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The leaves might be falling, but the deals are just starting to spring up at your Suzuki Marine dealer. Make your best Fall Boat Show deal on a new Suzuki outboard from 25 to 300 horsepower and take advantage of not just one, but all three special Suzuki offers. See your Suzuki Marine dealer today and get on the water with a powerful, reliable new Suzuki.
REPOWER FINANCE
1. Six Years of Protection at no extra charge on all new outboards 25 to 300 HP.
2. Cash Rebates on select models. See your dealer for details.
3. Rates as low as 5.99% on new Suzuki outboards (OAC).*
Gimme Six Extended Protection promo is applicable to new Suzuki Outboard Motors from 25 to 300 HP in inventory which are sold and delivered to buyer between 9/01/17 and 12/31/17 in accordance with the promotion by a Participating Authorized Suzuki Marine dealer in the continental US and Alaska to a purchasing customer who resides in the continental US or Alaska. Customer should expect to receive an acknowledgement letter and full copy of contract including terms, conditions and wallet card from Suzuki Extended Protection within 90 days of purchase. If an acknowledgement letter is not received in time period stated, contact Suzuki Motor of America, Inc. – Marine Marketing via email: marinepromo@suz.com. The Gimme Six Promotion is available for pleasure use only, and is not redeemable for cash. Cash Rebates apply to qualifying purchases of select Suzuki Outboard Motors made between 9/01/17 and 12/31/17. For list of designated models, see participating Dealer or visit www.suzukimarine.com. Customer and participating Dealer must fill out the appropriate rebate form at time of sale. Cash rebate will be applied against the original dealer invoice (Suzuki will credit Dealer parts account). There are no model substitutions, benefit substitutions, rain checks, or extensions. Suzuki reserves the right to change or cancel these promotions at any time without notice or obligation. * Financing offers available through Synchrony Retail Finance. As low as 5.99% APR financing for 60 months on new and unregistered Suzuki Outboard Motors. Subject to credit approval. Not all buyers will qualify. Approval, and any rates and terms provided, are based on credit worthiness. $19.99/month per $1,000 financed for 60 months is based on 5.99% APR. Hypothetical figures used in calculation; your actual monthly payment may differ based on financing terms, credit tier qualification, accessories or other factors such as down payment and fees. Offer effective on new, unregistered Suzuki Outboard Motors purchased from a participating authorized Suzuki dealer between 9/01/17 and 12/31/17. “Gimme Six”, the Suzuki “S” and model names are Suzuki trademarks or ®. Don’t drink and drive. Always wear a USCG-approved life jacket and read your owner’s manual. © 2017 Suzuki Motor of America, Inc.
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GIFT IDEAS FOR ANGLERS
C
heck out these great gift ideas for the outdoor enthusiast on your holiday gift list. These local merchants are available to ensure your holiday gift giving satisfaction. We always try to encourage our readers to shop locally. It’s our community and we all benefit from supporting our local businesses. They’re here for us all year long and our personal convenience depends on their sustainability. Tell them Coastal Angler/The Angler Magazine sent you. By the way, if you see something here that you wish could be under the tree with your name on it, just take out a marker and circle it. Then leave this page open for your friends and family to see. Yes, crude but effective. Happy Holidays from all of us at Coastal Angler/The Angler Magazine.
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Gifts for Anglers
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Gifts for Anglers No More Fish Baskets or Foil! The GrillGrate surface coupled with the GrateTool™ makes lifting & turning fish a snap. Sits on top of any grill.
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INCREDIBLE OPTICS THAT STAY SAFE IN THE CASE When you’re out on the water, optics matter. Popticals NYDEF™ nylon lenses manufactured by Carl Zeiss Vision offer clear, crisp vision can make the difference between spotting your next catch or coming home empty handed. Never worry about scratched lenses or sunglasses falling off the top of your hat thanks to our patented FL2 Micro-Rail System® that allows Popticals to be safely stored in a small case when you’re not wearing them.
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Gifts for Anglers
THE XTREME 20 BOAT, MOTOR, TRAILER
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Gifts for Anglers
EXPERIENCE THE
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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT PROSHOT CASE With the new ProShot phone cases, there’s no need to ever worr y about dropping your expensive iPhone in the water again. It’s so waterproof, you could even star t using your iPhone to take under water photos of the fish you catch. That’s the idea. It turns your iPhone into an under water camera. The ProShot Touch provides full touch screen access. Rated to 50 feet, it’s the most waterproof touch screen case ever invented. With designs to fit iPhone 6s, 7s and 8s, it is also compatible with all GoPro mounts and includes an optical grade wide angle lens. Think of the cool release photos and videos you could capture using just your phone. For those who desire to take their iPhones a lit tle deeper, divers should take a look at the new ProShot Dive. It turns your iPhone into a dive camera that’s waterproof to 130 feet. This case was designed for SC U B A divers, and it is ex tremely durable to handle the most rugged conditions. The ProShot Dive does not allow touch screen access, so the ProShot Case A pp was developed for full camera functionalit y. It, also, is compatible with GoPro mounts. If you have an iPhone, you’re already carr ying amazing photographic capabilit y in your pocket. For a small fraction of the cost of traditional under water camera equipment, you can turn your phone into a fully functional waterproof camera that’s as bombproof as phone cases come.
