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outdoors with Lou Rodia * Where Were All Those Drum Heading? F

For every fishing happening there is usually an explanation. Time. tide, water temperature, lack of or an abundance of feed or any and every happening in Nature has been blamed for or credited for good or bad fishing Most recently, black drum failed to show in good ' numbers when we thought they ought to be in Delaware Bay We. like the black drum anglers at Cape Charles, were fooled The drum arrived all right — only about a month late in both places. Unfortunately, by the time the drum arrived, most drum fishing enthusiasts had given up and started to fish elsewhere for other kinds of fish.

THEN THE report: filtered in. Drum were ir the Horseshoe area ir Delaware Bay By early ir the past week they have moved to Brandywinc Slough By the time you read this, the drum might well be on their way out of the bay, or they might even be gone for the season There might be some still out there to be caught. Only time. Nature and the drum can tell. About 10 days or two week* ago. according to reports we received, a commercial boat found a big school of drum in the ocean and netted a good number. A second effort at netting drum the next day resulted in a glut in the fragile drum market and

t s the fish were being peddled around the party boat docks and even given away. ve But the big question was whether or not the drum du were coming out of the bay ht when the commercial boat found them, or whether in they were just heading into n the bay to spawn, ill IF THEY WERE just ly heading into the bay. then m there is a chance they might hang around for a o few more days. Meanwhile, 0 there are a few boats ( mostly private > sailing into the bay for drum. If you e are a drum fanatic, it d might just be worth one t more trip... y A second happening has e created speculation regar1 ding weakfish. Weakfish are well up into the bay — I as far as the nuclear power I plant at Salem. Few weaks I are in the lower bay where I most of the boats sailing I from Delaware as well as 1 South Jersey ports on the J bay and in Wildwood and Cape May are catching fluke, blues and a few weaks. WHY HAVE the weaks I deserted the lower bay? , First guess is the water l temperature. Then comes ' the salinity line, which is well up the bay because of the extended period of drought and little snow runoff this spring. The third theory is that a gigantic school of porpoises moved into the bay and literally chased the weakfish up well above Fortescue. When the weakfish sprI ing run petered out. boats ' normally found these fish in deep water in the mouth of the bay. or around Somers Shoal and McCrie's Shoal for a time. This did not happen either. Some blamed porpoises. Others blamed commercial fishing efforts. Still others attributed the erratic weakfish behavior to the big numbers of big bluefish which invaded the bay early. MEANWHILE, schools of small weakfish have shown up all along the coast from Ocean City south to Cape May And the big weakfish showed for a few days at the Stone Beds off Ocean City. Incidentally. they were discovered by anglers wlio saw big schools of porpoises move \ in on a school of fish — i which turned out to be big i weakfish. , Take your pick — believe I any or all or none of the above The point is that I Nature does a lot of strange | things. Some are predic- 1 table Others are not. Right < now. there are lots of fluke \ to be caught t. Bluefish remain the top t of the hit parade. Sharks are attracting a lot of atten- i tion. Bonito have started to c show Tuna and marlin are s off Virginia and heading up f the coast. Weakfish are t along the beaches. Sea t bass. ling, biackfish and 1 even an occasional cod and r pollock are showing on the c wrecks. It is smorgasbord f fishing time on the Jersey 1 Cape. s t; DRUM CATCH: A 1021b a black drum was among b eight boated by a group b from Wildwood. Bob Hoff was the angler who boated tl the 102-pounder at Brandy- r wine Slough. c Leukemia Benefit: A y

