Western Sound Blackfishing 2019

[flounderbound]

Repeat offenders should be dealt with more severely. The price of the fine is only a fraction of what they can harvest,And what about the ghost sacks of blacks that are released from boats upon arrival of the dec. The fish in those bags can`t escape for freedom

 

[Occh639]

I jumped in late on this thread and I am going in a different direction . What say everyone on your opinion of how was the Blackfishing this past season in the sound My personal feeling was that it was the best I have seen in the last number of seasons. Of course there was plenty of 15” fish but I experienced more 8 pound plus fish then I have seen in awhile. I asked a friend of mine the same question and he is a better blackfisherman than myself, he said best Blackfish opening he has seen in years.
Maybe just maybe, people are more conscious about throwing back the bigger breeders. I am curious what other Sound black fisherman thought about this past season.

 

[Matts]

I jumped in late on this thread and I am going in a different direction . What say everyone on your opinion of how was the Blackfishing this past season in the sound My personal feeling was that it was the best I have seen in the last number of seasons. Of course there was plenty of 15” fish but I experienced more 8 pound plus fish then I have seen in awhile. I asked a friend of mine the same question and he is a better blackfisherman than myself, he said best Blackfish opening he has seen in years.
Maybe just maybe, people are more conscious about throwing back the bigger breeders. I am curious what other Sound black fisherman thought about this past season.

I fish in the extreme west sound. I rarely head as far east as Rye.
I caught more 13-15.9" fish this year than ever. However, very few fish over 18".
I think we need a 4 fish, 14-18" rec slot limit and/or maybe a comm slot of 15-20" to replenish the larger fish and more active enforcement of pot rules, especially the requirement for a float to control the numbers.
I wonder how the requirement for tags will help.

 

[poorrichard]

Glad a few of you had a good season. I grew up fishing the western sound-Hempstead Harbor, all points west and east to Lloyd neck. Fish mostly the Port Jeff area now. Black fishing has fallen off every year I have been fishing the area. Over 30 years to be exact. Many small fish this year as everyone reported, No keepers for me. The weather did not help much. Many trips i could not get to the pieces I wanted to fish.

A slot limit might be the answer. Putting the larger females back to spawn and keeping a few mid size fish.
The pot fishery does a lot of damage. The old Shoreham pipeline had 90 fish pots on it at one time. That was a great area for the local small boat fishery. Now you cant even get an anchor down anywhere in the area.

As I mentioned in an earlier post. I saw no sign of the DEC from May to November. Did not see them patrolling once this season. I fish two to three times a week. Some enforcement of the rules we are all suppose to follow would be welcome.

 

[Occh639]

I fish in the extreme west sound. I rarely head as far east as Rye.
I caught more 13-15.9" fish this year than ever. However, very few fish over 18".
I think we need a 4 fish, 14-18" rec slot limit and/or maybe a comm slot of 15-20" to replenish the larger fish and more active enforcement of pot rules, especially the requirement for a float to control the numbers.
I wonder how the requirement for tags will help.

Hey Matt, my first boat was in New Rochelle about 15 years ago and like you I didn’t travel too far East, I mainly fished close to home my port around Pea, Hart Island , and some various rocks/reef nearby. I didn’t even go to Rye where most blackfisherman from my area went, I was unsure of the area and I was afraid of hitting a rock. Blackfishing for me was ok back then as I was just learning and Enjoying to black fish, but I found that when I moved my next boat up to Connecticut waters about 7 years ago ,that the Tog fishing was better. I know we all can’t just pick up and move our boats whenever the fishing gets bad but that’s how it ended up for me. Now there are guys from my area of Southern Ct. that have been going farther east with their boats to target Blackfish now. I do think that slot limits are not far off for Blackfish and in theory it should help I imagine.

 

[george]

I’m not sure why but I’ve never considered a slot for tog. I do think there is a legit argument to be made in favor of such a move.

i too have fished the same area from pea island to Harts Island and many bottom pieces that held fish. From the late 70s to the mid 2000s there were many fish over 10 pounds. That is no longer the case as the numbers of big fish continues to decline.

i truly believe that we can reverse this trend if we move forward with a coherent message of conservation.

 

[secjurny]

One of the main reasons we are not seeing the fish is that from Port Chester harbor to the Throgs Neck bridge every piece of structure is covered with fish traps that fish 24-7......