JAY MANN'S FISHING WEBSITE ::: Daily Blog --
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
IMPORTANT !!!!!!!!!!! This site does NOT contain all new blogs and news stories. For everything -- daily and otherwise -- go to http://jaymanntoday.ning.com.
Also, cut-off sections from this site can be seen in-full at .)
IMPORTANT: DAILY UPDATES AT http://jaymanntoday.ning.com/ ONLY SELECT REPORTS GET ON THIS WEBPAGE.
It’s that humbling time of the year where I ask for donations to keep this blog up and running. It is a time consuming enterprise but I enjoy it. It’s kinda therapeutic. I hope you find it fun – and functional. I’d also like to take this time to sincerely thank those who email or phone me with tales, fishing reports and questions. It’s energizing. Donations can be mailed to: Jay Mann, 222 18th Street, Ship Bottom, NJ, 08008-4418. Being Type A I don’t always have the time to mail Thank-you note but, believe me (!), your donations are fully appreciated. J-mann.
Update: I’m PayPal ready for donations. Just go to PayPal, click “Send Money,” type in my email (jmann99@hotmail.com), enter amount and click “Services” box. It’s a snap and I’m grateful beyond measure.
Saturday, November 21, 2009:
Just south of Little Egg Inlet, the boat bassing is excellent. Per usual, the trick is to motor just inside the shoals, right where the whitewater backs off. Even clam gobs are working there. Some folks are getting inside the rough water then using larger rods (even surf rods) to cast out onto the shallows to allow a long drift into the drop-off.
Just north of Barnegat inlet the bites has been downright explosive. It went bass-bonkers again today. Yesterday, the a.m. bite was offering 50 or more hookups, often fine fish, per boat.
Here’s an email from today:
"Lots of bass north of the inlet. There were fleets north of the CG station and also halfway up to the bathing beach but out a mile. I ended up spending most of my morning 1/4 mile north of the inlet making drifts from 15' of water out to 30'. Ended up with eight bass, seven which were of keeper size. I had 7 spots and caught fish on all of them but had trouble getting anything to take my jig presentation. The two fish I kept were loaded with sand eels but still happy to stuff a spot in. WP"
(WP,
I had heard about that bonanza of a bite but should note it also was moody. A goodly number of folks who tried afternoon sessions couldn't draw a touch -- including guys from the shop that sells most of the spot.
That sand eel info is very crucial. Could indicate a wide-ranging pause in the bunker migration -- and might also be why those spot are so ravenously sucked down. After nonstop slimy and gooey sand eels a spot looks real tasty. J-mann.)
Surfcasters weren’t lighting it on fire – overall. There were hot spots that I’m trying to get info about but generally speaking all that made the scales were a few nice bass and more of those 10-ish blues. That’s not to demean those slammers in any way. They’re fierce fighters, a choir to land and as dangerous a fish as there is to unhook. I’m just wondering if we’re going to see any of those 20-pounders that traditionally top the Classic.
Friday, November 20, 2009:
A full-blown fast break of blues and bass swept the entire length of Holgate earlier today. Not only was everyone in that zone into fish but some serious stripers surfaced – and fled before becoming scale hangers. I heard of three major fish creating their own early releases. Mark J fought a likely 40-lber for a solid 20 minutes, doing all the right stuff to land it only to succumb to the beyond-frustrating hook exit in the wash. Hey, there is always the element of luck in any landing and when it runs out it often does do in dramatic fashion.
Most of the south end action was on chunks. And it wasn’t hard to find fresh bunker with acres of it showing from right next to the beach and way out.
Mid-Island also saw some slammer passages. That zone has decent potential for tomorrow, especially Brant Beach.
Other areas of the Jersey coastline exploded today, both toward Brigantine and up toward Seaside. Randy M was working a charter off the Mansion (IBSP) and was into bass up to the gills. If those just-north bass are chasing bait they could come our way very quickly.
Here’s a herring story off the new wires:
[Portland Press Herald - November 20, 2009 - EDITORIAL: If the New England Fishery Management Council made a mistake by recommending that federal regulators reduce the catch of herring by 45 percent next year, they erred on the side of necessary caution.
The purse seine fishery, which covers an area from Labrador to Cape Hatteras, is the primary source of bait for Maine's lobster fishermen. It also provides herring for canned sardines and other processed fish products.
