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outdoors wrthlou Rodta Homework , Technique Count in Fishing

Fishing records, as is true of ail other records, are made to be broken. But for those who have ever held a record, the honor is still there, nevertheless. In fishing, records can go to just about anyone. A look at the International Game Fish Association record books indicates that. The fishing 'pro's' have their share of the records, but so do the beginners, the casual fishermen and the accomplished amateur anglers For some, the records are long-term and hard to beat For others, it is a fleeting fame, because soon after the record is set, someone else comes along to beat it A fellow angler from Harrisburg, and an outdoor writer to boot, set an all tackle record for a bluefish he caught on 130-lb. line while he was chumming for giant tuna. TH AT RECORD was surpassed in 1972. when Jim Hussey. of Hatteras. N.C., went out in a little aluminum boat to troll

behind the surf for blues. He hooked and landed a 31 a4 lb. bluefish, which is the 50 lb. class record and the all tackle record to boot That's a record we think will be around for a long time. Frank Coleman, of Rocky Hill. N.J., holds another record of sorts. He caught a 14*4 lb fluke while fishing in Little Egg Bhy It is the biggest, or at least one of the biggest ever to come out of a back bay area in New Jersey. If bigger ones have been caught, no one knows it Frank's catch can be documented. He has it in a display case and he displays the trophy fish sprotsman's shows from time to time. Frank also has another big fish in a case That mount is an 114-lb. fluke he caught in the back bays at Belmar. That one won the Ballentine Fluke Derby Frank also recorded a 12-lb. fluke in back bay fishing. FOR A FEW years, his 3-lb. 2-oz. winter flounder

was a state record. That fish was caught in Great Egg Harbor Bay and it held up as a record from 1968 through 1981, when Ann Kellerman boated a 3V< lb. winter flounder in Barnegat Bay Frank's lifetime of fishing has carried him from Maine to Florida and coast to coast. He is one of the state's better fluke fisherman if you talk to peopl" who know him. He and his fishing buddies have developed a sure-fire technique which works well for them. It involves trolling for fluke — something which is done rarely, if ever, by most fluke anglers and not too often around the areas where we fish fluke in the county. More about that part of the story. For now, we have to mention that Frank fishes with a chart and a lot of local knowledge, accumulated over the years. "WE NEVER drift for fluke,'' Frank said. And he added that a lot of his fishing is in places where few, if any other fluke anglers go. His technique is a simple one and analyzed, it sure makes sense. To determine where he might catch fish, Frank studies the chart of the local waters where he will be fishing. He looks for deep holes which come up on edges where there is sandy bottom. He also looks for steep dropoffs along the sod banks where there is deep water. Once he determines where these places are. he

seeks them out and visually identifies the surroundings so h? can get back there agahi. Further, he makes note (on the chart) of the areas which have produced fish so he can get back there again. FRANK SAID that by presenting the bait by trolling, he puts the baits where the fish are feeding on the edges of the deep holes. His method works no matter what the wind and tide are doing. A slow troll is important and it is important to get the baits on the bottom. He uses a lot of fluke belly, cut from winter flounders he catches ^arly in the season in April and May. As soon as late April or early May weather indicates that it is possible to catch fluke instead of winter flounders Frank starts trying for fluke even if winter flounders are around. Trolling for fluke in the inland waterways is not a new technique. It works""" well at times for us. We have used the back -trolling technique, which means that instead of trolling forward in the conventional manner we back up into the tide or wind to slow down the speed at which we are trolling. A boat will 'troll' backwards much slower than it trolls in forward gear. TROLLING INTO wind and tide also allows slower movement of the bait through the water so that a fish can grab it. Oftentimes drifting conditions make the boat drift too fast or across channels rather than up and down the edges. In times like this, boats can troll much slower, and the effect is to put the baits over the bottom at a much slower speed People may look at you funny, but if you are catching fish who really cares if you are trolling backward or forward? There | a point to all of this. We Ire in between at this writing. Fishing reports are sketchy since the weather for a week wiped out ihost of the activity. Surf fishing has been good, though, and as soon ^as things quiet down it will get good again for a while in Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. THE TROLLING technique can work for any boat. Our last trolling trip for fluke was with a 38-ft. sportfisherman in the back waters at Point Pleasant. What the fluke fisherman has to develop is a willingness to try this technique. We write about it now because you will have all winter to think about it. When May comes and fluke start to invade our back waters, you may be psyched up enough to go out and try it. TTie key is not how big or how small your boat is. It is to put the boat over fluke-potential water and at a slow speed. Troll fluke belly, squid, minnows, spearing, sand worms or any cut strip bait. But troll it slow. Second reason for telling you now is because you can do some winter night homework if you get a copy of the inland waterway chart for the area where you fish and start to ferret out the places that MIGHT bold fluke.

