# New flounder regs



## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

November closed to recreational. 
Open commercial limit 50 lbs a trip 
New size limit 14 inches. 
Regs are posted on FWC sight. 

Snapper open last 3 weekends Oct.


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## Corpsman (Oct 3, 2007)

They closed flounder during gigging time?


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## John B. (Oct 2, 2007)

Corpsman said:


> They closed flounder during gigging time?


Yes thank God. I think it's too little too late though. (I'm guilty of being part of the problem unfortunately)

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## 69Viking (Oct 30, 2008)

John B. said:


> Yes thank God. I think it's too little too late though. (I'm guilty of being part of the problem unfortunately)
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


Am I reading this right, you think it's good that Recreational fisherman once again get locked out of catching a certain species of fish while the commercial fisherman can still catch them? What am I missing?


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## John B. (Oct 2, 2007)

69Viking said:


> Am I reading this right, you think it's good that Recreational fisherman once again get locked out of catching a certain species of fish while the commercial fisherman can still catch them? What am I missing?


"Too little".. If it was me, I would close it completely on the commercial side, but 50lbs is better than nothing. That's 20 fish tops. You can't commercially gig in the park where most of the fish are anyways, so it's not a big deal. 

As much as the PFF hates commercial fishermen, it is the recreational guys that put the flounder fishery in the state it's in. And that's a fact. 

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## Splittine (Nov 24, 2007)

The internet killed flounder. Won’t ever be like it was


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## John B. (Oct 2, 2007)

Splittine said:


> The Pensacola Fishing Forum killed flounder. Won’t ever be like it was


Fixed this for you.



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## stevenattsu (Apr 24, 2009)

We have like two full time commercial flounder fisherman in our area. But social media and the availability of cheap equipment messed everything up


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## halo1 (Oct 4, 2007)

They should lay the blame where it belongs! Jim cosson! His gigs single handily made the average flounder fisherman into flounder assassins! 🤣


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## 192 (Oct 1, 2007)

Glad the change was made. We have sure come a long way from gigging with a lantern.


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## Catchemall (May 8, 2018)

John B. said:


> I think it's too little too late though.


Is there hope for flounder? Certainly. There's still plenty of fish out there. Not in the numbers they were 40 years ago but like red snapper they will rebound with a little wise,_* nonpolitical*_ management. That may be the biggest hurdle.


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## jack2 (Mar 19, 2010)

grouper22 said:


> Glad the change was made. We have sure come a long way from gigging with a lantern.


or a 200 watt clear bulb with an aluminum pie plate on top using a 12-volt battery.
jack


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## kmerr80 (Oct 28, 2013)

I may be wrong but i dont think the proposed changes are in effect yet. I think they make a decision this month sometime. Probably will pass regardless and i agree they need adjustments.


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## kmerr80 (Oct 28, 2013)

Nevermind. I was wrong. Evidently the person i spoke with earlier from the Panama office did not get the memo... I also see that fish rules just recognized the update a few minutes ago.


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## SHunter (Jun 19, 2009)

I am out of the loop on this one. How does internet, social media and the PFF create a shortage of flounder?


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## Splittine (Nov 24, 2007)

SHunter said:


> I am out of the loop on this one. How does internet, social media and the PFF create a shortage of flounder?


20 years ago no one gigged. Over the years people posting reports got more and more people into that side of fishing. Kinda the same with hunting


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## 69Viking (Oct 30, 2008)

John B. said:


> "Too little".. If it was me, I would close it completely on the commercial side, but 50lbs is better than nothing. That's 20 fish tops. You can't commercially gig in the park where most of the fish are anyways, so it's not a big deal.
> 
> As much as the PFF hates commercial fishermen, it is the recreational guys that put the flounder fishery in the state it's in. And that's a fact.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


My feeling is if you're going to take it away from Recreational Fisherman then you shouldn't allow any commercial fishing for it. Funny how we can't fish for it but the supply of frozen flounder in Sam's Club never goes low. This is why I sold my boat and never been happier now that I see the bullshit continues. This reminds me of the Dems attacks on legal citizens owning guns, stop the little guy from fishing but let the big companies keeping raping our oceans.


