,r*?+ { ^ *. ? . '* • .1 x'"' 52 § PO ft S Herald & lantern 27 lune '84

outdoors with Lou Rodia Wanted: Solution to Weakfish Hassle

I woke up one night this week in the middle of a nighfmare. There was go- ' jng to be a meeting concerning a salt water license and someone was urging me to attend. In the dream, I kept saying that I would not attend. When I finally pressed as to why not. I 5 answered that I just did not care any more. With that I woke up. It took a while ito go back to sleep again/ I guess, maybe subconsciously. I may have reached that point . Maybe the battles for the more than 20 years

have worn me 'down. Or perhaps. I am tired, cynical and frustrated. Or. maybe the fact that Maryland passed a salt water license has proven to me that I and a few others who have championed the anti-license cause are tired of carrying the ball for others. Maybe, for the first time, we see that while we are busy going to the meetings, writing letters and tilting windmills for them, they were out fishing. When I saw the headline in one of the publications which my

mail carrier dutifully deposits in my mail box each week which blared forth the headline that Maryland's license law had i passed. I truthfully did not even read the story. I had seen it all before and heard it all before and written about it before. All to no avail. NOW THERE is another controversy brewing. There is a competition for a limited resource. Commercial hellers and sports fishermen are vying for the weakfisb which were in Delaware Bay this spring. The numbers of wfeakies are down from years past. The weather for the past two years has been less than good for the hook-and-line angler. It has not affected the netters as much and because of the market price and a steady demand for the product, more netters are fishing the bay. The facts as we sees them are plain and simple. If there were lots of fish and the hook and line anglers were catching a lot of i them, they wouldn't be complaining about the netters If there were other fish for thefaetters to catch and on which they, could make more money, the netters would be fishing elsewhere, anyway. If weakfish prices were down because the netters were catching too many and could jiot make money, they'd pull their nets. If there were a lot of weakfish. there would be more rod and reel anglers trying to catch them for the market so they could make gas money. AS FOR THOSE fopr cents a pound weakfish. netters could not and would not fish for that kind bf 1 return in these times pf high cost. As for storips about dumping fish, we can say that it can and probably does happen at times. However, we have seen and so have some of our readers, fish that were allowed to rot because the meat-hungry hook and line fishermen got caught up in a flurry of action and caught far more than their coolers would hold Or. we have seen fish boxes of , mackerel dumped because j the anglers did not want to ] clean them and had no use j for them. We are seeing \ right now. fluke that are so ! small that you can almost j read this column through j them and anglers are keeping every last one We all have caught more fish than we need at times, and probably all have kept fish that we should have thrown back. It is easy to scream with righteous indignation that the commerSgt. Matthews At Fort Knox ! WEST CAPE MAY - Ar- f my Sgt. Robert H. Mat- jj thews Jr., son of Robert H. jj and Delores M. Matthews of 301 Stimpson La., hasar- ■: rived for duty at Fort 0 Knox, Ky. Matthews, a tank turret v mechanic, was previous)!/ assigned in Schweinfurt, West Germany.

cial boys are raping the resource. That is if you are a 'rod and reel fisherman. |t is just as easy to point out that on any given day the tonnage of fish coming out of Delaware bay with hook and line is equal to or exceeds the commercial catch on weakfish. if conditions are right. «VE DO NOT condone overfishing by anyone, but w» also have to recognize, ii^'e are fair, that neither su|e has totally clean hands iwthe overfishing matter. li$ts of hook and line fish t\||id up in the market — s0ne over the table and sable under the table for ejjsh. We know of one aSjgler ( now deceased i who fished every day for years, weather permitting, and sold every last fluke filet to a Restaurant. Some of us can sit back and say — not me. I never sold a fish, nor do11! intend to. I have given lots of fish away. You. personally may hot sell fish but £e assured that a lot of your fellow "sportsmen" do. There will be, a meeting Friday, June 29, at 7 p.m. in the Cape May County Extension Service Building on Dennisville Road in Court House. This meeting is being called to get public Sentiment concerning the getter-rod and reel angler j-om petition for bay Weakfish. It is open to the &iblic. | UNFORTUNATELY. I ||ill not be there, but there will be other meetings on me matter. Once again you Ban attend and you can express your opinions. Unfortunately. a pre-arranged jfip out of state will keep ahe from being there, so it _ JiS not because I do not want attend. fy Party and charter skippers should be there. So '.-ihoula commercial netters tSo should that non-existent gra/ty and Charter Boat Association Id (i ll ma^e a couple i>{ [■predictions. Most ot the people who go to the ggneeting will be totally unprepared with facts and ^figures. They do not know gpow many fish are being .paught nor do they even |xnow how many boats are t|ishing the bay for [peak fish They can't even He u ess the numbers, JVIoreover. there will be an jjslement spreaming to get i #11 the netters out of the fcpay forever ji§ Another group will be «§ifter restrictions on the •Jietters to limit net length, iffish catch in numbers or in impounds. Others will want imore enforcement and ^more laws to restrict how Smany fish anyone (recreaItional pr commercial sjanglers alike » can keep. cStill others will come to glisten, hoot and holler^nd V jeer | WHEN THE dust finally ^settles, we'll predict furit t her that to resolve the profcblem, there will be a move jf to create size, catch and 1 season limits on weakfish I for the commercial anglers. And. coupled with that, will be equal if not more stringent restrictions j on what the rod and reel i anglers will be allowed to | do. Remember that if one side gets regulation, be assured that the other side ? will also get it. And, be assured, that if ; more regulations and more

