Tag: Charter fishing

Kensdock fishing report 8-2-09 Help the weakfish

speckled-trout-013I have been called over the top, crazy, and more by many people that do not share the passion for salt water fishing that I possess for it and other activates in life. Here are a few examples: I was called crazy last December for taking my skiff for a 5 mile ride at 2:00 am in a 30 kt. NW wind,10 degree wind chill  and no  compass. Crazy was replaced with wow when I returned to my dock with a cooler full of speckled trout. I was called nuts for talking a friend into flying me to Florida in his jet for fresh ballyhoo hours before the mid Atlantic. When Governor Florio tried to dismantle the fish and game council I use the same over the top, crazy whatever attitude to start a grass roots letter writing campaign that started in Cape May County and spread through the State of New Jersey all the way to High point in Sussex County, NJ. The thousands of individually written letters helped I am sure to change the Governors mind. I used the same crazy. Nuts, attitude to personally call over a thousand people to urge them to attend the federal fish and wildlife meeting in Cape May county co… So many of our people showed they over flowed into the parking lot. The meeting went our way to say the lest. I also started a grass roots letter writing campaign to keep the land open to hunting and salt water fishing. When the manager made the decision  to keep the land open to hunting he reported that 98% of the letters he received were in favor of keeping the land open to hunting, this was reported in the Atlantic City press. When the Cape May county park purchased hundreds of acres of traditional hunting land and decided to post no trespassing signs on the land. I used the same attitude to start up the grass roots machine to urge all cape may co. hunters to attend the Cape May co. Freeholders meeting. When Ruth fisher took the podium she asked if there was a sale on flannel shirts! The meeting turned out a record crowd that I think still stands today. The freeholders reopened the traditional land to hunting.

         Being over the top, crazy, nuts about a cause or activity   is synonymous with being passionate. Being passionate about what you are involved in brings success.

 The kind of push that it is required to bring the weakfish back has not been applied!  The kind of campaign were every salt water angler on the east coast makes a phone call,writes a letter,  sends a comment via email  to  a Congressman, Senator, Assemblymen, Governor and the ASMFC. We need letters in every News paper on the entire east coast to let all the people know about the poor condition of the weakfish. Only with this kind effort will the weakfish return to your favorite spot .                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                      Make it happen,

        I received an email from Nichola Meserve fisheries management plan coordinator for ASMFC. She will continue to accept comments for the August 19 weakfish meeting. The comments will be printed and hand delivered from this time forward.
Send your comment today. Remember there will be people at the meeting urging the ASMFC to continue to allow commercial and recreational fishing regardless of the fact that the weakfish are inches away from the endangered species list.
Send your comment to :
nmeserve@asmfc.org>

  Today was filled with rain,thunder storms and downed trees. The water temperature was 67 degrees. I spoke with Bruce today, he said  he has limited out on flounder in all but one trip. Bruce is an oldgrounds, Reef, ocean flounder sharp. He has made five trips so far this year. He likes to fish tight to the structure and expects to loose 8 to 10 rigs a trip. If you are planning a flounder trip in the back bay plan on not catching any  fish to bring home.

7-31-09 Kensdock report RFA/ASMFC weakfish meeting August 19

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Open letter to Hutch Jr (RFA),

I can assure you if the RFA policy was to put the natural resoures first on their agenda, the weakfish stock would not be so dangerously low today. The RFA should have led a campaign to rebuild the weakfish stock five years ago!

At this point, I ask you, the RFA to join us in urging the ASMFC to implement a closure of commercial and recreation fishing of weakfish for two years. If you choose not to help with this campaign, I politely ask you sir, to step to the side!

