sports

outdoors

Overlooked Cape Fishing — and Slobs

Mackerel season is upon us. It is the season's opener for a lot of fishermen. On the Jersey Cape, the appearance of mackerel at one time heralded the arrival of a whole fleet of colorful sailing vessels which followed the mackeral up and down the coast. These boats centered on Cape May harbor. Their attractive sails and the trim

lines of their hulls are recorded only in the memories of a few old timers and perhaps, in photographs or in artists' renderings of the day. THE YEARS have changed a lot of things. Cape May County has has a lot of connections to the party and commercial fishing industries Whalers were among the early set-

tlers. Commercial fishing helped feed the early settlers. Commercial and party boat fishing still play an important role n the economic wellbeing of the Jersey Cape. Each year, there is a return to the sea to pursue the manyvarieties of fish which are in Jersey Cape waters to be caught For most anglers, the traditional fishing is their main bill of fare. They fish for mackerel in the spring, bluefish. fluke and weakfish the rest of the season and quit in the fall. THERE IS A LOT more to Jersey Cape fishing than meets the eye. Broad- ! based fishermen who like variety in their salt and fresh water action can find lots to do on the JerseyCape. The county is 47 per cent meadow-land, back bays and marshes. With Delaware Bay on one side of the county and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, there is plenty of opportunity to fish on the JerseyCape. As mackerel season develops, anglers fishing traditionally catch scads of mackerel with several mackerel lures attached to the line. Catching two to six mackerel at a time produces a lot of fish in a short time and it is somewhat less than sport fishing. AFTER A FEW trips, many mackerel anglers tend to quit when they have glutted their own personal needs for fish. Some smoke their catch and others salt them. Still others store some for bait for use later in the season. And. a few are learning that mackerel fishing can be a lot more fun if it is approached in a different manner. Groups have put together light tackle charters and picked up a six-man boat or even one of the bigger boats for a day of mackerel fishing. They have used everything from fly rods to ultralight spinning rods to catch mackerel one at a time Private boat operators have been fishing light gear on mackerel for

years, and it works well for them. LIGHT TACKLE outfits are rigged with a single mackerel rig tied to the end of line. Small Diamond jigs, mackerel worms. Hopkins lures or any of the shiny lures work well. So do small bucktails. If you have turned your nose up at mackerel fishing, it might be time to reevaluate your attitude and give light tackle mackerel a try. It is one of the little-utilized fishing opportunities in Cape MayCounty. Ad it is an earlystart to the season. A word of advice. Don't try to fish light gear on a crowded party boat Take a light rod along, if you so desire, but make sure you keep it stowed away until the opportunity arises to use iL IF THE BOAT is not too crowded, you might find a spot where you have some room and give it a try. Check with the mate or the skipper first. Another under-fished Cape May County opportunity is the spring run of bluefish in the back bays. Around the time summer fluke get started in the back bays, there usually is a run of bluefish in the inland waterways. Some are caught in two to three feet of water on the flats behind Avalon and Stone Harbor. These are not school bluefish and not many are caught. But what fish you catch will be big. SINCE THEY are in shallow water, these blues do not take kindly to motor noise and a lot of boat activity. The best way to fish them is to pick your way slowly into the shallow waters of the sounds and let the wind drift you across the water. Blind cast in May and early June, using swimming Rebels and small bucktails. Popping plugs will often work. Small floating Atom plugs will also work. Back bay blues will also respond to fly rod-fished popping bugs or salt water streamer, T!l«s. If you fish blues on a fly rod. however, you should plan on much heavier mono tippets in front of the lure. Wire will not work well in fly rod fishing. WHEN YOU HOOK a back bay blue in two or three feet of water, you will have a real fishing thrill. Blues in the shallows will jump clean out of the water and tail walk in dramatic action. Tarpon do not put on as thrilling a display. A back bay blue will make a believer of you. This is another kind of Cape May County fishing which has been sampled and enjoyed by -only a few. In recent years, weakfish mania has taken over in the May-June period. Lots of anglers who used to fish the back bays with small boats for fluke no longer do so because they have upgraded their boats to bigger ones which are more able to handle the big waters of Delaware Bay. AS A RESULT, the fine spring fluke fishing in the back bays goes begging these days. If you are one of those who has given up on or never sampled back bay fluke fishing it May

