Bluefish may not get the respect from fishermen that striped bass do, but the fish are getting similar attention from regulators concerned about the health of the stock.
Previously, anglers could keep 10 bluefish a day. Under new rules for 2020, the limit is reduced to 3 fish a day. Charterboat fishermen can keep up to 5.
But as Kevin Blinkoff, of On The Water magazine, tells us this week, bluefish are a bit mysterious. They spawn offshore, and their movements inshore are hard to track or predict, which makes it challenging for scientists to understand how many bluefish there are. And even if the stock numbers are low now, as scientists believe, it's not necessarily a result of depletion by human fishing. Bluefish have apparently gone through big population cycles in the past, and they may be going through another one now.
And we round-up the week's local action, including great fishing for black sea bass. It's all in The Fishing News. Give it a listen.
