weakfish

[isis]

I fish the delaware bay out of fortescue nj(weakfish capital of the world).For the couple years it hard to even caught a weakfish.The size limit is 13" for weakfish and 18" for summer flounder.I been out twice this year and got shrunk both times.Yesterday caught 20 or so flounder all under 18".I don't mind throwing under size fish back but what happening to all the weakfish.It does not paid to saltwater fish any more.Is netter the reason for this decline?Next year they want you to buy a saltwater license and made you take a boating safety course (50$).How fishing in your state?

 

[olehoggvalley]

Re: weakfish

Fishing in Florida is fun. Where i live in Summer Haven,FL it is Salt Water. We live on the Summer Haven River which is a little river that leads to the Inter-Coastal Water Way and the Matanzas Inlet. Mainly we catch Flounder,Red Fish,Trout,and Mangrow Snapper(which you have to throw back). The fishing is excilent. You have to have a Fishing License when you turn 16 or 18 i cant remember. And you should have a boaters license like me if you are under 21. Since this year Hurricane Bertha threw a Thermal Climb at us so the water temperature dropped from 75-80 degrees to 68-70 degrees. But usually fishing is great.

-Rich

 

[triumphrick]

Re: weakfish

Also a Florida fisherman.
Yes we have to have both freshwater and saltwater licenses. However you can fish saltwater from shore or a pier and not need a license.
The best thing this state ever did was ban gill nets from state waters <9miles out in 1996. The commercial fishery was a disaster looking for a place to happen. The netters were selling mullet roe to the asians for about 2-3 bucks a pound. The mullet was worth 30 cents a pound. Our ramps around Sarasota were found with hundreds of gutted mullet washing all around. That's right, they would keep the roe and dump the mullet.
These clowns would also keep every thing they netted. Many a time they were found with undersize snook, trout, reds you name it.
I can not remember the last time we went out and didn't catch something worth keeping. However i have been at this for a while and use everything from soft baits to jigs to topwater to live, so we can usually scrape up dinner!
Come on down!

 

[thurps]

Re: weakfish

The fishing totally sucks here in the Northern California / Southern Oregon area. Don't come.

 

[dingbat]

Re: weakfish

In the 30 some odds years I've been fishing both the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays the only thing guaranteed is that each year will be different.

Most species of fish that populate these bodies of water are highly migratory. There abundance from year to year is based on the availability of forage. If the bait idoesn't show for some reason the fish have no reason to stay and will move on until they find the bait.

For some reason the Chesapeake is full of bait. The most we'e seen in years and the fishing has been good to very good so far. Last year we couldn?t buy a trout but this year they have shown up here in good numbers along and brought the specked trout with them. The Red Drum typically do not show until August but this year they showed up in the upper reaches of the rivers, which is unusual in itself, the first of June.

Flounder fishing has been hit or miss but limits are regularly reported by those that know the ropes. Croaker fishing has been wide open since the end of April and live lining Spot for Stripers has turning up more big fish than normal for this time of the year.

Versatile is the key to fishing these waters. You take what you can get.

 

[ovrrdrive]

Re: weakfish

Another Florida angler here...

We are catching trout (what you call weakfish) pretty regularly down here. They are out in deep water right now because of the high temperatures but they're out there if you don't mind running out 10 miles or so.

Our trout have to be between 15"-20" but you can keep one bigger than 20. We don't seem to have much trouble at least getting enough for dinner either. You just have to keep switching baits and techniques until you find what they want to hit.