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outdoors ^with^LouJiodi^ Cape Missing Out on World Records ?

A glance at the International Game Fish Association world records indicates that most of the records in the book have been set by average fishermen. Any time an angler puts a bait into the water it offers an opportunity to set a world record. It could happen to any of us. and occasionally, it does. This year's early run of weakfish in Delaware Bay has offered some of the best opportunity for setting a world record that anglers may ever get. THE FIRST record set in Delaware Bay this year was the new state record 18' - lb weakfish caught by Cape May's Karl Jones. And in the past week, another record was set. This time it was a record for four-pound test line. Matt Welsh, of Bellmawr. is in process of . seeking world record status for the 14.32-lb. weakfish he caught on fourpound test Stren Matt was fishing on his dad's boat, the Slic Chic, skippered by Dan Scattolini. He was fishing with a plastic worm, a bucktail and a piece of squid. Jim Wallace, at Jim's Bait and Tackle in Cape May. certified the weight of the fish on his official scales. If the fish is accepted by IGFA for record status, it will erase the existing record set in 1982 by Ellison Robinson III in Chesapeake Bay. THE BELLMAWR angler took 36 minutes -to land the big weakfish on

the light outfit he was j using. The ail tackle record in • the IGFA books is a 19-lb., 2-oz. weakfish caught on | Long Island in 1984. That record, and a few more besides, rightfully belong in Cape May County. Unfortunately, many of our Jersey Cape anglers are not record conscious and fish which might have qualified for records are set aside when they are not weighed in properly, or when the angler does not follow the instruction set up by IGFA to get a fish certified. ALMOST ANY competent weighmaster is aware of the IGFA rules for certifying fish. One is that the scales must be inspected. The Cape May County Weighs and Measures office is more than cooperative in checking scales for any weighmaster who wants the current seal of approval. This is a must if the fish weighed on the scale are to be certified for records. It is drumfish season and it always recalls a storyconcerning a possible world record drum caught by an area angler. According to the story, the angler, who had never fished for drum before, joined two buddies who had slightly more drum experience, but they did have a boat. The trio went out into Delaware Bay. joined the fleet, and sat back to fish and relax on the water. THE THREE DID know that drum were supposed

SUPER STRIPER — George Foy of Media. Pa., left, shows off 57-pound striped bass he caught recently south of Middle Ground. Fishing companions were, left to right. Robert Kessler. Noel Kohn. and Sam Ellis. Buster was weighed in at Smuggler's Cove Marina. Stone Harbor.

to be big. and when they caught a couple, the size of the drum did not surprise them. Our angler friends boated the biggest one and as he described it. it was huge. They never considered world records. The record for black drum at that time was around 90 pounds Their fish, when it was put on the scale at the dock, pulled the scale down tight on 100 pounds, which was the scale's capacity. Thus, the fish had to weigh well over 100 pounds. That obviously made it a potential world record Not knowing this, the tired but happy trio headed for home Our friend went home with his big drum, hung it in the garage, and went to bed. His two buddies headed for a local gin mill. AROUND MIDNIGHT our friend woke up to the realization that is he left the fish hanging in his garage all night and all the next day while he was at work, it would spoil in the spring heat. Direct action was necessary. He got up and proceeded to cut up the big drum and refrigerated the meat. The carcass was still a problem, so he loaded it into his pick-up truck and dropped it off a nearby bridge. Now. even more tired, he got back onto bed only to be awakened by the jingling of the telephone. He found it to be one of his two buddies who decided to call him to settle an argument IT SEEMS THAT a couple of other fishermen did not believe the weight of the drum, which was more than 100 pounds Further, it came out in the heat of the discussion that if the fish was so big. why was it not being considered for a world record? The phone was brought into play to seek the answers. Of course, the fish by then was divided between one of the county's many tidal creeks and the refrigerator. There was no way to prove or disprove the size. The bar argument was never really settled.

