Tight Lines

Based on the fishing just before the wind machine took over, there should be a return to hot Raritan Bay striper action as soon as boaters can get to them. The gale warning comes down tonight, though Sunday’s forecast is still for northwest at 25-30 knots before dropping to 10-15 in the afternoon.

Capt. Frank Massaria cancelled through Sunday, but said it was pretty much like all you wanted Friday on his Vitamin Sea from Keyport. There were three and four bass on at a time, with the largest at 38 inches.

Fisher Price VI from Highlands had a similar report with as many as six bass on at a time. Their largest was 35 inches.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar is going to begin their daily schedule with a 7:30 bottom fishing trip in the morning.

George Poveromo is running encores of his saltwater TV show on Discovery at 6:30 a.m. A presentation of the National Seminar Series follows at 9.

Famed marine artist Carey Chen posted an account of the great fishing for giant blue marlin at the Ivory Coast in Africa:

Abidjan did not disappoint neither did Stephane Millez we fished 8 days raised 17 fish. Caught my personal best 600 stand up 800 and 900. Last day today epic we hooked 5 fish got one small then a 800 and 550 the rest that got off were big. Stephane said the fish were not hungry most all were bill hooked and we lost a lot. The 900 i released jumped once and was bill hooked Alex the mate wired it at the transom said it made the mark and was way bigger than the 800 we will leave…

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Today’s small craft advisory changes to a gale warning for Saturday with northwest winds at 25-30 knots plus gusts to 35.

Though April 1 is the start of the NJ spring tautog season, the gale forecast will cut into participation. Actually, it’s possible to fish structure along the N.J. Shore that’s very close to the beach as the hills provide protection from a northwest wind. The season runs through 4/30 with a bag limit of four at a 15-inch minimum.

The Reel Seat in Brielle is running an open house at their expanded operation from 9 to 4 today. Refreshments and door prizes are provided. The address is 707 Union Ave.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar will begin their daily schedule Sunday with bottom fishing for cod, ling and blackfish while keeping an eye peeled for signs of stripers. The Ocean Explore rran into a very early showing of ocean stripers, but there’s been no trace of them out front since then.

Raritan Bay striper fishing continues to improve. Andreas Toy from Perth Amboy Got into good jigging with shads for John Welsh and his sons John, Jason and Frank before they switched to spoons for bigger bass up to a 49-inch release.

Capt. Nick Stanczyk was trolling on his Broad Minded out of Bud’N Mary’s Marina in Islamorada during Jimmy Johnson’s Sailfish Tournament when this wahoo became one of the winners. (see photo at bottom)

The Marilyn Jean from Sheepshead Bay ran a cod trip this week during which five fares caught 15, including 10 keepers.

The American Saltwater Guides Association monitored the ASMFC Striped Bass Technical Committee meeting today, and reported that striper removals in 2022 reduced the probability of rebuilding the stock by 83 to 86 percent. This may not result in any near-term regulation changes, but will become a factor in long term planning.

Larger stripers are becoming more common in Raritan Bay charter catches. Andreas Toy from Perth Amboy reported a hot bite of in the dark this morning that died out when the sun came up, They then picked the rest of the trip and had a 43-inch release.

Fisher Price IV from Highlands had another busy day of casting for bass which ranged up to 35 inches.

The Jamaica from Brielle will start sailing for stripers at 6:30 a.m. April 2, 4 and 5.

Friday’s forecast is for southwest winds at 10-15 knots, but that wind will gust up to 40 knots on Saturday.

Capt. Hans Kaspersetz is enjoying tagging sailfish in Guatemala while also hooking into big dorado (dolphin).

It wasn’t many years ago that anglers would just be starting to think about buying a bag of clams to see if there were any school stripers active in Raritan Bay. Now those fish have become established long before the month is out on live bait — with only lures required for good catches.

Capt. Frank Massaria said they were a bit tricky at first yesterday, but his party on Vitaman Sea from Keyport limited up to an almost 40-incher. He’s open next week on Monday and Wednesday.

At Highlands, Fisher Price IV got started with a steady bite yesterday that included one near 30 pounds. They may have an open spot Thursday morning.

