sports

outdoors with Lou Rodia # ^

Golden Days Lasting to Thanksgiving?

Halfway through the 60 Golden Days of Autumn < September and October on the Jersey Cape) the big question is how much longer it can continue We are asked for our appraisal of how much longer we can expect good fishing. Our guess right now - at least through Thanksgiving — IF' what we are seeing is a repeat of other years when

the weather pattern was like it is now. For our regular readers, we may have told the story more than once before. One of our best years, we were surf fishing the last weekend in October in North Wildwood standing in the surf in bathing suits That year, we caught bluefish and weakfish in tne surf through the Satur-

day AFTER Thanksgiving, because we took the fresh fish to our hunting camp in Pennsylvania. THERE HAVE been other good fall fishing years. A few years back, we had a banner day again on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We took a boat ride on a lovely fall day from Stone Harbor. Our intent was to circle the lightship and come home. iigiiuuup emu umiiv nuniv.

We were halfw894k4ta light when we birds and resisted temPr tion to stop and fish until we got to the ship itself. Seventy-two/ bluefish later (all betwe^h six and 12 lb) we were back at the dock. All were caught on the surface, and all hit on light spinning tackle. Again, our deer camp, the guides and the people at the big lodge all feasted on fresh Jersey Coast fish. 1 OUR LATEST recollection of weakfish??? Again, the post-Thanksgiving weekend, when we fled to * the West Wildwood Train Bridge at 9 p.m. to get away from the noise generated by a half dozen women whe were having a house hen party. Again, the date was the weekend prior to the opening day of Pennsylvania. Deer Season, and that usually marked the end of our fishing in salt water since we came back from Pennsylvania to hop into Jersey deer season. Save for a few striper trips in, December, the Thanksgiving weekend was the last we fished. That's why the dates are so indelibly stamped. That night on the train bridge, we caught a nice mess of weaks and herring and again, the deer camp had fresh fish. They, over 1 the years got cod* fluke (frozen from late fall fishing trips), clams, oysters, and the abovementioned weaks and blues. WE REPEAT these stories, knowing you have read them before. The repetition ■ comes because we had just enough calls this week to determine that not all of our readers have heard the stories before. The point is, however, that fishing can and usually does end much later than all but a handful of anglers ever get to know. Weaks and fluke are plentiful way up in Delaware Bay. Bluefish are so thick in spots in the upper bay that they are becoming a nuisance to , some anglers. All along the beachfront the stories of bop£nza fishing continue, ^-tfell north of the Jersey Cape. At the expense of sounding like a Broken record, yes. there is still lots of good fishing and yes, it looks as if it can continue for a long time and yes, it will get better. THINGS HAVE changed a little. It used to be that Election Day, the first Tuesday in Nqyember, was traditionally" the start of cod season on the Jersey Cape. Now, with cod only starting to emerge again'as a viable fishery along the Jersey Coast, can we look to a possible cod season? Warm water will keep the cod off the inshore wrecks and open bottom. A

lot of cod to the north of us will move good numbers of cod down into our area. When this happens, we get cod and ling and whiting on our inshore wrecks -and on the open bottom. Will we have a, cod season this year? Only Mother Nature can \?y for sure, and if She says yes. then it will take a few adventuresome anglers to venture forth to try to catch - them. /?

fejJ^viEANWHlLE, keep an r eye- -posted for offshore J trips to relatively lightlyfished wrecks. We are r hearing reports that a few ) special offshore trips are being planned, e As we get the word, we t will pass it on. r Where are the weakfish? i They can be anywhere i from just about in on the / beach all the way out to SO and 60 feet water. Blues and fluke are still mixed in. A heavy concentration of » weaks has been recorded > off Ocean City. More ) • pockets" of weakfish will I show up as the bay popula- ; tion sags out into the ocean, i A good way to fish for i ocean weaks this time of year is with a small metal spoon ( don't forget the wire leader if blues are around > and A bit of squid. Another good way to fish is with a top and bottom rig fished with squid bait. Cut bluefish. bunker, spot qr fluke belly will also produce. , REPORTS: Fares on the Little Chris are catching lots of fluke along the Cape May beachfront. The Miss Chris has been fishing for sea bass and blackfish on the wrecks 'and has been producing good results. Joe Woods of Havertown, Pa., caught 23 sea bass and 35 blackfish on a recent trip. Night blue action has been excellent on Five Fathom Bank on big fish. The Miss Chris sails Friday and Saturday nights only for blue humming trips and daily for the wrecks. Dave Lamont of Millmont Park, Pa., caught a 7-lb. 14-oz. bluefish on a recent trip on Capt. Bob Schumann's boat Sea Star II. Fares are boating fluke and some weaks. Another pool winner was diaries M. O'Donneli of West Chester. Pa. with a 6-Ib. 5-oz. fluke. FLUKE CATCH: One of our write friends, Owen Haines, of Marietta, pa., and a friend of his, caught 49 nice fluke in an exciting day on the Porgy III with Capt. Paul Thompson. Recent pool winners included George Frey of Macongie, pa., with a 9-lb. 1-oz.Jluke a.n d Earl Miller of Philadelphia with a 6Vlb. fluke. Ocean City news: Capt. Joe Zaborowski of the Challenger fleet reports a mixed bag of fluke, weaks ' and blues for the Russ Palermo charter from Collingswood, N.J. The Fanatics Fishing Club of Philadelphia jigged bluefish with some weaks and fluke. They also bagged a rare short-jawed Lizard Fish which weighed 44-lb. Night bluefishing continues to hold up well. BIG WAHOO: Capt. Dick Herb of the Escapade out of Avalon reported- a 51 -lb. wahoo for Dirk Smith, who was part of the Mickey McCue party from West

