The Bradenton Herald reported a bull shark of record proportions was caught by a local angler fishing from shore at Virginia Key, near Miami, on Feb. 12. The bull was 9 1/2-feet long with a 55-inch girth and estimated at 550 to 600 pounds by Michael Hengle (22) before he released it with the aid of beachgoers. The state record is 517 pounds, but that requires actual weighing on a certified scale.

The angler used a kayak to drop a 20-pound “bonito’ (little tunny) 400 yards offshore, and fought it from shore on big game tackle.

A gale warning is up from Friday morning to evening. The forecast is for southwest winds at 20-25 knots plus gusts to 35. Rain is likely in the evening and after midnight.

Nick Honachefsky has a Saltwater Underground presentation, A Tale of Two Tunas on the Sportsman Channel at 10:30 a.m. Friday. That features both daytime jigging and night chunking in the canyons.

The Mimi VI from Point Pleasant is taking reservations for a limited President’s Day blackfish trip which departs at 6:30 a.m. Friday. All baits are included in the fare. Call 732 370-8019.

A gale warning is posted from Thursday evening to Friday afternoon, but tomorrow starts well with southwest winds at just 5-10 knots before going south in the afternoon along with rain. Looking ahead to Friday there are gusts to 40 knots in the forecast.

The Philadelphia Fishing Show runs from Feb, 15-17 at the Expo Center in Oaks, and John De Bona reports that the Fisherman magazine will sponsor free seminars at that event.

The Fish Bound from Ocean City, Maryland got out on a gorgeous day this week as the charter party ended up with 25 keepers up to a trophy 13-pounder.

Paul Haertel of the JCAA ensured a happy birthday today by getting into N.J. brown trout.

Anglers and boaters can attend shows covering their favorite sports all the way from Miami to New Jersey this week.

The huge Miami Boat Show runs from Feb. 15-19, and is the only boat show which also provides everything an angler could desire.

The Philadelpha Fishing Show runs from Feb. 17-19 in the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center at Oaks, and is devoted to fishing of all kinds.

The N.J. Boat Sale & Expo from Feb. 16-19 in the N.J. Expo Center in Edison also includes seminars presented by the Fisherman magazine. Adult admission is $15, but free for kids 16 or younger. Discount tickets can be obtained by visiting jerseyboatexpo.com.

Wednesday’s forecast is for south winds at 15-20 knots which increase to 20-25 knots in the afternoon.

NOAA Fisheries has closed the commercial General category for bluefin tuna as of 11:30p.m. Feb. 14 until March 31 at the same time. That action is necessary as the present allocation has been exceeded. This does not involve any changes to recreational bluefin tuna fishing regulations.

The Jamaica from Brielle hasn’t been catching many cod during far offshore wreck trips, so they are switching to cod on 20-35-mile wrecks. The first 4 a.m. to 5 p.m. trip will be on Feb. 14. Call 732 528-5014 for details.

A small craft warning is up in NY/NJ Bight through Tuesday afternoon. The forecast is for northwest winds at 15-20 knots plus gusts to 30. That drops to west 10-15 knots with gusts to 20 in the afternoon.

A wahoo shows its colors after being trolled on the Happy Day from Ft. Lauderdale last week.

As noted in a recent blog, the SHO-NUF from Cape Charles, Virginia recovered a big striped bass carrying a Gray tag. They then found that it had been tagged from Connecticut waters in July, 2022. However. the most notable aspect of that recapture was the angler’s note that the bass had been gut-hooked and that it was difficult to revive. After first getting it moving again, it kept popping up and they had to retrieve and work with it again before it successfully went on its way.

Many other anglers would have given up on that striper which demonstrated how hardy that species is by traveling hundreds of miles to its spawning grounds and attacking a slow-trolled live eel while getting ready to increase the stock in the spring.

A small craft advisory goes up at 9 p.m. with northeast winds up to 25 knots plus rain after midnight. Monday morning starts with north winds at 15-20 knots plus gusts to 25. That drops to a calming 5-10 knots west in the afternoon.

Capt. Hans Kaspersetz, of Sea Bright, N.J., caught this tarpon while fishing with Capt. Luis in Puerto Rico.

Cole Riback was fun fishing with his father, Capt. Dave of the Queen Mary from Point Pleasant, when he boated this mutton snapper off Jupiter. Florida.

The unprecedented winter bite of trophy stripers off Cape Charles, Va. continues with no end in sight. Capt. Clinton Lessard of SHO-NUF reported Chuck Many’s party got 11 bites yesterday that resulted in seven bass receiving Gray tags, including one over 50 pounds.

If Lessard doesn’t get a charter for Wednesday, he will offer an open boat at $350 a person. Call him at 757 710-0098 for details of the 7:30-4:30 trip.

Absecon Bay Sportsman Center has been keeping both grass shrimp (see photo below) and bloodworms in stock for anglers seeking white perch in South Jersey tidal rivers. However, it’s best to call the shop at 609 484-0409 to confirm those baits are still available. They have also received another shipment of Super Perch Rigs.

The N.J. internal waters striped bass season doesn’t open until March 1, but Capt. Fred Gamboa plans to start chartering Andrea’s Toy that month out of Perth Amboy — which is where the first active bass are most likely to be found. Call Fred at 732 670-1561.

A gale warning will go up from late Sunday afternoon through Monday afternoon. Sunday starts off well with southwest winds at 5-10 knots, but goes southeast with showers in the afternoon.

