Page 16 - Phil Sciortino News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

April 29, 2021 Connor Thompson from Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle in Seaside Park got this big blue in the local surf on Wednesday. Big bluefish are back on the menu. The long and lean racer blues showed up in Raritan Bay, the Shark and Manasquan rivers and in the surf starting on Tuesday. Add these tackle busters to the plentiful striped bass in the bays and rivers and good freshwater fishing and you’ve got a solid spring fishery. Northern New Jersey Fishing Report Rick Hebert at Tackle World in Rochelle Park said the trout fishing remains good in the streams in his neck of the woods includi...

Spring fishing is gathering steam. Trout fishing has been good since opening day in rivers, lakes and streams and anglers are catching pre-spawn bass, crappie, pike and pickerel. The strong Raritan Bay bass fishing continues with a new body of bigger fish moving in over the last few days. And the striper bite is starting to pick up in the beaches with bait and artificials. The bottom fishing isn’t bad either with cod, blackfish and ling coming over the rails of private and party boats. Rick Hebert at Tackle World said there’s a bit of everything going on right now.

Nothing like a few days of warm weather to get things going. A couple of sunny days lit up the bass bite in the Toms River and Barnegat Bay and even brought a few keeper flounder out of the mud in the Shark River. Stripers are also hitting along the Raritan Bay beaches on bloodworms and small plugs. There’s been better action in freshwater as well as panfish, pickerel and largemouth bass are being caught in local ponds and lakes. Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet said short and keeper bass have been caught on blood and sandworms in Leonardo, South Amboy, Cliffwood Beach and U...

It didn’t take long. Striped bass season opened on Monday and initial reports were pretty good with   keepers caught in Raritan Bay and the rivers down south. There were plenty of shorts caught and released as well.   Reports also circulated of a few winter flounder caught by the Mantoloking Bridge and in Belmar. Granted, the bite is far from hot, but we’re off to a good start. Warmer, sunny days are in the forecast and that will only help the cause. The Tackle Box in Hazlet posted this photo of Tommy Karindrakas of Long Branch with his opening day striper caught in Raritan Bay.

By all accounts, tog fishing remains a bit of a slog. There are days when the weather and blackfish cooperate and anglers who put in the time and effort are rewarded. Unfortunately, there haven’t been a whole lot of those days. The majority of the blackfishing is a pick and there isn’t much else to fish for right now.  Offshore cod, ling and porgy trips have been hampered by bad weather and finicky fish. Freshwater anglers are finding some bass and crappie in local ponds and lakes but even that has slowed down. There is a promise of ice in the next week that has hardwater folks excited.