Salty tours

[finchaser]

The Gill or should I say Kill Netter Salty Tours out of Manasquan Inlet is back in the water. For all of you who don't know about him he targets weakfish and bass selling the bass in Philly and the weakfish for pet food. He now owns the fish market in Point called Salty's.

He has been out of the water since the spring run when he annihilated spawner weakfish and smaller bass.
He targets bass and if spotted he kills the bass and leaves a trail of them to protest his not being allowed to keep them.

In NJ it is illegal to target bass with the hope of catching weakfish or bluefish.

Keep an eye out for him and report any wrong doings ASAP contact Clinton Dravis at the Fish and Game division of law enforcement. You can PM me for his number.

They have been after him since 2000 when this happen

By Al Ristori
STAFF WRITER Star Ledger

After not having seen a single swirl in two days from Manasquan Inlet to Sandy Hook, I nevertheless cautioned Bob Richards as we started heading north yesterday morning to keep an eye out as birds can gather almost anywhere during the fall. The words were hardly out of my mouth when Richards pointed offshore and said "How about those?"


Sure enough, the sky was black with gulls feeding in depths over 60 feet off Manasquan and it was a wide open bite. One of Richards' colleagues had never fished before and another had never caught a striper, but it only took seconds before Skip Wade, Barry Holsten and Tom O'Leary joined Richards in becoming instant experts by hooking up on Mega Bait metal and SPRO Swimming Jigs as well as 21/8-ounce Yo-Zuri Surface Cruisers.


That surface action, in still-choppy northerly seas, died out after a couple of hours and the arm-weary anglers decided to return early rather than switch to wire line trolling, though those towing bunker spoons reported catching a few 20-pounders from among the schoolies. Many of our fish were from 30 to 32 inches, and every one was released unharmed.


Unfortunately, the crew's conservation was more than offset by gillnetter Salty Tours, which set its curtain of death on those stripers just downwind of us. Since striped bass are game fish in N.J., all must be returned by netters. Salty Tours was tossing them in constantly, while pulling that net two hours later to leave a trail of dead bass floating behind them.


To give you an idea of how many bluefish (which are legal to gillnet) were included in that massive school of stripers, we caught only two on jigs and plugs. Yet, that gillnetter was willing to kill probably 20 stripers for every blue -- the same sort of unconsionable bycatch destruction created by local small mesh draggers that virtually wiped out the once abundant Mud Hole whiting population. It's high time the state stepped in to prohibit such irresponsible gillnetting. "

It's very disturbing to know that this guy is still out there and just destroying the local fish population.

How scary is that this boat owner used to be an elected Councilman. His wife is currently an elected official. She just ran for a NJ Senate seat in Ocean County under a pro-environmental platform as a Democrat . Thank God she lost.

His wife just suggested to create a new "Environmental Committee" for the town she is a Council woman in. In a quote from her in the newspaper The Ocean Star dated 01/11/08 she states " In today's world there is lots of environmental work to do".

Correct and why don't you start with your husband !!!!!
Killing everything and anything in the ocean is not very pro-environment.
__________________

[DarkSkies]

Unfortunately, the crew's conservation was more than offset by gillnetter Salty Tours, which set its curtain of death on those stripers just downwind of us. Since striped bass are game fish in N.J., all must be returned by netters. Salty Tours was tossing them in constantly, while pulling that net two hours later to leave a trail of dead bass floating behind them.


To give you an idea of how many bluefish (which are legal to gillnet) were included in that massive school of stripers, we caught only two on jigs and plugs. Yet, that gillnetter was willing to kill probably 20 stripers for every blue -- the same sort of unconsionable bycatch destruction created by local small mesh draggers that virtually wiped out the once abundant Mud Hole whiting population. It's high time the state stepped in to prohibit such irresponsible gillnetting. "

It's very disturbing to know that this guy is still out there and just destroying the local fish population.

How scary is that this boat owner used to be an elected Councilman. His wife is currently an elected official. She just ran for a NJ Senate seat in Ocean County under a pro-environmental platform as a Democrat . Thank God she lost.

His wife just suggested to create a new "Environmental Committee" for the town she is a Council woman in. In a quote from her in the newspaper The Ocean Star dated 01/11/08 she states " In today's world there is lots of environmental work to do".

Correct and why don't you start with your husband !!!!!
Killing everything and anything in the ocean is not very pro-environment.
__________________


Didn't something happen to Al Ristori's boat after he spoke out in this article? :kooky: There is a new crew of DFG officers. I hope if this stuff is still going on they are smart enough to develop intel and turn some leads into a solid case.

They can't do it alone. There are lots of eyes and ears out there, it's up to you guys who see this stuff to make the call and give as many details as you can. They need all sorts of details to make a case...when, where, any others connected with the operation, vehicle license plates, physical descriptions of people involved, etc.

If anyone needs confidential cell #s of CO's, contact me through PMs or e-mail and I'll be glad to give you the appropriate #. Or contact Finchaser privately. He has been fighting to protect the resource for many years. His integrity and motives are pure, and I would believe whatever he has to say.

