Proof The System Is Broken - We killed 3x the fluke we took home

george

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Staff member
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🎣 Fluke Catch & Release Reality Check: By the Numbers 🎣

Here’s what a typical summer weekend looked like for just one popular fluke spot south of Jones Inlet.

Our Boat (3 anglers)

  • Total Released: 100
  • Kept (legal limit): 4
  • Died from Release Mortality: 11

All Party Boats in Area (290 anglers, 5 trips)

  • Total Released: 7,250
  • Kept (legal limit): 290
  • Died from Release Mortality: 797

Private Boats (200 additional anglers)

  • Total Released: 7,000
  • Kept (legal limit): 280
  • Died from Release Mortality: 770

Grand Total: One Day, One Area

  • Total Fluke Released: 14,350
  • Total Fluke Kept: 574
  • Fluke That Died from Release Mortality: 1,579 (Nearly 3x as many as were legally kept!)
🚨 Key Takeaway: For every fluke you put in your cooler, almost three more die after release—even with careful handling and good intentions.


Share this if you care about the future of our fishery.
Let’s start the conversation: How can we all do better for the fish—and each other?
 
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Allow us to take the first 3 or 4 fish you catch of your mchoice and want to keep so you have the chance for a trophy if you want or switch over to target another species and stop catching and releasing fish that may die 👍
 
Allow us to take the first 3 or 4 fish you catch of your mchoice and want to keep so you have the chance for a trophy if you want or switch over to target another species and stop catching and releasing fish that may die 👍
Then I'll never leave the bay! Keep my first 3 14" fish and go home! Love it!

Will that apply to shore based anglers as well? I see buckets full of 10" scup!!

Lol
 
My suggestion which would be impossible to enforce would be to give each rec entry into the quota. They would need to report their catch at the end of the trip similar to bluefin tuna.

16"minimum size. 5fish per person. Once the fluke quota is reached, it get shut down whether its july or September.
 
Here's a question for you guys . . . Why are we targeting the older fish when a female over 25 inches produces 4-million eggs while smaller fish produce between 250-500k? Don't we save the larger striped bass because of their reproductive abundance at older ages?

Yet commercially they're taken at 14-inches! And somehow we look at this and say "maybe we can save the fishery by regulating the recs"

It's Nauseating.
 
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