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CONNECTICUT/RHODE ISLAND EDITION
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DECEMBER 2017
PUBLISHER’S NOTE MIKE AND LISA DANFORTH
Fisheries management, two anglers look at the holidays differently, counting our blessings and more…
B
e of good cheer, the beginning of the holidays means joy to the world, time with family and the bracing of the body for the inevitable indulgence in great food and drink. Even as world events highlight the most evil and ugly on earth, we fight back by moving forward with our businesses, families and holiday plans with a sense of purpose that shows our solidarity with the victims and rejection of all the bad guys stand for. We are definitely in the mood to count our blessings – family, friends and the gift of our beautiful waters that willingly yield everything from food to fun, to a deep sense of belonging and feeling that the world - with all of its warts - is still a wondrous and beautiful place. We are grandparents for the first time, and our children are all healthy and happy. We are truly blessed. And as we close the year we can’t help but smile at the articles this month by Zach Harvey and Tom Schlichter. Each a respected angler and writer, well known in his market and nationally for his talents on the water and with a pen. Ah … keyboard. But you have to laugh at the starkly different take they have on holiday gift giving. Tom is eternally enthusiastic, utterly himself as he tests new gear and gives patient and insightful advice on how to land the big ones, or help your loved ones with new equipment. Zach tells you not to bother … just don’t blow it. Vintage Zach. But Zach is on the trail this month with his two part series his month on fisheries management. In this installment he shares his passion/anger/wit with an entreaty we hope will reach our readers. Take to social media and let us know what you think! Thanks to our readers, writers and loyal, growing band of advertisers – we couldn’t do it without you. Merry Christmas, and heartfelt wishes for safe and happy holiday from our family to yours. Tight Lines, Lisa Helme and Mike Danforth Owners and Publishers
2 CONNECTICUT/RHODE ISLAND
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FISH FOCUS ZACH HARVEY
Science and The Ugly
BEST IN CLASS FULL-SERVICE DEALERSHIP
Truth (Part One)
W
hen I first jumped into the second piece of my career in the fishery, the writing and editing part of the fishing world, in 2002, I ran across what has since proven to be uncommonly sound career advice (and view as a best practice for all editorial writers): If you’re going to tackle sensitive subjects and dredge up public outrage, you should take responsibility for the fallout by providing readership with some appropriate avenue to make their opinions known. You should avoid the sometimes-considerable temptation to let rip on some topic, stirring up the coals into a raging inferno, then close up shop, go on vacation, and leave the mess for the next guy who ends up in your shitstorm’s path. I want you to understand that, to write about fisheries regulation for the better part of two decades without triggering a screaming, destructive rampage or two in a fishing community that employs an alarming number of your friends and neighbors, is a demonstration of inhuman restraint (and made possible mostly by the number of fishery miles I’ve trudged in other guys’ boots, so to speak). The last couple years, during which my daughter, Kaya, has begun to take a real interest in fishing with me, the whole state of our fisheries has started to wear me down in the playing-nice department. Really, it comes down to the line you’ve all heard in one context or another: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result.” The question I have is how you could tell whether that behavior is insanity as opposed to greed or stupidity. My best guess is that the distinction would relate to the degree of surprise when the thing that is inevitable and yet somehow unthinkable happens. Again. For the third--nay, fourth--time. The trouble in the world of fishing is that when the bad thing happens again, surprise is seldom the first response. It gives me the strong suspicion that we’re not crazy--just stupid and greedy. To be clear, a good deal of blame belongs to the regulatory end of the equation, and, by extension, our elected officials, especially the ones in Congress, whose attention span for complex fishing/ marine problems covers about one feel-good, symbolic bill--let’s declare striped bass Congressionally awesome!--per election year. Beyond that, their interest in solving problems with dire implications for what’s left of our domestic fleet can be calculated using the ratio of fishing-industry lobbying/campaign dollars to oil or beef or pharmaceutical or environmental industry lobbying/ campaign dollars. It works out to roughly .23 hours of focused effort per legislative session. Then again, I see what’s going on in the world. Fishermen are not, as an industry (if recreational, commercial fishermen, and
See Fish Focus (Continued on Page 10)
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WORD ON THE BITE TOM SCHLICHTER
Gifts for the Holidays
I
’m not quite sure if it’s the pursuit of blackfish, the season’s first codfish or the last bigmouth bass of the year, but at least one of those items is to blame for me rarely getting a head start on piling up holiday gifts for friends and family. At least that’s the story I’m going with this year. While the search to find that perfect gift for family members and loved ones does bring with it a good deal of pressure, I’m more comfortable with picking out gifts for Charlie Graves Swimming Tins feature a keeled those who rate angling at the top of the list. bottom that causes them to swim with wide, Some years I go fancy, other years I look for swinging action. They are also unlikely to already oddball options and frequently I’ll mix the be in your favorite angler’s surf bag or tackle box. two together. This year, however, I’ve been on Photo by Tom Schlichter. a practical search. I’ve been looking for gifts that will get a ton of use, bring big smiles on the water all season long and won’t break the bank. Specifically, I’m opting for lures – a mix of old favorites, radically new options, plus a few that any angler would want if they just knew how well they worked. If you’ve already run out and grabbed the perfect gifts for those in your fishing family, hat’s off to you. For the rest of us panic stricken mortals, following are a few ideas on superproductive, affordable lures that may shorten Big blues love big pencil poppers. Built to your search while widening the smiles and withstand brutal assaults, these lures take a increasing the fun come next season - which, beating and keep on catching. This toothy chopper by the way, is only a few months away. was released successfully after its photo was taken. Most of the lures below are available at Photo by Tom Schlichter. local tackle shops. Specific contact info is provided for the few that are not.
