The Modern Fish Act represents the best efforts of a coalition of sportfishing groups to make the fisheries management process fairer to  recreational fishermen. Though enjoying wide bipartisan support, it was fought by some so-called environmental groups involved in an unholy alliance with commercial fishing organizations.  I haven’t been able to get the roll call vote on this House passage as yet, but on a vote last year Rep. Frank Pallone was the only N.J. Democrat to vote for the act. Not only was it vital to get this bill finally approved by the House before having to start from scratch in the new Congress, but it’s quite likely that the new Democratic House will be less likely to protect the public’s right to fish over their commitment to the environmental groups.  The American Sportfishing Association press release follows:

Modern Fish Act Headed to the White House

First-Ever Sportfishing-Focused Legislation to Pass Congress Heads to President’s Desk

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing the Modern Fish Act. Officially known as the Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act of 2017, the passage is a major victory for the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) and our coalition partners, who worked closely with lawmakers to get the bill through Congress. The bill now heads to the President’s desk for his signature.

“This is truly a monumental achievement by the ASA and its members, our partner organizations, and anglers across the country,” said ASA President Glenn Hughes. “I want to personally thank Mike Leonard and his team who have worked tirelessly for more than three years to accomplish the goal of passing this historic legislation for recreational anglers and the sportfishing industry. Without the dedication and leadership of Mike and the hundreds of meetings and phone calls, this legislation would not have made it to the President’s desk.”

“From its initial introduction almost two years ago, the Modern Fish Act has had many champions in the House of Representatives, most notably Reps. Garret Graves (R-La.), Gene Green (D-Texas), Daniel Webster (R-Fla.), Rob Wittman (R-Va.) and Marc Veasey (D-Texas),” said ASA Vice President of Government Affairs Mike Leonard. “These legislators deserve a tremendous amount of gratitude from the recreational fishing industry for their leadership in supporting this important bill throughout the legislative process.”

“The recreational fishing industry has long been frustrated by the sudden closures and wildly fluctuating fishing regulations that have come from the nation’s federal marine fisheries management system,” said Gary Zurn, senior vice president at Big Rock Sports and ASA’s Government Affairs Committee Chairman. “Through passage of the Modern Fish Act, Congress is providing direction to NOAA Fisheries on a variety of policies that will ultimately lead to more stable fishing regulations, and better management and conservation of our marine fisheries.”

The version of the Modern Fish Act passed by Congress did not contain some key provisions included in the original bill, such as requiring periodic examinations in the southeastern U.S. of how fisheries are allocated between the commercial and recreational sectors. However, the bill still helps to address many of ASA’s top priorities for improving federal marine fisheries management, including:

• Clarifying the authority of NOAA Fisheries to apply management approaches more appropriate for recreational fishing;
• Improving recreational harvest data collection by requiring federal managers to explore additional data sources that have tremendous potential to improve the accuracy and timeliness of harvest estimates, such as state-driven programs and electronic reporting (e.g., through smartphone apps);
• Requiring a study on how mixed-use fishery allocations can and should be periodically reviewed by the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Regional Fishery Management Councils; and
• Requiring a study on limited access privilege programs (catch shares) including an assessment of the social, economic, and ecological effects of the programs.

“To my knowledge, never before has Congress passed a bill focused entirely on the saltwater recreational fishing community,” Leonard added. “Passage of the Modern Fish Act proves that the voice of the recreational fishing community is being heard on Capitol Hill. The Modern Fish Act is not the end point, but rather a major step toward evolving federal marine fisheries management in a way that recognizes the importance of saltwater recreational fishing to the nation.”

Needless to say, there were no fishing reports today in SE winds gusting to 40 mph and heavy rain at times. Gale warnings are continued through Saturday afternoon as tonight’s 15-20 knot south wind with gusts to 35 plus seas up to 10 feet switches to west at the same speeds Saturday. The clearing west wind continues at 10-15 knots with gusts to 25 on Sunday — and will be down to 10-15 Monday as seas diminish to 2-4 feet. It may take the surf a few tides to clear up, but surfcasting should be practical by Monday or Tuesday. Don’t expect those miracle peanut bunkers at Point Pleasant to still be around, but school stripers normally come-and-go in the surf through December — and often into January.

The news probably isn’t going to do anyone any good just before the storm hits, but the long-missing peanut bunkers finally showed up in the surf today. There hasn’t been a peanut bunker run in the Shore surf all fall, but the few anglers who worked the Point Pleasant surf today were rewarded with larger school stripers than we’d been seeing — 24 to 27 inches.

Jerry Lasko spent the day at Point Pleasant and caught eight, while Maren Toleno totaled 18. Tsunami swim shads matched the hatch, though Maren also got a couple on snag & drop. She also took the water temperature, and it was up to 48 degrees.

Vinny D’Anton checked with his crew casting to the north at Belmar where they reported sand eels in the surf but no fish caught. Kevin Kuriawa had a close call this evening as he decided to fish Bay Head and found some bunkers in the calm, clear waters — but couldn’t get any hits among them.

The rain just started this afternoon, but there will be plenty more plus wind. Gale warnings for southeast winds gusting to 40 knots are up for Friday morning.  We’ll be lucky to get back to the surf by Sunday.

If you want to go fishing, you’d better do it by Thursday morning. Light winds continue in the morning from the southwest at 5-10 knots before switching to southeast in the afternoon and gusting to 30 knots. Friday looks like a complete washout.

