The action this week has been red hot. The Garden State is producing some of the best winter fishing in years. With water temperatures staying steady offshore, party boats are filling coolers with a mixed bounty of fish.
The Jamaica II fromBrielle did just that. Capt. Steve and Capt. Ryan fished another solid week on their 12-hour offshore wreck trips. Anglers did very well – porgies, pollock, cod, ling, sea bass and hake in numbers. Capt. Steve also found a good number of keeper cod on the last two trips.
This week’s highlights were Terry Long from Mohrsville, Pa., with a 23-pound pollock; Darryl Smith from Norristown, Pa., with 40 jumbo porgies, sea bass and amonkfish; Mark Myricks of Jersey City with a limit of sea bass, 30 porgies and 12 ling;Gregory Humbert of Staten Island, N.Y., with a 12-poundwhite hake;Alex Pisani fromToms River with a 9-pound pollock along with a combo of 33 porgies, sea bass and ling; Eric Crane ofBrooklyn,N.Y.,with a pool-winning 16-pound cod; Frank and George Elsishans with a total of 41 ling and five cod, and George also caught a 9 ½-pound blackfish; Gene Zubricki of Old Bridge caught 23 ling and three cod; and Bill Conarty of Philadelphia caught 19 ling, three cod and two pollock.
The Jamaica continues to be a sure bet this time of year, and she will continue to sail offshore through April.
The Gambler from Point Pleasant has also joined in the action, with anglers putting big numbers of ling, sea bass porgies and cod in their coolers. Ling have been bigger than usual in recent years, and the Gambler is proving just that, with everyone taking home dinner.
Capt. Jimmy Elliot on theMiss Belmar Princess found some solid schools of mackerel and picked away. Anglers filled coolers with jumbo mackerel – two, three, four and five at a time. Capt. Jimmy expects these fish to hang around for a while. With a mild week ahead, you can bet that Capt. Jimmy will be on them. If you never went fishing for mackerel, don’t miss out. Now is the time. Miss Belmar Princess needs no introduction; she sails at 7:30 a.m. daily.
Did you know?
A record striped bass has been caught. Fred Barnes from Chesapeake, Va., caught a 73-pound bass off Cape Henry, Va., onWednesday. Fred joins the elite list alongside Albert McReynolds, who landed a 78-pound monster off a jetty in Atlantic City back in 1982. Congratulations to Fred Barnes. A fish like that can be worth north of a million dollars in endorsements. To see a video of the latest giant, log on to www.NJSaltwaterfisherman.com. To follow world-record catches and potential records, log on to www.IGFA.org.