cowcatcher1

Limits placed on summer flounder


01:00 AM EST on Sunday, February 10, 2008





Coastal fishing regulators have established a coast-wide limit for summer flounder. Now it’s up to state regulators to establish a recreational-fishing season and limits on fluke for 2008. Rhode Island faces a 52-percent cut.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, meeting in Virginia last week, decided to limit the recreational summer-flounder catch to 2.05 million fish this year.
Members from each coastal state issued guidelines to each state that would meet the overall goal.
Each state has some flexibility in establishing its own rules within the guidelines. If a state fails to conform to the guidelines, its anglers automatically will be limited to two-fish possession limit.
The minimum size will be 20 inches, and the season will run from July 4 to Sept. 1.
In Rhode Island, the Department of Environmental Management will hold a public hearing Feb. 26 on proposed amendments to the state’s marine fisheries regulations.
The hearing will take place at 6 p.m. at the University of Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay Campus Corless Auditorium on South Ferry Road in Narragansett.
Last year, a Rhode Island fisherman was allowed to keep seven fluke a day.
The minimum size was 19 inches, and the season ran from May 18 to Sept. 16.
The target limit was 138,174 fish, but 221,141 were caught, according to the ASMFC.
As a result, this year’s target limit is 116,043 fish — a 52-percent reduction.
That can mean a shorter season, a reduced bag limit or a more restrictive size limit.
In neighboring waters, regulators are aiming to cut Connecticut’s catch by 29 percent and New York’s by nearly 46 percent. Massachusetts faces no cuts, and regulators recommend maintaining the status quo there.
The coastal panel also approved scup recreational management measures for the waters from Massachusetts through New York.
The private and shore-based fishery will have a 10.5-inch minimum size, 10-fish bag limit, and an open season of May 24 through Sept. 25. Party and charter boats will have an 11-inch minimum size and a 10-fish bag limit for 81 consecutive days to be determined by each state.
They will also have a bonus season for 45 consecutive days with a 45-fish bag limit, according to Toni Kerns, senior fisheries management plan coordinator.
Stripers are strong
In another announcement, the marine fisheries commission said recreational fishermen are killing many more striped bass than commercial fishermen are killing.
A benchmark striper study, endorsed by an independent panel of scientists, concluded that striped bass are not over-fished, and over-fishing is not occurring.
The assessment estimates that the striper population remains at a high level.
The population of spawning female fish weighs an estimated 55 million pounds, well above the target of 38.6 million pounds.
Recreational fishermen took nearly three times more bass than commercial fishermen in 2006.
The total striped bass harvest (commercial and recreational) was estimated at 3.82 million fish, a 46-percent increase from 2002 when new regulations were enacted.
The commercial harvest of 1.05 million fish was dominated by Maryland’s commercial fleet, which made up 62 percent of the total commercial landings by number in 2006.
Coast-wide, recreational fishermen took 2.77 million bass.
Commercial discard deaths in 2006 were estimated at 216,753 fish.
Recreational discard deaths were estimated at 2.07 million fish.
Combined, the number of stripers killed intentionally and unintentionally by recreational fishermen accounted for 79 percent of the bass killed in 2006.
Based on advice from scientists, regulators from the coastal states recommended maintaining the status quo in fishing limits this season.
Tie one on in Coventry
David Porreca, owner of the fly shop, River & Riptide Anglers, has started a series of Saturday seminars.
The classes, for beginners and intermediate fly tiers, are scheduled to begin Saturday at 2 p.m.
Here’s the schedule:
Feb. 16: Porreca ties freshwater floating nymphs and emergers.
Feb. 23: Bob Hines ties bonefish flies and offers a short presentation.
March 1: Joe Cordeiro ties Rhody Flatwings.
March 8: Porreca ties mayfly duns and spinners.
March 15: John O’Meara stacks deer hair and ties flies.
March 22: Hines ties cinderworms and offers a short presentation.
Tuition is $20 per class with tools and materials provided.
The shop is located at 2435 Nooseneck Hill Rd. in Coventry at the Maple Root Center. For more information, call the store at 392-1919.
Addieville tying classes
Addieville East Farm in Burrillville is launching a series of winter fly-tying classes with fly-fishing instructor Ed Lombardo.
The classes will be held near the fireplace in the farm’s lodge.
Addieville East Farm, in the Mapleville village of Burrillville, is a 900-acre sporting estate, once named among the top 10 in the United States.
The classes will cover the best freshwater and saltwater flies for New England.
The classes are scheduled for six consecutive Mondays at 6:30 p.m., starting Feb. 18.
For the first five classes, there will be one table for beginners and another for advanced fly tiers. On the final evening, everyone will tie together, Lombardo said.
Tuition for all five classes is $150.
Materials and tools will be provided.
To register, call Addieville East Farm at 568-3185.
Dinner time for grouse
The Rhode Island Chapter of the Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS) will hold its third annual Sportsmen’s Banquet March 8 at Ivy Garden, 272 Cowesett Ave., West Warwick, beginning with cocktails at 5 p.m.
Tickets are $25 for RGS members, $25 for a spouse, and $50 for new or renewing members. Proceeds from the dinner will benefit research and habitat improvements locally and nationally, said Ed McGovern, the event’s chairman.
Banquet tickets are available online at www.ruffedgrousesociety.org or by calling McGovern at 539-3178. tmeade@projo.com

Bob & Mag

Ban draggers and we wouldn't be looking at this problem.
...and the real joke is who's enforcing it? The only encon police
I saw on the water all last year was standing next to me fishing.
There was a bill in CT to increase their numbers and it wasn't even
considered in the state legislature.
Sorry for the rant, actually i'm not....tired of the recs getting screwed
due to LACK of REAL Science making up the rules. Do these guys ever
go on the water?

