I went on a short fishing/scouting trip today I hit a couple of striper spots for a few cast each.I found Small stripers in most spots. Still to much boat traffic for day time striper fishing. I checked the inlet and found a blitz in progress. I always give beach fishermen the courtesy of not running up on the fish. I could not tell what they were catching only that at lest 20 waders were in the surf. The water temperature was 71-74 degrees. 
By Dewie Whetsell, Alaskan Fisherman
As posted in comments on Greta’s article referencing the MOVEON ad about Sarah Palin
The last 45 of my 66 years I’ve spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska. I understand Alaska politics but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here’s the breaking point: Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it…It’s not about persona, style, rhetoric, it’s about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I’m about to mention here.
1- Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as Palin took the Governor’s office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican’s «Corrupt Bastards Club» (CBC) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits. The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, thro wing confetti and singing «la la la la» (well, you know how they are). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar. But while you’re thinking, I’ll continue.
2- Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So, she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called «ACES». Exxon (the biggest corporation in the world) protested and Sarah told them «don’t let the door hit you in the stern on your way out.» They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being filthy rich. Of course the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has done anything similar.
3- The other thing she did when she walked into the governor’s office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as «pork . She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the «when-hell-freezes-over» stack. She let locals know that if we need something built, we’ll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor’s jet because it was extravagant. Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor’s cook (remarking that she could cook for her own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force (never mentioning—I imagine—that she’s packing heat herself). I’m still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.
4- Now, even with her much-ridiculed «gosh and golly» mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn’t impress you, then you’re trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand.
5- For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn’t start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment. No governor for 30 years could make them get started . This summer, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.
6- President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewables by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona . Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool. But that’s just a cover-up. I’m still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won’t be holding my breath.
By the way, she was content to to return to AK after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn’t let her. Now these adolescent screechers are obviously not scuba divers. And no one ever told them what happens when you continually jab and pester a barracuda. Without warning, it will spin around and tear your face off. Shoulda known better
ASMFC Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board Takes No Action Regarding Projected Recreational Overages Washington, DC – The Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and, Black Sea Bass Management Board (Board) met via a web-based conference call yesterday and decided to take no action regarding potential overage in the 2009 recreational fisheries for black sea bass, scup, and summer flounder. The recreational fishing community should be prepared for considerably reduced fishing opportunities next year due to anticipated large overages in the 2009 harvest of scup and black sea bass. “The take away from yesterday’s meeting was the clear message from the Board that 2010 recreational size limits, possession limits, and/or seasons will be significantly restricted for the 2010 recreational fisheries,” stated Board Chair A.C. Carpenter. Last month the Commission’s Interstate Fisheries Management Program Policy Board had unanimously directed the Board to take action prior to September 1. The Board was presented with recreational harvest projections for black sea bass that indicated the harvest target could be exceeded by 86% to 165%. Based on these projections, the Board considered and rejected a motion to close the black sea bass recreational fishery on September 30, 2009. The motion failed with four votes in favor (Virginia, North Carolina, National Marine Fisheries Service, and US Fish and Wildlife Service) and seven votes in opposition (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland).
I was out scouting in the back bay today. I found pods of mullet with stripers feeding on them. The water was on th dirty side. The water temperature was 71 degress.
Weakfish Biomass at All-Time Low
ASMFC Weakfish Board Initiates Addendum to Address Stock Decline
In its report to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Weakfish Management Board, an independent panel of scientists endorsed the 2009 weakfish stock assessment for management use. The Review Panel confirmed that stocks are at an all time low and current fishery removals are unsustainable under existing stock conditions. It agreed with the stock assessment’s conclusions that weakfish abundance has declined markedly, total mortality is high, non-fishing mortality has recently increased, and the stock is currently in a depleted state. Given these findings, the Board initiated the development of Draft Addendum IV which will propose a range of options to reduce fishing mortality, including complete harvest moratoria and limited bycatch only fisheries.
“While the Board has been aware of the decline in weakfish landings over the past ten years, conflicting signals in the stock assessment models employed in the past confounded decision making. This peer review panel found the methodology acceptable and agreed that the stock is in dire condition,” stated Board Chair Roy Miller. “Given the condition of the stock, the Board has decided to accelerate its management process and prepare a draft addendum for public comment in early fall. Upon considering public comment and final action on the addendum, the Board will have the option to implement the addendum’s measures through emergency action this November.”
