Anglers prepare for striped bass, winter flounder openers

This is the Hook, Line and Sinker aggregate page. Scroll down for videos and links to earlier reports. Catch a fish we should know about? Email Dan Radel at dradel@gannettnj.com or call 732-643-4072.

In the past, the winter flounder season-opening meant a crowd of fishermen in tin boats converging on the Mantoloking Bridge to shake up the bottom for some mud backs.

If you're not familiar with the spot, it's in northern Barnegat Bay and one of the first spots fishermen look in March for winter flounder. Every bay has its go-to flounder spots.

The fish will surely be there when the season opens Thursday but nowadays, it's hard to drum up enough interest to pay for gas and bait for two winter flounder, the current bag limit.

John Bogan at Brielle Bait and Tackle has the store stocked with bloodworms and clams and is getting a sandworm delivery. He said foot traffic has picked up in the last week, but that was due to the trout biting in Spring Lake.

Still, he expects some fishermen will try for either flounder or striped bass, which also opens on Thursday and is prepared for a little run from fishermen buying bait.

"Weatherwise, it's not looking too good for the opener. I think we're supposed to get rain but after that, it looks like some 40 degree days," said Bogan. "If someone catches a bass in the Point Canal or a flounder in Shark River, it will get people moving."

Perch fishermen have been catching and releasing a few small stripers already in areas like the Toms River and Mullica River. Those fish have been hitting at night and on bloodworms.

Pollock win boat contest

A pair of pollock won the boat pool on the 125-foot Jamaica party boat's offshore trip on Saturday.

Captain Howard Bogan said the fish weighed 17 and 12 pounds and were several pollock and codfish that his fares landed off the deepwater wrecks.

By far, the porgies were the most numerous, with anglers catching as many as 30 fish. The porgy fishing tapered off a little from limit catches that had been the norm the last two trips the boat made.

It does not matter because the angling season for porgies closes on March 1.

Closer inshore, Captain William Egerter of the Dauntless party boat is just scraping by with nominal catches in the Mud Hole or up on the reefs.

"There are a few ling and cod being caught, with action slower than we'd like. We are still putting in the effort every day." said Egerter.

Feb. 23: $10,000 in oysters rescued from Ocean County bay

It took a team equipped with sonar and grappling hooks, but the Salt Meadow Oyster Farm's oysters are back in their leases.

January's freeze nearly cost the aquaculture co. $10,000 when the ice dragged off 75 of the companies oyster-filled cages.

"It would have been a significant loss," said Matt Hender, who along with Matt Gregg, started the oyster business four years ago.

The co. farm raises oysters in Rose Cove, a little peninsula in Little Egg Harbor bay in southern Ocean County where the co. has a pair of leases.

The oysters are raised from seed in cages until they reach market size. When the ice thawed the cages were dragged out of the cove into deeper water, where their buoy lines were no longer visible on the surface.

Related: Fish rescued from death in Pt. Beach lake could be that of old legend

The oyster gear was carried a half-mile from Rose Cove.

"The buoys are on a five-foot line. The ice took them to eight feet of water," said Hender.

Hender called Steve Evert, Stockton University's marine field station manager, for help. Evert has a grant from NOAA to do marine debris removal using sonar. See the images in the above video.

"I was out a week later to survey the entire area for NOAA. There were some lost crab pots in the area and that's where we found their big pile of gear," said Evert.

Commercial crabbers Karen And Warren Unkert assisted with grappling hooks that were used to drag the bottom to recover the cages.

Feb. 20 Report: White perch biting in Mullica River

It's always good to hear that the white perch are starting to bite.

We are just a mere 10 days from the start of the 2018 striper season but in spots like Mullica River and Toms River, the perch usually start to eat first. The pattern is holding true this year.

Mary Ann at Chestnut Neck Boatyard in Port Republic said anglers on Mullica River are reeling in perch upriver in the area of Swan Bay Wildlife Management Area. The spot is west of the Garden State Parkway.

Anglers are accessing the river by kayak and enticing the fish with shrimp and bloodworms. There has been some very short striped bass mixed in with the perch.

After a very cold start, winter has definitely lessened its grip and this week's forecasted warm temperatures, which could reach the upper 60s, will start inching the water temperature in the right direction for bass.

More: N.J. fishermen will likely see a longer 2018 fluke season

The rule of thumb is the water needs to be about 45 degrees to wake up the striper's metabolism.

The warmer temps may have triggered the trout to go on the feed at Spring Lake towards the end of last week. Gene Murphy said a couple of his family members landed about half-dozen trout during a mid-afternoon bite at the lake last Thursday.

His wife Virginia Murphy pulled in a golden trout that was in the neighborhood of three to four pounds.

ICE FISHING SEASON ENDS

While the local ponds have long thawed, the lakes in the northern highlands region of the state held their ice cover until only a few days ago.

Laurie Murphy at Dow's Bait and Tackle at Lake Hopatcong announced Sunday that their ice season has come to a close.

"Although there is still about 4 to 5 inches of ice covering most parts of the lake, shorelines have opened up and you can put the spud bar thru in 2 shots," said Murphy.

More: New fish trade starts between Jersey Shore and South Philly

For the non-ice fishermen among us, the spud bar is a tapered piece of steel four to five-foot-long that is used to test the ice or open, and in some cases, reopen holes.

The custom is, if the ice opens after a couple taps, it's not safe to walk on.

Murphy said the warmer temps and rain forecasted this week should finish off the ice. She said a handful of anglers did ice fish Saturday after the freezing temps the night before created enough solid cover.

She said they landed several pickerel and perch in the shallower water and jigged some nice walleye out of the deeper water off Chestnut Point.

OFFSHORE REPORT

Captain Howard Bogan Jr. of the 125-foot Jamaica party boat said the boat sailed to the offshore wrecks on Saturday. The catch was another pretty good one.

His fares reeled in a few pollock up to 10 pounds, ling, and lots of "jumbo" sized porgies. The porgies kept everyone busy with landings of 30 to 50 fish the norm.

Dan Radel: Twitter@danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com