NJ Fishing Forecast for Feb 3 - 10

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This forecast provided by the courtesy of On the Water fishing magazine www.onthewater.com Please support their sponsors.


Despite the wet, cold, and nasty weather this week, there was some very good news regarding this spring’s fishing. On Wednesday, the world’s most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, emerged from his hole in central Pennsylvania and saw no shadow. This indicates an early spring for us this year, which after this winter, I’m sure we’re all looking forward to. (Nevermind that Phil’s batting average when it comes to accurately predicting the weather is only about .400.)

It was more of the same this week in New Jersey. Panfish and pickerel dominate catches through the ice, and cod and ling are the most common catch aboard the party boats.

Parts of New Jersey did get doused with quite a bit of rain from Wednesday’s storm, so ice conditions may be questionable on some lakes. As of Monday, Lake Hopatcong was sporting 9 to 15 inches of ice and producing large numbers of yellow perch and the occasional heavy pickerel. Finally some walleye reports have been coming from the lake, but none of size just yet, according to Laurie at Dows Boat Rental.

On the Ocean Explorer out of Belmar, Captain Bobby Quinn continues to put his fares on codfish. Shorts are dominating the catches, and many trips are tallying as many as 50 throwback cod. A fair amount of keepers are being boated however, along with some ling, so most anglers are bringing home at least a couple fillets.

Best Bets for the Weekend

The Atlantic City Boat Show may be the best option for this weekend. It’s a nice excuse to do a little gambling and check out your dream boat. The forecast looks like there may be a window to sneak in some party boat fishing over the weekend. Bundle up and bring a mix of jigs and bait rigs. It seems that some of the keeper cod lately have been falling to jigs rather than bait.