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Comments on the 2014 - 2015 Fish Code

16K views 20 replies 7 participants last post by  BigFred1 
#1 ·
FYI -

The NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife is reminding anglers and other interested parties that the NJ Fish and Game Council (Council), and the Division, has proposed amendments to the 2014 - 2015 Fish Code. The sixty-day public comment period will end on November 15, 2013.


Proposed amendments include, but are not limited to the following:

The Council proposes to regulate the 4.2 mile stretch of Big Flat/Flat Brook, from the Rt. 206 bridge downstream to the Roy Bridge, as Catch and Release Only, Artificial Lures and Flies Only.

The Council also proposes to regulate the 2.2 mile stretch of the Ken Lockwood Gorge (S/Br Raritan River), as Catch and Release Only for trout.

The Council proposes to replace the current catch and release only for bass at Lake Audrey with trophy bass regulations of three bass per day, over 15 inches in size.

The Council proposes to add Franklin Lake (Monmouth), Manalapan Lake (Middlesex), Mountain Lake (Warren), Nomahegan Park Pond (Union) to the Division's trout stocking program. In addition, three waterbodies are proposed to be dropped from the program, Farrington Lake (Middlesex), Shadow Lake (Monmouth), and Lake Takanasee (Monmouth).

The proposal also includes adjustments to boundaries of the trout stocked section of Lawrence Brook to assure appropriate protection of stocked fish in these waterbodies.

The Council proposes to regulate Tilcon Lake as a Holdover Trout Lake.

The daily creel limit on landlocked herring, for personal use, is proposed to be increased from 10 to 35 herring in lakes where herring may be taken. All unused herring would still have to be returned to the water at the end of the angler's fishing trip.

The Council proposes that an ice fishing device be limited to a single line. As more creative devices, both commercially manufactured and personally devised, are being used by anglers, the Council deems it necessary to restrict ice supported tip-ups, fishing rods and hand lines to a single line per device.

The proposal also includes adjustments to commercial snapping turtle rules.

Written comments may be submitted electronically by the deadline at http://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/comments . The Council electronic submittal of comments. In the alternative, comments may be submitted on paper to:

Gary J. Brower, Esq.
ATTN: 05-13-08
NJ Department of Environmental Protection Office of Legal Affairs Mail Code 401-04L PO Box 402
401 East State Street, 4th Floor
Trenton, NJ 08625-0402

For more information concerning these and other proposed changes refer to the Division's website at http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/news/2013/fishcode_proposal.htm and the NJDEP Notice of Rule Proposal at http://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/notices/20130916a.html .
 
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#7 ·
The state is not moot on the subject. From one of the above links:

LAKE AUDREY - TROPHY BASS REGS

The Council proposes to remove catch and release regulations for largemouth and smallmouth bass in Lake Audrey (Cumberland) and establish a 15 inch minimum size limit and a daily creel and possession limit of three for largemouth and smallmouth bass in the lake. Lake Audrey is a 120 acre borrow pit acquired by the Department in 2004. The low pH waters were neutralized with 136 tons of lime and then subsequently stocked by the Division with a variety of warmwater species including smallmouth bass.
In 2010, catch and release regulations for bass were instituted to protect the developing smallmouth bass fishery unique to South Jersey waters. The current catch and release regulations have not provided the intended results of a trophy fishery for smallmouth bass due to the illegal harvest of smallmouth bass, angler introduction of largemouth bass and unstable pH levels. Electrofishing surveys completed from 2007 to 2012 show a decrease in the smallmouth bass population and an increasing largemouth population. The pH levels initially stabilized by liming have also dropped with levels as low as 4.5 documented. These low pH levels are not conducive to supporting a reproducing smallmouth bass population. Meanwhile largemouth bass continue to demonstrate good growth rates. Managing Lake Audrey under more liberal bass regulations will continue to provide protection of the lake's existing fish population, while providing anglers with more opportunity to utilize the lake. Due to the restrictive catch and release regulations few anglers have utilized the lake since the fish population deteriorated in 2011.



,.............& if you want to comment, you can do so until 11/15/13.
 
#11 ·
There will be no need to manage that lake if immediate steps are not taken to protect whatever fish are still alive. To me, and clearly this is my opinion, saying you can now take fish from there only adds an excuse later when literally all the fish are gone. Ultimately the lake should be written off as a mistake.
 
#12 ·
I think the State should think about a "re-Liming" , how do we get our voices heard?, ummm SJBCA perhaps? ummm maybe Big Fred?:D. I'll be at the annual Fisheries meeting in Batsto (when they schedule it) and bring that question up. It seems a shame to abandon such a neat SMB Lake.
 
#14 ·
I have been told that re-liming is an option that's being considered by NJDFW, but there's nothing imminent.

I'm sure Lake Audrey will be a major discussion topic at the public forum, as it has been for the past few years. I'm pretty sure Audrey will never be a smallmouth lake again, but maybe it can be a viable lake for largemouth and other species.
 
#17 ·
This has been going on for ever now. I'm surprised that some of you guys still have hope. That lake is dying it's already dead enough that I would never waste any time there. It's a shame. How many times can they lime the place until it works. It's insanity it really is everyone wants it limed again what happened all the other times when they limed the lake ???
 
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