Posted on February 13, 2020 Maryland delays trophy striper season to May 1 Maryland has made a big conservation change to protect spawning striped bass by pushing back the opening of their striped bass trophy season to May 1, and prohibiting  targeting of the pre-spawners, including catch and release fishing, before that. New Jersey is getting ready to set their striped bass regulations at a 5 p.m. Marine Fisheries Council meeting in Manahawkin. I’ll have that info in tomorrow’s blog. Bob Correll recently caught a bluefish behind a house he’s renting in Jupiter, Florida that was bigger than any he caught last summer in his local Bay Head surf.  Yesterday he did the same thing with fluke as a 20-incher hit the small plug he was casting. Actually, that was probably a southern flounder as they are the common flatfish south of North Carolina and hard to distinguish from the summer flounder of the north. The Ocean Explorer from Belmar had a good bite of blackfish on Wednesday that even included a few limits plus some cod and ling. There’s a small craft advisory up due to northwest gusts to 25 knots tonight. The morning starts with northwest at 15-20 knots plus gusts to 25. It looks a lot better for Saturday as the west wind will be down to 5-10 knots before dropping to just 5 in the afternoon with 2-foot seas. The Jamaica from Brielle will be running to the far offshore wrecks at 1 a.m. Saturday when it will be very cold  — but should warm up offshore where waters are much warmer.  They caught jumbo porgies, pollock, hake and even weakfish last weekend plus a couple of cod. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.