Summer is off to a great start with the first tournament of the season. The Herb Hollinger Sr. Opening Day Flounder Tournament that was held last Saturday during the Memorial Day Weekend was a great success. The Duke of Fluke (Herb Hollinger Sr.) was present to see his son Herb Hollinger Jr. handout the awards at Whale Creek Marina.
We would like to thank all those who participated and made this a great tournament. Special thanks to Herbie Jr. for putting this event together, Judy Hollinger and John Latwinas for preparing the food, Edith Bozarth and Debbe Starr for handling the weigh in and to Missy and Morgan for hosting us at Whale Creek Marina. During the awards and refreshments the new Club Tournament T-Shirt was unveiled and the feedback has been very positive. Shirts will be available at Herb Jr.’s house, or #59 at the trailer park. We will also be selling them at our next event which is the Surf Fishing tournament. We will have shirts at the firehouse on Saturday, June 12th. They are selling quickly, so please get yours before they run out. The cost is $15.00 and covers all of the tournaments for the 2010 season.
Congratulations to all of the Flounder Winners.
Kids Women’s
1st Reed Reich 2.7 1st and ONLY Candy Jankowski 2.4
2nd Tom Geib Jr. 2.4
3rd Chris Becht 2.3
Men’s Overall Winner
1st Brian Riordan Joe Barnhat 4.4
2nd Mike Krajicek
3rd Mike Olley
The SFEC has a very busy calendar of events planned for the summer season and we hope members will find that there is something for everyone, so please join in and participate in club events and have a safe and fun filled summer.
BOAT INSPECTIONS – We would like to remind everyone that the free Boat Inspections are coming up on Saturday, June 5th from 9am to noon at the Corson’s Inlet Marina. These inspections are provided by the USCG Auxiliary Flotilla 81 out of Ocean City. Make this a safe boating season and have your boat inspected.
SUMMER FLOUNDER FISHING SEMINAR – This seminar will take place on Sunday, June 6th at the Whale Creek Marina at 9am. You are all invited to attend and hear Special Guest Speaker Bucktail Willie, (aka Bill Shillingford) who will be discussing the particulars of successful flounder fishing. Maybe he will give up some of his secrets. Free coffee and donuts will be served.
We would like to thank Bucktail Willie for keeping us up with all of the news concerning fishing size and limits. He attends most of the meetings and recently sent us some information concerning Striped Bass. The ASMFC has recently approved the NJ Marine Fish Council recommendation to return to a slot size for striped bass. The recommended slot is one fish over 24” and one fish over 32”. As it stands right now the limit is 2 fish at 28” or greater. If you have any questions attend the seminar and we are sure Bucktail will be happy to answer them.
SFEC 24 HOUR SURF FISHING TOURNAMENT is to begin on Friday, June 11th at 4pm and end on Saturday, June 12th at 4pm. You can sign up My Wife’s Rod & Reel Shop, Whale Creek Marina or see Randy. See flyer/attachment for all of the details. There will be a Dinner at the firehouse on Saturday night at 6pm which is free and open to all members, their families and friends whether you fished or not. This year’s tournament will benefit the Matthew Bonsall Fund. Matt is the son of the late Jerry Bonsall Jr., longtime club member and friend. We encourage everyone attending the dinner to make a donation to this fund in Jerry’s memory. We will also be having Jewelry for sale by Graceful Expressions. Grace has a lot of new items and a portion of her sales will go to the Matthew Bonsall Foundation. So please make sure to stop by her table and check it out.
SFEC STRATHMERE FLOUNDER FISHING TOURNAMENT will be held on June 26th not June 19th as stated on the calendar. Please make that change. Fishing will begin at 6am and the scales will close at 4:30pm, followed by awards and refreshments at Frank’s Boats. Please see flyer/attachment for all of the details.
BOAT RAMP CLEAN-UP – Our recent Boat ramp clean-up scheduled for May 22 was canceled. Rob Coffey and his crew have been busy installing fencing and constructing trash can holders. Kurt Henry is restoring the Glen Cunningham Memorial Bench, and the Township will be picking up trash and debris from the area, so things are looking good. Thanks to Rob, Kurt, & crew. We will try to schedule a clean-up later in the season.