IT IS AMAZING how much you can learn from a chart. Use it and it will up your fish production. A third reason for the early lecture is to allow yourself time to think about pioneering a new technique. You need mental preparation time to say to yourself that you are going to try a new technique and also to try it in places where you have not traditionally fished for fluke. We talked to Coleman last night about fluke fishing. One of the offshoots of the conversation was to make us more and tnore aware of the fact that it is oftentimes more comfor.table to stay with the techniques we have mastered than to try new ones. He's shown his technique to many, but fewuse it. At this writing, we have little in the way of fishing reports. Boats are set to sail again with calming seas and a return to that.Indian Summer the forecasters have promised All along the oceanfront, surf are finding bluefish. some weakfish and fluke. Kingfish still show- up in the back waters and in the surf. Fall has a long time to go and surf fishing should get better. PARTY BOAT anglers can look for a real mixed bag choice. Fluke should still be around. On Wednesday, we had a call from a skipper friend out of Belmar. He had 11 fares out on a windy day which ' , required 14 ounces to hold bottom on the drifts for fluke. His high hook for the day had over 50 fish. The 11 anglers boated over 300 keepers. If there are fluke off Belmawr, there are fluke in Delaware Bay still to come out into the ocean. IU WUUIC UU1 UllU UIC M.-Cdll. *v«-

Big blues to 20 lb. are well up the bay and so are loads of snapper blues. Weakfish are still being caught in Delaware Bay and the back sounds By the time you read this, weather, a few forays into the ocean and some phone calls should indicate just how- good the fishing is or will be for the fall. Don't pack it in yet. One little northeaster was not enough to close the season down.

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Golf To Aid Hospital NORTHFIELD - Two new automobiles will be offered as hole-in-one prizes at this year's Shore Memorial Hospital Golf Tournament Oct. 14 at the Atlantic City Country Club here. Play will begin at noon at the championship layout at ACCC. All proceeds will benefit the building fund of Shore Memorial Hospital • through sponsorship by the Mainland Chapter of the hospital's auxiliary-. For information about tee sponsorships and player registration call ACCC at 641-7575.

Casino Trip CAPE MAY - The Cape May Little League is sponsoring a bus trip to the Tropicana in Atlantic City, this evening. The bus leaves the Acme Parking Lot at 6 o'clock and arrives back at the parking lot at midnight. For tickets call 884-4895, 884-3488, 884-4386, or 884-1652.

Cape May County ' ALMANAC OCTOBER

MOON PHASES/POSITIONS Tht Moon' i affect on the Tide u greatest when closest to Earth I in perigee J and when in direct alignment with Sun I earth (full h new moon phases). On and about the*e dates, fpw pressure systems and/or strong winds I depending upon direction! may result in flooding, and extremely Muaa Phases First Quarter ' 1 Jl Fall Moor 9 Last Quart rr 17 Net. Moor. 24 Perigee 23 At"*** » TIDE TABLE Computed for Cape May City b eachfront. for other areas, see Correction Times. DATE HIGH LOW a.m. p.m. a.m. p.m. 10 Wed 8:45- 9:03 2:2b- 2:54 II Thu 9:17- 9:35 3:01- 3:31 13 Fri 9:49-10:10 3:31- 4:05 13 Sat 10.21-10:47 4:03- 4:40 14 Sun 10:58-11:28 4:30- 5:16 15 Mon 11:41- 4:58- 5:58 16 Tbe 12:18-12:34 5:39- 7:00 17 Wed 1:19- 1:35 6:41- 8: 1(. 18 Thu 2:34- 2:42 8:12- 9/8? 19 Fri 3:36- 3:56 9:32-10)* 20 Sat 4:44- 5:04 10:36-11:18 21 Sun 5:44- 6:04 11:36E Man 6:40- 6:58 12:06— 12:32 E Tue 7:28- 7:47 12:58- 1:17 24 Wed 8:14- 8:33 1:47- 2:18

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CORRECTION TIMES Compute approximate times of high A low prater for your area by adding or subtracting > the following number of minutes for eackiide phase in the Tide Table LOW HIGH Great Egg Harbor Inlet Minus 12 pluslO Ocean City (9th St Bndger plus 35 plus 22 Corson Inlet ibndgei plus 21 plus 7 Sea Isle City iLudlam Thorn Bridge ) plus 66 plus 43 Sea Isle City Beach minus 2 minus 21 Townsend Inlet plus 21 plus 4 y Seven Mile Beach plus 15 0 Stone Harbor (Great Channel Bridge i plus 43 plus 40 Hereford Inlet lAnglesea > plus 19 0 Wildwood Beach Minus 2 minus 17 West Wildwood i Grassy Channel bodge l plus 46 plus 43 Cape May Harbor plus 1 minus 4 Five Fathom Bank Plus J 1 f plus 1 Cape May Point plus 4€ plus 34 .McCrie Shoal plus a plus E Delaware Bay 4 Bayshore Channel ' i Bay-Canal Junction) plus 31 plus 36 Miami Beech \ plus 75 plus 71 11 \ Dennis Creek Entrance y plus a plus 84 ' Brandy-wine Shoal Light Pfas77 plus 52 V