complex laws £re imposed on the bay fishery, there will be an attendant cry for more money to do this. Get the picture. The next step will be to get the money for all of this from — vou got it - a SALT WATER LICENSE. We have been asked for our "solution" to the problem. We'll make it. knowing it will be the last idea considered because there will be no popular support for it If it is true that we are overfishing the fish in the bay during spawning periods, then we can resbive it simply. Close down Delaware » Bay for ALL fishing from 6 a.m. oW day until 6 p.m. the next aqv — a stretch of 36 hours during the spring run. ThaJ^np netting, no rod afnSTreel. no spears, no anything. If rcou're on the bay and have a fish in the boat you lose the boat. That's during the 36 hours. » THEN. AFTER two or m three years, we can look ^ back and say that by giving the fish breathing room we have made th§ fishing better. or worse, or not impacted it at all. Maybe 36 hours is too long or not long enough, but if NO ONE were .allowed to catch or keep a fish during that period, maybe some of the fish would escape and provide breeding stock for future years.

Keep in mind, however, that any regulation of fishing in the bay will have to include everyone if it is going to work. Don't get captivated with the need for regulation to the point where it becomes so regulatory that all of the fun goes out of the fishing. REPORT; We've used up most of the space for our column As for fishing this past week, bluefish remain the best bet. Some weaks are around and being caught. Ocean weaks are mixed' with bluefish. Spike weaks have shown up in the bay. ^ Fluke fishing remains « » good in the inland waterways as well as in Delaware Bay. Lots of small fish, are being caught, many of which should be returned to grow "P Shark fishing is improving daily, with makos. a -few blues, duskys. tigers and whites coming into the chum slicks. Kingfish are being caught in the surf frori) Stone Harbor and North Wildwood north to ^ Avalon. Some kings should be moving into the inland waterway. Snapper blues are in the waterways behind the barrier islands, along with a*" few slammer blues. Crabbing has started to pick up again with warmer weather.

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MOON PHASES/POSITIONS The Moon's affect on the Tide is greatest when closer! to Earth (in"perigee) and when in direct alignment with Sun £ eurth (full | a new moon phases l On and about these dates, low pressure systems and/or strong winds (depending upon direction) may result^n flooding. and extremely • low tides. Moon Phase* 3 New Moon. June m First Quarter Full Moon 12 ■ l.asl Quarter 21 A. New Moon 2X Perigee 2. JO \pogee IX TIDE TABLE Computed for Cape May City beachfront; for other areas, see Correction Times, DATE HICH LOW * * 27 Wed 7:18- 7:33 1:04-12:55 28 Thu 8:03-8:16 1:54- 1:44 29 Fri 8:48-9:00 2:42-2:35 30 .Sal 9:38-9:48 3:28- 3:23 1 Sun 10:28- 10:37 4:14 - 4:12 2 Mon 11:24-11:33 5:01- 5:04 3 Tue -12:20 5:49- 6:01 4 Wed 12 28- I 15 6:41 7:03 5 Thu 1:24- 2:11 7:40- K 10 6 Fri 2:23" 3:09 8:38- 9 16 7 Sat 3:23- 4 08 9:35-10:18 K Sun 4:28- 5:07 10:30— -U 16 9 Mon 5:31 6:03 11:2310 Tue 6:29- 6 54 12:09- 12:13 ' II Wed 7:19-7:41 1:02- 1 "«M 12 Thu 8:05- 8 24 1:54- 1:54 . 4 13 Fri 8:51- 9:05 2:40- 2:42 14 Sat 9:33- 9:47 3:22 3:26 15 Sun 10:15—10 27 4:03- 4:08 16 Mon 10:56-11:09 4:40 4:45 17 Tue 11:38— 11 49 5:17- 5 25 18 Wed —12:22 5:54- 6:07 19 Thu 12:30- 1 05 6:32- 6:55 20 Fri 1:15- 1 48 7:16- 7 55 21 Sat 1:58— 2:34 8:04- 8:57 22 Sun 2:50- 3 26 8:59- 9:56 23 Mon 3 48- 4:25 9:51 — 10:51 24 Tue 4:54- 5:23 10 43-11 44 25 Wed 5:58- 6:19 11:3628 Thu 6:51- 7 09 12 18- 12 25

CORRECTION TIMES Compute approximate times of high tc 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 pluslO Ocean City (9th St. Bridge) plus 35 plus 22 Corson Inlet (bridge) plus 21 plus 7 Sea Isle City (Ludlam Thoro Bridge) plus 66 plus 43 Sea Isle City Beach fhinus 2 minus 21 Townsend Inlet plus 21 plus 4 Seven Mile Beach plus 15 0 Stone Harbor (Great Channel Bridge) plus 43 plus 40 Hereford Inlet (Anglesea) plus 19 0 Wildwood Beach Minus 2 minus 17 West Wildwood (Grassy Channel bridge) plus 46 plus 43 Cape May Harbor plus 1 minus 4 Five Fathom Bank plus 1J. plus 1 Cape May Point plus 46 plus 34 McCne Shoal plus 28 plus 22 Delaware Bay Bayshore Channel (Bay-Canal Junction) plus 31 plus 36 Miami Beach plus 75 plus 71 Dennis Creek Entrance plus » plus 84 Brandywine Shoal Light plus 77 plus 52 -r

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