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2001 December 28, 2005 - WMA Permit Fee Waived Again (with clarification) Per our recent contact with Chris Smith of the NJDFW, the $17.00 fee for permits for tournaments at NJ Wildlife Management Area lakes has been waived again for the 2006 season. You must still obtain a permit for each tournament you plan to hold at a WMA lake, but there is no fee associated with it. December 21, 2005 - New Club Joins SJBCA Riverside Bass Club joined the Association at our November meeting. Check out the Member Club Profiles section of our website for more details on this new club. Any other clubs interested in joining the Association can contact Fred Lentz. November 6, 2005 - SJBCA Volunteers Work at Lake Audrey A "work party" hosted by the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife was held at Lake Audrey on Sunday, November 6. Lake Audrey is a 125 acre lake located between Millville and Mauricetown that was recently acquired by the State. The lake does not currently support fish life, due to an inadequate pH level and lack of fish-holding structure. Volunteers representing four SJBCA clubs (4th Ward Bass Anglers, Five Alive Bassmasters, South Jersey Hawg Hunters and Tidewater Bassers) participated. The SJBCA volunteers built and placed fish structures in the lake. They also cleared brush to improve the makeshift ramp area. In total, they placed 12 to 15 structures in the lake (until they ran out of concrete blocks to weight the structures down with). The next work party has been scheduled for Sunday, December 4, from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon. For more information on this ongoing project, contact NJDFW employee Lee Widjeskog at 856-785-0455. [Photos from this work party will be posted in the near future.] October 16, 2005 - CCBM Wins Bass Bowl Cumberland County Bassmasters won this year's SJBCA Bass Bowl with sixteen bass for an incredible 42.34 lbs. Their total was anchored by a ten-bass limit brought in by Roy Henry and Jerrod Lloyd that weighed 29.26 lbs. Roy also took lunker with a 4.92 lb bass. Tidewater Bassers took second place with six bass totaling 16.40 lbs. Fifteen clubs participated in this event. Click here for full results of the tournament. Photos will be posted in the near future. If anyone who attended the event has pictures that they can send or loan to us for posting on this website, it would be appreciated. September 21, 2005 - Coast Guard Auxiliary Speaks at SJBCA Meeting Representatives of the Gloucester County US Coast Guard Auxiliary flotilla spoke at our September member meeting. Among the topics they covered were their availability for boating safety & navigation classes and free boat safety inspections. They gave out free brochures and safety whistles. Anyone interested in more information can contact Steve Roth (email Fred Lentz for details on how to contact Steve). They emphasized that there are many local USCGA flotillas (chapters) in New Jersey that all offer the same services. September 18, 2005 - Sportsmen's Jamboree Raffle Winner Announced The SJBCA had a booth at this year's Sportsmen's Jamboree in Millville. As usual, we provided information about our organization and gave away free magazines, brochures and pencils. A fundraiser we held at this event was the raffle of a fully stocked tackle box. The clubs that donated towards the prize were: Bucketmouth Brigade, Cumberland County Bassmasters, Happy Hooker Bassers, South Jersey Hawg Hunters and South Point Bassers. The raffle winner was Jason Belfi of the Milmay/Dorothy area. September 13, 2005 - State Announces Plans for Lake Audrey Lee Widjeskog of the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife stated that he will be scheduling volunteer "work parties" at Lake Audrey. Lake Audrey is a 125 acre lake located between Millville and Mauricetown (8747 Ferry Road, Commercial Twp) that was acquired by the State recently. The lake does not currently support fish life, due to an inadequate pH level, lack of fish-holding structure and lack of vegetation. The Cumberland County chapter of the NJ Federation of Sportsmen's clubs recently received a monetary grant for improving the lake from the Cumberland County Improvement Authority. At upcoming work parties, volunteers