Roberto Robaina (photo at bottom) at Fisherman’s Den, Belmar with the 9-pound, 2-ounce blackfish he caught from the Ocean Explorer this week.

One thing that you can count on when making a fishing trip with Crazy Alberto Knie is that the eating will be great if there’s a kitchen available to him. That was the case Wednesday when we joined Paul Castelli,a retired wildlife biologist with N.J. Fish & Wildlife, in Chokoloskee, Florida for a day of fishing in the Everglades.

Our main concern was catching some “eating fish” which Alberto could prepare in various ways that night for a guest I hadn’t dined with since 1972. Paul had only been out a couple of times with his duck boat since leaving his home in the Pine Barrens of South Jersey, but he had found an area with some bottom structure that would produce what we needed even if a few jigs were lost.

I quickly hooked a 13-inch sheepshead on a white jig tipped with a live shrimp, and we added a mangrove snapper, plus a spotted sea trout while releasing a short red grouper and the smallest Goliath grouper I’ve ever caught. They’re quite colorful when small as Paul shows before the release. Paul had saved a couple of sea trout and a sheepshead from his last trip, so we were good to go as Alberto needed three hours of prep for all he was planning.

Our guest was Gil Drake. a pioneering Key West flats guide who later owned Deep Water Cay Club in the Bahamas, where I fished for bonefish with himin 1972 after bringing a cold northeast wind in April that pushed the normally abundant bones off the flats and made for tough fishing. Upon returning to the States, he settled in Chokoloskee to take advantage of the fine fly fishing for snook that was available there when there was much less pressure on the Everglades fishery. Gil is in good health, but has reduced his guiding schedule.

Alberto made the most of everything we had from sushi to grilled sheepshead, though the stone crab claws were bought by Paul. There wasn’t much left of this feast an hour later!

The Canyon Runner Offshore Seminar will be held Saturday from 9-6 at Harrah’s Atlantic City. There may be a few of the $150 tickets available, but don’t make the ride before calling 732 272-4445.

The Hi-Mar Striper Club Fisherman’s Flea Market runs from 8-2 Saturday in the Port Monmouth VFW, 1 Veterans Lane. Admission is $5 for adults and free for kids 16 and under. Seminars are included.

The marine forecast in NY/NJ Bight is for northwest winds at 15-20 knots before dropping to 10-15 in the afternoon. Sunday is looking good with southwest 5-10 knots.

Just when it appeared as if the record-breaking winter run of jumbo stripers off Cape Charles, Va. might be slowing, that charter boat set a new standard as noted by Capt. Clinton Lessard as follows:

Guess what Chuck Tyman Manny , Shannon Pickens and I did today, besides catching 10 of 11 bites!!!!! We put a tag in a 60 pounder. To be exact it was 60 on the boga and 60.4 on the electric scale. So a true 60 in our books. Oh and (2) double headers. But wait …. We also hooked a quadruple and got all four in. Water temp was 46.1 and the fish were hungry. Back at it tomorrow then looks like a few windy days. Hard to believe the weather and water temp are cooperating and we are still catching these beauties. Still gonna run some trips if weather allows. 757-710-0098

Good news from Absecon Bay Sportsman Center is that grass shrimp are finally in stock. They are the prime bait for the white perch which are presently abundant in that area. At $15 a half-pint they are actually cheaper than bloodworms which are in stock at $25 a dozen. Call 609 484-0409 to be sure those baits are available.

The NY/NJ Bight forecast is for west winds at 15-20 knots with gusts to 30.

The Ocean Explorer from Belmar reported a nice day yesterday with decent blackfishing and a 9.1-pounder for Roberto.

Capt. Clinton Lessard finally had a slow day of trolling trophy stipers from his SHO-NUF out of Cape Charles, Virginia, but in other years he’d be happy to get five hits and tag two a good day for Feb.7. One of those pre-spawning stripers had a Gray tag in her side. He’ll continue to sail on nice days. Call 757-710-0098.

Tomorrow starts well in NYNJ Bight with south winds at 5-19 knots before going southeast at 10-15 plus gusts to 25 in the afternoon.

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The Hudson River striped bass stock has been producing outstanding fishing results for several years, and the future looks bright as last year’s young-of-the-year class was above the long term average and continued that trend. Of course, those bass won’t affect our fishing in the short term. Yet it does prove that management has proven effective and that the sacrifices in harvest of large linesiders have been well worthwhile.

The protection of bass in the spawning stock has assured there will be lots of eggs being deposited in May, and as long as the smaller males cooperate with their milt the rest is up to Mother Nature. That outcome is always dependent on many factors out of our control, but the upward trend makes me comfortable in predicting another fine season in Raritan Bay and NY/NJ Bight

The February issue of the Fisherman magazine includes my feature ” The Good Ol’ Days Are Now!”, which concludes that last year’s fishing in most areas was at least as good as I experienced decades ago when the primary striper spawning grounds in the Chesapeake were producing big year classes about every six years to produce an abundance all along the coast north of there.

A small craft warning is up from 1 p.m. through Wednesday afternoon in the Bight. The southwest wind shifts to northwest 10-15 knots plus gusts to 30 in the morning.

N.J. charter skipper Capt. Frank Mihalic with something he doesn’t catch in Raritan Bay — a snook at Marco Island, Florida