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Sunday, July 18, 2010
Limit Catch 7/17/10The fluke are starting to leave the bays and make their annual migration out onto the ocean lumps. You can still
put together a nice catch of fluke in the bay, however, with the water temps reaching close to 80 degrees, the fluke are in
the deeper holes and channels. The keeper ratio in the bay is about 50 shorts to 1 keeper. After the morning charter
fell ill to sea sickness, I went out solo in the afternoon for a little R&R fishing. This trip was everything but
R&R as I had steady action the entire two hours I was on the boat. In about 55 feet of water, I found a pocket of
large fluke and kept making short drifts over the area for about two hours until I had my limit of keepers. I also threw
back around 15 fluke. A little better ratio of 2 to 1. The largest fluke I brought in was about 22 inches at 4
lbs. Oh yeah, the one that got away was around 25 inches. I had it at the boat and lost it as I went reaching
for the net. The best thing about fishing by yourself is you get to tell the story about the one that got away.
9:35 am edt
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Saturday July 10-ReportThe fish were there this weekend but you had to work hard to put numbers in the boat. We started out the morning
fishing the GSS Reef and had steady action of black sea bass but the fluke were scarce. We managed a few shorts but
no keepers. We did manage to land a nice 5.4lb Blackfish which was a nice surprise. We found a few very small
blues along the beach then the weather started to look pretty gloomy so we headed for the bay where we did put one keeper
fluke in the box. The water temp was a warm 74 degrees at the reefs and the winds were 5-10-knots out of the east with
a lazy 4 foot swell. We could have stayed at the reef all day and loaded up with sea bass but I was also fishing a local
inshore tournament and sea bass wee not part of the prize category.
8:12 am edt
Monday, July 5, 2010
Early Season ReportI have spent a good part of the beginning of the summer traveling with the family and managing Little League baseball.
I usually take the beginning of each summer off for "other business"other than fishing and this year was no
exception. The beginning of this fishing season in LBI was rather non-eventful with the exception of a few nice bass. The
spring bass run was mostly a northern Jersey event which lasted only about three weeks. The bays are producing fluke
but the keeper to throw back ration is around 1 to 40. The ocean is just starting to warm up and I expect this to be
a great reef fishing season. The reefs are already starting to produce nice black bass and some real nice fluke. I
am running my first open boat this Saturday, July 10th and still have a few spots left open. I wanted to acknowledge
two awesome catches so far this season. One was in Oregon Inlet which I witnessed aboard the boat Trophy Hunter. The
fish was a 491lb Blue Marlin. The other was a 250lb Big Eye Tuna caught out of LBI by Sue Kaiser aboard the local boat
Fish Trap. Sue's fish set the all time women's record for Tuna category at the Beach Haven Marlin and Tuna Club. Congrats
on both catches. 
2:19 pm edt
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Season Begins!!!After dealing with a few boat issues early this season, the Compass Rose is back in Beach Haven and the season is under way.
I had Rocky and family out this weekend for some Trophy Striped Bass. We left the dock early and headed up the
beach in search of some bunker. We found the bunker stacked up along the beach off Surf City in about 10ft of water.
We snagged a bunch and put them in the live well for later use and live lined a few off the beach to see if we could
pull a trophy out from under the pods. We worked the area pretty hard but were unsuccessful at putting one on the family
room wall. We decided to try the GSS reef for some black bass but the fishing was slow as well and we only managed to
put one nice keeper in the box. We ended the day working the outer bars of the Little Egg Inlet with the bunker we caught
earlier in the morning. The dog sharks and small blues were all that showed up for the free meal. The day was
beautiful and the conditions were perfect-water 60-61 degree, air temp 78, winds s 10-15-doesn't get any better.
4:16 pm edt
Thursday, January 7, 2010
March on Washington-February 24thFISHERMEN TO MARCH ON WASHINGTON "United We Fish" To Seek Congressional Support
On February 24 In a historic show of solidarity, recreational and commercial fishermen will gather together
on the steps of the Capitol on February 24, 2010 from noon until 3 p.m. in an organized demonstration against the unintended
negative impacts of the Magnuson Stevens Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the federal fisheries law which was revised
in January of 2007. Coordinating the march under the flag of United We Fish, rally organizers are hoping to see a large
show of force in defense of coastal communities.
"The closures keep coming and it's good to see the
collective fishing communities and industries, both recreational and commercial, calling for scientific based Magnuson reform,"
said Jim Donofrio, Executive Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA). "We are all in this together."
Donofrio cited recent closures of amberjack, black sea bass and red snapper fisheries as examples of what he calls a "broken"
federal fisheries law.
