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I'm one of those folks that fish every week and can afford to be picky for that reason. Most weeks we have been catching 10-20 reds. Only about 25% of our reds are usually over 20". I think reducing it back to 1 is a good idea for that reason.

More important to me would be changes to the trout limits. I believe everyone would agree the trout numbers are way down.

Fyi-I sometimes keep under 20" reds on purpose. Scale, de-head, gut, score, coat in olive oil, season and grill whole.

Limitless wrote:FWC has come a long way and has surpassed the feds in data collection and management science that allows them to be on top of maintaining stocks of game fish like Red Drum. If the data is showing over harvest in the NW then they are doing the right thing to protect the fishery. The recent actions the FWC has taken on Red Snapper is a good example on management based on the most accurate data available - compared to NOAA. The good thing too is that the FWC is not against raising the limit when data supports that action.

One of the tools FWC uses is the Snook and Game Fish Foundation's iAngler app by Angler Action. A trip log for your phone or device that captures data on trips, catches, areas, etc. that is used with some very sophisticated algorithms for one component of data collection. Check it out and please use it - it's free.

I'm with you until you start talking snapper. How is what the FWC did or does on ARS good for anglers here? Gulfwide, there are very few ARS geographically available in state waters, so having a fairly generous state season may help some folks west of Mexico Beach and that's all.
If the FWC wants to do more than posture with regulations they must take on the federal allocations they support granting year round commercial fishing and a probable 6 day season for the rest of us.

In fact, the Feds count all of these "state seasons" against us when they allocate the final federal season (you know, federal waters, where the snapper can reliably be caught year round Gulfwide). Even worse, another "commercial fishing" group, the for profit guide boats, now get a long season for themselves deducted out of the regular fisherman share rather than the commercial. Again, voted out by the Council, of which the FWC rep is a member.

EJ

with you on the trout something needs to be done either about the limits or close it again in February like it used to be.the big trout numbers are way down and seem to be getting worse each year.

If you haven't been regularly getting big trout on the flats yet this year, you're not fishing in the right place! I've never seen it this good this early.

Ted in Tallahassee wrote:If you haven't been regularly getting big trout on the flats yet this year, you're not fishing in the right place! I've never seen it this good this early.

I agree regarding big trout. I caught my biggest 2 weekends ago.

Numbers are way down from 2 years ago. Slightly up from last year for me.

cotton wrote:

Ted in Tallahassee wrote:If you haven't been regularly getting big trout on the flats yet this year, you're not fishing in the right place! I've never seen it this good this early.

I agree regarding big trout. I caught my biggest 2 weekends ago.

Numbers are way down from 2 years ago. Slightly up from last year for me.

Congrats on finding some quality fish under the current conditions, gents. Out of curiosity, how would either of you define a big trout? Like "bull" reds, the definition of a "gator" trout has been used quite liberally in recent years, so I'm wondering if there is a consensus among serious trout anglers on the lengths/weights of what constitutes a truly big trout. And for the record, mpa_72001 has boated his share of hefty specks over the years with several tournament-winning fish to his credit so I don't believe it's a question of whether or not he's in the right spots.

I'll start by saying Capt. Mark Nichols, owner of DOA Lures in Stuart, has probably caught more 30-inch, 10-pound-plus trout than most of us will ever see in a lifetime and his definition of a true gator is 28 inches or longer.

SK, I've always thought of a gator trout of 5lbs or greater (for our area). Capt. Mark's region does produce some big trout !!!!

Gulf Coast wrote:SK, I've always thought of a gator trout of 5lbs or greater (for our area). Capt. Mark's region does produce some big trout !!!!

True. Probably an unfair comparison between IRL (in its prime, before the water quality went to crap) and the Big Bend. I'd also agree that 5-plus pounds would deserve that label around here. That's probably a 26-inch-plus fish, depending on time of year. Interested to hear what others think, now that this thread has morphed into a management analysis/bull session of our two bread-and-butter species.

Thanks for requesting a definition of "big", that was the first question that came to my mind. For me, it's probably over-slot, but i get those who push it up a bit higher. And we've landed only 2 or 3 so far this year.

All relative to where I fish but 5-10 years ago it was not a big deal to catch an overslot trout per hour during the peak of a daily bite in first part of April. I didn't trout fish much last year. Maybe a half dozen times but I never caught one overslot.

I'm curious to what those guys saying they caught big trout are to them.I've still caught some about around 24 in lately but to me this year I typically catch 5 plus pounders nearly every trip and some near 7 pounds.the last couple years I haven't seen all the schools of trout I used to see before they opened it year round.there were two tournaments last weekend in our area and not one over 5 pounds was weighed in .the numerous guides in our area will tell you the same thing.

I estimate this trout at 28-29".
My kayak is 28.5" wide. Caught 2 weeks ago. I only caught 2 trout that day and close to 15 reds. Very few of the reds were over 20".

If folks are catching lots of upper slot reds it ain't me.

Like all big trout I catch. This one is still out there waiting for someone else to catch.

That's a genuine gator in my book, Cotton. Pretty work and congrats on letting her swim away!

Care to share what you caught her on?

silverking wrote: Care to share what you caught her on?

Not a chance. We only have 1 photo release tourny a year locally. Its in about 3 weeks. I couldn't ever bring myself to fish the others. So ask me next month.

If folks are catching lots of upper/over slot reds I would love to hear about it.

Back to my original point. In my opinion trout numbers are down but slightly better than last year. The quality of those being caught appears to be excellent.

In my opinion the number of reds being caught has not changed. But the quality sucks.

As Gary said, its hard to argue with good science. "Good" being the key word.

cotton wrote:

silverking wrote: Care to share what you caught her on?

Not a chance. We only have 1 photo release tourny a year locally. Its in about 3 weeks. I couldn't ever bring myself to fish the others. So ask me next month.

Understand, the Big Bend Kayak Classic. I placed second a couple years ago and I wouldn't divulge either. Just testing. Good luck!

The CCA STAR Tournament is coming up this summer. Modified photo release.