People get upset when they talk about guys poaching on the sand and jetties. This is the kind of mass killing that does more damage to the biomass than 100 shore fishermen combined.

[JakeF]

This kind of report really burns my britches. Hope they get the guy and that he gets what he deserves. :burn:

[surfwalker]

finchaser, thanks for your report. As in the previous posts, nothing aggrevates me more than someone who knowingly kills the Striper for no reason at all. I am not a nut on catch and release, but the fight for game fish status for the Striper, and the laws protecting it was for a reason. Now it's your turn as fishers to help uphold those laws. Like Dark says, any time these laws are broken they should be called into the proper authorities and as many times as it occurs, it should be reported. Eventually some good will come out of all the calls. Don't just fish for the Striper, become active, get involved and protect it from violators. Don't wait for the next guy to call, you do it. I'm not releasing Stripes at 2-3 in the morning so some clown can net/kill them intentionally and get away with it. Help protect the passion that we seek. Sorry for the rant, agita has set in since I read this early this morning.

[Monty]

Its disgusting behavier hor a human being breaking the law.
Makes me mad, like others on this board.
Goes against everything we believe in.
Might be a good idea to organize a anti-Salty's publictity campaign.

[gjb1969]

he is a dush bag :2flip::argue::beatin::devil::burn::moon:

[johnnysaxatilis]

he is a dush bag :2flip::argue::beatin::devil::burn::moon:



Correct:thumbsup:

[basshunter]

He is more than a dush bag, he is a scum sucking remora that rapes the sea and laughs at us every time he comes in to port with a load of illegal stripers which somehow end up in the fish markets in Phila. How the hell can he get away with this? How come no one is able to prove any of this, and all we have are these undocumented anecdotes?
On the other hand, it this all was a conspiracy to smear his name, how come there are so many different comments that you can find with one google search, from different people who are all saying the same thing?
NJDFW, are you listening here?
These are some of the comments I found while doing a search. Unbelievable, absolutely unbelivable that he is still doing business, if even half these allegations are true::burn: :2flip:



From 2000:

"You would be much better off getting a video of the "Salty Tours" or any other netter dumping striper after striper over the side with a nice shot of dead fish floating in the swells behind the boat, then a close up of a big (30+ lb.) striper floating with shredded gill plates and a deep bloody incision along its throat, and if possible, a nice shot of the crew stuffing a couple of dozen stripers under the floor boards of the boat. Take this video, create a transcript to be read over the video with appropriate citations to the demise of the striped bass in the 80's, the heroic legislative and conservation efforts made in an attempt to restore the stocks, the regulations protecting the striped bass as a gamefish, and maybe a little anecdote about how stripers have in the past been found to contain potentially harmful levels of the carcinogen dioxin and that the public may be unwittingly eating these protected and potentially harmful fish when they order grouper or chilian Sea Bass at their local Red Lobster. Send one copy to NJN, one copy to Ch. 5, one to the govenor, and one to NJ Fish & Game with an affidavit that you are the person who filmed this event and such and such day, at such and such location, I even volunteer to notorize it for you. The half a days effort set forth above will do far more than joining any organization, writing any politician a form letter, and definitley more than sending anyone a check. If I had a boat, and a little more time to spend on the water, I would be doing this myself."




"The owner of the "Salty Tours" was elected to the Lavallette NJ town council on the same day the negative article was printed and he ran with a platform as a candidate who was "enviromentally friendly".

Go figure !!!!!"




From 2009:
"This guy has his family looking out for the coasties when he comes in with a illegal load.The coasties need to stop looking the other way,and bust his a$$"

[buckethead]

The only reason he is not being caught is because his wife is a government official. If you ask me it is the hand to hand motion which is doing the talking.

Another comment from last year:

"the gill netter Salty Tours had nets right up to the beach from the inlet pocket to the end jetty and the 3 jetties north. He was killing bass as he usually does this time of year just for the hell of it to make a statement against no sale."


" He sets up near a current that takes water out past the mouth of the inlet so nothing he throws over gets to the beach. It's all taken off shore."

[buckethead]

Here are some gill net regulations

http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/pdf/2008/comregs08.pdf

move down to about page 5 or 6 to see them.

[storminsteve]

It's like this guy and his wife has the whole town wrapped around his finger. Is he like Tony Soprano or something? Just another azzhat who knows how to grease the right palms to me.http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon13.gif

[cowherder]

From 2009:
"This guy has his family looking out for the coasties when he comes in with a illegal load.The coasties need to stop looking the other way,and bust his a$$"

This to me is a scum of the worst kind. If he is truly doing business this way, that means he has been getting away with it for a long time. Where is the justice here?:don't know why:

[BassBuddah]

Seems to me he needs a talking to :beatin:Brooklyn style. Are there no night riders in NJ?

