The New England Saltwater Fishing show is slated for Thursday, Feb. 26 through Sunday, Feb. 28 at the Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence. This year the show has over 225 exhibitors including tackle, rods, reels, electronics, charter guides, boats, motors, accessories, clothes and much more. Highlights include TV Wicked Tuna star Capt. Dave Carraro and his mate Capt. Sandro Maniaci of the fishing vessel Tuna.com and over 60 different seminars and workshops taking place at four different presentation areas. Enter to win a free charter trip with Cap. Dave Monti, No Fluke Charters and Sunday is Family Day with free admission for all women and children ages 12 and under. Visit www.risaa.org for details.

What’s new with striped bass at Rhody Fly Rodders?

Dean Clark, co-chairman of Stripers Forever, will be guest speaker Tuesday, Feb. 16, 6:30 p.m. at the Rhody Fly Rodders, Riverside Sportsmen’s Club, 19 Mohawk Dr., East Providence.

Clark, a noted striped bass conservationist, will talk about national, regional and local issues that will have an immediate impact on the striped bass fishery this year. Stripers Forever aims to achieve game status for striped bass which would eliminate striped bass as a commercially harvested species. Peter Nilsen, president of Rhody Fly Rodders, said, “It’s (striped bass) much too valuable of a recreational fish to have it under-valued as a commercial resource.”

Contact Pete Nilsen, club president, with questions about the meeting at pdfish@fullchannel.net.

Regional management and cuts for black sea bass in 2016

Last week the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board approved Addendum XXVII to the Summer Flounder and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan. The Addendum continues the use of regional management for the 2016 summer flounder and black sea bass recreational fisheries.

Sumer flounder (fluke) regulations will likely be the same in Rhode Island for 2016 (eight fish/person/day), however, the board approved a 23 percent harvest reduction for the recreational black sea bass fishery in 2016.  This reduction will result in a reduction and more conservative regulations for Rhode Islanders in 2016.

At press time black sea bass options ready to be discussed at a Tuesday, Feb. 9 Rhode Island Marine Fisheries public workshop and the Feb. 16 public hearing include:

Option 1: reduction based on one fish from July 2 to August 31; seven fish September 1 to October 10.

Option 2: reduction based on three fish with shortened late season. Three fish from July 2 to August 17.

Option 3: three fish with shortened early season August 10 through December 31.

Option 4: two fish early, five fish later with shortened season. Two fish August 2 through August 31; five fish September 1 to October 15.

These and other options proposed will be passed on to the RI Marine Fisheries Council for their recommendations before being sent to DEM Director Janet Coit for her final 2016 recreational regulations.  Visit www.dem.ri.gov for details on regulation options and news.

Say “yes” to fish interviewers

It won’t be long now and the Marine Recreational Information Program’s (MRIP) interviewers will be out surveying recreational anglers. The difference this year is that those doing the interviewing will be employed and supervised by the RI Department of Environmental Management rather than being employed by an out of state consultant.

Michael Bucko, Rhode Island’s Access Point Angler Intercept Survey (APAIS) Lead Biologist said, “Anglers need to know all the information they share is confidential and no information will be used for law enforcement. Being truthful can only enhance how recreational fisheries are managed and ultimately help ensure the future of fish we all care about.”

The idea is to survey recreational anglers at docks, on the shoreline, at boat ramps as well as those fishing on charter and party boats.  The expectation is that Rhode Island surveyors who know the local culture and fishing areas and will be better received by fishermen.

Bucko said, “In the past fishermen would see our clipboard and run the other way. For every ten interviews, twenty-five anglers would decline to be interviewed. We hope to enhance this ratio because we are training our staff to be less threatening to anglers. The hope is that cooperation and participation will be enhanced.”

Anglers are asked demographic, fishing trip and biological questions about their catch. Questions include Where did you fish today? What species did you target? And may I weigh and measure your catch?

The program aims to come up with an estimate of what fish are being caught on an average trip. This data is combined with mail/telephone survey data collected by a separate “effort” survey of anglers.  Recreational angler saltwater license data along with postal address information is combined to mail the survey.

Over the years telephone surveys have been proven less effective due to incorrect telephone numbers or cell numbers that often do not work. So moving forward the effort survey will likely be mailed and/or emailed to anglers.

Bucko said, “Simply put the catch data we collet with our intercept “catch” survey and the “effort” survey data are multiplied to determine recreational harvest.  It’s more complex than this with models and formulas but that is it in a nutshell.”

Over the years the MRIP data fish mangers use to measure recreational harvest has been criticized as unreliable.  However, today NOAA has enhanced both catch and effort survey methodologies to the point that most are optimistic about arriving at a much more reliable solution to estimate recreational harvest.

There will be a team of six interviewers in Rhode Island. All are well qualified to identify fish, weigh and measure them. The two staff Field Technicians I met were marine biologists who graduated from the University of Rhode Island and did advanced study in Bermuda.

On a daily basis the survey team will be given randomly selected locations (out of 280 possibilities in RI) to survey. The goal is to complete 2,200 to 2,400 surveys this year.

Bucko said, “Historically some anglers have not been totally truthful when being asked about what they caught, kept and released as they fear that recreational fishing limits will become more conservative because too many fish are coming out of the water. However, the truth is it could work the opposite way. If mangers believe anglers are not catching a particular species they may lower the harvest limit as the data is telling them there aren’t as many fish in the water as they thought.”

So if anglers are approached by a DEM representative to do a survey they are urged to participate and be truthful as it can only enhance recreational fishing for all in the future.

Visit www.countmyfish.noaa.gov to learn more or call Mike Bucko from RI DEM at 401/783-2304.

Where’s the bite?

Cod fishing remains good off Rhode Island when boats are able to get out between storms. Capt. Andy Dangelo said the Seven B’s is still sailing for cod weather permitting.  A Seven B’s report said Fishing Sunday (Jan. 31) was much improved with fresh clams performing better than jigs and everyone coming home with fresh cod fillets. John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle, Riverside said, “Customers have been cod fishing on party boats all winter. They have been catching three or four keepers each but last week customers landed seven and eight keepers each.” Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet said, “Saturday's fishing was the best day of the week with a really nice catch of market cod spread out between anglers on the boat. Hi hook had a full limit and most fishers had a few to several cod apiece to take home. Also on board on recent outings have been decent numbers of good size ling and some big ocean perch.” Party boats sailing for codfish at this time include the Frances Fleet at www.francesfleet.com, the Seven B’s (with Capt. Andy Dangelo at the helm) at www.sevenbs.com, and the Island Current at www.islandcurrent.com.

Fresh water fishing. Ken Ferrara of Ray’s Bait & Tackle, Warwick said, “Anglers are fishing on the ice or from shore where there is no ice and both are doing well using shiners. They are catching a variety of fish including bass, pike and perch. It has been a mixed bag for most.” Littlefield of Archie’s Bait said, “I had two customers fish Lincoln Woods last week and they did not do well.”

Captain Dave Monti has been fishing and shellfishing for over 40 years. He holds a captain’s master license and a charter fishing license. Visit Captain Dave’s No Fluke website at www.noflukefishing.com or e-mail him with your fishing news and photos at dmontifish@verizon.net.