Quote:
Originally Posted by OnePunchRex
How well are the tripletail stocks "thriving" if y'all can't catch a limit of 18" fish? Go to Texas and it's common to catch limits of 18 pound fish. 18" fish are babies.
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Tripletail are only susceptible to being caught at all for a short time each summer due to their habits. Whether or not you get into a group of smaller ones or a group of larger ones just depends on where you are fishing and which size group one happens to run into.
Reports from a few anglers over a short number of fishing days does not constitute a valid sample of length frequencies, so any inferences regarding the abundance of larger fish is invalid. It's like running into dink trout for a few days in a row and then claiming that there are not many large trout because you keep catching dinks. Being a pelagic species, tripletail are spread over many thousands of square miles of Louisiana waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Running into a few groups dominated by 16-18" fish says nothing about the stocks of larger fish.
Straightforward stock assessment techniques exist for determining length frequencies, spawning stock biomass, reproduction rates, etc. for almost any desired species. This was not done before establishing a limit on tripletail, nor was available data on this species on Louisiana waters consulted before establishing a limit.
The reports on guides catching nice big tripletail (but too short to keep) were intended to emphasize that this foolish and unsupported rule is hurting guides and anglers, especially when combined with the foolish and unsuppported red snapper regulations. There are a number of occasions this time of year when getting into a mess of tripletail can salvage a trip that might otherwise be relatively unproductive (due to the snapper regs). Rather than going home satisfied with a box full of tripletail, a lot of anglers returned to the dock empty handed when they could have shared in Louiaiana's bountiful supply of tripletail. In the long run, this will hurt license sales and guide businesses, as well as supporting industries (fuel, ice, bait, tackle, lodging, etc.)
Damaging these industries by imposing unscientific limits is foolish.