2011 summary
Well it is that time of year where a good re-cap for 2011 is in order. First I would like to thank everyone for your support of the store. It was a pretty good year considering the way the economy has been. I think we all felt it's effects in one way or another. Everybody I talked too has said they are not doing a lot of things including fishing because of gas prices and the prices of everything else going up. I also had a lot of customers who lost jobs too and that doesn't help. We had some crazy weather this year. Lots of snow and rain, hell we even had an earthquake and hurricane all in the same week. I have lived in NJ all my life and can never remember an earthquake I felt shake a building before. The weather didn't help the fishing either. So now on to the good things in life, yes I mean fishing.

Trout season wasn't so good because we had a ton of rain in April. It did pickup some but didn't really ever do any good. The fall and winter stocking went really well for those who fished it.

The other species of freshwater fish also got off to a very slow start because of the rain and the cooler temps we had this spring and the snow in April. However it did get into high gear about the end of June but then the rainy summer we had didn't help any either.

As for saltwater the spring was kinda strange, in that the ocean water temp in March was in the low 40's but climbed up to the upper 40's by the middle of the month. March also saw the first striper of the year out of the bay on the opening day of the season. It was caught out of Barnegat Bay and not Graveling Point (sorry guys). The rest of the bay season went strong with stripers, fluke, and blowfish along with a bunch of other species of fish. Crabbing went off the charts this year as well.

Stripers seem to hit the beaches around the middle of April with some keepers in the mix. May opened fluke season and some beaches lit up with fluke but then it slowed and the fluke season from the surf just wasn't too good. June brought the bunker in and the bigger stripers came with them. A bunch of 30 and 40 lbers were caught by live lining. By mid June the water temps were already in the 70's and the stripers had moved on but the brown shark fishing had kicked in. A lot of people had a blast fishing them from the surf. The kingfishing was only so so this year from the surf so the summer was pretty slow. Water temps remained high until October but then it happened. Water temps started to drop and some stripers were being caught.

As it went on into November the temps dropped even more and more stripers showed up. Then came the Thanksgiving weekend. WOW is all I can say. Those four days will go down in history as one of the best years for stripers off the surf ever. Reports of people catching 30 to 50 stripers a day. Only one thing, not many big ones. Most were shorts or dinner sized stripers in the 28 to 35 inch range. Then you have the boaters who were also in on it. Those four days the ocean off of IBSP looked like a Wal-Mart parking lot on Black Friday. To this day 12/22/2011 they are still catching stripers but not in good numbers. I have surfed fished for 46 years now and can not remember a good striper bite this late into the year.

So as we move into 2012 I can not even tell you what is in store for the up coming fishing season. I will tell you if you are going to have a custom rod built, rods or reels repaired you better think about it in the coming months as they are already coming in and the longer you wait to do it the longer you will wait until you get it back. Also don't forget our first rod building class for the new year is Jan 9 & 10 so you may want to sign up now while we still have room. We are also going to try and have classes in February and March as well.

So in closing I wish you the happiest of holidays and the very best in the New Year.
Tight Lines,
Fred
Saltwater & Jetty Report:

12/23/2011
7:20AM
Water temp this morning is 52. If you want some fish for your holiday dinner, grab that rod and get to the beach and catch yourself a nice striper. Yeah there are still some stripers being caught. LBI had a few caught from the north end of the island on metals and teasers. IBSP and Seaside area had some caught on metals, teasers, and needlefish. Even with the light turn out of people fishing for stripers to be caught like this late in the year is great.

12/22/2011
UPDATE 2:00PM
Few stripers from the north end of LBI on metals this morning. IBSP from the Miracle Mile down to around area A12 has been producing stripers on metals and teasers as well.