Unfortunately, there was no world record for this fish. As it turned out the record would have stood for many years, and might still have record status. The current all tackle record is 113 lb. That record was set in 1975 in Delaware Bay. It is one of many lost to Cape May County. THERE ARE more stories about records that might have been. The world record weakfish is another which belongs in Cape May County. Unfortunately. the record rests in Long Island. Our potential record wound up on the dinner table. It was weighed in, but it was not measured for length and girth. No photographs were taken. No one really thought much about getting all of the necessary data for IGFA certification. By the time we heard about the fish and got the angler's name and address. it was late in the day We called the angler's home. The person who answered said the angler was having a late dinner after returning home from fishing. Dinner, was. of course, the world record weakfish. A LOT OF records could and would be saved if angler^ would become a little more aware of what to do when and if they catch a potential world record. To find out about wortft records, write the International Game Fish Association. 3000 E. Us Olas Blvd.. Ft. Lauderdale. Fla., 33316 for information. Memberships start at $20. The IGFA does a lot to keep the records for fresh and salt water fish all over the world. The IGFA book of world record game fishes alone is well worth the membership fee. It is loaded with lots of information on the IGFA. the rec-ords-keeping process, fish identification and fishing tips. IT IS WORTH the investment of a 22-cent stamp to write and ask the IGFA to send you membership ap-

plications and information on the IGFA. Who knows? You or I might be the next one to have our name entered into the IGFA record books. It could happen. Meanwhile, life's realities need addressing. Since we all cannot and do not catch world record fish, at least we can talk about the other fish which are being caught in and around Cape May County. Here are some of the reports: BIG STRIPPER: George Foy. of Media, Pa., caught a 57-lb. striped bass while trolling in the ocean off Stone Harbor, according to Lou Bachman. at Smuggler's Cove Marine in Stone Harbor. Foy was fishing his own boat, the Foible. when the big striper hit. The striper measured 514 inches long. SEA ISLE CITY: Capt. William Clark of the Star fish reports lots of sea bass, tog and ling on half-day trips. Night blue chumming has started... Capt. Neill Robbins of the Capt. Robbins said sea bass catches have been excellent. Paul Barrus of Sea Isle City boated 56 sea bass. WILDWOOD: Capt Joe McTommoney of the Adventurer II said day fishing has been good for sea bass and tautog. Thelma Greif. of Birdsboro. Pa caught a 12-lb. 14-oz. tautog. Night blue chumming with Capt. Larry Madden has been averaging 300 fish or better. Harv Harbison of Sea Isle City had 30 blues and won the pool. Capt. Jay Beecroft, of the Sea Raider said bay fishing has been good. Night blue catches have also been good. The Sea Raider sails daily at 10 a.m. and Tuesday. Wednesday and Saturday at 7 p.m. for blues... Capt. Charles Selby of the Rainbow said a day ocean trip produced blues 10 to 12 lb. Night blue chumming has also been good at the East Lump. WILDWOOD CREST: Capt. John Royles. of the Royal Flush said day catches feature lots of sea bass, tautog and porgies Night skipper Mike Weigle said catches of around 400 blues are not uncommon. Jim Moore of Wildwood was a high hook with 36

blues... Capt. Dave CicchitU of the Wildwood III said day trips have been producing big weakfish.. Capt. Jim Cicchiti of the Starlight said day action has been fair to good on blues and weaks in Delaware Bay. Night chumming action has been excellent on blues five to 10 lb. Catches of 200 to 500 fish per night have been recorded. The Starlight sails nightly for blues. CAPE MAY: The Big Jim is still sailing to the Bay for weakfish and blues. Terry Schies of Myerstown, Pa., caught a 15' 4-Ib. weakfish... Capt. Jim Solley of the Happy Days reports good shark catches on his shark trips. The Happy Days will start sailing four-hour trips Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday in June and Monday through Friday in July and August.. Capt. Dan Guss of the Huntress said the J.C. Taylor Co. of Newtown Square boated 21 weakfish at Brandywine... Capt. Paul Thompson of the Porgy III said weakfish action has picked up. The Miss Chris Fishing Center weekly Penn 710Z fishing reel went to Joe Procopio with a 14.70 weakfish The night boats are doing well on weaks and blues from the Miss Chris fishing Center... Capt. Rich Sosnowski of the One Of A Kind trolled up a box of blues for Bill and Dolores Arnold and Chuck and Maria Jugla of Bridesburg, Philadelphia.. Capt. Ed Yates of the Mary M III said the Hughes Industries party boated 20 weakfish and 12 blues. The Sea Star II reports good weakfish and bluefish catches with some flounders mixed in. The morning trip leaves at 9 a.m. The 4 p.m. daily trip also produces weaks and blues. John Lundy of Pleasantville took one pool with a 14-lb. weakfish. Fiesta skipper Jim Sullivan reports good to excellent all day action on weaks and blues. Weaks go to 14 lb. Night skipper John Poppert reports good catches of weaks and blues in the bay. The night Fiesta trip leaves at 7 p.m. Marshall Brooks of Levittown, Pa., caught a 14-lb. weakfish.

