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Season's Over — Did Anyone Tell The Fish

Fish art- where you find them Sometimes, they are in obvious places. Other limes, they are where they should not be according to the "rules" of fish behavior and the calendar There are times when fish arrive well ahead of the " normal" schedule or long after they are supposed to Ik* on the hot spots No one is sure what triggers fish to do what they

do. Water temperature, food supply and a migratory urge all factor in. Pressed for a "best" answer, we'd choose water temperature as the main fish motivator LAST SPRING, the drum season came and went . Not too many anglers caught many drum Anglers turned elsewhere and drum were all but ignored. The Drum did not know they

were "late" and started to a bite, they surprised a lot of r anglers who nad put aside " heavier gear and were usr ing lighter gear normally i used for weakfish. A lot of drum broke off i when the light line fell prey t to assorted pressures all tached to fighting big fish, i But the drum season was | i over, according to the | » ca lander. Only a handful of t fishermen went after the < late arrivals in earnest. .Ju- \ ly is not the usual time to ■ catch drum. Because anglers fished the calander | and not the fish, most drum ; fanatics had a poor drum ; season. | IT IS FALL. Most j fishermen we know have | looked at the calander and | decided that the fishing | season is over. Some of our ; fishing friends keep telling | us about the fish tney are catching But only a i relative few are actually j partaking in the action. i The air is nippier, the days « are shorter and there are \ fewer boats around. i But there are lots of fish to be caught. At this t writing. Delaware Bay is s loaded with weakfish. They { are well up the bay and t there is a big spread of fish < Most anglers we talk to I believe that the utakfish | should have left Delaware t Bay already. But the 4 weakfish do not know that. t Several years ago. t weakfish remained in j Delaware Bay up to r Thanksgiving. A handful of ( anglers fished them on N small bunkers and did well. i TIIIS IS LATH October t ( it will be November by the time you read this). f Weakfish are still in the j bay. So are small bunkers. j Water temperatures are « up Big blues have not yet t showed in Delaware Bay. A t picture is emerging \ Perhaps we quit the bay too j soon. t At Fortescue and Matts \ Landing, the charter and \ party boats have buttoned t up for the season. Boat t ramps are Still open, but t one of our friends warns that if you go up there to ( fish, take along bait, spare ; gasoline and other sup- t plies, because almost j

everything has closed for lack of angler interest. Jersey Cape party boats and charter boats are also finding few anglers. Fishing is there for the asking. Wreck fishing has been as good this year as it has been for a long time. In addition to the sea bass and blackfish. some porgies have been reported. Porgies are a welcome sight for fishermen since they have been in short supply for so long. THERE IS PLENTY of rail space on the boats that are operating. Some anglers have found that this is as good a time to fish any. There are lots of fish and little angler competition. Sea bass, and porgies are among the better fish to freeze. The calander says that weakfish should be schooling up but there has been no sign that they have started to do so. November has been one of the best months for weakfish. For many years. Election Day kicked off the cod season. A shortage of cod changed that. This week, the first cod and pollock catches were reported. sailing out of Belmar been picking up lots of cod and pollock in the 20 to 40-pound class. Who can tell? This may be a signal that there will be a cod farther south. We might even see some in Cape May County. We won't know, however, unless someone fishes for them. IN THE YEARS we have the Jersey Cape we seen mackerel in the inland waterway in September qjid October; caught weakfish under the railroad bridge in West on the weekend after Thanksgiving, striped in mid-July in Deep Ditch behind Wildwood Crest and 10-lb. in early May in feet of water behind Avalon. Our best bluefish day ever was the Saturday after Thanksgiving some years back. We were packing to leave for a few days of deer hunting in Pennsylvania. Saturday turned out to be a gorgeous day. We went to the dock to do some last minute chores around the boat Two fishing buddies showed up and we soon were on our way for a boat ride to Five Fathom Lightship A LAST-MINI TE deci sion to bring some light spinning rods, casting plugs and bucktails proved to be a good one We found breaking fish on the surface at Five Fathom and followed the fish to Delaware Lightship. The eight to 12-lb fish gave us lots of what for on light gear We brought back a fish box of blues. They wound up at the hunting camp There were miles of breaking bluefish. and not a single boat in sight or on the radio. Again, the calander said the fishing was over Only no one told the fish. We have a little hole behind Avalon we fish, it is surrounded by two feet of water. We caught seven kinds of fish in that hole one day. That day we found sea bass, fluke, weakfish, snap- :

pier blues, porgies. blowfish and sea robins. While we were catching fish, the kids caught half a bushel of crate. WHY WERE ALL of those fish in that hole on that day? Only the fish could tell. But it was a great day and one we'll remember for a long time. The fishing was followed by a cookout and fish fry for about 25 people in the backyard. We have caught largemouth bass on live minnows through the ice; pickerel on New Year's Day, whiting in zero weather at Long Branch Pier in January and hunted ducks in the morning and fished stripers in the afternoon lots of days. Fishing is when and where you find it. Fishing right now is good. There are sea bass, blackfish and porgies on the wrecks. There are bluefish in the ocean. Surf fishermen are catching blues, weakfish and even a few stripers. Jetty and bulkhead fishermen are catching tautog in good numbers. WEAKFISH ARE in the surf and along the beach in 15 to 55 feet of water. There are weakfish in the back bays. Night fishermen who find places where the lights hit the water and attract bait are catching weakfish. North of here there are bonito and albacore along with bluefish. If you travel a few miles, you can enjoy some of the fishing. Winter flounders are being caught in the Shark and Manesquan rivers. Whatever is your choice, it is out there— be it fresh or salt water. Just plan to fish the opportunities as the present themselves— rather than the calander. SOME PARTY boats are still sailing. The Capt. Robbins at Sea Isle City: the Miss Chris, the Big Jim, the Porgy III and the Star II at Cape May , The Rainbow at Wildwood Yacht Basin are a few who have called us. Check their schedules by phone or visit them at the dock Some tackle shops are still open. While the boat liveries have shut down, there are ramps from which you can launch. What prompted all of the