Nichola at the ASMFC office has been working at a record pace answering comments and phone calls concerning the August 19 ASMFC meeting… Most of us are angry with the condition of the weakfish. WE are also hopeful that the August19 ASMFC meeting in Virginia becomes historic and the weakfish in time join the striped bass and sea scallops on the list of success stories.

nmeserve@asmfc.org Send your comment time is short

7-26-09 Kensdock fishing report 5:33 pm

I was out flounder fishing today in the backbay of Stone Harbor, NJ  I managed to catch two keeper flounder on the top of the tide. To get a way from the boat traffic I fished holes along the flats way in the back. The water quality was excellent with 10ft visibility. I have fished around the planet and I have not seen the amount of marine life that we have in our back bays anywhere else.
Mr. Plumer was flounder fishing out of Fortescue,NJ and limited out with flounder to 24″. Fortescue was know as the weakfish capital of the world at one time. This year they have an excellent run of big flounder. Nice fishing also with a relatively short run to the fish. The old grounds has been a wash due to a large swell that makes fishing that area a waste of time and fuel.
Due to economic reasons a lot of off shore fishermen are waiting for prime season before they start to seriously fish the cannons. The last two weeks in August and the first two weeks in September are usually prime time.  back bay

7-22-09 Kensdock report

I fished a couple of Back Bay flounder spots at dusk today. The water temperature was 72.2 on the top of the tide. The water clarity was excellent with visibility about 12ft. Flounder fishing now requires a lot more effort and time. If you want to catch a few keepers in the back bays of Cape May co. NJ at this time  it is going to take  ten times the effort that it does in June. The ocean hot spots like the old grounds and reef 11off of  Cape May co. NJ are  holding large numbers of flounder and most likely will continue to do so through the reminder of flounder season. To fish the ocean locations it requires the better part of a day as far as time. You also must have the correct conditions or it is a waste of time as far as catching fish. I shake my head when I see a party boat or charter captain taking  people on a twenty mile rough ride knowing that the fishing is going to be terrible and someone on board is going to get sea sick. There is always someone that is fishing for the first time on these boats and when their first trip is on a rough day with no fish caught  they may never fish again. If someone goes fishing for the first time and the ocean is calm and the fish are biting he or she will go fishing  again and some will become avid fishermen. When I read Sheps column in the Atlantic City press recently he reported that limits of Weakfish are being caught. He has no names of the fishermen that are catching the weakfish and not one  picture of a limit catch  of weakfish. Sorry Shep, I do not believe that limit catches of weakfish are being caught. Here in Cape May co. NJ and all along the east coast the weakfish population is at an all time low. The few weakfish that are left need a chance to rebuild!  They do not need pressure from news papers trying to sell advertisements!! The ASMFC will meet on August 19, 2009 to discuses ways to rebuild the weakfish population. The best way and the fastest way to rebuild the weakfish stock is a complete closer of commercial fishing for two years and a recreational closer during the spawning season. Please  take the time to make a comment on  the ASMFC web site on the best way to save the weakfish.       Best,Ken

7-10-09 Kensdock fishing report

Today the flounder bite continued to be red hot in the Delaware Bay! I just spoke with a vacationer that spent all day on a local party boat. He said, the party boat had about 50 people fishing and they only caught two   keeper flounder combined all day! Very few party boat captains are good fishermen. Very few charter boat captains catch fish! Do yourself a favor take the time to seek out the boats that consistently catch fish. The guys that are dialed in are limiting out on flounder and calling in sick to work!  I can think of two charter captains that produce keeper flounder. Stalker charters and Adam bomb. I have seen the fish that they have recently caught.. There is a big difference from seeing fish and fish stories. I am preparing my gear for grassy sound flounder tournament tomorrow. It should be competitive as long as everyone plays fair. Sterling harbors’ duke of fluke tournament is tomorrow also. It looks like the weather is going to be good. I am sure there will be a record number of flounder weighed in at the duke of fluke this year. If your fishing the Delaware Bay head north.

