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Captain's Focus

Jimmy Chambers of Edison caught what was likely the largest blackfish of the season in N.J. last week while fishing aboard the Big Mohawk out of Belmar Marina -- and then released it after the weigh-in at Fisherman's Den. The huge tog was 31 inches long with a girth of 23 inches -- and weighed 18 3/4 pounds. Chambers kept that very old tautog alive on the boat, and revived it enough at the dock so that she was able to swim away to produce many more tog or provide the shock of a lifetime to some Shark River jetty fisherman. The outlook for that release is good because blackfish are probably the hardiest fish in our waters, often staying alive for hours in a fish box. Many years ago I was fishing wrecks off Seaside with the late Capt. Greg Venturo for the early sea bass run in April when he started off keeping a small blackfish barely big enough to eat when there there were no regulations on the species. We ended up filling the cooler with big sea bass, and many hours later were unloading them back at the dock in Point Pleasant when Venturo came across the small blackfish which was still breathing. Ashamed at having kept it, he threw it back in the water where we watched it swim away a half-day after being caught and buried under dozens of sea bass as if nothing had happened. Chambers is a veteran blackfish angler who has caught many large tog, but that giant blasted away his personal record of 13 5/8 pounds. Surprisingly, it didn't try to hang him up on bottom after hitting a whitelegger crab, and only provided a lot of pounding on the way to the surface in 70-to-80-foot depths. If it had been caught before the recent ending of the N.J. Beach N Boat Tournament, that could have been a easy winner as Bob Pianetti took that category with a 12.31-pounder. A couple of Garden State anglers got good news this week as their fish were accepted as state records. Cheol Min Park of Parsippany was fishing squid in the depths of Wilmington Canyon from the Voyager out of Point Pleasant on Sept. 30 when he hooked 23-pound,1-ounce gray tilefish to break the state mark by 5 3/16 pounds. William Catino of Ventnor got his record in a much less expensive fashion as he was fishiing off a dock in Longport on Oct. 14 when he landed a 19-pound, 3-ounce sheepshead that would be considered huge even in Florida. That semi-tropical fish isn't uncommon in South Jersey waters during the summer and early fall, but is rarely caught north of Barnegat Inlet. It was two pounds larger than the previous state record. This is the last week for a shot at jumbo sea bass on far offshore wrecks, as the season closes on Jan. 1. The Jamaica from Brielle is sailing nightly at 10 p.m. to fish the next day. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations. Big porgies are also abundant on those wrecks, along with a few pollock and small bluefish. Capt. Howard Bogan says the water temperature is still 54 degrees out there, where Jimmy Not of Manalapan boated a 6.5-pound sea bass. Nick Honachefsky of Normandy Beach noted on Facebook that he got a real surprise on the offshore wrecks recently, while loading up on sea bass and porgies with Capt. Al Crudele on Bayhound from Sea Isle City. A mako shark estimated at 275 pounds attacked a bass being reeled in by Sean Reilly -- and was fought for 25 minutes on 40-pound line before finally cutting off. Hugh Mura of South Brunswick took his son Dan and his friend Tony Nguyen out on the Voyager last weekend to the offshore wrecks where they combined for 12 jumbo bass plus nine smaller keepers, along with 25 porgies and five bluefish. Capt. Bobby Bogan will also get in this last trips for sea bass this week on the Gambler from Point Pleasant. Call 732 278-6654 for reservations. He then switches to daily 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. trips to 20-to-40-mile wrecks for cod, pollock and ling starting Jan. 2. The Jamaica II from Brielle will be seeking sea bass on Saturday's 14-hour trip. The last 7:30 a.m. blackfish trip will be on Sunday, followed by 5 a.m., 12-hour trips to finish out the month. A special sailing every Friday in January at 5 a.m, will be for whiting. That's the first time I've seen a party boat schedule a trip specifically for whiting in many years. Eric Culhanne of Tenafly had a 27-pound cod on a recent trip. Capt. Stan Zagleski has had decent blackfish results during recent trips with his Elaine B. II from Bahrs in Highlands. It's been mostly keepers in shallower waters before more action with smaller tog in the depths. Green and whitelegger crabs have been equally effective. There are some limits being bagged, and a cod was added this week. He resumes sailing Friday, and will continue into January, Striped bass have been practically a dead issue. I was hopeful after releasing three shorts one evening a week ago at Sea Girt on the 6-inch Tsunami Sand Eel, but three attempts since then haven't produced any sign of fish. I've been picking away at shorts throughout January in recent years, and will probably give it a few more attempts when conditions are decent. The fall surf striper run was certainly a disappointment, but hardly a surprise considering how poor striper reports were from New England. Rich Johnson, of the Fishing Line radio show said it was a "terrible, terrible" 2014 surf season on Long Island. It was only a few years ago when I joined Capt. Joe Massa, along with my son Mike and nephew Bob Correll, on his My Three Sons out of Morgan Marina during Christmas week as we jigged stripers, bluefish and cod under working birds at Shrewsbury Rocks -- and even saw a bluefin tuna jump at the inner buoy. Yet, there's been no such action this year. After not seeing any life a week ago all way down to the Rocks, Massa winterized his boat. Chris Zeman is a N.J. representative on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. His second name was lost in last week's column.

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