sports

outdoors with Lou Rodia On Reviving Cape Fresh Water Fishing

A letter from reader Charles Carr from North Wildwood poses an interesting question. Carr enclosed a clipping from a Philadelphia paper which outlined the fine striped bass fishing in the Santee Cooper area of South Carolina. This area covers five counties between Charleston and Columbia and includes Lake Marion

and Lake Moultrie. The two lakes were formed in 1941 when a dam was built to create much-needed electric power to intensify the war effort. The speed at which the project was completed created a boon for fishermen in that lots of stripers were landlocked by the dam and they survived. The striper is but one of the game fishes

which abound in the waters of the two lakes and the sixmile canal which joins them. THE QUESTION posed by Carr was whether or not it was practical to stock some stripers in Cape May County fresh water ponds in an effort to provide better fishing for local anglers. As a practical fisherman who is far from a biologist, the only conclusion that I could draw is that the ponds around the county are not big enough and not deep enough to provide adequate habitat for the striper. Before Carr's idea is discarded completely perhaps the answer is to pass it on to the Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife for an official opinion. However, there are some stocking efforts being made at present which follow Carr's interest in providing better fishing. The most obvious is the trout stocking which occurs each spring in Dennisville Lake. WHILE IT IS a token effort, the trout stocking does offer anglers some different early fishing. It is a change of pace from the bass, pickerel, yellow perch, sunfish and catfish fishing available all year around in Cape May County. Trout fishing throughout New Jersey is put and take fishing and few, if any, native trout are present in any of the state streams. There may be a few holdovers from year to year from the trout stocking program, but New Jersey is not a prime native trout fishing state. As for bass, pickerel and perch, there are lots of opportunities. A SECOND effort in the county is state-sponsored and state-monitored. It has been working. This is the channel catfish stocking program which has improved the fishing in Dennisville Lake. Each year, anglers are catching good numbers of catfish from the lake. The results have been so good that the Cape May

County Fishing Tournament has recognized the channel catfish for prizes in the annual contest. The winner in the 1985 contest was Alfred Machulski of Newark, Del. He won with a ISV4 lb. channel cat he caught in Dennisville Lake. There is another success story for Dennisville Lake. For years, the lake was primarily a bass and pickerel lake. And to some degree, the lake still is It is a shallow lake, with the deepest water about eight feet while most of the rest is between two and three feet. THE OTHER success story is the emergence of calico bass in the lake. There were no calico bass in the lake at one time. There were lots of them in the Menantico Sand Wash area of Cumberland County near Millville. A handful of Cape May County anglers banded together to form a fresh water fishing club which later turned into a salt water fly rod fishing club, and still later, disbanded as interest waned in keeping club activity alive. But, while the club was active, its members did fish fresh wa'er areas all through South Jersey and the calico bass at Menantico proved to be an exciting attraction. However, it was at least an hour's drive to get to the fishing, and Dennisville lake was much closer. SOME OF the anglers decided to keep some calico bass alive and drop them into the lake at Dennisville in the hope of establishing a population there. To move the fish from lake to lake, the anglers improvised. They took water rom the lake at Menantico, added ice and a couple of fish and then headed to Dennisville as quickly as possible to be sure the fish survived. Some appoarently made it, because many years later, there are still some calicos in Dennisville Lake, indicating survival and even reproduction. But the opportunities for such activity are limited. There is some open fresh water. There are some ponds on private property, ^ape May County is blessed with large amounts of City Offers SCUBA Class CAPE MAY - The city will be offering a SCUP^ class 6:30-10:30 p.m., Tuesdays starting Jan. 21 This is a nationally certified course which consists of 32 hours of instruction plus two final dives. The class will give the swimmer a proper introduction to equipment use and the ocean environment. Upon successful completion students will recieve a certificate and a card verifying a passing effort. The class is open to ages 12 and up. Call the Depart ment of Civic Affairs at 884-8411, ext. 20 and 27, for further information.

salt water fishing opportunity. Most of the people we know who fish spend the bulk of, if not all of their time in salt water fishing. Few of our angler friends even bother to get a fresh water license. TWO PONDS were tested by seining to determine fishing potential. Dennisville Lake anfL. the \Vaterworks pon^ at Rio Grande were surveyed. The results were the same in both. It was determined that the bass and pickerel in Dennisville were stunted because there were too many in the lake for the size of the lake. The biggest percentage of the bass surveyed were about the same size — one to two pounds. Some were six to seven years old. Scale samples indicated age and it was determined that there was sufficient food in the lake to produce better growth than was be- . ing shown. Pickerel were also ] stunted. They averaged , around 12 to 15 inches and again their scales indicated 1 that these fish should have been much bigger for their j age. Underfishing, or 1 perhaps, under harvesting ; of the fish in the lake was ] the cause of the stunted 1 fish. ANY LAKE will accom- 1 modate about 400 pounds of > 1 fish per stirface acre of 1 water. That means that if 1 there are 400 fish to an acre I of water, when the total j poundage reaches 400 the < fish will stop growing. I If half of the fish are \ removed, the rest will dou- 1 ble in size. That's a bio- t logically proven fact. Ad- \ ding more fish to the lake I would only make the situa- \ tion worse. I To get better fishing, c more fish actually should ( be coming out of both c lakes, even today when 1 there is more fishing I pressure than in years . back. DON'T FORGET that the little sunfish, the small perch, the small bass and the small pickerel, as well as the baitfish all figure into the total poundage per surface acre. And, they are rarely caught on hook and line: Some of the sunfish in the lake and some of the other bait fish get only an inch long, but 'hey are still present. The shning of the lake indicated that. At one tim< , the Water- f works pound produced lots j of trophy b iss. Three to / five pounders were common. The numbers of fishermen dropped. More and more of the anglers who fished the lake kept returning their fish to the lake alive in the false belief that they were helping conserve fish. They were, to a point. But they were also contributing to the overpopulation of the lake.

