PS HAVING MAJOR ISSUES WITH A BLOG TODAY…ITS WORK IN PROGRESS

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf7OQmfOkxU[/youtube]

Ah,its nice to get up at 4 am….to go fishing instead of work. Meeting our Rod Guru Lou Caruso to do some testing and video this morning. Working with Lou is always a pleasure. Any of you guys need rod built or repaired this winter ,you should talk to Lou. Even if it’s just for advice. I have grown to respect his thoughts and ideas very much over the years, he knows his stuff and his prices are really reasonable. You can check him out at http://louscustomrods.com/

STRIPERTHON 2010 is over, done ,caput. We are still waiting on a Penn Torque 5 bailess that we ordered from Penn. So far, it has not arrived but then again Penn has a hard time filling all the backorders. But be assured that you will get it if you win, even if I have to go buy another.

I need a good full day to sit down, get the pictures organized for a vote. I just haven’t had much time with writing for upcoming issue and working on a video. If you ever have time to waste, get yourself video editing program Then , after you spend 30 hours on a 3 minute video Continue reading →

I have this idea in my head…ok, more than idea. It’s a concept that I been working on  over the years but never had a courage to put it in the motion….so let’s see if you will give me any courage to finally pull a trigger

You know how you go to the shows in the winter and you try to catch a seminar but you always feel rushed? You want to walk the isles and possibly there is another seminar you like to attend but its scheduled at same time as the one you are sitting in?

Let’s be honest, the seminars at shows leave a lot to be desired. From sometimes cramped quarters to lack of visual aids, bad lightning and sometimes stale topics. You can put blame on me for last one at times, I am not the most engaging speaker although I try.

So here is my question to blog readers.

I am in processes of putting together a series of weekday evening surf fishing classes for winter after holidays. Eastern Nassau County

Let’s say an 1 1/2 hour class every Wednesday(or Thursday or Tuesday) for 6 consecutive weeks. Here is the kicker, the classes would be not only taught by me but by some of the most talented surfcasters of this generation. I spoke to Bill Wetzel, John Skinner, Manny Moreno and yes, even legendary Don Musso from Super Strike fame. Each of these guys would be your instructor for one class plus yours truly

Classes would be limited to about 40 people and would cover from equipment and gear to rigging live and rigged eels, how and where to use lures, inlet, sand and Montauk fishing and just about every topic you want to learn about including, gasp,  bait fishing. Yes ,there is an art to that too. The cost for 6 classes would be somewhere around a hundred dollars or little less, still trying to see the cost of the venue…

I am working on plenty of free raffle prizes for participants. I always thought these kind of classes is something that we should have available to those that want to learn. Let’s be honest, there is not a man that I know, who fished 5 days or 50 years that would not want to hear legendary lure builder Donny Musso talks.

Now it’s your turn to tell me if I have lost my marbles or this is something people would actually like to attend.

Written for the Surfcaster’s Journal Blog readers by a special Guest

Charles A. Witek, III, Chairman

  Coastal Conservation Association Atlantic States Committee   

STRIPED BASS WIN BIG AT ASMFC

            Last February, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Committee began to consider the possibility of increasing the commercial striped bass quota, a measure that was being advanced primarily by Pat Augustine, the Governor’s Appointee from New York and Michael Johnson, who holds a proxy from the Legislative Appointee from North Carolina.

            Despite strong opposition, a draft Addendum to the Interstate Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass, which proposed a commercial increase, was approved at ASMFC’s May meeting, and public hearings were held over the summer.  Over 2,000 comments opposing the increase were received, as opposed to just 60 comments in favor (the official ASMFC estimate was that 97% of all comments received were in opposition to the increase).  However, when dealing with ASMFC, there is always a concern that the personal opinions (and, in some cases, the personal financial and/or business interests) of the governors’ and legislative appointees could override the desires of their constituencies.  Thus, there was a real chance that the commercial increase would go through.

            After all, the May vote to move ahead with the Addendum was a fairly lopsided 10 to 6.  If folks wanted to prevent a bigger commercial bass kill, they had a lot of work to do.

            As Chairman of the Coastal Conservation Association’s Atlantic States Committee, which coordinates fisheries advocacy for all of the CCA member states between Maine and Florida, I helped spearhead the advocacy efforts for one of the organizations which set out to defeat the commercial increase.

            The first step was to marshal our arguments.  On paper, the commercial increase didn’t look too significant, and we were concerned that managers wouldn’t appreciate its potential impact.  That is because all of the estimates of the effects of increased commercial harvest were based on today’s bass population (or, more precisely, the population for the years 2004-2008, when it was at its peak).  What was left out of the equation was the impact on a population that is expected to decline through at least 2015—and, given poor recruitment in Maryland, perhaps well beyond that date.  That potential threat to the future of the stock is what had to be brought to the fore.

            The next step was getting the members involved.  Those reading this who have ever been a part of a real grassroots organization know what it is like when volunteers communicate with other volunteers, so that in each state the membership opens like a blossoming flower to turn out at meetings and, if they can’t attend, to put their comments on the public record.  With the help of Dick Brame, CCA’s Atlantic States Coordinator (a paid staff member with a graduate degree in wildlife management), we made sure that each volunteer presented Continue reading →

 

James Gilmore – STATE ADMINISTRATOR

jjgilmor@gw.dec.state.ny.us