Friday, October 26, 2012
Slow start to striper fishing, but preparations are almost as fun!
Despite having growing up in Ocean County and, ironically, living on a street that is an official Beach Buggy ocean access block, I never owned a four wheel drive vehicle until last winter. Taking cues from my father, I was always a small, sporty car kinda guy. But being the owner of a boat that needs to be trailed on occasion, an angler (and local news editor) who needs to keep tons of equipment in his vehicle, plus a resident of a very flood-prone area, an SUV was on tap to replace my Volkswagen last winter – after 155,000 reliable and fun miles on her, rest her soul! The answer, for me, was to go "all in" and give into the commercials depicting drives through the jungles of Africa and the deserts of the middle east. My fishing equipment…
Friday, October 12, 2012
Stripers, blackfish and trout on the move
Anglers began catching fish as soon as the weather improved the second half of this past week, with the first weigh-ins of the Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic coming in. According to tournament results in Friday morning, the fish to beat so far is an 18.88-pounder weighed in by Chris Moore of North Beach Haven. The fish was caught on bunker at Holgate. A clam chomped on the second-place fish thus far, an 18.69-pounder weighed in by Courtland Foos of Wilmington, Del. that was caught in Beach Haven. Fish have been weighed in island-wide, including Surf City, Barnegat Light and other locations. Though the bass aren't being reeled in every minute, they are around, leading to speculation that a great season could be on the way once the …
Friday, October 5, 2012
Seminar this weekend will prove informative
For me, there is nothing better than fishing on a nice, hot sunny summer day in Barnegat Bay. But for many anglers, fishing season doesn't begin until the weather turns chillier, beach buggies can drive free on the sand, and the stripers are at their hungriest. Now, with the forecast high for Sunday reaching only 55 degrees, it looks like fall – and in turn, striper season – is just about here. In New Jersey, there is perhaps no place more obssessed with fall striped bass fishing than Long Beach Island. The island-wide LBI Surf Fishing Classic whips anglers into a frenzy every year, promising big prizes as well as a sense of friendly competition on every inch of the island's 18 miles of sand. As the organizers of the tournament do every …
Friday, September 28, 2012
Season ends Friday
Anyone who has attended a meeting of the state Marine Fisheries Council has probably heard one word utterred again and again, often with a sense of frustration and, occasionally, desperation. That word is "anecdotal." And today, the final day of the 2012 fluke season, it means something. To federal regulators, of course, "anecdotal" evidence means nothing. Even if you know you just had the best - or worst - fishing season in years, if some whacky phone survey said otherwise, all of your personal observations mean zilch. Fortunately, we're not at a meeting of federal fishing regulators. And the anecdotal evidence clearly shows that we had a great, great, great fluke season here at the Jersey Shore. That's enough evidence for me! But …
Friday, September 21, 2012
Sea bass, fluke affected by changes
The upcoming weekend will be some New Jersey anglers' last chance to catch summer flounder on a day off. The season closes Sept. 28, a week from today. Reports this week showed fluke action wasn't too bad up and down the coast, with decent catches reported in the easternmost sections of the Manasquan River and occasional nice fish being caught at Barnegat Inlet as well. According to a report from The Dock Outfitters in Seaside Heights, fluke were being beached in that town by surf anglers who were using various baits. Even for the ocean, Berkley Gulp baits were mostly preferred by anglers. A keeper fluke is 17.5 inches under the 2012 regulations. On the good news front, sea bass fishing will reopen Sunday. The minimum size limit for this …
Friday, September 14, 2012
Fall is a time to explore new areas
Lately, I've been writing frequently in my Friday column about my many trips with my dad fishing near Barnegat Inlet. This week is no different, as we headed out to one of our favorite late-summer areas. But the decision was made to stretch our drifts a bit longer and see what would bite. The decision paid off. By venturing a little closer to some very-familiar–yet-rarely-navigated areas in and around High Bar Harbor and Barnegat Light, we found some interesting holes, deep cuts and grassy areas that were teeming with life. The day produced a mix of a jumbo fluke (that's me holding one in the photo attached to this story), blowfish, sea robins, and more small sea bass than I could count. The tackle was nothing special: just bucktail rigs …
Friday, September 7, 2012
Post-Isaac, Leslie weekend should prove interesting
It's been a week of heavy rain, occasionally high winds, rough surf – and there's still a hurricane churning out there. For ocean-going anglers, it may be a week to reconsider a trip to the reefs and see what's biting in the back bays. The party and charter boat fleet Shore-wide was tied to the docks all week, and fishing reports were slow as molasses in January to come in. There were some anglers who snuck out into the back bay to try their luck during breaks of sunshine, but those who got out mainly reported muddy water and not much in the way of catching going on. If you're fishing the bay for fluke this weekend, my advice is to stick as close to the inlets as possible. Most of the keepers have high-tailed it outta here by now, but a …
Friday, August 31, 2012
Variety of species at Barnegat Inlet make for season's most pleasant day
For Shore year-rounders, the next several weeks are what we like to call "local summer." The weather will remain warm, the ocean water will hover at a perfect swimming temperature and the fish will still be biting – but the crowds will have left for not-so-greener pastures inland. The "local summer" concept isn't your average slam on the "bennies" or "shoebies." It's a (short) breath of fresh, warm air just for locals, who can enjoy their hometowns unscathed for a little while before the cool breezes and gray skies of fall and winter arrive. This week, my father and I got a rare taste of local summer before Labor Day. On Wednesday, we fished Barnegat Inlet and the channel nearest the Coast Guard station with a hint of fall in the air and …
Friday, August 10, 2012
Boaters bamboozled by balmy water
Oh, bitter irony. When the powers that be announced earlier this year that the minimum size to keep a summer flounder would be cut oh-so-slightly, it was back bay anglers who rejoiced more than anyone else. It's us who have sufferred perhaps more than any other group with a limit so high that it was tougher than ever to find a keeper out back. This year, though 17.5-inches is still a mighty large fluke, it's better than last year's 18-inch limit. All those fish last year that were a half or quarter inch short might end up on the dinner table in 2012, we thought. At first, it was a back bay bonanza. Then, the water got warm early. Even the 17-inchers seemed to flee the backwaters and head for relief in the ocean. The bay angler ended up on …
Friday, August 3, 2012
Some can be dangerous, though
Ocean water temperatures have remained consistent in the high 70s all week, meaning anglers who fish the local waters may find themselves hooking into some fish species more associated with areas south of the Jersey Shore. The warm water temperatures have most certainly accounted for a rise in grey triggerfish catches this week, as the fish – often relegated to the bays of the southernmost portions of the Shore this time of year – have been chomping on baits at both Manasquan and Barnegat inlets. Anglers have caught the delicious warm-water fish species while fishing the jetty rocks at both inlets. Triggers will chomp on a number locally-popular baits, ranging from fiddler crabs to clam and squid strips. Bait should be presented on #1 …
Catherine Galioto
8:27 am on Friday, October 26, 2012
Thanks for the mention, partner-in-crime. Good times in a great place: Jersey Shore and nearby Pinelands. more ›