No Fluke

VIP Tournament, Pabst relationship still brewing

Captain Dave Monti
Posted 5/21/15

The RI Lions Sight Foundation (RILSF) will host their 8th Annual Fishing Tournament for Visually Impaired Persons (VIP's) of Rhode Island on June 21, 2015.

The Tournament which takes place on a …

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No Fluke

VIP Tournament, Pabst relationship still brewing

Posted

The RI Lions Sight Foundation (RILSF) will host their 8th Annual Fishing Tournament for Visually Impaired Persons (VIP's) of Rhode Island on June 21, 2015.

The Tournament which takes place on a Frances Fleet party fishing boat and is supported through donations from RI Lions Clubs, individual donors and one special corporate sponsor.  For the second year in a row, the Tournament will receive support from the Pabst Brewing Company through the Pabst Blue Ribbon Northeastern Fishing Tournament held from June through September (visit www.pbrfishing.com). 

The VIP Tournament includes breakfast and a half-day of fluke fishing followed by lunch and an awards presentation.  Participants vie for the opportunity to represent Rhode Island at the Lions National VIP Tourney being held in October in North Carolina.  

The event is free of charge to all VIP's and their guides. To be eligible participants are must be legally blind, at least 17 years old, are physically able to fish from a party boat, and must be accompanied by a guide (transportation and/or guides will be provided if needed).

VIP's and guides must fill out an application to participate.  Visit http://www.lions4sight.org/index.htm or call Ken Barthelemy at 401-529-6173 for information.

DEM to hold workshop and hearing 

The Department of Environmental Management's (DEM) Division of Fish and Wildlife will hold a workshop and public hearing to discuss the proposed 2016-2017 freshwater fishing seasons and the 2015-2016 hunting seasons and bag limits on Tuesday, May 26, 5:30 p.m. at the Warwick Police Department's Community Room, located at 99 Veteran's Memorial Drive in Warwick.  The meeting will be followed by a public hearing on proposed regulations at 7:00 p.m.

Copies of the draft regulations will be available at the public workshops and the public comment hearing. The draft regulations are also posted on DEM's website at www.dem.ri.gov/programs/bnatres/fishwild/pn052615.htm.  

 Interested parties may present comments concerning the draft regulations at the May 26th public hearing or submit written comments to the Division of Fish and Wildlife, 277 Great Neck Road, West Kingston, RI 02892 no later than 12:00 p.m. on May 26. 

Boating Safety Week… all urged all to wear life jackets 

U.S. Coast Guard statistics show that drowning was the reported cause of death in almost three-fourths of recreational boating fatalities in 2013, and that 84 percent of those who drowned were not wearing life jackets. That's why boating safety advocates continue to push for increased and consistent life jacket wear on the water.

Environmental police officers from the DEM's Division of Law enforcement and boating safety advocates across the US and Canada are teaming up this week for National Safe Boating Week to promote safe and responsible boating and urge boaters to wear life jackets each and every time they are on the water.

National Safe Boating Week, May 16-22, marks the official launch of the 2015 North American safe boating campaign. This year-long campaign promotes safe and responsible boating and the value of voluntary life jacket wear by recreational boaters. In addition, the campaign reminds boaters of the importance of boating safely, boating sober, knowing navigational rules and having a proper lookout. Campaign partners will teach classes, distribute educational materials, and perform vessel safety checks. 

According to Lieutenant Steven Criscione, boating safety coordinator for DEM's Division of Law Enforcement, "The key to safe boating is the life jacket.  A person who suffers swimming failure or loss of consciousness will stay afloat wearing a life jacket, but will drown without one."  Lt. Criscione urges boaters to wear a life jacket from the time they enter the boat until they return to shore. "There is no time to put a life jacket on before a boating accident," Criscione noted. "It would be like trying to buckle your seat belt before a car crash." 

For more information on Rhode Island specific boating laws and regulations including the mandatory boating safety education requirement and certification process, please visit:  http://www.dem.ri.gov/topics/boating.htm  or contact the DEM Environmental Police at 401-222-2284.

Report demonstrates potential economic gains from fisheries reallocations

Last week a report titled "The Economic Gains from Reallocating Specific Saltwater Fisheries," produced by the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) and Southwick Associates, was introduced at the American Boating Congress, an annual legislative conference co-hosted by organizations from all segments of the boating and fishing industries. 

The report uses economic contributions estimates and the few fisheries valuation studies available in three mixed sector fisheries to examine the potential gains by increasing the recreational allocation for specific species.

Some of the key findings include:

• Summer Flounder in the Mid-Atlantic: Recreational angler spending supported up to 25,450 jobs in 2011, compared to up to 4,665 jobs supported by commercial production.

• Red Snapper in the Gulf of Mexico: Recreational fishing for red snapper contributes approximately four times more to the nation's gross domestic product than commercial harvests.

