<b>Staten Island</b>

<b>***Update, Thursday, 1/19:***</b> A few schoolie striped bass could be banked from shore along Staten Island, including right off the shop at the Arthur Kill, said Pat from <b>E-Z Catch Saltwater Traps & Tackle Co</b>. The fishing is catch and release, because striped bass season is closed until March 1, except in the ocean. Dunk clams for bait, and fresh and frozen clams are stocked all winter. Party boat anglers swung aboard ling and cod. E-Z Catch is open through winter from Tuesdays to Thursdays. The store is also a <b><i>premier manufacturer and supplier of saltwater traps</i></b> for wholesale and commercial, including custom building and servicing. See the online <a href="http://www.e-zcatch.com/catalog" target="_blank">catalog of traps</a>. E-Z Catch is also a train store.

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

<b>***Update, Thursday, 1/19:***</b> Blackfish and lots of ling bit, said Jimmy from <b>Julian’s Bait & Tackle</b>. He pummeled all the ling he wanted by 11:30 a.m. on a trip Wednesday, filling a bag to the top with fillets. The trip only made one drop, and the ling weren’t large, were small to medium. Maybe larger ones swam farther offshore in the Mudhole. A few cod were around, and waters were warm for cod. Whether striped bass hit was unknown, because Jimmy was away from work until this morning, when he gave this report on the phone, after being off the previous days. Nights were cold, like 20 degrees, for anglers to fish for stripers from the surf. But they hung stripers the last time Jimmy gave a report from the shop a couple of weeks ago. By then, already few boaters were on the waters to hear reports about stripers from them. Baits including green crabs, white leggers and fresh clams are stocked. “We’re trying to hold on as long as we can,” Jimmy said.

<b>Neptune</b>

Blackfishing was the worst of the year aboard Saturday, Capt. Ralph from <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b> said. The weather was cold and windy, and the fishing was a very slow pick. But individual-reservation trips for blackfish will continue every Saturday, and charters are available for blackfish, offshore cod and Mudhole cod. An individual-rez trip for offshore cod was sailing today, and Ralph will try to give results Tuesday that will be posted here afterward. <b>***Update, Tuesday, 1/17:***</b> From an edited e-mail from Ralph: “Yesterday's offshore trip was a success -- good weather and good fishing. All went home with full fillet bags. Saturday was very windy and cold. The blackfish didn't bite for us. Will be fishing, weather permitting, INDIVIDUAL RESERVATION every Saturday for blackfish, cod and ling. 7 a.m. leave. Green crabs and clams on board. Also available for charters for blackfish, offshore cod and Mudhole cod, ling and blackfish.”

<b>Belmar</b>

<b>***Update, Thursday, 1/19:***</b> Weather the last two days kept the daily mackerel trips from sailing on the party boat <b>Miss Belmar Princess</b>, but today’s trip was fishing when Capt. Alan gave this report over the phone, he said. He heard nothing back yet about results from the crew running the trip, but the fishing was good lately. The macks were smalls and mediums, and the angling was slow on Monday’s trip, when fishing conditions were poor, as the weather began to deteriorate. The Miss Belmar Princess is fishing for mackerel 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

<b>***Update, Thursday, 1/19:***</b> Blackfishing was good aboard, said Capt. Chris from the party boat <b>Big Mohawk</b>. Winds and cold kept blackfishers from turning out in the last days, but Chris hoped enough showed up for today’s trip in better conditions, and expected to sail. The weather looks good for the weekend. Sizeable blackfish were heaved aboard before the weather. The tog to 12 and 15 pounds were whaled on Saturday’s trip. A few ling and cod bit on trips, but the outings concentrated on blackfish. Green crabs are provided for bait, and white leggers are available for sale at considerable savings over shops. The Big Mohawk is blackfishing 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

Some of the anglers aboard Sunday’s trip filled buckets with mackerel, some filled coolers halfway, and some landed only a handful, a report on the party boat <b>Golden Eagle</b>’s Web site said. There was a lot of cabin time, because winds were cold and biting. The first two drifts gave up no mackerel, despite decent readings. The trip pushed farther offshore, and the fishing began to give up a  mix of medium and small macks, and a few large. Sometimes very good shots of the fish turned on, and sometimes the angling picked and plucked. When the trip, with a healthy crowd, left for the fishing grounds to the northeast in the morning, traveling was slow, against 20- to 25-knot north winds, choppy seas and ice building aboard from the spray. The conditions weren’t much better than on Saturday’s trip, and a strong southeast current didn’t help the angling on Saturday. Mackerel catches were slower. The fish were read, but conditions were tough. The drift was so fast that by the time the boat was stopped, and anglers climbed out from the cabin, part of the reading would be gone. A few mackerel were caught. The anglers, a good crowd, stuck it out, fishing the whole trip, “but most … pretty much knew the deal,” the report said. The Golden Eagle is sailing for mackerel 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. <b>***Update, Thursday, 1/19:***</b> Mackerel fishing on Monday’s trip was off, a report on the Golden Eagle’s Web site said. “…after a few good drifts early,” the report said, “things got tough, and the macks just did not want to cooperate.” The trip put in the time and fuel, the report said, but nothing was doing. But mackerel fishing aboard this season was off to a pretty good start, it said, “and there is some good fishing to come.” The boat was expected to return to sailing today, after rough weather kept trips docked after Monday’s trip.

