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The striped bass schools that had kept Long Island party boats fishing east of Fire Island in action for weeks finally reached the Shore at the end of last week when most party boats had given up and private boaters were required by marinas to get their craft out of the water. Capt. Rob Semkewyc sailed into the schools off the Highlands Bridge on Sunday with his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands, and the bite kept getting better. Keeper limits were filled right away, and Semkewyc left those bigger bass to seek out other schools that had some bonus bass (24 to less than 28 inches) in them. Then he'd return to the large bass to finish up the trip with catch-and-release jigging. On Tuesday he estimated at least 300 bass from 10 to 16 pounds were released. It doesn't appear there are many trophy bass in those schools, but Harry Hunt won the pool with a 28-pounder, and Rich Sloan had a 22-pound linesider. The bass are feeding on both herring and adult bunkers, while shad lures in all the larger sizes seemed to be most effective. Thursday's trip was different in that slot bass were caught first, while keepers filled in later. An 18-pounder took the pool, and a few fares caught between 40 and 50 bass. Semkewyc expects to fish the next few days, but cold weather arriving next week may put an end to his season. Unfortunately, those bass haven't moved into the surf. Small stripers still dominate there, and even they are up-and-down -- often turning off as soon as the sun comes up. I released 10 bass on the Tsunami 6-inch Sand Eel and Castaways Super Teaser Tuesday morning at Spring Lake, but only four the next morning -- and didn't get a hit Thursday morning at dawn.The only keeper I heard of was an evening catch of a 30-incher on a plug at Spring Lake. That bass had a herring in its stomach. Grumpy's Tackle in Seaside Park hasn't had a weigh-in in some time. The Jamaica from Brielle has many offshore wreck tips for jumbo sea bass scheduled. They sail at 11 p.m. to fish the next day. Call 732 528-5014 for details and reservations. Capt. Howard Bogan reported those trips are producing limits of sea bass and jumbo porgies plus some pollock and even a few weakfish. Some Block Island trips may be added. The December meeting of the ASMFC and the MAFMC produced some good news in that New Jersey will be a region of our own. DEP Commissioner Bob Martin's action to defy the ASMFC and maintain the 18-inch minimum in 2017 (when we were still in the region with New York and Connecticut that had to fish at 19 inches) saved the season for many while still leaving N.J. below its quota.  As a result, there could be some liberalization in regulations in 2018 even with the 18-inch minimum -- hopefully a few more days at the beginning (if South Jersey has their way) or in September.  The official release follows: ASMFC Approves Black Sea Bass Draft Addendum XXX for Public Comment & ASMFC and MAFMC Initiate Bluefish Amendment "Annapolis, MD - The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) met jointly to establish recreational specifications for black sea bass, scup, and summer flounder; consider approval of Black Sea Bass Draft Addendum XXX for 2018 recreational management; discuss the initiation of a new Bluefish Amendment; and jointly take action on several items related to all four species (detailed below). The Commission's actions are final and apply to state waters. The Council will forward its federal waters recommendations regarding summer flounder specifications to NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Administrator for final approval.   Black Sea Bass As part of the discussion on black sea bass recreational specifications, the Commission approved Draft Addendum XXX to the Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for public comment. The Draft Addendum considers alternative regional management approaches for the recreational fishery, including options for regional allocation of the recreational harvest limit (RHL) based on historical harvest and exploitable biomass. A subsequent press release on the document's availability and the public hearing schedule will be distributed once hearings have been finalized. The Council recommended the following recreational measures for federal waters from February 1-28, 2018: a 12.5" minimum size limit and a 15 fish possession limit. Specifications for the remainder of 2018 fishing season will be determined in February. The Commission and Council also initiated the development of an addendum/framework to address several recreational management issues. The addendum/framework will consider implementing a conservation equivalency management program for black sea bass similar to that used with summer flounder by allowing state or regional measures to be implemented in both state and federal waters; allow for a summer flounder, scup and black sea bass transit provision in federal waters around Block Island similar to the provision allowed for striped bass; and consider the possible implementation of slot limits in federal waters for summer flounder and black sea bass. This addendum/framework will be developed in 2018 with the goal of implementation prior to the 2019 recreational fishing seasons. Additionally, the Commission/Council reviewed draft alternatives for an addendum/framework to consider the opening of the Wave 1 recreational fishery in 2019 through a Letter of Authorization. Work on these documents will continue in 2018. Bluefish The Council and Commission initiated a new amendment to the Bluefish FMP. The intent of the Draft Amendment is to review and possibly revise commercial/recreational allocation of the resource, as well as the distribution of the commercial quota among the states. A Scoping Document will be released sometime in 2018.   Scup For scup, Commission and Council maintained status quo recreational management measures in federal waters (e.g., 9-inch minimum size, 50 fish possession limit, and year-round open season). For state waters, the Commission approved the continued use of the regional management approach. Based on interest expressed by fishery managers and stakeholders, the Technical Committee will conduct an analysis on the potential impacts of lowering the size limit for northern region state waters on the 2018 coastwide harvest. The Technical Committee will present this analysis at the Commission's Winter Meeting in February.   Summer Flounder For summer flounder, the Commission and Council extended the provisions of Addendum XXVIII, allowing for the use of conservation equivalency to achieve, but not exceed, the 2018 summer flounder RHL of 4.42 million pounds. Conservation equivalency allows individual states or multi-state regions to develop customized measures that, in combination, will achieve the coastwide RHL. Further, it was specified that any modifications to state measures in 2018 should result in no more than a 17% liberalization in coastwide harvest relative to the projected 2017 harvest of 3.23 million pounds. This maximum liberalization was set based on continued concern for the stock status of summer flounder. Additionally, information suggests 2017 appears to be an anomalous low year in terms of effort and harvest, raising concern that overages in 2018 may occur under a larger liberalization in regulations if catch and effort rates increase in 2018. In extending the provisions of Addendum XXVIII, the regional delineation for 2018 will be:  (1) Massachusetts (2) Rhode Island (3) Connecticut-New York, (4) New Jersey, (5) Delaware-Virginia, and (6) North Carolina. Any state or region wishing to modify its management measures must submit proposals for Technical Committee review in January, and Board consideration in February. The Commission and Council set non-preferred coastwide measures in the event that state conservation equivalency measures are not approved by NOAA Fisheries. These measures include a 4-fish possession limit, a 19-inch total length minimum size, and an open season of May 15 - September 15. The Council and Board also approved precautionary default measures (i.e., a 2-fish possession limit, a 20-inch total length minimum size, and an open season of July 1 - August 31), which will be implemented in any state or region that does not adopt measures consistent with the conservation equivalency guidelines. Lastly, work continues on the development of a new Summer Flounder Amendment. The Commission and Council reviewed the latest revisions to the Draft Amendment, including FMP goals and objectives, and commercial alternatives. An updated draft document is scheduled to be released in 2018 for public comment." The attempt by commercial interests to gain a higher percentage of the bluefish quota is bound to create a firestorm just as it did years ago. N.J. Commissioner Tom Fote warned the commercial interests "not to go there" in view of what happened the last time the recreational community was enraged.

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