NJ Saltwater Fishing Articles

Wire Line Trolling For Stripers

Details: Category: Fishing Articles; Published: Monday, 04 January 2010 04:19; Written by Capt. John A. Cafiero; Hits: 47863

I must admit, catching stripers fishing with wire is one of my least desirable ways to fish for them. It is tiring to haul them in and it's frustrating to deal with the wire not getting kinked. It almost seems like it is cheating in a way. That being said, I still use wire quite often when targeting big stripers. The reason is simple. Wire line is probably the most consistent way to come home with a few nice bass in the cooler. On some days it is the only way that we are able to come home with those tasty fillets.

My customers expect to come back to the dock with fish in the box. It's my job to make sure that happens. The best part of fishing is coming back to the dock with giant bass and a crowd of people around asking, "How did you do?" Having a few monster bass to put up on the dock is a great feeling.
Now some people will say it is not very sporting to catch bass on wire, so they don't even own wire rods. I will be the first to agree. I only bring them for one reason and one reason only. They produce when nothing else is working. So when there is no bird activity and you have run out of lures to toss out there what do you do? When you have searched and searched for bunker pods and they are nowhere in sight, I get out the wire gear. When all else fails trolling is the best way to turn a bad day into a productive one..

Saltwater Fishing Registry in NJ - A Few Thoughts

Details: Category: Fishing Articles; Published: Thursday, 10 December 2009 15:03; Written by Jim Hutchinson; Hits: 33822

Just wanted to clear up a few misconceptions about saltwater licenses and the saltwater registry legislation that was pulled out of Senate last week (but will no doubt reappear again in early 2010). Folks had been emailing me, and thought I'd drop in and post a few thoughts from the Recreational Fishing Alliance.

?IF NEW JERSEY DOESN?T GET A LICENSE, THE FED WILL MANDATE ONE?
The federal government does not require states to implement a saltwater license. The Magnuson-Stevens Act - the law which governs the management of our federal fisheries - was recently reauthorized and includes a new mandate that a phonebook of saltwater anglers to be created in every coastal state; it does not require states to implement a license for funding purposes. This new amendment was included as effort to improve the quality of information generated by the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS), which is the ?fatally flawed? (according to the National Research Council) survey system that federal regulators now use to determine how many fish are harvested by recreational anglers during a single saltwater fishing season.

Currently, MRSS uses coastal phone books as a data source for contacting households at random to conduct harvest surveys on recreational harvest, a grossly inefficient method of data collection. MSA requires that a national saltwater registry of anglers be created, with name and contact information stored in a database for each coastal state in America. Such a program will provide surveyors with the contact information of actual saltwater anglers, and in theory should help improve the harvest information.

A new federal data collection system is currently being devised in conjunction with this coastal registry initiative called the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP), which will utilize the names and numbers of saltwater anglers fishing within each coastal state. Similar to the Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program (HIP) which provides the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with a national registry of duck hunters for select harvest surveys, a similar Fisherman Identification Network (FIN) would provide marine surveyors access to the phone numbers of actual saltwater anglers for actively collecting recreational harvest information. Learn more about the HIP at www.fws.gov/hip.
Online and telephone registration for the new federal registry will begin January 1, 2010. Register online for free at www.countmyfish.noaa.gov or call toll free 888-674-7411. As of 2011, the federal government may impose a charge for registration, which is expected to range from $15 to $25 per angler. It should be noted that the federal government?s registry was supposed to have been in place as of January 1, 2009 in order to improve the effectiveness of reporting in MRFSS.

Turkey Day Striped Bass Fishing

Details: Category: Fishing Articles; Published: Thursday, 26 November 2009 08:13; Written by Rod Houck; Hits: 17686

Chris Marsala, Captain of the Chicken of The Sea, headed out of Shark River Inlet Thursday morning with the his son Ryan, brother-in-law John, and his buddy Frank for an early shot at the fall bass. They broke the inlet before the sun was up and started looking for fish. Chris said "there was a lot of bait and as soon as it cracked light there were bass all over the top". The crew had drop and reel fishing for a solid hour with mostly bass and big blues. As it got later, the blues took over and it became difficult for them to catch the bass. They put six bass in the box from 29-36" and released a bunch more and took some blues for shark baits. Chris said "All of the fish were caught on naked Ava 67s. We were back at the dock by 0900 hrs and I burned less than 10 gallons of fuel. God Bless our troops and keep them in your prayers!!! " See More Pictures Here

Capt Rick, aka Great Bay Junkie, also had a great day out of Little Egg. Rick was limited out with bass to 21.5 lbs by 7:30 this morning. he had a double header that was fun (Solo Trip) Rick said " I was able to land them both but it was interesting to say the least." Rick left them biting and is in good graces with the wifey for being home early.

See More Pictures Here

Governor's Surf Fishing Tournament Results

Details: Category: Fishing Articles; Published: Tuesday, 06 October 2009 12:44; Written by NJ Division of Fish & Game.; Hits: 21617

The day began with a foggy start, but the sun eventually shined on more than 800 anglers who turned out on Sunday, October 4, for the 18th annual Governor's Surf Fishing Tournament . Governor Jon S. Corzine and NJDEP Commissioner Mark N. Mauriello attended as well, greeting participants and their families and friends throughout the morning.

Thirty anglers received awards for prize-winning fish caught off the beautiful beaches of Island Beach State Park, but the grand prize went to Gene Brendel of Nutley, NJ for catching a 32-inch striped bass. Mr. Brendel received a plaque along with two rod and reel combos, and will have his name engraved on the Governor's Cup, which is permanently displayed at the park.

Overall fish length determined the grand prize winner, as well as place winners for each of the species categories. This year there were winning fish tied in length in two categories; tournament rules dictate that the first-caught and checked-in fish places higher. There were categories for children, teen and adult anglers, including sub-categories for male and female anglers.

The event was sponsored by the NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife and Division of Parks and Forestry, the New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, the Jersey Coast Anglers Association, and the New Jersey Beach Buggy Association.

More than $120,000 has been raised since the inception of the tournament for conservation projects and improved beach access.

A complete list of winners follows: