Anglers will be doing more looking at shows than fishing as winter starts getting serious.

Though small craft warnings are going down and west winds in the morning are forecast to be only 10-15 knots with gusts to 20, there will be a shift to southeast in the afternoon with a chance of rain before another gale watch on Wednesday.

The Garden State Outdoor Sports Show runs from Jan. 9-12 in the N.J. Convention & Expo Center at Edison as the Metropolitan show season moves into high gear.

The Canyon Runner Seminar in Atlantic City seems a long time ahead on Feb. 1, but Adam La Rosa reports that there are only 80 of the $135 tickets remaining. They’ve been doing these seminars for 18 years, and fresh material is added every year — making it a must even for offshore anglers who have attended in other years.  Call La Rosa at 732 272-4445.

George Poveromo will be running his National Salt Water Sportsman Seminar Series Atlantic City stop in Resort Casino  Hotel on Feb. 7. I was able to take in Poveromo’s Ft. Myers, Fl. seminar with co-host Crazy Alberto Knie along with a full house Saturday in Gulf Coast University.  That’s Poveromo below along with R.I. celebrity Mitchell Chagnon (l) and me.  Nick Honachefsky will co-host the N.J. event. Call 800 448-7360 for the $55 tickets.

Northern anglers had to deal with a west gale today, but they weren’t missing much in Florida where it was just 46 degrees this morning in Ft. Myers — where people aren’t dressed for such temperatures.

There wasn’t as much wind when I joined Crazy Alberto Knie to try casting light tackle for spotted seatrout at Lovers Key State Park, but the cool wind was strong enough to blow out most of the water he planned to fish. In order to bail out, we ended up buying 50 live shrimp and making the long drive to Marco Island to fish from a dock along with David Rizzo who had just returned to his home there after visiting his son in South Jersey.

Though Alberto had caught some larger fish at that dock in the past, the water was also fairly shallow — but everything eats live shrimp. The only barely eating-size fish for Alberto’s pan were a couple of kingfish I caught. Those were either southern or Gulf kingfish similar to the northern kingfish we catch in the surf during the summer — not the king mackerel which are commonly called kingfish in the south. To add to the confusion, Florida fishermen refer to them as whiting — the common name we use in the north for cold water silver hake.

We caught 10 species of fish ranging from pinfish and sea catfish to black groupers – and saw the largest mantis shrimp (about a foot long) I’ve ever seen swimming on the surface. That fishing brought me back to my roots fishing off a dock in Merrick, Long Island with a cane pole for whatever would hit. Toadfish were my big game at that time — and Alberto even caught one of hem today.

Alberto is busy co-hosting George Poveromo’s Salt Water Sportsman Seminars this winter. More about them tomorrow.

There were no reports today, likely due to the gale. Small craft advisories come down tonight as the winds drop to southwest at 10-15 knots by morning before increasing to 15-20 in the afternoon.

 

Bob Matthews reports from Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina that party boat blackfishing is holding up. He weighed a 10 1/4-pounder caught on the Ocean Explorer today. The tog limit is now four at a 15-inch minimum.

Matthews also noted that surfcasters are still caching 12-20 small school stripers many days while casting shads and 4-or-5-inch Mag Darters. He recommends crushing barbs on plugs in order to ensure safe releases. The northern Den has been closed in favor of building up the main store.

Unfortunately, there’s a gale warning up from midnight through Sunday afternoon. A northwest wind at 25-30 knots with gusts to 40 is forecast for the morning.  The Big Mohawk from Belmar has canceled their blackfish trip.

Though the winter weather has been pretty good, it changes quickly — and another west gale watch is up from Saturday night through Sunday afternoon. However, Saturday starts well with southeast winds of a mere 5-10 knots before going southwest in the afternoon. Light rain and patchy fog is possible.

There were no fishing reports today, but the morning conditions should be fine for surfcasting and blackfishing. The Jamaica from Brielle will make their first Saturday cod trip of the winter at 4 a.m.  Room is available by calling 732 528-5014.

Chuck Manny continues to release big Virginia stripers during the catch and release season on his Ty Man out of Cape Charles. That included a 50 for Bob Bowden.

Chuck advises anglers who want a shot at these big pre-spawning bass that weigh more than normal, due to all the roe they’re carrying, by contacting SHO-NUF Sportfishing at 757 710-0098.That boat had a trip this week with eight bass out of 12 hits slow trolling live eels — and those bass releases ranged from 45 to 53 inches.

Blackfishing looks as if it will remain a best bet for some time as waters remain mild and tautog can still be found in relatively shallow waters.

The Big Mohawk from Belmar reported decent blackfishing today with some limits and a pool tog of about 7 pounds. Both types of crabs produced, though more keepers were caught on whiteleggers. They sail open at 7 a.m. tomorrow.

The Jamaica from Brielle switches to cod on wrecks to the east after the sea bass season closed at the end of 2019. They sail from 4 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Jan. 4, 10 and 12. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.

