May 2018 At The American Legion Hall, Post # 170, 33 West Passaic Street, Rochelle Park, N. J. President/ Writer/ Editor John Toth tothjohn@verizon.net Visit our revised Web page & try some of the new functions www.swabc.org 1 st Vice President Craig Zincavage Zincman70@ yahoo.com 2 nd Vice President Mark Capalbo markcapalbo@aol.com Membership Secretary. Jack O Hara Jacko5577@gmail.com Treasurer Jim Galanaugh Jr. Jgalan4962@aol.com Assistant Treasurer Charles Santoro Boats62@aol.com Rey Muniz with a 14 lb. blackfish, caught on the Fishbound charter sailing from Ocean City, Maryland Assistant Writer/Editor Fred Villanova Gray13beard@gmail.com Stories & Events Page 2 Presidents Corner, Future Meetings, Club Events Page 3 Raffle, Surf Tourn., Cook Book, Article & Cod Fish Page 4 Fishing Management Issues, Banning Plastic, Scallop Health Page 5 Big Fish Derby & Affidavit Page 6 Sponsors & Application Form Good fishing, good friends. That s what SWABC is all about The Best Fishing Club in NJ The regular meetings will be held on the third Tuesday of the month, at 8:00P.M. The only meeting that is not held at the Legion Hall on Tuesday will be the night of the Past President Dinner. That month is March. A $5 fee is required, for non-members, this entitles them to the 50/50 drawing, refreshments, snacks, and some new tricks about fishing. Welcome all; we hope you enjoy the evening.
President's Corner We had Captain John Kolias (Reel Fun Fishing Charters) to give us a presentation on bucktailing for fluke along with his mate, Rich Melton, that had us captivated until a smoke alarm went off and we all had to evacuate the Legion until the local Fire Marshall came to declare all is well for our return. Details are a little sketchy, but it appears that a printer in the basement of this building had equipment that overheated and generated the smoke that set off the alarm. On our return, Captain John and Rich picked up where they left off and gave us good pointers on putting more of those tasty fluke in our coolers. Thanks so much Captain John and Rich! We really appreciate your continued support for our club! Our club chef, Nico, made delicious beef stroganoff along with salad and brownies. Nico s meals are something else and we all look forward to them. Thanks so much Nico! Because of that fire alarm, our meeting went longer than it usually does, and we had a nice 50/50 of $198 that was won by Ron Nightingale who will probably use this money to fund our upcoming fishing trips. Big Fish Contest - Our 2018 fishing season is underway and now you can enter this contest in the various categories that are listed in another section of this bulletin. The regulations that apply to it are also listed. Affidavits for this contest can also be accessed on our web at www.swabc.org. We already have entries by Criag Zincavage and Reyy Munns with 14 lb. blackfish and a codfish by Reyy Munns at 23 lbs. 2 oz. Schedule of Speakers for Upcoming Meetings May 15 th Meeting We will have Mr. Tony Dubeck from Penn Tackle who will give us a presentation on reel maintenance that can be not only applied to Penn reels, but to any other reel that you own. We have had representatives from Penn Tackle in the past come to our meetings, and they always make our meetings very interesting and also informative about reel and rod maintenance. Don t miss this one! June 19 th Meeting Dave Lilly to give his Special Tips on catching fluke July 17 th Meeting Michael Sardinas to give his pointers on surf fishing August 21 st meeting Bobby Uhrig to present Mega Strike, a fish attractant June 4th Youth Outreach Trip on the MiJo with Ranch Hope Kids We will be taking kids from the Ranch Hope home that leaves from Atlantic Highlands on the boat MiJo starting at 8:00 a.m. The kids always enjoy this trip and our members help them by showing them how to catch fish and also hooking the fish to let the kids bring them up. It is a day full of fun and the kids get so excited about catching fluke even when they bring up a skate or a shark! Please bring your own lunch and remember that there is NO alcohol to be brought on board. The MiJo has a galley and you can order breakfast and lunch items, so you do not need to bring food. If you are interested in going on this trip, see member Tom Tyls at our May 15th meeting or call him at (201) 796-8522 or email him at tatlys@aol.com. Club Events for 2018 This is a quick snapshot of upcoming events that our club is either holding or participating in. In addition to the trips listed in April