaun & bassman

I now understand the 15 " commerical size limit, how that works.
& Bassman...you hit the nail on the head, after buying the bait, taking the kids on the boat let us bring home a couple 16's for din din.
Make it 4 fish @ 16, HECK, 3 fish @ 16.
A 16" fluke is a good eating , filleting size and there so much easier to catch around JI then 17"ers.
I'll be honest I dont do it but if people keep a 16 once in a while after throwing 35 fish back, almost cant blame them.
Alan
 
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