<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

Ocean bottom fishers were picking catches, said Jimmy from <b>Julian’s Bait & Tackle</b>, and he himself bottom fished Sunday at 17 Fathoms and boated 28 ling. A few striped bass, not many, were reportedly beached from the surf at Deal and Monmouth Beach. Striped bass will probably start to be wormed in the bay when striper season opens in the back waters Saturday. The shop will be fully stocked with striper tackle and bait, including worms and fresh clams. Jimmy during last week’s report said Julian’s is open every day till 12 noon when the weather’s fair, and will probably be open until 2 p.m. daily in March, until full-time hours kick in when business starts to pick up. 

<b>Highlands</b>

UPDATE, 3/3: Capt. Bob from <b>Sandy Hook Fishing Adventures</b> said in an e-mail that he heard reports about a few schoolie striped bass but no keepers pulled from the Sandy Hook surf and the bay so far. Even better news: He pulled the cover off the boat yesterday and began gearing up for the coming season, and he had already been making chum logs and tying fishing rigs. Trips will begin on the opening of winter flounder season on Easter Sunday, March 23. Besides flounder charters, he’ll start running striper trips as soon as the fish start biting in the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers. Book now to reserve your preferred dates.

<b>Neptune</b>

Both boats from <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b> are available for trips, some of the only charter vessels in the state ready to sail at this time of year. No trips fished this past week, Capt. Ralph said, but bottom fishing for ling and cod is an option. A few blackfish might also bite, but a few weeks ago Ralph said the ocean temperature was on the cusp of whether blacks would feed. The water since then probably cooled slightly, but maybe an occasional black would still be mixed in. 

<b>Brielle</b>

UPDATE, 3/3: Offshore sea bass fishing seemed okay on the party boats during the past week, even though the trips had to sail far south, said Dave from <b>The Reel Seat</b>. The Voyager reportedly got out on its weekly cod trip on Friday and came back with a few cod, not too many, and some ling. Conger eels, silver eels and bergals were also supposedly reeled up on the vessel. Customers were buying salted clams and plugs to give striped bass fishing a try, because striper season opened in the back waters on Saturday, but no catches were heard about. The anglers were probably mostly interested in shaking off cabin fever. There was a lot of interest at the shop about Shimano’s new Lucanus jigging system for bottom fishing, now in stock at the store. The jigs, rods and reels were made for targeting fish like sea bass and fluke, and the Shimano staff reportedly boated lots of cod when testing them, and Dave and customers planned to try the jigs for tilefishing this summer. Stop by and check them out. The system will also be available at The Reel Seat’s exhibit at the Saltwater Fishing Expo in Somerset from March 14 through 16. Other hot items at the shop’s booth will include the famous Reel Seat spreader bars, the shop’s custom shad rigs and bunker spoons for striper fishing, wireline rod and reel set-ups, the shop’s custom rigs for tilefish, swordfish and more, and a big assortment of Guy Harvey T-shirts, including the new fluke shirt that he designed for the Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund. Speaking of the SSFFF, the organization will hold a public meeting 7:30 p.m. Thursday in South Jersey at American Legion Post 72, 11 South Railroad Avenue, Brooklawn, near Gloucester City. The event was originally scheduled for 7 p.m., and the doors will still be open at that time, but the meeting will start a half-hour later to allow people to attend who will be at the state’s meeting where Jersey’s fluke regs are scheduled to be decided in Galloway Township earlier that day. For more info and directions, visit the <a href="http://www.ssfff.net" target="_blank"> SSFFF web site</a>. If you care about fluke fishing and are worried about harsh, unnecessary limits to fluking that the government is imposing, attend the meeting and consider supporting the SSFFF. The organization is one of the few fighting for your rights to fish for fluke, and the situation is dire. Dave also noted that donations to the SSFFF are not what they were at first. If anglers do not take action, an unnecessary moratorium on fluke fishing is very likely by next year. The public must participate if this will be headed off. Your help is needed. Attend the meeting. The SSFFF will also exhibit at the Saltwater Fishing Expo. Be sure to stop by the booth and talk with the organization’s members about the ways to save the fishery.

