Anglers in northern N.J. have been getting into stripers earlier every year, but always start with small bass before the larger fish begin hitting. However, Dave Lilly reports that may not be the case this year. A couple of friends took advantage of temperatures over 50 degrees this morning to check out a spot near Port Newark that always produces their first larger bass from shore toward the end of March — and were surprised to hook up on the first cast of a jig before releasing 10 bass. Only two of those stripers were shorts, and the big one was 38 inches!
The water temperatures in waters flowing into the back of Raritan Bay tend to warm up faster than in the bay itself which receives cold ocean waters on incoming tides. The sun with mild air temperatures often sparks activity in shallow areas. The same applies to back bay areas where schoolies such as Jim Hutchinson Jr. is holding are already crushing small lures cast from shore or boat.
A northwest wind usually brings cold temperatures, but that isn’t supposed to be the case over the next few days. The forecast is for northwest at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20.
With the wind forecast at just 10-15 knots northwest, Sunday is looking very fishable. The Paramount from Brielle will be making its 4 a.m. cod trip to mid-range wrecks, and walk-ons are welcome as long as there is room.
The Atlantic City Boat Show wraps up its run at the Convention Hall on Sunday.
George Poveromo has a World of Saltwater TV show on Lower Florida Keys flats fishing at 8 a.m. on Discovery Channel.
Nick Honachefsky’s Saltwater Underground Tale of Two Tunas concludes at 9 a.m. Sunday and again at3 p.m. Monday on Sportsman Channel.
After yesterday’s N.J. internal waters stripers became legal, there was a flurry of weigh-ins at Absecon Bay Sportsman Center that was topped by Vince Trasatti’s 33-inch, 15.5-pounder. That shop now has a supply of fresh bunkers as well as bloodworms and live grass shrimp for tidal rivers white perch.
The first report on Raritan Bay was spotted on Facebook from Extreme Philly Fishing as four anglers cast for five hours, but only caught one short. It was just 30 degrees at daylight — and the water temperature was a chilly 38 to 40 degrees.
A small craft warning is up through late tonight before changing to a gale watch from Friday morning to Saturday afternoon. However, the Friday morning forecast is only north at 5-10 knots plus a chance of rain.
The Paramount from Brielle will be sailing for cod on mid-range wrecks Saturday and Sunday at 4 a.m.
Vinny D’Anton got into a good surface bite of snook and redfish yesterday morning near Sarasota.
Capt. Hans Kaspersetz fished aboard Water Proof in N,C. for a hot bite of bluefin tuna. See photo at bottom of page.
Chuck Many ran into bull reds yesterday at Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Though striped bass can be legally caught by anglers year-round in New Jersey, they are protected in internal waters during the winter. That changes tomorrow as the internal waters open with no changes in regulations.
Absecon Bay Sportsman Center has their usual season-opening contest with the top three stripers weighed in eligible for gift certificates. White perch fishing continues in the rivers there, and the biggest of those will win a sweatshirt from the store.
A small craft warning is up through late tonight, but the morning forecast is just for northeast winds at 5-10 before going southeast at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20 in the afternoon.
Only 20 tickets were left as of this morning for Saturday’s Canyon Runner Seminar at Capt. Bill’s in Bayshore from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. No tickets will be sold at the gate.
The $120 tickets include a full meal with carving stations as well as all the offshore fishing information that’s well worth the price. Call 732 272-4445 ASAP.
A gale warning goes up at 6 p.m. in NY/NJ Bight and runs through Tuesday morning. East winds of 20-25 knots plus gusts to 35 are in the forecast along with likely morning rain.
The weather is a lot better in Florida, and Vinny D’Anton reports he got into some snook yesterday morning while wading in Sarasota. MirrOlures were effective.
Kil Song reports that Chong Chae’s party had great tautog fishing Sunday out of Virginia as nine over 12 pounds were caught. The largest went 16, 17, 19 and 21 pounds. They were caught on Chae’s jigs and Song’s Black Hole Challenger Bank 701L rod.
An historic note to yesterday’s blog about tilefishing off Key West in 1975. That was long before modern braided lines that make it possible to drift in 600-foot depths. Mono is so stretchy that you can’t feel bottom in such depths, and the best line we had to use then was DuPont Dacron. Unfortunately, I didn’t record in my notes what we were fishing with that day.
