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The NYDEC is hiring an Environmental Education Assistant to implement the I FISH NY program in NYC: StateJobsNY - State Employees: Review Vacancy

47-40 21^st Street, Long Island City, NY 11101

P: (718) 482-4022 | F: (718) 482-4502 |  melissa.cohen@dec.ny.gov

www.dec.ny.gov 

IMPORTANT NOTE: The full version of River Views is no longer for members only. If your emailed copy of River Views ends abruptly look for this quote "[Message clipped]  "View entire message" at the bottom of the page. Clicking there will open up the full issue.

Butch Pawson - white perch

2016 - Capt. Bill Sheehan ..... Exec. Director, Hackensack Riverkeeper

2017 - John Vargo ................ Publisher, Boating on the Hudson

2018 - Dennis Kooney .......... Commodore, Croton Yacht Club

2019 - Bob Walters ............... Director, Yonkers Science Barge

2020 - Chris Letts ................. Educator, Hudson River Naturalist

It is my sad duty to report the passing of Ray Zampino. Those who were regular attendees at the monthly HRFA meeting are sure to remember Ray. He regularly volunteered to man the door to greet both members and visitors. Together with Kevin Morgan, they handled the 50/50 and door prize tickets, as well as entrance fees for non-members.

As noted above, Ray was the definition of the quiet but Influential HRFA member . . . always ready to help, but never seeking the spotlight.

One thankless yet key job is that of Trustee. Ray volunteered to take on this challenge and bring his experience as Trustee of the Education Fund for the International Union of Operating Engineers to the task. Ray quietly pushed to get the job done correctly. While not in the spotlight his efforts where very influential to a well administered organization.

In addition to his tenure as an HRFA Director, Ray was also a regular volunteer at our Hooked on the Hudson event, kids fishing trips and other HRFA events.

Needless to say, Ray also found time to fish. He caught his share of bragging size fish, but

typical of Ray, seldom bragged about them…. Except to close friends.

While Quarterbacks make the rear cover of the NY Post, the linemen give them the means to be the hero. Raymond Anthony Zampino was an HRFA lineman and great example for all members. He will be missed.

I wish to thank Ken Morgan for helping me with this article/obituary. Ray’s obituary can be found @ https://www.williamsbergeykoffel.com/obituary/raymondzampino ; or just click the link below.

Thank You for listening,

Sergio Radossi

9/9/2021

Key quotes stuck in my head like "West wind is worst." (Especially because it unfurls the fury of the biting green head flies!) Another rhyme, "If it ain’t chartreuse, it ain’t no use.", makes sense with the only possible objection to offer being white. All that aside, the hottest Gulp! color this summer was Pink Shine. Finally the statistic that 85% of the hits come on the teaser make the reader realize how vital the size, color, shape and placement of this part of the rig really is.

You could tell what good friends these chop busting buddies really are both by their work together this night and the video evidence present in their presentation.

Plan a visit to IBSP next year to take advantage of the 16 inch fluke size limit (2 fish max) and excellent odds of success both in the ocean and the back bay. You can also do some crabbing, clamming, and hook-up with other edibles like blowfish to round out a menu. Crossing angling paths with Joe and Pete will be a special bonus.

A small crew of offshore fisher persons traveled to Ogunquit Maine; the trip being organized by like the 30th year by Arnie Ulrich. Carl Bruger attended almost everyone of those trips too. These two guys did the best in our group. Their years of experience paid big dividends for them. Arnie's biggest cod was 11.5 pounds; 3.5 pounds shy of winning the pool. Carl's biggest catch of the day was stolen right in front of his eyes by a big shark. Same thing happened again to another angler a short while later. It was not a great white (probably a blue shark) but it was about 6' long. Joe Albanese needed some charity from Arnie or he would have gone home without a single fillet. Janice Soto, sitting right next to Joe, caught a couple of keepers, on her own. Dave Mercer was ill most of the day. Mona Mak enjoyed walking the scenic seaside path, visiting the town and dinning on fine seafood dinners with the group but did not fish.

Disappointedly, the primary catch of the day for everyone was smooth dogfish. Which, by the way, is what is used in Europe to make fish and chips. Next time we might try keeping one and giving it a taste test. Read the Ship's Log below.

