Stripercoast Surfcasters Club - NJ Chapter Beach Clean Up

[Tacklebox Joe]

 As some of you may or may not know, I am the newly appointed New Jersey Chapter Club President of the Stripercoast Surfcasters Club. Stripercoast Surfcasters Club formed in 2008 and is geared toward uniting dedicated striped bass surfcasters on the eastern seaboard, and helping to provide a united voice on their behalf on issues such as the conservation of striped bass, protection of forage fish, coastal access rights and eliminating the commerical harvesting of striped bass.

 On Saturday March 26th, SSC-NJ will be holding its first chapter beach clean up at Sandy Hook / Gateway National Park. We will be cleaning up trash on the beach in the area known as the "sod banks". People, like ourselves, who fish are some of the best friends of shoreline and marine habitats.

We are looking for volunteers to join us in this endeavor. If you fish the Sandy Hook area and/or would like to join us you are more than welcome to. It is sure to be a fun day for a great cause. We will be having a cookout i.e. hamburgers, hot dogs etc; and raffling off some tackle goodies in appreciation of everyones hard work.
You can check out the details on our Facebook event page by searching "SSC New Jersey Beach Cleanup 2011"
Also, visit us @ www.stripercoastsurfcasters.us

Thanks for your support TBJ

[ChrisL]

Got your FB invite.  I'm thinking about it, as long as there's nothing else going on that day.
I'll let ya know when the time gets closer. 

[Tacklebox Joe]

Got your FB invite.  I'm thinking about it, as long as there's nothing else going on that day.
I'll let ya know when the time gets closer. 

Thanks for the support Chris, hope to see ya there. If not I'll see you @ the banquet

[Bucktail]

Congratulations on your election Joe.  Go get 'em!

[Hotrod]

 

[kayak1]

Nice post.....Joe 

[Tacklebox Joe]

Update: Eric Weber from Tomorrows Tackle and Peter Duoma of Poseidon Custom Rods have generously donated to our raffle. Thanks guys! You can find tomorrows tackle fishing lures @ Harrys Army Navy !

Check out there Facebook pages below and support our local guys by Pressing Like

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tomorrows-Tackle/140074389353209?ref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Poseidon-Custom-Rods/165733340132245?ref=ts

[Bucktail]

Do you mean the  raffle or a different raffle?

[Tacklebox Joe]

The raffle for the SSC beach clean up Bob

[Bucktail]

Gotcha.

[HutchJr]

Joe,

Curious, why does the club differentiate between eels and all other baits in competition?  Just interested, I've never seen that done in fishing competition that I can recall where all natural baits are forbidden, except eels.  (It must suck being a lowly bunker!)

Thanks!
Jim Hutch 

[Tacklebox Joe]

Jim

Thanks for giving the SSC website a look. I appreciate it. SSC considers eels as just live plugs. We are actively fishing for striped bass and the bait and wait method is not active fishing. Not saying anything wrong with that. I like to sit back once in a while too. I love to live line bunker but not allowed because we are all on the same playing field in competition when using plugs.

Joe

[HutchJr]

Wouldn't livelining a bunker or herring (without weight) along a jetty or rip be considered "active" fishing?  

I mean no disrespect Joe, I just can't understand how we've gotten to this point where we seem to be so compartmentalized about our sport...there's an ongoing effort in Maine by flycasters trying to outlaw baitfishing along a stretch of prime striper real estate, while a handful of activists are trying to seperate the for-hire industry into their own special sector apart from the recreational community.

I dunno Joe, some days I like to sling a big hunk of bunker chunk into a rip, most days I prefer throwin' pencils out towards the bar.  Am I really getting ostracized by one community for doing the methods of another?  

Hope not - at this point, there are enough 'elitists' who don't like me personally for not supporting a bloated governmental surcharge to fish, I would hate to think that there's another segment of the population that wants to hang me up by my waders just because I like to tie clams on once in awhile!

OH BY THE WAY, good luck with the beach clean-up and THANK YOU on behalf of ALL surfcasters for taking the time and effort to help keep us fishing (keeping fishing areas clean will indeed help protect our access rights, so thanks!)

