Black Sea Bass Sanity For 2016

Black Sea Bass Sanity For 2016
Welcome to a Medical Battery specialist of the Fluke Battery
Didn’t ya just know that the great black sea bass fishing we all enjoyed this year was too good to be true?It was true, the fishing was amazing, but now fisheries managers say it was a little too good and fishermen overstepped the bounds of the regional quotas for the harvesting of sea bass and will have to pay the price next year, possibly in a big way.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Council has announced that based on estimates of sea bass mortality from angling, the northern region, which spans New Jersey to Massachusetts, has to cut its harvest of sea bass this year by just more than 23 percent, to even out the overages from 2015.
The state Marine Resources Advisory Council has issued a battery with such as Fluke BP123 Battery, Fluke BP123S Battery, Fluke BP124 Battery, Fluke BP124S Battery, Fluke BP124X Battery, Fluke Ti27 Battery, Fluke 199 Battery, Goldway G50 Battery, Goldway G60 Battery, Goldway ME202C Battery, JDSU MTS-8000 Battery, JDSU MTS-4000 Batteryof possible changes to New York anglers’ limits that it predicts would result in the requisite reductions of overall harvest. There’s some good options and some painful ones.
The most extreme changes—like a three-fish limit for the entire season—would result in steeper reductions in catch than are required, so they are unlikely to make the cut.
Somewhat more reasonably, there are some options that would have four-fish limits or a split season in state waters, with a five-fish limit from mid-July through mid-September, a closure until late October, and a 10-fish daily limit from then on.
Personally, I think the best option is one that opens the season on July 12—earlier than any other choice—with a two-fish limit for July and August, then shifting to a five-fish limit until the end of October and to a 10-fish limit for November and December.
This option just seems to fit our fishery the best. In summertime, when fluke and other species like porgies, triggerfish, snappers and striped bass can be caught easily, it would allow a couple of sea bass to be tossed into the bucket if caught incidentally, but it would not allow for much targeted sea bass fishing by party boats. Then for the early fall, as weather windows shorten and days-at-sea lessen for most fishermen, there’d be a little bit more of a reward for the time that is found. And when the fishery shifts to a mostly offshore adventure in the late fall and early winter, the 10-fish limit makes it worthwhile for anglers to pay the $100-plus fare aboard party and charter boats or burn the extra fuel to get to the deep-water wrecks.
This option is pretty close to what I said our limits should have been this past season to start with. Why not keep the limits a little more constrained in those months when there are lots of other species available to top off coolers and leave more room for sea bass catches in the fall, as other species migrate away? With the fall run of striped bass increasingly inconsistent in the last several years and cod always a crap shoot, we’re down to just a few species that can reliably give us something to fill our freezers with for winter, and sea bass are the anchor of any such hunts.
Regardless of what the state does, all federal waters—any bottom more than 3 miles offshore—will be closed to sea bass fishing from September 22 to October 21. That could be a stinger for Montauk party and charter boats, depending on how quick the sea bass head for deep water next fall.
Interestingly, increasing the minimum size of the fish that can be caught is not an option. This is likely because increasing these sizes is not particularly effective in reducing mortality, because more small fish are caught and released despite being mortally wounded—a serious problem with sea bass caught on wrecks over 100 feet deep, that come up distended.
On to other things. Codfishing has been spotty on the nice days. But I heard a few stripers have been caught in the Peconic River and even a flounder. Hopefully waters will warm quickly this spring and we’ll get a bit of jump start on some fun fishing before the seasons open.
Catch ’em up. See you out there.