<b>Brielle</b>

A better percentage of bigger ling was squashed on a 12-hour wreck-fishing trip at the Mudhole on Saturday on the party boat <b>Jamaica II</b>, an e-mail from the vessel said. Cod fishing was tried at a couple of snags early in the trip, but few cod, only small ones, bit. Then fishing deeper for ling produced good results. Sandy Annuel, Manhattan, won the pool with an 8-pound cod, and bagged 37 ling. Anglers and their catches also included: Anthony Coluccio, Mount Arlington, 54 ling; Dale Isaacs, Manchester, 44 ling, 1 cod; Tim Keibler, Reigelsville, Pa., 42 ling, 3 cod; John Rulon, Strausburg, Pa., 41 ling, 1 cod; Carl Palestrini, Parlin, 37 ling; and Rob Vallone, Tuckerton, 35 ling. The Jamaica II is wreck-fishing for cod and ling on 12-hour trips at 5 a.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and Sundays and on 14-hour trips at 3 a.m. Saturdays.

<b>Point Pleasant Beach</b>

Trips aboard had been cracking good catches of blackfish, but the angling was tough on deck Saturday, said Capt. Derek from <b>Fisher Price Charters</b>. A screaming southerly tide and lots of winds, preventing the boat from anchoring correctly, were the cause. Derek pulled his boat, the Fisher Price, sailing from Highlands, from the waters for the season some time ago. But he’s now captaining and mating on another boat from Point Pleasant Beach. Trips are blackfishing and, when the weather allows, running farther from shore for ling and cod, at the Mudhole, sometimes playing it by ear to determine which fishing to do. Charters are fishing, and the next open-boat trips might sail Friday to Sunday, if the weather is good. Call Derek to jump aboard the Point Pleasant Beach trips:  732-291-7675 or 732-861-3394.

<b>***Update, Thursday, 1/19:***</b> On the party boat <b>Gambler</b>, sailing for cod and ling daily, more and more cod were showing up every trip, and ling catches were very good, Capt. Bob said. So the cod were beginning to show up, and the number of larger ones should also increase this winter. The cod currently weren’t big, and 8-pounders were usually pool-winners. One angler aboard this weekend landed 10 cod, including 6 keepers, and probably bagged two dozen ling. The ling on trips were mixed sizes from small to 4 pounds. On Monday – the most recent day the boat sailed, because of windy, rough weather, though today’s trip might’ve ran – Bill Byrne iced two dozen ling, a small, keeper cod and an 8-pound purple hake. If the weather stays fair, trips will probably fish into February. The Gambler is sailing for cod and ling 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

<b>***Update, Thursday, 1/19:***</b> Ling, good catches, were scooped aboard the party boat <b>Dauntless</b>, Capt. Butch said. So were a few cod and blackfish, and even a few bluefish, despite the late season for blues. Probably 15 blues were landed on Monday’s trip.  Customers boxed 20 to 40 fish apiece, mostly ling. Plenty of dogfish were a nuisance on a couple of days, and only some appeared on a couple of days. That was probably because commercial boats dragged them up. Once the commercials departed, the dogs returned. Waters were 49 to 50 degrees, relatively warm, remaining the same for a while now, at the depths fished: 130 to 200 feet. No mackerel were hooked, but the boat each year around this time mixes in mackerel fishing, bottom fishing the rest of the day, when the mackerel migration swims close enough to shore. Mackerel lately schooled 40 to 50 miles from shore, a bit too far for the bottom trips on the Dauntless. But Butch hopes the macks move within range, and also hopes larger ones show up. Mackerel reported caught so far were smaller.  The Dauntless is fishing 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily.