will be placing fish structures in the lake, adding adding pulverized limestone to the water and cutting down a few shoreline trees. Lee is looking for volunteers for these work parties. You must fill out a State volunteer worker application before you can begin working (for insurance purposes). On work party days, boaters will be permitted to use their outboard motors. For more details on this project, contact Lee at 856-785-0455. Also, Lee spoke at our September member meeting and provided updates on the status of several other lakes. Click here for more details. August 20, 2005 - SJ Youth Outdoor Day a Big Hit Again Almost 150 kids and their parents had a great time at the annual South Jersey Youth Outdoor Day on Saturday, August 20 at the Salem County Sportsmen's Club. The SJBCA is one of seven outdoor organizations that co-host the event. The families that attended enjoyed fishing in the lake, shooting a variety of firearms (with expert instruction), archery, flycasting & fly-tying, taxidermy & decoy-carving demonstrations, numerous booths and a free hot dog & beverage lunch. The SJBCA had a lot of takers for its rod & reel loaner program. We also gave away bobbers, hooks, plastic worms, fishing magazines & brochures, and some really nice door prizes. Photos from this year's event will be posted on the SJYOD web site soon. Thanks to the four SJBCA volunteers who helped make this event a successful one - Fred Lentz (SJYOD committee member & treasurer), Rick Lentz, Scott Bowen & Mark "MTF" Farley (with assistance from Al Franchetta & wife MaryAnne). July 20, 2005 - Parvin SP Meeting Goes Well Our second annual July barbecue meeting went very well. Our featured speaker was ranger Mike Cascioli from the host location, Parvin State Park. He talked about recent & upcoming activities at the park and thanked us for our donation to their recent kids fishing derby. Our normal meeting business followed. A free barbecue dinner was cooked by SJBCA food coordinator Mike Graham. July 12, 2005 - New Ramp Coming to Salem Canal The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today that a settlement has been reached between the NJ Department of Environmental Protection and E.I. duPont de Nemours & Co (aka Dupont) regarding the company's contamination of groundwater in eight sites around the state. As part of the settlement, Dupont must "construct a 15-foot-wide boat ramp with an access road and parking to enhance recreational opportunities". As mentioned previously on this web site, it is expected that the new ramp will be constructed near where Rt. 540 crosses the Salem Creek June 19, 2005 - SJBCA Buddy Tournament Goes Well Forty-seven teams participated in our annual Union Lake buddy bass tournament this year. The tournament was won by John Hoffman and Kirt Hewitt with a seven bass limit for 16.14 lbs. The "NJ Angler Magazine" morning lunker award was won by Jack Taylor with a 4.46 lb bass. The overall lunker winner was Kim Stretch with a 5.56 lb bass. The top five finishing teams and lunker winners received cash prizes. The top three finishing teams and lunker winners also won plaques. For complete results of the tournament and some photos, click here. June 6, 2005 - Scholarship Winner Announced The SJBCA Scholarship Selection Committee announced that the winner of our new scholarship program is Kathleen Crum of Vineland High School in Vineland, NJ. Kathleen, an honor student at VHS, received $500 from the SJBCA to help with her college expenses. In the Fall semester, she will be entering Florida International University (Miami, FL) to pursue a degree in biology with emphasis on environmental studies. May 18, 2005 - Widjeskog Gives Lake Update Lee Widjeskog of the Land Management bureau of the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife attended our May meeting and gave an informal update on the status of projects at various lakes in South Jersey. Click here for details on his presentation. May 15, 2005 - SJBCA Clubs Score Big in Federation Team Tourney A couple of SJBCA clubs that are also members of the NJ B.A.S.S. Federation had a lot of success in the Federation's six-man team tournament at the Potomac River on May 8. Garden State Bassmasters finished in 2nd place with 67.08 lbs and Five Alive Bassmasters finished in 3rd place