Sea bass spring fishery opens with drop and reel fishing
The story of day one of the spring sea bass fishery is one of full coolers as anglers were pretty much reeling fish in all day on the reefs and rock piles.
Most of the for-hire captains reported their fishing parties all limited out on the catch, which for now is 10 fish a person with a 12 ½-inch size limit per fish. While traditional baits like clam and squid caught a fair share of the bounty, Capt. Bobby Quinn on the Ocean Explorer said jigs with a sandeel teaser out-fished bait on his boat.
The spring fishery is open until June 19, when it closes for 11 days before reopening with a one-fish bag limit for July and August.
There hasn't been a whole lot of effort out front for fluke. The ocean temperature was flirting with 60 degrees on Thursday – at least in the surf, according to the Surfline cams – so it should not be long before the grounds are covered by drifting boats.
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Capt. Bob Bogan on the Gambler did try the Klondike last weekend and reported steady short action at the rail with a decent amount of keepers. The pool fish for Saturday’s trip was 3 ½ pounds.
The Manasquan River is yielding some pretty big fluke, though some days it’s hard to get enough of them to satisfy a large group. Greg Bogan at Brielle Bait & Tackle said they weighed fish of 6 ½ and 8 pounds from anglers fishing the channels there. Capt. Jerry Postorino on the Fish Monger II was out on those grounds Tuesday and said they scraped together a baker’s dozen of keepers to go with the short action.
Capt. Tom Buban on the Atlantic Star continues to work the ground in Sandy Hook Bay for fluke. He’s had anglers come out for both the morning and afternoon and between the two trips combine to catch their three-fish daily fluke limit.
The bluefish have been hitting in several locales. Sean Smida of Toms River, and his family were on them Wednesday early evening chucking yellow poppers in the surf in the Seaside area, according to Grumpy’s Bait & Tackle. The tackle shop weighed in a 5 ¾-pound bluefish from Jeff Camerato who was fishing Barnegat Bay with poppers. Shell E. Caris and friends had themselves on day on the bay with the blues to start the week. They were fishing in knee high water in waders and some non-stop action for a little while.
The blues are still swimming around Treasure Island in the Manasquan River. Bogan said that has been more of an afternoon to early evening bite as of late.
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Striped bass are hitting in the surf up and down the coast. The best action may still tilt toward the Ocean County barrier islands but fishermen up in the Monmouth Beach to Sandy Hook stretch of sand had fish to brag about this week on pencil poppers.
When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ fishing: Spring sea bass fishery opens with a bang
