Sunday looks good
You couldn’t ask for a better wind forecast than the north at 5-10 knots posted for Sunday morning. To top it off, after the hard west winds, the seas are a mere two feet.
No reports today, but I’ve been having problems with AOL.
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Old regs in force through March
The N.J. DEP wants early anglers to be aware that last year’s bluefish and striped bass regulations remain in effect through the end of March. If you can find them that early, the bluefish limit remains at 15, while two striped bass are legal, with one at 28 inches or greater and a another 43 inches or more.
All that changes when the new rules come ito effect on April 1. The bluefish limit drops to just three — except on party/charter boats where it will be five. Striped bass are then down to one from 28 to 38 inches. The Bonus Bass program opens very early, on May 13, for those enrolled.
Nick Honachefsky had a new presentation on surf fishing in N.J. for exotics, but the Saltwater Fishing Expo was canceled. However, he’s going to make that presentation tomorrow morning at Fisherman’s Supply in Point Pleasant Beach from 11-12. The first 30 attending will get a free Tsunami lure package. After the event, he’ll lead a group to a greet & meet with Capt. Bobby Bogan on the Gambler.
The Big Jamaica from Brielle will be sailing to the offshore wrecks at 1 a.m. Reservations can be made by calling 732 528-5014.
The Ocean Explorer plans to seek cod from Belmar at 7:30.
Small craft warnings are up through Saturday morning, with west gusts 25 knots tonight. The morning starts with west at 10 -15 plus gusts to 25 before gradually calming to north at 10-15 by Sunday morning — and down to 5-10 that afternoon.
Friday looks tough, but weekend may be better
Today was a good one for fishing, but Friday may be just the opposite.
Rain and fog are on the menu for tomorrow morning, with small craft warnings into Saturday morning. The day starts with south winds at 20-25 knots before shifting to southwest in the afternoon. A clearing and calming 10-15-knot west wind on Saturday should improve conditions though it will gust to 20 knots.
The Ocean Explorer from Belmar got offshore today with good conditions, but an effort for cod in 200 feet or more was ruined by spiny dogfish. The best bottom life was in 90-120 feet, where some ling and short cod were hooked. They won’t be fishing in Friday’s weather, but are planning to sail Saturday.
The Big Jamaica will make their Saturday offshore wreck trip at 1 a.m. The last trip produced pollock, ling, white hake and porgies. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.
Some school stripers are being wormed from Raritan Bay shorelines, and winter flounder turn on at times from the Belmar Marina docks. Phil Fischer took a couple of friends up the Shrewsbury on Sunday to look for flouder, but only came up with tree small stripers. He figures this week’s weather may have brought those waters up over 50 degrees and turned on the flatties.
As noted yesterday, the Saltwater Fishing Expo had to be cancelled due to the virus problem. but crowding shouldn’t be a problem if you fish this weekend.
Saltwater Fishing Expo cancelled
Though I was hopeful yesterday that the Saltwater Fishing Expo would go ahead as scheduled, the ongoing concern about the coronavirus spread led to a cancellation notice today of the show that was set to open Friday.
Tady Lures owner Gary Quon was one of those who arrived just before the decision, and had to make arrangements to fly back to California right away. At least the decision to comply with other shutdowns in the area came before exhibits were set up.
Anglers should have a good day coming up. The Thursday forecast is for only 5 -10-knot winds in the morning before increasing to 10-15 in the afternoon.
At Belmar, the Ocean Explorer will be seeking cod tomorrow at 7:30. The Golden Eagle has scheduled a return to fishing on March 28 and 29.
A free Tady lure to those attending my Saturday striper seminar at the Saltwater Expo
The biggest and best show of the winter for saltwater anglers opens Friday in the N.J. Convention Center at Edison, and the Saltwater Fishing Expo continues through Sunday.
There’s lots to see at this show, which features complete displays from almost every major fishing tackle manufacturer and lots of seminars by local pros — but you can really make out by taking home a valuable Tady metal lure which will be presented to the first 100 attending my 11:30 Saturday morning seminar on catching big stripers.
As usual, Gary Quon will be aboard to explain how to get the most out of his Tady metals which were developed in California but have spread to saltwaters worldwide.
There’s plenty of free parking at the Expo, which has an adult admission of $13. Youngsters 6-11 pay just $3, and those 5 and under are admitted free. Adults attending on Friday can save $3 by going online through Thursday at Sportshows.com to buy their ticket.
Windy weather persisted today, but it looks good for Thursday. Small craft warnings are up into Wednesday. After southwest gusts to 30 knots this afternoon, it’s down to northwest at 10-15 with gusts to 20 by morning– but calming to north at 5 knots in the afternoon.
The Ocean Explorer from Belmar had nice weather Monday, but tracing down a cod report to the north didn’t work out and they ended up with ling. They expect to sail for cod on Thursday.
Jeff Dement of the American Littoral Society will be a guest speaker at tonight’s 7:30 meeting of the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association in the Ridgefield Park Elks at 19 Cedar St.
Vinny D’Anton was into lots of spotted sea trout yesterday as he was wading at Sarasota, Fl. and casting a variety of lures. He usually gets into quite a few small blues at times down there during the winter, but they’ve been as scarce as blues were in our surf last fall. I’m sure that blues in the Gulf of Mexico are a different stock, but it’s curious that they’re also suddenly scarce.
Good flounder bite at Belmar
It’s not often that a report from a tackle shop is modest about fishing in their area, but that seems to have been the case with the Fisherman’s Den assessment of winter flounder action Sunday from the Belmar Marina docks. Tom O’Connor sent an e–mail noting that he had a keeper flounder within 40 minutes, and ended up catching six over the 12-inch minimum in a couple of hours — keeping his two-fish limit with 14-and-16-inchers. Furthermore, Tom said everyone he talked to that was fishing with sandworms caught least one.