based on size, they are a familiar and reliable standby; options that rarely get left at home. Buy a couple with tube tails in red, white and green, and a couple more with bare hooks. Both styles catch but the fish sometimes show a preference for one style over the other. One tin that your favorite angler might not have but definitely should carry is something from the Charlie Graves collection. A favorite of surf casters, these tins are keeled for extra action and can be worked enticingly at both fast and slow speeds. Tied with feathers on the single tail hook, they really turn on the stripers and catch a head-turning number of trophy linesiders each year. There are 68 styles of Charlie Graves swimming tins but the 2-1/4-ounce J8 model imitates most local baitfish and the 2-ounce J7 excels when fish are breaking on the surface. Prices range from $5.99 to $7.99. Available at J&J Sports (631-654-2311), Patchogue, NY; Causeway Bait & Tackle (516-785-3223), Wantagh, NY; and L.I. Outdoorsman (516-67855540), Rockville Centre, NY.
MAKE A HUGE SPLASH Just about every angler loves surface strikes, so it makes sense that a topwater lure or two would be a great gift. One of the hardest to get – because it sells out quickly – is the Super Strike Little Neck sinking popper (it is easy to find online if your local tackle TINS, TINS, TINS! shop is out). This is a perfectly balanced You can’t go wrong with diamond jigs and lure that sinks very slowly so you can swim similar tins. They work from boat or dock it below the surface if the fish don’t smash it and catch everything from stripers, blues on top. The 2-3/8- inch size is tough to beat. and false albacore to fluke, sea bass and cod. Get it in white, blue and/or yellow. Expect They cast a mile even in a stiff breeze and are to pay $18 to $20 for each. virtually indestructible. Still, you can never Another great topwater lure for stripers have enough. and blues is the Gibbs Lures Pencil Popper. Panther Martin’s new Fluke Train was released late this There are several tins I wouldn’t want to By pointing the rod tip at the plug and fall and should be a hot item on the summer flattie be without and each, or all, makes great gifts. shaking the rod tip with a rapid up-andcircuit this spring. Photo by Tom Schlichter. The AVA 007, 27 and 47 are workhorses. down motion this lure can be made to dance Think of them as being universal lures from side to side on the surface resulting in because they can be jigged deep, ripped just below the surface, or violent strikes. Yellow, redhead and blue are all great colors. Go with retrieved at medium speed based on water or weather conditions the 2-ounce size. and the fish species being pursued. Ranging from $2.50 to $5.00 4 CONNECTICUT/RHODE ISLAND
DECEMBER 2017
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Panther Martin’s Big Fin proved to be a hit with big stripers this fall. This bass, caught aboard the Orient Point charter vessel, Fishy Business, smacked a Big Fin Paddle Tail tipped with a Fat Cow Jig Strip. Photo by Tom Schlichter. SWIM BAITS ARE A BLAST Tins excel in deep or rough water while poppers call fish to the surface. When the fish are anywhere in-between, soft-plastic swim baits are a terrific choice. Tsunami’s Holographic Swim Shads and Storm Wildeye Swim Bait Shads share most of the striper spotlight these days. They hold up well and offer a very seductive wiggle that predator species find hard to resist. They work especially well around adult and peanut bunker if you match the lure size to the baitfish
present. Start with the 4- and 6-inch sizes at 6$ to $8 per pack. The white and bunker patterns are logical choices. There was also a hot new soft plastic minnow imitation on the scene this fall. The Panther Martin Big Fin 3-in-1 Paddle Tail and Eel Tail lures slammed stripers, weakfish, blues, sea bass, fluke and even false albacore. Exceptionally versatile, they are weedless and come in two sizes. The 1-ounce version works great on school bass, weaks and shallow feeding fluke or sea bass, plus false albacore. The 2-ounce size tempts larger bass, weaks and blues. While both sizes work great when cast from shore or boat, they can also be worked deep on a threeway rig. That’s pretty versatile. At $8.99 and $10.99, they are certainly worth a try. At the moment they are only available online at www. panthermartin.com. Panther Martin also released another interesting lure late this fall. Called the Fluke Train, it looks like a good bet to be in high demand this spring when the summer flatties come back into season. Using classic teardrop Panther Martin spinner bodies and a fluketail jerkbait, this very unique lure is weedless and ideal for jigging or retrieving over rocks, sand bottom and weedbeds. It was released just as fluke season came to an end this fall, so it hasn’t gotten much play. Still heavy field testing found it to be deadly on the flatties along with sea bass, weakfish and jumbo porgies. This is one lure your favorite anglers are unlikely to already have in their fishing arsenals. It’s sure to catch, guaranteed to raise eyebrows, and affordably priced at $5.99 to $6.59 per rig. Red/white, lime/orange and pink/white are the colors to try. Like the Panther Martin Big Fins, they are only available online at www.panthermartin.com.
