There’s still  some hope that a spring run of cod will develop off the Jersey coast. The Ocean Explorer got out from Belmar on Thursday and had warm, calm weather with plenty of life on bottom. Unfortunately, most of that life was bergalls. Some of the latter were big enough to provide fillets which are very good eating. Two cod were boated, including one over 20 pounds. They’ll be fishing again on Friday.

The news from Raritan Bay wasn’t as promising. Capt. Rick Worner had Art Berkman aboard his Carnivore from Sewaren to fish the back of the bay where there had been hot school striper action Monday.  However, the water temperature had dropped and none of the boats fishing had any action in poor conditions. This is probably just a temporary setback as that mass of schoolies likely haven’t gone far. The forecast for Saturday starts off well with south winds at 10-15 knots, but it blows up in the afternoon and some rain is possible.

I’m traveling on Friday, but will catch up Saturday afternoon.

It occurred to me after Monday’s wild light tackle action on Chuck Many’s Ty Man from Highlands, which produced 207 short stripers up to 26 inches  in the back of Raritan Bay, that there wasn’t a single fish that didn’t look healthy. There wasn’t a single mark or any sort of flaw on those fish, though I was surprised to see sea lice on a couple.

I assume these were Hudson River fish, but sea lice are only present in the ocean. I wonder where those bass came from as early as March? There were a couple of kayackers fishing on that 6-foot flat where we were catching bass on lures after first scoring with worms in 14 feet, but there have been no boat reports so far,. That will surely change in April.

April 1 will also be when the Big Mohawk from Belmar makes its first trip of the season as blackfishing becomes legal. Departure is at 7 a.m.

At Seaside Park, Grumpy’s Tackle reported a good bite of school stripers continues in the back bay along with a pick of winter flounder.

Friday’s weather is looking good with southwest winds of 10-15 knots.

The northeast wind seems to have blown itself out, and the Ocean Explorer from Belmar is planning on a return to codfishing at 7:30 Thursday.

Their Sunday trip produced a few cod and ling as they had to fish through an abundance of dogfish. Spring codfishing is often good, and conditions should be suitable with a south wind of 5-10 knots before increasing to 10-15 with gusts to 20 knots in the afternoon.

Joe Melillo had no news on stripers in the canal or on the beach, but knew of a couple of short and keeper flounders caught off the pier at the end of Bay Street in Bay Head yesterday. Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant will be back to regular hours on April 1.

At Seaside Park, Betty & Nick’s Tackle reported lots of small stripers were caught over the weekend in the back bay. Yesterday was a blowout with that northeast wind. The shop opens at 6 a.m.

As noted in yesterday’s brief blog, Chuck Many found a great bite of small stripers in Raritan Bay with his Ty Man out of Highlands. At my age it’s hard to come up with new  “best evers”, but there was surely never any better bite in March to compete with yesterday’s action on both bait and lures. That should set up a fine April when that sort of action might normally be expected.

I joined Bob Bowden and Dave Glassberg, both of Little Silver, at Bahr’s in Highlands around 10:30  as Many is mooring his Ty Man there until Gateway Marina gets its floating docks in. Many was full of hope despite having made three trips this month without even a bite. Bowden and Glassberg had been checking Shrewsbury River over the weekend and noted that the previously abundant bunkers had moved out.

Chuck ran right to the bay, and only marked small bait schools on the way west. A couple of stops to throw a cast net on those marks only produced one bunker before Many looked for a spot to ancho in the back of the bay. . He finally found a few small marks in 14 feet at 12:25.

It only took about 10 minutes before Chuck hooked Ty Man’s first fish of the year — a small striper. Then we all started to get hits on worms with the moderate northwest wind behind the outgoing tide.

There was only one short period of a slow pick when the current got stronger, but we stayed put to let our chum pots attract more bass and were soon  into a better bite of mostly 20-inch bass with a few up to 25 and 26 inches. There were no keepers, but one was hooked before the hook pulled after a good run. There was also one large flounder that hit the whole worm though a flounder rig with pieces of bloodworm never got hit.

