At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Rob Semkewyc reported striper fishing in Raritan Bay was a struggle this morning on his Sea Hunter, with only a couple of keepers plus shorts. Capt. Ron Santee summed up striper fishing on his Fishermen as follows Tough weekend to say the least covering a whole bunch of areas looking for the bite.

DEP SECURES ARMY CORPS PERMITS TO BUILD NEW ARTIFICIAL REEFS SITES TO BE DEVELOPED OFF OCEAN COUNTY'S MANASQUAN INLET AND IN DELAWARE BAY TRENTON - The Department of Environmental Protection's artificial reef program has secured a U. S. Army Corps of Engineers permit to proceed with construction of two new reefs for recreational fishing, Commissioner Bob Martin announced today. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service had suspended the funding due to concerns that commercial fishing was intruding on and hampering recreational fishing on artificial reefs, which are funded by excise taxes on recreational fishing gear and boat fuel.

Raritan Bay party boats have had a very hard time catching stripers on bait, but Capt. Rob Semkewyc had better news from his Sea Hunter out of Atlantic Highlands on Thursday morning when he finally had a good bite of mostly 24-to-27-inch shorts along with some keepers up to a 41-inch, 25-pounder boated by Jerry Gracos of Toms River. Remember that virtually all stripers over 20 pounds are females, and those being caught in Raritan Bay are from the Hudson stock that's been providing us with fine fishing the last few years while the coastal migratory stock from the Chesapeake and Delaware bays has spotty.

The release follows On February 2, 2017, the Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board, part of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), approved changes to this coming year's summer flounder quota for New Jersey. com r FNP5L3C Thank you, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection New York has accepted the ASMFC fluke regulations, but New Jersey is planning to retain last year's regulations pending the appeal The northeast wind and rain has put a big dent in fishing participation.

At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Rob Semkewyc said Saturday's decent flurry of striper action on bait from his Sea Hunter wasn't repeated though they did catch some keepers and shorts. Capt. John Kolias put the Dawyn Sandi party into two 30-ound stripers and another in the 12-to-14-pound class while releasing nine other bass from Reel Fun out of Twin Lights Marina in Highlands, They were trolling Mo-Jos.