That doesn’t sound like any big deal unless you consider how bad flounder fishing has been in recent years. Sunshine and warm weather is perfect for that early season fishery. That’s what we have now, though small craft advisories are up for tonight, and the forecast for the morning is southwest at 10-15 knots with gusts to 25.
Betty & Nick’s Tackle in Seaside Park reported that a customer fished from local docks Sunday and caught a legal flounder plus three “decent” stripers. They’ll have bloodworms in stock by Friday.
Pete Kearns of Point Pleasant Beach was at his local beach around 6:30 p.m. Sunday when he spotted 12-18 dolphins swimming north about a hundred yards off the beach. He noted that’s something he doesn’t usually see until July.
Zancudo Lodge in Costa Rico reports there’s been a hot bite there recently of big roosterfish and yellowfin tuna. A 150-pound marlin also showed up among the tuna and jumped on a live bait. For info e-mail Gregg@thezancudolodge.com.
Flounder bite improving at Belmar
With some warm weather in the forecast, this may be a good time to try for winter flounder at the docks in Belmar Marina.
Bob Mathews reports from Fisherman’s Den that some good-sized flatties are being caught every day. Warm, cunny days are usually best for the flounder bite, and that’s what’s coming up. There haven’t been any large catches, but you can only keep two at a 12-inch minimum in any case.
The marine forecast is for southwest gusts to 25 knots this evening, but only 10-15 with gusts to 20 knots by the morning. The Ocean Explorer expects to sail tomorrow from Belmar for cod.
A piece of striped bass history passed away on Jan. 25 when Charlie Cinto died at 91. On June 16, 1967, Cinto was trolling with legendary Capt. Frank Sabakowski out of Fairhaven, Ma. at 3 a.m. among the Sow and Pigs rocks off Cuttyhunk when he boated a 73-pound striper to tie Charlie Church’s world record set from shore in 1913 not too far from there at Vineyard Sound. Cinto’s bass wasn’t recognized by the IGFA because he was trolling a big Goo-Goo Eyes plug with treble hooks on wire line. However, he created a lot of excitement because it had been so long since such a huge striper had been caught on rod & reel.
Windy weather slows fishing
While the winter as been mild, fishing results have been held back by wind conditions which have resulted in many boat cancellations and blow-out tides.
The Ocean Explorer from Belmar had a promising cod catch this week, but wasn’t able to get out again today. Small craft warnings are still up into tomorrow, when there’s some improvement to southwest at 10-15 knots — though still with gusts to 20. Monday’s outlook is similar.
Some striper life has been reported in Barnegat Bay, but when Jerry Lasko and Maren Toleno tried it for the first time Friday evening they found their spots to be very shallow.
The Asbury Park Fishing Flea Market will be running Sunday in Convention Hall. Though the national manufacturers won’t be there, many local wooden plug makers will ne on hand.
The Canyon Runner Seminar in Freeport, Long Island will not have tickets at the door, but you can call Adam La Rosa at 732 272-4445 to determine if reservations are still possible.
Cod worth a try
With the blackfish season closed, offshore boaters ae seeking cod — and with some success.
Thursday was fairly calm, and just right for getting offshore to likely cod bottoms. The Ocean Explorer from Belmar did just that and managed a pick of good-sized cod (see below) and pollock plus a few ling. They saw lots of birds diving on what appeared to be bunkers.
Phil Fischer got out from Highlands the same day and ran off to 17 Fathoms where were lots of birds dipping on bait. The water temperature was 45 degrees — up three degrees in a week and a half. He and his brother caught cod without a short, and also a few ling and small tog.
Matt Calabria of Hazlet has been worming school stripers from Raritan Bay shores, but also sent a photo to The Tackle Box in Hazllet of a 30-incher he beached today on a glob of sandworms dipped in Clam Fin-Essence.
Betty & Nick’s Tackle in Seaside Park had an odd report from Sunday of two anglers who were playing around casting poppers in the winter surf at Island Beach State Park and actually caught small stripers. Barnegat Bay is a better bet.
The Hook House in Toms River reports stripers are hitting bloodworms and small lures there. White perch are also on the worms, but there haven’t been any flounder reports.
Capt. Vinny Vetere says he’ll be displaying his bunker spoons and Ho-Jos at the Asbury Park Fishing Flea Market in Convention Hall on Sunday. Percy Wentworth will also be demonstrating throwing his famous cast nets.
Gale warnings are up for NE gusts to 35 knots tonight. The morning forecast is for north at 20-25 knots plus gusts to 35 before dropping to 15-20 in the afternoon. Sunday is looking better with southwest at 10-15 knots and gusts to 20.
NJ MFC meeting cancelled
The N.J. Marine Fisheries Council meeting set for tonight has been cancelled. The next meeting will be on May 4 at the usual site in the Galloway Township Library, Manahawkin.
The fist winter flounder report was from Monday at Shak River when James Weir of Belmar (below) brought a 14-incher into Fisherman’s Den at Belmar Marina.
Flounder pro Marty Westerfield of Wall later beat that fish with an 18-incher. Both were on sandworms. The shop reported some more flounder being caught today, with some getting the two-fish limit at a 12-inch minimum.
The Tackle Box in Hazlet reported quite a few small stripers are being wormed from the Raritan Bay shoreline, and one angler also saw lots of bunkers.
The Friday marine forecast is for east winds at 5-10 knots before going to northeast at 10-15 with gusts to 25 in the afternoon when there’s a chance of rain.
Tight Lines 