12.21.24 Should we close down the wintering over waters?....

 

     Well this will go over like a fart in an elevator. Last week the Connecticut State Environmental Conservation Police published a press release detailing a recent "get" from the department. The officers were out on patrol on the Housatonic River where they found six anglers fishing from the shore. In the end the unlicensed anglers received 64 summonses, worth $4,734, for 34 striped bass that were between 12 and 25 inches in length, short of the 28-32 inch slot. 

     Now poaching isn't a new thing, it's been going on forever. In New Jersey our favorite striped bass poaching areas are usually centered around the larger and, let's say, more challenging cities. Jersey City and that whole waterfront, Perth Amboy, in and around the Manasquan River, and out front and inside of the Atlantic City area. Below is an image from the NJ DEC Conservation Police with some bad hombres poaching the Raritan River in Perth Amboy.

     Poaching also occurs out front, along the beaches. Those guys, not all of them, and some women too, that fish at night are keeping bass of all sizes. They catch em', run them back to their vehicles, and then go back for more. But it's also the guy who says, "I took it because it was going to die, it swallowed the lure, (and let's be equitable) or the fly". Keeping fish out of season or out of the slot is poaching, or breaking the law, no matter what you think, even if you're right. 

     Old school anglers in New Jersey will tell you about winter fishing for striped bass when it was a thing. Outside of any warm water discharges from power plants which felt like Florida to the holdover fish, there were other places that held a wintering over striped bass population. While these fish tend to be on the smaller side they are perfect for the poaching angler to hide and keep. 

     I don't want to get into the whole ASMFC thing again and the bullshit with them, and New Jersey, has been going on for decades. The reason I was digging around was to find out when Jersey closed down January and February to all "out back" fishing, out back meaning bays and rivers. 

     The best I could find, was the below. It was the discussion of Conservation Equivalency (We hate CE) options as submitted by New Jersey to the ASMFC in 2003. It was there I saw, under Option 8, "...continue spawning closures (April and May), and estuary closures (Jan & Feb). 

      So those regulations have been in effect since before 2003. What we have is all New Jersey bays and rivers closed during January and February, and the Delaware River (Jersey side!) closed in April and May, the later protecting spawning striped bass. Most anglers know, or can remember, when early season striped bass meant one thing, soaking worms or clams, and that was it. So finding that honey-hole of wintering over bass and tossing out a blood worm that kerplunks in their lethargic face could make for an easy haul. So that was eliminated, no doubt as part of some trade-off. That early season fishery has changed, maybe because of warmer water temps?, as bass now take rubber things and lures as early as March. It's matching the hatch, and fish will eat, maybe not chase, what is in front of them. 

  

     The "Housy" is a 149 mile-long river that starts in Massachusetts, passes through Connecticut, and empties into the Long Island Sound. The section concerning striped bass is the lower section, from the

is the lower section, from the Ousatonic (Now Derby) Dam, in the Town of Derby, down to the Sound. That's just north of where the Naugatuck River joins and then it's about 12 miles out to the bigger water. It was in that stretch where the Connecticut Police got their get. 

     The Housatonic River has been, well was, a well kept secret, to the angling community. What was once a one way pilgrimage, ie: Jersey Boys heading to New England hot spots like the Cape Cod Canal, has become reversed with the Massholes, I can't help it I just love it, coming down to New Jersey, where we have the best year-round fishery on the East Coast, well at least what's left of it. While most of the fair weathered fishermen, like me, have quit after early December, it's after that that the winter holdover bass crowd comes out. If you think I'm blowing something up, then look below.

     After doing some digging I enjoyed reading and watching about this fishery, which targets these fish, who are just taking a break and awaiting spring. Many of the "100 fish today" claims were guys catching fish that were 15-25 inches caught on barbs-up rubber shads jigged off the bottom. You don't believe me? Pick a video and watch the releases as that big barb is stuck in the baby bass's face. 

     Basically it's fun day. Put in, drive around, look for the other boats that found the Mother Lode as the school, sometimes a huge school, ebbs and flows with the tide. And with the "ease", if you will, of fishing that easy, you no doubt get those poachers out and about and breaking the law. It's the same thing up and down the East Coast wherever fish come and set up in big numbers with relatively easy access. 

     So I don't want to piss on the Connecticut guys fun. The closest I've been to the Housy was during one of my hundreds of trips to Newport, Rhode Island or Martha's Vineyard. Just north, or northeast?, of Bridgeport you drive over the river. I think I've driven over it for years without really knowing what river it was. But the question is is having a fishery like this a good thing for the striped bass? With recreational catch and release mortality running about 40 %, and this fishery being made up mostly of sub-schoolie sized bass, would it make sense to have Connecticut put into law gear restrictions while fishing? 

     I think there's nothing wrong with "one for the table", well really I do, and nothing wrong with catch and release fishing, I do it, but it could only be a good thing if, there, well everywhere, you went to a barbless single hook on all lures, including flies. No doubt after this deep-freeze we're in today the

 temperatures will be up again around Christmas. For many, fishing on Christmas is a thing, and no doubt you'll find those boats clumped together over a school of fish moving up and down with the tide. 

12.19.24 Who's living on Fish Island?...

      One day during the summer I stopped by the Delaware River to see what was going on. As I stood there I swore I saw a whisp of smoke coming from Fish Island which is a few football field lengths from the State Capital Building in Trenton. I didn't think much of it at the time but the other day I was passing by and looked over and saw a camp set up there. Now the only way to get there would be by wading, which you could have done a lot this year especially with the drought, or by some kind of watercraft, like a jet boat, kayak, or paddle board.

          There are three islands that sit within the City of Trenton. To the north are Rotary and Blaugard Islands and to the south, where the camp is set up, is an island that sits as part of Stacy Park. I have wrote about these in the past. What is interesting is for was many people I have talked to about this tiny island is

no one could recall it having a name. It was only after I did all kinds of digging in old books and articles did I find it referred to as Fish Island, that was in a book dated back to the 1800's. So, I, and everyone I know who knows, calls it Fish Island. 

     So I went down yesterday just to see. I bought along my two big cameras that I used to use when I worked as a photographer. It's amazing they have any life left. I pulled off of Route 29, aka John Fitch Way, and took a look over and didn't see any life. Maybe this was just a summer haunt for some one? Or for a group of kids? Then in the corner of my eye I saw life in the middle of the river. Is that a guy in a kayak? Yes it was. So I started clicking.

     This isn't a place to spend the cooler months on. As of late we've had air temps down into the 20's and when the north wind blows down river there is no protection. He has set

 up on what I would call island #2, the smaller of the two islands separated from the other by larger by a channel. The smaller parcel is 310 feet long and 70 feet wide. 

     After he disappeared from view, as he landed his kayak, I waited to see if he would reappear. After some time he did and started gathering wood to build a fire. It wasn't bone chilling cold yesterday at 40 degrees, but it felt like it was 31 degrees, and that north wind. 

     I took some more pictures and then gave him his privacy. Back home I was asked, "Why don't you just leave him alone?". Good question. People have a right to privacy. But there's a story behind the people who live and frequent the corners in and around Route 29 in Trenton. 

     The old wharf at Trenton used to be a place. Like many other go-to places in the old big cities this place has seen its day. Talk to anyone who shad fishes or caught and live-lined herring back in the day then this was the place. Then it wasn't. It became a place for drinkers and those down on their luck who set up home. 

     Down on their luck, ravaged by addiction, not right in the head, there were all types. I've encountered them several times while on foot or in my truck as they are a fixture at the intersections outside of the state offices and the Trenton Thunder stadium. There are there when it's 110 degrees out and when it's 15 degrees out, and in the rain, and snow, and in-between. 

