Bob Matthews weighed the blackfish of the year at Fisherman's Den in Belmar Marina on Saturday as Jimmy Chambers of Edison brought in an 18 3/4-pounder on the Big Mohawk. He noted that they were trying to revive and release that old tautog. Matthews also mentioned that winter flounder fishing remains good from the bulkheads.
Capt. Ryan Bogan of Jamaica II at Brielle said that after a sluggish week last week, probably due to that nor'easter, fishing on the 14-hour trip today was much better. Not too many ling yet, but "still some "honker porgies, sea bass and a good showing of nice size cod."
It was like a lake, as Jaesung Lee from Dumont won the pool with a 21-pound cod. Dom Nguyen of Philadelphia boated four cod (8-10 pounders), a pollock, and 12 porgies; Greg Cooke from Westfield had two cod to 15 pounds, seven sea bass to 5 1/2 pounds plus some chops; while Ed Borkowski of Bayonne totaled two cod, a white hake, 13 porgies and bass --along with a few ling
That trip is repeated at 5 am Sunday.
I tried the Sea Girt surf again in the evening, but there was no sign of stripers. One angler hooked a very small herring on a teaser.