A good number of 3- to 6-pound sea bass were boated on an offshore wreck-fishing trip on the <b>Jamaica</b> on Saturday, and some customers limited out on the jumbos, an e-mail from the vessel said. A few hake were also mixed in, and pool winners included Riccardo Osso with a 10-pound white hake, Clifton Joseph with a 7-1/2-pound sea bass, and Bill Carr with a 7-pound sea bass. Strong currents made fishing slow on another one of the trips Sunday. The crew expects plenty of fish to bite on the 18-hour trips, sailing at 12 midnight every Wednesday and every Friday through Sunday through April. Space remained on trips this Friday through Sunday. Space was also available for one of <b>Bogan’s Boating School</b>’s boating safety courses 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. The school offers the course and safety certificate required in New Jersey at Bogan’s Basin, and upcoming classes include 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 8, 15 and 16. The test-out option is also available at the basin, and so are private classes at your own location for a minimum of eight students. A discount is available for 10 or more students, and to schedule the private classes, simply choose two 3-hour blocks of time and arrange an instructor. UPDATE, 3/3: An offshore sea bass trip fished Saturday and was very good, and most if not all passengers limited out on giant humpbacks to 7 ½ pounds, and a few pollock to 18 pounds were boated. A new body of fish moved in on grounds 85 to 90 miles to the southeast, where the boat fished. The outlook seemed good for upcoming trips.

On the <b>Paramount</b> patrons reeled in decent catches this past week, including mostly ling but also a smattering of cod, a few blackfish and even one hake and one pollock, an e-mail from the boat said. Eight to 12 fish per angler was average, and four to eight was the norm on slow days. On Sunday Mack Dubois was high hook with 18 ling and two keeper cod, and Dennis Fuchs bailed 14 fish. Also that day, Steve Sloma bagged 12 ling, and Saladin Abdunafai nailed nine ling, a pollock and a hake, and Papas Anastasios won the pool with an 8-pound cod. The number of cod per trip ranged from a few keepers to eight or 10. Mid depths from 80 to 150 feet held most fish, but an occasional deep drop produced catches before dogfish moved in. On a Deep Water Marathon on Monday the fishing was a bit slower than on Sunday’s trip, and anglers averaged four to eight fish, and the most successful ones took home a dozen. Light winds and shifting tides made anchoring difficult, but the day was beautiful. Deep Water Marathons are running 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Monday and Friday, a new time. Otherwise the boat is bottom fishing 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily the rest of the week.

<b>Point Pleasant</b>

The <b>Dauntless</b> was in a scheduled dry dock for painting this week but will be back bottom fishing this weekend, Capt. Butch said. The boat fished Saturday and Sunday, and Sunday’s trip was alright and better than Saturday’s, and patrons mostly picked up ling. A few cod and a handful of blackfish were also biting, and customers averaged six to 15 fish that day. Trips were fishing 150 to 220 feet, deeper water than before. The water was 41 degrees offshore and 39 degrees tighter to the beach, out to about 4 miles. Normally the ocean cools down to these temps earlier in the year, but the water seemed to be finally chilling from snow and run-off.  The weather on Saturday’s trip was a little stiff, but Sunday’s weather was gorgeous. Monday was also gorgeous, but the crew didn’t want to give up the scheduled painting of the boat. She’ll be good to go by the weekend, and then trips will resume sailing for bottom fish 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily whenever possible. The Dauntless is probably the only vessel along the coast fishing daily through winter and has been for decades.

UPDATE, 3/3: A few herring sometimes trickled up Manasquan Inlet, but things mostly were unchanged so far, said Rob Sr. from <b>Gates Bait & Tackle</b>. Anglers were starting to anticipate catching stripers, because the striper season opened in the back waters this weekend. Fresh clams, the local bait of choice for stripers, are stocked, because of striper season opening, and the shop is now trying to stock more bait. Previously the bait supplier was closed for the winter.  The store is open on weekends when the weather’s decent but will probably start opening during more hours any day. The Gates Motel, located on the grounds, is open full-time all year and is popular with anglers who spend the night to avoid driving either early or late before or after fishing trips, including on the local party boats. Party boat patrons are probably the most common angling visitors at the moment, but later more types of anglers will start visiting the motel, when local fishing takes off as the season progresses. They make fishing vacations out of a visit. Both the shop and the motel are located within walking distance of Manasquan Inlet, the charter and party boat fleet and the surf.