     After I was done at the island I went down to S. Warren Street and Route 29 and found more of the same. Sign holding drifters walking in and out of traffic asking for a handout. Most of these people are white and young. I don't know how they came to Route 29 in Trenton. 

     It's a dangerous game they play with many wearing clothes that are donated or they can find and they do not have reflective stripes on them to warn motorists. Each year pedestrians, at least one, are struck, injured, or are killed along Route 29, and afterwards a makeshift memorial can be seen leaning up against a pole near the accident scene. 

     The reason the resident of Fish Island might be there is due to the changing landscape down and around where the homeless camps were set up. There has been a ton of construction down on the water. They have completed the highway work and are now working on a new wharf. 

     

     So basically anyone down there was displaced. They have went from living in the the brush along the river and under the overpasses into the vacant buildings within a few city blocks of the highway. Maybe Fish Island offers solitude, and more importantly, safety. 

     Each time I go past now I will be looking over to see any signs of life. I will feel relieved if I see that light column of smoke coming from the brush. That'll mean he's alive. I can't imagine taking the below route to get to food, help, or warmth in the next coming months. 

     You never know where a person has been or where there are on any given day. For all the bitching I do I should thankful and grateful that I have a warm home to crash in, food in my belly, family who loves me, and not a dangerous commute home across an unforgiving river. 

12.18.24 Nursing school, a game of inches....

     

     The hardest thing I've ever done in my life was survive nursing school 30 years ago. Yesterday I got relive the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat again as this current cohort took their final exam for their first semester. If you've been, or have kids in nursing school, then you know it all comes down to exam scores, with the biggest score coming at the end when they take the NCLEX board exam. 

     There's a bunch of ways for entry in nursing practice, a hospital-based diploma program, a two year associates degree program, a four year bachelors degree program, and a one year accelerated BSN program, where you have another bachelors degree and in 13 months have your BSN, or bachelors of science in nursing. If you, your kids, or your buds aren't happy with that shitty liberal arts degree that cost  $200,000 and need a career change have them look into heading over to nursing. 

     The reason I chose to return to Essex County College as a nursing Professor is because it's where I started. It's Essex. It's Newark. A place where I lived, or lived and worked, for 20 years. And the students at Essex aren't your usual live-in-their-parents-basement type of community college student. These are workers, have families, have issues with housing, transportation, and even immigration. Some have been in the United States for less than three years, and more only a few years longer. When we had Cultural Day last week one student told me she could't make it because she was getting sworn in as a United States citizen that day. And there's babies that come and family members that pass and everything in between. So with a class of 106 there's a lot of traumas and dramas that come up. Every. Single. Day.  

     Nursing students work hard. If you've been or have one in the family then you know. It's a 24 hour a day thing when you're in it. It's a combination of lecture, lab, on campus, and clinical at a healthcare setting. It takes a village to be successful, with bosses, spouses, kids, and even their religious community, all part of the team that needs to support the student going through it. When all of it comes down to exam scores, with the biggest one, for some, being the final exam, it can be a live or die kinda day. 

     Proctoring exams isn't an easy task. Exam integrity needs to be maintained. If you ADHD then you better take your meds because sitting there staring at the screen and the students can test your frontal lobe. And then there's the anxiety as the first wave of students nears completion, and then the scores, and the reactions, give way to knowing if the student was successful and will move onto the next class, or not. Nursing school is nasty like that.

     Off the 106 students that were still in the game heading into yesterday's final 76 will move on to my class in the spring. NRS 114 is a combination of mental health and medical- surgical nursing. It's 15 weeks long, or short. It's a lot of content. A lot of exams. And the pace is quick, almost running. It's hard for me to show too much emotion and happiness for those that were successful while balancing empathy for those that weren't. There are a bunch of good future nurses who will have to come up with a new plan in order to meet their individual goals. As a Professor you root for just about everyone of them, with less umph for those that aren't putting their best foot forward and working as hard, and getting it done, as the others. 