[Tacklebox Joe]

Wouldn't livelining a bunker or herring (without weight) along a jetty or rip be considered "active" fishing? 

Jim, it's not allowed during club competitions because using plugs will put all competetors on the same playing field.
 It is not preferred to use filter feeder populations as bait which are responsible for helping maintain good water quality in striped bass breeding grounds. However, it does not state in our by-laws that you can not use live bait when not in competition. Again, just a preference/encourage thing.


[/quote]I mean no disrespect Joe, I just can't understand how we've gotten to this point where we seem to be so compartmentalized about our sport...there's an ongoing effort in Maine by flycasters trying to outlaw baitfishing along a stretch of prime striper real estate, while a handful of activists are trying to seperate the for-hire industry into their own special sector apart from the recreational community.[/quote}

No disrespect taken Jim. Our current membership includes surfcasters from Deleware to Massachusetts. We (SSC) are not "extremist" or "activist". SSC is geared toward the dedicated and conservation minded striped bass surfcaster.We are striped bass enthusists who love the art of surfcasting with plugs, metals, etc; We are not against an angler keeping fish for the table but also encourage catch and release. SSC also believes that a unified front is a strong front when it comes to fighting for our rights as stewards of the resources we love and making our voices heard on issues that affect us all.

[/qoute} I dunno Joe, some days I like to sling a big hunk of bunker chunk into a rip, most days I prefer throwin' pencils out towards the bar.  Am I really getting ostracized by one community for doing the methods of another?
Hope not - at this point, there are enough 'elitists' who don't like me personally for not supporting a bloated governmental surcharge to fish,

No you are not and would not get "ostracized" by me or SSC.

I would hate to think that there's another segment of the population that wants to hang me up by my waders just because I like to tie clams on once in awhile!
We (SSC) are not that segment. Yes we encourge C&R and encourage not to use filter feeders as bait but would not "hang" someone for it and make a "mountain out of a mole hill" because of it. Again, we encourage it.

OH BY THE WAY, good luck with the beach clean-up and THANK YOU on behalf of ALL surfcasters for taking the time and effort to help keep us fishing (keeping fishing areas clean will indeed help protect our access rights, so thanks!

Thank you Jim. I really appreciate it  It is my hope that we can work together on issues we agree on. Here's a copy of our mission statement which i'm sure you've read

Mission Statement;
As an organized group of dedicated Surfcasters, we will gather in numbers to fish.
We will create through competition, official and un-official, awareness of conservation measures to protect Striped Bass.
Our competitions shall be no kill fishing, with all effort to release all Bass hooked during our presence on the grounds we fish
We will utilize our experience and numbers to actively pursue legislation that protects and expands our rights to shoreline access, and conservation measures that promote and expand opportunities for future generations to pursue Striped Bass successfully.
We will support any and all legislative members, in all states where Striped Bass exist in natural wild stock, who choose to promote measures affecting, in a positive manner, Striped Bass and the Bio-mass that supports and feeds them.



Edited for Add on:
Also Jim, I think it should be known the spirit of the SSC bylaws was conservation minded and to determine rules for our tournaments. tournament rules are just that tournament rules. We would not stop anyone from joining our club who like to dunk clams as their fishing method (would hope they use circle hooks, and care about conservation)..and I personally say more power too them.

but for sanctioned tournaments you have seen some of the limitations we included and the why...

[HutchJr]

Ahhh, tournament only...I should've read more clearly.  There was a pretty cool boat tourney run a few years ago on slot size stripers (28-34) that counted the weight of a team's two top bass taken exlusively on artificials - does make for some interesting competition!

Good luck Joe!

[Tacklebox Joe]

BUMP^ 

Clean Up will start @ 10am and the cookout @ 1pm
any questions please email me at joe@stripercoastsurfcasters.us

Thanks Guys!

[Tacklebox Joe]

Another Update:

CTS Rods and Blanks will be there during the cookout where you can try out their latest creations 

[Tacklebox Joe]

Bump 

This Saturday...come on down or up 

FYI, there's a typo in the Fisherman, actually my fault for not letting Karen know of the time change.
10am Start! Hope to see you there 

[SurfJockey]

See you Saturday Joe!   

[Tacklebox Joe]