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DECEMBER 2017
CONNECTICUT/RHODE ISLAND 5
Shopping for the Fisherman: Don’t Blow It!
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s much as I pride myself on being a fairly easy-going chap, I’m willing to acknowledge that for my loved ones, buying me presents has to be about as much fun as attempting to capture by hand, then forcibly bathe, a PCP-addled badger. The trouble, and I suspect this applies to many of you reading this, is that fishing is one of the great jealous-mistress life interests: For those of us with the piscatorial affliction, there’s not much room for other major interests such as career, sleep, or personal hygiene. Those around us know that what we want is fishing gear or other fish-related stuff, but that we are horrifically persnickety about the stuff we use. Generally, over time, our non-fishing relations go through one or two major misfires in their well-intentioned quest to furnish thoughtful gifts, then vow never to buy us fishing gear ever again. While we try to project total gratitude for, say, a new rod they’ve bought us, they home in on the split-second’s hesitation in our response, the slightest tremor in our voice that will confirm total, catastrophic gift failure: Jeeeezus, they think, shame on me for not knowing that there was a galaxy of difference between “moderate-fast action” and “mediumfast action….” We feel ungrateful and then guilty. They feel sad and alone and then angry. Cue up the sad music: Christmas has been ruined. So, here in December, the month of the Holiday Gift Guide, during which an array of fishing products soak up the vast majority of editorial white space in the fishing magazines, I thought I’d offer up a few ideas on the whole issue of shopping for fishermen. You, goodly reader, will look much less like the fish-obsessed scoundrel you indeed are if you can simply slide this page across the kitchen table to your family and let me, a bona fide authority on bad fishing gifts, break it down. The following bullet points ought to clear things up a bit, save all parties some frustration in the weeks ahead.
room to exercise some choice that will make the purchase unique or heartfelt. Where rods, reels, line, or plugs are concerned, best bet will be to get explicit specs on the desired gear from the giftee. If surprise is important, track down a fishing partner who will know his/her preferences and provide an exact make/model description. Especially when you’re shopping for a more seasoned fisherman, there are no points for style or creativity.
3. AVOID TECHNIQUE-SPECIFIC GEAR:
An alternative to the aforementioned rote-memorization approach is to avoid the pieces of gear that relate to specific species or methods. What we target, where and how we fish have a major impact on the gear we choose (and often the gear we use is the product of years we’ve spent refining our methods). To try to choose the perfect rod without intimate knowledge of the where’s, when’s, and how’s of your giftee’s fishing is a major gamble—even with third-party help. The difference in rod length, action, pound-test rating, the way it will match up to our reel of choice, all the intangibles of feel and preference in lures or baits— even the way it rests in our grip—add up to huge differences between two rods that appear, at first glance, nearly identical. Fortunately, some gear transcends species and location: Good, commercial-grade foulweather gear, super-comfy deck boots, head-lamps, coolers, polarized sunglasses, a well-engineered vacuum sealer, etc. may not seem as exciting initially, but will become indispensible tools in a use or two.
4. TIME ON THE WATER NEVER FAILS:
Consider, too, the possibility of booking a top charter captain or guide for a day, or picking up a gift certificate for a trip or two on a local party boat. I have never known a fisherman who objected to a day fishing with professionals—as a learning experience or just a day when 1. FISHING ISN’T “CUTE” AND FISHERMEN AREN’T he/she can leave the aggravation to a highly qualified someone else. NECESSARILY MORONS: Here, the trick is to do your homework—find a captain with the right Best to skip the fishing joke book, the singing rubber bass, and the rest of the junk you non-fishermen are forever buying on the grounds combination of fishing cred and personality to ensure a memorable trip. that there’s a fish on the package or “it’s cute” or “you’ll probably think it’s funny.” Children under five can get away with buying Dad 5. GIFT CERTIFICATES ARE UNDERRATED: such things, but you ought to know better: We don’t love our fishing In my family of origin, there was a sentiment that a gift certificate indiscriminately. We do not clap, like so many dimwitted gray seals represented the worst kind of cop-out—proof-positive that a gift-giver every time someone holds up a mackerel for our inspection. Fishing didn’t know or care about the person who would receive the thing. On is serious dude-type stuff that demands a keen intellect as well as total the contrary, it reflects a perfect balance of gift-giving humility and physical prowess. Our interests are highly specific by species and area— unselfish love when you recognize that there have been precious few and for many or most, what happens as little as 50 miles away might as times in the history of rod-and-reel fishing when a man stood before well be on another continent. the neatly-arranged pegboards in his favorite bait and tackle joint with a sense that he had more money than he needed to squander on new 2. NO POINTS FOR CREATIVITY: gear. Arm an obsessive fisherman with a reasonably substantial gift One age-old gift-giving notion that wreaks havoc on fishermen certificate, turn him loose in the shop, and you will see what true adult is the idea that a present is only thoughtful if you, the gift-buyer, have happiness looks like. 6 CONNECTICUT/RHODE ISLAND