s bulletin, more have been added since then and also into 2019! June 4th Club Charter Fishing Trip for Youths on the MiJo June 21 st Charter on Fish Monger fluke, bottom fishing July 16 th - Bluefin Tuna Charter Manasquan (sold out) August 6 th Bluefin Tuna Charter Manasquan (sold out) August 25 Seven Bees fluke-point Judith Rhode Island (bus trip) September 8th City by the Sea bottom fishing, Rhode Island September 13 th Fish Monger Fluke October 20 th Booked Off Charters-black fish- Rhode Island November 2 nd Booked Off Charters black fish Rhode Island November 10 th All You Can Eat Beefsteak Dinner at our club meeting location American Legion Post # 170. November 17 th - Bus Trip to Stonington, Conn. for sea bass/cod (bus trip) November 19 th Charter Trip on the Fish Bound for blackfish - Maryland November 29 th Fish Monger - Tog December 1 st Osprey black fish Atlantic City (bus trip) 2019 Events January 5 th 6 th - Charter on the No Limit for blackfish - Delaware January 10 th Fish Monger Tog October 8 th Fish Monger sea bass September 22 nd City by the Sea Rhode Island - bottom fishing Note: The Trip Captain for almost all of these trips is Craig Zincavage and he can be reached at (973) 234-9618 or at Zincman@yahoo.com. Mark Capalbo is the Trip Captain for the November 17 th bus trip to Stonington, Conn. on the Black Hawk for sea bass/porgies/cod and he can be reached at (201) 313-6576 or at markcapalbo@aol.com. Both Craig and Mark will talk about these trips at our club meetings and will answer your questions about them concerning costs etc. 250 Pound Hammerhead Shark Caught by Member Dominic Catalano! Speaking of a fish trip that is one to remember, member Dominic Catalano was on a business trip in Florida and when one of his business meetings got canceled, he (like many of us) could not resist jumping on a charter boat and do some fishing in Fort Lauderdale. He thought his catching of two 20 lb. bonita was enough to make his day, but a 250 + Golden Hammerhead shark hit his hook that was about 96 inches long! It took him about 22 minutes to bring it in while being in the fighting chair. This is strictly a catch & release fish. After the captain tried to release it, the shark took off again, took three dives and ran another 40 minutes. Dominic spent another 15 minutes bringing it in and while getting tired, he gave the rod off to another angler to bring it up to the boat. What a day for Dominic and one he will remember for quite some time! Welcome Aboard! Glad you can join us! Cathy & Tim Slutzky Rochelle Park Roy Lyon Edgewater Jason Mancuso Hawthorne Robert DeFilippis Wallington Name Correction from April - Jeff Criswell Flanders
Funddddddddd SWABC Fund Raising Raffle The drawing of our winning raffle tickets will be drawn at 9:00 p.m. at our May15th meeting. This is the last opportunity to turn in monies that you have collected and ticket stubs. Also turn in all tickets that have not been sold since we need an accounting of them. Our meetings starts at 8:00 p.m., but please arrive earlier to give an accounting of your ticket sales so that Fred Villanova, our Ticket Chairman, does not get overwhelmed with a long line of members turning in tickets and also buying them for a last chance of winning the following prizes: 1. Charter Fishing Trip on the Katie James Sport Fishing - $780 value 2. Black Widow 150 Rod w/cronos Reel - $500 value 3. Canyon Reel HS 13 and Carrot Stix Rod - $490 value 4. 42 inch LG LED High Definition 4K TV - $480 value 5. Fishing Trip 2 Tickets for the Party Boat Fisherman - $180 value 6. Gift Certificate Ramsey Outdoor- RT 17 Ramsey, NJ - $100 value 7. Gift Certificate Jigging World Rochelle Park, NJ - $100 value Our club wants to thank Captain Art Lein for offering his Katie James Charter to promote our club and also Jigging World for providing the Black Widow rod and Cronos reel at discounted prices for our raffle, and also to Don Par of Canyon Reels for donating his HS 13 Canyon Reel for our club raffle. May 20th - Governor's Surf Tournament The Governor's Surf Tournament will be held on May 20th at Island Beach State Park. It is sponsored by the Jersey Coast Anglers Association (JCAA), The NJ Federation of Sportsmen's Club, NJ Beach Buggy Assoc., NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife and the NJ Division of Parks and NJ DEP. The cost to pre-register is $15 for anglers 18 years and older, $5 for ages 13-17. Ages 12 and under are free! For more information, call (609) 748-4347 or go to www.njfishandwildlife.com. Club