Fishing Forecast for 3/31 - 4/6

[Destroyer]

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March 31, 2011
Old Man Winter just doesn't want to loosen his grip on the Northeast, but fortunately the continued cold weather hasn't kept the fish from biting. Winter flounder limits have been common in New Jersey, and striper catches continue to increase. Montauk codfishing continues, but keeper sized fish are starting to thin out. Holdover action has slowed in Connecticut. Trout fishing has been tough in New England, but largemouths and broodstock salmon have been picking up the slack.

By Jimmy Fee:

When I first signed up for Facebook back in college, I never thought it would end up being a reliable source of fishing information. But lo and behold, last night I signed on to discover that OTW Contributing Writer, Grumpy’s Tackle employee, Ray Kerico, has been doing a number on winter flounder since the season opened last week.

Many fishermen have a negative outlook on the status of the winter flounder fishery, and truth be told, with the flounder population low, the catches have declined – but so has angling effort. Most spring fishermen set their sights on striped bass these days, and those tasty winter flatfish fly under the radar. In waters such as Barnegat Bay, the Navesink River and Manasquan Inlet, finding a few keeper blackbacks might not be as difficult as you’d suspect.

Greg at the Fisherman’s Headquarters in Ship Bottom has been getting reports from anglers that the winter flounder fishing is the best they’ve seen in years. One group set up on a channel edge in Barnegat Bay and from the time they set up their chumslick to the time they ran out of bait, two hours later, the action was nonstop. The biggest fish measured 17 ½ inches and they went home with a limit in the box.

According to Greg, some blackfish are already beginning to trickle into the Bay, and anglers fishing sandworms for winter flounder managed a few keeper blackfish as well.

On the surf side, keeper stripers have been tough to come by. Both Fin-atics in Ocean City and RipTide Bait and Tackle in Brigantine reported difficult fishing out front. There have been some small stripers running the beach in Ocean City, but mostly, fishing bait out front has attracted skates. Though these bottom-dwellers don’t put up much in the way of a fight, according to Brian Lodge’s article in the December Issue of OTW, they are one fine-eating fish. Bringing home a delicious dinner might just make up for an otherwise slow day of fishing. Check out the December On The Water for recipes and cleaning instructions for skates.

Stripers are being caught regularly from the Raritan Bay beaches and from Gravelling Point. Clams and bloodworms are the best baits at the moment.

The cod bite has continued for anglers aboard the Ocean Explorer out of Belmar, and anglers are catching fish up to 12 pounds by soaking clam baits. Some keeper blackfish also mixed in, along with a few ling. The pendulum should swing in favor of blackfish as the temperatures continue to warm.

Best Best for the Weekend

The hot bite this week was clearly the winter flounder fishing. I would go out in search of those delicious blackbacks in Barnegat Bay, focusing on mud flats near channels. Setting up a chum slick near Oyster Creek might also draw in some of the flatfish that have been attracted to the warm-water outflow from the power plant.

If you’re determined to catch striped bass, fish the outgoing tides over mud bottoms with bait. The water is still cold and the weather hasn’t been helping us much lately, but the fish are here. Bloodworms and clams are the top baits at the moment, but with bloodworms pricing out at about $12 a dozen, I’d opt for clams, especially since the vast majority of stripers are very small, some less than 20 inches.

Bottom fishing is another good option this weekend with the cod still feeding out of Belmar. Targeting structure in 30 to 70 feet of water should turn up some good blackfish catches as well. Many captains favor clams for early-spring tog, but I’d advise carrying a mix of both clams and crabs to the toggin’ grounds.