Capt. John Contello said both of his Just Sayin boats had full striper limits and a few releases as yesterday’s jigging was steady for 26-36-inch bass.

A pleasant surprise at Fisherman’s Den on Long Beach Island was the weekend catch of a 2.35-pound winter flounder by Brandy Hillgrass. That almost 18-incher was caught on bloodworms while fishing in the back country for stripers.

A small craft advisory is up through Thursday morning when a northwest wind at 20-25 knots will start flattening the ocean before dropping to 10-15 in the afternoon.

After having conquered the worlds of striped bass fishing from New England and Virginia to Tennessee, plus red drum in South Carolina, Chuck Many finally expanded his horizons to Central America by heading a group to Pesca Panama.

An entirely different range of species and conditions awaited him at that mothership operation based around Isla Coiba, but there was no learning process involved before new species personal records were being set

The colorful roosterfish was accounted for quickly as the group cast popping plugs and the Yo-Zuri Hydro Minnow into rocky areas. Chuck’s first shows off the cockscomb dorsal fin. Seeing those fins cutting through the water behind your plug is one of the great thrills in fishing!

Dave Glassberg shows off the dentures of a cubera snapper, a species which seems to be making a comeback with an all-release policy in place for a species which is excellent eating at any size. Chuck also got his share of those great fighting fish, but they didn’t provide the leaping strikes that were common in the past. The most thrilling sights I’ve seen in fishing was watching what appeared to be a stocky bottom fish leap several feet in the air to crash down on a popper before often cutting me off in bottom almost instantly. Many plugs were lost in order to catch a few cubaras. When they missed the plug, there was a boom as if a garage door had been dropped into the water.

Chuck with cubara. Unfortunately, he didn’t encounter the Pesca Panama cubera I released there in 2018 – and which is shown at the top of my blog. By formula, that one weighed 73.58 pounds, just a few pounds short of the IGFA world record — and only a few centimeters shy of the IGFA length mark.

For Pesca Panama info call 507 661-5850.

The NY/NJ Bight forecast is for north winds at 10-15 knots before going southwest at 5-10 in the afternoon.

White sharks have been enjoying warm southern waters all winter, but the lure of feeding grounds loaded with seals has started the migration back to the north as indicated by pinging from tagged whites off North Carolina.

One of those on the way is Breton, a 13-footer of 1,427 pounds which as tagged in September 2020 off Nova Scotia.

Capt. John Contello reports stripers were a bit finicky in Raritan Bay over the weekend, though both of his Just Sayin charter boats had full limits plus some releases.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar got started Sunday with a bottom fishing trip that produced two cod plus some ling and released blackfish along with lots of dogfish. Daily fishing will start with Saturday’s opening of the spring blackfish season. They’ve also added a Raritan Bay party boat, the Victoria Marie. That 31-foot Rampage will sail from 6-11:30 and 1-6 from Lockwood Boat Works Marina on Rt. 35 in South Amboy.

The forecast is for north winds at just 5-10 knots.

Latest Fishing

When I brought my son Michael down to Boca Raton to seek his B.A. at Florida Atlantic University ,, there was certainly no thought that a Final Four in March Madness could be in their future. That educational choice turned out well not only in preparation for going on to an MBA at Miami and teams to cheer for in the future — but also for a fishing trip to be remembered after his graduation in 2003. I figured the best gift for a fisherman would be a Keys tarpon trip with my old Montauk fishing buddy Joe Alexander, who had become a Key West guide.

May 8 was a perfect day to fish out of the Stock Island marina where Capt. Joe kept his SeaVee, Joe Green, and we only had to run yards before Joe dropped anchor and started chumming with shrimp boat “trash” (small fish and crab by-catch). Mike fought a big tarpon on 15-pound spinning tackle before losing it after 35 minutes. Fortunately, everything went well after that as Mike ended up releasing seven tarpon out of 15 jumped, including two that Joe estimated at 100 and 110 pounds — plus a nurse shark and a small cobia. I backed him up with four tarpon. a nurse shark, a ray, and a mutton snapper.