Chester, pa. The group also had yeliowfin tuna and skipjacks in action at the edge of the Wilmington Canyon. HAPPY DAYS: Captain Jim Solley of the*Happy Days said fluke fishing has been excellent all week on his all day (8-hour) trips. The Happy Days will be chartered every Saturday but will be open all of the other days. Saturday. Jack Bilsoa led the Proficient Food Company of Bridgeport. NJ. charter with a .I'v-lb. fluke. Lady Anglers Score: Joyce Gleason of Philadelphia was high hook with 37 sea bass and blackfish and fellow Philadelphian Sadie Boatright took the pool with a 5-lb. sea bass on a recent trip with Capt. Neill Robbins on the Capt. Rob bins out of Sea Isle City. Lots of bluefish are being caught just jeast of Townsend s InleO^Fish weigh

three to six pounds. Some weakfish and a few fluke and albacore have also been caught with the blues. STARLIGHT: The Starlight is still catching lots of fluke and some small weakfish on ocean trips. The Starlight will be sailing Friday and Saturday nights for blues FLUKE EXPLOSION: At Wjldwood Yacht Basin Capt. Charles Selby of the Rainbow reported a fluke bonanza as the fluke moved out of the bays and into the ocean off Wildwood and Cape May. Kim Swan of Lancaster, pa. caught a 5' 4 -lb. fluke with 50 other keepers. Larry Silverman of the Elco Rod and Gun Club of Bayonne caught a 4-lb. 10-oz. fluke. Night blue action continues through October 6. The Rainbow will sail daily through October 7 and then on Saturday and Sunday through November 4.

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Marine Services

PAINTS CARPET SALE PERMA GRASS GREEN 3®®yard ARMSTRONG LINOLEUM CARPET REMNANTS CHARGE YOUR a£WKlHG PURCHASES ^LfAXRlCfl . SINCE 1899 RIO GRANDE & PARK BLVD. WILDWOOD 522-2426 ^ Cape May County ALMANAC. OCTOBER

MOON PHASES /POSITIONS T he Moon' ■ ojjrct on the Tide u greatest when closest to Earth (in perigee I and when in direct alignment with Sun t- earth i/ull I new moon phasrsi On and about their dates low pressure systems and 'or strong winds i depending upon direction) may result in flooding, and extremely low tides Moan Phases ' Kifst Quarter 1.31 Full Moon f tail Quarter 17 New Moon It Perigee 3 Apogee H TIDE TABLE Computed for Cape May City beachfront . for other areas, see Correction Times DATE HIGH LOW 3 Wed 3 22 3 49 9 24 to It 4 Thu 4 30- 4 SI 10 25-11 02 5 Fri a 31- 5 47 II 18- It 48 6 Sal 6 20- 6 33 -12:07 7 Sun 7 <C- 7:15 12 32- 12:54 . 8 Mon 7 38- 7 S3 1 12- I 33 9 Tue 8 13 - 8 28 1 SI— 2:16 10 Wed 8 45- 9 03 2 28 2 54 II Thu 9 17- 9 35 3 01- « 31 12 Fn 9 49-10 10 3 31- 4 03 13 Sat 10 21- 10 47 4 U3 4 40 14 Sun 10 58- 11 28 4 30- 5 16 15 Mon II 41- 4 58 - 5 58 • 16 Tue 12 IB- 12 34 5.30- 7 <*• 17 Wed 1 19- 1.35 6 41 8 16 18 Thu 2 24 2 42 8 12 9 T. . 19 Fn 3 36 - 3 56 9 32 10 220 Sat 4 44 - 5:04 10 38- 11 18 21 Sun 5 44- 6 04 II 3622 Mun 6 40 6 58 12:08-12 32 23 Tue 7 28- 7 47 12 58- 1 27 Wed fi 14 8 >3 1 47 2 IE a

CORRECTION TIMES Compute approximate time» of high A low waler for your area by adding or lubtrarting the following number of minutes for each tide phase in the Tide Table LOW HIGH Great E&g Harbor Inlet Minus 12 ' plus lo Ocean City (9th St Bndgei plus 35 plus 22 Corson Inlet i bndgei plus 21 plus 7 Sea Isle City (Ludlam Thoro Bndgei plus 66 plus 43 Sea Isle City Beach minus 2 minus 21 Townsend Inlet plus 21 * plus 4 Seven Mile Beach plus IS 0 Stone Harbor (Great Channel Bndgei plus 43 plus 40 Hereford Inlet ( Anglesea i ^ plus 19 Jb" Wildwood Beach Minus 2 minus 17 West Wildwood i Grassy Channel bndge > plus 46 plus 43 Cape May Harbor plus 1 minus 4 Five Fathom Bank plus II plus 1 Cape May Poinl plus 46 pits 34 McCne Shoal plus 28 plus 22 Delaware Bay Bayshore Channel ( Bay-Canal Junction i plus 31 plus 36 Miami Beach plus 75 plus 71 Dennis Creek Entrance pi us 98 plus 84 Brandywwe Shoal Light plus 77 plus 52

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