Flounder Season Dates Decided
In what amounts to a surprise decision, the NJ Marine Fisheries Councils decided last night, after weighing comments from an across-the-board segment of the fluke fishing public, from individual anglers, charter and party boat captains, bait and tackle shop owners, and representatives from fishing clubs during the virtual hearing, to set the summer flounder season to run from May 22-September 19 for a total of 121 days. This basically mirrors the 2020 season.
The second option was a May 28-September 28 season spanning 124 days which, if approved, would have cut the “nothing to fish for” gap from the fluke closure from 18 to nine days before the re-opening of the sea bass season. This would have had a far less financial impact to the party and charter boats, and tackle shops. In addition, the last few days would have given anglers final cracks at the bigger fluke that are rapidly departing the inlets and moving out front along the beaches, then fart