The groups organized through United We Fish are hoping to prove to legislators
just how many American anglers and business owners are truly being impacted by the overly restrictive management requirements
created by MSA based on non scientific arbitrary deadlines. According to Bob Zales of the Conservation Cooperative of
Gulf Fishermen (CCGF), the time-specific deadlines mandated by MSA coupled with flawed data collection methods are forcing
anglers off the water. "We fully support real science based management and the conservation of our marine resources
while also being able to sustain recreational and commercial fishing activities, providing locally caught seafood, sustaining
small family businesses, and supporting our coastal communities."
This effort is being coordinated by many
organizations and individuals including but not limited to the RFA, CCGF, SSFFF, United Boatmen of New York, United Boatmen
of New Jersey, New York Sportfishing Federation, Maryland Saltwater Sportfishermen's Association and the Fishing Rights Alliance.
"Some people have asked 'why, it's winter'," said Donofrio who said he's gotten the required permits and expects
a large crowd in DC on February 24th, regardless of weather. "We can't let seasons stop the momentum, and if we wait
any longer none of us will be fishing. Many members of Congress will be standing shoulder to shoulder with us,"
Donofrio said.
Nils Stolpe, a consultant to the commercial fishing industry and columnist for SavingSeafood.org
said that over the past three decades since the original Magnuson Act was established, fishermen have been gradually phased
out of the fisheries management process, regardless of sector. "The scientists have been put in charge, and as
the list of closures and restrictions up above painfully demonstrates, the Act has been turned into a weapon that is now being
used against fishermen and fishing communities."
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) first introduced the
Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2008 in the 110th Congress to incorporate "limited flexibility"
into federal fisheries management. More than 100 fishing groups and industry members from around the country pledged
their support for the legislation and the bill's 19 bipartisan coastal cosponsors, but the bill languished during the volatile
economic climate in advance of the presidential elections in November of 2008.
Realizing
that fisheries closures would continue without congressional intervention, in March of this year, Rep. Pallone and fellow
Representatives John Adler (D-NJ), Henry Brown, Jr. (R-SC), Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL), Barney Frank (D-MA), Walter B. Jones,
Jr. (R-NC), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Frank LoBiondo (D-NJ), Mike McIntyre (D-NC), Michael Michaud (D-ME), Solomon Ortiz (D-TX)
and John Tierney (D-MA), reintroduced the Flexibility in Rebuilding American Fisheries Act of 2009 (HR 1584). Twenty-five
total co-sponsors have since pledged support to date including Rob Andrews (D-NJ), Timothy Bishop (D-NY), Allen Boyd (D-FL),
Joe Courtney (D-CT), Peter King (R-NY), Rob Wittman (R-VA), Jo Bonner (R-AL), John Mica (R-FL), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL),
Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), Clifford Stearns (R-FL), Donna Christensen (D-VI), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), and Ander Crenshaw (R-FL).
Following a letter-writing campaign by the RFA-NY and members of the New York Sportfishing Federation, senior Democratic
Senator Charles Schumer of New York announced his Senate version of the bill (S.1255). Currently, the Senate bill to
correct the flaws in MSA has no co-sponsors, which is something United We Fish organizers are hoping will change in February.
"New York's Senator Schumer is as concerned about his fishing constituents as he is about the fish, just
as Congressmen Pallone, Frank, Jones, LoBiondo, Kennedy, Adler and others in the House of Representatives are," said
Stolpe. "Hence they have formed the nucleus of a growing movement in Congress that, in spite of the editorial opinion
of the New York Times and the expenditure of many millions of dollars by the Pew Charitable Trusts, is aimed at preserving
recreational and commercial fishing, the lifestyles of millions of fishermen, and the tens of thousands of businesses and
hundreds of fishing communities that they support," Stolpe added.
Organizers from within the recreational
fishing sector are hoping to get commitment from all user groups and across varied state and regional boundaries. "This
is much bigger than any one state issue or individual grievance," said RFA's Managing Director Jim Hutchinson, Jr.
"Whether it's our restrictive fluke fishery in New York, the arbitrary closure of state waters for our anglers in California,
or the shutdown of red snapper and amberjack down south, our community has been divided by preservationist tactics for too
long. It's time to unite the clans in defense of our coastal heritage and traditions," Hutchinson said.
"We need to let Congress and NOAA know that we are the collective voice of the recreational fishing community and the
collective voice does not accept the current broken management system which wreaks such havoc on all of us and our businesses,"
said Donofrio, adding "The goal on February 24th will be to get all of our congressional friends to attend."
"At this point Senator Schumer and his Congressional colleagues in the House deserve the thanks and the support
of every one of us who fishes, whether for fun or profit," said Stolpe. The United We Fish rally is
set for 2/24/10 at noon at the Capitol. For details as they become available, sign up for the RFA's email newsletter
on the homepage at www.joinrfa.org.
10:26 am est
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