Cape May Coi/nfv™^™^^ ALMANAC JUNE

MOON PHASES/POSITIONS The Moon « effect on the Tide ■> gre olejl when closest to Earth fin pengee I onrf when in direct alignment with Sun A Earth I full A new moon phases; On and about these dates, low * pressure systems and/or strong winds ( depending upon direr lion) may result in flooding and/or extremely low tides Moon Phase* Ness Moon ; First Quarter IS Full Moon 21 l.a*t Quarter «/3t Apogee t Perittee 21 TIDE TABLE Computed for Cape May Cits beachfront , for other areas tee Correction Times II \TF 1114 all I.OW a.m p m a.m. p m 1 Sun 3'M- 4 33 10:01-10 41 2 Mon 4:51- 5 26 10.40-11:29 .1 Tue 5 43- 6 13 11:31 4 Wed 6 32 6:53 12 10-12:13 5 Thu 7:15- 7 33 1:01— 12:56 6 Frt 7 54- 0 (77 I 45- 1:36 7 Sal 8 33- 8 42 2:27 - 2:17 H Sun 9:12 9:17 3.09- 2:55 9 Mon 9:52 9 54 3 48- 3:33 10 Tue 10:32 -10:32 4:24- 4:09 11 Wed 11.17- 11:12 5 01— 4 44 12 Thu 12 02 - 5 38- 5 25 13 Fri 12 01 12 50 6 18- 6:15 14 Sal 12 46- I 40 7 07 - 7.23 15 Sun 1:39- 2 32 8 01- 8:33 16 Mon 2:35- 3.28 9 00- 9 38 17 Tue 3 40- 4 30 9 54-10 39 18 Wed 4 46- 5 28 10 48-11 36 19 Thu 5 52- 6 27 11:4220 Fri 6 51- 7.18 12:35-12:37 21 Sal 7:46- 8:10 1 32- 1:33 22 Sun 8:39— 9 01 2:26- 2:30 23 Moo 9 S3- 9 52 3:22- 3 26 i 24 Tue 10:27-10:47 4:11— 4:19 25 Wed 11:34—1! 40 5:01- 5:11 « 26 Thu -12:20 5:51- 6:07 «* • *7 Fri 12:35- 1:15 6:41- 7:06 » 21 Sat 1:27- 2:06 7:23- 1:09 29 Sun 2:19- 2:56 6:27- 9:09 * 30 Mon 3:12- 3:50 9:19-10 06. >

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 urn HIGH Great Egg Harbor Inlet Plus 12 pluslO Ocean City <9lhSt Bridge plus 35 plus 22 Corson InJet i bridge < plus 21 plus 7 Sea Isle City ' t.udlam Thoro Bridge ■ plus 66 plus 43 Sea Isle City Beach minus 2 minus 21 Town&end Inlet plus 21 plus 4 Seven Mile Beach plus IS 0 Stone Harbor i Great Channel Bridge! plus 43 plus 40 Hereford Inlet <Anglesea< plus 19 0 Wildwood Beach ; Minus 2 minus 17 West Wildwood i Grassy Channel bridge; 1 plus 46 plus 43 J Cape May Harbor . plus I minus 4 , Five Fathom Bank l plus 1 1 plus I l Cape May Point l plus 46 plus 34 McCne Shoal ' plus 28 plus 22 . Delaware Boy I Bayshure Channel 1 i Hay Canal Junction) > plus 47 plus 36 • Miami Beach [ plus 75 plus 61 I Dennis Creek Entrance J plus 114 plus 97 ) Brandywine Shoal Light I plus 77 plus 52 • '

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