[619627]

These are the Regs for fishing New Jersey waters this year. As you can see inshore blackfishing is basically eliminated with these regs. Sea Bass fishing is shut during a prime part of the year again.


FLUKE: 8 fish at 16.5"
SEASON: May 3 - Oct 16

BLACKFISH: 4 fish at 14" (Jan 1 - May 31)
1 fish at 14" (Jun 1 - Nov 14)
8 fish at 14" (Nov 15......Dec 31)

SEA BASS: 25 fish at 12 inches
SEASON: Jan 1 - Sept 1, Sept 16 - Nov 30, closed 9/1 - 9/15 and for the month of December.

EC NEWELL MAN*

 

[MVPAEC]

EC,
This is putting a real damper on the upcoming year. Was thinking of buying my dad a boat this year. He loves going blackfishing. He is not going to be to crazy about getting up early driving an hour to the boat, head out another 45 minutes to the area, catch
4 blackfish, head back, clean the boat and head home. Looks like alot of effort for little reward.

MVP

 

[Gamakatsu]

I am not sure, but I think NY is going to have to adopt similar regs--This is a real bummer.

Gamakatsu

 

[skatemaster]

NJ is supposed to take more blackfish than any other state. So now they get what amounts to a 1.5 month season during the holidays. More room at the rail?

(This post edited by skatemaster on 03/10/2003)

 

[612727]

???

It looks to me like the blackfish are going to be hammered in December, esp that there will be nobody going for seabass. No clue why they close December for seabass, but Jan 1 you can get 25 again.

Then again, 25 years ago very few people were fishing for seabass or blackfish Bet Dec and Mar - everybody fished for cod and whiting. But we seem to have forgotten all about this - we only whine about what we know now.

 

[skatemaster]

Weakie 8 @ 13"
Porgies 50 @ 10" 7/1-12/31

 

[Gamakatsu]

All states have to cut back 25% on blackfish, one way or another, so get your Vaseline out in NY also.

As far as seabass go, that is a coastwide reg and all states must adopt it. There is a 27% cutback required from all states. The September closure is bad news because seabass do not C&R very well and it takes place at the peak of the scup season. On the NJ coast, scup and seabass hang on the same turf, so there'll be plenty of dead seabass around. The alternatives were as follows, according to a well known NJ party boat capt; 10 or 15 fish, 12 1/2" and/or a closed season for 6 or 7 months. The only way to keep 11 1/2" was to go to 10 fish and close the season for more than 1/2 the year. These were not options, and by assuring that both Fluke and Porgies will be open in September, it was agreed for all to share in the closure for 2 weeks while still having those two other species to fish for, and usually good fishing for them at that time as well.

Gamakatsu

(This post edited by Gamakatsu on 03/10/2003)

 

[skatemaster]

I don't know if anyone read any articles about how these limits were set, but they picked the weakie limit by a show of hands at a meeting in Tom's River!

Article

(This post edited by skatemaster on 03/10/2003)

 

[Gamakatsu]

quote:
Weakie 8 @ 13"

WTF?? It just goes to show what happens when a scientific approach, like a show of hands, is used to determine how many harvested fish a stock will sustain.

Gamakatsu

 

[skatemaster]

As long as NY makes their season 10/1-11/14 (ie don't overlap NJ), I guess I'll still be able to tog a bit by paying some extra tolls. Time for another letter to the DEC.

 

[614017]

New York made its reduction by eliminating the 1-fish possession limit from June though September. Other than that there should be no further restrictions for NY recs.

 

[skatemaster]

I was thinking about this and it seems wrong. Are that many tog kept during the summer (25% of the annual take????), that not keeping those fish would allow us to continue to retain a 10 fish limit the rest of the year?

 

[Gamakatsu]

quote:
The one fish June through mid-November was simply because weeks of one fish at that time only translated into a few extra days in the spring or winter. Basically, you can keep one nice tog during those months, or you cannot, but you gain almost nothing if you close the season entirely for that time frame.
The above quote came from a party boat captain who is very active in fisheries regulation. I really doubt that NY is getting away with just doing away with the one fish during the summer, although I sure hope so--I do most of my togging in NY.

Gamakatsu

 

[TJL65]

NY Too

If NY has an advantage with bag limit or open season over NJ, I'm positive that a lot of new faces will start popping up on NY headboats. I know I'll be one of them.

 

[togmaster]

maybe our time?

Funny but NJ regs have been more in favor of the fishermen for the past couple of yrs. Now NY has a slight edge in diffrent species? Let's see how long it lasts? Like I keep saying not enough state to state cooperation with each other

 

[noreast]

Gama and Skate

Bassman is correct, New York State met its reduction requirements as per ASMFC by eliminating the one fish bag limit on tog. These and a few other fisheries regulations are currently awaiting signature by the NYS DEC Commissioner, then there will be a short comment period and after they will be added to the state register.

So the regulations will be 14-inch size limit with a 10 fish bag from Oct. 7 to May 31.

 

[skatemaster]

I knew there was a reason that I liked NY better than NJ

 

[Leprechaun]

Its a good start for New Yorkers but . . .

Hmmm, still doesn't make up for the fact the we New Yawkers had to throw back those nice fat 16.99" fluke all last Summer and had to spend more time and fuel to put together our limits while NJ got an easier 16.5" size limit.

I bet I could have limited my entire boat's crew every single trip last Summer in about a quarter of the time it actually took with the less restictive Joisey size limit.

Win some, lose some.

About freakin' time for us in NY.

Now zactly when do we get our 2 bass?

rgds, Leprechaun

 

[Toutog]

How much is Enough ?

How much Blackfish can you and your family eat in one meal?
4 nice Fat Toggies are more than enough for dinner.
Tog keep live very well and to cull
them is very easy. Keep 4 of the size you like to eat and release the rest.
Nothing says that you cant "Catch and Release" all day if you want to.
Why keep more than you can consume?
Let's not be greedy, Let them grow so that we get more 10lb+ Jumbos!

 

[Gamakatsu]

Thanks George!

Well, that's good news in regard to NY regs. Like I said, I do 95% of my togging in New York, so this is a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

Lep, I think the reason for the 16.5" limit is to appease the boats down in Delaware Bay, where a 4 pounder is a "doormat", but I sure don't throw back any 16.5" fish that I catch just because I'm in Raritan Bay.

Gamakatsu