and June, it is worth the effort. If your boat is too big. you can always rent a boat for a day from one of the many liveries which are found in the inland waterways at back bay location5 Inland waterway fluke can grow big. We have seen lots of five to 10-pounders taken over the years along the channel edges and in the back bays from Cape May to Ocean City. One way to enjoy this fishing is to use it as a fill-in on days when the weather keeps you from fishing the bay or the ocean. IF YOU TRAILER your own boat, you can launch not far from where the fluke action is. Back bay fluke fishing is another underutilized Cape May County fishing opportunity. When the water in the spring hits 55 degrees, weakfish can be caught on the jetties from Higbee's Beach around to Cold Spr- , ing Inlet. When there is good fishing for weakfish. the jetties that are easy to get to get crowded. But the ones like Cold Spring Inlet Jetty which are hard to get to find few fishermen. Some days, no one fishes there because of the mile-long walk. To get to the north jetty, you have to walk the beach for over a mile from the lower end of Wildwood Crest or you have to walk from the foot of the toll bridge at Two Mile Dock. IT IS A LONG hike to the jetty and a long walk out to the end. But the fishing is excellent there lots of days for weaks and blues. And few fishermen sample it. The jetties also hold lots of blackfish and again, only a few fishermen make the effort for these fine eating fish. Part of the problem comes with having to walk. The other part of the problem is that you have to carry the gear and the fish you catch back to your vehicle. But the trip is worth it for a good day of fishing, if you have stamina and the inclination. There is lots of off-the-wall fishing on the Jersey Cape. If it works somewhere else, try it here. There is lots of room and a -imes, there are lots of fish to try these unusual tactics. SPORTS SLOBS: For years, we have heard the horror stories which give the sport a bad name. And, we have to agree that there are some slobs out there. While we find no comfort in it. we have been hearing that there .are slobs in other segments of the outdoor fraternity. Would you believe that birdwatchers are being tagged with the slob label? We have seen a few examples of bad behaviour on

the part of birders, but we would not condemn the entire birding fraternity as a result. Some of the carryings-on of the birders were responsible for Middle Township and the Reeds Beach area residents' turning down a proposal to build a birding observation tower at Reeds Beach. THERE ARE all kinds of slobs. Mothers with young babies should not be tagged with a slob label. And we can't condemn all of the mothers because a fewchoose to change their babies on the s^at of their car and then dump the disposable diaper on the pavement of the parking lot. We happen to live about as far from a couple of fast food places as it takes to eat the takeout meals they sell. We get the beginnings of a trail of trash which results when the litter is tossed out the windows of the passing automobiles. NOT ALL who eat at fast food restaurants are slobs. Only the ones who litter are in that category. A new season approaches for the fishing fraternity. Now is as good a time as any to take a leadership rple in keeping the waters clean. If you brought it out. you can bring it back. Don't throw trash overboard. If you fish on a jetty, take home your bait wrappers and any other trash you brought out to the fishing location with you. Let's get the slobs out of the recreational field. And. for sure don't blame all of the members of a group because a few in it are slobs.

( ape May County 1 'N . ALMANAC M'ltlL. IttXK

MtMIN PMASES/POSITJONS Thr M-«in « effect on tfcf Tide iv greatest when rlotni to KoMh I in pengeei and when in direct alignment uirh Sun & Earth tfull 1 new moon phase si On and uboul these dates low pressure (vllfffli and /or strong uindi t depending upon direc II on I ma\ result in finding and 'or, extreme! v low tides I .1*1 lfu.ii 1 1*1 I \.» Mi-mi -i I il M i|ii.ii In i; l ull Mm* ;| i: IVrianr TIDE TABLE Computed for Cape Mas City bead/font. for other areas set Correction Timet IMTl: nil. II I.UM .- v\iii i i; _• in n nr.* k ji rhu M. : III ins s HI 4 Kri i m. I is in ii? in jx I Sit I '.X '• II III iK II ri I. Sun . -I I. IS II 45 : Mun i. u ♦. u id i J r. K Tin- 7 II 7 II li ST 1 UT •< Wi-I T MI x il. 1 IH I IS In Thu K .11 H 19 1 16 J .11 II Kri •• li J .4 J 51 1.' Sil '• IT •• IT I in I ii 5 11 Nun I'. IS in i4 4 IM I S: 14 Mun I" ST II iri 4 41 4 AS 15 Tui- II 44 II 'ill i il i »1 n» Win! ii m r, ii i. iii it Thu ii is in*; eii ; .•? IH Kri I IS II K !i H II In Nil i 51 I IX 1 AS 4 II in Sun 4 iii i 44 I" is in ii il Mun 4 SH .11 II III II „T ii Tin- s in i. .Hill* — ii Wni i. ih : iri ii m ii is il Thu T .'4 7 47 I in I ill AS Kri HI" H 14 I 5» i II? ii. sj| * ,u n .'4 i in i S4 iT Sun III Si || |u 1 Hi 4 4.1 ix Mun II .1 . ;i * s ii. lui- Ii IK Ii S.» i. 41 i. in ... tt.nl 1 Hi I .Sx ; a : s: I

