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outdoors with Lou Rodia

Sizing Up. the Big Fuss over Fluke

It is that time of year again. Fishing is a fewshort weeks away. Before too many more days pass, we'll be digging out the rods and reels we put away in the fall or whenever we quit for the season. Each year, writers go through the slack-time rod and reel repair and maintenance columns. We have also written a few of

those "get your gear in order columns" in our time. Hopefully, most of us, by now, have received the message. If your tackle is not put away in good shape, it can only get worse over the winter. IF YOUR TACKLE is in bad shape when you start to fish in the spring, it can only get worse until you do a lot of maintainance work

i on it. We've all heard this • before, so I plan to let this message rest and turn over the lecturing (preaching, ; perhaps) to our fellow writers. There are some things coming up this season i which will affect all of us. t One is what might happen i as far as fluke regulations > in 1986 and 1987 are con- ; cerned. It may effect fluke fishing for much longer than a couple of years. Fluke regulations aimed at preserving the females of the species until they have at least one year to spawn before they are caught have come under fire. As you should know, fluke minimum sizes jump to 13 inches in 1986 and to 14 inches in 1987. A YEAR OF living with a 12-inch minimum has resulted in screams of anguish from a segment of the commercial industry which thinks that the 13-inch minimum is too stringent. A recent meeting was attended by a rather large delegation of commercial fishermen, with only two sportsfishermen in the whole room. Oddly enough, one of them sided with the commercial fishermen who do not want the minimum size regulation. It proved once again that the sports fisherman gets the kind of legislation he works for. and if the change in the fluke law comes down on the side favored by the commercial men, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We didn't go to the meeting. TIIE REASONS for the fluke law are sound. A female fluke needs to reach 14 inches at least to spawn at least once. The regulation is needed to preserve the fluke population and to maintain it at a level which will assure continuing fishing for all of us over the long run. New Jersey decided to go with a 12-inch minimum last year and a 13-inch minimum in 1986. The 14-inch law goes into effect in 1987.

The idea vis to soften the blow for the fluke anglers — sports and commercial alike — who were used to keeping fluke of any size — no matter how small. SURE. THERE always was a 14-inch law for commercial fluke, but enforcement was nil. at best, and many an undersize fluke was brought in and sold in the market. Lest any of you pounce on the commercial fishermen for having harvested fluke under 14 inches, be aware that thousands of fluke as big as your hand were caught a couple of years ago by selfish rod and reel anglers who were keeping any and every fluke which took their bait. They were anxious to play the numbers game and catches of 100 and more per angler were being reported. That the fluke were as big as one's hand, lots of times, went unreported. IT GOT SO BAD that dockside trash cans were the resting place for hun dreds and hundreds of these little fluke when the anglers who caught them got tired of cleaning them. The waste was criminal, and it went on for a couple of seasons. At least, the commercial catch of small fluke wound up in the market where it got utilized. Whether the catches were legal or whether they were necessary is a moot point. Suffice it to say that the socalled sportsmen who contributed to the slaughter were equally as responsible for the need for a minimum size on the fluke THE COMMERCIAL fishermen make several points. One is that the fluke they catch are dead, usually. when the nets are pulled. They end up shoveling back dead fluke. A partial answer has been suggested. That is to force the use of bigger mesh in the nets so some of the smaller fish can escape. Whether or not this is workable is open to discussion. The commercial fisheitnen complain that the states south of New J e r sV^ < Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina", for example) allow harvesting of fluke as little as 11 inches. If they are not forced to comply with a 14-inch minimum, it is argued that this is unfair competition for the Jersey commercial anglers. WE CAN'T FAULT that line of reasoning, but from what we have heard, that Softball Loop Organizing CAPE MAY - The first organizational meeting of the Cape May Men's Softball Leagues will take place in Convention Hall , Wednesday. Feb. 19. There j will be a combined meeting I of American and National I League teams 6:30 P.M. I ' Each team is permitted \ only one representative at this meeting. For additional information call the Department of Civic Affairs. 884-8411, ext. 20 or 27.

may become a moot point as well. The 14-inch minimum may well be implemented all along the coast. If that happens, then the unfair competition argument goes out the window as well. The Jersey commercial men have a valid point. If the Jersey fishermen are to practice conservation only to save the fish for someone else, the law does not make sense. One thing is for sure. If there is a market for tfifese small fish, the states below us will have fishermen who can and will harvest them. And the irony is that many of these small fluke will be sold in New Jersey. IF THE SPORTSMEN want to do something worthwhile, they might press for legislation to keep undersize (below 14-inch) fluke off the market and press for regulations which would stop the netting of these small fish in the south. That's one place the dedicated and the casual fluke anglers can be effec-, tive. The second place they can work at conservation is to be sure to throw back all the small fluke they catch. These fish can and should be returned alive to the water so they can live for another day. Moreover, the true fluke angler can screen out his catch somewhat by going to bigger hooks on the premise that the bigger hooks will keep a lot of the small fish from being hooked in the first place. WE HAVE FOUND that lots of deep-hooked fluke are those we catch when using wide gap hooks. That is something worth looking at. If you find it to be the case in your fishing, turning to straight hooks might help. And, if you use a bigger wide gap hook, it might help keep the little ones from being caught as well. Underneath ail of the controversy is the value of these fish. The 1980 Marine Fisheries Commission report of 1980 lists 500 commercial boats and 1,500 commercial fishermen who shared over $2.5 million in the value of the commerr cial catch of fluke offloaded in New Jersey. THAT SOUNDS like a lot of money and it is. It is important income to the commercial fishermen who caught the fluke. But, pound for pound, the value of a fluke caught by a commercial net is minimal when it is compared to the fluke caught by the rod and reel anger. Despite the fact that a fluke is worth infinitely more to the overall economy when harvested with rod and reel, that does not mean that the sports

