Posted on December 17, 2019 Spotted sea trout caught in December Jersey surf — Mako Mania changes The oddest recent catch in the Ocean County N.J. surf was the semi-tropical spotted sea trout hooked by Jerry Lasko while casting for school stripers on Saturday. He said the southern relative of the weakfish was a 20-incher, and the first he’s caught in N.J. Actually there is often a showing of them at the end of summer in Cape May County waters. I heard of only one other  caught in Ocean County this fall even when Spanish mackerel were common. Ironically, Jerry may have caught more spotted sea trout this year than adult weakfish. The striper bite continued today. Jay Russell said he couldn’t get a hit at Sea Girt, but went to IBSP and caught 10 bass on a Tsunami Sand Eel. Though east gusts to 25 knots are forecast tonight, the morning looks good with a forecast of 10-15 northeast before switching to north in the afternoon along with rain. Scroll down for a press release on Mako Mania GREATER POINT PLEASANT CHARTER BOAT ASSOCIATION, SPONSORS OF MAKO MANIA, ANNOUNCES MAJOR CHANGES FOR 2020 TOURNAMENT In recent tournaments we have witnessed a noticeable decline both in the size and number of the Atlantic Shortfin Mako Sharks. Captain Ron Braen President of the Greater Point Pleasant Charter Boat Association went on further to state that NOAA Fishery has placed a number of restrictions and regulations on the harvesting of the Atlantic Shortfin Mako Shark. NOAA has concluded that the Mako is significantly below target population levels, and is being overfished, and we agree. The Greater Point Pleasant Charter Boat Association’s first mission as stated in our web site is:  “Support charter and recreational sport fishing through collaborative information sharing, safety and the promotion of marine conservation.”  For these reasons and in our effort to insure the Atlantic Shortfin Mako Shark be given a chance to make a comeback, we have voluntarily placed a moratorium on Mako Mania. It will be replaced by ”TUNA MANIA”. Information on registration and calcuttas will be available in the coming months. Tuna Mania will still support the values of Mako Mania in that the profits from our tournament will go towards further reef construction in our local waters, local marine conservation organizations and of course, cancer research. We would hope that other shark tournaments would follow our conservation efforts, and give this distressed fishery a chance to recover and thrive for future generations to enjoy.