   So there are tears, shed for victory and defeat, all across the halls of nursing schools this week. For those smiling it means one step closer in entering one of the most challenging professions out there. Just getting in and having the pleasure of caring for other people is just the start, as gaining experience and continuing one's education is needed to be competent and ready to care for the sick and injured. 

     There are no participation trophies in nursing school. We have seen that phenomenon ruin so many things in this country since the 1990's. It started with kids in school and in sports. Everyone gets a trophy. Do you want that person who may have been pushed through or barely passed taking care of you or your loved one in the hospital or long term care facility? This isn't show up and win. Nursing isn't a game of memorization and recall, it's critical thinking and situational awareness. Not everyone has those skills, but they can be learned. 

     While I think the best nurses are females, I don't care what the sex, color, creed, preference, etc., a person is when they enter the room, it comes down to performance. Males make up about 12% of the nursing profession and there has been a little uptick in that since I entered the game, and I am so glad I did. Fist as a side hustle around my fire department and EMS jobs and now my full-time gig. I tell everyone I know to consider a career in the health sciences, such as nursing, radiology, vision care, and physical therapy. If you're into computers over blood and guts there's a place for you. Don't like kids but like the old folks there's a place for you. Want to deliver babies, work in shock trauma, psych, peds, and even in forensics, then there's a place for you. And the money isn't bad either. New nursing graduates are commanding starting salaries up to $100,000, which is about $50 an hour. Not bad for two years of dedication and hard work. But you'll pay a price as nursing calls for leaving a bit of yourself every time you go to work. And that doesn't matter if you're at the bedside or at the chalkboard, well whiteboard these days. 

     So now it's a break until NRS 114 orientation. I'll spend it decompressing but busy at the computer making sure the syllabus and all the schedules are tight. Chaos, even though I like it, can interfere with the learning process so I have to do my best so they can do their best. I'm even thinking there might a year end trip down to the beach. I don't care if I catch, I could just use a mental health day down showing flies into the salty water. 

12.17.24 The Axis of Evil was victorious, and the striped bass lost....

   

 Here it was, the original proposal from the ASMFC.

    They were trying, or looking like they were trying, to take action. But be it New Jersey's own Adam Nowalsky to once again throw a monkey wrench into any type of progress moving forward. And you know what, he did. Not only did he throw the wrench at them, but he picked up and launched everything within reach, and when he was done throwing shit around he whipped it out and relieved himself all over the Management Board, all of us, and the striped bass.  

    He submitted an Addendum, that the Management Board had no doubt previously seen, or at least knew was coming, proposing things to remain status quo for 2025 with action to be taken in 2026, only after the 2025 ASMFC Annual Meeting which is held next fall. It's another way to kick the can down the road and do nothing and keep everything the same, keeping just a small percentage of the stockholders in striped bass, happy. Below is his original motion,

    Now here's where we were, and could be today, before Nowalsky took over, 

• No changes in the slot limit
• Make changes to achieve 9% reductions in BOTH commercial and recreational sectors
• Implementation of No Harvest closures, No Target Closures were off the table
• Waves determined in two geographical areas, Maine down to Rhode Island and Connecticut down to North Carolina. 
• Implementation date is April 1, 2025

     The plan was for the individual states, or maybe it's the states within those Waves, to come up with a plan to meet the Management Board's 9% reduction. Those plans to meet the reductions would have to be submitted, approved by the ASMFC, and then sent back to the states and put into law, and then implemented. The entire fisheries management bullshit always reminds when Jesus went in front of King Herod and then Pontius Pilate before he was crucified, neither of them wanting to make the tough decision. In the end it was the public who put Jesus to death. Well with the striped bass it's the ASMFC.

