Considering the date, this week was a mild one with fair fishing conditions. The predominantly west winds and small swell allowed anglers to hunt for striped bass and tautog. Just like the last report post, both offered good fishing. It seems like since the big storm the inshore-midhsore tuna are gone.

On Thursday Bob Haines went out of Barnegat Inlet striper fishing off of Island Beach State Park. He said earlier in the morning marking fish but they were not biting. It took a couple hours and finally turned out. He reported, “Another great day on the water!” Photo of Bob and crew is at the end of this post.

Here’s the most recent Fishing Report Video Post…

On Monday I kicked off the new year the right way and went fishing with my buddy Tony. His drop he hooked a 10# tog (10.22# official weight at the Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club) and proceeded to roast them all day. It wasn’t full on firing fishing but we did have steady action. I struggled for most the day, basically feeding crabs to small tog and being patient with small scratchy bites. I hooked a few fish but for the most part kept my swing count low. Towards the end of the day we decided to try another piece which I like and previously caught some nice tog on. In route we ended up stopping on a super small snag that we stumbled over and marked. After very little time, Tony had another classy tog in the 8# range. He was dialed in and having his way on a great day. He finally snagged up and broke off. It was getting late, so I said, “One more crab and I’m done. Let’s pack up and go in.” I drop down and within five seconds of my Magictail 2oz Tog Jig touching down I got slammed and I struck back and quickly got five cranks on the handle. Then tug of way with neither side giving an inch. I’m so happy I was fishing my Magictail 7’6″ 2-6″ rod because if I was using my usual 1-3 or 1-4 oz rods I most likely would not have had a chance. Fortunately I had the right tackle for the fish, especially 50# Cortland Master Braid. Finally got it up and decided to keep it boat side in the net to revive and tag. Got a quick weight at 10.12#, a photo and the fish took off strong. I’m hoping it lived and someone else will catch it when it’s even bigger. It was awesome to kick off the new year with a pair of of double digit tog on the boat as well as a solid quality size limit.