While most charter and party boats have been in drydock or inactive for much of the winter, the Starlight Fleet’s Atlantic Star, sailing out of Wildwood Crest, has been making up to three offshore trips per week for big seabass and other denizens of offshore waters. These 18 hour trips are not for the feint of heart. They leave the dock at 2:00 AM and you must make a reservation. The fishing grounds are 50-60 miles offshore, so if you decide to try your luck, dress comfortably and make sure you have good recipes for seabass.
Anglers aboard the Starlight have been rewarded with large seabass, with some limits being caught (25 fish 12″ or greater in size). If you did not hear, last year the Starlight returned from one of their 18 hour marathon offshore trips with a women’s world record seabass on 8 pound test line. Many of the bass this winter are going 6 and 7 pounds. There is no finer seabass fishing than on these trips. A highlight of a recent trip was a 25 pound tilefish! There have also been smaller numbers of pollock, cod, and other interesting fish caught.
With spring coming, the Starlight Fleet (http://www.capemaytimes.com/fishing/starlight.htm) will be fishing for sea bass closer to shore and going out more often. For more info on this fishing and other spring fishing in and around Cape May, check out our other fishing pages for more info (http://www.capemaytimes.com/fishing/default.htm).
The spring striped bass season is about to really kick into gear. Reports of bass working schools of herring and other baitfish have been coming in and it won’t be long before many are being caught. We will update you next week as to how the charter boats are doing.
Take note, there are new tog and fluke regs for 2008.
Blackfish. As of this date, there will be no blackfish (tautog) season in New Jersey in 2008. The season will close on April 1, 2004! That’s right, the feds are closing the season down. Why? The reason is simple. The New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council voted to not reduce the harvest of blackfish for 2008, despite a federal mandate for reductions. In other words, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the group that decides the levels of harvests has concluded that blackfish are being overharvested and that reductions were needed. When the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council voted to not reduce the harvest, a moratorium was imposed.
Does this mean you can’t fish for blackfish in New Jersey after April 1? The answer may not be no, but check with your lawyer before you keep any fish??? Who’s going to enforce the moratorium? Will the NJ DEP agents (wildlife police) do that job for the feds or will the federal authorities have to do that? It is confusing at this point. With that in mind, when was the last time you ran into a conservation officer (federal or state) while you were fishing? In other words, there may be some breaking of the moratorium, although I don’t recommend doing that. I identify these issues not to encourage people to illegally take fish, but to show that there are some real problems with harvest limits and law enforcement in New Jersey. Someday New Jersey anglers will wake up and figure out how to get better enforcement, which will lead to better harvest laws.
Whether or not the season will remain open this year is dependent on the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council voting quickly to impose new harvest regs that are in line with what is acceptable with the feds. Let’s hope they do something in time for spring fishing or the moratorium will kill that! It’s likely that the Marine Fisheries Council will vote on new regs, but whatever they decide don’t look forward to the same regs as last year. They certainly will make it more difficult to bring home a few fish.
Why are blackfish declining in numbers? There are two answers to this, although quite simply, they have been overharvested for years. Blackfish mature very slowly, so it takes several years for them to reach sexual maturity and spawning age. For years, we simply kept fish that had not grown old enough to reproduce. In addition, there has been a consistent and large illegal harvest for many years. Rogue anglers simply take small fish and take more fish than the limit!
Flounder. On the summer flounder (fluke) front, there will be new regs in place this year. The season this year will run from May 24 to September 7, so it will be a short one. While the 8 fish limit still applies, fish have to be 18 inches, so you will need to take larger fish this year.
Based on last year’s good fishing reports for flounder, the larger size limit this year is difficult to understand. Many decent fish were caught last year and it seemed that fishing was better in 2008 as opposed to previous years. So, the catches by South Jersey anglers do not seem to be consistent with the larger size limit. Nevertheless, look forward to returning many fish to the water and taking fewer fish home.
Finally, because you will undoubtedly have to throw more fish back this year, don’t take your frustration out on the fish. Treat them gently while unhooking them and place them gently back in the water. Remember, if you injure them, they won’t be keepers next year!