NEFMC members voted Tuesday to recommend that the National Marine Fisheries Service reduce the allowable catch from 194,000 metric tons this year to 109,000 tons in 2010.
The herring fishery is a special concern for regulators because, due to its small size and abundance, the fish is a important food source for many other species throughout its life cycle.
Herring eggs nourish winter flounder, cod, haddock and red hake, while many species of fish, including sharks and skates, prey on juvenile and adult herring, as do seabirds and marine mammals such as whales, dolphins and seals.
Herring caught along the Maine coast provide bait for the state's $244 million lobstering fishery, but some lobster fishermen use menhaden, redfish or other bait. (Herring) Catches along the Maine coast have been declining since 2006, resulting in a rise in bait prices even as the price of lobster has fallen in the marketplace.
That decline has raised worries among regulators that the total number of herring are also in decline, although they admit that there is not enough information about the fishery to make a solid determination about either the overall condition of the resource or about the impact of the fishery on it.
So, the council put the new limits in place as a precautionary measure while simultaneously calling for a new and widespread catch and bycatch monitoring program to be implemented next year. That can be criticized as a 'play-it-safe' decision based on less than complete information, but it nevertheless is the right one, precisely because complete data are lacking.
While the impact on lobstering will not be negligible, neither would a serious decline in the stock due to overfishing. Herring are too important in the oceanic food chain to be put at risk by catch limits set in ignorance of their impact.
The council made the right decision, and should be supported in it.
(((((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))
Thursday, November 19, 2009: Waves: Still a north swell to 4 feet or so.
Holgate note: Long Beach Township public works has placed plenty of sand over the chunks of concrete crap at the entrance. It’s a fairly easy on and off. The Rip can easily be accessed at low tide. Rising, high and dropping tides can be problematic, heavily based on waves and astronomical phases. Regarding all that debris near the entrance, it’s mainly rock, cement and concrete. No concrete and cement aren’t the same thing, concrete containing rocks and often rebar. Regarding that always frightening rebar – capable of skewering even the finest steel-belted radial tire -- there is a bare minimum of it among the Holgate debris. Over many years, I’ve only seen a few bars and those are related to larger chunks of concrete toward the jetty. Obviously, should a piece become exposed right where we drive it would ruin tire after tire. Myself and folks like Stu D and the rest of the Holgate gang are constantly on the look for heavy metal dangers like that.
It is highly fishable for just about the entire length of LBI. The angling has not responded yet. Yes, there are a few fish but more at a mid-September rate than height-of-the-season pace. The problem is no major forage fish flurries are showing to our north, from whence comes our blitz potentials. Still, rogue fish are better than no fish. I hate to jinx it but December could be kick-ass in terms of schoolie action. Keep that light gear handy – while keeping the elephant guns at work as a 50-pound bass is still possible for a couple more weeks.
A seriously ill juvenile seal came ashore in Surf City this a.m. Bill M alerted Standing Center reps. The little guy does not look good. It allowed me to move in within a couple feet for cellphone shots. By law, that’s a no-no but in this case it was in conjunction with the Standing Center.
Regarding seals, we’ll be seeing a load of them this winter. That’s based on a huge repopulation up north, in the Canadian maritime. What’s more, public outcry against sealing has reduced demand to an all-time low – though the Asians are still scarfing is down. The fiscal loss (sometimes for native peoples) from lost seal-blubber and fur sales is so severe in Canada that just this week that nation’s parliament began eating seal meat in some sorta showing of seal-eating of solidarity. No, not one of those trying the meat said it tasted like chicken. And though the following news story doesn’t spell it out, a couple folks eating it gagged and spit it out in front of news cameras, one gal needing to run for a nearby bathroom.
News report:
OTTAWA–Governor General Michaëlle Jean declared it to be "absolutely delicious."
To others it is absolutely disgusting, not to mention morally reprehensible.
Members of Parliament and senators soon will be able to decide for themselves when seal meat comes to their swishy private restaurant on Parliament Hill.
"I think it's going to be an attractive addition to the menu when it's available," said Quebec Liberal MP Marcel Proulx, a spokesman for the Board of Internal Economy, which oversees administration of the parliamentary precinct.