All that was accomplished despite going in for a restaurant lunch before the last couple of hours in the afternoon. Mike said the day was so perfect that he’d probably never go tarpon fishing again — though I hope that will change in the near future as his son Aiden is an enthusiastic and talented angler who will relish that opportunity to tangle with one of the world’s great game fish.

A small craft advisory is up until 11 p.m., but the morning forecast is for a mere 5 knot northeast wind. That increases to east 10-15 in the afternoon along with a chance of rain.

Kil Song was back at his favorite Texas jetty to cast for red drum.

When I checked Capt. Ron Santee’s web site to see when he will be starting striper fishing with his Fishermen from Atllantic Highlands, I found the following bad news:

“

While thinking of my Sister yesterday who passed three years ago to the day, I get the call that one of my best friends, Captain Bobby Sidorski had passed.

Bob owned and operated the Satellite after taking over the business from his Dad “Whitey”, originally from Highlands before moving to Atlantic Highlands in the early 80’s. He ran my Sandy Hook Lady & the Fishermen from the early 90’s into 2005. To say we had some of the best times of our lives together is an understatement! 

He was the bigger brother and always ended our phone calls with “Love ya like a Brother” right till the end. Bob lost his wife Donna to cancer several years ago and had to raise his two beautiful children Bobby Jr. & Samantha “Sam” all by himself….I think he did an awesome job as they both turned out to be awesome….he even was blessed to have a Grandchild if only for a short time, Bobby Jr. the 3rd.

My heart is broken once again, the only joy I feel this time of year anymore is the fact that all these folks who passed before me were such a good mark on my soul. I shed the tears because I have been blessed to have had them in my life.

Until we sail again Captain…….Love ya like a Brother.“

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Today’s east storm was a killer for fishing, but a shift to west winds should result in good conditions by Monday.

A small craft warning is up through Sunday afternoon. The forecast is for west winds at 20-25 knots before dropping to 15-20 in the afternoon. Actually, that could be fishable in backwaters and along N.J. beaches.

The Ocean Explorer from Belmar didn’t find ocean stripers yesterday as they did the day before, but an early chop smoothed out and they found better bottom fishing with some cod, ling and blackfish biting.

The outlook for Saturday is terrible with east winds at 20-25 knots plus gusts to 30, 5-7-foot seas, and rain.

After Capt. Alan Shinn ran a crew trip Tuesday with Miss Belmar Princess that produced a striper limit in 15 minutes, he started running daily for them at 7:30 only to find that the bass weren’t where they had been. That’s not unusual in the spring as the bait and predators haven’t settled in as yet.

The Ocean Explorer had much better luck Wednesday after starting out on a cod trip. Heavy readings of bunkers led to sightings of stripers just under 38 inches which resulted in hot jigging. Unfortunately. they weren’t as lucky after switching to bottom fishing as only one keeper cod was caught along with short blackfish.

InIet Bait & Tackle in Point Pleasant Beach posted on Facebook that the Norma K III got into “over” stripers that day along with a couple of smaller keepers.

Though we’ve come to expect a March buildup of schoolies in Raritan Bay, those ocean reports are unusually early.

Capt. Hans Kaspersetz caught his first large striper of the season while fishing yesterday with Dexter out of Highlands.

Betty & Nick’s Bait & Tackle Fishing Club noted that Nick Canta has been fishing for most of his 78 years and finally caught a striper – a 30-incher which he released.

A small craft warning is up through late tonight for southwest gusts up to 25 knots, but that switches to northwest 10-15 by morning — and further to 5-10 in the afternoon with possible showers. Unfortunately, Saturday is a much different situation with east winds at 20-25 plus gusts to 30 and showers.

Raritan Bay striper fishing looks like the best bet and offers some protection in the rivers.

Capt. Fred Gamboa surely won’t be running his 44-foot Andreas Toy out of Point Pleasant to Hudson Canyon with the Saturday forecast, but is glad he took advantage of yesterday’s weather to get in a day of tilefishing that produced 15 up to 20 pounds before chunking near a showing of dolphins resulted in a 70-pound bluefin tuna that hit a squid..

Butch Pawson proved that white perch are still biting in South Jersey rivers by catching a 2 1/2-pounder today — which is large for that panfish.