stargazer

Frank Ruczynski sent this ode to an ugly — with a good photo.

“A face only a mother could love! I caught a bunch of northern stargazers over the years, mostly on jigs while fishing on or near the bottom. The mouth of the stargazer faces up so that it can ambush prey while hiding in the sandy bottoms of coastal waters. The top of the stargazer has electric organs in the orbitae which can generate and transmit an electric shock. The electric apparatus is composed of two organs, which form two vertical columns roughly oval in horizontal section, and placed behind and somewhat under each eye. It is composed of about 200 thin layers of electric tissue.”

I’ve caught quite a few stargazers over the years, both from the NJ surf and boats. They don’t fight at all, but try to dig into the sand — leaving surfcasters with a bent rod and line pointing straight down in the sand. They can be held with a hand under the belly.

Capt. Frank Masseria of Vitamin Sea from Keyport reports “Excellent live line bite this morning. The 4 man crew managed a couple of dozen ++ bass with overs, unders and a boat limit of keepers in the mix.

Bunker have finally moved into the bay by the millions.

Some blue bite offs. “

Fluke pro Dave Lilly once again found no fluke at his offshore spots before finally hitting a small area that produced five fluke from 3 to 3 1/2 pounds for his crew. There were also small sea bass, but no short fluke.

The forecast is for southwest winds at just 10 knots, but with a slight chance of thunderstorms and showers.

Stargazer

Capt. Ron Santee Jr. of the Fishermen at Atlantic Highlands reported a very good Tuesday sea bass trip as follows”

Once again it was another very good fishing day today.

Despite the South wind and lousy conditions the Sea Bass & Ling were hungry. Some real beauties in the mix with the pool fish going 3 pounds. A   pollock, couple whiting and Winter Flounder finished it off.“