Cook Book Lou Castellano loves to cook and he has volunteered to compile seafood recipes sent to him from our members to make a club cook book. Lou wants your favorite recipes that you have prepared and are the type you would serve to your visiting guests. As in most recipe formats, you would first list all of the ingredients that go into the recipe. Then you next detail the necessary steps to make your dish like over temperature, marinating time etc. See Lou at our meetings to discuss/show your recipes and you can also contact him at (201) 264-3673 or at: hooknarrows@optimum.net Right Whale Extinction a Possibility North Atlantic Right Whales could become extinct unless new steps are taken, federal officials say. These whales, on the endangered species list, are among the rarest marine mammals in the world, and they have endured a deadly year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has said that there are only about 450 of the whales left, and 17 of them have died so far in 2017. The situation is so dire that American and Canadian administrators must consider the possibility that the population won t recover without action soon said John Bullard, northeastern administrator for NOAA fisheries at the New England Fisheries Management Council. The high mortality is coinciding with a year of poor reproduction and there only about 100 breeding females left in the North Atlantic. Vessel strikes and entanglement in fishing gear are frequently cited causes of whale deaths. (New York Post, 12/11/2017). Mark Capalbo and Rey Muniz with Rey holding a 23 lb. 2oz. cod caught on the Superhawk from Point Lookout, NY Something we are all familiar with! This Scottish seagull brought home the bacon. It swooped down on a woman leaving a supermarket in Elgin as she was pushing her cart. The brazen bird grabbed a package of bacon she had just bought and flew off with it! (Weird but True, NY Post, April 8, 2018).
Fishing Management Issues by John Toth Last year was a crazy year for fluke with even the U.S. Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, weighing in on it and even overturning the minimum size of this fish mandated by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). While fluke was the big problem for us in 2017, sea bass may be the big issue in 2018, just like fluke. As the time of my writing this bulletin (in time for it to be mailed out at our club s May 8 th Board meeting), this is what I know at this time and I will try to explain it without going into too much detail. New Jersey s approved sea bass season is: (May 15 June 22 with 10 fish at 12/12 inches) (July 1 August 31 2 fish at 12 ½ inches) October 8 th October 31 st 10 fish at 12 ½ inches November 1 st to December 31 st - 15 fish at 13 inches). In contrast to New Jersey, New York s sea bass season is: 15 inch minimum (June 27 to August 31 st 3 fish) September 1 st to October 31 st - 8 fish) November 1 st to December 31 st 10 fish). In short, the New York s sea bass season is horrendous! With the 15 inch minimum size, more sea bass will be thrown back since a 15 inch sea bass is occasionally brought up and anglers will kill a lot of sea bass with their lower-size discards. Basically, New York anglers will start to charter boats for sea bass in September, since nobody is going to charter a boat for 3 sea bass during June to the end of August. This is shaping up to be a North and South battle with states in the northern region (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York contending that they have been unfairly treated by the ASMFC with their low sea bass quota and now they want some of the sea bass quota stripped from states in the southern region (New Jersey, Delaware and states to North Carolina). The states in the northern region have filed an official appeal with the ASMFC over this issue and the ASMFC will review this appeal at its policy board meeting on May 4 th. This is a complex issue and I don t think I will have the results of it in time for this bulletin s printing by May 5 th. In a nutshell as I have explained this issue at our April 17 th club meeting, the northern states have overfished their sea bass quotas and they are now being penalized for it. New Jersey has abided by its given quota and has been awarded a 46% increase in its 2018 quota. Now the northern states want some of our quota or they threaten to Go Out Of Compliance! If that happens, it will set in motion a possible mandated reduction by the Commerce Department of the coastal states, including