Dec. 30: The Fishing Line, Too frigid to fish

It’s certainly has been too frigid to fish but that doesn’t mean winter fishing is over. If you didn’t get out fishing, maybe you got a chance to finish your Christmas shopping.
Nevertheless, despite the weather, there’s always news on the fishing front.
The Starlight Fleet, Wildwood Crest, manages to get out whenever possible. Walter Czejaki, Long Island, NY, caught his limit of sea bass up to 6-pounds in size.
Yeong Chong, New York, also had the limit with fish up to 5.5-pounds; James Holliday, Philadelphia, also limited out on sea bass up to 6-pounds; as did Ed Chadrow, Wildwood Crest, and Sammy Stroud, Malvern, Pa.
NEWS WATCH: The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) together with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Board met Dec. 9 in Montauk, N.Y. and adopted the following 2009 recreational fishery management measures:
Summer Flounder, harvest limit 7.16m pounds, possession limit, minimum fish size and open season, all state specific.
Scup, harvest limit 1.74m pounds, possession limit 25 fish (EEZ), minimum fish size 12 inches (EEZ), open season Jan. 1-Feb. 28 and Oct. l-0ct. 31.
Black Sea Bass, harvest limit 1.17m pounds, possession limit 25 fish, minimum fish size 12.5 inch, open season Jan. 1- Dec. 31.
For the recreational summer flounder fishery, the Council and Board adopted the conservation equivalency alternative in lieu of a coastwide option. This decision requires the states to develop state-specific management measures (i.e., possession limits, size limits, and seasons) to achieve state-specific harvest limits. The states will develop management proposals and submit them to the Board for approval at its February 2009 meeting.
The Council also adopted quota and management measures for the 2009-2010 Spiny Dogfish fishing year. A commercial quota of 12m pounds was approved and would be divided into two semi-annual quota periods; May 1-Sept. 30 and Oct. 1-April 30, 2010.
The Council also voted to confirm its April 2008 action regarding Tilefish Amendment 1 Gear Restricted Areas (GRA). The Council agreed that the GRA interpreted by and provided by the NMFS Northeast Regional Office are indeed consistent with its intent to minimize the effect of bottom trawling on the tilefish Essential Fish Habitat (EFH).
Special congratulations to Captain James Ruhle and posthumously to his brother, Captain Philip Ruhle who received awards from MAFMC for their work as advocates for sustainable fishing practices.
Captain Jimmy Ruhle works with the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences on their mapping project of the New Jersey coast (NEAMAP). I ran an article about this project in November and will follow-up when the survey crew returns to Cape May in the spring.
Check out SeeMyBigFish.com for all the photos sent in this year. And be sure to send your fish stories and pictures to Be My Guest reporter. Send info to cmiller@cmcherald.com. This column first appeared on capemaycountyherald.com.