__________________

Smoke free 15 Weeks!

74Formula233

The guys that run the draggers are the same ones making the laws. In a large part.

__________________

"Bandit" Charters

It becomes obvious by the facts presented in this letter, and many other studies, that while striped bass forage fish like blackback, fluke and scup populations are diminishing and striper quotas are not nearly met and thier populations are on the increase, that striped bass are over protected.

__________________
Captain Mark Giovanniello

203-710-9739

www.vintagehatteras.com

AlloyToy

My feeling in RI is that this will be the start of the "Hit" on the Bass.
Most start their fishing season around Memorial Day. If slip prices are on the rise, and you can't fish Fluke then they will be forced to fish for Bass. This is especially true if they are paying $95-$125 foot........people are gonna fish for something......

__________________

"First The Bite Then The Fight"

PG

I agree-- you can shorten one species' season then the open species will be the new target.

I do not care what species season is open or closed. My boat is not growing algee in the slip. I am going fishing 3-4x's a week for what ever species is legal at that time.

PG

plugmeister

Ditto. We've already said that with tog closed or with a 2 fish limit all summer we'll just fish more for bass, fluke, scup, seabass etc.

Scup

While I am commercial, I could never understand why the 25 fish creel limit per person for black sea bass. That seems like an awful lot of fish for anybody, commercial or recreational. I was approached by a recreational angler two years ago, who wanted me to go out with him just because I had a commercial license. When I explained I did not have NY/Mass/RI licenses, he replied "no problem" and that we would stay within the states recreational limit (we would be heading toward Block Island.) All he wanted me along for was to be able to sell 25 black sea bass back in CT, on dry land. I turned him down as while it probably was legal, warning bells went off in my head as it just did not smell quite right to me. The reason for the offer, he had found a spot where he claimed that we could come close to catching 100 pounds of Black Sea Bass within a 25 fish creel limit. At the time, Black Sea Bass were fetching $4.00 per pound. He planned to glean off the biggest 25 fish of the 50 fish we would be allowed to keep. While tempting, there has to be something wrong with the creel limits when they become so large, that it temps any fisherman to start to key heavily on a species that is in trouble. I have a lot of respect for Black Sea Bass, as they have to be #1 in looks, and maybe #1 in taste as well. I rarely sell any I catch because they are one of my favorite eating fish. Each year, I must catch 1000s of them and almost all get tossed back because they are shorts. The whole area around southeastern CT seems to be loaded with very large quantities small (8 or 9 inch) Black Sea Bass. Catching keeper sized ones in and around CT waters is a major problem. Even though I will target them, it is rare that I will come in with more than one or two fish. Somebody has to be wiping/cleaning out the large fish, and I suspect it is probably the draggers although it could be just about anyone when creel limits are that large. I just do not understand why our regulators do not do something to protect the Black Sea Bass before they get into further trouble.

fishcounterbob

First lets assume the summer flounder regs in RI drops from 7 to 4 and seabass remains the same. The headboats will target jumbo seabass and fluke become the secondary target. For $60 per trip this will surely happen unless there is a total change in philosophy. I was lucky enuf to ride over 30 hb trips last season. I saw plenty of 18 1/2ers ready for this season and a surprising # of jumbo seabass which I prefer anyway mixed in. By using specific techniques one could come away with a nice pail of seabass all summer long.
I rarely fish fluke in my home state of Ct because of regs. The only time I do is to go for days I go for the Ultimate Challenge of limits which I have done.The Ct limit challenge of 2 -19'' fluke, 25 seabass,25 scup, 10 bluefish, and my 2-40" bass. That will keep some of you on the water and away from yard work

Bob & Mag

I've not received anything from CT DEP on fluke limits yet. Are you getting the two fish at 19" from the federal? I doubt we'll see reductions as bad as this. Besides Connecticut never puts out numbers for anything on a timely basis. Note: NY DEC has already reduced tog to 4 fish at 14" but not yet set the fluke limits. CT needs to print the reg book and give them out before they get the actual numbers.
That said one of the best wildlife management tools is to reduce the catch limit to the point no one will target the specie.
Another thing that I just don't understand is the size keeps going up yet for stripers you can take fish just in their second year of breeding. If it's because of numbers, I'd like to see some REAL science used to approximate fish numbers, as anyone that thinks the way it's being done now is accurate is being foolish.

__________________

Smoke free 15 Weeks!