     Listening to Nowalsky is like watching James Conway (Robert DeNiro) telling Karen Hill (Lorraine Bracco) in the movie Goodfella's, "Yep, right there, just keep walking, it's just around the corner". Basically setting her up to be killed the moment she enters the building. Nowalsky does a good job of setting people up before mowing them down and getting his way. And truth be told, he's got a lot of buddies out there, and some of them have some weight behind them. 

     I don't know why the ASMFC even gives him so much power. He comes across as having sense, and being genuine and believable but he is just setting everyone up with his monotone, condescending, and overly concerned and fake delivery. He's looking out for his for-hire buds and all the folks that like to harvest striped bass. And John Clarke from Delaware and Mike Luisi from Maryland came up right behind to help him out. And then he bought up a motion to amend the original Addendum regarding timing of the decisions which means implementation in 2026. 

     So as I understand this. Nowalsky was looking for a status quo for 2025 and then in 2025 coming up with plans to implement measures in 2026 to make the rebuild possible by 2029. And what that would mean is after the Addendum is tightened up sometime next spring it would have to go back out for public comment which would delay the entire process even more. This is the very reason why anglers don't submit public comments, because really no one really listens and no one trusts the ASMFC, no matter how nicely they put together a synopsis of all of the public comments that were submitted. 

ITS JUST THE ASMFC KICKING THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD, AGAIN

     Two hours in I started to think that the ASMFC and Adam Nowalsky were in cahoots. How did the Board come out with all these proposals only to have it all blown to shit by one guy, and his two buds, and his Addendum? And afterwards, and during all the discussions, the ASMFC just went along with it, forgetting about everything they reviewed in the submitted public comments and in their original plan. There was no emotion, and no frustration or anger that their original plan had been derailed, they just laid down and rolled over. Below was the amended version, 

     And then there was a lunch break. And then the commercials sector got all fired up to reduce their reduction from 9% to 1%, which failed. And that was around hour number three. Then they moved to amend it from 9% to 5%. Which passed. So commercials take less of a hit (%-wise) than the recreational sector. And then they discussed allowing size changes to be allowed in to meet the 9% reductions. I don't even know what the final answer on that was.

AND THEN I WAS DONE. 

127 PM. Three and a half hours in. Didn't care what they were saying. Didn't care what they did. The ASMFC brought this on themselves. I can't even imagine what the 500 plus people who were tuned in were thinking as this went on. Really there was no public input. If you had a point or a question you raised your digital hand. If and when you were chosen you could only comment on the topic at hand, not the thing you really wanted to verbalize about that happened 90 minutes earlier. 

     This whole thing should have looked more like the Parliament session then a conversation between two high school lovers trying to negotiate how they might get to sneak out and meet up at the local Lover's Lane. There was no fire. No yelling. No cursing. And they should have been. 

     I had had enough. I stayed around and listened a little more as they discussed and voted on the final version of the Addendum. Looking at it it appears we're kinda back to CE (Conservation Equivalency), sort of, but it will go by Waves, groups of states, and not the individual states, unless, it comes down to area specific fisheries, like in New York, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. New Jersey will "take one for the team" and "punish" New Jersey fishermen by continuing to have a closed season in the bays and rivers in January and February and WILL CLOSE DOWN striped bass fishing in July and August which is during Wave 4. You know how many times you caught stripers in those months and how many party boats go out for them......zero. 

220 PM- A vote was taken for a substitute motion made by Nichola Meserve to implement regulations by 2025 but that got shot down. That was the only chance the bass had. So it went back to Nowalsky's mess (below), 

225 PM- The Addendum (above) was read. And the vote to initiate the Addendum....drum roll...and the vote....PASSED (14, 2, 0, 0). FOURTEEN TO TWO - the only no's came from Maine and New Hampshire. 

230 PM - Meeting adjourned. The four and a half hour meeting was over three an a half minutes after the vote, because the who's got what they wanted. 

So what does all that mean? Status quo in 2025, same regulations as in 2024. 

No protecting the 2015 and 2018 year classes. 

Same shit, different year.