Danny Gregory News Today

Sea bass season starts off with a bang, fluke and bluefish are chewing in the rivers, and cow stripers take metal lips and live bunker out front.

Bigger bass are taken on plugs in the surf and around Raritan Bay while bluefish keep piling into Barnegat Bay and the rivers; meanwhile, the near-shore giant bluefin bite continues.

Bluefish storm the beaches and inlets, fluke begin to show in the rivers while tog fishing improves on the reefs, and bluefin tuna are caught within 12 miles of shore.

The blackfish bite has picked up significantly while striper fishing is still day to day, and trout season is officially open for the freshwater crowd.

Headboats sneak out for blackfish and cod when conditions permit, while other anglers pursue white perch, crappie and freshwater bass.

Headboats pick through short blackfish for keepers on the deeper wrecks, and largemouth bas and crappie are chewing in the ponds as they begin to thaw out.

The blackfish bite was decent prior to the cold front, but high winds, highs seas and high flows in the rivers have hindered fishing participation.

A few stripers linger in the surf, the ponds are fishing well for bass, perch and crappie, and tautog fishing was productive prior to the windy conditions.

MEBANE – In a marathon meeting with hours of public input, the Mebane City Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve plans for a mammoth travel stop on Trollingwood-Hawfields Road

The blackfish bite has been decent, with fewer, but bigger fish being landed; still, the best fishing this week is in the freshwater ponds and reservoirs.