New York · Summer flounder (fluke)
Can you keep a summer flounder (fluke) in New York?
We can't tell you — and neither can the agency, cleanly
Statewide
Status unclearThe two DEC-issued documents we can still reach disagree in structure, not just number. A 2023 DEC summary PDF gives one flat season (May 1 to Oct 9), an 18.5-inch minimum and a 4-fish limit. The codified 6 NYCRR §40.1 table splits the season in two (May 4–Aug 1 and Aug 2–Oct 15) with a stepped 19-to-19.5-inch minimum and a 3-fish limit. Summer flounder is respecified almost every year under the joint ASMFC/Mid-Atlantic Council process, so a newer number is likely correct — but which document is newer could not be confirmed with dec.ny.gov itself blocked.
Nothing is stated here because our two reachable sources disagree on the season structure itself, not just the minimum length. Check dec.ny.gov directly before keeping a fluke.
What we left out on purpose
- dec.ny.gov itself could not be reached for this state — every path we tried (direct fetch, browser render, the 2026 PDF at a different path) hit the same Cloudflare Managed Challenge. Everything here comes from two older official documents plus dated press coverage, cross-checked against each other rather than against the live page.
- Summer flounder, Atlantic cod, cobia and the boat-based tier of scup are left unsettled: the 2023 DEC summary PDF and the codified 6 NYCRR §40.1 table describe structurally different rules for each, not just different numbers, and neither could be confirmed as the newer one without reaching dec.ny.gov directly.
- Everything else on this page matched exactly between the 2023 DEC summary and the codified NYCRR table, or — for striped bass specifically — was confirmed through two dated DEC press releases (2023 for the marine slot, 2024 for the Hudson River slot) that postdate both documents.
- NYSDEC regulates fish differently depending on how an angler is fishing (shore, private boat, or licensed party/charter boat) more often than most states on this site. Where that split changes the number, it is carried here as separate regions rather than folded into one line.
- This page covers New York's marine and coastal district only. New York also publishes an entirely separate freshwater fishing guide (bass, trout, walleye, pike and panfish in lakes, ponds and inland streams) that is not carried here.
Other species in New York
- Striped bass
- Scup (porgy)
- Black sea bass
- Tautog (blackfish)
- Winter flounder
- Weakfish
- Bluefish
- American eel
- Oyster toadfish
- Atlantic cod
- Cobia
- Red drum
- Anadromous river herring (alewife and blueback herring)
- American shad
- Atlantic sturgeon
- Yellowtail flounder
- Haddock
- Pollock
- Monkfish (goosefish)
- King mackerel
- Spanish mackerel
- Atlantic menhaden (bunker)
- Hickory shad
Where to try today
- Salmon River 6/10 · Decent