Those bass had fancy tastes as they wanted the $220 a flat bloodworms, but also settled for the slightly less expensive sandworms. On the other hand, frozen clams drew very few hits. Chuck fills up his hook with worms, but I did about as well by fishing a large single bloodworm on a small circle hook. Several times I caught two or three bass on the same used bloodworm. The release count was up to 141 by the time the two flats of worms were finished, and we started running home by 4:50. We were also eating the food we hadn’t had time for — but that didn’t last long as swirls were spotted.

I had a Tsunami Shad on my light spinning rod and hooked up quickly. They were the same size bass, but seemed to be feeding on something very small as we only saw boils and no surface breaks. Yet, the bites in just six feet kept coming right up to almost dark as we left them biting when the wind went northeast and light rain started.

There must have been thousands of bass on that flat as we got at least a hit on almost every cast on everything we tried. without having to move the boat. Bob switched to a small top water plug and was soon raising bass and caught four that way — in March!.  Chuck wanted to get to 200 releases, but before he could got all the lines out the total was up to 207. Those fish were very aggressive, and some almost swallowed my shad. Chuck wasn’t even fishing during that non-stop action as he was busy taking fish off lures just as when he was a youngster mating on the Cock Robin from Point Pleasant.

Todays cold northeast wind wasn’t good for fishing’ but the winds are diminishing –and drop to 10-15 knots with gusts to 20 tomorrow.

Chuck Many proved today that persistence and skill  pays off in fishing success.. After three trips in Raritan Bay with his Ty Man last week didn’t produce a single fish, he went out this afternoon and came up with 207 striper releases plus one flounder for the four-man crew. All were shorts up to 26 inches, and we went  through two flats of worms after anchoring up in the back of the bay about 12:15. Over 100 bass were released before we started heading back to Highlands and coming across swirling bass that provided even better fishing on anything cast blind in 6-foot depths. We left them biting as it was getting dark with the northeast wind and light rain starting.  I’ll have more about this fishing tomorrow.

The weather that started this evening doesn’t bode well for tomorrow, but there’s no longer any question as to whether school stripers are present and hungry in Raritan Bay.

Capt. Joe Massa only trolled one short striper today in the back of Raritan Bay, but it was a start. He started out trolling large diving plugs without success from his My Three Sons out of Morgan Marina. Then he saw a small boater getting some trolling action and found hat he was using small plugs to catch eight shorts up to 25 inches.  Joe put out a Rattletrap and broke the ice. He marked lots of bait and some fish, but the bay waters are still very cold at 42-43 degrees.

The Ocean Explorer from Belmar had a nice day on the water and good life on bottom. The only problem was an abundance of dogfish in waters that have moved up to 42 degrees. They did catch a few cod and ling, but won’t be fishing tomorrow while getting the boat ready for Coast Guard inspection.

Bruce Vitale of Toms River has had no luck with bloodworms cast from docks in Island Heights, and today was no different. There was a crowd seeking school stripers and white perch, but nothing being caught. At other times it/s been good there.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for northwest winds at 5-10 knots — but for Tuesday it’s northeast at 15-20 knots.

 

The Hudson River Fisherman’s Association will be running a Striper Derby from 6 a.m. on Saturday April 27 through 12 p.m. April 27. Anglers must register by April 3 for this unique no-kill contest that is limited to the Hudson River from boat or shore.

A photo of the bass next to a ruler is required, and there are divisions for both tagged and untagged fish leading to cash prizes and other awards. Members pay $35 to enter, and non-members are charged $75.

American Littoral Society tags can be obtained through the club by members, while others will have to be ALS members to obtain the tags. The best bet is to get a combination HRFA membership and entry. Another unique aspect of this derby is that short bass can be entered since all that’s needed is a quick photo next to the ruler and a number to be supplied with the entry. Awards will be presented later at the Hooked On The Hudson event at Ross Dock in Fort Lee.