The annual fall fishing trip to Maine was marred by too many fish of the wrong kind. We were super well fed the night before leaving at a famous local restaurant named Mike’s Clam Shack. Once we started our drifts organizer Arnie Ulrich, Joe Albanese, Janice Soto and this writer each hauled up over a dozen line twisting dogfish an overpopulating shark species supplanting thedecimated cod populations. Unless you adore cheap fish and chips this was not a fish to take home. So, every time we cranked up another spiny devil from 275 feet there were unchristian words muttered and ugly creatures tossed angrily back in the rough waves.

This scribe never the less was fortunate to land four haddock and a whiting to provide some fine future dining. Janice Soto earned the nickname “nurse Haddock” from Arnie as

she persistently and tirelessly stayed at the rail the entire day landing several keeper haddock. Arnie Ulrich normally would have won the pool with his 11 1/2 pound cod but another lucky fare boated a 15 pound winner. Arnie also took home a pollock just a tad lighter. This scribe as with Joe and others who fished that day had to release undersized cod and pollock, which usually ended up down the gullet of marauding seagulls.

Finally I hooked a cod that looked to weigh between 7 or 8 pounds. He was so close to the boat that I was ready to lift him out or call for the gaff. Not so fast! A blue shark about seven feet long flashed out from under the boat and nailed my cod, broke the fifty pound

test leader and made off with my entire rig. If you were there and found the sight hard to believe, not an hour later a guy, Derek, two spots up from me was bringing up an even bigger cod and the same #@!% blue shark obliterated his whopper and snapped his line too!

RULE OF THE SEA: Sharks weighing over 100 pounds with teeth like that take what they want when they want.

Captain Ian and mate Dave really worked hard all day moving to multiple different spots to avoid the “doggies” and did yeoman work untangling the Gordian knots caused by the whirling hooked sharks. I still enjoyed my sojourn (and all my sandwiches) so when we reached the shore and met with owner and captain Tim Tower I was happy to purchase

a souvenir Bunny Clank Team T-shirt that supported Massachusetts cancer drives and put Tim’s personal raised total to almost $400,000 over the last two decades. We cancer survivors have to stick together!

I look forward to the spring trip with Arnie and any intrepid souls who love cod, haddock and other tasty morsels from the waters of Maine. I hope some of you HRFA readers choose to be among them.

Carl Bruger has been a writer for this newsletter educating and entertaining us who read River Views for a long time. Here is his latest gem.

My favorite fishing month of October has almost arrived and the good Lord has placed me just miles from what Al White and I long ago code named “heaven”, a local tributary called Mill Creek flowing into Lake Ontario out of Sacket’s Harbor. Why the title? After heavy autumn rains this creek gets potentially huge runs of Coho and Chinook salmon allowing wading anglers to accrue legendary catches with limits in under an hour as HFRA member Wayne Geider has done and can readily attest.

In 2020 Wayne, Al Miller and I met a woman who had never fished for salmon and who asked our help in getting started. She was a local nurse who lived right above the creek in the new Barracks apartments and never knew such a fishery existed at her feet! Ten

minutes after I gave her a salmon rod and reel of her own she hooked into a king and lost it making typical beginner errors. In the next twenty minutes, following my coaching and guidance, she hooked, fought and landed her first Chinook, a 23 pounder!

For the couple dozen member of the HRFA who make the trek north each fall for Great Lakes salmon this article should provide a helpful summation of tricks and techniques gleaned over the years that will up your odds of success when you arrive streamside. On the ESLO (East Side) side of Lake Ontario there are 42 separate rivers, streams, creeks, and other tributaries that experience salmon runs in the fall based on past records over the years. Even if just one idea helps you hook up with a king in one of the spots you chose to fish it will be worth the read! You can certainly meet with hook-ups and battles based on what you are about to peruse.

The Number one simple rule is to dress like your environment. Camo and colors that are dark brown and green which match the topography behind you will make your visual presence muted to wary fish. Eschew fishing next to the idiot dressed in his yellow raincoat or orange hunting vest because salmon and especially steel head will be giving him a wide berth! You should be utilizing a hook sharpener, wader belt, polarized sunglasses, and a long billed hat to facilitate easy spotting of fish. Walk softly and don’t splash or go into

the midstream when fish are often right along the bank right at your feet! Salmon do not seek the deepest rushing water to go upstream because that current is too strong. Instead they use undercut banks, huge boulders, scooped out crevasses and other advantages in their quest for easy upstream access that doesn’t sap their diminishing energy.

