609-494-5739 Here’s the Fishing Report Update for Monday January 14, 2019. This time of year reports get few and far between; however, some anglers are getting out and fishing. This is what they shared.
One report of information came in from a boater who took a ride on Saturday. “I took advantage of the flat calm conditions and burned some fuel. The water was cold and everywhere was void of life. Bay temp was in high 30’s and the ocean was in the mid to low 40’s.”
Bottom Fishing When Weather Allows
When the weather allows, anglers targeting blackfish are rewarded. Tog fishing continues to be good with the fish still in surprisingly (close) shallow water for the time of year. January fishing is the time to start looking deeper in search of a trophy size blackfish. Full boat limit light be hard to reach now but there’s still plenty of good tog fishing going down.
Some boats are heading offshore trips for porgies, cod and pollock. We recently had customers in to shop gearing up be have not heard any reports back. Unfortunately Black Sea Bass season is closed.
Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Report
On the surf there’s not much going on. The water’s cold and all of the fish have migrated out of our waters. There’s a possibility to find a roaming resident but it’s slim. On his way to the surf, one Ship Bottom based angler stoped into today and picked up a few small lures. He reported, “Last two trips out I got the skunk. One more strike and I’m out till Spring.”
You can still catch small bass in the surf. The key is SLOWWWW so slow there’s slack in your line use suspending lures. I crank once or twice to get it down and then so slow it hurts. I’m guessing it has to do with a reflex because I’ve fished next to a baited rod which they ignore and caught fish after fish.
Tight lines to those who try.