squeteague......

[joe the plumber]

I have only seen them in fish markets.I would to see one fresh caught.What I would like to ask the masses here....I have read of the cyclical nature of this fish and as John said they seem to be at the bottom of the cycle for awhile now..Yet no one seems too concerned about them..Can anyone tell us what biologists have to say about them?

[CowHunter]

We get a good run of BIG Weakfish in the Spring in Raritan Bay, NJ... The Weakie mixed with the bass is 18lbs... Ate a whole Pogie!

They are awesome eating if Bled, Iced down right away, and eaten fresh... They did not freeze very well and the meat goes soft fast....

[redcrbbr]

remember catching good size squeteague in mount hope bay early 80's. they have a very soft mouth and had to play them instead of horsing them in. flesh not as oily as blue and not as dry as bass. think the RI state record was 17 lbs in the 80's, had a couple back then that would have pushed the record. no idea what it is now. they are a very pretty looking fish with a bright yellow mouth.

[Clammer]

FISHPART ;
who,s on this site /put one in my boat 6 - 7 years ago //about 7# plugging for bass ;

The last two I caught were 12# & 15# while snagging pogies way back when :::

[intrepid24]

Originally Posted by CowHunter

We get a good run of BIG Weakfish in the Spring in Raritan Bay, NJ... The Weakie mixed with the bass is 18lbs... Ate a whole Pogie!

They are awesome eating if Bled, Iced down right away, and eaten fresh... They did not freeze very well and the meat goes soft fast....

that is one beautiful fish, Ken ! i've never seen one that big.
the largest ones that i have witnessed caught took a snag/drop pogie.
once i saw an awesome sight on the outer banks-NC, corolla beach maybe... a massive school of blues were pushing these "trout" right up onto the beach...for @ 500 yards. all were like 12-18 inches. thousands upon thousands were up on the sand, dying.

[trapperpierre]

......a moderate Northeast storm in September......live lined adult pogies....totes of gutted 16-19 pound squets off to Steve at RI Fish Providence....spring fishing with rubber Touts 6-10 pounders all of outgoing.......BI North Rip....eel head jigs with English rubba sand eels..double headers every drop............fresh squets fillets baked with vine ripened tomatoes with a "Gansett".......awe days of old......low impact rod n'reel.....................love the fang marks on live/cut bait....talked to biologists....mid Atlantic netting of adults combined with voracious appetites of well established populations of striped bass and bluefish(eating young squets) are part of the problem--with squet abundance cycles-hi/lows spanning decades...............

[clcharette]

I only caught one back in the 90's out in front of Barrington Beach during a Bluefish blitz. The fish took a Kastmaster with a yellow bucktail single hook in the rear. I still have the picture attached to my frig. The funny thing about that day, I took a nice fluke on a windcheater casting at breaking fish in the Warren River a few hours later.

I use to see big fish in the 15 lb class caught under the Mt. Hope Bridge in the late 70's.

[Clammer]

TRAPPER;;

Steve & his brother were two crazy bastards / we filled his schoolie s & white perch supply /// except on the nights the guy from Swansea set his net in the New England Power Plant Discharge ...... then the y would f $%^&*( us & we would have to peddle the fish