609-494-5739 A lot of progress was made this week coming down off the Worm Moon (Sunday 3/28/21) and entering into April. More anglers are getting out on the water and more fish are being caught. Best of all, bigger fish are showing up. Here’s the Easter Sunday Fishing Report from the crew at Fisherman’s Headquarters. Happy Easter!
Attentional Recreational Anglers: Please be conservation minded all year but especially during this month of April. A lot of the striped bass that are being caught right now are pre-spawn. The recruitment of our stock depends on their survival. If you weren’t aware, Circle hooks are required when fishing for striped bass with bait. Bait is defined as any marine or aquatic organism live or dead, whole or parts thereof. This does not apply to any artificial lure with bait attached.
Striped Bass Fishing
The local fishing in the Long Beach Island has turned up a few notches. Other areas, rivers and bays are full on!
Paul Lindsey was in the shop again today gearing up with things. He reported, “Fishing today was slow for me. I hit the low tide and fished all morning. Had to make a couple moves to find action. When I did it was all micros on paddle tails. Some anglers fishing bait near me were picking at fish too. Thursday and Friday was much better fishing even though the wind was kicking. There was a nice size range for our local area with most fish between 25-28″. This is up from last week. On Friday I managed another keeper size fish that I sent back to grow up. Thursday and Friday it was all on juicy live bloodworms. Your (Fish Heads) bloods have been really nice!” Paul mentioned that on Thursday, an angler fishing clam right next to him caught two black drum. We shared the post that day on our social media. This was the first black drum report we heard.
Funny how we mentioned, “Recently some flies showed so it’s safe to say the spring’s first black drum will be caught any day, if not already. With the full moon here it’s time!” on the last fishing report update post and then BANG!
Hunter Dargay has been putting in a lot of time fishing the local waters of LBI’s bayside and it is paying off for him. Friday he stopped in and got two dozen bloodworms. He then stopped back an hour or so later and got another two dozen worms. Later he shared a solid report, “I lost count at 37, might have caught 40. All were in the 22-25″ range and were released. The wind was cranking and they were on the chew. It was a day of fishing I’ll always remember.”
Anglers fishing the various spots of the Causeway Bridges have been catching good with bait and lures.
Tog Fishing
Fish Heads Store Staffer Jared was out on the Barnegat Jetty today on the hunt for tog. he reported a decent day but a slow bite, “I really had to work for them. They were hitting clam much better than crab. The water was right at 45 degrees. Once that warms up a few more degrees things should start getting really good.” 50 degrees is the magic number!
Anthony Gagliardi and buddy fished the jetty too. They found some shorts but no keepers.
Tony Butch fished out on some snags in the boat. He reported, “Headed out late and fished the afternoon. We fished fished deep and then shallower. Had bites all day with lots of shorts. The last stop on the way in was lights out!” Here’s five for the table.
Paul Haertel was out today and reported, “Nothing big but we did manage to catch our boat limit.”
Raritan Bay
The Bay offers great fishing every spring. You just can’t miss out on it. A few nights during the past work week, Fish Heads Alumni Dan got into good fishing. These were some of the first reports we heard of quality fish and then photos of some monsters from the kayak crew. More recently this weekend boat anglers go into the action.
Fish Head store staffer Max and Swag had good fishing today. They said both shads and swimming plugs were getting smoked. Max reported, “Most fish weren’t up top but there was a good buddy of striped bass. Anglers trolling were picking at fish pretty good. We drifted and casted which producing a good catch count.”
Fish Heads Alumni Nick Deg was on the water today with his buddy Neal. They reported a great day, “Fish were active in the shallows and eating the fly. Neal managed a 39.5″ bass on the fly. Watching the eat was awesome! I got a 43″ bass too on top water.”
White Perch
Store staffer Frezza and Tate fish the local waters for white perch and they caught 15 fish in a short session and reported, “Non stop action!”