7:20AM
Welcome to the first day of spring opps I meant winter. It sure does feel like spring and not winter. Even the water temps are more like spring then winter. Water temp is 51.1 this morning. Few stripers were caught from the north end of LBI yesterday on metals and teasers. No word from any other places on the island. IBSP and the Seaside area also had stripers being caught on thin metals and teasers even thou there were very few fishing because of the weather. So it looks like if you want a striper for your holiday dinner, just grab that rod and go fishing.

Offshore wreck fishing has been picking up with the water temps finally dropping some. Sea bass is picking up and some good sized ones are being caught. Also some cod, pollock, and ling are being caught. Inshore is producing some good blackfish when you can get out. A few brave souls did get out and had stripers and blues off of Long Branch. Also a pretty hot bite for stripers around the Shrewsbury Rocks when jigging.

12/21/2011
7:20AM
Water temp is 49.1. Not too many fishing the beaches now and the rain made it even worse yesterday. Few out fishing LBI on the north end with some luck. Needlefish was the ticket. IBSP and Seaside did have a few hit the beach yesterday. Some stripers were being caught on AVAs, needlefish, and clams. Looks like today will be a wash because of the weather. But then again this year when it rains the fishing has been pretty good.

Party boats had stripers just south of the Manasquan Inlet the past couple of days. The Shrewsbury Rocks area has had a mix of bluefish and stripers. It has been mostly blues. This is kinda funny because blues should have been long gone to the south already. Blackfishing has been doing good with some of them going up to 8lbs.


2011 summary
Well it is that time of year where a good re-cap for 2011 is in order. First I would like to thank everyone for your support of the store. It was a pretty good year considering the way the economy has been. I think we all felt it's effects in one way or another. Everybody I talked too has said they are not doing a lot of things including fishing because of gas prices and the prices of everything else going up. I also had a lot of customers who lost jobs too and that doesn't help. We had some crazy weather this year. Lots of snow and rain, hell we even had an earthquake and hurricane all in the same week. I have lived in NJ all my life and can never remember an earthquake I felt shake a building before. The weather didn't help the fishing either. So now on to the good things in life, yes I mean fishing.

Trout season wasn't so good because we had a ton of rain in April. It did pickup some but didn't really ever do any good. The fall and winter stocking went really well for those who fished it.

The other species of freshwater fish also got off to a very slow start because of the rain and the cooler temps we had this spring and the snow in April. However it did get into high gear about the end of June but then the rainy summer we had didn't help any either.

As for saltwater the spring was kinda strange, in that the ocean water temp in March was in the low 40's but climbed up to the upper 40's by the middle of the month. March also saw the first striper of the year out of the bay on the opening day of the season. It was caught out of Barnegat Bay and not Graveling Point (sorry guys). The rest of the bay season went strong with stripers, fluke, and blowfish along with a bunch of other species of fish. Crabbing went off the charts this year as well.

Stripers seem to hit the beaches around the middle of April with some keepers in the mix. May opened fluke season and some beaches lit up with fluke but then it slowed and the fluke season from the surf just wasn't too good. June brought the bunker in and the bigger stripers came with them. A bunch of 30 and 40 lbers were caught by live lining. By mid June the water temps were already in the 70's and the stripers had moved on but the brown shark fishing had kicked in. A lot of people had a blast fishing them from the surf. The kingfishing was only so so this year from the surf so the summer was pretty slow. Water temps remained high until October but then it happened. Water temps started to drop and some stripers were being caught.

As it went on into November the temps dropped even more and more stripers showed up. Then came the Thanksgiving weekend. WOW is all I can say. Those four days will go down in history as one of the best years for stripers off the surf ever. Reports of people catching 30 to 50 stripers a day. Only one thing, not many big ones. Most were shorts or dinner sized stripers in the 28 to 35 inch range. Then you have the boaters who were also in on it. Those four days the ocean off of IBSP looked like a Wal-Mart parking lot on Black Friday. To this day 12/22/2011 they are still catching stripers but not in good numbers. I have surfed fished for 46 years now and can not remember a good striper bite this late into the year.

