58 SPO^S Herald & Lantern 23 May '84

outdoors with Lou Rodia Who'll Lead Fight On Gill Netters?

Fishing can be a frustrating sport. The variables which go into making a successful fishing trip are - many Some are little things which have big impact Other big things have little or no effect. We have been getting many calls concerning the problems with cat ching black drum and weakfish The season has had a slow start. One of the reasons "has beeif the water temperature i Like it or no. fish do have critical temperatures which turn them on to the tood supply. Unfortunately. -

when the temperature hangs just below that range (55 degrees is considered the low optimum temperature for weakfish. for example) it makes for ideal conditions for the gill net fishermen. Rod and reel anglers have been frustrated because they cannot catch fish, while the gill netters have been catching a lot of fish. What is worse, there are increasing numbers of gill netters working the bay, and as is usual, when conditions areas they have been for the past two weeks occur, the age old conflict

between the two user groups arises. WE HAVE BEEN delug ed with calls fo See what can be done about getting the gill net fishermen out of the bay Legislation is in place which permits them to be there, so even if a movement were started to get the netters out of the bay /and even if it, w ere successful, it would be too late for the current season. The gill netters are not goi n g to go away by themselves. As for long range efforts to control gill netters. the lack of a strong lobbying group of recreational anglers still remains the biggest single deterrent. There is no Cape May County or < Delaware Bay ) (or combination of both) party boqt and charter boat association, for example Few of the party boat and charter boats operating in the county belong to the state party boat group, and few have even expressed an interest in joining. Jhat means that individuals have to fight the battle and that's an almost futile task for one or two skippers to undertake And in fact, assuming that a couple did. why should they, when the ' rest are sitting on their J hands, hoping the problems I will go away. I As for the sportsmen. I most are content to fish in I times of plenty and scream i to high heaven when things 1 get tough When there were 1 plenty of weakfish and they 1 were easy to catch, it was at the same time that the ! marine laws governing salt I water fishing in the state i were being rewritten. HAD THERE BEEN in ! place a strong sportsman's | lobbying effort at that ! time, perhaps more restrictive legislation would have been incor - , porated into the law. i But. having attended all but a couple of the 20 or so of the hearings which preceded the revision of the marine laws, and having asked countless sport fishermen to go with me to the hearings, only to be turned down, and having . been at countless hearings in the many years of in- 1 volvement in fishing. I can 1 say with authority that not 1 too many of the sport fishing fraternity or the i party boat industry show i up

Sure, we are all busy. Sure we have work to do and places to go But if we cannot be there personally, the next logical step is to have someone represent us. To do that, we need organization. Organizations need support, both financially- and With numbers, if they are going to be effective as lobbying groups. During one of the many fights we have been involved in with the salt water license, therewas a gather - ing of the troops i remember the story session at the old Court House building), efforts were made to start an organization to do battle in times like these It died for lack of support because the license threat went awav and because the fishing got good and there was no need to fight for the moment. IF THE Call. I. netters are having a field day in Delaware Bay. and if you did not want them there, you shoufd have been involved when there was a good chance to 'do something about it. Now. if there are to be revisions in the law. it will be a tough, uphill fight, and it is predictable as to what will happen. If the weather warms up and the fishing gets good, the phone will stop ringing because everyone will be back fishing. That may well have happened by the time you read this, although we just came through near-frost nights earlier in the past week Somewhere out there are some people who just might want to become the leaders in matters such as netter-rod and real angler conflicts, over-regulation, the salt water license, boat licensing and marine police problems, and a host of things which involve the fisherman-boater A fewleaders and a few followers have always been around. At no time in history has there been more of a need for leaders and followers to take up the fight. ONLY YOU can answer as to how much effort you have made to shape the density of your sport And only you can help or hinder the effort. Sit on your hands and nothing will be done It all lies in your willingness to get involved. It also involves locking the barn