An offshore sea bass trip broke the inlet Saturday night on the <b>Voyager</b> and steamed farther south and to deeper water farther from shore than past trips, because mostly porgies and ling bit the previous weekend, an e-mail from the boat said. Strong currents made fishing difficult at first, and patrons had to drop 20 to 24 ounces of weight to hold bottom. But a few hefty sea bass and some small ones were reeled up. Currents gradually eased, and more of the fish started to be bagged. By the end of the day the catch was mostly made up of medium to jumbo sea bass and a few ling, porgies and bluefish, and even a blueline tilefish was taken. Braydon Niper limited out on sea bass, and Gary Pinel hauled aboard 20 and also some ling and porgies. Al Johnson slammed 18 sea bass and a few ling and porgies, and most anglers put eight to 15 fish in the box. Offshore water was 45 degrees, so the crew expected the big sea bass to keep biting for quite a while. Offshore sea bass trips are leaving port every Friday and Saturday nights. Cod Marathons are fishing every Friday during the day. One of the cod trips got out two Fridays ago in rough weather, and 25 keepers were landed, but the snowstorm last Friday weathered out that week’s trip. This schedule will continue through March 21. Voyager is docked at <b>Fisherman’s Supply</b>, and staff from the shop in the past weeks have been reporting that practically nothing was being heard about local fishing, such as herring fishing at Manasquan Inlet, except reports about the Voyager’s trips. But the store is open all winter for those looking for tackle, gear and frozen bait. The current hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

<b>Seaside</b>

Striped bass fishing should produce plenty of catches in the Barnegat Bay by the end of March, said the fishing report on <b>Betty and Nick’s Bait & Tackle</b>’s web site. Winter flounder fishing should also start in the bay when the flattie season opens March 23. But before then, early season surf fishing should begin in early March. Nothing was happening with local fishing currently, but other things were going on. Betty & Nick’s annual winter sale was in full gear, and check out the shop’s web site for descriptions of some of the items. The Berkeley Striper Club Fishing Flea Market, one of the oldest and probably one of the best, takes place Sunday at the Seaside Heights Elementary School. The Asbury Park Fishing Club Fishing Flea Market, one of the major ones, and known for custom surf-fishing plugs, takes place at Asbury Park Convention Hall the following Sunday, March 9. <a href=" http://www.bettyandnicks.com/fish.shtml" target="_blank"> Click here</a> for the latest from the shop.

The report on <b>Grumpy’s Tackle</b> mentioned nobody fishing yet this season, but fresh clams might be stocked this weekend, if the weather is decent, for those who will give striped bass fishing a try when striper season opens in the bays and rivers on Saturday. Grumpy’s Groundhog Day Sale, featuring loads of items at discounts, only lasts through tomorrow. New gear for the season was trickling into the shop, and reel repairs were well under way for those preparing for spring. Custom rods, something that the shop is especially known for, were also being built for anglers who ordered them for the coming season.  <a href="http://www.grumpystackle.com/fishingreports/" target="_blank"> Click here</a> for updates.  

<b>Toms River</b>

UPDATE, 3/3: A few white perch hit bloodworms in the Toms River at Island Heights, and a few small striped bass also grabbed bloods at the Oyster Creek power plant outflow, said Jeff from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b>. Some dunked clams for the stripers, but bloods seemed best. Anglers sometimes gave surf fishing a shot but probably landed nothing, maybe an occasional small striper, in the cold. Freshwater anglers were finding yellow perch at the Trilco stretch of the Toms and crappie at the Ocean County College pond. Nightcrawlers and killies are stocked for freshwater, and bloodworms are stocked or salt. The store is now usually open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays.

<b>Waretown</b>

Live bait will now start to be carried at <b>L&H Woods & Water</b>, and sandworms and bloodworms will be stocked for the opening of striped bass season in the bays and rivers on Saturday, Dale said. Earthworms and nightcrawlers will also be on hand for freshwater fishing. The Oyster Creek power plant outflow was full of stripers, no big ones, but anglers were catching and releasing smaller ones all winter. They were usually casting small lures like pink Fin-S Fish, and one customer said anything chartreuse worked. But that was because no live bait was available, and sandworms will probably produce better in the outflow. Nobody mentioned fishing for white perch in the brackish rivers or lagoons this week, but previously perch were reeled in. L&H is open every day. 

