The forecast looks good with northwest winds at 10-15 knots.

Though NJ ocean waters remain open for stripers all year, inshore waters are closed for that species as of the New Year.

Monday’s forecast is for northwest winds at 5-10 knots before shifting to north in the afternoon. There’s a slight chance of showers.

Here’s wishing you a Fishy New Year!

The New Jersey Bonus Striped Bass Program ends at 12:00 a.m. Jan. 1. That program only applies to N.J. and was derived from the old commercial quota which is not used in that game fish state.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar concludes party boat fishing for stripers with Sunday’s 6:30 trip.

A small craft advisory is up to late tonight, but by the morning the forecast is for west winds at just 10-15 knots.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar was striper fishing today and reported as follows:

12/29/2023

“The weather was gorgeous today and it was a fine day of STRIPER fishing with SHORTS, KEEPERS and OVERS. There were enough fish out there to be exciting!“
That was to be the last day, but their customers asked for one more day which will be Sunday at 6:30 from Belmar.

Mike Monte had good news from the Monmouth County surf this morning before returning to Nantucket. He heard from Two-Pole Mike who caught three decent-sized stripers and saw a few others taken despite a rough surf.

A small craft advisory is up through late Saturday night. However, the forecast is for west winds at just 10-15 knots on Sunday.

The North Carolina little tunny run is still underway, and Santa Claus (Capt. Jake Jordan} even got in on it

The Golden Eagle from Belmar will run its final striper trip of a very long season at 7:30 a.m. Friday.

The report on their offshore wreck trip follows: “We had a respectable catch on today’s Offshore Giant Sea Bass Trip with some nice 6 to 7lb. SEA BASS along with PORGIES and several WEAKFISH!“

A A small craft advisory is up until late tonight. By morning, the forecast is for southwest winds at just 5-10 knots with a slight chance of rain.

Mike Monte reported surf conditions were perfect. but there wasn’t a bump in the Monmouth County surf for him and “Two-Pole” Mike even though loons were diving on abundant sand eels. However, Mike did hear that there was a bite of decent-sized stripers further south at Lavallette the day before.

The forecast is for east winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20 and likely rain — especially in the morning.

Brielle dentist Dr. Pat Donelly and his crew had a good recent trip of both stripers and tog recently.

If the forecast is right, anglers will have a perfect December day for fishing on Tuesday. East winds are predicted to be only 5 knots along with mild temperatures – and there’s no chance of showers before late afternoon.

Merry Christmas and a Fishy New Year to all!

The weather forecast is perfect for those seeking to catch a striper before the Christmas festivities. Northeast winds at just 5 knots with two-foot seas are fine for surf and boat anglers, though there is also a slight chance of morning showers or patchy fog.

My granddaughter, Liz Gonzalez, got an early present this morning when she went fishing for the first time and released a 17-inch largemouth bass on the Frozen Elsa spincast rod combo her father, Luis gave her at birth. We were casting paddeltails from shore in a pond at PGA in Palm Beach Gardens when she hooked up — and also had another come off at the last moment. I’ll leave it to your imagination to wonder how many her grandfather caught!

Merry Christmas to all!

Sorry for the delay, but there were grandchildren to be played with.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported It was a slow day with the STRIPERS. We actually saw more on the scope today than yesterday. There were great readings at times but only picked a fish or two on a couple of drifts. The next trip will be on 12/26.

The forecast is for southeast winds at 5 knots — shifting to northwest in the afternoon.

One of the most unusual fishing stories ever occurred yesterday when a young man grabbed a net in the Bass Pro Shop at Ft. Myers, Fl. and scooped up a 50-pound tarpon from their live fish display before running out of the store with it. Though the video of that has been on both local and national TV many times, the thief hasn’t been located as yet.

Why the tarpon was targeted is even stranger as it’s a virtually inedible fish while there were plenty of smaller fine eating fish available.

Tarpon are protected in Florida, with the only exception being a license that can be bought in order to keep a tarpon of possibly record size. It will be interesting to see if the conservation penalty is imposed as well as the theft of net and fish.

Vinny D’Anton is headed to Sarasota for the winter, but said he got reports of some stripers being caught in many places yesterday despite a continuing rough surf.

Mike Monte drove to Brick Beach this morning and quickly caught two bass in the 25-27-inch class on a Tsunami Sand Eel at first light before the bite died out. Other anglers reported doing nothing in the Monmouth County surf this morning.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported “

We did a lot of looking and traveling today and read a good amount of bait with some BASS readings.  The STRIPERS did not cooperate too well.  We caught a few with a couple being KEEPERS.

It is going to be a beautiful day tomorrow with less ground swell so we will be right back at it.

There’s a great forecast for tomorrow, with southeast winds at just 5 knots. Furthermore, light winds are predicted right through Tuesday. That’s perfect for those offshore jumbo sea bass trips.

Chuck Many said east winds were howling Sunday in Chesapeake Bay. but he decided to troll anyway and that turned out to be a good decision for Cesar Carranza who released a 54-pound pre-spawning bass.