d $100,000 purse will be oft fered in the Fish for Life III n tournament Aug. 20-25 when more than 100 boats s will sail from two ports for i marlin. tuna, wahoo and y dolphin. t The boats will be berthed r at Harrah's Marina in > Atlantic City and South Jersey Fishing Center at 1 Cape May. Separate weighi in stations will be established at each site and run by i the New Jersey Division of Weights and Measures. The tournament is sponsored by Harrah's Marina and Miller Beer and is expected to raise a large amount of money for the South Jersey Chapter of the Leukemia Society of Ameria. For information on the Fish For Life III tournament call 884-2400. CAPE MAY COUNTY EVENT: The Cape May County White Marlin Tournament is now in its 28th year. Entries are being received for the boat and team competition. The twoday fishing contest is set for Friday and Saturday. July 19 and 20. An alternate fishing date is set for Sunday, July 21. The tournament gets under way with a buffet dinner at the Yacht Club of Stone Harbor Thursday, June 18, and closes with an awards dinner at the Golden Eagle Hotel in Cape May Sunday. June 21. For information on the tournament, call 886-0901 Boat entries are limited to vessels 24 feet or over. REPORTS: Chris Musick. David and Donald Giamppetroni and Jean Milli of Silver Spring. Md., boated a 6-foot tiger shark and a 7-ft. 2-inch hammerhead on a shark trip. They fought another shark for 35 minutes before it was lost. The John Woods party from Drexel Hill. Pa., caught a 196-lb. mako and a 60-lb. dusky on another trip on the Huntress out of South Jersey Marina in Cape May. SEA ISLE CITY party boats are producing sea bass, biackfish and ling. The Copt Robbins reported 25 sea bass and ling and a 13-lb. cod for Tony Savage of Chester. Pa. Lisa Alston of Chester, Pa., caught 30 sea bass and ling and a seven-lb. pollock Night bluefishing remains good with Joe Ianand Dan Fennimore of Swainton teaming for 58 from eight to 12 lbs. Capt. Charles Shaffer of the Starfish also reported good catches for his four hour fares. Night blue catches have remained good with fares bringing home to 500 fish per night in the six to 10-lb. class. j AT WILDWOOD Crest. Flush fares are pro- j ducing fluke, bluefish and j some weaks on day four j trips Night trips have | producing 350 to 450 5 per trip on fish five to j lbs. The Starlight is also I reporting excellent j daytime action on fluke I one to three pounds. z Twilight has started 5 six-hour trips Monday £ through Friday and will be f after fluke. Starlight night S trips produce 300 to 800 \ from eight to 12 lb. 5 Capt. Dave Cicchrtti of \ the Wildwood III also ' reports an upswing in fluke 1 catches. Joe Johnson of J had 21 fluke to

f- three pounds. Tom II Schwartz had a 4-lb. 10-oz. 15 fluke. Six of Monday's 5 fares boated 20 or more ir fluke in improving fluke d action. CAPE MAY: Capt. Paul d Thompson of the Porgy 111 n has switched to fluke h fishing for the balance of t the season. i- Capt. John Poppert of the i- Fiesta reported excellent y night bluefish chumming f action with John Kozak of Bethlehem. Pa., taking a pool with a 15-lb. fluke. i Saturday night the Tony De Palma family from J Lansdowne, Pa., caught - 1 12 blues between eight and i 12 lb. ' Happy Days fares are i finding mixed bags of fluke, small weaks and small blues. Shark trips have produced brown and mako sharks. On Saturday's night blue trip, Jerry Simicic of Philadelphia took the pool with an 18-lb. bluefish. The Happy Days sails on Friday nights only for blues, leaving at 7 p.m. Weekday half day trips leave at 8 a.m. and l p.m. FLUKE AND small blues are plentiful in Delaware Bay for fares on the Miss Cape May out of South Jersey Marina, according to Skipper Ralph Shaw. Bill Jones of Philadelphia took one pool with a four-lb. fluke. On the Big Jim sea bass and tautog were plentiful over the weekend. Harry Briskin of Yardley. Pa., won a pool with his 4Mb. sea bass. Walter Johnson of Philadelphia won a pool with a 5-lb. 2-oz. sea bass. Catches range from 15 to 50 fish per angler. The Big Jim sails daily for sea bass and fluke. Call 465-3121 for information. BACK BAY Fluke: Anglers are still doing well on fluke. Cass and Bill Plotts from National Park, N.J., caught 38 fluke at Vitiello's Dock, at Sea Isle City. Kenny Kee of Stone Harbor boated 27 fluke on herring strips. David Kendall of Pine Hill had 20 fluke on squid and minnows. Best fishing was in Ludlam's Bay. At Strathmere Candy Jankowski of Frank's Boats reported lots of fluke with Frank Mellor and party boating 41. They are from Wenonah, N.J. Paul Menz and party from Millville caught 33. Crabbing has also picked up at Strathmere with Walt Baranowski and his dad catching a bushel of blueclaws at channel marker 106 Candy. Frank and the kids went out and