Sight casting to fish headed upstream is so much more likely to result in hook-ups. Cast your line up and ahead of the target fish so the fly or egg sack drifts right into his/her mouth. Often you will generate a strike, sometimes the fish will simply get hooked by inhaling the offering, while still other times an angry spawner will slash its head and get hooked in the jaw anyway, making it a legal catch.

The amount of weight used on your line is just enough split shot on the four foot or less leader to tick the bottom. Too much will hang you up more than necessary and too little will swing your offering over the fish swimming at the bottom. I hate losing my favorite

purple nurple fly on an Gamagatsu Octopus 1/0 hook to the bottom rocks, but just like in rock strewn salt water tog fishing there is a price a salmon angler must be willing to pay.

If you are using egg sacks for bait it is wise to tie several sack colors like blue for the salmon river and yellow, pink, purple, orange, red and chartreuse as variety to find what the fish are hitting best. Scents also may help. I have done well with shrimp, garlic and anise

scented egg sacks as well as those that I hand tied fresh from a hen taken a day before. Use your cell phone to find out from local tackle stores what flies and egg sack colors have been hot on the rivers and streams in the most recent days.

If you can get to bays where the fish are spawning like Fairhaven, Sodus, False Sodus and parts of Black River & Chaumont Bay there are land based casting areas where you can reach the redds of the kings even when fishing is allowed at night. These gravel beds

often have pairs of fish that will strike with their mouths to carry off anything invasive that crosses their nesting territory. This allows you to use highly visible and annoying ¾ ounce glow Cleo spoons. I especially like to add ladderback glow decals plus glow eyes as enticement. I also have a small felt furniture pad glued to the base above the hook which I soak in either fresh caught egg scent or milt from a kype jawed male. This serves to arouse the opposite gender into striking at the lure. If you want females to gather during peak spawning frenzy, snow mixed with milt tossed into the water acts as chum and draws female attention. Cotton balls tied to a stone dipped in milt squeezed from a fresh aught male can be tossed in with the same effect if snow is not present. Just cast your scented Cleo spoon into the gathered hens and brace for action!

Every tip here works! Try them with the expectation of success!

Be sure to check out the H.R.F.A. Events Calendar below for this month's member birthday notices, holidays and events.

Arnie Ulrich participated in a open public survey on offshore windmills the results of which are part of the Final Report (below) issued by scientists at Rutgers University which hosted the event.

Now Available On-line

The Rutgers University Center for Ocean Observing Leadership (RUCOOL) and Rutgers Cooperative Extension (RCE) have issued the final report for the 2021 Partners in Science Workshop, which was hosted virtually on January 28, 2021. This workshop, Identifying Ecological Metrics and Sampling Strategies for Baseline Monitoring During Offshore Wind Development, included both a pre-workshop participant survey and “world café” format workshop discussions. The event was co-hosted by RUCOOL and RCE, sponsored by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, and moderated by the Consensus Building Institute.

The survey and workshop aimed to gather community input to define the parameters required to quantify baseline ecological variability that will enable the evaluation of potential impacts from offshore wind development. The report details results from the pre-workshop survey, presentations from several workshop participants, and the multiple breakout sessions held during this half-day workshop. 

The full report, along with a 2-page Executive Summary, can be found online at https://go.rutgers.edu/PS-Report-2021.

The "Let's Talk Fishing" YouTube video below starts with an entertaining coverage of all things Mr.Poseidon; including his mid-October striped bass fishing derby in Montauk. His interview of HRFA VP Joe Albanese begins around minute 27.

His Livestream is every Sunday at 7:00PM. Listen live each week or wait for it to be posted on YouTube. Be sure to subscribe to his livestream, follow him on Facebook (Poseidon Fish), Instagram (@Mr_Poseidon_Fishing) and YouTube. His over-the-top enthusiasm for fishing is contageous. Mr. Poseidon is a member of the HRFA.