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## stevenattsu (Apr 24, 2009)

Pompano will be next!! Back in the late 80's and into the early 2000's you'd hardly every see another surf fisherman out on the beach! Now its like a continuous longline from Panama City to Ft Morgan once someone posts a Facebook pic and these stupid youtubers!!!


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## John B. (Oct 2, 2007)

stevenattsu said:


> Pompano will be next!! Back in the late 80's and into the early 2000's you would hardly every see another surf fisherman out on the beach! Now its like a continuous longline from Panama City to Ft Morgan once someone posts a Facebook pic and these stupid youtubers!!!


Absolutely correct. 

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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

69Viking said:


> My feeling is if you're going to take it away from Recreational Fisherman then you shouldn't allow any commercial fishing for it. Funny how we can't fish for it but the supply of frozen flounder in Sam's Club never goes low. This is why I sold my boat and never been happier now that I see the bullshit continues. This reminds me of the Dems attacks on legal citizens owning guns, stop the little guy from fishing but let the big companies keeping raping our oceans.


You really think all those flounders in Sam's come from Florida? Most come from up the east coast.

When I started gigging flounder 55 years ago, most people waded and used a Coleman lantern and a single point gig. Once in a blue moon did you ever see any else. Floundering was a place e where you were all alone all night. No 300,000 CP lights and generators on a boat. No 5 point gigs.

I am an ex- commercial shrimper and recreational fishermen always reminded us just how much money rec fishing brought in because of the millions of recreational fishermen...yet you STILL point at the handful of commercial guys and say it's all their fault. Look in the mirror if you want to see the real problem.


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## specktackler57 (May 15, 2011)

Doh.


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

I have been commercial since the SPL came out. And it's both commercial and recreational plus charter fishing taking the flounder. This November closure will help the population come back. Plus the making of reefs is the best thing for flounder repopulation. 
I think most flounder sold here come from Alabama and local waters. I wanted to see flounder closed for 3 monthes this November. After a year most of those new wrecks will have many new populations of flounder. It's a start anything will help, thanks FWC.


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## bowdiddly (Jan 6, 2010)

These rule changes have not gone into effect yet and will be finalized in the Oct meeting of the commission.

Guessing they will probably will go into effect on Jan 1 2021.


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## 69Viking (Oct 30, 2008)

I'm not pointing my finger at commercial fishing guys, just saying if you're going to close it for one set of fishermen close it for both. Just goes to show you who has the real pull in regulations. I don't fish for Flounder, just tired of all the rules focused on the recreational fishermen while the commercial guys continue to fish. Limit the amount a recreational fisherman can catch and solve the problem but don't shut it down completely. Good grief, you can't catch anything but Red Snapper at a lot of the reefs due to their stupid closure of the fishery and very limited recreational open dates. Just one more reason I'm happy I sold my fishing boat.


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## SHunter (Jun 19, 2009)

I have not kept up with this but I have wondered if the market for boats, tackle, marine fuel, etc has dropped enough to make the state and feds take notice. If fish stocks are that depleted, no one should be catching that species.


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## bigtee (Jan 1, 2018)

the new flounder regs still need to be approved. December is when they get final approval so won't go into effect til next year. Any who - they are pretty much matching Texas regulations for the most part.


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## stevenattsu (Apr 24, 2009)

bigtee said:


> the new flounder regs still need to be approved. December is when they get final approval so won't go into effect til next year. Any who - they are pretty much matching Texas regulations for the most part.


Thats what the biologist told me, they want to align all Gulf states to have the same or similar regs. Pompano will be next!!!


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

New regs kick in Mar 1. 5 Fish limit, 14" length.


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

10 to 5 fish limit 14 inch. March 1st. Just reread it.


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## tinboater (Jul 31, 2016)

All politics and commercial vs recreational feuding aside, this is the best thing that could have happened and it’s about time; if you have fished the last 10 flattie spawns, then you know that the numbers support this. 

Why are they even thinking about pomps? If you fished the last 5 pomp spawns, you know there’s no shortage.


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