above? A letter from a reader. Neil Stocker of Wildwood Crest told us of a fishing trip on his brother-in-law's 39-ft. Nova Scotian teak schooner Mahayana. They left Cape May harbor to fish for weakfish in the ocean. Three hours of fishing in beautiful sun and hardly any breeze produced two skates and a dogfish. NEIL SUGGESTED they return to the boat's berth at Devil's Reach in Cape May Harbor across from and near the Lobster House. After the boat was berthed, Neil saw minnows jumping and a larger fish break water to chase bait In 20 minutes Neil had a three-pound weakfish on a Weakie Hi-Lo rig and cut squid. Most anglers would wonder about fishing there in the first place, and some would wonder why a fish would be caught at the dock in the harbor Yet lots of weaks are caught at night under the bridges and around the inlet jetties. The fish do not know they should not be there. NEIL ALSO said his brother-in-law caught 40 big blueclaw crate under the last little Parkway bridge before Cape May. While there his in-law saw a bigger fish chasing bait on the incoming tide. That creek is accessed by using the little creek near the marina near the A and J restaurant. The back creeks are the kind of place few people think to fish any more. Vie caught stripers in some of those creeks between Wildwood Crest and Cape May and rarely saw a boat or a fisherman. We caught weakfish, fluke, sea bass and porgies, too. But I guess the ocean and the bay. with lots^^ig water, become of an attraction. Fish do not know the season is over. They remind one of the bumble bee. Areodynamically, the bumble bee cannot fly. His body shape and wing configuration make it impossible for the bee to take off and land. But no one told the bee. He flies anyway.

( ape May County " ^ ALMANAC | NOVEMBER I9K5

MOON PHAKKfi/POSITIOVS V The Moon » att-rl on Dm- lid.- •< g>«-utr»l whH^/ni-»t to Kurlh alignment wllh Sun A Knrth t/utl 4 ni-n1 moon pha»e» | On and about lhr»«- dales, low uindt I ifi'/wndim- upon direr lion I nav 'null in /loading Moon Phases las! Ollartrf i \r» Moon II Klrsl Uuaitn 19 t oll Moon 27 \poRee 25 Perigee 12 THIK TAHI.K Computed for C ape Mav Cilv beach/ronl for other area. ire Correction Timer DATE llli. II I OW am p m am pro I Kri is 9 t* i os :i 51 1 Sat III nr. III 42 :i :i4 4 29 I Sun IU 51 II 14 4 IW 5 15 V. 4 Mnn II 42 I 49 <6 12 X. Tue 12 M 12 '• 55 7 22 6 Wed 1 44 I 44 7 20 8 24 7 ThU 2 :Ui 2 52 8 27 H 18 8 Kri I 4.1 .1 57 9 :I8 HI 119 9 Sal 4 39 4 58 ID .16 10 57 J III Sun 5 12 5 SI II 28 II 46 II Mon 6 20 6 19 12 21 12 Tur 7 07 7 27 12 34 I 15 ' II Wed 7 51 8 17 I 24 2 07 , 14 Thu 8 42 9 I* 2 II 2 57 15 Kri 9 14 10 M 1 02 I 49 16 Sal 10 10 1 1 (M 3 51 4 41 , 17 Sun II 28 4 49 5 40 18 Mon 12 05 12 27 5 52 6 41 19 Tue I 05 1 25 7 02 7 45 1 20 Wed 2 07 2 25 8 12 8 42 21 Thu 1 07 3 24 9 09 9 10 I 22 Kri 4 02 4 20 10-02 10 15 21 Sat 4 52 5 09 10 50 10 56 24 Sun 5 15 5 51 II 35 II 17 25 Mon 6 14 6 10 12 17 26 Tue 6 49 7 10 12 17 I 00 1 27 Wed 7 24 7 46 12 57 1 .41 28 Thu 7 56 8 22 I 31 2 20 I 29 Kri 8 11 9 00 2 10 2 56 10 Sal 9 08 9 40 2 43 3 34 | I

CORRECTION TIMES ('ampule approximate timer of high A low water for your urea bv adding or subtracting the following number of minulei for each tide phase in the Tide Table I4)H HICK Ureal Kgg Harbor Inlel Plus 12 plusio Ocean Cilv 1 9th Si Bridge i plus 35 plus 22 Corson InJel t bridge i plus 21 plus 7 Sea Isle Cily iLudlam Thoro Bridge) . plus 66 plus 43 Sea Isle City Beach minus 2 minus 21 Townsend Inlel plus 21 plus 4 Seven Mile Reach plus IS 0 Stone Harbor iCreal Channel Bridge i plus 43 plus 40 Hereford Inlel iAnglesea* plus 19 0 Wildwood Beach Minus 2 minus 17 West Wildwood i Grassy Channel bridge i plus 46 plus 43 ("ape May Harbor plus I minus 4 Kive Kathom Bank J plus 1 1 plus I Cape May Point plus 46 plus 34 M cCrie Shoal plus 28 plus 22 ' Delaware Hav Rayshore Channel i Bay Canal Junction) plus 47 plus 36 Miami Beach plus 75 plus 61 Dennis Creek Entrance plus 1 14 plus 97 Rrandvwine Shoal l.ighl plus 77 plus 52 '

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