[619619]

All this bad weather is keeping the commercials at their docks. This is good because they won't take as many fluke this winter.
There's a 500 pound catch limit for fluke each trip. How do the commercials get around this in the winter ? It would hardly be worth there while to go all the way offshore for such a small catch. You can bet that they got around this limit some how.
let everyone here hope the bad weather continues and the fluke fishing is great in 2003.

 

[619050]

interesting point sunnyday... Just hope those draggers don't clean up when this weather breaks!

 

[LkyLindy]

Pray

Sunny- I hope your right ..I hope your right...

 

[Toutog]

They Wait !

Hey SunnyD,
From what I have seen the last couple of years, The draggers lay in wait for the Fluke to concentrate on the way inshore in the spring, and then Maul'em
as close to the inlets as they can get away with.... Keep a sharp eye out to their position and call the Coast Guard
when they get in closer than 3 miles.
Trouble is,we are all fishing inshore during that time and not many of us are watching! They also can make several trips a day a that close in range. So why should they go all that way now for a mere 500lbs.?

 

[MakoMike]

Sunny,
Where did you get that 500 lb figure? I don't know what it is in NY but right now in RI the limit is 5,000 pounds.

 

[619619]

500 pound limit

That 500 pound limit is the NY limit. I hope other states have similiar trip limits.

 

[Hunt n' Fish]

Where are you guys getting your figures from? I've never heard of the 500 lb trip limit in NY, infact I always heard it was much less. And, fluke draggers are not confined to federal waters, so the three mile limit has nothing to do with them.

 

[LkyLindy]

Fluke

I believe Chris is correct-I thought it was more like 60 lbs. a trip-at least for the inshore draggers-this needs more research
Guys-any one know what the fluke regs are for the Comms?

 

[MakoMike]

Guys,
I'm not up on the current NY regas, but I can tell you the way it used to be, up until last year. During the winter, the trip limit was high, somewhere around the 5-10 thousand pound mark. Then, as the fish moved in in May, the limit would be reduced, first usually to 300 pounds and then later to 100-50 pounds. The reason for this was to get the draggers off the fish and preserve, what was left of the NY commercial quota for the pin hookers.
I haven't heard that this has changed and I'd be willing to wager that right now the trip limits are in the thousands of pounds.

 

[TRADEnFISH]

28 Miles From Montauk

Friend of mine is a dragger out of Shinne****. He has been getting some real nice fluke about 28 miles S. of the point in about 250' of water.