DECEMBER 2017
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Cold Water Kayaking BY ELLIOT G. THOMAS
The winter “off-season” hits hardest right at the beginning of the cold more oxygenated water and often concentrate the fish to a smaller area. weather. As the fall run dwindles and the thermometer drops, most of Once you narrow down the water to a few high-probability areas, fish us get the same little rise in anxiety. The sun rises later in the morning, finder sonar units can mean the difference between hours of uneventful the dark falls earlier in the evening, and none of us get out on the water as much as we would like to. But just because we’re not fishing as often as we prefer, doesn’t mean we can’t fish at all! With the cold water and cold weather, most of the average anglers are completely off the water. Boats are getting winterize and wrapped and kayaks are stored in the garage for the winter. This leaves plenty of water for the rest of us more “determined” (and often slightly unbalanced) fishermen. Some anglers put their open water gear into long-term storage and dig out the tip-ups and ice cleats. For me and some of my kayak fishing buddies, there’s always open water somewhere! Last winter in New England was a relatively mild one, with very little ice on the typical “hot spots” and open water nearly everywhere. In a winter like we had a year ago, the ice fishermen were a little jittery all the way through April. At the same time, most of my Three Belles Outfitters teammates kept our kayaks loaded and ready straight through the New Year without missing a beat. That said, winter time fishing in New England comes with both risks and rewards. Certain waterways in the north eastern states are renowned for their Stripers stacked on the Lowrance screen winter populations of striped bass. Referred to as “holdovers”, these are stripers that for one reason or another choose not to migrate south with See Cold Water Kayaking (Continued on Page 12) the majority of their species. These holdover stripers are often thought to be just small, schoolie-size bass, but I can assure you that is not always Marina | Shipstore | Boat Yard | Tournaments | Yacht Sales & More the case. While the 16”-22” fish might be the most common caught during the winter holdover, striped bass as large as 40+” can be caught in amongst those schools of smaller fish.
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Author with a healthy cold water striper During the cold of winter, these fish have a slowed metabolism and group together in quite massive schools. When you find a good, thick school of bass, your sonar will almost look like a digital rendition of lasagna dinner. While these holdovers can go long stretches of cold weather without feeding a single bite, a good active day on the water can mean a hundred fish or more for a determined and lucky angler. Venturing out on a cold day for this species can come down to the seemingly simple task of finding the fish. Unlike searching for striped bass during the warmer months, these fish are not moving very far at any given time. Look for river bends, steep drop offs, and areas where tributaries converge. These locales tend to have slightly warmer and
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CONNECTICUT/RHODE ISLAND 7
Dance a Jig for Holiday Bigmouths BY TOM SCHLICHTER
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the other side of my kayak or jon boat as erious freshwater anglers the world I parallel the shore. over are well acquainted with the term “jig & pig.” It’s a technique Small Is Good that generally pairs a sturdy, weedless jig Of course, there comes a point when the with a soft plastic or pork trailer allowing weeds are simply gone and the fish slow anglers to separate both largemouth and down as water temperatures continue to smallmouth bass from thick weeds and plummet. At that point, while everyone sticky tangles in the heat of summer. else is shopping for last-minute holiday In our region, the technique is most gifts, I switch over to tiny football jigs or often used when fishing shallow, weedy round jigheads tipped with one- to threelakes and ponds where bass like to bury inch panfish-style grubs. These I can work themselves deep in the salad. So productive on an ultralight, 4-pound class spinning is this approach that many anglers rely outfit for both bass and panfish. almost exclusively on flippin’ and pitchin’ The key with using these small grubs pig & jig combos throughout the summer. is to fish deeper water over hard or sandy A few even forsake all other techniques of bottom if possible. I’ll let my offering settle separating big bass from heavy cover. to the bottom, give a light twitch or two, But what happens come late fall and then let it set for four or five seconds before early winter when the weeds have died off crawling it along the lake floor at a snail’s and the water is both wide open and crystal pace. Occasionally, I’ll give a light lift to Connecticut Bass pro Paul Mueller took this clear? Will the pig & jig still produce? You raise the jig four or five inches above the bet it will. In fact with the mild falls and hefty largemouth on a hair jig in mid-December, bottom, then let it free-fall back, followed 2015. Photo courtesy of Paul Mueller. moderate winters we have experienced by another light twitch