The blackfish season in NJ opens Friday. in N.J., but the forecast of NW winds 15-20 knots with gusts to 25 doesn’t look good, so the Ocean Explorer from Belmar is going to hold off another day. The weekend looks much better.

Striped bass of all sizes have turned on in Raritan Bay, though schoolies are still most abundant.

Chuck Many fished from morning into the dark with several groups of anglers aboard as it wasn’t far from his berth at Gateway Marina in Highlands to the fish. By the time it was all over he had recorded 76 releases up to a 28-pounder. Despite still cold 49 degree waters, everything is set up for the “sure thing” April striper fishery in the bay.

My traveling plans changed, and I was able to get out in the afternoon with Capt. Joe Massa on his My Three Sons from Morgan Marina. Capt. Vinnie Vetere of Katfish from Great Kills joined us with his mate, the famed castnet maker Percy Wentworth. For once, there was someone older than me on the boat as Percy is 86 but can still throw his nets like a young buck.

We found mostly small bass that were fun to catch casting small plugs on light tackle, and Percy boated the largest at 32 inches.

Most interesting was the news from the back of the bay of by far the largest striper of season so far as a kayacker had released a 54-pounder that was later reported by The Fisherman magazine as a 58-pounder plugged by the owner of Back Bay Lures. Of course. that fish was far over the maximum size, so I suppose the weight was calculated by the formula. See the photo below.

Many other boats were into that fishing, including Andreas Toy from Keyport. I was amazed to see so many kayacks out there during a weekday in March.

Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina reports winter flounder fishing improved there, and the few rental boats he had out all limited with large flatties. He’s not expecting much from the April 1 blackfish opener due to cold waters. but the shop has whitelegger and hermit crabs for those who want to try. Back bay areas have been producing lots of school stripers, mostly on blood worms. Peyton Gepp had the largest at 36 inches.

A small craft warning is up for 20-25 knot northwest winds tomorrow plus morning showers.

Capt. Chris Di Stefano has received word that some shore pros have been scoring with the still scarce large stripers by casting SP Minnows while bait fishermen are hooking mostly shorts. I suspect that action is at night in the back of Raritan Bay.

I’ll be traveling Tuesday and there won’t be another bog until Wednesday..

For the first time I ever saw such a thing. the marine weather forecast this evening included a low water advisory which is in effect until 10 p.m. as tides will be as much as two feet below mean low water levels. N.J. surfcasters know that strong northwest winds always push water off the beaches, but it has to be something very unusual for the Weather Service to post a warning about it. There’s also a small craft advisory up to 8 p.m.

Bob Matthews, at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina reported that what appeared to be a tornado last night did a lot of damage to the motor lodge, but all the boats seemed to be fine.

The ocean should be flat from all that northwest wind, and the Ocean Explorer will be sailing from Belmar at 7:30 a.m. for cod and ling.

The wind forecast looks good for Tuesday morning with southeast breezes at 5-10 knots which increase to 10-15 from the south in the afternoon.

When I wrote yesterday’s blog early I assumed no boats would be fishing in the rain and wind, but I wasn’t thinking about Capt. Joe Massa. After enduring several skunkings to start the striper season, Joe got out early with his My Three Sons from Morgan Marina. Morgan is one of the best ports on Raritan Bay to sail from as it’s only a few minutes run to the back of the bay which is usually the first area to come alive early in the spring. There was only one other boat out as Joe trolled small diving plugs to release a dozen shorts before the end of the tide. It was a start, and with lots of bunker around the bigger stripers should be on them within days. The Hudson River Fisherman’s Association Fred Rung Memorial Striped Bass Tournament starts the contest season in April.

Frank Huza of Aberdeen passed along the following warning to shore anglers. “

 heard from a local fireman that they were called out about 8 o’clock Sunday evening to rescue a shore based Striper fisherman who waded out into Matawan Creek at Cliffwood Beach and got stuck in the mud.  (He was walking the shore towards Wagner’s Marina)

Luckily he had a cell phone!  It pays to scout your fishing sites during the day, before walking out at night.”

It wasn’t necessary to wait for today’s reports as I’m sure the wind and rain kept everyone home. However, there was a good report from Chuck Many about his Saturday afternoon and evening striper fishing in Raritan Bay as over 30 bass were caught by the crew of Nikki Bowden, Dave Glassberg and Capt. Lou Grazioso (see photo below). There was nothing big, as a 32-incher was the largest, but the action was the first reported on both bunker chunks and cast lures.

The Ocean Explorer from Belmar reported a beautiful Saturday on the ocean with lots of action from dogfish and bergalls though two cod and about 20 ling got through them and into fish bags. That boat will switch to blackfish on April 1.

Small craft warnings are up until 6 p.m. before becoming a gale warning through Monday morning as clearing west winds gust to 40 knots tonight. Monday begins with west winds at 25-30 knots and gusts to 40 — though they diminish to northwest 15-20 with gusts to 25 and drop out overnight.