So as we move into 2012 I can not even tell you what is in store for the up coming fishing season. I will tell you if you are going to have a custom rod built, rods or reels repaired you better think about it in the coming months as they are already coming in and the longer you wait to do it the longer you will wait until you get it back. Also don't forget our first rod building class for the new year is Jan 9 & 10 so you may want to sign up now while we still have room. We are also going to try and have classes in February and March as well.

So in closing I wish you the happiest of holidays and the very best in the New Year.
Tight Lines,
Fred
Saltwater & Jetty Report:

12/23/2011
7:20AM
Water temp this morning is 52. If you want some fish for your holiday dinner, grab that rod and get to the beach and catch yourself a nice striper. Yeah there are still some stripers being caught. LBI had a few caught from the north end of the island on metals and teasers. IBSP and Seaside area had some caught on metals, teasers, and needlefish. Even with the light turn out of people fishing for stripers to be caught like this late in the year is great.

12/22/2011
UPDATE 2:00PM
Few stripers from the north end of LBI on metals this morning. IBSP from the Miracle Mile down to around area A12 has been producing stripers on metals and teasers as well.

7:20AM
Welcome to the first day of spring opps I meant winter. It sure does feel like spring and not winter. Even the water temps are more like spring then winter. Water temp is 51.1 this morning. Few stripers were caught from the north end of LBI yesterday on metals and teasers. No word from any other places on the island. IBSP and the Seaside area also had stripers being caught on thin metals and teasers even thou there were very few fishing because of the weather. So it looks like if you want a striper for your holiday dinner, just grab that rod and go fishing.

Offshore wreck fishing has been picking up with the water temps finally dropping some. Sea bass is picking up and some good sized ones are being caught. Also some cod, pollock, and ling are being caught. Inshore is producing some good blackfish when you can get out. A few brave souls did get out and had stripers and blues off of Long Branch. Also a pretty hot bite for stripers around the Shrewsbury Rocks when jigging.

12/21/2011
7:20AM
Water temp is 49.1. Not too many fishing the beaches now and the rain made it even worse yesterday. Few out fishing LBI on the north end with some luck. Needlefish was the ticket. IBSP and Seaside did have a few hit the beach yesterday. Some stripers were being caught on AVAs, needlefish, and clams. Looks like today will be a wash because of the weather. But then again this year when it rains the fishing has been pretty good.

Party boats had stripers just south of the Manasquan Inlet the past couple of days. The Shrewsbury Rocks area has had a mix of bluefish and stripers. It has been mostly blues. This is kinda funny because blues should have been long gone to the south already. Blackfishing has been doing good with some of them going up to 8lbs.


Bay Report:

12/23/2011
Did have a couple of reports from a few who fished Barnegat Bay and they were not good. Basically nothing was caught.

12/22/2011
Bays were quiet yesterday most likely due to the weather.

12/21/2011
No one fishing the bays at all. These reports will be hard to come by so there maybe no posts here after today.

12/20/2011
Well I am now going to say the bay season for stripers is over, well at least people fishing for them is. No word at all from any place now. Just have to wait a little over three months for it all to start again.

Fresh Water Report:

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12/23/2011
Great day and some went fishing. Had a few reports that bass and pickerel were caught. Only thing is the reports didn't tell me where anybody was fishing.

12/22/2011
No one fishing because of the rain.

12/21/2011
Yesterday was nice temp wise but the weather kept everyone home. Looks like today is a wash as well and of course most are not fishing now.

12/20/2011
Did hear from some that are fishing muskie in Lake Mercer, they are catching them. Most are using either big spinners or live bait. Most of the muskie are in the 30 to 35 inch range but some are over 40 inches.

Fisherman Fred's
2222 State Highway 33
Hamilton, NJ 08690
Phone: 609-570-8035
Fax: 609-570-8036
http://www.fishermanfreds.com