[storminsteve]

Loved that movie, justice... Mad Max rules!:clapping:
R3xjSH62aP4

[VSdreams]

It's like this guy and his wife has the whole town wrapped around his finger. Is he like Tony Soprano or something? Just another azzhat who knows how to grease the right palms to me.http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon13.gif

What an assmuncher he must be. Maybe like Tony Soprano, he legitimized his business on the surface, so now he gets away with it. Aren't there any good enforcement officers out there who can pull off a sting? With the way you say his family is involved in tipping him off to the CO's, maybe he thinks he is bulletproof.

[surferman]

From 2000:

"You would be much better off getting a video of the "Salty Tours" or any other netter dumping striper after striper over the side with a nice shot of dead fish floating in the swells behind the boat, then a close up of a big (30+ lb.) striper floating with shredded gill plates and a deep bloody incision along its throat, and if possible, a nice shot of the crew stuffing a couple of dozen stripers under the floor boards of the boat. Take this video, create a transcript to be read over the video with appropriate citations to the demise of the striped bass in the 80's, the heroic legislative and conservation efforts made in an attempt to restore the stocks, the regulations protecting the striped bass as a gamefish, and maybe a little anecdote about how stripers have in the past been found to contain potentially harmful levels of the carcinogen dioxin and that the public may be unwittingly eating these protected and potentially harmful fish when they order grouper or chilian Sea Bass at their local Red Lobster. Send one copy to NJN, one copy to Ch. 5, one to the govenor, and one to NJ Fish & Game with an affidavit that you are the person who filmed this event and such and such day, at such and such location, I even volunteer to notorize it for you. The half a days effort set forth above will do far more than joining any organization, writing any politician a form letter, and definitley more than sending anyone a check. If I had a boat, and a little more time to spend on the water, I would be doing this myself."






I like this suggestion, but how practical is it? You would have to have brass balls to get that close. And if you could, he's not going to let you film him and smile for the camera, is he?:rolleyes:

[fishinmission78]

Innocent until proven guilty? That's a hard thing to understand. If this guy is guilty, you have to catch him at it. Based upon all the reports out there, you have a better chance at winning the powerball than busting him. Just my 02.

[bababooey]

Whatever happened to this guy? Did he survive hurricane sandy?

[finchaser]

sure did and fished after it, lost his Ice Cream parlor in Lavalette called Salty's on Route 35 North

[storminsteve]

I heard he takes everything in nothing goes back. It's a shame no one has figured out a way to bust him yet.

[finchaser]

that's true he has look outs and his wife is politically conected as a matter of fact she heads up Save Barnegat bay program. Talk about a fox in the hen house

[fishinmission78]

He was off the piers weds in seaside

[storminsteve]

that's true he has look outs and his wife is politically conected as a matter of fact she heads up Save Barnegat bay program. Talk about a fox in the hen house

They should have figured out a way to bust this scum by now. Something smells fishy maybe he is paying people off?

[finchaser]

his wife still is politically connected in Lavallette and heads up Save the Bay for Barnegat bay. He docks neck to the Manasquan coast guard station and they think he's a saint

[storminsteve]

Does anyone know if salty tours was affected by the new bunker laws? He has set his gillnets up where there bunker in the past. Does he have to throw them back or is he grandfathered to gillnet them?

[basshunter]

I think to fish for bunker youi have to have a B on your boat designating that.. Not exactly sure maybe someone else could chime in.

[finchaser]

he's not a bunker boat it's illegal for him to target or possess bunker not that the pri_k would break the law. Bunker boats have to have a sheet of plywood with a large B on it they also can only harvest Monday to Friday no weekends. All fishing and related activities for bunker may not occur any closer to the shore, jetties or piers than 0.6 nautical miles in the Atlantic Ocean.

[hookset]

he's not a bunker boat it's illegal for him to target or possess bunker not that the pri_k would break the law. .

Sorry don't mean to dispute what you said fc but have heard when no one is watching nothing goes back. It wouldn't surprise me if he was taking bunker too.

[finchaser]

my comment about him not breaking the law was written in sarcasm he should have his boat taken and be put behind bars he is pure scum and his wife heads up save the bay what a fuc_ing joke

[ledhead36]

^^^^^ Anyone seen him around lately? I heard there are lots of spike weakfish in the surf he must be crushing the little guys.

[basshunter]

This from a report yesterday -- is salty tours in the water again?

"The birds left and the fish were hard to find. The action moved up to the area around the Axel Carlson Reef and there we found two of the Barnegate Inlet party boats and the Gambler from Pt. Pleasant as well as other bluefish boats.

One last observation was the gill netter that made a set right where everyone was striper fishing. Maybe he was after bluefish, but if he caught any I'm sure some of them didn't have yellow eyes but did have stripes. "

[finchaser]

Last seen salty was on land at Hoffman's west I'll check tomorrow

[Pebbles]

It is unbelievable that they have not been able to catch him yet.
My dad used to pump gas and the station was owned by a prosecutor. The feds came in at night and set up hidden camera's. Why can't they do that here?
Maybe they just don't care.