August 2015

At The American Legion Hall, Post # 170, 33 West Passaic Street, Rochelle Park, N. J.

President/ Writer/ Editor John Toth

tothjohn@verizon.net

1st Vice President Bill Fish

Icecreambill1122@ gmail.com

2nd Vice President Mark Calpalbo

markcapalbo@aol.com

Membership Secretary.

Matt Christensen mchristensen2003@yahoo.com

Treasurer

Jim Galanaugh Jr.

Jgalan4962@aol.com

Assistant Treasurer

Charles Santoro Boats62@aol.com

Assistant Writer/Editor Fred Villanova

Visit our revised Web page & try some of the new functions www.swabc.org

Member Rick Reitano with a 46 lbs. Striped Bass. Congratulations Rick!

Stories & Events Page 2 - President’s Corner, Speaker for our Meeting, July’s Meeting Recap,

Fish Reports Page 3 - Upcoming Fishing Trips, Article by John Toth

Page 4 - Fish Management Reports, Bonus Program & Fluke Page 5 – SWABC Captains Corner & Big Fish Contest

Page 6 – Club Sponsors & Membership Application

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 I was on vacation in Oregon with my wife and we picked Oregon to visit since we have been in many parts of our country, but not the Northwestern part of it. Oregon is a state that has many contrasts with mountains, semi-desert areas, a lot of horses and horse trailers, recreational vehicles in abundance and a lot of fish! I went to an aquarium and saw lampreys firsthand. They are not eels, but are in the shark family. When you look close up on them, you can see their bodies have a similar contour like a shark. Their teeth look blades from a jet engine and when they latch on to a poor fish, that fish is done for! Salmon fishing took a big dip years ago and Oregon is making a huge effort to bring them back with their many hatcheries. While on a bus tour, I looked down at the Snake River and I saw the outlines of many salmon working upstream and one huge salmon going up a spillway on a dam. Oregon is an interesting state and it is worthwhile seeing it. We enjoyed it and are still talking about it to our friends.

July 21st Meeting Recap We had Captain Dave Huebner as our guest speaker to talk about fishing for trout and salmon fishing in Lake Ontario. While we are used to fishing our local waters, it is always good to see what fishing is like elsewhere. For example, Chuck Routar talked about his great fishing trip to Alaska at this meeting. Also, Captain Dave signed up as a new member of our club and we are very glad to see him on board!

August 18th Meeting Speaker We will have Captain John Kolias as our speaker to brush us up on fluking techniques and to give us an update on his fluking season. This fluke season has been challenging so far beginning with cold water temperatures that turn the fishing off and strong winds, especially the south ones. Now that the fluke bite is really turning on, Captain John will give us his pointers to bring more of them into our coolers.

Welcome Aboard! Three new members signed up to be club members and they are:

Tony Carbone - Closter, NJ Eugene Wowk - Wayne, NJ

Captain Dave Huebner - Southampton, NJ

Welcome Aboard and good fishing with us!

Fish Reports – Club Members Catching Some Nice Fish!

While this summer season has seen some inconsistent fishing, some of our club members have caught some big fish. While the fish listed below are not necessarily leaders in our Big Fish Contest, they are nice - sized fish reported for this season.

Rick Reitano - 46 lb. striped bass Lou Castellano – 43.9 lb, striper Ishmael Lopez - 40 lbs. striped bass Aram Setian - 32.5 lbs. striped bass Chuck Santoro - 31 lbs. striped bass Chuck Santoro - 18 lbs. bluefish Steve Totten - 9 lbs. fluke Andy Dixon - 7.2 lbs fluke Harry Vogt- 6.9 lbs. fluke Tom Siciliano - 6.60 fluke Matt Christensen - 6.0 fluke Craig Zincavage - 27 lbs. pollock

For some strange reason, the bluefish have moved away and the boats going for bluefish are ending up catching fluke to have something for their anglers to take home. The fluke fishing has started to turn on and some big fluke are waiting to get caught. So, get in the game while the fishing is hot!

Leaping Sturgeon Kills Girl - A Dolphin Injures a Woman

We all have heard about dangerous shark attacks on people, especially at North Carolina beaches. In another tragedy, a 5-year old girl was killed by a massive sturgeon that jumped into her family's boat on Florida's Suwance River. Jayln died when a flying sturgeon slammed into her. Her mom and 9-year old brother were also injured. Sturgeons can leap more than 7 feet above water and grow to 8 feet long and weigh up to 200 lbs. (NY Post, July 5, 2015). In another related tragedy, a dolphin leaped onto a boat in Southern California crashing into a woman and breaking both of her ankles. Chrissie Frickman was knocked overboard when the 350 lb. dolphin landed on her legs as she boated with her husband and two children on June 21st. The dolphin was released and the woman is recovering from her injuries. (NY Post, July 2nd).