• Pacific Halibut from California to Washington: Recreational fishing for halibut provides nearly five times more jobs per pound harvested when compared to commercial harvests.

"This report demonstrates how allocating larger shares of specific fisheries to the recreational sector can increase economic activity to the overall benefit to the nation," said Scott Gudes, ASA's vice president for Government Affairs. "This isn't meant to be a comprehensive analysis into these fisheries, but rather an examination based on available data. Further studies are needed, but these preliminary results are very compelling and demand at least a discussion on how our nation's fisheries should be allocated."

In a press release issued by the ASA last week the Association said, "Despite the tremendous importance that allocation decisions have in maximizing the benefits that our fisheries provide to the nation, federal fisheries managers have not revisited allocations - most of which were determined decades ago - primarily because of a lack of clear guidance on how decisions should be made and because these decisions are inherently difficult."

For information and a copy of the study visit www.asafishing.org.

Where's the bite

Freshwater fishing has been very good.  Angler Steve Brustein of West Warwick, RI said, "I ended up going to Johnson pond (Saturday) and caught some large mouths, a few perch, and 1 pickerel.  I was fishing with shiners (and planned to do some relaxed fishing) with the live bait doing the work, but the bite was fairly active so I went through a dozen shiners in an hour and never sat down." 

Tautog bite is fair with anglers catching fish with few reports of big fish.  Noted local tautog expert Scott Kiefer of Coventry (he caught a 16 pound tautog in 2013) said, "Finally got the boat in and went out and was able to get a few short tautog. At least there was a bite, worms were the food of choice." John Littlefield of Archie's Bait & Tackle, Riverside said, "Two customers caught their limit of tautog (three fish/angler/

day) at Conimicut Light this week. Some boats did well and others did not, it's just a matter of position and being over the fish." "Tautog fishing picked up this week with anglers landing keepers at Hope Island, the Spindle and Ohio Ledge." said John Wunner of John's Bait & Tackle, North Kingstown.  "We have weighed in some nice fish to nine plus pounds last week but anglers are saying the bite is slow and sporadic… the fish are down there but they are just not very aggressive." said Greg Bruning of the Tackle Box, Warwick.

Summer flounder (fluke) fishing has picked up this week with anglers catching shorts with keepers mixed in as summer flounder moves closer to coastal shores.  Gisele Golembeski, who fished with her husband Saturday said, "Tried outside the West Gap... nada. We headed out to Block Island to try our luck there. Nice smooth ride over. Lots of shorts, but ended up with 3 keepers. Biggest was a nice 6.42 pound fish."  Mike Cardinal of Cardinal Bait, Westerly said, "Fluke fishing has picked up.  Customers are catching keepers in 50 to 60 feet of water along the southern coastal shore." Roger Simpson of the Frances Fleet said, "Fluke fishing has wildly improved this past weekend. (the biggest fish Friday) was caught by Chris Mace, Boston, MA with a buck tail jig at 9.2 pounds…Saturday with a handful of anglers again scoring keeper counts in the four to six per fish category, Mr. Lee from Palisades Park, NJ had the biggest fish of the day again on a jig with a fish that just hit the 10 pound mark." Captain Bob Masse said, "Left Oakland beach around 7:00 a.m. heading for Austin Hollow fishing for fluke. Got one keeper size 19 ½" and one sea robin. It's a start."

"Striped bass and saltwater fishing in general exploded this week. School bass can be found in just about any cove in the Bay with soft baits and top water lures (particularly at night).  Some keepers were caught by kayak anglers fishing with tube and worm." said John Wunner of John's Bait, North Kingstown. The bass bite is on this week in East Greenwich Cove said angler Steve Brustein of West Warwick who landed school bass Sunday.  "School bass in the 23" to 27" range are being caught at Sabin Point, Barrington Beach and off the bridges with anglers using clam tongue and worms.  One customer squid fishing in Bristol said the bass were working the schools of squid with one bass hitting a squid with its tail sending it flying 15' into the air. By the way, some squid fishermen had five gallon pails full of squid." said John Littlefield of Archie's Bait.  "Anglers fishing the north side of Conimicut Point from shore caught a 29" and 35"  striped bass.  They said the keepers were mixed in with school bass. Eight to ten school bass to one keeper.  The bass were feeding on Atlantic menhaden." said Greg Bruning of the Tackle Box, Warwick. Mike Cardinal of Cardinal Bait said, "Anglers continue to land school bass from shore with keepers mixed in along the coastal beaches."

Scup fishing is just starting to warm up.  Roger Simpson of the Francis Fleet said, "Those folk who have tried to catch a few scup at night with fresh squid have managed a few handfuls of jumbo porgies to 1.5 pounds."

Captain Dave Monti has been fishing and shell fishing for over 40 years.  He holds a captain's master license and a charter fishing license. Visit Captain Dave's No Fluke website at www.noflukefishing.com or e-mail him with your fishing news and photos at dmontifish@verizon.net.

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