Tight Lines

Blackfish in the teens and even bigger continue active for anglers fishing aboard the Fish Bound out of Ocean City, Maryland. Friday’s trip produced nine tog over 10 pounds up to 30-inch, 20 1/2-pounder plus a 17-pounder!

There was an error in my account last night of a season-opening Raritan Bay striper trip as I noted that we had a four-man release total of over 400. After publishing, I realized that the actual total was “only” over 200, and revised the blog to reflect that. This is to correct the earlier post.

Monday’s forecast is for east winds at 10-15 knots before switching to 15-20 with rain in the afternoon. A small craft warning goes up late tonight before becoming a gale watch Tuesday morning to afternoon.

North Jersey striper pro Dave Lilly has a foolproof method of determining when striped bass turn on in local waters, and the good news is that it happened today as heavy rain and mild temperatures brought worms out of the ground! Now it’s just a question of catching the linesiders

Capt. Joe Massa did just that yesterday with his My Three Sons from Morgan Marina by trolling small stretch plugs far back in Raritan Bay and tributaries. There were no keepers, but most were decent bass such as t to break the one below.

Chuck Many tried tried to break the ice on stripers a few years ago on his Tyman out of Highlands in early March with no success at first, before assembling a crew for a longer effort. He found some marks off Perth Amboy where we anchored and went through two flats of worms releasing school bass on light tackle. Then, on our way in, we spotted a few swirls and added more bass by casting jigs. The four-man release total ended up at over 200, though there wasn’t a keeper among them. I suspect that after the mild winter even legal bass are probably waiting to be caught right now.

Sunday’s forecast is for north winds at 10-15 knots before switching to east at 5-10 in the afternoon.

Following up yesterday’s blog about tagged great white sharks being located in the Gulf of Mexico, there was a relevant entry this morning on my Facebook about a white that was actually caught in the Pensacola surf.

The Outdoor Life post was about a Feb. 12 catch during a Big John Shark Charter trip after Capt. David Miller ran a yellowfin tuna head for bait 900 yards offshore with his kayack. There was nothing “IGFA” about the battle as four fishermen fought the shark from a shark rack contraption anchored in the sand by just cranking on the big game reel as commercial giant tuna fishermen do from their rod holders.

It took only a bit over an hour to get the shark close enough to identify it as an endangered white rather the expected tiger or bull. Since federal law requires whites to be released immediately, there wasn’t time to properly measure it, but John McLean has caught 12-foot sharks and estimated the white at 13 feet before the crew cut the line and pushed it in the right direction.

This is the first time I’ve heard of a large white being caught in the surf, though they’ve proven several times that they aren’t afraid of shallow waters by attacking swimmers and surfers. Though NOAA Fisheries must be pleased to hear about that release, I wonder how Pensacola beachgoers feel about it?

A small craft warning is up in NY/NJ Bight from this evening to late tonight, before being followed by a gale warning from Saturday morning to afternoon. The forecast is for northeast winds at 20-25 knots plus gusts to 35 along with morning rain and snow.

A couple of great white sharks are enjoying the warmth of the Gulf of Mexico at present. Those had been captured, weighed and measured in northern waters by SEARCH, and they ping their location when surfacing.

Rose was located about 60 miles off Sanibel, Florida on March 9. She was tagged at 10 1/2 feet. On the same day, Maple pinged in near St. George Island in the Gulf. She is 11 feet and 1264 pounds. There has been a big problem with red tide in the Gulf, as tons of dead fish have been removed from Ft. Myers Beach. From what I have seen on TV, most appear to be bottom fish rather than pelagics that may be able to swim away from pockets of that disease.

Fish Bound was able to get out for trophy tautog from Ocean City, Md. one day this week. While the bite was tender, Pat Sciba was able to release a personal record 18+-pounder. Five other tog over 10 pounds, up to a 14-pound male, were also caught on that trip. See photo at bottom.

The Friday forecast is for a northeast wind at just 5 knots before shifting to southeast in the afternoon. The big change comes after midnight Friday with northeast winds gusting to 30 knots plus rain.

Chuck Many had gone four straight days without fishing, but came back quickly as the big red drum pictured below hit on his first cast at Hilton Head, S.C.