with 59.78 lbs. Other SJBCA member clubs participating were: Cumberland County Bassmasters, 13th place, 41.10 lbs; Bucketmouth Brigade, 14th place, 39.14 lbs; Rising Sun Bassmasters, 22nd place, 24.92 lbs; and Bass Squad, 28th place, 20.72 lbs. April 14, 2005 - Mirror Lake Rules Clarified As the result of an incident that occurred when one of our member clubs was fishing Mirror Lake recently, we sought clarification about the rules regarding fishing near the public docks. We were told by a Pemberton Township official that "there are no local ordinances or codes that prohibit people from fishing near our docks". However, fishermen are advised to be courteous and avoid fishing near the public beach and docks when that area is open to the public (Memorial Day to Labor Day) and people are using those facilities. April 4, 2005 - SJBCA Contributes to Kids Fishing Derbies Following approval votes at the March member meeting, the SJBCA made monetary donations towards two local kids fishing derbies. One is the Annual Kids Fishing Derby, to be held on May 15 at Parvin State Park, is hosted by the park staff. The other is the annual "Get Hooked on Fishing, Not Drugs" tournament, to be held in June at South Vineland Park, is hosted by Vineland Police Dept in conjunction with the Vineland Recreation Dept. Everyone who has taken part in the SJBCA's fundraising efforts (Fishermen's Flea Market, Union Lake Buddy Tournament, Tackle Box Raffles, etc.) can be proud that they helped contribute to these worthwhile youth events. March 16, 2005 - Carnegie Lake Info Announced At the March SJBCA member meeting, it was announced that information had been obtained about the status of Carnegie Lake on the Princeton University campus. Apparently changes were made to the parking area at some point that significantly limit the number of vehicles that can be parked there. Also, the college now requires liability insurance in the amount of $2 million (in addition to obtaining official permission from the college) in order to host a public tournament there. Apparently neither of these items impact smaller, informal club tournaments at that location. Click here to see parking area photos on the Swimming River Bassmasters' website. March 8, 2005 - NJDFW Asks for Feedback on Parvin State fisheries biologist Chris Smith has requested that bass clubs voluntarily submit to him results of any tournaments they hold at Parvin Lake. This data will allow him to include statistical data on this "lunker bass program" lake with the other data he has been accumulating for several years. The same tournament report as used for WMA tournaments can be used for this purpose. A summary of the statistics that Chris has gathered on the WMA tournaments will be made available to the public soon. March 5, 2005 - Flea Market Breaks All Previous Records This year's Fishermen's Flea Market was, by a wide margin, our best ever. This year's event had 60+ vendor tables and 500+ paying customers (not counting kids under 14). About a dozen kids participated in our kids casting event. The raffle of a fully stocked tackle box was won by Al Franchetta Sr. The SJBCA thanks all of the vendors, customers and volunteers who made this an extremely successfully event. February 26, 2005 - NJDFW to Waive WMA Permit Fees At the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife's public forum held at the Salem County Sportsmen's Club, Freshwater Fisheries Bureau Chief Lisa Barno announced that they were taking action to waive the $17.00 WMA tournament permit fee for this year. While there are a variety of reasons for this decision, the biggest is the lack of a fee for other groups that make similar use of WMA facilities (no use of a building, no use of utilities, no extra clean up required afterward, etc). Assuming all goes as expected, a process will be put into place to refund permit fee money to those organizations that have already submitted their applications. Please note that, although the fee is being waived for this year, the fee requirement is still in the regulations. Also, it will still be necessary for organizations to apply for WMA tournament permits and to promptly file a report of tournament results afterward. The SJBCA had been pushing strongly for the elimination of this permit fee, but also has