Download the mobile app!
Hooking Up Anglers Since 2011.
The 2011 striped bass season is officially under way as the opening of internal waters has resulted in the capture of keepers. Dave Showell weighed in three bass from 29 inches up to an 18.9-pounder at Absecon Bay Sportsman Center in Absecon toward the end of last week, and noted they were caught on lures cast in the shallows of...
The 2011 striped bass season is officially under way as the opening of internal waters has resulted in the capture of keepers. Dave Showell weighed in three bass from 29 inches up to an 18.9-pounder at Absecon Bay Sportsman Center in Absecon toward the end of last week, and noted they were caught on lures cast in the shallows of local rivers.
The northern Shore got into the act Tuesday when Dennis Galvez of East Brunswick weighed the first striper at The Tackle Box in Hazlet after worming it at Cliffwood Beach. Joe Davino of Keansburg added a 10¼-pounder Wednesday in the dark at his local beach on sandworms. There hasn’t been much action so far, but it should open up over the weekend with warmer weather.
The Raritan Bay sod banks traditionally provide a good opportunity for anglers to cast worms or clams on the higher tides for stripers feeding in those shallow and relatively warmer waters. The largest linesiders tend to hit clams at night on northwest winds. When boaters get into the act later this month in the back of the bay, they too will be working shallow waters while chumming with clams.
Keep up with this fishing by following my daily blog at nj.com/shore/blogs/fishing.
A big question mark is whether we’ll see the unprecedented jigging of mostly legal stripers in cold ocean waters down the beach as occurred last April. Those bass would probably never have been exploited if it weren’t for the gannets diving on bait they were pushing up. Lures such as the Tsunami Shad worked slowly off bottom produced great action.
Charter skippers will be getting ready earlier this year in case there’s a reoccurrence of the hot April fishery, but they’ll also be dealing with record high gas prices with no end in sight. Customers may be able to lock in fees by booking early.
Though striped bass recreational landings along the Atlantic coast have been declining sharply, I considered the 2010 Raritan Bay-Northern Shore fishery for large bass to be the best in years – possibly because of a healthy Hudson River stock.
Not only did live and chunked bunker provide lots of the normal upper teens to 30-pounders into early July, but there was also a sharp increase in the number of 40-and-50-pounders hooked.
TOP CATCHES
Reef Rescue continues its fight to get the “Pots off the reefs “ bills up for votes. Capt. Pete Grimbilas is bringing the message to clubs around the state, and is available to speak to others interested in eliminating gear conflict on those reefs built with dedicated federal sportfishing funds plus contributions from anglers and divers. Contact Grimbilas at reefrescue@yahoo.com or by calling (973) 367-7775. Reef Rescue will have a booth at the Saltwater Expo coming up next weekend.
The Saltwater Expo is a short show, running from March 18-20 at Garden State Exhibit Center in Somerset. I’ll be presenting a seminar on Big Bunkers, Big Bass for both boaters and surfcasters at 11:30 March 19.
Codfishing has been good this winter on wrecks, but there was codfishing Tuesday more like that which has been occurring off Block Island. Capt. Chris De Stefano of Wall was in Belmar when the Ocean Explorer pulled in with the best local cod catch in many years. De Stefano said Capt. Bobby Quinn estimated that more than 500 school cod were caught on open bottom where whales were breaching with sand eels and small herring falling out of their mouths. The cod were also stuffed with those forage fish.
The Jamaica from Brielle will be looking for trophy cod after departing at 11 tonight (call 732-528-5014 for reservations) for offshore wrecks. Capt. Howard Bogan Jr. found some cod up to 18 pounds on every spot last Saturday, but the highlight was the pollock fishing after anglers switched to jigs and teasers that even produced a doubleheader.
Mike Armbruster of Allentown, Pa., boated four pollock from 18 to 32 pounds, but Chris Yates from Brookfield, Conn., had three up to 38 pounds plus two cod.
The Jamaica is fishing open on 20- to 40-mile wrecks at 4 a.m. Saturday and 3 a.m. Sunday. Last Friday’s trip produced cod up to 20 pounds, and was topped by Bob Morris of Trenton with eight cod up to 14 pounds.
Capt. Joe Bogan of Jamaica II at Brielle counted more 100 cod aboard last Friday. Toby McCloud of Howell had 11 up to 23 pounds.
Capt. Bobby Bogan gets started again on Sunday with a 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. open trip for cod and ling with his Gambler from Point Pleasant.
The public outrage about the waste involved in thousands of pre-spawning stripers left dead and floating by trawlers off the North Carolina Outer Banks wasn’t enough to embarrass the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission into maintaining a temporary closure of the trawling season.
That waste of a valuable resource was denounced by the Southern Environmental Law Center and Defenders of Wildlife as well as by recreational fishing groups. Jeffrey Weeks of the Charlotte Fish and Wildlife Policy Examiner reported the motion to reopen the trawling season was seconded by Mickey Daniels, a trawler owner directly involved in that fishery — despite the obvious conflict of interest.
The only concession made to conservation was a limit of 30 minutes to tows, though there are serious questions as to how that will be enforced given the general lack of enforcement of commercial fishing in North Carolina.
This Fishing Report was submitted on 3/19/2011 12:58:50 PM by Seamus and last updated on 3/19/2011 12:58:50 PM.
Including GPX (Universal GPS Format), KML (Google Earth), and XLS (Excel) files.
Gives You Access To:
Download GPS files of fishing spots. Create Custom Maps of fishing spots. Fishing predictions w/ future date & location. Featured Listings for your fishing business.
$7 month or $49 year