Speaking of going on fish trips, Captain John Piazza has two charter trips planned for this Fall season and is

looking for our club members to sign up with him. Both trips are on the Fins On Feathers charter boat with

Captain Frank Tenore. The dates, type of fish targeted and the cost follows:

November 16th - Blackfish - $120 - 3 spots available

November 28th - striped bass/blackfish - $ 120 - 4 spots available

Call Captain John Piazza at (201) 647-5350 to reserve your spot or see him at one of our meetings to sign on for

this trip.

Captain Almost Goes to Jail for 20 Years for Catching 72 Illegal Groupers

By John Toth

Background - A Florida Captain, John Yates, landed 72 undersized red groupers. He was boarded by an

enforcement officer who directed him to sail to shore. Along the way, his mate threw the undersized grouper

overboard (must be 20 inches or more) and replaced them with legal - sized groupers in a storage box. This

incident happened in 2010 and occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. Yates was convicted in 2011, served 30 days in jail,

is blacklisted from fishing and is under three years supervised release. Punishment enough? No way!

During the Enron scandal, Enron employees were caught destroying a lot of damaging evidence and this led to a

new law called Sarbanes-Oxley that goes after anyone who destroys evidence and calls for jail time of up to 20

years. This law's intent was basically to apply to white collar crime. However, Yates case has gone through the

legal process and it went to our Supreme Court for a decision on this crime. A government lawyer was telling the

Supreme Court that Yates engaged in a "convoluted cover up scheme" and destroyed evidence against him that

violated the Sarbanes- Oxley Act. This law applies to "tangible objects" and a fish is an object. Yates defense

lawyer argued that this law was intended to address documents, records and objects that house them, not a fish.

Justice Antonin Scalia said "What kind of mad prosecutor would try to send this guy up for 20 years!"

On May 6, 2015, the Supreme Court made a decision on Yates vs. United States. In a 5-4 vote, Justice Roberts,

along with Scalia agreed with Ginsburg, and Sonia Soto-Mayer that the federal government went too far by

prosecuting a Florida fisherman under a criminal law that targets white-collar destruction of evidence. Justice Alito

concurred in a separate opinion.

Yates could have faced 20 years of jail time over keeping 72 undersized fish by a law that was designed to snare

white collar crimes of companies like Enron and other financial institutions like the ones that sold toxic securities

and made billion of dollars on the unsuspecting public during the economic meltdown in 2008. While the conduct

and actions of Yates cannot be condoned or excused, he almost went to jail over it by the close vote (5-4) of our

Supreme Court. Yet, not one person from any company that was responsible for the 2008 economic meltdown our

country experienced in 2008 and the hardship it caused to our citizens has gone to jail! That this case over 72

undersized fish was prosecuted under a law that was designed to catch white collar criminals (which Yates is

clearly not) went all the way to the Supreme Court is just totally bizarre!

Don't Throw Those Shells Away!

Two Ocean County seafood restaurants (Old Causeway Steak and the Oyster House in Atlantic City and the Mud

City Crab House in Manahawkin) are using their discarded oyster shells to restore a reef habitat in Barnegat Bay.

Melanie Magaziner, the owner of both of these restaurants, indicated that her two restaurants go through 5,000

oysters per week in the summer season. Instead of throwing the used shells in the dumpster, like they have been

doing for so long, she is giving her shells to a recycling program initiated by the American Littoral Society. The

Stockton University Marine Science and Environmental Field Station in Galloway Township serves as a storage

site until they placed into the bay. The used shells are placed into the bay to create habitat for young oysters (spat)

which anchor on to shells and naturally create a reef. The oyster shells will cure for one year at the field station

before they are reused during reef restoration projects in 2016. When shells are placed in an area with a wild oyster

population, spawning occurs and then the larvae floating in the water settle down and cement themselves to the

shells. These larvae must have hard substrate to cling to and not mud or sand to survive. The recycled shells

basically are a nursery for the larvae to grow to adulthood. Ms. Magaziner is spreading the word about recycling to

other restaurants. (The Press of Atlantic City May 24, 2015).