<b>Toms River</b>

Striped bass were beached from the surf, despite the late season, said Jeff from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b>. The fish were plucked on lures like Stillwaters and Mambo Minnows, sometimes on jigs like Ava’s. Nothing was heard about boating, including for stripers and blackfish on the ocean. But Jeff had only just returned to the shop on Saturday after being off since the holidays. The shop is open during no set hours this time of season. The doors can be open during likely times for business, like this past Saturday, and are open whenever shop owner Dennis happens to be there, a few times a week. If his truck is in the parking lot, the doors will be open. Frozen, salted clams and all the frozen baits for saltwater, and nightcrawlers for freshwater, are stocked.

<b>Mystic Island</b>

Weather finally felt like January, Scott from <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b> said in a report on the shop’s Web site. Temps were below twenty on Sunday morning, and the lagoon was frozen behind the shop. Reports were scarce, but short striped bass were banked from the surf at Harvey Cedars, on Long Beach Island, at mid week. “North Jersey party boats are still catching,” Scott said. “It’s hard to believe that mackerel and stripers are mentioned in the same sentence.” A few customers bought grass shrimp for white perch fishing on the brackish rivers. Little was heard about results, but lots of fishing for them, not a lot of catching, seemed to be happening. When the fishing is on, “one angler brings two friends the next day and buys twice as much shrimp (and tackle),” Scott said. “That is not happening.” Collins Cove on the Mullica River is the place for the perch in winter. Boaters fish there, and ice anglers will trek there on foot once fishable ice forms. To reach the cove by foot, anglers hike through the pathless woods and meadow in the Port Republic Wildlife Management Area. Someone blazes a trail each year that the rest follow. “I do not know if any anglers have made that effort just yet,” Scott said. Collins Cove can be seen from the Garden State Parkway. The cove was dug in the early 1950s, and the dirt was used to build the parkway. Perch gather in the cove to escape the colder currents of the main Mullica in winter.

<b>Absecon</b>

Not much happened to report, said Capt. Dave from <b>Absecon Bay Sportsman Center</b>. The winter’s coldest weather so far settled in during the weekend, and no customers mentioned fishing, including for striped bass and blackfish. Anglers bought green crabs for blackfish bait the previous weekend, reporting that waters were dirty at the Brigantine Bridge for the angling. That was the last heard about fishing. Curt from the shop, a white perch angler, surely sailed for the slabs on the brackish rivers, but no details were heard. The store is open for no set hours this time of year, so call ahead to confirm. In Guatemala, where Dave’s got a charter business, catches were heard about close to shore. One trip fishing close to shore released a 350-pound black marlin, broke off another black, and saw action with sailfish and a couple of dorado. Seemed like this will be a pretty good winter for angling there. See <a href="http://www.abseconbay.com/abseconbay/main.html" target="_blank">Absecon Bay Sportsman’s Web site</a>for info.

<b>Ocean City</b>

A few boats wreck-fished for tog, scooping up good catches of the blackfish, said Bill from <b>Fin-Atics</b>. Whether striped bass remained in the ocean was unknown, “(but) it’s getting close,” Bill said. The 44- to 45-degree waters could’ve forced them to depart south for the season. Still, they could’ve been around. Nothing else was heard about fishing, and few fished. But fishing lasted longer than expected this season, so Bill had no complaints. Was a good fall. The shop is open Fridays to Sundays, until reopening daily in March. Supplies are full stocked.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

Little was heard about fishing, but blackfish were hammered on the ocean, said Mike from  <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b>. A couple of private boats sailed for them, and a customer showed a photo of a 15-pound blackfish on a party boat. Lots of spiny dogfish supposedly littered the offshore wrecks, but anglers worked through them for catches. Cod were sometimes copped at the wrecks, and a few cod were even heard about from inshore. A 14-pound cod was seen from Ocean City Reef. A few striped bass were reportedly landed, but nothing first-hand was reported about stripers. Green crabs are stocked, and the shop is trying to keep fresh clams on hand. Eels are carried, and so are all the frozen baits. The shop is open a couple of hours in the mornings each weekday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 7 a.m. to 12 noon Sundays. That’s all weather dependant.

<b>Cape May</b>

<b>***Update, Thursday, 1/19:***</b> The blackfish trips aboard Saturday and Sunday sailed on the party boat <b>Porgy IV</b>, and so did one of the trips Monday, because of the holiday, Capt. Paul said. The tog were picked on the trips, and some of the anglers limited out, and some bagged one or two. “But there were fish around the boat,” Paul said, “and were some bites, and some throwbacks.” Anglers who limited included John Riccardi from Williamstown, Bill See from Philly and Dave Thompson from Green Creek. Rudy Barbolini from Morganville won the pool on Sunday with an 8-pounder, one of three keepers he tugged in. The Porgy IV is blackfishing 8 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Forecasts were calling for a wintry mix on Saturday, but trips will sail both days this weekend, weather permitting.

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