There were no boat reports today, though conditions were good for blackfishing.

The Jamaica from Brielle sails for the jumbo sea bass wrecks at 11 p.m. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.

The surf was flat today, but Jerry Lasko said there wasn’t much of a bite in the morning. He only had one hit, but Maren Toleno managed to release one bass on her hand-tied teaser.  They fished in the Point Pleasant area and were back near there at dusk for the first good signs this week as sea herring were dimpling. Maren caught three bass, two on her teaser and one on the Tsunami 6-inch Halographic Sand Eel.  Jerry lost one.

Vinny D’Anton didn’t have any positive news about the Belmar area from his friends despite the fine conditions.

Steve Mirande sent an e-mail about casting in that strong NW wind yesterday morning at Point Pleasant Beach along with his neighbor Don Westerdale. They never got a tap there or at Seaside Park,

The weather forecast for the next two days is as good as you can get it for boaters with today’s gusty northwest decreasing to 5 knots west by morning — and only getting up to 5-10 SW Thursday before increasing that night. The NW did its job of knocking down the swell, and that’s always good news for bottom fishing.

The Big Mohawk from Belmar is taking advantage of that by sailing the next two days at 7 a.m. Blackfishing was good Saturday with some limits and a pool tog of about 10 pounds.

The Big Jamaica from Brielle 11 p.m. every night this week. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations on those jumbo sea bass trips.

The gusty NW this morning made surfcasting uncomfortable, and waters remained dingy. I cast at Belmar and caught only one small bass on a Castaways white teaser. There were about 15 anglers spread along the beach, and that was the only one I saw. Joe Melillo, at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant said he heard of a couple of other bass hooked at Belmar and knew of a couple at Bay Head. Jerry Lasko fished IBSP from his buggy and cauught one small bass. Water conditions should be better tomorrow.

The northwest wind has been doing its job, and the surf should be fishable everywhere by Tuesday morning. Bailey will be looking for another striper to sniff when Bob Correll returns to surfcasting this week.

I thought it would look like chocolate after that northeast blow, but Jim Louro went to Belmar this morning and found it to be only dingy rather than dirty. Best of all, he still hooked a couple of small bass in those conditions.

There won’t be any dirty water to worry about far offshore, and the Big Jamaica from Brielle has room on trips to the jumbo sea bass wrecks that leave at 11 p.m. today and tomorrow. They’ll also be doing the same thing at 11 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.

Gale warnings are posted through Tuesday afternoon, but the northwester will be diminishing. The forecast is for 25-30 knots  Tuesday morning before dropping off to 20-25 in the afternoon. Then it’s just west at 5-10 Wednesday and southwest 5-10 Thursday.

The northeaster was brutal, and it may take a couple of days with west winds for the swell to decrease and for the waters to clear. The marine forecast is for northwest 15-20 knots Monday, increasing to 20-25 in the afternoon, By Tuesday there will be gusts to 35 that should really work on the swell. Hopefully, surfcasters will be fishing Wednesday in  a west 5-10 knot breeze before it goes south at similar speeds on Wednesday.

Some surfcasters got lucky today as the northeast winds held off and the surf was generally fishable. — though that’s not likely to be the case in the gale force winds predicted for Sunday.

Jim Louro said he caught three stripers before daylight at Belmar, and Frank Manzi got one. The action died at slack water, but Manzi kept at it and eventually beached his largest bass of the fall — a 30-incher. Vinny D’Anton got there in time to catch a bass on a 6-inch Tsunami Eel.

Jerry Lasko put in a full day at Island Beach State Park and caught three stripers casting metal, while Maren Toleno released 13.

The fishing conditions were good in those areas with outer bars to break the swell, but Point Pleasant Beach didn’t look good with a big swell breaking on the beach. The northwest winds following the northeast blow should set the surf up for mid-week fishing.

It appears that my blog didn’t post, so I’m summarizing the bad news. We’ve already got a rough surf. and it’s due to get worse with increasing northeast winds culminating in gale warnings for Sunday morning to evening, The switch to northwest winds after that will take time to knock down and clear up the big seas for better fishing conditions in colder temperatures by the middle of next week.

There were no good reports today in a southeast wind. Jerry Lasko and Maren Toleno had been picking a few bass in Island Beach State Park early in the morning, but they caught nothing this morning.

Even when keepers were hard to some by, Capt. Rob Semkewyc had been finding lots of short stripers with his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands. However, all that changed today. The bait was still there, but not a single short could be jigged — and Capt. Rob is throwing in the towel on the season a bit earlier than last year.

Surfcasters should have more time, but you couldn’t prove that by my results this morning. I took a first light look at Pt. Pleasant, but moved on to Bay Head where there was some good-looking whitewater. I only got one very light tap there, and later found that some striper action had developed where I almost started. Jim Louro had three good-sized schoolies at Belmar, and Vinny D’Anton lost one there. Jerry Lasko caught two bass in IBSP and Maren Toleno had three as there was only a very early bite.

Sand eels are the attractor, and they tend to move around. Surprisingly, Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park had reports of bass being hooked on swim shads. I haven’t heard of any peanut bunkers in the surf for weeks. Everything could be different tomorrow as the perfect conditions of today with a light northwest wind are forecasted to change to east at 10-15 knots.

The Big Mohawk from Belmar reported that blackfishing was slower than yesterday, though some limits were taken. They’ll be sailing at 6:30 in the morning.