n caught 31 crabs in about an i. hour at marker 106. S WILDWOOD: Capt e Charles Selby of the Rain e bow reports lots of blues ranging from eight to 14 lb. il on bucktails for his all day I fares. Night chumming has e also been producing lots of f blues. Pool winners are boating fish to over 16 lb. i Capt. Jay Beecroft of the t Sea Raider said fluke » fishing has been good all f week. Bobby Murray of i Court House was one pool winner with a 3Mb. fluke. Mark Sidow of Ocean City i had a two-lb. fluke. Night Skipper Bill Hellmig said I blues to 18 lb. are being caught in exciting night chumming action. Flounder Tourney On For July 13 STRATHMERE - The First Annual Upper Township Chamber of Commerce Flounder Tournament will be held Saturday. July 13, rain or shine, with the cooperation of the Deauville Inn here. Prizes are offered for those catching the top 10 fish, and door prizes will be drawn from registration forms. Those entering the competitive day of flounder fishing may register at Jeffers Florist. Rt. 9. Palermo, or the Deauville Inn, Willard Rd. Entry cut-off is 8 a.m. the day of the tournament. with registrations that morning available only at the Deauville Inn. Contestants may come to the weigh-in at the Deauville Inn anytime before 3 p.m. on Tournament Day. Stone Harbor Soccer League STONE HARBOR - The borough soccer league will hold its registration 7 p.m. Friday. July 5, at the 82nd Street Recreation Building, clinics and tryouts will be held Tuesday and Thursday at 9 a.m. at the 82nd Street field. Games will be played Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 4:30 and 5:3Q. For further information contact the recreation department at 368-1210.

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m Cape May County ALMANAC ^ JULY 1985 MOON PHASES/POSITIONS CORRECTION TIMES The Moon s o/frcl on the Tide Compute approximate timet it greatest when clotetl to Forth of high * low water for your tin perigee I and when in direct area by adding or lubtracting , alignment with Sun * earth ( full the following number of i new moon phatetl On and minutes for each tide phase in about thete dates, low pressure the Tide Table systems and/or strong winds IX)W HIGH ( depending upon direction I may t-BB ,.,rhol. .nM result in flooding, and extremely p, „ . low tides „ _. Ocean City 19th St Bridge) -« , „ Kail Moon 23. plu,3S P|us22 last Quarter * Corson Inlet i bridge) New Moon ,j plus 21 phis? First Quarter 2, Sea Isle Cily iLudlam Thoro Bridge) n plus 66 plus 43 J/2S Sea Isle City Beach minus 2 minus 21 tide TABU T^a^nd Intel Computed for Cape May City -i,_ , btcUM.jbr «hZV.„. Correction Times Seven Mile Beach MATE HIGH I.OH p,us ,S „ 0 a m. p m. a.m. p.m. Stone Harbor 3 Wed 9 15 9 31 3:06— 3 05 'Great Channel Bridge) 4 Thu 10:03- 10.20 3:51 3 56, plusA3 p!us40 5 Fn 10 53- H OB 4^5 4 42 Hereford Inlet ' Anglesea . 6 Sat II 45-11 54 5:19- 5 29 plus 19 0 7 Sun 12 31 6:01 6:18 Wildwood 'teach H Mon 12 42 1 19 6 47 7:11 Mim„, uawooa **"1 9 Tue 1 28 2 03 7 32 8 10 M""»2 alma 17 10 Wed 2- 14- 2 50 8 23 9 07 West Wildwood 11 Thu 3 05- 3 40 9 13- 10 04 ' Grassy Channel bridge 1 12 Fri 4:01- 4 33 10:01 10 54 Pll»« plus43 13 Sal 5 00- 5 2R 10 49 11 43 Cape May Harbor 14 Sun 5:55- 6 16 II 35- plus I minus4 15 Mon 6 46- 7 01 12 32 12 21 F,vc Fathom Bank ' S wS 2;2: ;;s i£: IS +*» t. M p 18 Thu 9:00- 9 06 2 51 2 44 May Point , 19 Kr. 9 42- 9:50 3:34- 3 30 P'US46 plus 34 . 20 Sal 10 28 10 35 4 13 4 13 McCne Shoal 21 Sun II 16 II 25 4 55 5:01 plus 28 plus22 22 Mon 12 07 S:35 5 51 Delaware Bay I s a il- :;s Ht r: 25 Thu 2 05- 2:51 8 15- 9 06 . , Bay t*nal Jetton) 26 Fn 3 07 3 53 9 17 10 10 P'us47 plus36 Miami Beach plus 75 plus 61 Dennis Creek Entrance plus 114 plus 97 ' Brandywine Shoal Light Plus 77 plus 52 t V / >

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