Bluefin regs set

[frankypettolina]

Well as of june 12

charterboats get (1) 27 to 47 and (1) 47 to 59

private boats get (1) 27 to 59.

the 1 per year over 73 inch fish is gone too, unless you live north of somewhere in NJ

gonna make for an interesting OC tuna tourney.

[N2theBlue]

sounds like it will be similar to redfish tourny's....get as close as you can to the upper end of the slot.

[John Rogers]

theres gonna be a lot gaffed just to be thrown back

[frankypettolina]

in the tuna tourney that DQ's you

[DropinBack]

So i guess all the big "private boats" are now "charter boats"...
That makes for a pretty unfair playing field for a tournment and all the people that must classify themselves as private boats... wonder if they will change the rules

If nothing can be killed over 59, maybe someone will go offshore and find a bigeye

[SJ-Rick]

Frank,

I know it sounds like I'm splitting hairs, but I don't want to see anyone in trouble. The rule is technically 27 to less than 59 inches. If you managed to tick off your local enforcement agent 59 is a violation, where 58 and 15/16ths is not a violation. We'll all want to phrase it properly to avoid troubles later.


DropinBack,

I am almost certain you will see OC do what SJ is going to do. We will be limiting ALL participants to weighing 1 BFT per day - 27 to less than 59 inches - regardless of permit category.

[sbohlen50]

In the past whenever charter boats had higher bluefin retention limits than the private boats, the tournament committee in the OCTT has never allowed the charter boats to weigh more bluefins than the private boats. I am sure that it will be one bluefin per day per boat for all participants.

[Fish-N-Fool]

Franky, you know the issue here as well as I. Tuna are going to be killed "believing" the fish is less then 59", when they are actually over and end up sinking to the bottom to become a food source. Seldom are gaints caught (over 73) during the summer, but a lot of 60-65" have been present. Tournament $$$ = wasted fish with these regulations. The regulations will do more harm then good trying to preserve the bluefin fishery. I rather see bluefin shut down for a couple years and given the chance to rebuild (assuming commercial is regulated!)...

[LBlume]

Franky is right. In the tourny if someone gaffs a fish and it does not meet size requirements and they win money they will be disqualified. It may be that some people do it anyway but if they happen to win they will be very sorry when they fail the lie detector.

[John Rogers]

I wasnt talking about the tourney just in general