<b>Keyport</b>

Capt. Joe from <b>Papa’s Angels Charters</b> will work on the boat in March, preparing it for the fishing season, and hopes to splash the vessel during the first week of April, he wrote in an email. The year’s first charters and open-boat trips will sail for striped bass. The fish school Raritan Bay nearby, a short ride from port, that time of year, and the angling was great last year. Many trips limited out aboard. Anglers who want to get in on the fishing can telephone Joe. Open-boat trips, like every year, will be available daily, when no charter is booked and enough anglers want to sail. Anglers telephone Joe ahead to jump on them.

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

<b>***Update, Thursday, 2/19:***</b> Raritan Bay was frozen, said Joe from <b>Julian’s Bait & Tackle</b>. No fishing really happened that could be reported. “We’re just sitting in the store, trying to keep warm,” he said! Actually, the crew was readying the shop for the coming fishing season, painting, repairing and adding things, including a new saltwater bait tank. That will enable new types of bait to be stocked, like grass shrimp. Right now, the crew was learning to use the tank. Lobsters were in the tank at the moment. “To sell?” Joe was asked. “Not really,” he said. “We’re in the bait business,” not the seafood business! he said. So there wasn’t much to talk about. Regulations were the thing to talk about, he said. Bag limits were making fishing tough. With limits like two winter flounder and one weakfish, anglers will hardly fish for the species. Sometimes the charter and party boats barely have anything to fish for. Bait will try to be stocked for the opening of striped bass season in bays and rivers and winter flounder season everywhere on March 1. As long as the water isn’t frozen. Customers fish for the bass and flounder in Raritan Bay and the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers in the early season. Those are some of the state’s best places for the catches then.  

<b>Belmar</b>

The party boats at Belmar were docked in the weather in past days, said Bob from <b>Fisherman’s Den</b>. One of the vessels was shaped up to fish the other day, but only two anglers showed up, too few to sail. A break in the weather, like a long-range forecast that doesn’t call for extreme cold, wind or snow, will probably be needed for participation to resume. Anglers will probably get the itch to fish in three weeks, Bob figures. But winter flounder season will be opened starting on March 1, in less than two weeks, and a few of the store’s rental boats will be ready to fish for them on Shark River. Flounder fishing was good in the river in fall, when the season was open. Many bulkhead anglers fished for them, and only two flounder per day is the bag limit, but many of the anglers fished every day. The shop is open for no official hours currently, but is pretty much open daily. Few anglers buy anything, but several like to hang out at the shop, so the doors are open.

<b>Brielle</b>

None of the local party boats fished in the weather in the past week, Eric from <b>The Reel Seat</b> thought, he said. But a few are sailing the ocean for ling and cod, picking at the fish, when the trips get the weather.  Four or five inches of snow fell locally, drifting in the strong wind, during the brutal cold on Sunday. Still, some anglers showed up for the shop’s free seminar that day on tying teasers with Jerry Fabiano from RV Plugs. More free seminars will be scheduled, Dave from the store said. Dave will give a seminar on tilefishing on Thursday at the New Jersey Boat Sale & Expo in Edison. Catch the store at Surf Day on Saturday at Brookdale Community College, the Berkeley Striper Club fishing flea market on March 1 in Toms River and the Asbury Park Fishing Club flea market on March 8 at Convention Hall. The Reel Seat is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays.

<b>Point Pleasant Beach</b>

Weather was brutal, “as you know,” Capt. Matt from the party boat <b>Norma-K III</b> wrote in a report on the vessel’s website. So the boat was docked this weekend, and no trip would sail today, for Presidents’ Day, because of forecasts for wind. He hopes the special cod trip, reservations required, sails Wednesday, and space is available. Otherwise, the boat is fishing for ling, cod and blackfish 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday. No reservations are required for those trips.