In addition to the regulations on recreational fishing in New Jersey which were featured in yesterday’s blog, that state has also adopted the ASMFC prohibition on the use of gaffs while striped bass fishing. Almost everyone has adopted the use of large nets which permit bass to be checked for keeper size without harming them. Even without a large net, it’s possible and even preferable to lean over the side and grip the jaw to accomplish the same purpose. In most cases, the bass can be released without even taking it out of the water to ensure its best long term survival chances.

A small craft warning is posted until 10 p.m. for north gusts to 30 knots. That drops to north 10-15 with gusts to 20 in the morning.

If you haven’t broken the ice on daytime swordfish, you may have a better opportunity to get an Islamorada charter for one with Capt. Nick Stanczyk’s fleet out of Bud N’Mary’s Marina as his original Broad Minded has been renovated with new two new 425 Yamaha outboards to sail as Water Damage. Call 305 664-2461.

Paul Haertel of the JCAA reported passage of the following N.J. fishing regulations for fluke, sea bass and scup

At their meeting on 3/2/23 the NJMFC set the regulations for sea bass and scup. Once again it became apparent that public sentiment means absolutely nothing. Every single one of the fifteen or so people who spoke, including individuals, representatives from various clubs, charter and party boat captains as well as myself on behalf of JCAA spoke in favor of option 4. Despite that, three representatives on the council voted in favor of Option 1 while one voted against it and the others abstained. Though the fluke regs were set some time ago, I am including them for those who may have missed them.  The sea bass and scup regs will become effective once our DEP Commissioner signs off on them. Therefore, until he does so you can still keep scup.

2023 NJ REGULATIONS FOR FLUKE, SEA BASS AND SCUP

Fluke – May 2nd through September 27th with a limit of just one fish 18” or greater AND 2 fish from 17-17.99”. The special regulations for Delaware Bay are 3 fish 17” or greater and Island Beach State Park, 2 fish 16” or greater. 

Sea Bass 12 ½” for all seasons 5/17- 6/19 (10 fish), 7/1-8/31 (1 fish), 10/1-10/31 (10 fish) 11/1-12/31 (15 fish)

 Scup 10” for the entire season 8/1-12/31 (30 fish)

A small craft advisory is up through Wednesday afternoon. North winds at 20-25 knots plus gusts to 30 are forecast for the morning.

Kil Song sent along the following report today:

We trolled with 6 Black Hole Giant rods for bluefin on the Good Times out of Hatteras, NC today. We got 200lb (70″) and John Kim fought the bluefin on stand up. It took 15′ 20 minutes .

All reactions:

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Anglers in northern N.J. have been getting into stripers earlier every year, but always start with small bass before the larger fish begin hitting. However, Dave Lilly reports that may not be the case this year. A couple of friends took advantage of temperatures over 50 degrees this morning to check out a spot near Port Newark that always produces their first larger bass from shore toward the end of March — and were surprised to hook up on the first cast of a jig before releasing 10 bass. Only two of those stripers were shorts, and the big one was 38 inches!

The water temperatures in waters flowing into the back of Raritan Bay tend to warm up faster than in the bay itself which receives cold ocean waters on incoming tides. The sun with mild air temperatures often sparks activity in shallow areas. The same applies to back bay areas where schoolies such as Jim Hutchinson Jr. is holding are already crushing small lures cast from shore or boat.

A northwest wind usually brings cold temperatures, but that isn’t supposed to be the case over the next few days. The forecast is for northwest at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20.

With the wind forecast at just 10-15 knots northwest, Sunday is looking very fishable. The Paramount from Brielle will be making its 4 a.m. cod trip to mid-range wrecks, and walk-ons are welcome as long as there is room.

The Atlantic City Boat Show wraps up its run at the Convention Hall on Sunday.

George Poveromo has a World of Saltwater TV show on Lower Florida Keys flats fishing at 8 a.m. on Discovery Channel.

Nick Honachefsky’s Saltwater Underground Tale of Two Tunas concludes at 9 a.m. Sunday and again at3 p.m. Monday on Sportsman Channel.

With east winds gusting to 30 knots, a gale warning is up through 6 a.m.

It will be improving in the morning as the winds shift to calming directions of west and northwest with gusts to 30 which may make Sunday fishable.

Nick Honachefsky displays the dentures on a Bahamas barracuda. They are great fighters on the flats and not very difficult to handle for the release.