President's Report

by John Toth

(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association July 2008 Newsletter)

Immediately after the 13th Annual Fluke Tournament Awards Ceremony, JCAA’s Tournament Committee began planning for the 14th Annual. The Tournament is one of the largest in the United States. Many thanks go to Phil Celmer, Tournament Director, Tom Fote, Rich Pasko, Bruce Smith, Ed Cherry, Frank Richetti, Mark Taylor, Al and Don Marantz, Pat Donnelly, Philip Vincent Celmer, Greg Kucharewski, Dr. Eleanor Bochenek - all who volunteer so much of their time and Eileen Smith who worked tirelessly for the JCAA Tournament. Also, many thanks to the volunteers who stopped by and put in a few hours to help our office staff. There were mailings to be done, T shirts order’s to fill and registration for all tournament anglers. Thanks again!

JCAA volunteer Jim Galanaugh Sr. and I, were weigh masters at Clark’s Marina on June 14th and what an exciting time we had! Approximately 107 boats were registered to come into this port to weigh their fish. Many nice fish were weighed and the first place winner was about 7 and ½ pounds. Two anglers (Dan Plenzo and Jim Beninato) told me that the fluke they caught (a 5.05 lb. fluke) took both of their rigs! Dan, an experienced angler for many years, told me that he had a 10 inch squid on his rig and when the fish hit, he said it did not feel quite right. When he brought it up, the fish swallowed his rig and the rig of his colleague Jim Beninato! Dan also told me that he has never seen a fish take two rigs at once throughout his fishing career! I guess that there is a first time for everything! Dan Plenzo and his crew ended up taking 8th place in my port.

At the time of this writing, I am looking forward to our Gala Awards Ceremony at the Trump Marina Casino. We had about 1,700 anglers and their friends in the Grand Ballroom last year to see the winners from each port receive their prizes and of course, have a chance to win the many door prizes and the grand prize of the Yamaha Center Console with the Yamaha 4 stroke engine and the LoadRite trailer to take it away! This is truly a grand event and not many organizations can hold an event that is so classy and one that is loaded with prizes for the taking. Hope you had the opportunity to attend it.

The JCAA Fluke Tournament is our major fundraiser and your support means so much to us! In spite of the gas prices, more anglers decided to enter our tournament than we expected and that means so much to us! THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!

Pots Off the Reefs – Important !!!!!

So write to your legislators and especially Assemblyman Fisher and Senator Codey and tell them to support these bills. We all know that the traps dot the reefs and should not be there, but now they are in violation of Federal legislation that prohibits anything on the reefs that interfere with hook and line fishing. Their information follows.

(Bill S-336) Send your letter or FAX to:
Honorable Senate President Richard Codey
449 Mount Pleasant Avenue
West Orange, NJ 07052
(973) 731-6770 FAX (973) 731-0647
sencodey@njleg.org

(Bill A-1519) Send your letter or FAX to:
Assemblyman Douglas Fisher
14 East Commerce Street, 3rd Floor
Bridgeton, NJ 08302
(856) 455-1011 FAX (856) 455-2853
asmfisher@njleg.org

No Meetings during July and August – Reminder

During July and August, most anglers are fishing since that is what we are supposed to do, or either we are on vacation with our family and friends. Consequently, there will be no General meetings at our usual Brick meeting location during these months. However, your Executive Board will still meet during June and August since our fishing management problems and issues do not go away. We will be expecting some indication where we stand on fluke issues with the Stock Assessment Workshop meeting that will be held at Woods Hole, MA toward the latter part of June. Most likely there will be follow up issues on this workshop that we will have to monitor and address. We will keep you informed through your JCAA newsletter. So have a good summer and see you in September as the song goes!

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