or two before over the past few years, jigging action can repeating the whole process. In addition to tempting the bass, you’ll stay productive well into December and possibly into the new year. catch plenty of bluegill, pumpkinseed, white perch and yellow perch using this technique. Keep ‘Em Swimming Interestingly, it is possible to separate the bass from the perch As surface water temperatures make their way down below and panfish to a large degree using football jigs. If you keep the 50 degrees between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m particularly lure tight to the bottom at all times, you’ll mostly catch bass. Work fond of tossing jigs across the deep end of slopes. I also like to work in more lifts as opposed to twitches and drags, and you’ll find the them tight to shore in areas that have three or four feet of water panfish will inhale the jig as it is gliding upward. Oftentimes, the immediately adjacent to docks or tree trunks. Any remaining green bass will be sulking underneath bluegills and pumpkinseeds. That growth is another target, as I’ve found bigger bass will hang around being the case, I’ll often use the lifts first in any area I fish to find such clumps as long as even the tiniest bit of green is still visible on or just below the surface. For the most part, I’m still using my summer colors, styles and weights in the late fall and early winter months. That translates on most days to a 3/8-ounce black/blue Stanley Original jig tipped with a blue, black or red #11 Uncle Josh pork frog. With this, I’ll keep pounding the same general spots that worked all summer long but just a little further out from the bank where the water is slightly deeper. Rather than fish hard in the morning, I tailor my trips for afternoon sessions when the water is at its warmest. Fishing under heavy cloud cover also seems to help. As the last of the weeds vanish in early December, I’ll sometimes reintroduce one of my favorite spring lures, the hair jig. These I’ll tip with a piece of red or yellow #50 Uncle Josh bass strip and swim along channel edges or near the tips of submerged tree branches in four to six foot depths. Having a hair jig rigged and ready to go complements my standard jig & pig approach so that Jig & pigs work well deep into the winter. Move out from the shore in I can cover twice as much water by casting into the shallows with cold, clear water and work these lures slowly and tight to the bottom. the hair jig and then working deeper water with the pig & jig off Photo by Tom Schlichter. 8 CONNECTICUT/RHODE ISLAND
DECEMBER 2017
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the panfish, then use the slow twitches to entice the bass I think are holding below. For the panfish, you’ll want to raise the lure two to three feet off the bottom at the top of each lift. For the bass, all lure movement should stay within a foot of the bottom. Get A Late Start One of the nicest things about late-season fishing it that you don’t need to get an early start. Instead of fishing at daybreak, be on
You can’t go too small when it comes to using jigs for wintertime bass. Panfish love small grubs, too. Photo by Tom Schlichter. the water at 9:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m. or in the early afternoon. This will give the water a little time to warm up and get the fish moving. With that same thought in mind, you might think it a good idea to fish on bright sunny days but that logic just doesn’t hold up. While bass do like to hit during the warmest part of the day at this time of year, they also seem to hate prolonged periods of intense sunlight. Thus, look for days with rising temperatures accompanied by cloud cover to make your forays. Usually, that means winds from the west or southwest, which it turns out, are the most comfortable breezes for anglers, too.
This Long Island bigmouth fell for a small soft-plastic grub on a lightweight jighead. Photo by Tom Schlichter.
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CONNECTICUT/RHODE ISLAND 9
Fish Focus (Continued from Page 3) manufacturers of gear can even be called a singular industry), one of the larger (on a per capita or economic basis) special-interest groups, and in a legislative session that hasn’t seen healthcare or border walls or any other issue affecting much larger segments of US population through, it’s unrealistic to think congressmen will have time to work on such niche legislation. Even if they had the necessary time to understand the enormous complexity of the problems the fleet or regulators face under an already cumbersome load of statute, it would all still boil down to lack of funding. That’s a reckless oversimplification. Strike that from the record. Let me rephrase. Almost every major, immediate problem in fisheries management stems from science--the lack of it, the cost of it, the scope of it, the quality/credibility of it, the current management approach’s procedural hunger for it. Hell, even the word, “science,” is wreaking havoc on fish, on regulators and regulated, at this point. Let me back up for a moment. In the first, say, 20 years of US fisheries management, a period that witnessed the rise of so-called fisheries science, the regional councils, established in 1976 with the passage of the Magnuson Act, were populated mainly by fishermen. Even as key commercial stocks like cod or winter flounder started to buckle under staggering commercial pressure, regulators used landings data mainly as trend indicators, and were under no formal pressure to get it right. If the fleet overshot the target, they’d tighten up a little the next fishing year.
