Atlantic City, New Jersey’s Flounder fisherman get extended season to fish for Fluke.

New Season: May 29, 2010 through September 6, 2010 or 101 days of fishing!
Bag Limit: 6 Fish per day
Size Limit: 18 inches long

The NJ flounder season inludes both Memorial Day and Labor Day this year as decided by the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council. Last year, fisherman were not happy when the season ended on Sept. 4,which was before Labor Day.

Fishermen pushed the Fisheries council to pick a season that included both holidays. The NJMFC chose from 10 options to stay within the state’s quota for Summer flounder/ fluke. Dozens of local fishermen commented on the different options, and the NJMFC chose the most popular one, May 29 through September 6. The season includes 101 days of fishing. Fishermen will be allowed six fish per day, with 18 inches being the minimum fish size.

Brook Koeneke, operator of the Duke o’ Fluke party boat out of Somers Point,NJ pushed hard for both holidays.”Any option that doesn’t include Memorial Day weekend is unacceptable. We need that early holiday,” Koeneke said.

New Jersey fisherman exceeded catches in 2009, over by 24 percent, but were only required to have a 1 percent reduction this year in 2010. While reviewing the reports submitted by NJMFC, most anglers had a difficult time believing the figures that showed excessive landings in 2009. Last year anglers felt that the majority of fish caught were less than 18 inches and had to be thrown back, so the numbers seamed high. Plus, one captain replied “it rained the whole month of June, and the rest of the summer we threw everything back. Please come up with something to help us out. If not, we’ll be out of business and our children won’t be able to fish for anything.”

Overall, this is great news for Atlantic City and New Jersey Anglers, plenty of fishing for that giant fluke, can’t wait to fry up a few in pan with a cold beverage.

2010 New Jersey Flounder Regulations