Tight Lines

It was only yesterday that during a casual conversation with a fishing friend that I became aware that famed outdoor writer Milt Rosko had passed away at 93 last November.

Born and raised in Newark, Milt attended West Side H.S., but lived most of his life in Watchung. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1951, raising to sergeant before getting into the business world as Operations Manager of Annheuser-Busch.

Outdoor writing was strictly a sideline at that time as the compensation was minimal despite the fact that magazines wanted good black and white photos which Milt was able to supply as he had the finest camera equipment at the time. That photography was also vital in producing angling books, and he ended up with 10 published books.

The Rod & Gun Editors of Metropolitan N.Y. were a pretty exclusive organization composed of the newspaper outdoor editors plus the editors of major outdoor magazines , but Milt’s pioneering work earned him a membership. He was just as enthusiastic about writing up night whiting fishing from the old Long Branch Pier as in detailing the new canyon fisheries for tilefish and game fish which anglers weren’t even aware of a few years earlier. Milt did quite a bit of pioneering himself with the Linda June which they even sailed to North Carolina’s Outer Banks one summer.

Milt also had a summer home in Mantoloking, and particularly enjoyed walking the relatively inaccessible portion to cast small lures for stripers, blues and whatever else might hit them before being released. As always, any angler who sought his advice was educated on the spot. Indeed, it was there where I last saw Milt a few years ago when he seemed to be doing well even though he was older than me.

I frequently hooked up with Milt and June (his wife of 69 years) for car rides to outdoor writer and conservation meetings. It seems like just a few years ago that the Fisherman’s Conservation Association of Staten Island arranged a party to present both Milt and I with their Lifetime Achievement Award.

Though Milt is now fishing heavenly waters surely teeming with fish, everyone who ever encountered him was left with positive memories of a man who worked hard to provide good fisheries for the future and who never passed up an opportunity to help others enjoy success in an often frustrating sport.

The forecast is for east winds at just 5-10 knots before increasing to 10-15 plus gusts to 20 in the afternoon.

The Manhattan Cup will be run this year on June 9 with no significant changes from last year.

Anyone wishing to enter their boat or participate individually in this contest for the benefit of wounded veterans should give Gary Caputi a call at 732 740-9982 or e-mail caputifish@gmail.com.

A small craft warning will come down tonight. There’s a strange forecast for the morning with a south wind at only 5-10 knots — but with gusts to 20. That changes to 10-15 knots in the afternoon.

Andreas Toy from Perth Amboy reported Sunday’s open trip started slowly, but improved as the wind flopped out. The high hook jigged 16 bass, and about 25 stripers received Gray tags — bringing them up to over 70 so far. They are open on April 5. Call 732 672-1561 for info.

Fisherman’s Headquarters on Long Beach Island sent this photo of Kory Fishbein with a 46-inch striper caught on bloodworms in the Delaware River before release.

As noted in this blog, it’s often possible to fish “under the beach” in northwest winds as the hills along the N,J. Shore create a calm inshore area. That’s what the Ocean Explorer from Belmar did today, and they had decent tautog fishing in good conditions. Before the day was over that had a fare with three keepers while there was also short action and a few cod.

Monday’s forecast is for south winds at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20 before increasing to 15-20 plus gusts to 30 in the afternoon.

Capt. Jim Freda reported good striper action from his Shore Catch last week, including some big releases such as the one shown that sports the big belly full of roe to be shed later in the month in the Hudson River.

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…

See more

+4

All reactions:

88

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.