10 CONNECTICUT/RHODE ISLAND
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It allowed managers to kick the really painful choices down the road indefinitely, and with a notable exception or two, a grossly overcapitalized domestic fleet, built on government-subsidized loans from the early years, hammered our fish stocks--high volume, low price--to pretty near the brink of biological oblivion. They beat on specific subpopulations of spawning fish, wiped some off the face of the earth, and absolutely flattened a great deal of once bountiful seabed. In short, as has been said many times, the “foxes ran the henhouse,” and fish lost in a big way. The passage of the Sustainable Fisheries Act in the late 1990s marked a major turning point. That bill set rebuilding targets for depleted (overfished) stocks, and set a 10-year deadline by which the rebuilding needed to be complete--the latter the first so-called accountability measure in our regulatory regime. The 2007 reauthorization of Magnuson added new accountability measures to ensure regulatory compliance with rebuilding goals, including quota “paybacks,” which required that one year’s quota overruns be subtracted from the following year’s catch targets. Target quotas, historically set by a statistical process that compared population estimates (stock assessments) with previous year’s landings, were now required to factor in the degree of scientific uncertainty as a percentage, which would come right off the top as a precaution (commercial figures from “hard” fish house numbers, recreational catch from the output of the notoriously error-prone Marine Recreational Fishing Statistical Survey, or MRFSS). There were other accountability measures as well--some aimed in the other direction. One required a total overhaul of the MRFSS, a primitive data collection program instituted more than a decade earlier to give regulators an admittedly rickety indication of recreational catch trends, year to year. MRFSS punched a limited number of angler-reported catch stats and an even more limited number of randomly generated follow-up survey calls into a convoluted equation that contained all sorts of suspect statistical assumptions. The idea, right from the outset, was that the accuracy of its numeric yield wouldn’t matter, since a few years of it would create a frame of reference to show trend: increase/decrease in rec. fishing effort or success by species. It was explicitly not meant to calculate anything a fully-formed human would mistake for actual quota performance. With the establishment of stock-rebuilding targets and payback schemes, managers were forced to use this comically unreliable “science” to calculate actual recreational quota performance. I used to sit at my desk, querying the data, howling at some of the numbers that system kicked out. One year, as I recall, Massachusetts shorebased tautog fishermen outfished the entire Rhode Island party and charterboat fleet. Among other problems, I noted that one of my friends fron Mass had personally landed more tautog along the Mass shoreline than over a hundred of the survey’s Mass shore tautog fishermen had landed. That same year, the charterboat on which i worked had caught twice what the survey tallied up for the grand total in two months fishing by the state’s entire fleet. And that number--200% of the MRFSS all-year, fleet-wide total--we’d landed in our first two trips. The real problem was (and still is, despite a whole new survey program, MRIP, instituted under statutory pressure some years back) that these numbers fed every new set of numbers the Council or Commission or the state agencies (DEM, DEP, DEC) crunched, including stock assessments that were regulators’ baseline number for the population of a given species. It all gets back to the most dangerous three words in fisheries management: “best available science.”
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Don’t get me wrong: I’m a believer in the power of statistics, understand fully that accuracy climbs in proportion to the length of the data’s time series, the size of the sampling base, and the extent to which data collectors respect the sampling parameters. But when five consecutive years of data collection and algorithmic number-crunching turn five years of provable real-world zeroes into five different numbers between 6 and 13, and offers a corresponding annual percent standard error (PSE) calculation, ranging from 20% to 60%? Not one number of the lot looks even slightly defensible, or has any relationship to fishing/biological reality, but the regulatory process is going to use these same numbers to tell me we overshot our allocation, will have to take a reduction next season. And that’s not the last of those numbers. No, they’ll be dumped into a longer equation containing all sorts of different data points, including some yielded by the best kind of field science performed by pros I trust. Other numbers in the equation will come from a scientist-led trawl survey of thousands of random tows, Georges Bank to the Carolinas, conducted over two-week cruises, spring and fall, every year for the last 30. The old numbers contain at least one year when a 7-fathom difference in the length of the research vessel’s tow cables meant their net was coming across the bottom sideways and closed. The new numbers--10 years, maybe?--will have
been calibrated by side-by-side tows with fisherman-operated gear. Any way you cut it, there will be apples-to-oranges comparisons, some suspect estimate numbers, some numeric assumptions that look dodgy at best against my own observations the last 20 years on the water. None of the models in current management use can begin to account for even the most reliable, observed predatorprey relationships. There’s no way to correct for the territorial shifts in stocks like fluke, per climate change. We’ll probably see the shift like a passing shadow in the trawl survey reports, but it won’t fit the stock assessment. And if it can’t be packaged up as peerreviewed science as a number compatible with the models, we can’t find a legal means to use the info in the next regulatory measures. Editor’s Note: While we strive to avoid continuing columns over multiple issues, the sheer volume of information I’ve tried to condense down into this entry on the way science—a vital part of effective fisheries regulation, but also an expensive and time-intensive part of the process that is broke and short-handed—has often hamstrung decision-makers and delayed critical management action. Next month, some points on science and political meddling, and thoughts on turning it around for fish and fleet…
To our readers, advertisers, contributors and friends. Thanks for an amazing year. We appreciate the time, dollars and effort you have invested in us. Here's to an outstanding 2018! Bet wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! From our families to yours, Mike and Lisa Danforth
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CONNECTICUT/RHODE ISLAND 11