CORRECTION TIMES Compute approximate times of high £ low water for your area by adding or subtracting the following number of , ninufn for each tide phase in the Tide Table t.OW HKiH ' Great Eg* Harbor Inlet , 1 Plus 12 plus 10 Ocean City ■ 9th Si Bridge 1 plus 35 plus 22 Corson Inlet bridge . . plus 21 plus? Sea Isle City Ludlam Thoro Bndge • plus 66 plus 43 Sea Isle City Beach minus 2 minus 21 Townsend Inlet plus 21 plus 4 Seven Mile Beach plus IS 0 5 Stone Harbor I i Great Channel Bndge < " plus 43 plus 40 * Hereford Inlet i A nglesea i " plus 19 0 Wildwood Beach ; Minus 2 minus 17 West Wildwood II i Grassy Channel bndge i : plus 46 plus 43 Cape May Harbor | plus 1 minus 4 4 Five Fathom Bank i plasll plus I Cape May Point 1 phis 46 plus 34 7 McCne Shoal ! plus 28 plus 22 Delaware Bay Bayshore Channel ii t Bay -Canal Junction' 7 plus 47 plus 36 Miami Beach ' plus 75 \ plus 61 1 ,J Dennis Creek Entrance , plus 114 plus 97 Brand ywinr Shoal Light plus 77 / plus 52 1

MONAGHAN'S _ AUTO TIRE CJENTEf^___ | EXPIRES APRIL 16TH | EXPIRES APRIL 16TH j PH010MC tltlt Lift BOOST UK | Lube, Oil Change ■ Front-End Alignment & Filter Bp*-'-* • Impecl Kl tout inn ■ Includes em 9 point main MS ■ l y- - V Coirecl an pretlu't • ■ Itnance chetfc ■pk w.-»« Sol itonl -feel cernbet Z • Trmmiuiou flwd • »W " I eft— wTvJfl <«'•* w «*• I £ Jk ■■ iteming fluid • O'fte'tnUil I ■ A ^ po« ettiomwt • in ■ V ^ fluid • Into liuid • Air ■ ■ r\ ] Nil IP* tin pension nnd ■ V ■ Mle. • Better, c*4« & -Mm ■ I H ffk -1 J / I deeting irdems • US ■ I U lent • Belli - Hero • Tire ■ I can aod imports -lt» ■ ^ pietsme I condition ■ ■ ooomenai (m rtgnrlng ■ pi,.,. um ,p-o,r,m,ni ■ I BS Macmerwn Slrri cm | n.™ ceil ... | ™ it nneded rectl0B _ Includes up to hue quads ma ™ |m trans motor oil j £fj VISA MosloiCjrt M All ATI! A II AUTO TIRE CENTER IHlllllillllllHl 315 Delsea Dr ' Ri0 Grande 886"1116 f Open Mon Thru Frt 7 30 to 5; Sat 8 lo noon

Open House MARMORA - An open house, with demonstrations of a new self defense course and refreshments will be held noon-5 p.m. Saturday. April 12. by the Olympic Center Karate School here. The school is on Route 9 above the Contemporary Carpet building. For further information, call 624-0493. 1st Horse Show On Saturday GOSHEN — Show season will officially begin Saturday with the first English Cireuit of South Jersey Horse Show at Rx Ranch here. (This was the site of the Burdette-Tomlin Hospital Horse Show. > For further details, contact Cathy Langon. P.O. Box 491. Goshen.

BODY MECHANIX CHILD TANNING CARE BOOTH Exercise Studio 130 Park Ave., Cape May. N.J. 884-0777