For information call Joe Albanese at 908 456-2968 or Scott Havner at 845 300-1562.

The forecast of 40 knot west winds today certainly was accurate, and I doubt if anyone was fishing. That wind will moderate by Sunday, and temperatures should be moving up.

Bob Matthews is starting to see a few flounder being caught from the docks near Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina. He noted that there are lots of bunkers in Raritan Bay, though stripers there are falling for worms fished  on bottom.

Joe Melillo finally heard of a couple of flounder caught at the south end of the canal, one on sandworm and the other on clam.

Jim Hutchinson Sr. reports for the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association that fishing has started slowly in the cold waters. He’s had no striper reports so far from Graveling Point, which is usually the best bet for early stripers in that area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hang on to your hats! West winds to 40 knots are due after midnight, and gale warnings are up into Saturday afternoon. By Sunday it should drop down to west at 10-15 with gusts to 20 knots.

Nick Honachefsky had a bit of good news as he limited on winter flounder in Barnegat Bay this week. Of course that’s only two flounders, though both were spawned out large flatties. One was caught casting from shore before he rowed out in a small boat to chum for the next.

The Salt Water Anglers of Bergen County held their annual Past President’s Dinner Tuesday night in Mountainside Inn at Clifton. Big fish awards were presented, including a surprising tie at 14 pounds for blackfish caught by Rey Munez and Craig Zincavage. What are the odds of two such trophy fish being enterted in a club fishing  contest?

Munez also won for a 23-pound, 2-ounce cod. Another outstanding catch was Dan Tobia’s 45-pound striper. Other winners were Bill Fish with a 3-pound flounder; Joe Salib for an 11.8-pound fluke; Serge Radossi with a 10 1/4-pound pollock; Rick Swarthe for a 2.95-pound porgy; and Lou Castellano with a 5 1/8-pound sea bass. 7The SWABC was formed in 1937 with the late outdoor writer Bill Backus as the first president. John Toth been president since 2014, as well as seven other years. For information about membership visit http://www.swabc.org.

Winter flounder fishing has been very poor so far, but Bob Matthews of Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina knew of three being caught from the docks there yesterday,

Jim Louro of Spring Lake launched his new Vicki Lynn (named for his deceased mother) at Toms River yesterday. A couple of small stripers were jigged in the river, but the southeast wind killed the fishing.

I made a few casts into Point Pleasant Canal early this morning with a Tsunami Shad, but didn’t stick it out in the light rain very long. The regulars at Castaways Tackle in Pount Pleasant said they had tried the canal during the night without success. There are some stripers in the ocean as dead bass have been floating up on the beach after being ripped out of a gillnetter’s net deployed near shore.

The weather is turning on us as small craft advisories are up  through Friday afternoon. Tonight’s southeast winds up to 30 knots switch to west at up to 30 knots in the morning and into Saturday.

 

New Jersey IGFA Annual Fundraising Banquet and Auction

 

The Jamaica from Brielle has scheduled 1 1/2-day tilefish trips departing at 10 p.m. Sundays. The first two will be on April 12 and 27. The fare is $360, and tackle can be rented for $40. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.

Though there’s a chance of rain tomorrow, the wind is only predicted to be southeast at 10-15 knots early before increasing to 15-20 later.

Joe Melillo, at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant, reports some small stripers are being caught on small plugs in Manasquan River and the canal — where a few flounder are also hitting.

Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park has had good and bad reports on school striper action in the back bay as the fish seem to be spreading out. Flounder are also finally feeding as one regular had a limit up to almost 17 inches.  Bloodworms are the best bet for both species. There’s been nothing from the surf so far.

There was the usual big crowd last night at the Salt Water Anglers of Bergen County Past Presidents Dinner. I’ll have more about that tomorrow.