If you find the pegboard at your favorite tackle shop is running a little lower than normal on Gulp and Fishbites, you might want to grab the last few handfuls of your favorite color now! This month, New Jersey anglers are back in black sea bass and summer flounder for the 2024 season.
New Jersey’s recreational fluke season will run from May 4 through September 25 with a three fish bag and 18-inch minimum size limit. The state sill once again have separate summer flounder regulations in two special management zones, one being a 17-inch minimum and three fish bag west of COLREGS on Delaware Bay, as well as a 16-inch minimum size and two per angler limit at Island Beach State Park for surfcasters.
Also included in the regulatory change for 2024 is a new recreational porgy season, with a 10-inch minimum size and 30 fish bag limit open from January 1 to June 30, closed July and August, and reopened from September 1 to December 31.
This season’s black sea bass regulations in New Jersey are the same as in 2023, with a spring opening of May 17 with 10 fish bag limit through June 19 on a 12-1/2-inch minimum size. The same size limit will be in place with a one fish bag limit from July 1 through August 31, followed by a 10-fish bag limit during the month of October and a 15-fish bag limit starting November 1 and running through December 31.
For Delaware anglers, summer flounder is open year-round; however, there’s a new “split season” for sorts in 2024, with a four fish bag limit and 16-inch size limit through May 31, and then changing to a four-fish bag at 17-1/2-inch size limit starting on June 1. Delaware also updated the 2024 porgy regulations, with a 9-inch minimum size and 30 fish bag limit.
Delaware’s black sea bass regulations for ’24 also remain the same as in ’23, with a 13-inch minimum size and 15 fish bag from May 15 through September 30, and from October 10 through December 31.
When fishing in New York marine waters, keep in mind that the minimum size for black sea bass is 16-1/2 inches, with a three fish bag from June 23 until August 31, and a six fish bag limit starting September 1 and running through December 31.
The state of New York finalized their fluke regulations in early April, with a three fish bag limit and 19-inch minimum size from May 4 through August 1, at which point the size limit increases to 19-1/2 inches as of August 2 and running until October 15 (same three fish bag limit).
New York porgy anglers will enjoy a 9-1/2-size limit when fishing from shore along with a 30 fish bag limit from May 1 through December 31. For those targeting porgy/scup by boat in New York, it’s the same 30 fish possession limit but with an 11-inch size limit. From September 1 through October 31, patrons fishing aboard for-hire boats in New York will be able to retain 40 fish at the 11-inch minimum size limit.
To see regulations from Maine to Maryland find us online at www.thefisherman.com/marine-regulations.