A big thanks to tonight's guest, Joseph Albanese, Vice President of the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association! "Fight for the Hudson" https://thehrfa.org/

New HRFA members are Stephen Morgan, Hillsdale, NJ. and Bill Tristram, Park Ridge NJ, who joined the HRFA on National Hunting and Fishing Day. Fight for the Hudson

What is HRFA Free Money?

 At every HRFA in person meeting, half of the HRFA portion of the 50/50 money goes into a virtual jar. At the end of the meeting, a paid HRFA members name is picked (from a jar of all paid HRFA members) to receive the money. The name is announced three times. If the HRFA paid member is not present, the money goes back into the jar for the next months meeting. The process continues and is repeated at the next HRFA meeting.

HRFA Free money (split 50/50) for Sept 14, 2021 was $123.00

From the bucket of HRFA paid members, a name was picked by a non HRFA member at the meeting.

 HRFA member Phillip Moliere’s name was picked and announced to all present. Phillip Moliere was not there, so the $123.00 HRFA free member's money goes back into the jar with the names of all HRFA paid members for the October in person meeting. Will you be there at the October 11, 2021 HRFA meeting to collect $123.00????

Arnie Ulrich Membership Chair

HRFA Membership Information

The grace period is over for HRFA annual dues. Thank You to those members that have already paid the 2021 HRFA dues. For the rest of us ,please scroll down to the membership application below and renew on line or print out the membership form and mail it in. Any questions please email me kavester@aol.com or call me @ 201 304 4691.

For those people who join(ed) the HRFA in October (or later) of a given year, their new or renewal membership also is covered for the following new year. There is also a generous grace period for those who are unable to update their membership in January, however paying your dues late puts a strain on the records maintenance and consequently the ability of the executive board’s planning of activities and events.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or want to help (time, skills, or financially) on any particular club projects or events, feel free to email me, Arnie Ulrich (kavester@aol.com) or call me at 1-201-304-4691.

Have a photograph and/or fishing story you would like to share with the club? If so, we'd love to hear from you. After all, no one wants to see the same members over and over again. Email it to editorriverviews@thehrfa.org and we will do our very best to squeeze it into an upcoming issue of River Views.

If you have a photo of an unidentified, unusual or invasive fish species found anywhere in the Hudson River email them to Tom Lake (trlake7@aol.com).

"Bergen County Pete" shows off a nice IBSP flatty.

That's the "Fort Lee Flop" rushing in to photobomb the shot.

Scott Havner & Stephanie Hess trailered their boat up to Vermont to do a little fishing this past Labor Day weekend.

Scott Havner and his son Austin traveled north to fish with Andy Ward in the "Dash for Cash" bass tournament. Lots of fun and fish caught just no qualifying bass the day of the tournament.

Now, who wants to make a recipe touted as being "labor intensive"? Anyone who likes to try a delicious twist - battered & fried onion rings instead of potatoes as the chips (although we had those too), lemon slices and fluke instead of cod (or the smooth dogfish they use in the UK) - on the traditional fish & chips, the British classic. The recipe comes from The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins. See scanned page 354 shared below.

Mona and I made this dish with a freshly caught 20" fluke (1.25" shy of Bergen County Pete's) and were pleased with the results. When finished I looked around and I swear I never saw so many dirty bowls, plates and kitchen implements used to make one dinner. I know I want to try this again though. The perfect compliment to the dish is a nice dark Guinness stout or Boddingtons Pub Ale, of course. Cheers mate! See photos below.

By Wayne Geider

Just call Youth Angler Program Chair Wayne Geider at

Due to the restrictions imposed on our lives by the CV19 pandemic our plans are on hold. We hope and pray that in the Spring of 2021 volunteers may start working to refurbish Riverkeeper to her former days of glory when she was the world's first and only riverkeeper vessel. To offer your time and talents contact Dan Harrison at dharrison@cdtresources.com.

The HRFA hosts an annual fishing contest which runs from January through December and is open to all HRFA members. You have 30 days from the day you catch a fish to send in your entries. So, the deadline for submissions is January. As a member of the HRFA you and your immediate family are eligible to enter fish in any of our categories. Various divisions are available for prizes presented at our Annual Awards Dinner in March of the following year. Website updated daily. River Views newsletter updates below are done around the first the month. * indicates a new club record.