COLD WATER KAYAKING (Continued from Page 7) casting and retrieving, or hours of fish filled action! Lowrance units allow easy navigation for depth, contours, structure, water temperature, 2D sonar, and sidescan. Without my Lowrance Elite TI 7, I’d have a very difficult time finding fish unless I was out there every single day and covered lots and lots of water. An often overlooked “secret” to a successful winter day fishing for stripers is exploring more uncharted waters. Many tributary systems, rivers, and back bays have at least some population of these cold-water resident fish. A few of these river systems are heavily pressured by anglers, while others go relatively untouched. Heavily pressured fish tend to keep their heads down and are far more difficult to convince to take a lure. If you are looking to get out this winter for some holdovers, consider looking for new waters and new spots. When targeting these winter holdover striped bass, two words often dictate my fishing tactics more than anything else: low and slow. These winter bass are patient opportunistic feeders. They lie in wait until a slightly warmer day (or night) when their hunger gets the best of them. I typically try to convince them to take a bite by fishing something down deep where they are holding, and working it slowly to give them a chance to strike. Two of the most popular ways to convince them to take a bite are soft plastics and Alabama rigs. In the world of soft plastics, Connecticut-made Sad Shads are a local favorite. Available in a variety of sizes and colors, Sad Shads can be fished without added weight near the water’s surface, or with a jig head to get right down to where the fish are holding. Additionally, the Sad Shads are made from a biodegradable and very durable plastic, so if you’re lucky enough to get into one of those 100+ fish days a single bait might last you all day! Alabama rigs (like a small umbrella rig) can also be extremely effective during this cold water fishing. Sold in a range of sizes, colors, and shapes, most Alabama rigs are designed to simply cast out, let sink, and retrieve. From a boat or Hobie kayak they can easily be trolled, although trolling a line is (in my opinion) even more boring than watching a bobber in a farm pond. If you are lucky enough to catch an unseasonably warm stretch in the middle of winter, these holdover striped bass may start feeding like someone lit a fire under their tails. A couple of warmer days in a row can result in absolutely lights-out fishing action both on topwater and below! If fish are feeding more actively than the typical winter holdover slumber, a variety of lures can get the job done nicely. For some topwater action, a spook-style plug like the 247 Lures Mully or Flipping Mullet works like a charm. These handmade wooden plugs can be fished slowly-and-gently or fast-and-loud when you really want to make some commotion. If they aren’t quite hitting topwater, the Sad Shad still works wonders fished without a jighead, or the old standby SP Minnow will usually do the trick. Fishing for and catching these winter holdover stripers requires a little extra care and attention to ensure the health and survival of your catch. These fish have a drastically reduced metabolism, nearly to the point of a hibernating bear. Being fought and landed can be a major shock to their system, and they should be released carefully and quickly. Most anglers and scientists agree that these winter holdover fish are nearly as susceptible to injury as they would be in the absolute heat of summer. Fishermen on the water during this winter season also need to take extra care for their own safety. As a Hobie kayak fisherman, I won’t even think about hitting the cooler water without a quality drysuit and a life jacket. In water 32-40° the average person will be unconscious in 15 minutes or less. Most of my fellow Three Belles Outfitters teammembers own and use the same drysuit that I wear, the Level 6 Emperor. There are a variety of other manufacturers and brands on the market, but the Level 6 brand is one of the toughest, highest quality, and comfortable drysuits 12 CONNECTICUT/RHODE ISLAND
DECEMBER 2017
Derek Williams showing off a healthy schoolie and his Level 6 Drysuit money can buy. Should I find myself in the water, neoprene gaskets around my neck and wrists help keep water away from my body. Additionally there should be enough warm air trapped inside the drysuit to give me a little added buoyancy along with my pfd. Should I turn over my kayak and fall in, the drysuit cannot guarantee unscathed survival during the cold winter water, but it will at least provide a fighting chance. A friend and fishing colleague of mine had an unfortunate incident of flipping his kayak and falling in the water right in the heart of the January cold water fishing season. He firmly believes that his Level Six drysuit saved his life. Alternatively, if you happen to be a little better adjusted than I am, winter is an excellent time to catch up on all that gear maintenance you’ve been neglecting all season. All of your rods deserve a good wipe down, especially if you like to fish with bait like bunker and eels. Most quality tackle shops have reel service programs, which I take advantage of nearly every winter. Swapping out rusty/damaged split rings and hooks is also an easy way to refresh the quality of your lures & plugs. As the weather warms, such a simple maintenance item can mean the difference between the fish of a lifetime or utter heartbreak.
The Author – Elliot Thomas is an active, year-round kayak fisherman and a member of the Three Belles Outfitters Kayak Fishing Team. Elliot is also the owner of 247 Lures and a CT Licensed Fishing Guide. For more information about Elliot and the lures described in the article, visit www.247fishinglures.com
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Gifts for Anglers Choosing Sunglasses As A Gift DAVID MANEY, FOWLER’S SUNGLASSES
C
hoosing a pair of sunglasses as a gift for someone else can be a tricky endeavor. On the one hand you have your opinion of what you think they will like and then there’s the issue of the fit and their face shape that can make all the difference in the world in their overall happiness with the pair that you’ve selected. Obviously, the best way to ensure your selection is exactly what they’re looking for is to have them help you. Go to your favorite sunglass seller, and let your friend try numerous pairs on. Then, once you know their favorite, the task is easy and foolproof. But if you’re not able to put that together prior to a purchase, the next best alternative is to make sure the company you’re buying the sunglasses from has an honest, no-loophole return policy. Yes, save your receipt. I also recommend including a small note with the sunglasses saying: I hope these fit, and are what you wanted. The store name here said you can exchange them if you like. At Fowler’s, we make sure our customers have an easy and helpful exchange process. The right pair of sunglasses can be a gift that is appreciated for many, many years, and we make giving the perfect gift a little bit easier. For more information contact David Maney at 888-3409021 or www.FowlersSunglasses.com
Sunglasses for Anglers
Since 1955
Toll Free
888-340-9021
www.FowlersSunglasses.com
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Gifts for Anglers
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THIS SEEMS TO BE THE PLACE WHERE ALL THE FISH HANG OUT. I THINK I’LL DROP IN.
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