supported continuing the permit issuance process and the results reporting. The permit process helps with the coordination of various groups' use of the WMA facilities and the tournament results reporting helps with fisheries management in those lakes. Click here for the webmaster's notes from this forum. It is important to note that the State representatives who hosted the meeting clearly noticed the excellent representation of the SJBCA at the meeting, including four of our officers and delegates from at least ten of our clubs. February 15, 2004 - New Classified Ads Section A new free classified ads section has been added to the SJBCA website. If any members of SJBCA clubs have boats or other fishing-related items they're looking to sell, they can pass the information along to the webmaster. (The webmaster reserves the right to edit or refuse any ad submitted and the SJBCA accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of the ads, quality of the items advertised or the honesty of the sellers.) February 3, 2005 - Lake Status Updates The webmaster of this site visited NJDFW land management employee Lee Widjeskog at his office in Millville. The visit included a tour of the newly acquired 120 acre Lake Audrey behind his office and updates on a few other lake facilities. Click here to see more details in the "Ask the NJDFW" section of this website. January 19, 2005 - Annual Award Winners Announced Final submissions were accepted for our 2004 fishing excellence & youth activity awards. The winners are (also listed in the Annual Awards section): Heaviest Lunker
-- Gene Cardaci, Happy Hooker Bassers, RRainbow Lake, 6 lbs 4 oz. These individuals, along with the Bass Bowl winning team and lunker winner, were presented with plaques at the February meeting. January 19, 2005 - New SJBCA Officers ElectedAt the January member meeting, the following new SJBCA officers were elected: 1st Vice President (2 yrs) -- Charles DeGaetano (previously Director 1), Secretary (2 yrs) -- Al Franchetta, Treasurer (1 yr) -- Greg Carter (incumbent), Tournament Director (1 yr) -- Steve Steinmetz (incumbent), Director 1 (1 yr) -- Fred Lentz (previously Secretary), Director 2 (1 yr) -- Mike Graham (incumbent). Back to top of page December 14, 2004 - SJBCA Scholarship Program Announced The new SJBCA Scholarship Program, approved by our membership at the September meeting, is now officially announced. This $500.00 scholarship is for high school seniors who are entering college in pursuit of a degree that is likely to benefit fishermen, such as fisheries management, environmental science, etc. Applications will be accepted up until May 1 and the winner will be announced by June 1. Click here for more details on the program and the application form. November 29, 2004 - WMA Lake List Updated Chris Smith of the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife clarified recently that Elmer Lake in Elmer is a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) lake, which may require a tournament permit ($17.00) if you hold a club or open tournament there (with more than four boats or more than nine fishermen). A final decision on the permit requirement for Elmer should be reached shortly. (The issue is the lack of a usable public launch and parking facilities at the lake.) Here's the complete WMA lake list: Lake Assunpink Menantico Ponds Clarks Pond Pemberton Lake Colliers Mill (Turn Mill) Pond Prospertown Lake Columbia Lake Rainbow Lake Delaware Lake Rising Sun Lake DOD Lake Round Valley Reservoir Elmer Lake Shaws Mill Pond Green Turtle Pond Stone Tavern Lake Maple Lake Union Lake Maskells Mill Pond October 17, 2004 - Bucketmouth Takes Bass Bowl Frequent winners Bucketmouth Brigade won the Bass Bowl again this year with an impressive seventeen bass for 29 lbs 7.5 oz, on a day that was tough fishing for most of the other clubs. Click here for detailed results of the tournament. If anyone who attended the event has pictures that they can send or loan to us for posting on this website, it would be appreciated. October 12, 2004 - Spinning Rods Needed for Loaner
Program September 19, 2004 - Sportsmen's Jamboree Goes Well
The clubs that donated toward the tacklebox were: August 28, 2004 - WMA Tournament Report Reminder
August 21, 2004 - Another Great Youth Outdoor Day!