<b>Mystic Island</b>

Anglers will surely hit Graveling Point on Great Bay for striped bass fishing when striper season opens in the bays and rivers Saturday, said Scott from <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b>. Bloodworms, the bait to use, were already stocked, and more should arrive by the opening. Whether any of the fish will be hooked yet is a different story, and water temps are the factor, but the point is always one of the first spots in the state to produce. Water 43 degrees was the coldest Scott ever saw stripers bite there, and the last he heard, the bay was 38 degrees, and the ocean was 44. Water 45 degrees should realistically offer any substantial catches, and two weeks might pass before the stripers begin to turn on. But Mother Nature could push the temps up quickly at this time of year. You never know. Bloodworms are traditionally the bait of choice early in the season, because the fish are lethargic from cold water, so easily digestible baits like bloods or grass shrimp seem key. Clams usually also score when the fishing is “on” and worked quite well at that time last year. When the water warms further, herring and eels will start to work. A 10-foot rod and 17-pound test are standard, and larger rods, like surf rods typically fished from the ocean shore, are unnecessary, because there’s no surf in the bay.  Scott’s annually awards a $100 gift certificate to the angler who weighs in the first keeper striper from Graveling Point. Keeper stripers at the point are typically 28 to 31 inches, and a 34-incher is a big one. Graveling Point is the local hot spot for this fishing simply because of access. Lots of other potentially productive water is located in the area, but most is impractical to reach by foot, and most anglers will be yet to put a boat in the water. Nearby Pebble Beach is another spot that gives up bites for bank anglers, and popular places to fish from shore on the nearby Mullica River include along the Parkway Bridge and at Clarks Landing. In other news, little was heard from white perch fishers in brackish water, and anglers were generally scarce, even if that was about to change Saturday. But customers did stop in to buy live grass shrimp for perch fishing, and they usually target lagoons toward Beach Haven West and Mill Creek. Nobody mentioned fishing for the slabs at Collins Cove on the Mullica, one of the best places to find the whiteys. Grass shrimp are the best bait for white perch, and Scott’s stocks them. In addition to bloodworms and grass shrimp, the shop should carry live clams and green crabs by tomorrow. The only other action was that anglers were catching and releasing stripers at the Oyster Creek outflow at the power plant in Forked River. But Scott questioned whether catch-and-release fishing for stripers is legal when the season is closed, and any intent to hook the fish, even if the intention is to release them, might be prohibited, so confirm the law before you give the fishing a shot. Or simply wait till the season opens Saturday.  Only one day left! UPDATE, 3/3: One angler landed and released a 15-inch, short striper at Graveling Point yesterday morning, and the water reached 42 degrees for a while, so there was now a chance for striper activity any time, the report on Scott’s Bait & Tackle’s web site said. Forecasts for mid week were calling for upper-50-degree days and rains, the best possible scenario for warming the water, the report said. “Clear your calendar for later in the week” for a good possibility that striper action might turn on, it said. A surprising number of anglers arrived at the shop toward the end of the week to buy bait and tackle for Saturday’s opening of striper season, but no crowd materialized at Graveling Point, because strong westerly winds made fishing there uncomfortable, and also made feeling bites from even perch difficult, and anglers came and went quickly. The water that day was 38 degrees. 

