Reel Therapy Fly & Light Tackle Fishing charters

  In the waters surrounding New York and New Jersey, we have witnessed over a decade of undeniable positive feedback regarding the relationship between certain migratory fish species and electromagnetic fields (EMF). Two striking examples are the Hudson River and Raritan Bay, historic spawning and migratory egress locations for various species including striped bass, American eel, American shad, alewife, blueback herring, Atlantic long-nosed sturgeon, as well as marine mammals like humpback whales, Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, and several species of sea turtles. Raritan Bay and the Hudson River host 660-megawatt (MW) submarine transmission cables, one since 2007 and the other since 2013. These high-voltage cables, alongside an array of telecom and undersea cables, crisscross the waters, yet marine life continues to thrive. It's an astonishing sight to behold—these vibrant ecosystems coexist with the infrastructural marvels beneath them. Note that both submarine cables used in thes

Local boat-based fishermen from Northern New Jersey (Think Raritan Bay) and Western New York (Think Jamaica Bay) will soon have 54 new fishing hotspots to explore. Empire Wind 1 and Empire Wind 2 is a “pizza slice” shaped offshore wind lease area,   located 13 miles south of Jones Beach, New York, and 19 miles east of Long Branch New Jersey. It is wedged between the shipping channels, with the tip  near  the infamous offshore hotspot known as the “Cholera Bank”. This project has been in the works for a while, since 2017, when the lease was awarded, and continues to move forward.    Empire Wind 1 (EW1) was one of the first wind energy areas to enter the multi-year process in the Bight.  It will be supported locally at the first New York-based “wind port” in South Brooklyn, transforming the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) into an offshore wind hub. The most recent news about Empire  Wind 2 (EW2)  is the cancellation of the Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificate (OREC), which do

Recreational anglers are seeing firsthand that warming waters mean that species are moving farther north than ever before – disrupting fisheries management and throwing off fish migration patterns. Combined with the fact that offshore wind turbines act as artificial reefs that attract fish, many anglers support responsibly developed offshore wind power. However, conventional electricity generation is also harming fishing in other, less noticeable ways, such as acidification, mortality in power plant cooling intakes, and mercury pollution. All of these are reasons recreational anglers should welcome more clean energy such as offshore wind power in our state. The burning of fossil fuels for electricity generation creates excess carbon dioxide that, in addition to adding to the greenhouse gas effect, is also deposited in our oceans, making them more acidic. Increased acidity is altering our marine ecosystems and creatures in ways that we cannot readily see, but years of scientific researc

Just a couple of years ago, Omega Protein Inc, based out of Reedville, Virginia, made a handshake agreement with the folks around the Chesapeake Bay stating that they would avoid fishing Atlantic Menhaden (Bunker) inside the bay as much as possible and fish out in the ocean. In 2019, they reneged on their word and not only fished the bay but fished over their allocation, and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) voted Virginia out of compliance. This season, they continued to fish the bunker out of the bay until there weren’t any left to catch, so they headed out to sea. With its own fleet of planes, Omega searches the waters looking for the massive schools of bunker that gather on the surface and then call in the bunker boats to catch them up with ease. These very skilled pilots can even determine if the schools contain the right size fish and that the school won’t overload the nets.  Last week, one of our volunteers alerted me that 4 Omega planes landed in Monmouth

 

As seen in the Star-Ledger  1/16/23 Researchers and authorities perform a necropsy examination on a female humpback whale in Brigantine on Jan. 15, 2023. The whale is the 7th to wash shore in New Jersey or New York since early December. (Photo by Michael McKenna of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center) Conservation expert: Speculation on whale deaths jumps the shark. | Opinion By    South Jersey Times Guest Columnist By Capt. Paul Eidman   As a professional captain and owner-operator of a recreational fishing charter business in New Jersey, my clients and I are often lucky to come across whales, dolphins, turtles, and other marine life. On several occasions out at sea, I have even been lucky enough to be sitting still fishing, with the engine off. I have had these enormous humpbacks curiously swim right up to my boat, raise a pectoral flipper up next to my gunwale and look me in the eye. These experiences are as memorable as fishing, if not more so, and will remain with me foreve