Step
outside - feels like fishin' season
And the Sandy Hook/Rip Fence still stands!
March 1, 2004
(ARCHIVED)
**UPDATE:
March 5th - The Sandy Hook Rip/Fence issue is rectified! The fence has
been removed and the Coast Guard says fishermen are once again allowed
to fish the tip of Sandy Hook. Thank you Sudsy for your tireless efforts
:-) Here's a quote from SurfTalk's
Main Forum:
"QUOTED....
on 3/5/04 @10am to Dana Smith of Comcast CN8 News... "Access for recreational
fishing is the same as before the fence was ever erected." "Documented
for use for recreation...this includes access for anglers." Also discussed...
Coast Guard still has federal requirements to meet to increase security
somehow! Meeting on Friday will focus on 'how' to secure best. Working
out a security plan...access should not be affected ....just some form
of 'security' not 'restriction' issue We are not looking to deny fisherman
access. They are our neighbors. We 'live' there! "
First things first, there's still two
very important battles being waged that each and every one of us should
be aware of. Regardless of what some people were recently told at a
local boat show by an apparently misguided representative of one of
the recreational fishing organizations, the fence at Sandy Hook blocking
access to "The Rip" is still there and is not "being
torn down as we speak"! It's very important that folks understand
that this issue is far from over, we're trying to figure out why any
organization's representative would casually say the fence is being
torn down when they really have no idea. Forty eight hours later, Windknot,
one of our SurfTalk
members, took the walk to see. He reports, as of Sunday 2/29/04:
So please get the word out to anyone
that may have been misled about the fence "being torn down as we
speak" - it is not being torn down, the Coast Guard is still
fully intent on leaving the fence up and blocking all fishing access
to the west of Fisherman's Trail. 
There's a couple threads SurfTalk
with much discussion and lots of directions on how you can get involved
- one is titled "Goodbye
to the Sandy Hook Rip" -
and the other is title "The
Petition to Remove the Fence on Sandy Hook".
If everyone makes an effort to get involved, we can win this one...but
it's going to take getting involved. There's also a link at the top
of this page to a petition
and letters to send - please take the time to sign the
petition - and print and mail the three letters - losing an access battle
like this one will certainly lead the way to pushing fishermen out of
more and more of the few remaining public accesses we enjoy. This is
far from over folks, don't be coddled into a false sense of security.
Our friends in Delaware are still fighting
the Indian River Inlet/Turbine battle! The meeting that was supposed
to take place last week was postponed due to a snow storm. The meeting
will be held this Wednesday evening - 3/03- this is a very
important meeting! Even if you do not wish to speak at the meeting,
it is imperative that you go with your fellow fishermen to be seen and
counted! The meeting is Wednesday night at 7pm, at Lord Baltimore Elementary
School - Route 26, Ocean View, Delaware. There's two threads on SurfTalk
if you have any questions or need directions - the first is titled "IRI
is threatened" - the second is "IRI
- Turbine Meeting Postponed!" Please, if
you can make it, grab a buddy or two and go to the meeting - you won't
have to speak, but you need to be there! Ask them to address the physical
size of these turbines - how deep will they be - will fishing still
be allowed - can they guarantee that fishing will always be allowed
- how do these turbines impact the inlet during storms - what level
of noise will they produce - how will that noise level increase as the
turbines wear - what peer reviewed research has been done on the environmental
impact? So many questions...anyone at the meeting should get answers
to these questions. Someone should tape record the meeting.
I had to get those two issue updated...I'd
rather be talking about fishing cause it's really starting to feel like
Spring out there - we've had air temps in the 50s and even 60's for
the past 3 days! It feels like striped bass season should be upon us...in
reality, the flounder are probably just starting to stir :-) If the
weather continues on this track for a solid week, there will be some
stripers caught by next weekend for the folks fishing worms in the warmest
mud flat areas...it doesn't take much to get those hungry little resident
stripers stirred up. Flounder season officially opened today...possibly
one of the nicest open days for winter flounder I can remember. Then
again, when I used to flounder fish frequently, there wasn't any closed
season...so there was no need for an opening day
These days, there's a season for everything...which can be good and
it can be bad.
Last weekend PhilL and I went trout fishing
up north...it needed to be done, I didn't do it a single time last year.
Dubs and I used to do it every Saturday from late December right through
March when they close the rivers to restock them for opening day. The
weather forecast looked like a perfect trout day up there - temps in
the upper 40s, cloudy, drizzle...all the best trout fishing stuff -
and oddly enough, the weathermen finally nailed one - the day was everything
they had forecast it to be
Unfortunately for Phil and I, the trout were much less impressed with
the weather than we'd expected them to be. At our first stop, within
the first 1/2 hour, Phil landed a beautiful rainbow trout on a nymph
- the trout looked to be a good 18"
As fate would have it, my digital camera tells me the batteries are
dead - but I know they aren't, they are fairly fresh. I take the batteries
out, put 'em back in - dead. Repeat....still dead. Not wanting to jeopardize
the spectacular RBT's life over my camera's issues, I tell Phil the
camera ain't working. As he turns around, just as the trout was starting
to taste the river's cold, clean escape - beeep -
the camera comes on
Oh well, I tell Phil we'll see plenty more just like that, maybe even
much bigger - I've taken trout up to 23 1/2" in that stretch on
nymphs this time of year - had 3 over 21" in the same day one warm
winter! It wasn't meant to be...we fished 1/2 mile more in that piece...then
fished 2 more spots on another nearby river - without so much as
a single lone trout! Befuddled and confounded, by 3pm I was ready
to head for home - probably only the second time in my life I remember
leaving those wonderful woods and waters to head home before dark. It's
a strange reality to be fishing some of my favorite trout waters on
such a spectacular day and not land a single trout
At least Phil got that one volunteer, it was nice to fish up there again
and the sight of that one beautiful 18" winter survivor, it really
made the whole day worth it :-)
This Sunday is the Fourth Third
Annual SOL Food Fling - Ben Lippen and his hand picked helpy-helpertons
have done a spectacular job! This should be the best Food Fling yet
- and that's saying a lot, these things are always the social event
of the season
There's far too much going on this year at the Food Fling for me to
even begin discussing it here - but I will say one thing - I know I'm
not alone when I say I'm very much looking forward to two things - meeting
TLDig who's coming from California just to punch Gadwall in the nose
- BobPop's "Shady Rest" chicken wings and Soad Jerk's most
amazing ice cream
There's a number of threads on the Food Fling, directions, who's bringing
what, etc, etc - the bottom line is we're gonna be meeting at the Pine
Beach Firehouse in Pine Beach, NJ next Sunday 3/07! Everyone is invited...we'll
see you there :-)
If you get a chance, check out Manta
Ray Adventures - Striper, shark and bluefish charters from Boothbay,
Maine - nice folks, new website and watching it grow is sort of
an experiment of mine :-)