The weakfish stock is depleted at an all-time low of 2.9 million pounds (1,333 metric tons), far below the proposed biomass threshold of 22.4 million pounds (10,179 metric tons). At this stock size, recent fishery removals (landings and dead discards combined), estimated at 1.9 and 1.8 million pounds in 2007 and 2008, respectively, represent a significant proportion of the remaining biomass. While the decline in the stock primarily results from a change in the natural mortality of weakfish in recent years, it is further exacerbated by continued removals by the commercial and recreational fisheries.
Natural mortality has risen substantially since 1995, with factors such as predation, competition, and changes in the environment having a stronger influence on recent weakfish stock dynamics than fishing mortality. Given current high natural mortality levels, stock projections indicate that the stock is unlikely to recover rapidly, even under a harvest moratorium. In order to rebuild the stock, total mortality will need to be reduced, although this is unlikely to occur until natural mortality decreases to
previous levels. On a positive note, juvenile abundance surveys indicate that young-of-the-year weakfish continued to be present in numbers similar to previous years, suggesting that recruitment at this point has not been severely limited in spite of low stock size.
The Board has placed the Draft Addendum on a faster timeline than standard addenda. Staff and the Plan Development Team will prepare a draft for Board review and consideration in mid-September. If approved, the draft will then be made available for public review and comment. It is anticipated that the majority of states will be conducting public hearings of Draft Addendum IV in October; a press release will be issued on those hearings once the information is available. The Board will meet again in November to consider public comment and take final action on the Draft
Addendum. Under Commission procedures, the Board may opt to implement the Addendum under emergency action, with approved measures taking effect immediately upon Board action.
For more information, please contact Nichola Meserve, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at (202)289-6400 or <nmeserve@asmfc.org>.
*************************
Tina Berger
Public Affairs Specialist
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
1444 I Street. NW, Sixth Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202)289-6400
FAX: (202)289-6051
Email: tberger@asmfc.org
www.asmfc.org
ASMFC Vision: Healthy, self-sustaining populations for all Atlantic coast fish species or successful restoration well in progress by the year 2015.
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no matter what happens with the peer review in June
the board needs to remember that weakfish is in a
depleted condition, a depressed state. We can’t agree
with that particular panel on why it is there. One of
the main things that they said was that predation may
be maintaining the population at low levels without
having contributed to the original decline in the
stock.
We agree that overfishing was the problem in the
eighties. We have used management to get the stock
started back in an increasing mode during the early
nineties and mid-nineties, and then all of a sudden it
dropped back down. Now, we definitely agree that it
was overfishing early on. We’re saying the split
happened in the early thousands that predation is the
main focus of a problem out
out there, and it is
continuing to maintain those levels and we can’t
seem to break through it to move forward. That’s it
for me. Like I said, I tried to do this real quick.
Snakebit is the word of the week from my dock. I was out for two hours today in the back bay flounder fishing and I did not catch a keeper or a through back flounder. I fished an area that I have caught limits of flounder in the past at this time of the year. The water temperature was 79.1 degrees visibility was poor about 5 ft.. Dr. Gary and Ed T. are making me look bad as they continue to catch keeper flounder in the back bay. They had five keepers today to 22″. Jon returned to his dock with a cooler full of trigger fish yesterday he claims they are a good eating fish. I heard that a few yellow fin where caught just short of the Baltimore. They were in the 40 pound range. I also know of a red fish being caught in the back bay a few days back. Every year a couple are caught around the inlets of Cape May co.. Last year my Uncle was surf fishing in late August and hook a very big red fish at Stone Harbor point. A crowd gathered as he fought the fish, he managed to get the red fish into a gully but was not able to beach him. My uncle tried to wrestle the red fish on to the beach drawling laughter from the crowd that had grown to about fifty. In the end the red fish got away. Wayne travels in from Kentucky to fish and hit the beach every summer. 
If you heard someone hollering about 1:00 this afternoon it was me. I reached into a bushel to pick up a blue claw crab with tongs,some how the blue claw caught me by the finger with his claw and crunched it until it bleed. The bite has been located at the inshore ocean structure. Trigger fish, flounder and seabass. The weather has been excellent for ocean fishing the last few days. Jon L. was at the Cape May reef he limited out on flounder and was looking forward to eating trigger fish tonight. Just outside of the inlet the water visibility was excellent about 18ft.. The water temperature at my dock is 81 degrees.
Ken's Dock 