The board, made up of MPs from all parties, was first asked to add seal meat to the restaurant's menu in 2008 by senators wanting to show support for the small commercial seal hunt as Canada stared down a European Union trade ban that was adopted this year.
The only problem was finding a reliable supplier of seal meat. Most firms still involved in the hunt make their money from furs sold to Russia and China, and from seal oil, a source of omega-3 fatty acids that help in a child's brain development and can reduce the risk of heart disease later in life. The board was approached again in June by Bloc Québécois MP Michel Guimond after the EU ban passed. This time they located a supplier in the Magdalen Islands, a tiny outpost off the southeast coast of Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula.
The Magdalen Islands seal hunt, one of less than half a dozen centres for the annual cull, begins in March, meaning parliamentarians could be feasting on the traditional dish in the early spring of 2010.
"The harp seal that they are talking about and are so excited about, it tastes horrible," said Liberal Senator Mac Harb, a former municipal politician in Ottawa.
He said he was told by people who have tried seal that it tastes bad, but has not tried it himself.
"If they were to do this, it would be important for them to take a leadership role and have a feast first before any other members of Parliament so they can see first-hand how tasty it is. I'm sure they'll conclude quite quickly it's not edible."
The harp seal that they are talking about and are so excited about, it tastes horrible," said Liberal Senator Mac Harb, a former municipal politician in Ottawa.
He said he was told by people who have tried seal that it tastes bad, but has not tried it himself.
"If they were to do this, it would be important for them to take a leadership role and have a feast first before any other members of Parliament so they can see first-hand how tasty it is. I'm sure they'll conclude quite quickly it's not edible."
((((((((((((((()))))))))))
There is more gastronomically disturbing news sure to rock the early-rising angling realm. Kellogg Company has timidly announced that there will be “severe shortage” of Eggo waffles from now right through the winter. This is due to storm temporarily knocking out the company’s prime waffle-making plant in Atlanta, while another factory worked so hard trying to keep up with Eggo demand that it literally began falling apart. It is closed indefinitely for repairs.
This sudden need for breakfast material in America has caught the eye of the Canadian government, which is toying with the idea of a product called Seal-Os, a meaty toaster delight that comes six to a package – that a seal balancing a beach ball on its nose. Over the top of the package is the product’s motto “It’s kinda good and stuff, eh?”
Nay.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009:
Fish are slowly returning to the beach, inlets and bay. Today the Classic saw the largest number of weigh-ins since last week. It’s mainly bluefish, which persist in that very atypical (for fall) one-and-done showing. Also, the autumnal slammers are running small, mainly that 9- to 12-pound range. I put that about three or four pounds behind what we usually see right about now. It’s also getting past the height of the blitz season with very little in the way of classical blitzing, when upwards of 100 fish can get weighed in just one day. Still, the big blues are a-cruise and have really leveled the playing field via their willingness to show up just about anywhere. I even had one bite me off at night under the bridges. That’s a tad odd for this late in the year, though the bay is still way warmer than usual.
By the by, there are some very decent bass hotspots for boat fishermen. I know of a couple boats all but bailing fish using spot. It’s south. That’s all I’m allowed to say. That in no way implies that anywhere you stop is striper-able but it might be enough to get you out there exploring a bit.
Here’s an important read. Please check it out.
((((((((((()))))))))))
The Baltimore Sun] By Candus Thomson - November 19, 2009 -
The comment period is open on a state proposal to restrict recreational striped bass fishing in the Chesapeake Bay in the early spring when the fish are spawning.
At a meeting Monday evening in Annapolis, recreational anglers overwhelmingly opposed the measures, saying there was no scientific evidence to support the need to restrict fishing.
'There's hardly anything to get your teeth into,' complained recreational angler Ken Hastings. 'If you can't find any lower-hanging fruit to save these fish, I'll help you find some.'
Charter boat captains, who instigated the state's action, applauded the effort as a way to protect the fish.
'Err on the side of caution,' said Capt. Brian Keehn. 'Give these fish a break.'
The Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Service will accept comments on its Web site until Nov. 23.
Pr
 |
| |
| Jay Mann News |
| Recent Daily Reports |
| Jay Mann's News |
| Past Daily Reports |
Send E-Mail to: jmann99@hotmail.comCopyright © 2009 Jay Mann. All Rights Reserved