anglers should have all the fluke (or any other fish, for that matter). What is needed is regulation that makes sense, and we think the 14-inch minimum has been too long in coming and it is a shame that it was not implemented and enforced a lot sooner. But we think that the regulation should apply all along the coast to make it fair for everyone. AND AS SOON as the law is uniform all along the coast, the enforcement should be absolute for both the sports and the commercial violator. As the law now reads, it provides a fine for possession of undersize fluke AND confiscation of gear, That means, as tftTTnfieir pret it, your boat, yau/rdd and reel and whatever eUe you used to catch the undersized fluke. It works that way. too for the commercial fisherman who violates the fluke law. He can lose his boat, his nets and other gear as well, j THE 14-INCH FLUKE law is a sound one. based on sound biologicajl knowledge. Unfortunately, it is worthless if the fish under 14 inches are scooped up by others whilh we cannot and do not catch them. Once the law is uniform all along the range of th^ fluke, the long-range result is to provide many mort fluke for all of us — sports and commercial fishermen alike — to catch. Unfortunately, there is a catch. While we all are! waiting for the fluke to grow big enough, we will have to throw back a big percentage of our catch. That has been estimated to be as much as 58 per cent of the total by some. Of course, if these fish live and grow another year, they will be heavier and worth a lot more. It means we all have to change our attitude and think of tomorrow as well as today. That may be a tough decision for some of us to make. Campers Grab First CAPE.MAY - Whippoori will Campground took over sole possession of first place in Men's Power Volleyball as it swept Will Morey Development Company 15-7, 15-12, 15-13 and 15-10. In other action The Potter took all four games from Library III by 15-9, 15-13, 15-1 and 15-13. Standing* Whippoorwtll Campground 35-L3 Will Morey Development Co 33- 1,5 The Potter 26-22 Library III 2-16

A : Cape May County ALMANAC FEBRUARY. 1986

MOON PHASES/POSITIONS The Moon'! effect on the Tide is greatest when closest to Earth tin perigee I and when in direct alignment with Sun tt Earth (full A new moon phases) On and about these dates, low pressure systems and/or strong, wind s (depending upon direction) may result in flooding and/or extremely low tides Moon Phase* Last Quarter . . I New Moon K First) Quarter . IB Full Moon 21 . Ap»Ree IB Perigee I • TIDE TABLE • Computed for Cape May City | beachfront, far other areas, see ! Correction Times I DATE HHiH I.OW a.m. p.m. a.m. pm 29 Wed 9 55- 10 31 3:34- 4:U6 30 Thu 10 41 - 11 : IB 4:17- 4 45 31 Fri 11 30- 5:10- 5:31. 1 Sal 12: 11— 12:24 6:11- 6:27 2 Sun 1:08- 1:24 7:21- 7:34 3 Mon 2:10- 2 34 8:33- 8 42 4 Tue 3 20- 3 51 9 38- 9:47 5 Wed 4:28- 5 00 10:42-10:47 6 Thu 5:29- 6 00 11:377 Fri 6 23- 6:51 11:46-12:33 8 Sal 7:13- 7 39 12:43- 1 23 9 Sun 7:58- 8:22 1:34- 2:07 10 Mon 8 41 9 05 2 21 2:49 11 Tue 9:23- 9:48 3:05- 3 28 12 Wed 10:04-10:28 3:44- 4 04 13 Thu 10 46 11 10 4 25- 4 41 14 Fri II 27 II 51 5.07- 5:18 15 Sal -12:08 5:52- 6 00 16 Sun 12:35-12 56 6:50- 6:52 • 17 Mon 1 22 1 48 7:53 - 7:51 18 Tue 2: 17— 2:53 8:54 8:50 19 Wed 3.22- 4:02 9:51- 9 49 20 Thu 4:24- 5:03 10:45-10:42 21 Frt 5 20- 5 53 11:32 11 32 22 Sal 6:06- 6 37 -12 20 23 Sun 6:51- 7:18 12:23 1 04 24 Mon 7-29- 7:58 1:09- 1:46 25 Tue 8:11- 8:39 1:52- 2:23 26 Wed 8 52 9:20 2:37- 3 02 27 Thu 9:37-10:06 3.19- 3 40 28 Fri 10:24- 10:57 4:04- 4:21 — — —

CORRECTION TIMES Compute approximate times of high A low water for your area by adding or subtracting the following number of minutes for each tide phase in the Tide Table LOW HIGH 1 Great Egg Harbor Inlet ! Plus 12 pluslO | Ocean City 1 9th Si Bridge' plus 35 plus 22 Corson Inlet (bridge) i' plus 21 plus? Sea Isle City i Ludlam Thoro Bridge) plus 66 plus 43 Sea Isle City Beach minus 2 minus 21 Townsend Inlet plus 21 plus 4 Seven Mile Beach 5 plus 15 0 ' Stone Harbor [' (Great Channel Bridge) ' plus 43 plus 40 2 Hereford Inlel < Anglesea i - plUS 19 0 Wildwood Beach Minus 2 minus 17 West Wildwood J ( Grassy Channel bridge ) ' plus 46 plus 43 , Cape May Harbor t plus I minus 4 1 Five Fathom Bank s plus II plus I 3 Cape May Point J plus 46 plus 34 J McCne Shoal 9 plus 28 plus 22 2 Delaware Bay 2 Bayshore Channel ® t Bay -Canal Junction) * plus 47 plus 36 Miami Beach 2 plus 75 plus 61 0 Dennis Creek Entrance 1 plus 1 14 plus 97 Brandywine Shoal Light plus 77 plus 52

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