<b>Belmar</b>

<b>***Update, Thursday, 1/11:***</b> The party boat <b>Big Mohawk</b> blackfished Saturday and Sunday on the ocean, and the angling was pretty good on the first trip, and not good on the second, Capt. Chris said. Rough weather kept fishing docked since aboard, and the boat will blackfish next when the weather breaks. The trips are slated for 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, and green crabs will be provided, and white leggers will be available for sale on deck.

Great fishing for herring, with mackerel mixed in, was pounded Sunday from the ocean on the <b>Golden Eagle</b>, a report on the party boat’s website said. “Full coolers of herring,” it said, and decent herring fishing was whacked on a trip Saturday aboard. “We did have (a) pick at the mackerel,” it said. Weather looks like it’ll keep the boat docked the rest of the week. “(We’ll) let you known when the next day of fishing will be,” the report said.

<b>***Update, Thursday, 1/11:***</b> <b>Parker Pete’s Fishing Charters</b> did no fishing since the blizzard on January 23, Capt. Pete wrote in an email. Winter was mild until then, and blackfish bit well aboard, until the trips stopped. No more trips might fish until spring, but the crew is prepping the vessel for the coming fishing season, doing fluke seminars and exhibiting at outdoor shows. Catch one of the fluke seminars at 12 noon Saturday, February 20, at the New Jersey Boat Show & Expo in Edison. Visit Parker Pete’s exhibits at the Greater Philadelphia Outdoor Sportshow from February 25 through 28 in Oaks, Pa., and the Saltwater Fishing Expo from March 18 through 20 in Somerset, N.J. Charters and individual spaces on charters will be booked at all these events. If you don’t have enough anglers for a charter, plenty of individual spaces are available with charters who would like more anglers. Striped bass trips will be some of the first fishing this coming fishing season aboard, from mid-May through June or earlier, depending on when the migration arrives. Fluke and bottom-fishing will sail in spring and summer. A new family trip will be offered this year: a 4-1/2-hour cruise and fishing trip late in the day through sunset. Families have often requested a shorter trip, and these will be available at a discounted rate from the usual, longer charter. The focus will be to get the kids on the water to enjoy a sail up and down the coast, fishing for fluke, sea bass, bluefish or whatever bites. Pack food and drinks, sit back, relax “and fish the sunset away,” Pete wrote.

<b>Brielle</b>

<b>***Update, Thursday, 1/11:***</b> Some cod, pollock, ling and a few mackerel were scooped from the ocean on the most recent trips on the party boat <b>Jamaica II</b>, Capt. Ryan wrote in an email. Getting the weather to sail was difficult recently, but the boat will keep fishing. Bill Watson from Lansdale, Pa., won a recent pool with a 19-pound pollock and also bagged another pollock, two cod and five ling. Carl Jameson from Philadelphia’s catch on a trip were three cod, two pollock and four ling. Trips are fishing for cod and ling at 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays and Wednesdays and 3 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. One of the trips will also fish 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Monday, Presidents’ Day.

A few blackfish bit at wrecks to the south, said Eric from <b>The Reel Seat</b>. The angling seemed to be slowing down, but wrecks toward Seaside Heights or Seaside Park, for example, gave up a few of the fish from 90- to 100-foot depths. Cod and ling fishing was fair at best or no great shakes but turned up some of the catches. The Reel Seat is open Thursdays through Sundays.

<b>Point Pleasant Beach</b>

Was a great weekend to be on the ocean, Capt. Matt from the <b>Norma-K III</b> wrote in a report on the party boat’s website. Weather was beautiful, and blackfishing was slow on a trip Saturday but much better on a trip Sunday aboard. On Saturday’s trip, a few blackfish were decked, a few cod were mixed in, and conger eels “were a real pain,” he said. A 7-pound blackfish won the pool, and on Sunday’s trip, blackfishing was nothing fast and furious, but good-sized were hooked around the boat. A 16-pounder won the pool, and a 12-pound blackfish was next biggest. Quite a few 4- to 8-pounders were bagged, and high hooks limited out. Some anglers bagged one to three, “and a few had (a) tough day overall,” he said. The boat will now fish on weekends, after fishing daily previously. The Norma-K III is blackfishing 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday. One of the trips will also fish on Presidents’ Day next Monday.