Marine mammals apparently haven’t been watching any Al Gore Climate Change movies. As previously noted in this blog, there have been lots of harbor seals which are northern residents enjoying winter vacations in Shrewsbury River and Sandy Hook for many years — and some hang around as waters warm in the spring. Tom Manalo posted a photo on Facebook of 91 fat seals piled up at Sandy Hook a couple of days ago. They are “cute”, but there’s no hope of a winter flounder recovery in the river with those eating machines in residence. Anglers are limited to two flounder at a 12-inch minimum, and have a hard time doing that while seals have no limits. School stripers are also no match for speedy seals.

When I moved to N.J. the sighting of a seal was front page news. Now they are taken for granted even though climate change theory dictates that they should be moving even further north from their northern homes. Whales that were also a rarity have also become so common in NY/NJ Bight that they can often be observed from shore in the summer, and the big red drum that were the major inshore game along the central N.J. coast a century ago have remained far to the south even after NOAA Fisheries warned Jersey anglers that they should learn how to fish for the impending return of those warm water fish.

The Golden Eagle made their first trip of the season in beautiful warm conditions, but only picked at ling and cod while being inundated by spiny dogfish. They called off the Sunday trip and will try again on Friday. Bait was spotted close to shore, and they’ll switch to stripers as soon as they turn on.

Capt. Joe Massa tried trolling the back of Raritan Bay on Thursday with stretch plugs from his My Three Sons out of Morgan Marina, but took another striper skunking despite seeing loads of bunkers. He noted that another boater at the marina gave the back of the bay a good try chunking bunker today without getting a hit. Yet, I still expect larger stripers to turn on in the bay any day now.

The Sunday forecast isn’t good with small craft warnings up and rain on the way. Winds will be south at 20-25 knots with gusts to 30 in the morning along with 4-7-foot seas. There may also be fog, and a thunderstorm is possible.

Nick Honchefsky has his video The Pursuit of Striped Bass running Sunday at 4:30 a.m. and p.m. on the Sportsman Channel. It’s a surf show with rock star Deen Ween.

Dave Lilly doesn’t have to start fishing to determine if the Raritan Bay striped bass run is underway. That striper pro just looks at his Hazlet, N.J. sidewalk to see if earthworms are there after a heavy rain. Sure enough, the first boat reports of some decent action with school stripers up to keeper size are just starting to come in. See the photo below of Capt. John Contello with his icebreaker striper of the season caught at night this week on his Just Sayin from Keyport.

The big spawning bass shouldn’t be far behind, as the bay is loaded with bunkers. If the weekend is fishable, I expect to hear of the first few bigger linesiders which may be trolled with stretch plugs. April is the “sure thing” month, but the first large bass were already hitting bunkers at this time last year after a mild winter. Check the HRFA website at hrfa.org for details on the upcoming Fred Rung Striped Bass Memorial Tournament on the Hudson River and its tributaries.

There were no reports from this morning. and as I’m writing this afternoon the trees outside my office window bending over.

A small craft warning is up for southwest winds to 30 knots through late tonight, but it should drop to west at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20 by morning — before diminishing during the day to 5-10 knots as seas settle to 3-4 feet.

Sunday is predicted to start with southeast winds at 15-20 knots with showers and a shift to south at 20-25 knots plus gusts to 30 in the afternoon,

At Belmar. the Ocean Explorer will sail Saturday for cod and ling, while the Golden Eagle will start its season at 7:30 a.m. by targeting the same species The Big Mohawk will kick off their season on April 1 to fish for blackfish. Winter flounder fishing off the Belmar docks has been slow so far, but may be worth trying with the south winds and mild temperatures.

Though the big girls still haven’t arrived in Raritan Bay, legal bass and shorts seem to be turning on.

Capt. John Contello of Just Sayin at Keyport had a keeper plus short action last night, and Chuck Many broke through with his Ty Man from Highlands today as illustrated by Dave Glassberg’s striper.

Friday’s weather starts with the possibility of a thunder storm and south winds at 15-20 knots that increase to 30 knot gusts later.

Today’s rain will probably muddy inshore waters, but there’s a fine wind forecast for tomorrow with just 5 knots northwest. Patchy fog could be an early problem.

The Ocean Explorer from Belmar had a nice cod plus some ling during Tuesday’s trip when they had to fight through dogfish in a surprisingly big swell.

Capt. Freddy Gamboa moved his Andreas Toy up to Raritan Bay over the weekend and did some scouting around which produced the first legal striper from a boat that I’ve heard of. There were no details given on Facebook about that 30-inch catch shown below..

The Ocean Explorer from Belmar got out Monday and had good fishing for some cod and ling.

The marine weather forecast includes a small craft advisory through Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday starts with east winds at 10-15 knots with patchy fog and possible showers before increasing to 20 knot gusts later in the morning.