The Fishing Line: Fishing Not for April Fools

Alas, the wait continues for some solid fishing reports but as usual, there’s plenty to keep anglers thinking about while we wait for Mother Nature to cut us a break.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Council had a summer flounder, black sea bass and porgy board conference call to clarify its edicts, so a special N.J. Marine Fisheries Council meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday, April 4 at the Stafford Township Municipal Building in Manahawkin. At that time, the summer flounder regulations for size limit, possession limit and season will be established for this year. Seems most fishers are hoping for an early star in May. Can we wait much longer?
The Sea Bass Season should also be finalized at that meeting. Good News is that tautog is now open for the month of April at four (4) fish at 15 inches.
Every spring the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife stocks nearly 570,000 brook, brown, and rainbow trout in nearly 200 streams, lakes, and ponds statewide. The trout are reared at Pequest Trout Hatchery and are 1½ years old and about 10½ inches in length, ½ pound. However, thousands of the trout that are stocked every spring are considerable larger, weighing 3 to 7 pounds each and ranging from 15 to 24 inches. These large trout are called “broodstock” because they are mature fish (2½ – 3½ years old) that were used the previous fall to obtain and fertilize eggs.
To increase excitement in the trout fishing season, the Division picks nine or ten trout-stocked ponds and small lakes every year and loads them up with about five times more broodstock than they would normally receive. The bonus broodstock trout are stocked prior to the opening day of the trout season on Saturday, April 5, 2014. Bonus Broodstock Waters Location Map can be found on the NJDEP Web site.
A fishing license and trout stamp are required to fish for trout for anyone 16 or older. Children under 16 and New Jersey residents 70 years and older can fish for free. Licenses and stamps are available at www.nj.wildlifelicense.com
While the saltwater fishing is on hold Captain Ray has been able to get out and freshwater fly fish a couple of times. The clear water lakes in south jersey have been colder as they take longer to warm up, but the darker water cedar lakes after a few days of sun are showing good signs of life and pickerel were taking baitfish fly patterns that had a lot of flash in them. He had best results using intermediate weight line. All the pickerel were nice and fat and healthy and released.
There’s a Sharking Seminar at “OFF THE HOOK B & T” April 5, at 1 p.m. Learn to up your game shark fishing for Makos and Threashers. Hands on seminar runs about 3-4 hours covering all aspects of sharking. Captain Steve Spagnuola, Captain Fred Dirsh will cover bait rigging, shark rig making, temp breaks and migration, gear and tackle, setting up your spread, bait and chum and advanced techinques, early and late season mako sharking and more. $45, 989 Ocean Drive, Cape May, 884-0444.
Insomniac Guide Service with Captain Dan Schafer will host a Back Bay Seminar, April 19, 6 p.m., Off The Hook Bait and Tackle in Cape May. To forge this great event into an even better one Dan has refined and added some new content this go around to make it as potent and applicable as possible with a series of live action (huge tog/striped bass/triggerfish) underwater infield videos. Seating is very limited so give the shop a call 884-0444 to reserve your spot.
On Wednesday, April 23 from 7 to 9 p.m., join Russ Allen of the DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife at the Holiday Inn on Route 72 in Manahawkin, for a special public forum exclusively on striped bass management.
This free event features an overview of the latest ASMFC’s striped bass assessment results, current coastwide stock status, NJ’s survey results and potential ASMFC management actions.
Touting a new boat, STALKER Backwater Excursions starts running backwater trips as early as April 3 and plans fish right through the season. The boat is docked in Cape May with STALKER II. Call Captain Skip 972-5218
The Fishing Line runs year round so keep sending your reports and pictures to cmiller@cmcherald.com. Column and pictures are posted online at www.capemaycountyherald.com and on Facebook. Keep them coming.