Published: Thursday, September 02, 2010, 8:28 PM     Updated: Thursday, September 02, 2010, 10:05 PM

A dramatic vote was taken at yesterday’s monthly meeting of the Marine Fisheries Council when a motion to endorse a saltwater fishing license as a means of funding marine fisheries within the Division of Fish & Wildlife was passed unanimously.

The N.J. Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs and the Cape May Party & Charter Boat Association have been on record as supporting this concept, but the Council’s motion will probably result in the required legislative action for consideration. The very mention of a saltwater license has always been poison in N.J., but with many of our state’s anglers now having to buy a New York or Delaware license, the prospect of reciprocal licenses and sending money to N.J. rather than a neighboring state may make a difference. In addition, we will have to deal with the federal registry next year — when it will no longer be free unless we have a state license.

Yet, Dr. Pat Donnelly said those concerns weren’t the reason for the license proposal. Our marine fisheries are run on a budget of just $380,000, while North Carolina (a state with about as many fishermen) has an $18 million budget, about half of which comes from the recreational license. Donnelly noted that we probably could have had more liberal tautog regulations if we had the personel last year to provide the required statistics to back up our case. The same thing may apply next year with shad and river herring.

There will be a lot more about this in the weeks to come, though there isn’t even a bill in the Legislature to put a license dedicated to Marine Fisheries into law. Let the debate begin!

Published: Thursday, September 02, 2010, 8:07 PM     Updated: Thursday, September 02, 2010, 11:19 PM

It’s all over but the shouting for most recreational fluke fisherman after Labor Day. Commercial fishermen will continue to load up with 14-inch fluke during their open periods, but the only hope for the public will be fishing on party boats that have obtained a permit to take poundage from the research portion of the summer flounder quota.

As if regulations haven’t created enough economic problems for party boat skippers, the recent warnings about big swells from distant hurricanes have scared some anglers off even when there was no wind and seas were calm with a long swell that was barely noticeable except where they broke on the beaches. Unless there’s significant wind involved, those storm swells are of concern only at the inlets on an ebb tide, and not at all in protected waters such as Raritan Bay.

Though N.J. is in a tropical storm warning, the outlook tonight wasn’t bad. The ocean was quite fishable, and the period of strong easterly winds is predicted to be brief before a switch to gusty northwest winds that should settle the seas Saturday. Light south winds and modest waves are in the forecast for Sunday and Labor Day.

Unless there’s more rain than expected, Raritan and Barnegat bays should be fishable for those seeking that last fluke. The big swells will likely have a negative impact on ocean bottom fishing, but bluefish and school bluefin tuna should shortly resume feeding. The storms could even bring some positives, such as moving those currently distant bluefins into the Mud Hole, improving the canyon tuna bite or providing an influx of little tunny and bonito into inshore waters. Sandy Hook Bay can certainly use a flushing to move out the ugly algae bloom. Keep track of changing conditions on this blog.

Capt. Tom Buban has purchased an allocation of 1,500 pounds of summer flounder from the research portion of the quota and will continue to sail his Atlantic Star twice daily from Atlantic Highlands for that species indefinitely as he has the rest of the year to account for that poundage.

What happened to global warming? We’ve been looking forward to catching groupers on nearby wrecks in late August, but instead we get better cod than in mid-winter. Capt. Bud McArthur of Splinter from Brick got tired of poor fluking at the reefs and took a shot at wreck fishing Saturday in the Mud Hole. He fished only one wreck in 225 feet, though it was necessary to re-anchor three times in order to lay right. The crew had 41 of the expected ling but were amazed to add 23 cod over the 21-inch minimum while returning some shorts. The largest cod weighed 18 pounds.

With a hurricane in mind, the new American Red Cross Clipray self-powered hand crank flashlight is a handy item to have at home or on a boat. Without having to worry about batteries, this 4.9-ounce unit can be clipped to a belt loop and provides light by solar power or simply by cranking a built-in handle. Sixty seconds of cranking provides 10 minutes of light, and there’s also a USB Cell Phone Charger Port that can make communication possible if that battery discharges. A portion of the $15 sale price from this Eaton Corp. product goes to the Red Cross. For more information visit www.eatoncorp.com.

