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1000's of NJ Saltwater Fishing Reports, Dozens of Sources, Maps, Wrecks, Historical Search

The International Game Fish Association's 2016 World Record Game Fishes, featuring a Guy Harvey roosterfish cover, is now available to members of that organization which sets the standards recognized around the world for our sport. The IGFA 424-page softcover book not only lists the all-tackle freshwater and saltwater world records for men and women, but also line class, length, fly rod and junior records. You can join the over 25,000 members that receive the yearbook plus other IGFA publications by visiting www.igfa.org. Setting an IGFA world record isn't as impossible as it may seem at first. Even catching an all-tackle record doesn't require spending a fortune to chase such fish as a 1500-pound bluefin tuna, as there are hundreds of lesser records to shoot for especially since the IGFA started accepting just about any unlisted fish over a pound and considered to be large for the species. For instance, I was able to get new species records started with a pinfish from Bermuda and a cunner (bergall) caught on the Jamaica out of Brielle from an offshore N.J. wreck. Unfortunately, those records didn't last too long as they were broken by anglers with even lower standards than mine. Nick Honachefsky of Normandy Beach knocked me off the board with a bigger bergall, but that record is now up to 3 ½ pounds from a jetty in Revere Beach, Massachusetts. Another of my initial species entries has stood up so far – a beautiful and hard-fighting 27 ½-pound leather bass hooked on a Tady jig during a long-range trip of the Royal Polaris from San Diego on Jan. 22, 1988 off Isla Clarion, Mexico. The only record I still hold that broke an existing mark is for a 6-pound round whitefish that I hooked quite by accident while casting for grayling with a spinner on June 14, 1982 in the Putahow River, Manitoba during a shore lunch break from pike and lake trout fishing. Though I knew it was a whitefish of some kind, if I hadn't sought out IGFA identification I would have never known that it was almost twice the size of the previous world record for that species of whitefish rather than just a lake whitefish which grows much larger. The yearbook also includes the rules which must be observed in order to claim a legitimate sportfishing catch. Basically that means fighting the fish from start to finish with no assistance from anyone until the leader can be grabbed for a release – or the fish is netted or gaffed. None of those giant tuna you may see being caught with rod-and-reel on National Geographic Channel's Wicked Tuna are even close to being legitimate sport catches as the crew takes turns cranking on the reel handle of a rod stuck in a rod holder rather than being held. That's a commercial technique, and they might as well be fishing with a net for all the "sport" involved. Unfortunately, it seems there are more fishermen ignoring the basic concepts of sportfishing these days. When I started saltwater fishing you would have had to cut my arm off to take the rod away from me after I'd hooked a big fish, and I don't remember anyone else giving up a rod in those days either-- unless it was to give it to a kid. Now I hear about grown men ganging up on a hooked fish and then each claiming that they'd "caught" that fish. One bit of leeway that the IGFA allows is especially important in the junior angler categories, as it is permissible to make a cast for another angler – though the rod must be switched before any hook-up. An exception to that rule is in fly fishing, where the cast is considered to be a vital portion of the catch. The N.J. Boat Sale & Expo opened Thursday in the N.J. Convention & Expo Hall at Raritan Center in Edison – and runs through Sunday. Admission at the door is $8. For details visit JerseyBoatExpo.com. With mild weather in the weekend forecast, fishing should resume this weekend. At Brielle, the Jamaica II will be bottom fishing at 3 a.m. Saturday and 5 a.m. Sunday. The Jamaica sails at 1 a.m. Saturday for cod. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations. The Ocean Explorer is out of the boat yard and will be fishing for blackfish offshore from Belmar. The Canyon Runner Seminar on Long Island will be run at the Huntington Hilton on Feb. 27. Check with Adam La Rosa at 732 842-6825 to determine if any $99 tickets are still available.  The two big area sportsman's shows are coming up. The Suffern, N.Y. Expo runs from March 10 to 13, and the main event for marine anglers is the Somerset Saltwater Expo from March 18 to 20. I'll be presenting a striper seminar at the latter, and will once again have a limited number of Tady jigs for those attending that presentation.  Mike Buonacquista of Middletown made his annual President's Day trip to Montauk along with Capt. Jeff Gutman and some local party boat crews. They fished with the Viking Fleet and got a real break when the wind died out in time so the 7-degree air temperature when they sailed was bearable. Though there were no large cod, they did well with schoolies. Herring were abundant off Block Island, but so were draggers.

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