Jim Hutchinson Jr. , editor of the Fisherman magazine, had bad news to pass along today. According to the NYDEC chart, the 2023 striped bass young-of-the-year iindex is significantly below the long-term average, indicating that last year may go down in the history books as one of the worst recruitment seasons for striped bass since the 1980s.

“NYDEC’s Hudson River striped bass YOY index value provides an estimate of annual recruitment for striped bass in the Hudson River. This index is generated through a beach seine survey at 13 sites along the lower Hudson River conducted bi-weekly from July to November.  In addition to the Hudson River seining efforts, NYDEC also collects striped bass data in the Western Long Island (WLI) survey. This survey captures predominantly 1-year-old fish and is used in striped bass stock assessments.” I’ll have more about this tomorrow.

The weather in NY/NJ Bight lately has been so bad that a gale warning seems like an improvement over all the storm warnings.

However, after west gusts to 40 knots and 10-foot seas tonight, the morning forecast is for only west at 10-15 knots and 2-4-foot seas.

Crazy Alberto Knie put in a lot of time at night to catch this big Florida snook from shore

Unofficial options regarding the N.J. 2024 fluke season have become available, though they still require scientific approval.

Fisherman’s Den in Ship Bottom supports Option 30 which runs from 5/5 to 9/23 and has a three fish bag limit of 18-inch + fluke. They say “it offers the most days (longest season) out of all options and gives the earliest start for the back bay spring. It also has the latest end date offering nearly all of September for one of the best months of ocean fluke fishing at a time when there really isn’t much else going on. 18” is obtainable for all beach, boat, kayak, back bay, inshore etc and a three fish bag limit isn’t terrible.”

A gale watch is in effect for NY/NJ Bight through Sunday afternoon. Southwest winds at 25-30 knots are forecast for Sunday plus gusts to 40 and 6-8-foot seas.

Fisheman’s Den provided this shot of the Coast Guard doing training runs in the inlet during this week’s huge swells.

There’s not much hope ahead for winter anglers.

A gale warning goes up for NY/NJ Bight anglers at 6 p.m., with southwest gusts to 40 knots tonight That extends into Saturday with 10-15-foot seas before dropping to 9-12 feet in the afternoon. Sunday isn’t much better with southwest winds at 25-30 knots and seas down to 6-8 feet.

The sea bass season is closed, so the next offshore trip of the Jamaica from Brielle will be for cod, pollock, and ling on Sunday Jan. 15 at 4 a.m. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.

Chuck Many stopped off at Cape Charles, Virginia on his way to Hilton Hill, S.C. to fish with Capt. Capt Clint Lassiter as he, Dave and Joe released stripers of 48.49 and a hair over 50 pounds.

A small craft advisory is up through late tonight in NY/NJ Bight — and then it gets worse over the weekend.

There’s a small window Friday morning as it starts with just north winds at 5-10 knots before going east at 10-15 plus gusts to 20 in the afternoon. A storm watch goes into effect Friday night, and the weekend looks like a total blowout.

Capt. Bruce Miller passed away in Toms River on Jan. 7 at the age of 85. Bruce was one of the most experienced captains at Clarks Landing in Point Pleasant, after starting with his Gypsy Shark from Hoffman’s Anchorage in Brielle. He later ran Mirage from Clarks where he often served as weighmaster at other Greater Point Pleasant Charter Boat Association contests. Miller was a charter member of the GPPCBA as well as being a founding member of the Jersey Coast Anglers Association and a supporter of building artificial reefs.

Bruce grew up in Fords, and retired after a career working for General Motors. He was one of the pioneers in canyon fishing, as well as being noted for his mako shark catches. He also kindly provided me with local information when I switched my home port for chartering from Montauk to Point Pleasant.

Visitation will be held Thursday from 4-8 p.m. at Quinn Hopping Funeral Home, 26 Mule Rd. in Toms River.

Capt. Bruce Miller

Jeff Merrill took this shot of big swells breaking at Manasquan Inlet this morning.

A gale warning is up through this evening for west gusts up to 45 knots. with 10-18-foot seas. By morning the west wind will be down to 15-20 knots and seas to 6-9 feet before diminishing to 4-7 feet during the afternoon.

The storm warnings seem to be coming one after another in NY/NJ Bight, and the latest is from 4 p.m. to late tonight .

By morning it’s down to southwest at 25-30 knots plus gusts to 40 and a chance of showers. The seas will be fine for surfers at 11 to 16 feet.

Striper Day will run from 8;30 to 2:30 on Sunday, January 14 at Ward Melville H.S. in East Setauket, Long Island. Admittance is $15, with kids under 12 at no charge.

In contrast to our weather problems, there’s Guatemala, where calm seas are the norm and Pacific sailfish. are abundant. Jake Jordan runs his fly fishing for sailfish schools there every winter, as his clients catch lots of sails weighing about twice as much as the Atlantic version on 20-pound tippet.

Capt. Frank Mihalic released his personal best blackfish last week, but had to make a trip far south of his home waters in Raritan Bay to Cape May in order to hook up with a 17.5-pounder while fishing with Capt. Tom Duffin on his Fishing Fever.

Another storm watch is in effect from Tuesday evening to late that night. Tuesday starts with southeast winds at 10-15 knots before increasing to 20-25 plus rain in the afternoon. By Wednesday there’s a shift to west at 20-25 along with gusts to 40 — f0llowed at night by gusts to 55 creating 11-16-foot seas.

If you haven’t seen enough rough water lately, get ready for Tuesday.

A small craft advisory is up in NY/NJ Bight through Monday afternoon — followed by a storm watch from Tuesday evening to late night. Monday starts with northwest winds from 15-20 knots which diminish to 10-15 in the afternoon before the storm arrives.

Surprisingly, the Ocean Explorer from Belmar had an exceptional tautog bite on Friday when it was actually “drop and reel” blackfishing which is very unusual with that species.

The Wildwood Fishing & Boating Expo concludes from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday in the Convention Center.

The miserable weather continues with north winds at 15-20 knots plus gusts to 30 along with rain or snow. A gale warning is up to late tonight with 5-9-foot seas.

Frank Carbone is adding another luxury yacht to his Amazon operation for peacock bass and other exotic species. He has some openings later in the year. Call him at 954 325-1115.