Hi All,
While chat rooms and forums have been on fire with discussions of which Option is "best" for the recreational anglers for the upcoming NJ Summer Flounder/Fluke season, it appears that the Jersey Coast Anglers Association (JCAA) have already set a date of June 9, 2007 for their 13th Annual Fluke Tournament. There are expensive ads in magazines such as The NJ Angler and their website even is accepting entry forms at
http://www.jcaa.org/FlukForm.htm . I thought a decision was to be made on or after March 1, 2007. I guess I am still naive. No not really, I am confident that the fisheries management folks already made up their minds.
On their website, the JCAA states that the Tournament is June 9, 2007 as of February 3, 2007. They have had plenty of time to take that down or put an "asterisk" next to that date. Also, waiting another two (2) weeks will not matter concerning tournament entries. I have tried to call but it is hard right now to get in touch with their office. I do not leave voice mails as I believe in speaking to people directly.
I am both a little puzzled and yet happy. The JCAA Fluke Tournament is one of my favorites and I have been in it 10 of the last 12 years. I am puzzled in that they seem to know the dates for the Summer Flounder/Fluke season. If they are indeed correct, that would mean that options # 4 or 6 have already been chosen. If this were any other organization setting their tournament dates, it would not send up a red flag. However, because the JCAA and Tom Fote are so active, the conspiracy theory part of me says that something is real here, more than just an educated guess.
I will wait to see but if they know and are not telling us, that hurts me as an Associate Member of their organization. We all know that all the options hurt, I wish someone would just step up and end this nonsense and let us get on with planning how to fish under the new regulations.
What do you folks think?
Have fun,
Capt. Ed
