“The big wait”-Fishing report-03-15-10-By Bob Misak
Well, the recreational season is expectedly off to a slow start, especially with a week of rain to help it stay slow. Oyster Creek is giving up plenty of short bass with an occasional keeper being yanked up, and believe it or not, guys are slamming bluefish up to 5 lbs. off the bridge! Since there isn’t a real huge supply of bait around yet, most guys are using clam baits for both bass and the bluefish. Those anglers that got out on these past few cloudy days have done great on the shorty stripers, with rattletraps and finesse tipped jig heads.
The flounder season comes in on March 23rd, and the limit will be 2 fish per day. If you get the kids and the wife and the dog (oh no, the dog doesn’t count as a limit) you’ll be able to at least get a half dozen fish in the boat for dinner. I’ve heard guys tell me that they aren’t going to bother, but cabin fever brings out the best in folks!
The Toms River is also yielding some stripers off the Yacht dock, and there are some nice sized perch coming out of the river at dusk. The next few days will be pleasant and warm, and I expect anglers to be all over getting some of that sun, now that we have longer evenings. Murphy’s Hook House has some big blood worms, as does Roger over at Fish Bonz in Lacey. The shop will be opening on April 1st, and will be prepared for the “mini” tog season with green crabs, and the remainder of the flounder season with blood worms.
Let us not forget the new recreational angler’s salt water registry. This registry is not law, but most hard core anglers who fish 3 miles off shore or more are signing up for this. The response has been phenomenal, and I urge all hard core fishermen to participate. The number is 1-888-6747-411 or log onto the web at www.countmyfish.noaa.gov . The boys up top are trying to make sense of things by actually getting a head count on the guys that are out there fishing, and it can only help us. The limits are being cut day by day, and I guess co-operation by all is needed at this point. The head boats are taking a smashing with the regs so tight, and I’ve actually heard that some are up for sale, which is unusual at the Jersey shore. So call up and sign up, we as a whole may see a nice surprise; the “raising” of a limit for a change.
Anyway, I fished Oyster Creek a few times with my son Bob Jr. and a couple guys, and we caught some decent toss-back stripers with the biggest being about 25 inches. The sea trout that have been caught in the creek in past years aren’t there in 2010, probably due to the fact that Florida had a Giant cold-water fish kill, and thousands of sea trout were killed off, along with a load of other fish, like groupers and redfish and such. Aah, enough of that bologna, watch for the perch fishing to pick up, and I’ll see you at the flounder grounds next week! Good luck and great fishing to everyone.

Barnegat Light Bait and Tackle
1501 Bayview Ave.
Barnegat Light, NJ
(609) 494-4566
Website http://www.barnegatlightbaitandtackle.com
Email info@barnegatlightbaitandtackle.com