Rhetorical question

[Roccus7]

@george have to put out this fact that kinda takes the wind out of the warming water hypothesis' sails, and that is that the inshore winter flounder fishing also collapsed up here. With water estuary water temps rarely reaching 70°F, even over the past few years, I'm not seeing any support for temps being the only, smoking gun.

I keep hearing locals talking about filling buckets with 2 lb flounders back in the 60-70s, just like LI. I've tried a few times with no joy, fishing aggressively with chum and sash weight pounding. I've seen flounder on a few occasions, so they do exist, just not in any numbers.

• An osprey diving down in front of me while bass fishing and coming up with a nice flounder, although during my kayaking with my head down, I've yet to see one on the bottom
  
  
• A dried, 1" flounder on my boat's deck one morning
  
  
• Two, 3-4" flounder in an inshore cod's stomach

Not saying warming isn’t a cause, but it’s not the sole reason northeast Atlantic coast's flounder crash. Don’t forget that Quincy crashed too, but saw a recent resurgence, only to have another demise when the state of MA encouraged small draggers to work inshore 2 years ago.

IMO this equation is multi-variant and doesn't have a single root cause and I hope we can actually figure it out. I'd kill for a plate of fresh, fried, flounder fillets...

 

[george]

@george have to put out this fact that kinda takes the wind out of the warming water hypothesis' sails, and that is that the inshore winter flounder fishing also collapsed up here. With water estuary water temps rarely reaching 70°F, even over the past few years, I'm not seeing any support for temps being the only, smoking gun.

I keep hearing locals talking about filling buckets with 2 lb flounders back in the 60-70s, just like LI. I've tried a few times with no joy, fishing aggressively with chum and sash weight pounding. I've seen flounder on a few occasions, so they do exist, just not in any numbers.

• An osprey diving down in front of me while bass fishing and coming up with a nice flounder, although during my kayaking with my head down, I've yet to see one on the bottom
  
  
• A dried, 1" flounder on my boat's deck one morning
  
  
• Two, 3-4" flounder in an inshore cod's stomach

Not saying warming isn’t a cause, but it’s not the sole reason northeast Atlantic coast's flounder crash. Don’t forget that Quincy crashed too, but saw a recent resurgence, only to have another demise when the state of MA encouraged small draggers to work inshore 2 years ago.

IMO this equation is multi-variant and doesn't have a single root cause and I hope we can actually figure it out. I'd kill for a plate of fresh, fried, flounder fillets...

I'm not sure what is keeping flounder from coming inside. Draggers easily make their quota offshore.

 

[Roccus7]

I'm not sure what is keeping flounder from coming inside. Draggers easily make their quota offshore.

True enough, but inshore Maine flounder down the toilet too, so temp increases not a big factor up here.

 

[cany]

I'm not sure what is keeping flounder from coming inside. Draggers easily make their quota offshore.

Its a rough journey not flounder friendly unlike years past

 

[george]

Warming Oceans Changing the Game for Connecticut Fishermen

Research is showing that water temperatures closest to the northeast coast are warming faster than 99 percent of global oceans.

www.nbcconnecticut.com

 

[pequa1]

Will I be catching mahi mahi in the back bay off my kayak soon ?

 

[george]

Will I be catching mahi mahi in the back bay off my kayak soon ?

There was a sunfish swimming in the back of the Nissey this year so it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[flounderbound]

I believe the cormorants are the main reason there aren`t many flounder inshore.You won`t see them offshore,too deep.

 

[pequa1]

Found it. People can once again kill cormorants

 

[Capt Richie]

south shore started off slow but it did get good...I tend to do two to three trips a week..and on most trips I caught my limit or was very close..I also try my best not to fish on the weekends ..to much traffic tends to keep the bigger fish off the bite..

I was very happy with 2020 fluke season & found keeper size fish between 2 & 20 miles out..On those heavy traffic days I would go deeper & do fluke mixed bag ling & seabass trips..

all in all caught a ton of fluke last season hope 2021 brings us the same or more fluke ..

 

[george]

@Capt Richie This thread started with the Sound fishery, which we can all agree has been on the decline for years now. With that said, I fished your region for the first time last season and I had the best fluke fishing I've had in years. But from what I've been told, it too has seen change. Not as many large fish ( although I caught the most fish over 5-pounds than ever before and I caught the biggest of my life - almost 9 pounds) I'm told by a few that have fished there for years that it too is changing.

Luckily I have a slip at the Nissequogue for the next 7-years. Sadly I have a 2 week fluke season and just bass and blues and porgies after that until fall.

 

[Capt Richie]

saw some south shore post thats all


I did keep a boat on the north shore ..fluking so bad its on the south shore now

 

[Fluke Whisperer]

I fish the NY side, can 7 to Port Jeff, I haven't found a spot in CT or Near Milford that I would consider fishing.
That being said, I started fishing can 7, 6 yrs ago, My buddy who moved out to Oregon told me about how good it was , that a guy he worked with at Spellmans fished there often and did very well, The first couple of years were great, then we saw a decline in the number of keepers to shorts, the last 2 years save for one fish last year a 6lb + fish my grandson caught outside of port Jeff, we had maybe 3 or 4 keepers for the last 2 years, the fluke were not there, confirmed by my buddies friend who fishes that spot religiously, it wasn't from lack of trying.
Up east towards Niantic and R.I. and over to Montauk had much better reports, try as I did I never made it out there.
Next year, I'm not sure what I'm going to do, I want to completely gut my boat and build a boat that I like,now that I have all this time on my hands, It will take all summer and probably right into 2022 to complete, I have laid out floor plans ,I am/will build a pilot house, new full transom new 300 Suzuki on an outboard bracket, new 150 gal gas tank to even out the loss of fiberglass do to the cabin being removed, but I hesitate, I don't want to build a boat and find out the fishing has declined even more, only to build a boat for someone else to benefit by.
And, we all know you don't get back half the money back you put into them. lol
I have no way of knowing until the season starts, if the fishing is like last year i will probably just use the boat the way it is and just keep it running the best I can, who knows, anything can happen, trying to be optimistic here. lol

 

[BennyV]

Found it. People can once again kill cormorants

Can they be killed in our neck of the woods? Or at least oil their eggs?

 

[captmike28]

George, sadly it is well documented that the Sound Fluke fishing is in tough shape. You mentioned having to concentrate your efforts on Bass, Blues and Porgies.

With all the great Sea Bass fishing the Sound has seen the last several years aren't they a viable option in your part of the Sound? Obviously you saw first hand what solid Sea Bass action we enjoy just a little east of your grounds. What do you think?

 

[george]

George, sadly it is well documented that the Sound Fluke fishing is in tough shape. You mentioned having to concentrate your efforts on Bass, Blues and Porgies.

With all the great Sea Bass fishing the Sound has seen the last several years aren't they a viable option in your part of the Sound? Obviously you saw first hand what solid Sea Bass action we enjoy just a little east of your grounds. What do you think?

We have seen a increase of sea bass numbers and size but there's just not enough around yet to call it a directed fishery. We found a few good ones bouncing around for tog and I do think it will get better over time.