Anglers seeking bluefin tuna must remember that private boats with Angling category permits are limited to one bluefin from 27 to less than 59 inches per day. Charter and party boats with the appropriate permit may take one from 27 to less than 47 inches plus one from 47 to less than 59 inches. No small mediums from 59 to less than 73 inches may be boated.

MARINE FISHERIES COUNCIL ENDORSES SALTWATER LICENSE

The N.J. Marine Fisheries Council took a bold step today at their monthly meeting in Galloway Township by unanimously passing a motion in favor of establishing a saltwater fishing license in order to fund marine fisheries within the Division of Fish & Wildlife. The N.J. Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs and the Cape May Party & Charter Boat Association have taken similar positions.

TOP CATCHES

The 30th annual Manasquan River Marlin & Tuna Club Offshore Open, with 33 boats participating, continues through Sunday. As of Day 5 (Wednesday), Recovery Room had the only blue marlin release plus a tenuous lead in tuna with a 62.7-pounder — just ahead of Paddy Whack at 62.60 pounds and Speculator at 61.10 pounds.

Contestants are hoping Hurricane Earl will blow up the mass of white marlin that were in Washington Canyon on April 30, when nine boats fishing a Virginia Beach tournament released an incredible 267 whites. Billfisher released a record 57. Tar Heel had 30 whites, had a blue marlin release and caught three dolphin.

Capt. Len Forsyth of Miss Belmar Princess reports Warren Ide of Long Branch won Tuesday’s pool with a 16-pound bluefish, and Ricky Gonzalez from Jersey City took the money Wednesday with a 17-pounder.

At Brielle, Capt. Joe Bogan of Jamaica II said fluking improves on tough bottoms in 60 to 90 feet.
Top catches last week included Dale Isaacs of Manchester with a limit up to 5 pounds; Pete Talevei from Trenton with five to 5 1/2 pounds; and Eric Hanson of Old Bridge five to 5 pounds.

Capt. Howard Bogan Jr. reports pool-winning bluefish this week on his Jamaica included a 15.5-pounder by Shannon Wagner of Hopewell, who also limited.

Wayne Smith reports from Hoffman’s Marina that weekend canyon fishing was poor, though Impulse returned with two albacore plus a 50-pound wahoo, and released an 80-pound swordfish.

Some boaters found school bluefins in the area of the Virginia. Joe Vezzosi weighed a 90-pounder. Fluking remained tough, but Capt. Bob Lake took Ron Masseralli up to the Rattlesnake last week on Kimberly Ann, where both had fluke limits with fish up to 8 pounds.

At Point Pleasant, Capt. Bob Pennington reported good bluefish jigging Saturday on the east side of the Mud Hole from his Sea Devil, before the best bluefishing of the season Sunday at Shark River Reef where 10-to-15-pound blues started on jigs before settling into the chum. Ernie Armitage of Rutherford and Jeanne Noonan from Monroe, N.Y. tied for the pool with 15-pounders.

Captains Jimmy Gahm, Sean Carton and Dave Bender took Tom and Tim Cunningham from Colts Neck out Sunday on Jenny Lee from Manasquan to seek school bluefin tuna. They found one 40 miles offshore, and later got into another bite 15 miles to the east where the tuna were hard to interest though a 40-pounder was boated on a Shimano Stella spinning outfit.

Fluke weigh-ins at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant all came from the ocean. Chris Rodek of Brick boated a 5 1/2-pounder; John Letezin of Brick had a 6 3/4-pounder; Fred Blair from Toms River a 6 1/4-pounder; and Mike Graffton of Bergenfield a 6 1/8-pound fluke.