<b>Absecon</b>

A few blackfish landed were heard about second-hand, said Capt. Dave from <b>Absecon Bay Sportsman Center</b>. A handful of green crabs are stocked for bait for the tautog, and sometimes anglers telephoned to ask about the bait. But none stopped by to pick up the green crabs. A couple of customers stopped in, like one who bought a rod and reel for a gift. Plenty of tackle is stocked, and Dave’s unsure whether more live bait will be stocked in the next weeks, but all frozen bait is carried. All bait will be stocked beginning March 1, and full-time hours will begin at the store then. Dave is usually at the shop currently, but telephone ahead to confirm. He holds no set hours this time of year. Fishing was great, as usual, even better than usual, at Dave’s  <a href=" http://www.abseconbay.com/fishguatemalaparlamasportfishing.html" target="_blank">Guatemala charters</a> business.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

Some of the traveling trips to the Florida Keys fished this weekend aboard, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b>. The anglers, Dan Rath and Skip Metz, landed a tarpon and had shots at several other tarpon. They also reeled in lemon sharks and bonnethead sharks to 50 pounds, mutton snappers, jacks, groupers, a bonefish and more. The fishing, on Florida Bay, was good, and shrimp on jigheads were tossed to the tarpon. Free-lined shrimp were cast to the sharks, on the flats. Jigs with shrimp or Gulps were thrown to the rest of the catches. Wind was severe on Sunday, but the anglers were able to fish, and that’s one of the good things about the trips. The Keys offer someplace to fish no matter the weather, from the bay to the ocean side to the Everglades on the mainland. Weather was good Saturday, with calmer wind, clear skies and 74-degree air temperature. The annual charters are offered each winter aboard, mostly on weekends. Anglers can arrive on a Friday evening, fish all day Saturday and part of Sunday, return on Sunday evening, and be back to work on Monday. Or they can fish on a different schedule. The trips can be like a mini vacation. See <a href=" http://www.captainjoehughes.com/page3.html" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s traveling charters Web page</a>. Keep up with Joe’s fishing on <a href="http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s Blog</a>.

<b>Avalon</b>

Capt. Jim and <b>Fins and Feathers Outfitters</b> is exhibiting at the Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pa., known as the Harrisburg show, through Sunday at booth 5129, he said. The show was fantastic so far, he said, and lots of attendees visited. The show began Saturday, and before then, Jim closed out Pennsylvania’s Canadian goose hunting season with a hunt for the birds he guided in Pennsylvania. The hunters limited out on the geese on the trip, snowmobiling to the fields across 32 inches of snow. Once the show ends, he’ll guide snow goose hunting during New Jersey’s season for them that lasts from February 15 through April 5. Fins offers a variety of outdoor adventures, including saltwater fishing from New Jersey, duck and goose hunting in New Jersey and surrounding states, salmon and steelhead fishing on upstate New York’s Salmon River from Jim’s nearby lodge, snowmobiling from the lodge, and fly-fishing for trout on Pennsylvania’s trout streams like the Yellow Breeches.   

<b>Cape May</b>

<b>***Update, Thursday, 1/11:***</b> Blackfishing sailed Saturday on the party boat <b>Porgy IV</b> on the ocean, and the catch was lousy, Capt. Paul said. So fishing will go on break aboard and will resume on April 1, sailing for blackfish again. Blackfish season will be opened beginning that day, after being closed throughout March. Saturday was a “slick-calm day,” he said, and the anchor couldn’t be kept tight. But the bottom line was that blackfish weren’t caught on the trip, he said. A keeper and some throwbacks were landed. Anglers wanted to blackfish Sunday aboard, but that wouldn’t have been worthwhile, Paul decided. The angling seemed to shut down inshore, at least near Cape May. None of the ocean is deep within 20 or 30 miles of the port. Small boats are running around blackfishing when weather’s good like that day. Those anglers didn’t seem to catch much. A party boat from Sea Isle City’s been blackfishing at the Deep Water Reef, Paul thought. But that’s 33 miles from Cape May.

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