The SJBCA had a booth at which we gave away bobbers, hooks, plastic worms, various fishing magazines, SJBCA pencils, knot-tying cards, SJBCA brochures and bubble gum (why not?). We also ran a rod/reel loaner program which many kids took advantage of. In addition, we had a few bass boats on display for the kids to climb on and ask questions about. Some of our volunteers took turns walking around the fishing pond, seeing if any of the kids or their parents needed help (the pond fishing is non-competitive). The SJBCA also donated items to be given away as door prizes. They included five rod/reel combos, five tackle boxes and several other nice fishing-related items. A couple of the winners of our donated door prizes came over to our booth to thank us in person. (Hopefully, we're developing some future bass club members.) The primary people who manned the SJBCA booth and helped out with our activities were: Rick Lentz, Al Franchetta, Maryanne Franchetta and Fred Lentz. Several other members of South Jersey Hawg Hunters, Cumberland County Bassmasters and Atlantic County Bass Anglers were in attendance as well. For more information on the South Jersey Youth Outdoor Day check out the event website at www.geocities.com/outdoorday. Photos from this year's event have been posted. August 9, 2004 - Iaconelli Touts Benefits of Bass Clubs
July 21, 2004 - Meeting at Parvin Goes Well June 20, 2004 - Big Turnout at SJBCA Buddy Tournament
Club Members May Participate in DRFA Events March 29, 2004 - Teen Angler Organization Comes to SJ
March 20, 2004 - Fishermen's Flea Market a Big Success
February 18, 2004 - Youth Activity Grant Program
Implemented January 25, 2004 - SJBCA Officers Appear on Radio Show
January 21, 2004 - Annual Award Winners Announced
These individuals, along with the Bass Bowl winning team and lunker winner, were presented with plaques at the February meeting. December 12, 2003 - New Regs for Noxontown Lake? Per information recently posted on a local bass fishing website, new regulations are being imposed by the owners of Noxontown Lake in Delaware. In addition to these new, more strict rules, a clarification of the existing rules is also provided. Click here for the text of that posting. December 3, 2003 - NJDEP Responds to WMA Permit Fee Issue
November 19, 2003 - Reminders to SJBCA Member Clubs
October 21, 2003 - Van Drew Supports WMA Fee Elimination
October 19, 2003 - Rising Sun Takes Bass Bowl September 17, 2003 - SJBCA Votes to Oppose State Actions
August 16, 2003 - Youth Outdoor Day Better Than Ever
June 22, 2003 - June Buddy Tournament A Big Success
May 23, 2003 - NJ Angler to Sponsor Lunker Award
May 21, 2003 - Lee Widjeskog Provides Lake Updates
April 24, 2003 - Good News on Malaga Lake Access
March 13, 2003 - Sunset Lake Information Received
March 1, 2003 - Fishermen's Flea Market a Big Success
January 15, 2003 - Award Winners for 2002 Announced
These individuals, along with the Bass Bowl winning team and lunker winner, were presented with plaques at the February meeting. Check out the Photo Gallery for pictures from the presentations. January 15, 2003 - 2002 Youth Activity Award Winner
December 18, 2002 - Leo Watson Honored by SJBCA Local pro bass angler Leo Watson was presented with a plaque at the Association's December meeting for his dedicated service to our organization. Leo has attended our Fishermen's Flea Market, helped out with our booth at the Sportsmen's Jamboree, and spent the entire day working with kids at our South Jersey Youth Outdoor Day. In addition, he has served as a featured speaker at several of our monthly meetings. (See photo in Photo Gallery.) December 18, 2002 - NJ Angler Staff Renews
Commitment October 20, 2002 - Bucketmouth Wins Bass Bowl Again
September 18, 2002 - Widjeskog Gives Update on SJ Lakes
August 4, 2002 - Candlewood Lake (CT) Homeowners Want
Bass Tournament
Anglers More Tightly Controlled March 29, 2002 - NJDFW Responds to SJBCA Request for WMA
Fee Elimination
(Sort of) November 21, 2001 - SJBCA Votes to Oppose WMA Permit Fees The member clubs of the SJBCA voted unanimously to submit a request to the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife to eliminate the $17.00 fee for obtaining a permit to hold an open or club tournament at a WMA area. The association feels that the fee is unwarranted in light of all of the other licenses and registrations that tournament fishermen must purchase each year. As it is, tournament organizers are required to file reports on the results of their WMA tournaments, which benefits the State in its fisheries management efforts. This issue is especially important as the State continues to add lakes to its list of WMA's. Some association members also noted that hunters can make use of some WMA areas and permits are not required for their activities. (But we do not want this issue "resolved" by requiring hunters to purchase WMA permits.) Back to top of page |