2024 Fluke Regulations are set.
But first, fisheries news…
The New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council had their meeting for Summer Flounder and Scup earlier today. It was well attended with a lot of people voicing their opinion on what the future of fluke fishing should look like. In the end, option 32 prevailed. What was option 32? It was 3 fish at 18 inches or over, with a season that runs from May 4th to September 25th. For Scup (Porgy), it’s a 30 fish limit at 10” or over, with a split season that runs from January 1st to June 30th, and then from September 1st to December 31st. Thank you to everyone who spent their time attending this meeting either in person or online.
As for shop news, we have some stuff coming up, but nothing I can reveal just yet. So on to the fishing report.
The fishing report hasn’t changed much from last week. The weather, particularly the torrential downpours, kept a lot of anglers off the water. Those that went got into striped bass in the bay. Bloodworms were the best option for them. Anglers fishing small swim shads and small X-raps got them too.
We haven’t heard much about winter flounder yet. We believe most anglers are still working on getting their boats ready for the season.
Here is a little inside info. I was walking my dog last night at one of the more popular early season bass fishing spots. I was the only one there, so I stopped to watch the water and see if there was any activity in the lights. There was. Small bass were popping on the surface on what looked to be grass shrimp. The perfect baits for this scenario are Vudu shrimp or Tsunami shrimp.
Those of you coming to the shop looking for Scott on Thursday were disappointed to find out he was not there. He was “a little under the weather”, so he stayed away (which our illustrious germaphobe leader Raymond was happy about). But also, we hear, Scott is a little dramatic when he is sick.