Nick Honachefsky of Normandy Beach fished for fluke on Tuesday with Brian Keating and Mike Warlog on Killer Bea as they released over 40 shorts.

The WICC Greatest Bluefish Tournament on Earth was contested last weekend on Long Island Sound. Eric Hunar of East Setauket, N.Y. was the winner with a 15.94-pounder weighed at Caraftis Tackle in Port Jefferson.

Hans Kaspersetz of Weehawken was fishing Ambrose Channel during Wednesday afternoon with Dennis Nalepa and his son D.J. from Red Bank as the crew on Shak’en totaled six keepers in the Buoy 3 area.

Published: Wednesday, September 01, 2010, 9:07 PM     Updated: Wednesday, September 01, 2010, 9:37 PM

It was yet another day suitable for small boats on the ocean despite all the premature worries about big swells that are probably still another day away. Bluefish cooperated again, and quantities of little tunny were finally running through the slick of Miss Belmar Princess as Capt. Len Forsyth anchored 15 miles east of Shark River Inlet. He also had skipjacks in the slick, and noted that his anglers have even jigged an occasional cod out there. Capt. Jim O’Grady of the Cock Robin from Point Pleasant also had little tunny in his slick plus some bonito. Capt. Howard Bogan Jr. reported 7-to-15-pound blues on his Jamaica from Brielle plus little tunny and skipjacks.

Jesse York of Atlantic Beach, N.Y. said one of his Long Island boats had a good day with school bluefin tuna, bringing in the private boat limit with a 90-pounder. York was fluking on Cholera Bank, and managed a 22-inch N.Y. keeper — but said that fishing was slow due to the lack of drift on a calm sea with no wind until the afternoon.  

Bruce Vitale of Piscataway was fishing aboard Funny Pharm from Highlands as the crew caught three legal fluke from among lots of shorts east of Sandy Hook Channel.  

Published: Monday, August 30, 2010, 8:07 PM     Updated: Monday, August 30, 2010, 8:37 PM

All’s well in the bluefish world, as the Jamaica from Brielle found big schools of choppers up to 15 pounds, 15 miles southeast of Manasquan Inlet for big catches Sunday, that night, and Monday. All of the action had been north to Shark River Reef and the Mud Buoy before that. The Jamaica has room on its limited canyon trip departing at 5 p.m. Sept. 5. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.

Capt. Bob Pennington had good bluefish jigging Saturday on the east side of the Mud Hole from his Sea Devil out of Point Pleasant. Sunday was the best day of the year as blues up to 15 pounds hit both jigs and bait at Shark River Reef.

Capt. Tommy Joseph of Rightaway from Belmar said the swell didn’t bother his fluking on Sunday as one customer even managed a limit. Joseph has been disappointed in the porgy fishing lately, and is hoping they’ll come on to take the place of sea bass when that season closes briefly on Oct. 11.

Bill Klimas of Scotch Plains foud both the missing weakfish and little tunny on Sunday, but not in the sizes we need. He was fishing with Doug Rusch on his Fin Fun from Brielle along with Doug’s mother Valerie and sister Valerie Klimas as they picked at some legal sea bass and fluke when some tiny weakfish up to 8 inches started hitting at the Sea Girt and Carlsen reefs. Then, on the way back off Point Pleasant they spotted surface action where A17 jigs produced tiny little tunny not over 10 inches.

Captains Jimmy Gahm, Sean Carton and Dave Bender had Tom and Tim Cunningham of Colts Neck aboard Jenny Lee from Manasquan as they searched out school bluefin tuna on Sunday. They found one 40 miles from Manasquan Inlet before being called in on a bite 15 miles to the east. Some boats did well there, but the funa were fussy. The party did add a 40-pounder caught on a Shimano Stella spinning outfit.

