Blackfish & cod providing ocean bottom fishing actionckfish and cod.

While party and charter boats along the NJ Shore are waiting for ocean striper fishing to break open, they have been able to get by with decent fishing for blackfish and cod.

At Belmar, the Golden Eagle reported a slow start Saturday before they hit two wrecks which produced tog up to 7 pounds along with lots of shorts.

They’ll be out there again at 7:30 tomorrow.

The Big Mohawk reported a strong current down the beach on Saturday resulted in a slower bite though the high hook had a limit and tog up to 5 pounds were boated along with a few cod.

The Ocean Explorer noted that Good Friday was good to them as tog up 6 pounds responded despite a strong current.

Capt. Joe Massa ran his My Three Sons from Morgan Marina out to 17 Fathoms on Saturday for cod and tog, but found too much dogfish competition out there before moving closer to shore for the same species.

Monday’s forecast is great — west at just 5-10 knots.