New Hogfish Reg

[tekkydiver]

Would have preferred a two fish bag limit, but something had to be done. Too many small fish taken.
Effective August 24, 2017
FB17-041: Final Rule for Hogfish Management in South Atlantic Federal Waters

 

[Wookie]

I'm OK with it, but I'll probably never have a meal of hogfish ever again.

 

[Johnoly]

..... Too many small fish taken....

The original proposal we had was 17 inches and 4 mths closure which would have been a 10 yr rebuild plan. This rule is alittle more forgiving, but could take longer to rebuild. I'm hoping that we don't go over the ACL limit and they close it early. All those internet pictures of people holding up 10 tiny 12 inch hogs was too much for them to ignore.

 

[snowdog61]

16" is liveable but I'll venture there's going to be tons of shorts still being left on the bottom. The female to male transition is now certainly covered so hopefully the fish numbers will rebound quickly. I pulled a 19 1/2" off of WPB the previous week and was frankly shocked to have found something that 'big' especially off a regular charter on reefs that get hard. I won't shoot anything that doesn't have a snout on it but yeah, seeing a bunch of barely 12"ers boated is ridiculous. I'm just glad that lionfish tastes as good

 

[100days-a-year]

I'm OK with it, but I'll probably never have a meal of hogfish ever again.

There is always a trip up to SC.This 20# gutted last week,a 23# the week before.The Jax guys have been finding them in 130 to 150 as well.The further N you go the better the population looks.These regs will only make things better in the long run.

 

[snowdog61]

Ha! Nice pull. I took one off of Pelican Flats a week prior to the one off of WPB that was almost as big as that horse- was a new high bar for me. Still have no idea why I didn't photograph it - so guess it never really happened