WETLANDS NATURE AREA – We would like to thank Bruce Riordan, who as executor of the Rita Schiavo estate recently donated a parcel of land by the boat ramp to the SFEC. The club is planning on turning this into a nature area with benches and a shell path so residents and visitors can enjoy the beautiful of nature that Strathmere has to offer. The wetlands have a host of interesting birds which also include the many nesting ospreys. All of the Osprey Platforms that were installed in 2009 have nesting birds in them and Dick Omrod who oversees this project is hoping to build a couple more. Thanks Dick.
CLUB CLOTHING – As we promised when we got the details on the Club clothing we would let you know. Bud Lyon is handling this endeavor and it has been set up with an internet based company called “thread logic”. They have everything from hats and coats to shirts and accessories, all available with the fishing club logo. The web site is www.thread-logic.com they have Men’s, Women’s and Kid’s sizes. There are a lot of choices, so to order access the website, pick your items and reference our customer # 4340 or “Strathmere Fishing and Environmental Club” Bud suggested that members get together as small groups and place orders together and that way you would only have to pay one shipping charge. Please provide feedback to the board when orders are made with likes and dislikes.
SICK & WELFARE-We would like to send get well wishes out to George & Donna Turner. George is recovering from a broken hand, and Donna has recently undergone knee surgery. We would also like to send get well wishes to Butch Vandegrift who has been ill and to Bud Lyon and Bud Eiden who are both doing well after having cardio treatments. We hope all of you are on the mend.
FISHING REPORT– While some of the membership was out back in the bay catching flounder, other members and their families were on the beach striper fishing and doing rather well. Bob Adam caught a 38″ & a 26″, Kathy Adam caught her first striper measuring 26″ and their son Brian got a 24″. We heard that Ed Dimarcantonio did very well bringing in 4 big ones. We got to see Bill Cramer’s fish which was a nice one coming in at 38″. All and all this had to be one of the nicest Memorial Day Weekend that we have had in a long time, the weather and the fishing were exceptional.
TURTLE TIME– When driving down Commonwealth, please be mindful of the turtles that are now on the move to lay their eggs. You may have noticed that some fencing has been put up between 1st and 3rd streets (SIC) near the Dolphin Condos, to prevent the turtles from crossing the road. When they can’t cross they lay their eggs in the tall weeds in that area. In other areas they are still crossing over, please slow down and stop if necessary, and let them do their thing. The turtle patrol has been out and about, and on Sunday morning I got to witness the harvesting of the eggs from the mother after she had been run over. I have to say it was pretty interesting and it is nice to know that those eggs will hatch and those baby turtles will be safely released when they are old enough.
CLUB MEMBERSHIP DUES– As most of you know, the club dues of $25 was due in January, and after April 1st it went to $35, which is dues and late fee. We have a small number of members who have yet to pay, so after July 1st those members will be taken off the membership rolls, and will no longer be receiving a newsletter. We hope that they understand the cost of mailing the news ( for those who are not on the computer) can get expensive and part of their club dues goes towards that, so if you are one of the ones who doesn’t get a newsletter in July you will know why.
LOOKING AHEAD to July, we have the 4th of July Parade, which is always a lot of fun, and we can’t wait to see the Fishing Club Float. July 10th is the Jane Shetler Women’s Tournament to be followed by the Summer Social, you don’t want to miss it, and a new tournament that has been added this year is the Jack Clements Reef Tournament. We will have more details for you in next month’s newsletter.
UP-COMING EVENTS
June 5 Free Boat Inspections- Corson’s Inlet Marina 9am to noon
June 6 Summer Flounder Fishing Seminar-Whale Creek Marina 9am
June 11 SFEC 24-hour Surf Fishing Tournament begins 4pm
June 12 Tournament ends 4pm June 12 Dinner & Awards – Firehouse 6pm to benefit Matthew Bonsall
June 22 SFEC Flounder Tournament begins 6am- ends 4:30pm Franks Boats