While going through old fishing records, I was amazed to find how much time and effort I used to be able to invest in catching fish during brief trips to Florida in the “old days”. A notable sequence started on June 25, 1975 while staying in Islamorada. My “day” started at 2:45 a.m. when I got up to fish for tarpon on the outgoing tide from bridges to the west. I knew that small tarpon would be lining up under lights at the bridges to pick off shrimp and small fish coming out of the Gulf of Mexico. However, in order to get to them at that time I had to hug the rail, with trucks passing by at 60 mph, while using a long rod to flip a live shrimp into the dark so it would float freely into the lighted water and result in a hook up. Then I fought the jumping tarpon as it went under the bridge until it settled down and I could control it around pilings while walking to the end of the bridge and scrambling down to land and release the fish which were in the 15-25-pound class. Years later, I switched to casting lures from the sides of the bridges which was safer and produced some bigger tarpon.
Three tarpon were released before first light stopped the action, and I went to Caloosa Cove to seek a bonefish on a flat just yards from the highway. I found a bone tailing there, and managed to cast a shrimp just far enough ahead of its path so as not to spook it. The bonefish raced all over the flat before I weighed it on my Abu Combi at 8 3/4 pounds and made the release.
Then I started the long drive to Key West where John Mortimer wanted to try catching a tilefish from his outboard boat in the Gulf Stream. We left on a calm day at 11 a.m. and caught a few small dolphin for chunk baits. I didn’t note what tackle we used to get down in 550-600 feet, but I caught two gray tilefish of 4 to 4 1/2 pounds and a 5 1/2-pounder while John added one. I suspect what they were calling gray tilefish were actually bluelines.
There was a lot of driving involved, and no sleep, but I wonder if anyone else has ever caught tarpon and bonefish from shore plus dolphin and tilefish in the same morning?
A gale watch is up from Monday evening through late night. Monday starts OK with north winds at 5-10 knots before going east 10-15 in the afternoon with a chance of snow.
The Ocean Explorer from Belmar reported a calm ocean yesterday though the waters were very cold and there was little fish life.
Capt. Nick Stanczyk sent this photo of yet another big swordfish caught aboard his Broad Minded from Bud N’Mary’s Marina i Islamorada. For charter info call him at 305 664-2461.
NY/NJ Bight anglers should get a break in the morning with a forecast of southwest winds at just 10-15 knots before increasing to 15-20 plus gusts to 25 in the afternoon.
I had a problem with WordPress yesterday as I couldn’t move the page up or down to edit or add anything. There was no explanation of the bottom photo with Chuck Many and daughter Isabella with black bass from Hilton Head, S.C. ponds which were producing action while chilly waters seemed to be holding back the bite in salt ponds. That changed yesterday as redfish arrived for a hot bite. That photo follows.
The Ocean Explorer from Belmar faced a huge east swell on Thursday which made for tough blackfishing though some tog, cod and ling were caught. The Jamaica from Brielle will be sailing at 4 a.m. for cod on offshore wrecks.
George Poveromo has a N.J.-based TV on canyon fishing out of Cape May on Sunday at 8 a.m. on DiscoveryChannel.
Capt. Monty Hawkins had a very unusual sighting during his Feb.21 tautog trip with his Morning Star from Ocean City, Maryland. There are only supposed to be 350 of those massive whales left, but he spotted two that day and was able to take a good shot from long range. That species got its name from being the best source of whale oil in the days of whale hunting. Though protected now, they are frequent victims of ship strikes. The one pictured below was the largest Hawkins has seen in his 43 years at sea.
The Ocean Explorer from Belmar encountered some freezing rain Wednesday, but the ocean was flat calm. Blackfishing started slow, but they ended up with a decent catch for February.
The gale watch ends at 5 p.m., Saturday starts with northeast winds at only 5-10 knots before going southeast in the afternoon.
At Brielle, the Jamaica sails cod trips from 4 a.m. to 5 p.m. the next two days to fish 20-30-mile wrecks. Call 732 528-5014 for a reservation, but walk-ons are welcome is there is room. The Paramount will fish for cod and blackfish at 6:30 a.m.
A small craft advisory is up through late tonight in NY/NJ Bight before it changes to a gale watch from Friday morning to evening. The forecast starts Friday with northwest winds of 20-25 knots plus gusts to 30.
Fish Bound from Ocean City, Maryland reports having to work hard for every tautog bite this week, but still produced big tog of 10, 11 and 12 pounds.
Tight Lines 