The Mimi VI from Point Pleasant is sailing open at 7 a.m. Saturday and Sunday for blackfish. See photo above. The fare is $80, and reservations can be made by calling 732 330-8019.

Though small craft warnings are up through Friday afternoon, the present windy weather should drop off to southwest at 5-10 knots by morning. However, rain is expected.

Chuck Many continues to catch trophy stripers from his Tyman at Cape Charles, Va. during the release season by slow trolling live eels. He was alone last week for an epic trip with all bass from 36 to 54 pounds.

Tank Matraxia reported that strong west winds made for miserable blackfishing conditions even on the sturdy Tagged Fish from Highlands as the short chop almost made him seasick for the first time in decades. The fishing was also no good at Sandy Hook Reef and Shrewsbury Rocks. Tank said only a striper and a couple of tog were caught, and they were all shorts.

Ironically, he got word that a tog he tagged in May was caught on the same boat he was fishing on that day — Lock N Load. They were anchored very close to shore in calm conditions and had both keeper and short blackfish. It’s most unusual for those fish to be in shallow water on Jan. 1.

Small craft warnings are coming down tonight, and the morning forecast is for southwest winds at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20. Rain is expected after midnight tomorrow.

The west winds were good for Ocean County surf stripers this morning, and Jerry Lasko reported that he started the New Year off right with two  stripers while Maren Toleno released four.

My best wishes to all for a Fishy New Year and the catch of your dreams!

The ocean calming west winds are kicking in with gusts to 30 knots tonight. By morning it will be 20-25 knots with gusts to 30. Small craft warnings are up through late Wednesday night.

There were no reports today, and not all boats will be sailing on New Years Day. The Ocean Explorer from Belmar will be sailing for blackfish as usual at 7:30.  Hopefully the fishing will be as productive as it was for Joe Massa and his crew on My Three Sons from Morgan Marina during their last trip.

The Jamaica from Brielle is winding up its offshore wreck trips for jumbo sea bass before the season closes at the end of the month — with the last such trip departing at 11 tonight. Call 732 528-5014 to determine if any reservations are available.

Though a gale watch is in effect until 10 p.m., it will be dropping out later tonight — and the morning forecast is for west at 10-15 knots with gusts to 25 that will start knocking down the swell. Actually, the start of the NE this morning turned on the surf stripers after three days of poor fishing. Jerry Lasko reported that Maren Toleno released 33 bass and he had 13.

There was something very special about the weekend sea bass trip as Joe Welsh of Hopatcong not only caught his expected sea bass limit, but also added a mako shark estimated at over 475 pounds. Several lines had been cut off before Welsh reeled in a small dogfish that the mako came up for. It should have been a simple matter for the mako to strip even heavy sea bas tackle in seconds, but it hung around the boat and failed to cut the leader. As a result, it was hit with every gaff on the boat — most of which were broken or straightened out as the “green” mako went wild.

The gale watch in effect through Monday will certainly affect fishing, and may well push the school stripers still hanging on to feed on sand eels to the south before the waters clear.  East winds will be gusting to 25 knots tonight, and will be east at 20-25 knots tomorrow before gusting to 35 in the afternoon.

You never know what may happen at this time of year as long as water temperatures remain in the forties. As noted in yesterday’s blog, Joe Massa got into lots of school stripers on the way back from blackfishing to Morgan Marina with his My Three Sons. Those were only small bass under birds, but during Christmas Week about a decade ago my son Mike and I joined Massa to check out Shrewsbury Rocks and spotted bids working at the inner buoy. Mike dropped a jig, but the expected bass turned out to be a cod!

We went on to jig a mix of stripers and cod including both shorts and keepers up to the mid teens. I also caught bluefish (remember them?), and Mike even jigged a blackfish. To top it off, a medium bluefin tuna jumped out of the water at the inner buoy. Though cod are found in shallow waters at times in New England, it’s very rare to find them so close to shore in the Mid-Atlantic. Other boaters got some of those cod the next day before a storm put an end to what we thought might be a basic change to area fisheries that’s never been repeated.  A photo of the striper marks Massa had on his Fishfinder yesterday follows:

Joe Massa took advantage of today’s weather to run down the beach with his My Three Sons from Morgan Marina to some of his favorite blackfish drops that produced enough keepers up to 21 inches among lots of shorts on whitelegger crabs before coming across working birds on the way back. His crew then had light tackle sport releasing 20-24-inch stripers on jigs.

The Elaine B. II from Bahrs in Highlands had lots of tog action Friday, and added their first cod of the year.

Bob Matthews reports from Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina that party boats there continue to do very well with blackfish, while surfcasters are catching small bass.

Good weather continues tomorrow with northeast winds at 5-10 knots before shifting to east in the afternoon. On the other hand, a gale watch will be going up for Monday morning through late that night.