New Jersey! What is so ironic if this happens is that while New Jersey has been rewarded by a 46% increase in its quota for following the rules, we may have to give up some of our sea bass quota for states that do not follow the same rules according to the ASMFC. This will, undoubtedly, will have an impact on our 2018 sea bass season with possible date changes, lower bag limits and even higher minimum sizes. I will keep you updated as this issue unfolds. Banning Plastic to Save the Oceans Cities and nations are looking at banning plastic straws and stirrers in the hope of addressing the world s plastic pollution problem. The problem is so large that scientists say that is not nearly enough. Australian scientists (Denise Hardesty & Chris Wilcox) using trash collected on U.S. coastlines during clean ups over five years estimate that there are 7.5 million plastic straws laying around America s shorelines. They also figure means as many as 8.3 billion plastic straws are on the world s coastlines. That number is small when you look at all the plastic bobbing around oceans. A University environmental professor from Georgia (Jenna Jambeck) calculates that nearly 9 million tons of plastic ends up in the world s oceans and coastlines each year. For every pound of tuna we re taking out of the ocean, we re putting 2 pounds of plastic in the ocean, says Sherry Lippiat, a California regional coordinator for NOAA. Sea birds can ingest as much as 8 percent of their body weight in plastic, which for humans is equivalent to the average woman having the weight of two babies in her stomach, says members of the Australia s Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. The United Kingdom announced plans on April 19, 2018 to ban the sale of plastic straws, stirrers and cotton swabs as the global war against plastic gains momentum. As many as 1 million birds and 100,000 sea mammals die every year ingesting some of the world s 150 million tons of plastic in the world s oceans, advocates say. The proposed ban comes as British Prime Minister, Theresa May hosts Commonwealth leaders at a summit from 53 nations. (Asbury Park Press, April 20 th & April 22 nd editions). Scallop Health Check Federal Regulators are reviewing the health of scallops in the Atlantic Ocean. The scientifically rigorous review will help determine the future regulations in the 485 million annual sea-scallop industry, says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The agency said its findings will be available in July. (NY Post, April 30th).
2018 B I G F I S H O F T H E Y E A R D E R B Y R u l e s 1. Fish have to be in season to be entered. 2. The fish can be caught anywhere, not in just New Jersey s waters. 3. The fish entered has to be verified by the boat captain or another club member or at an official weigh station. A picture of the fish is a muchpreferred way to verify an entry into the Big Fish contest done by a cell phone or a regular camera. A club member can win more than one Big Fish contest prize. 4. Dues card number must be on the submitted application (Dues number can be obtained from our Membership Secretary) 5. Affidavits must be received within 30 days FISH after the fish is caught. Entries for fish caught after 12/15 of a given year must be received by Janaury15th of the following year. Any member submitting a false affidavit will be disqualified from entering the contest during the year. If disqualified twice, the member will be expelled from the club. ANGLERS NAME: I certify that the following statements are true and that all contest rules were complied with and the witness actually witnessed the weighing and the measuring of the fish. SPECIES MIN. WEIGH T SALT WATER ANGLERS OF BERGEN COUNTY FISHING CONTEST AFFIDAVIT ENTRY WEIGHT ANGLER BLACKFISH 4 14 Rey Muniz BLUEFISH 12 COD FISH 10 FLOUNDER 1lb.8oz. FLUKE 4 LING 2 POLLOCK 10 PORGY 1lb.8oz. SEA BASS 2 STRIPED BASS WEAKFISH 2 23 lbs. 2 oz. Rey Muniz 12 40.5 lbs. Dan Tobia Date submitted with picture: Caught from: Boat Surf - Date: Name of Boat: Port: Where caught: Signature of Angler SPECIES LBS. OZS Witnessed by: Address: Phone No. 1. 2. 3.
Salt Water Anglers of Bergen County, New Jersey Sponsors Membership Application for the Saltwater Anglers of Bergen County Mail To: American Legion Hall Post # 170, 33 West Passaic Street, Rochelle Park, N.J. 07622 Please enclose a check or money order in the amount of $40.00 for a one-year membership, into New Jersey s #1 Salt Water Fishing Club. Name Address Home/Business Ph #. E-mail Address