<b>Absecon</b>

<b>Absecon Bay Sportsman Center</b> will probably open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily starting tomorrow, so that anglers can gear up and buy bait for the opening of striped bass season in the bays and rivers the next day, Capt. Dave from the shop said last week. He also said bloodworms and clams should be carried for striper bait. Nobody answered the phone today, but the store is always the first to report the first keeper stripers of the year, and those catches will be reported here the moment they’re heard about. Photos of the fish should also be posted on this site, courtesy of the shop. Last year the first catches came from the shallows of Delaware Bay and the Egg Harbor River. The store always offers prizes for anglers who check in the first keepers:  a $200 gift certificate for the first keeper, a $100 gift certificate for the second keeper, a $50 gift certificate for the third keeper, a $100 gift certificate for the first keeper over 20 pounds and a $100 gift certificate for the first keeper over 30 pounds. An update to this report should be posted here by Monday if not sooner, and the shop will be called this weekend to find out if anyone scored luck with the linesiders. UPDATE, 3/3: The first keeper striped bass of the year was yet to be weighed in at Absecon Bay Sportsman Center this weekend, Capt. said. He read a report elsewhere about a keeper supposedly bagged, but that was unconfirmed. About the only catches heard about were a few white perch that customers said they reeled in from the Tuckahoe River, but strong winds on Saturday kept fishing to a minimum. The shop is locked and loaded for striper season, though, and surf clams and bloodworms are stocked, and the doors will now be open at least 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Of course, the prizes for the first several keepers of the year were still up for grabs.

<b>Longport</b>

UPDATE, 3/3: After a short winter break, the <b>Stray Cat</b> is back in action, and will starting running trips full time again, Capt. Mike said. Open-boat trips and charters will sail until May, and then only charters will leave the dock for a while. A couple of options are currently available: sea bass fishing 65 miles offshore, and tog fishing 12 to 15 miles offshore. Open-boat trips will run for sea bass when the weather’s fair, and otherwise open trips will fish for tog, and if interested, give the boat a call, and Mike will keep you in the loop about when the trips will head out. The ocean was 41 to 44 degrees, so the tog should be snapping, and striped bass might also be chased closer to shore on the tog trips. The summer flounder regs are probably going to be released later this week, and the season looks like it’s going to be shorter than last year. Mike noted that this means that flounder charters are going to book right up, so reserve your dates now, and don’t wait until the week or two beforehand, or it’ll be too late. Stray Cat’s offseason must’ve been the shortest one of any boat heard about on this site, and the vessel only stopped fishing a couple of weeks or something during the height of the winter. But Mike would rather be fishing, so take advantage. Here’s your chance to shake off the winter blues and get back in action on the water.

<b>Ocean City</b>

A few anglers were white-perch fishing in the Tuckahoe and Egg Harbor Rivers, and one of the local party boats was fishing offshore for sea bass on Sundays, said Bill from <b>Fin-Atics</b>. Although striped bass season opens Saturday in the bays and rivers, none usually bites locally until at least mid March, depending on water temperature. The shop will probably start carrying bloodworms for bait at that time. The ocean never got too cold this winter, and was probably 40 or 41 degrees now, so maybe stripers will be hooked sooner rather than later. But the bite could begin anytime from mid March to late March to the beginning of April. When the action does turn on, anglers will look for the fish first in the Tuckahoe and Egg Harbor Rivers. One of two, but not many, might be beached in the surf. The run of migrating herring up the rivers from the ocean usually begins at the end of March, and that’s when the fishing really kicks off. Fin-Atics is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day but is closed Sundays. The doors will probably also start opening 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays in a week or two.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Gibson’s Tackle</b> was seeing the first signs of the changing season, like daffodils growing, so striped bass fishing shouldn’t be too far behind, he said. He usually catches his first stripers of the year by March 15, and although striper season opens in the back waters on Saturday, he’ll probably first try for the bass a little later, when the weather’s somewhat warmer. But when he begins, he’ll target waters including the Tuckahoe and Egg Harbor rivers and the bay behind Sea Isle and Ocean City. In the bay he looks for shallow water on low, outgoing tides, especially in the afternoons, when the water is warmest. Water temps can vary 5 degrees between outgoing tides from the rivers and incoming from the ocean, a considerable difference for the fish. He scores his best luck early in the season on flies and lures, and on the fly rod he’ll cast flies like Clousers on sinking lines, working them slowly along the bottom. Lures that will work include small soft plastics on leadheads fished the same way. Most of the stripers are shorts, but its action that can be quite good. By the end of March and also April last year he was finding very good numbers of fish, six to 12 linesiders on a tide, mostly on flies. Anglers who want to fish bait will also connect, especially on clams in the deeper holes. Joe is often the first captain to report striper catches each year. Stay tuned!

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