     

Good question I never intentionally fished for eels but have caught them in most bay areas if they are there you will catch them you can also try some of the salt water creeks near bays or rivers and I really haven’t heard anyone talking about eels being caught in a few years you could also try the Hackensack river but I wouldn’t eat anything from there its really polluted also berrys creek in Lyndhurst it also runs behind the meadowlands stadium (GIANTS STADIUM)

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“IF YOU WANT A FRESHWATER FISH TO FIGHT HARD PUT IT IN SALTWATER”

PLATTSBURGH, NEW YORK – Chevy pro Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, South Carolina, caught a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds, 15 ounces Thursday to capture the lead in the FLW Series Eastern Division tournament on Lake Champlain with a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 39-11.

“I had a limit early,” said Gagliardi, who finished second at the 2009 FLW Tour Lake Champlain event. “I fished the same area I did yesterday and I am really fending off a lot of anglers just to hold my ground; I had my limit by 9:30 but was afraid to leave because I didn’t want anyone else catching the quality fish that are in this area.

“It’s a grassy flat about 10-13 feet deep and the bass seem to gravitate there because it is loaded with bait fish; not just one species, but several. I am seeing shiners, shad . . . perch, crawfish and I think that is what is making it so attractive.

“Like yesterday I am dragging tubes and soft plastics on the bottom and I don’t plan to change much for tomorrow.”

Most of today’s anglers had an early bite, before the wind picked which was about noon. Very few largemouth bass crossed the stage today and several frustrated anglers declared it was a waste of time largemouth fishing and were able to save their day by going North and catching limits of smallies.

Gagliardi now holds an one-pound, 2-ounce lead over second place pro Jason Ober of Johnstown, Pa., who managed to haul in a total of 10 bass weighing 38-9 during the first two days of competition.

Ober continued to fish the same area he did yesterday which is in the Northwest corner of the lake near the Champlain Islands. He also had his limit early, by 8:30, however once the wind kicked in he said it took him a long time to upgrade any of his fish.

“I’m still using a drop-shot with a 3 ½ inch cut tail worm,” said Ober, who won an American Fishing Series event on Lake Champlain in 2008 and in 2009 finished third at the FLW Tour and 6th at the FLW AFS events. “I have been fishing clean most of the week; I’m getting a bite on every cast, but my biggest challenge is competing with the perch, there are just so many there it’s hard to get the bass to bite me.”

Rounding out the top-10 pros at Lake Champlain are:

3rd: Shinichi Fukae, Palestine, Texas, 10 bass, 37-8
4th: David Wolak, Wake Forest, N.C., 10 bass, 37-4
5th: Chevy pro Dion Hibdon, Stover, Mo., 10 bass, 36-13
6th: Michael Wolfenden, Warwick, R.I., 10 bass, 36-3
7th: Steve Lucarelli, Meredith, N.H., 10 bass, 35-5
8th: Lancen Halbert, Enoree, S.C., 10 bass, 35-4
9th: National Guard pro Michael Murphy, Gilbert, S.C., 10 bass, 35-4
10th: Scott Parker, Londonderry, N.H., 10 bass, 35-3

Overall there were 687 bass weighing 1,839 pounds, 9 ounces caught by 146 pros Thursday. The catch included 127 five-bass limits.

In FLW Series competition, pros are competing for a top award of $50,000 plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for a shot at the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing.

Chris Kinney-Hermes of Champlain, N.Y., leads the Co-angler Division with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 34-4 followed by Christopher Hall of Clarks Summit, Pa., in second place with 10 bass weighing 32-9.

“It was a lot tougher today than yesterday,” said Kinney-Hermes, who is a SUNY-Plattsburgh bass fishing alumni. “I didn’t have a bite until 12:30. I think the bottom is really key to my fishing. We were fishing in a rocky area and the wind actually helped me today. I think it was blowing the bait fish in so the bass followed.”

Kinney-Hermes caught five bass weighing 18-15 while fishing with Chevy pro Anthony Gagliardi, Wednesday and five bass weighing 15-5 while fishing with pro Chris Johnston of Peterborough, Ontario, Thursday.

Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers are:

3rd: Tony Bushey, Champlain, N.Y., 10 bass, 31-12
4th: Jerry Vashina, Macungie, Pa., 10 bass, 31-11
5th: Chester Williams, Shavertown, Pa., 10 bass, 31-2
6th: Jerry Knier, Muncy, Pa., 10 bass, 28-6
7th: Patrick Bone, Cleveland, Ga., 10 bass, 28-1
8th: Michael McGhee, Blackstone, Va., 10 bass, 27-15
9th: Edward Pecore, Plattsburgh, N.Y. 10 bass, 27-7
10th: Mike Casada, Stearns, Ky., 10 bass, 27-7

Overall there were 569 bass weighing 1,263 pounds, 9 ounces caught by 146 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included 75 five-bass limits.

Co-anglers are competing this week for a Ranger 177TR with a 90 horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard motor as well as valuable points that could help them qualify for the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup.

Anglers will take off from Dock Street Landing located at 5 Dock Street in Plattsburgh at 6:30 each morning. All weigh-ins will be held at the marina with Friday’s weigh-in beginning at 2:30 p.m. and Saturday’s at 4 p.m.

Fans will be treated to a Family Fun Zone at the marina prior to Saturday’s weigh-in from noon to 4 p.m. There will be a drawing for a $300 Cabela’s gift card and drawings for rod and reel combos will be held every 30 minutes during the event. Activities in the Family Fun Zone include a boat simulator and National Guard obstacle challenge. All activities are free and open to the public.

Coverage of the Lake Champlain tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS. “FLW Outdoors”, will air Oct. 24 from 12:30 to 1:30 ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide.

ABOUT FLW OUTDOORS
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 189 tournaments in 2010. FLW Outdoors has also taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing awarding the largest prizes in the history of fantasy sports. FLW Outdoors memberships are available featuring numerous benefits including Player’s Advantage. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing, visitFantasyFishing.com.

www.FLWOutdoors.com

Published: Sunday, August 29, 2010, 8:40 PM     Updated: Sunday, August 29, 2010, 9:12 PM

Wayne Smith, at Hoffman’s Marina in Brielle,  didn’t have much good news from the canyon over the weekend, though some wahoo are starting to show out there. The best report was from the Impulse, which had a 50-pound wahoo and two albacore while also releasing an 80-pound swordfish. Some boaters caught school bluefins in the Compass Rose area, including Joe Vezzosi who weighed a 90-pounder.

Smith said fluking remains tough, but Capt. Bob Lake of Kimberly Ann had Ron Masseralli with him as both limited with fluke up to 8 pounds during the week at the Rattlesnake.    

Capt. Joe Bogan has been scratching out some large fluke on rough bottoms in 60 to 90 feet with his Jamaica II from Brielle. Dale Isaacs of Manchester had a limit up to 5 pounds during the week. Saturday night bluefishing was good for 10-to-12-pounders, as fares averaged eight to 15 choppers.  The Jamaica II has openings on a 3 a.m. Sept. 7 cod trip.

The Sea Devil from Point Pleasant had a good shot of big blues Saturday on the east side of the Mud Hole.

The most valuable bluefish was a 15.94-pounder caught by Eric Hunan of East Setaucket, Long Island to win the WICC Greatest Bluefish Contest on Earth Tournament in Long Island Sound. The winner was weighed at Caraftis Fishing Station in Brookhaven.

Dave Lilly of Hazlet and his Team Esca crew boated 17 large fluke in the depths of Ambrose Channel.  

Bruce Vitale of Piscataway was intent on catching a big fluke in Chapel Hill Channel from Funny Pharm, owned by Mike Obuch of Bridgewater. He quickly caught a 20 1/2-incher that was returned since it was a half-inch short of a N.Y. keeper. Everything went downhill from there as the big fluke didn’t cooperate — and we caught only a few small fluke and three dogfish. Most unusual was Obuch’s catch of a small kingfish that was snagged on a fluke rig in Ambrose Channel — the first kingfish I’ve ever seen there.