door before and not after the horse gets stolen. So much for the philosophy Here are some positives: At Ocean City. Capt Joe Z a b o r*o w s k i of the Challenger fleet reports good bottom fishing for ling, blackfish and sea bass. Sea bass catches are improving daily. At Sea Isle City, both the Starfish and the Capt. Robbins are reporting good bottom fishing with sea bass. ling and blackfish the mainstays of the catch. Inland waterway fluke fishing has started, with catches being reported in Ludlam's BSy. vPaddy's Hole, behind Stt^e Harbor and in the West Wildwood drawbridge area Crabbing « has also been good for this • early in the season. l,ou Bachman at Smuggler's Cove in Stone Harbor has had boats catching crabs for over two weeks CAPE MAY skippers are reporting a few big weakfish and some fluke and blues on Delaware Bay trips. Night drum catches are also beginning. On Capt. P/aul Thompson's Porgy III, Tony Caruso of - Upper Darby. Pa., boated - the first weakfish of the season Saturday the pool went to Roe Bunting of Brookhaven. Pa. She beat 1 out Tony Dudley of Norristown Pa. Roe's fish weighed 8 lb. lp oz. Jim Barnett weighed in a 7l-lb. black drum at the Miss Chris Dock. His fish j was caught on a Delaware Bay night trip on the Miss Chris II Royal Flush fares are boating sea bass and blackfish on day trips. ! Drum trips are now under way at night on the Royal ! Flush, out of Wildwood Crest. At Wildwood Yacht. ' Basin. Capt. Charles Selby of the Rainbow reported a 1

10 lb. 1 oz. fluke for Rich Gaughan of Philadelphia on a recent bay trip. The first weekly winner in the Lower Township Black Drum Derby was Jack Johnson of the Silver Birch Motel in Rio Grande. Jack's 65-lb. black drum earned a weekly prize in the contest, which encbv June 10. Anglers must * register in advance to be eligible for the contest. BIG FISH: John Williams of North Cape May weighed in a 10' - lb. weakfish and Budd's Bait and Tackle in Villas His fish was caught on the north jetty at Cold Spring Inlet. Bill Ratcliffe of Vincentown. weighed in a « 39-Ib. black drum at Jim's •Bait and Tackle in Cape 1 May He caught the drum at 14 ft. Light. Daniel Wysoczanski of Villas, caught an 11'. i lb. weakfish on squid on a recent outing to Delaware Bay. Bill Wharterby of Philadelphia boated a 15 lb. 1 oz. weakfish on a recent bay trip with Sonny Hughes. They had two other weaks (around 10 lb each ' and eight bluefish to 13 lb., They also weighed in a 40-Ib drum at Joe Rodia's Tackle Shop in Rio Grande

Flea Market Benefits Post SEA ISLE CITY - Dealers are welcome to a flea market benefitting VFW Post 1963 at the post on John F KennedyBoulevard from 9 a.m. to 4 Saturday Food and baked goods will be available.

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* Cape May County ALMANAC? •■ WAV

MOON PHASES/POSITIONS The Moon 'i affect on the Tide it greatett when clotett to Earth I in perigee I and when in direct alignment with Sun 4 earth (full * new moon phases) On and about these dates, low pressure systems and/or strong winds (depending upon direction) may result in flooding, and extremely low tides. Moon Phases New Moon 3# First Quarter g Full Moon |5 UWwrttr ?2 11 / Apogee! j 33 | j TIpfe TABLE * CompjtfdU for Cope May City N^ftygh^Wt. for other areas, see DATE HIGH LOW a.m. p.m. a.m. p.m 23 Wed 2:42-3:38 9:05-9:35 24 Thu 3:39-4:21 9:54-10:27 25 Fri 4:38—5:12 10:41-11:15 26 Sat 5:31-6:00 11:23— 27 Sun 6:21-6:43 12:09-12:06 28 Mon 7:04-7:22 12:48-12:48 29 Tue 7:46-7:59 1:34—1:29 30 Wed 8:26-8:39 2:20-2:11 31 Thu 9:07-9:17 3:02-2:53 V

CORRECTION TIMES Compute approximate times of high tt low water for your area by adding or subtracting the following number of minutes for each tide phase in ' the Tide Table LOW HIGH Great Egg Harbor Inlet Minus 12 phislO Ocean City (9th St. Bridge) plus 35 plus 22 Corson Inlet 1 bridge 1 phis2l plus? Sea Isle City 1 Ludlam Thoro Bridge 1 plus 66 plug 43 Sea Isle City Beach minus 2 minus 2! Townsend Inlet Plus 21. plus 4 Seven Mile Beach plus IS 0 Stone Harbor (Great ChannehRridge) plus 43 ^^^iW40 Hereford Inlet ( Anglesea ) plus 19 0 Wildwood Beach Minus 2 minus 17 West Wildwood (Grassy Channel bridge) plus 46 plus 43 Cape May Harbor 0:Plusl minus 4 Five Fathom Bank P»us 11 plus 1 Cape May Point PIUS 46 plug 34 McCrie Shoal plus 28 plus 22 Delaware Bay Bayshore Channel 1 Bay-Canal Junction) Plus 31 plus 36 Miami Beach Plus 75 plus 71 Dennis Creek Entrance P'us 98 plus 84 Brandywine Shoal Light P'us 77 plus 52 y