Scup

Bob,

Are you trying to get me arrested! Should the CT DEP ever catch me with a 8 inch snapper they would throw the book at me. You are forgetting that the commercial size limit for blues in CT is 9 inches. Tut, tut, here on this form everyone is coming down on the evil commercial fisherman keeping a legal sized 14 inch fluke; yet you are killing a 8 inch snapper that has the potential of growing up to be 20 pound monster blue. Oh well, I guess I will just have to bait up with a 9 inch snapper and see what happens. Nice post!

Bob & Mag

No lol. I didn't even think of that but you're correct. I didn't mention in the above post because you guys covered it, but if there's one knot to learn for fluke fishing it's the "snell".

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Smoke free 6+ Months!

Andy

Good advice Bryan i always stay away from the fleet ,my favorite lure is a 2 oz H style jig with a 1/4 oz flier both baited with fresh blue fish or striper belly cut into strips.
I vertical jig this rig with great success, i use 30# power pro with floro leader ...

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flukeyou

Thanks for the great responses guys. I caught this 13lb fluke with a standerd fluke rig and a whole frozen spearing. The rig was simple, a wide gap hook with beads and a single blade. nothing fancy no teaser just large bait

Whatever

bryan, there are no fluke around here. I f there are I dear you to show we where. LOL

Bryan A.

Are you kidding me!!!!!!!

Fluking is the best it has been in years, the regs are the only thing that suck.
The NY boys are really feeling the squeeze this year. 20.5" limit I think???

And don't call me dear, its kind of creepy.

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2003 Parker 2530 "El Mar".......click the pic
1973 Seacraft 20SF

Scup

Brian,

I have to agree with Whatever! The fluking has been going downhill big time in the Stonington area of Connecticut. Since I am commercial, I have to keep fish logs. For the past couple of years my fluke poundage kept has been decreasing with each passing year. Since I am a pin fisherman, I do not keep 14 inch fluke even though it would be legal for me to do so. Unless a fluke gets hooked deep (bleeding all over the place) or is at least 16 inches, he goes over the side. The problem with the area I am in is that I have to fish in wake of draggers. These big commercial boats leave the Stonington docks typically several hours before sunup. Since fuel is expensive, they set their drag out just as soon as they clear the Stonington breakwater. Not only are they a fish vacuum cleaner, but their nets muddy up the entire area such that even the fluke they miss would have a hard time finding /seeing my bait. Since I scup fish, I too am out there just before sunup as well. I have to watch closely the lights on the draggers to see what course they take after clearing the breakwater. Only after seeing how many draggers come out, and just what part of the ocean they messed up, can I make a decision if it would be worth it for me to even try for fluke. I am hopeful this year things just might end up for the better as the cost of fuel is keeping many of the big guys in port. Let me change the subject somewhat but I believe things are going to improve drastically for just about all ground fish this year. DEP just cut back the allowable scup landings to 1000 pounds. Last week the price paid for scup by the wholesalers was 36 cents per pound. If scup were the only fish being targeted, then they cannot leave port when they are looking at only $360 for a day's work. Starting May 1, they will only be allowed 50 pounds so even if the price of scup rose to $2.50 a pound, this particular fish will become a non issue for them. I am anticipating a great season this year for us since it will only take a few bad fish days for the draggers to start to realize they just might be in the wrong business. Severe regulations/limits on fish, and out of sight fuel prices are going to force many out. More and more captains cannot make ends meet any longer and so you can see their boats tied up to the pier when normally they should be out fishing. The only thing still in their favor is the wholesale price of fish is going to skyrocket as well. Right now they are targeting Black Sea Bass because the local retail fish markets are getting $15 per pound for fillets, however, if it climbs much higher in price, the demand will drop off as nobody would want to pay such a steep price for fish. Just maybe, what our environmental regulatory fish boards have allowed the draggers to do in the pursuit of their trade, has finally come home to roost (combined with the high cost of fuel.) It is a business driven by profit; take away the profit and the business fails!

Bryan A.

I agree with you Scup on the draggers but in my neck of the woods we have seen some decent Fluke fishing in the past 3-4 years. Now I do not have your years of experience, my father says these waters were amazing for fluke when he was a kid in the 50/60's I can only go as far back as the 80's with my fishing experience. The general consensus I have found on the web is fluking is pretty good, so why all the new regs. Just my observation.

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2003 Parker 2530 "El Mar".......click the pic
1973 Seacraft 20SF

Scup

Brian, I do not think we are disagreeing at all. I am sure our DEP is estimating the biomass of the fluke population based largely on the submitted logs of the commercial sector. The heavy hitters are the draggers out of Stonington, hence the Stonington area gets a good going over. At your neck of the woods, it is unlikely that your waters are being pounded as hard as where I am. Once the DEP decides to further reduce or limit catches overall (whether or not we agree with them,) everyone, commercial and recreational, gets caught up in it. You are probably lucky that your waters are not pounded daily by the commercial sector, hence the fluking should be good where you are. I am seeing a lot of commercial boats tied up to the Stonington dock, so there is some hope now that this season may return to what it had been in the past. There is a good chance that some of my local productive spots in the past such as White Rock, Noyes shoal, or the Middle Grounds, will once again become very productive for everyone. I am starting to think that just maybe we are in a Catch 22 situation. With the price of fuel going out of sight, the commercial guys are not going to be leaving the dock as often. Therefore, their catch and recorded logs are going to show a decline. If the this decline is a major input for the determination of how well the Fluke biomass is doing, the interpretation of the reduced catches may be faulty as you suspect. I plan on going to Commercial Fishing Expo being held next month in the Providence Civic Center. The DEP has always been represented there so I could chat with them to see what is happening.

Bryan A.

Scups on the case, let us know what you find out.

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2003 Parker 2530 "El Mar".......click the pic
1973 Seacraft 20SF