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.

[willy]

Nice Destroyer, hey I talked with Rob about getting the three of us together in a couple of weeks when I get FishBones in the rack.
You up to a salt water foray with two wild and crazy guys?

[captpete13]

going out for winter flounder today. I'll let you guys know how we do.

[captpete13]

well we just got back and Michele and I are keeping up our fishing streaks. She got the fish and I got skunked. We only boated one flounder. I think between the wind and catching the wrong tide is why we only got the one fish. I have enough sand worms left over so i will probably go after work tomorrow.

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by willy

Nice Destroyer, hey I talked with Rob about getting the three of us together in a couple of weeks when I get FishBones in the rack.
You up to a salt water foray with two wild and crazy guys?

Absolutely... and I can deliver that downrigger I promised you from way back at the same time. Sounds like a plan.

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by captpete13

well we just got back and Michele and I are keeping up our fishing streaks. She got the fish and I got skunked. We only boated one flounder. I think between the wind and catching the wrong tide is why we only got the one fish. I have enough sand worms left over so i will probably go after work tomorrow.

Pete were you chumming also or just drifting the sandworms? I like to make up a chum of equal parts ground mackeral and cooked rice, sprayed liberally with WD40 and then frozen into logs. One log in my chum pot lasts me most of the morning and it's like ringing the dinner bell for those flattys.
BTW, if there's no drift and you don't feel like trolling, it also works pretty good for Fluke.

[captpete13]

Ok just got back home from fishing again. Yes we chummed. I don't know whats in it we just got it from the bait shop. It was brown. We (my brother and I) got 6 in about an hour. I actually managed to have two on one hit. The water warmed 4 degrees from yesterday. I think that had a lot to do with it.

[willy]

For the winter flatties it does make a difference. Also from what I remember we had to move a few times to find where the keeper age group fish had moved out to.
WD-40 Destroyer? Really?
Or are just pulling our leg?
Also I am preparing to do a down rigger of some type, refresh my memory with what you had cooking would you. Would make a difference right now if you get my drift.

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by willy

For the winter flatties it does make a difference. Also from what I remember we had to move a few times to find where the keeper age group fish had moved out to.
WD-40 Destroyer? Really?
Or are just pulling our leg?
Also I am preparing to do a down rigger of some type, refresh my memory with what you had cooking would you. Would make a difference right now if you get my drift.

WD-40 is made up of several chemicals, but the primary vehicle is supposed to be fish oil. I'm not a chemist, so I really don't know more than that. But I do know it works.. it's also great when you're chunking for Blues... Spray the chunk on your line and hold on.
The downriggers I have are 2 different types.. one is a luhr-jensen and the other is a cannon. Both are mostly fiberglass and both are in rough shape cosmetically, but they both work well. The Cannon is a short boom (about 1 1/2 feet) and the Luhr-Jensen has a longer 2 1/2 foot boom. Both booms are fiberglass rods, about 7/16" thick. Your choice. Understand these are interim downriggers... I have no idea how long either of them will hold up, but I'm guessing they have a few seasons left in them.

Update:

Hmmm....it appears I was misled. These are the ingrediants of WD-40 according to MSDS safety sheets.

50%: Stoddard solvent (i.e., mineral spirits -- primarily hexane, somewhat similar to kerosene)
25%: Liquified petroleum gas (presumably as a propellant; carbon dioxide is now used instead to reduce WD-40's considerable flammability)
15+%: Mineral oil (light lubricating oil)
10-%: Inert ingredients

No matter what it's made of, I just know that it's a great fish attractant. On it's web site it lists one of it's uses as being rubbed or sprayed on hands and on baits to remove human scent. Perhaps that's why it works..