6-27-09 Kensdock fishing report 7:00pm

flounder 085Beautiful day on the water no bugs, not to hot and very light boat traffic in the area I was fishing. I did encounter a conservation officer patrolling the area in a boat  for the first time. I have been fishing and duck hunting the area my entire life. We have all seen the guy that keeps all the flounder he catches regardless of size and bag limit. That person was not fishing in this area today. There was just a few boats and everybody was law abiding.I have a couple of reports, Ed T caught two keeper flounder Dr.Gary had two also, they fished from 5:30 am to 9:30 am. I fished from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm I caught 3 keeper flounder.The time of year when limits of flounder can be caught in the back bay in a few hours is now past.If you are looking for your limit of keeper flounder it is now time to head for the old grounds or any offshore structure. Myself, when I head offshore it is for big game.I will continue to poke around the back bay  for flounder all season. The water temperature was 70 degrees on the top of the tide. The water was very clean.
Cape May Ray is concerned about the lack of bait fish and oyster crackers in Cape May co..  Ray, I have not seen any bait fish in my area. The minnows are usually here by March. This is the first year in a life time, that the minnows are completely absent from my area. The oyster crackers aka Tot fish  are being sold to the Asian market. This has been going on for a few years. The poaching is the problem. If you have the fish they have the cash! This is one reason we need a NJ salt water license! NO license no money.No money no studies and not enough law enforcement to make a difference. How much pressure can minnows and crabs take before the population drops out. Anybody can buy a commercial bait license.WE have minnow pots in every creek in the State. We have crab pots every so many feet in the back bay in the spring. Is this the problem? Ray thinks that heavy malathion spraying for mosquitoes is killing our back bays from the bottom up. NJ is one of the few States that it is legal to use this pestiside. I sure hope he is wrong. I sure enjoy life without mosquitoes.  We will never know what  the problem  is without the money from a NJ salt water license!! Please do not misconstrue, NJ conservation officers do an outstanding job !, the problem is they are way under staffed. flounder 086
I just got a report of keeper stripers floating on top of the water in the back bay of Stone Harbor.One was dead and the other was alive, it was brown on one side and very lethargic. It had just enough energy to stay under water.  I hope this is not related to the bait problem.  Note:
Cape May Ray is a fishing guide that is passionate about fishing and the marine envirorment. He also catches fish. 

 

609-884-6440
Tiderun1@aol.com

 
 

 

6-26-09 Kensdock fishing report 7:00pm

flounder 081I left my dock at 11:30 am today to flounder fish for a  couple of hours. The bite was slow but I did manage to catch four keeper flounder, Ed T and Harold caught 4 keepers, Cj had 5 keepers yesterday and one today. Wally Bachman had seven keepers yesterday. I was glad I was not fishing a tournament today as I dropped my biggest flounder over board as I was measuring it.

The hooked up II was south of the Poorman’s yesterday and found the yellowfin bite red hot. They had over 50 tuna hit their spread.

6-25-09 Kensdock fishing report

 
 morning
 
 
The yellowfin tuna bite turned on yesterday the 51′ pez machine sportfisher  boated over 40 yellowfin and dolphin to ten pounds. They were fishing the lindinkohl. They were the only boat in the area. This is the kind of situation tuna fishermen wait for!
When I woke up this morning I was tripping over myself as I was in a rush to hit my flounder spots. The spots I had time to fish did not hold any flounder at all! The water in the area I was fishing was way to fresh, due to all the rain. I ran to a spot in the inlet that I was sure would at lest hold a few keepers. The wind and surf made it impossible to fish this spot. Tomorrow I will try the incoming tide closer to the inlet.The water tempreature was 70 degrees.

Cape May Mako season 6-5-09 8:00 pm

83000004 A few  basics  to pay attention to when fishing for Mako sharks:
1)  do not leave the dock without a Roffer’s’ report. I get one even though I have up to date reports from commercial fishermen. If you are fishing with a captain that does not know what a Roffer’s report is chances are you are only going for a boat ride!
2) If you are going to compete in the tournaments invest in a Mako magnet they work!  I have seen sharks, tuna and blues come right up and put their nose on the thing.
3)  Makos return to the same wreaks and edges ever year, seek out information as to what areas hold makos when the conditions are right.
4)  a crew with a plan. Every crew member should know how to leader a mako, gaff, shoot and run the boat. 
5)   the first boat on the structure has a significant advantage.  Leave early and run hard! 
6) stay on the structure! not almost on it !
7) make sure your bait is alive and your chum is fresh.  

5-13-09 fishing update Cape May Co., NJ

flounder 002 
 I headed out today in search of Mr. weakfish. The wind was right and the water temperature was 55 degrees. No weakies.  My son was out earlier in the morning striper fishing (in a secret spot of course) and caught two keepers, 30″ and 32″.  I did catch a nice flounder on a rubber bait. The flounder was so lethargic, it gave me time to take a picture before he took off.