New Jersey Fishing Forecast for March 3 -10

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March 3, 2011

By Jimmy Fee:

March 1 is a pretty important day on the New Jersey striper fisherman***8217;s calendar. Not only does the arrival of the third month denote the beginning of the end of winter, but the opening of the back bay striper season as well. On years when bay temperatures were consistently in the 40s leading up to the opener, the fishing can be red hot right out of the gate. Currently, water temperatures are still dipping into the 30s on some tides, so the striper fishing has been spotty. Fish have been caught however, and the action should continue to improve over the weekend.

Several keeper-sized stripers have been caught since the opener however, including a couple in the high teens. The majority of positive reports have come from the middle of the state, in the back bays around Barnegat. The warm-water influx provided by the Oyster Creek power plant is undoubtedly holding some stripers right now.

Clams and bloodworms are the usual early-season choice for anglers looking to catch their first stripers on bait, but lures will work as well. I always preferred catching my first bass on lures because with only small numbers of bass available in the early season, I found it best to cover more water and move around until I found active fish.

Good early season lures are soft plastics fished slowly, near the bottom and small swimming plugs such as Bombers, Red Fins or Mirr-O-Lures fished at a crawl.

In South Jersey, the boys at Fin-atics in Ocean City said bottom-fishing action at the AC, GE and OC reefs has been good with tog, cod and ling. Anglers venturing to reefs and wrecks further offshore are finding good fishing for these three species as well.

Numbers of keeper-sized cod being caught are still improving, and anglers are putting together nice groundfish catches leaving from New Jersey ports. Clams are the bait of choice, but ambitious anglers can catch a few on jigs as well. Just be prepared to lose a jig or two in the wreck.

In the freshwater rivers dumping into bays throughout the state, white perch action has been very good, and it won***8217;t be long before schools of stripers are crowding out their smaller cousins in these waters.

Ice fishing is winding down, but after a long hardwater season, many anglers are ready to be rid of it anyhow. The Esox family is particularly active right after ice out, and pickerel, pike and muskies will all be on the feed in the next couple weeks. Muskies in particular will shadow schools of panfish that move into shallower water to spawn.

Best Bets for the Weekend

Why not get out after that first striper of spring this weekend? Target backwaters and dropping tides, and try to find the warmest water you can, as this is where the stripers will be.

Jumping on a party boat and taking advantage of the good bottom fishing is a good option as well, since this local cod fishing won***8217;t be holding up for much longer.