Fishing Management Issues - By John Toth

Seismic Testing

The boat doing the testing completed its testing during the first week of July. As reported earlier

in our July newsletter, the law firm of Wilentz, Goldman and Spitzer took this case at no charge to

stop this testing through our courts. This suit was filed late since the boat doing the testing already

completed its work and was in dock. This firm had partial success in that it any future testing in

2016 and beyond has to have earlier notification to the public and more input from the public.

Hopefully, this testing will be over with and we do not have to deal with this issue again.

Bonus Tag for Striped Bass As of the writing of this newsletter, the Bonus Tag for striped bass will be in effect September 1st

that allows the keeping of one striped bass at 24 to less than 28 inches to December 31st. I

applied for a Bonus Tag early this year and received it with outdated information that I could keep

a bass 28 inches or more. Then I got another email from the Division of Fish & Wildlife saying

that the Bonus Tag I received was invalid and that another one would be issued to me by email

saying I could use it to catch a bass 24 to 28 inches starting September 1, 2015. I have not

received any Bonus Tag yet, but I am expecting one soon.

Most likely, the Division of Fish of Fish & Wildlife will start issuing new Bonus tags soon or on

the September 1st date. Given that many anglers will want to sign up for a Bonus Tag, it would be

prudent for anglers to do it ASAP since the demand for it may exceed the number of Bonus Tags

available for this limited season. Get your Bonus tag online at:

https://www.nj.wildlifelicense.com/ALS/LicCtrL.php. It cannot be done on the phone. There is a

$2 charge, so have your credit card handy. Also as a reminder, anglers can catch stripers in any

order and the Bonus Tag can be used first to catch and keep a 24 to 28 inch striper. The main

point is that all stripers caught must adhere to the new regulations.

Fluke

The picture for fluke is NOT pretty! The Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) of the Mid-

Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAMFC) has recommended a 29 percent reduction in

the allowable biological catch for summer flounder in 2016! Incredibly, it initially recommended a

43 percent reduction, starting next year but changed it to 29 % following an outcry over how

such a drastic cut in one year would damage the fishing industry. So to lessen this damage, it

looks like the 43 percent cutbacks would be spread over three years, starting with 29 % in 2016

and other percentages in 2017 and 2018. A representative of the MAMFC (Kiley Dancy) said that

the flounder biomass was over-predicted and fishing mortality was underestimated in a recent

stock assessment. While this issue is somewhat still up in the air, it looks like this 29% cutback

may take effect in 2016! What this all means is a shorter season to catch fluke, a bigger size say to

19 inches or more, a smaller bag limit, or a combination of all three of these options. No matter

how these cutbacks takes place, they will definitely hurt the for-hire charter/party boat industry and

tackle shops. As I indicated earlier in this newsletter, bluefishing is spotty right now and the party

boats are turning to catching fluke so that their patrons can take something home with them at the

end of their trip. If these party boats cannot turn to fluke to fill this void when bluefish are not

around, what can they do? These cutbacks to fluke are based on faulty data and we all know this

and have lived with this problem for quite some time. Bad data going into computer models bring

bad results out of them. I will keep you updated as this ugly situation with fluke as it unfolds.

Support our Charter Boat Captains who are SWABC members:

Fins on Feathers - Contact Frank or Mary Tenore at (973) 763 - 2876 or email Finsonfathers@msn.com Katie James Sport Fishing L.L.C - Contact Captain Art Lein @ (201) 696-7592 or email Katiejamesfish@aol.com (Sunday Special Charter trip on the Katie James. Book a trip on Sunday in June - September for $660 and save $60 off the regular price).

Reel Fun Sport Fishing- Contact Captain John Kolias (908) 421-4761 or email Reelfunsportfishing.com

FISH SPECIES MIN.

WEIGHT

ENTRY

WEIGHT ANGLER

BLACKFISH 4

BLUEFISH 12 18 lbs. Chuck

Santoro

COD FISH 10

FLOUNDER 1lb.8oz.

FLUKE 4 9 lbs. Steve Totten

LING 2

POLLOCK 10

PORGY 1lb.8oz.

SEA BASS 2 2.46 lbs Tom Tyls

STRIPED

BASS 12 46 lbs. Rick Reitano

WEAKFISH 2

2015 Big Fish Contest Rules:

To limit confusion about the rules governing our Big Fish Contest, our Board members discussed this issue and agreed to the following provisions that would take into effect for 2014 and in the future:

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 much-preferred 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 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.

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 #.______________________________________________________________________________

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