Fishing with Dad

New Jersey Senate bill S1122, which would help create a state saltwater registry and allow New Jersey anglers avoid the mandatory $15 fee to sign up for the federal saltwater registry, will be up for discussion this Thursday in the Environment and Energy Committee, chaired by Sen. Robert Smith, D-17th District.

An assembly version of the bill has already been approved and the passage of the Senate bill would clear the way for a state registry that would exempt New Jersey saltwater fishermen from the federal requirement.

The senate bill has been down this road before. Last December, the bill was [...] Continue Reading…

If anyone plans on fishing for Striped Bass next year you need to sign up for the saltwater angler registry. DO it before 1/1/11 if done after this date you will have to pay a ridiculous fee of $15 to fish in our ocean.   They try to hide it as a count my fish initiative.  When will they stop charging us for everything we do.  Click on the following link to register….Count my Fish.  I have only been hearing of a few bass being caught lately.  Not much action going on right now in our waters.

The rains have finally stopped, hopefully the fish will come out to bite on the lures and bait we will be throwing at them for the next few days.  Yesterday was a wash out and not many reports were had.  Too few fishermen were out and about to get a good reading of the fishing.  The next few days will bring us back to reality with the cool weather heading in.  I am actually going to give it a shot tomorrow night and do some night fishing, other than that I can only say that if you have a [...] Continue Reading…

Jack Monteiro at Surf Side Bait and Tackle in Long Branch reported that the amount and variety of bait around is phenomenal. There is mullet, rainfish, sand eels, adult and peanut bunker. Tony Melo of Long Branch netted the biggest mullet Monteiro has ever seen, an 18.6-inch, 2.4-pound specimen. Monteiro said you could throw everything in your bag to match what the blues and bass are feeding on. He weighed in a 25.2-pound striper for Al Watson, Oakhurst he caught on a popper in the Long Branch Surf and a 16.4-pound bass for Jack Kinsey of Long Branch. Monteiro [...] Continue Reading…

I did hear of some action regarding big bluefish in Island Beach State Park.  They were caught on bunker, striped bass are still a little bit of a hit and miss.  Still waiting for the water to cool down a little more to hopefully spark the fishing into a fall blitz.  Today might not be one of the better days to go out and fish, since it will probably be raining all day and the wind will be kicking.  If you are not afraid of the wind and rain, as the fish don’t mind getting wet, you might as [...] Continue Reading…

The striped bass fishing has been kind of slow lately.  The water temperature has dropped to 60 degrees, almost an ideal temperature for a fishing blitz.  Last weekend did have an abundance of striped bass weighed in but I think they were just teasing us.  I personally think we are only a few weeks away from continued striper action.  Bluefish are around also but have also disappeared for the last few days.  Who knows today might be the day you catch the record striper.  It is supposed to be a gorgeous day out today, so if you can go [...] Continue Reading…

Toms River Regional Superintendent Michael J. Ritacco was at the center of one of the costliest public corruption schemes in recent New Jersey history, taking between $1 million and $2 million in bribes from the school district’s insurance broker, federal authorities said Thursday.

In return for the payments, Ritacco, 62, used his influence as superintendent of the state’s fourth-largest school district to ensure that the broker, Francis X. Gartland, was able to maintain his multimillion-dollar insurance contracts with the district, officials said.

Ritacco took part in a “scheme that was staggering in its [...] Continue Reading…

Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den said things had slowed down in the surf the past couple of days, with few anglers reporting much success on the beach. It might have something to do with the moon, he suggested. He did say the party boats out of Belmar are having a field day with the bluefish, with big choppers being caught. He also reported plenty of bait around and he expected things to pick up again quickly. Dave Arbeitman at the Reel Seat in Brielle said boats trolling umbrella rigs with small [...] Continue Reading…

The crew at Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle in Seaside Park tallied quite a number of fish in their log book this week as the fall action is heating up. Most of the fish were blues. Tom Hansen at the shop said they had some silly fishing that started at sundown last Friday and lasted through Sunday with just a couple of lulls. The good fishing continued into the week. The first weigh-ins Friday were bass over 20 pounds on metals, teasers, swimmers and clams. As the weekend continued Saturday they had bass [...] Continue Reading…

LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP — Just south of the last million-dollar home on Long Beach Island, past a parking lot, sits the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, two-and-a-half miles of sand and scrub undisturbed by man but tormented by the ocean.

The undeveloped beaches here offer visitors a glimpse of what this island may have looked like before whalers began settling the island in the late 1600s.

The refuge shares another similarity with the pre-development days: no government-sponsored beach-replenishment projects. While the rest of the 18-mile long island is eligible for sand under a $75 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers [...] Continue Reading…