<b>Mystic Island</b>

Nothing was heard about ice-fishing at Collins Cove for white perch, said Brian from <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b>. But the lagoon behind the shop was frozen the past couple of days, and freezing temperatures are predicted for the near future, so maybe the cove, located on Mullica River, just upstream from Garden State Parkway, will set up for ice fishing. The cove is one of the state’s most popular places to fish for the perch through the ice. The fish school the cove to escape colder currents in the main river in winter. The store is closed and will be reopened starting March 1. But some of the crew is usually at the store daily, and if anglers need supplies, they can telephone the shop ahead to stop in, and walk-ins are welcomed on Saturdays.  The online shop, <a href="http://www.pennparts.com" target="_blank">PennParts.com</a>, is open. That features all Penn reel parts currently manufactured, many no longer manufactured, free reel schematics, and other tackle. The crew has been refurbishing the physical store this winter, and it’ll be ready for business on March 1. New items will include additional T-shirts. March 1 is opening day of striped bass season in bays and rivers, and Scott’s will award the annual $100 gift certificate to the store to the angler who weighs-in the year’s first keeper striper from Graveling Point. The nearby point is a shore-angling spot at the confluence of the Mullica and Great Bay. Some of the year’s first stripers are always landed there, and the relatively warm river attracts the fish to the flats at the point. The fish are also hooked there because the location is simply accessible to anglers.

<b>Absecon</b>

This past weekend seemed a freeze out, said Capt. Dave from <b>Absecon Bay Sportsman Center</b>. Nothing was heard about anybody trying to fish in past days. One angler bought a pint of minnows to fish freshwater at the beginning of last week, and a few minnows are stocked. The store holds no set hours this time of year, and telephone to confirm somebody will be there, before stopping by. The supplies will be ready for the opening of striped bass season on March 1 in bays and rivers. Clams should be stocked, and Dave hopes to carry bloodworms, for the opener. The store is usually one of the first to report striper catches each year, after the opening. That’s because of annual prizes for the stripers that will be awarded again this year. They’ll include: a $200 gift certificate to the store for the first keeper weighed-in; a $100 certificate for the second; a $50 certificate for the third; a $100 certificate for the first larger than 20 pounds; and a $100 certificate for the first larger than 30. The prizes usually also include one for the year’s first angler who checks-in a keeper who beforehand Liked the shop’s Facebook page and joined the page’s event named something like 1st Striper 2015. The prizes also usually include ones for the year’s first boy and girl to weigh-in keeper stripers. Fishing was good at Dave’s <a href=" http://www.abseconbay.com/fishguatemalaparlamasportfishing.html" target="_blank">Guatemala charter business</a>, and the weather was certainly better, he said, than in New Jersey. Sailfish are caught there year-round, and dorado fishing seemed to pick up some currently, and there was a pretty good pick of marlin. A cold front seemed to push the fish farther from shore recently, but now the fish seemed to move closer in.

<b>Brigantine</b>

<b>***Update, Thursday, 2/19:***</b> Only 30 days until spring, Capt. Andy from <b>Riptide Bait & Tackle</b> wrote in a report on the shop’s website. “I can’t wait for the warm weather to bring back the (striped) bass,” he said. “After another disappointing fall run, we know we can count on the spring bass to show up (at Brigantine).” Customers mostly fish for them in the surf, but also in the back bay. The store will officially be opened starting March 1 for the season. But Andy is back at the shop, and will be in and out until then. If customers need anything, telephone, or just stop in, even if you just want to hang out. If his truck is in the back lot, he’s there. Nobody won the Riptide Striper Bounty, presented by Hess Plumbing, this fall. So the money will be rolled over to spring. That also happened last year, and the money was won in spring. The bounty is up to $1,275 and is awarded to the angler who checks-in the season’s first striper 43 inches or larger from Brigantine’s front surf. The angler must be entered before the catch, and entry is $5. All the entry fees are awarded, so the bounty will build. An annual $50 gift certificate will also be awarded for the season’s first keeper striper weighed-in from the town’s front surf. “We will do one from the boat, also,” Andy said. Lots of new inventory is arriving, and stop by to “see what’s new on the fishing scene,” he said.  A couple of cases of Stock’s Famous Pound Cakes, from Stock’s Bakery in Philly, also arrived. The store’s been carrying the cakes for some years, and Karl Stock from the bakery is a customer and a Brigantine surf angler. Watch a <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/6at4/story?section=6at4&id=8422000" target="_blank">video about the cakes</a>.

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