Capt. Paul Eidman's Posts

The Magnuson Act is on the Chopping Block and it Needs Your Help

The Magnuson Act is on the Chopping Block and it Needs Your Help

Anglers Conservation Network
Posted by     June 22, 2015   

The Magnuson Act is on the Chopping Block and it Needs Your Help NOAA Fisheries has released a terrible proposal to revise key parts of the Magnuson Act that will put our fishery management system in jeopardy. The new proposal plays directly into the hands of commercial fishermen, allowing fishery managers to leave fish populations at lower levels and even cancel management of some species altogether! The Ugly Details: NOAA Fisheries proposes to revise the National Standard 1 guidelines —  the directives that help managers around the country prevent overfishing and rebuild stocks. If these changes are implemented, here’s what we can expect: Fishery managers could put off lowering catch limits and extend the timeline for rebuilding overfished stocks for years or even decades Managers could raise fishing quotas by carrying over uncaught fish from a previous year, without assessing the health of the stock Fishery data could be averaged, ignoring individual years that prove that unsu... Read More »

Let’s Get this Season Started!

Let’s Get this Season Started!

Anglers Conservation Network / Blog Post / News / Recreational Fishing / Salt Water Fishing / Striped Bass
Posted by     March 25, 2013   

Blog by By Capt. Brian Rice– The past few weekends have kept me busy at the Suffern and Somerset shows with one of my sponsors: Shimano! Although the Suffern show was a bit light in terms of attendance the Somerset NJ Saltwater show was PACKED!!!!!! I have never seen as many people at any show as I did last Saturday. I am hoping that this is an indication of good things to come It was great to see and it was awesome to get to speak with some old and new friends at the shows. Not only was there record attendance but people were buying new gear which was a pleasant surprise to me as well as others that I spoke with at the show. I am sure most of you are having a case of cabin fever by about now (I know I am) so what should we do about it? I have been busy going through all my gear including: nets, reels, rods, plugs and making sure everything is ready to go. Changing hooks on plugs and spoons as well as changing leaders and snaps for all my bass trolling gear (we troll Stretch 25 p... Read More »

A window of opportunity opens for Jersey’s Coastal Lakes

A window of opportunity opens for Jersey’s Coastal Lakes

Anglers Conservation Network / Coastal Lakes / Hurricane Sandy / New Jersey / News / Recreational Fishing / River Herring / Salt Water Fishing / Striped Bass
Posted by     March 12, 2013   

    Urban Coast Institutes Tony MacDonald addresses questions from the audience I attended a press conference held this afternoon by NJ state Senator Sean Kean to announce efforts to include restoration of our coastal lakes within the scope of work to be done for beach restoration and post Sandy shoreline mitigation. I have been working with the Coastal Lakes coalition for a couple of years at a normal pace meeting, planning and sharing ideas. Then Superstorm Sandy hit and drew immediate attention to the 15 or so coastal lakes that overflowed with stormwater and into surrounding neighborhoods. Our Coastal lakes became an overnight nightmare situation, as well as an ideal opportunity to get some well needed funding and work done. Many think that it was just the beachfront homes that took a direct hit. A few blocks in, it was another story. Just ask anybody that lives near one of the lakes in Belmar, Point Pleasant, Avon and others. Hundreds of residents took several feet of lake wa... Read More »

Setting your own personal slot limit- Don’t Kill the cows!

Setting your own personal slot limit- Don’t Kill the cows!

Anglers Conservation Network / New Jersey / Recreational Fishing / Salt Water Fishing / Striped Bass
Posted by     February 22, 2013   

When I started serious striper fishing back in the early 80’s it took me three years to catch my first bass. No, wise guy, it wasn’t because I was a bad fishermen, it was because there were NONE to catch. As hard as it is to imagine now, we (humans) had overfished and depleted the stock down to almost nothing. One of my fondest fishing memories took place one early morning on the Navesink river. I saw the first silver flash behind my blue/chrome bomber plug. After thousands of casts, this little sign of life was all I needed. The years that followed that single flash were nothing short of spectacular, and as time went on it became “normal” for me to catch release and sometimes tag 15-25 bass on a given day. Nowadays, striped bass fishing along the Jersey shore during May & June has become nothing short of spectacular over the past decade or so. All those shorty bass have grown up in a big way. Acres and acres of foot long adult Atlantic Menhaden (Bunker) take up along our shoreline... Read More »

The Ocean’s talking. Is Anybody Listening?

The Ocean’s talking. Is Anybody Listening?

Anglers Conservation Network / Hurricane Sandy / New Jersey / News / Rec. Fishing Disaster Aid / Recreational Fishing / River Herring / Striped Bass
Posted by     January 17, 2013   

In my last blog I wrote about Hurricane Sandy and how it slammed into and opened up Wreck pond to the sea on October 29, 2012. Barely two months later, on December 27, 2012, a Noreaster hits and opens up a new inlet at Lake Takanassee in the same way (Above image), just a few miles to the North.  Local residents of the surrounding towns are not happy about the floods that came with this event, but they are happy because the new opening allows the floodwaters to rapidly retreat out to sea. Local Striper fishermen look at this destructive event from an entirely different perspective, and see a long awaited ray of hope. Finally, the vital species of forage fish that feed our striped bass and other gamefish will be able to enter these waters like they used to and spawn and multiply. I visited LakeTak, as locals call it, right after Sandy hit to see the damage it had done to the old US Life Saving station. Although the historic landmark was completely leveled, I found it amazing that, other... Read More »

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