A couple of great white sharks are enjoying the warmth of the Gulf of Mexico at present. Those had been captured, weighed and measured in northern waters by SEARCH, and they ping their location when surfacing.

Rose was located about 60 miles off Sanibel, Florida on March 9. She was tagged at 10 1/2 feet. On the same day, Maple pinged in near St. George Island in the Gulf. She is 11 feet and 1264 pounds. There has been a big problem with red tide in the Gulf, as tons of dead fish have been removed from Ft. Myers Beach. From what I have seen on TV, most appear to be bottom fish rather than pelagics that may be able to swim away from pockets of that disease.

Fish Bound was able to get out for trophy tautog from Ocean City, Md. one day this week. While the bite was tender, Pat Sciba was able to release a personal record 18+-pounder. Five other tog over 10 pounds, up to a 14-pound male, were also caught on that trip. See photo at bottom.

The Friday forecast is for a northeast wind at just 5 knots before shifting to southeast in the afternoon. The big change comes after midnight Friday with northeast winds gusting to 30 knots plus rain.

Chuck Many had gone four straight days without fishing, but came back quickly as the big red drum pictured below hit on his first cast at Hilton Head, S.C.

In addition to the regulations on recreational fishing in New Jersey which were featured in yesterday’s blog, that state has also adopted the ASMFC prohibition on the use of gaffs while striped bass fishing. Almost everyone has adopted the use of large nets which permit bass to be checked for keeper size without harming them. Even without a large net, it’s possible and even preferable to lean over the side and grip the jaw to accomplish the same purpose. In most cases, the bass can be released without even taking it out of the water to ensure its best long term survival chances.

A small craft warning is posted until 10 p.m. for north gusts to 30 knots. That drops to north 10-15 with gusts to 20 in the morning.

If you haven’t broken the ice on daytime swordfish, you may have a better opportunity to get an Islamorada charter for one with Capt. Nick Stanczyk’s fleet out of Bud N’Mary’s Marina as his original Broad Minded has been renovated with new two new 425 Yamaha outboards to sail as Water Damage. Call 305 664-2461.

Paul Haertel of the JCAA reported passage of the following N.J. fishing regulations for fluke, sea bass and scup

At their meeting on 3/2/23 the NJMFC set the regulations for sea bass and scup. Once again it became apparent that public sentiment means absolutely nothing. Every single one of the fifteen or so people who spoke, including individuals, representatives from various clubs, charter and party boat captains as well as myself on behalf of JCAA spoke in favor of option 4. Despite that, three representatives on the council voted in favor of Option 1 while one voted against it and the others abstained. Though the fluke regs were set some time ago, I am including them for those who may have missed them.  The sea bass and scup regs will become effective once our DEP Commissioner signs off on them. Therefore, until he does so you can still keep scup.

2023 NJ REGULATIONS FOR FLUKE, SEA BASS AND SCUP

Fluke – May 2nd through September 27th with a limit of just one fish 18” or greater AND 2 fish from 17-17.99”. The special regulations for Delaware Bay are 3 fish 17” or greater and Island Beach State Park, 2 fish 16” or greater. 

Sea Bass 12 ½” for all seasons 5/17- 6/19 (10 fish), 7/1-8/31 (1 fish), 10/1-10/31 (10 fish) 11/1-12/31 (15 fish)

 Scup 10” for the entire season 8/1-12/31 (30 fish)

A small craft advisory is up through Wednesday afternoon. North winds at 20-25 knots plus gusts to 30 are forecast for the morning.

Kil Song sent along the following report today:

We trolled with 6 Black Hole Giant rods for bluefin on the Good Times out of Hatteras, NC today. We got 200lb (70″) and John Kim fought the bluefin on stand up. It took 15′ 20 minutes .

All reactions:

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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.

With east winds gusting to 30 knots, a gale warning is up through 6 a.m.

It will be improving in the morning as the winds shift to calming directions of west and northwest with gusts to 30 which may make Sunday fishable.

Nick Honachefsky displays the dentures on a Bahamas barracuda. They are great fighters on the flats and not very difficult to handle for the release.

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.

N.J. internal waters open tomorrow

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.

The Atlantic City Boat Show opens

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.