Stunted fish were a natural result. THE SAME IS true Of Dennisville Lake. Years ago, five to seven pound bass were not uncommon in the lake. But we watched the stunting process grow, and in fact, helped contribute to it. We caught as many as 20 bass in a morning on the lake and released them all. If the fishing is going to improve in Dennisville Lake, one of the keys is to improve the water quality. The other is to take out some of the stunted fish and let the rest of the fish in the lake have room to grow. Perhaps Carr's letter might serve to stimulate some anglers who ' enjoy fishing into revitalizing and reactivating a fishing club which would serve the interests of the fresh water angler. Then efforts to improve the fishing in Cape May County ponds could be coordinated in cooperative efforts with the Division of Fish, and Game and Wildlife. # CORRECTION: In December, we wrote about some books which were available from Warner The three we mentioned were Roughing It Easy, by Dian Thomas ($3.95) plus 50 cents for and shipping; It Easy. No. 2 (3.50 plus 50 cents for and shipping) and by Richard Graves ($3.95 plus 50 cents for handling and shipping) gave the books a short review and then proceeded give the address of Books, Box 690, York N Y . 10019. Only when the paragraph appeared, the address was incomplete. We had some calls, and offered the address again for anyone who * might want to send for the

ALMANAC JANUARY. 1986 MOON PHASE8/P08ITI0N8 CORRECTION TIMES The Moon' 1 effect on the Tide la Compute approximate timet freateet whan cloeeet to Earth of high It low water for your (In perigee) and whan In direct area by adding or tub! r acting alignment with Sun It Earth the following number of (full ft naw moon phaeee). On mtnutee for each Ode phate in and about theee date*, low the Tide Table. praaaura eytteme and/or etrong wind* ( depending upon dlrec . tion) may reeult In flooding and/or extremely low tide* j Mom Phase* LOW HIGH ; Last Quarter j Great Egg Harbor Inlet *«• Mem !• ptu,12 phaio FtrMQaarter 17 Ocean City (9th St. Bridge) a phis plus 22 Apogee .. Cancr (bridge) Sea Isle City (Uxflara Thoro Bridge) TIDE TABLE . !*»•« plus 43 Computed for Cape May City Sea l*le City Beach beachfront, for other area*, tee minus 2 minus 21 Correction Times. Townaeod Inlet DATE HIGH LOW phall plus4 i I a. as. p.m. a.m. p.m Seven Mile Beach ' , 1 Wed 10:50—11:44 4:17-5:18 15 0 2 Thu 11:50— 5:25-8:00 Stooe Hartor 3 Fri 12:35—12:45 8:28-7:01 (Great Channel Bridge) 4 Sat 1:34- 1:45 7:42- 8:04 P*ua43 plus 40 | 5 Sun 2:38- 2:53 8:51- 9:04 Hereford Inlet (Angleaea) 6 Man 3:41- 4:06 8:54-10:00 plus 18 0 7 Tue 4:44- 5:08 10:53-10:57 Wildwood Beach 8 Wed 5:43- 8:09 11:51-11:54 Mlma2 ,7 9 Thu 8:34- 7:02 -12:47 Wm. Wildwood 10 Fri 7:25- 7:52 12:51- 1:40 WeeiWtldwood 11 Sat 8:14- 8:41 1:48- 2:28 'Grassy Channel bridge) 12 Sun 9:08- 9:29 2:38- 3:14 P1"** plus43 13 Moo 9:48-10:20 3:23- 3:58 Cape May Harbor 14 Tue 10:37-11:07 4:08- 4:41 plus 1 minus4 15 Wed 11:23—11:55 4:58 5:23 Five Fathom Bank 16 Thu -12:08 5:48- 8:08 , 17 Fri 12:40—12:53 6:42- 7:00 * ^ 18 Sat 1:27- 1:43 7:42- 7:51 . May Point 19 Sun 2:18- 2:38 8:41- 8:42 P""46 P1"*34 20 Moo 3:12- 3:38 9:3S- 9:33 McCrie Shoal 21 Tue 4:18- 4:39 10:27-10:23 plus 28 plus22 22 Wed 5:03- 5:32 11:18-11:10 Delaware Bay 23 Thu 5:51- 6:20 -12:06 Bayshore Channel 24 Fri 6:33- 7:02 11:58-12:53 25 Sat 7:13- 7:42 12:43- 1:35 * A 26 Sun 7:52- 8:22 1:38- 2:16 1)112,47 ' . „ t p,us36 27 Moo 8:31- 9:03 2:11- 2:53 Miami Beach 28 Tue 9:13- 9:45 2:52- 3:29 pJus75 plus 6! 29 Wed 9:55—10:31 3:34— 4:06 Dennis Creek Entrance 30 Thu 10:41-11:18 4:17- 4:45 plus 114 plus97 31 Fri 11:30— 5:10— S:31 Brandywine Shoal Light plus 77 plus 52

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