Fish On
Plenty of fish in the sea for winter anglers
RON NUZZOLO
Rough weather this week stopped some but not all. Offshore fishing continues to be productive for the crew of the Jamaica II. Sea bass, porgies, ling, pollock, cod and even a few whiting have been making an appearance.Anglers continued to have fun with big numbers of jumbo porgies and sea bass. Cod have shown up early this year offshore, usually they don't show till late February, which could be a good sign for cod fishing.

Pool winners this week were: Art Thornton of Philadelphia with a 20-pound Pollock; Ruben Stovall of Piscataway with an 8-pound cod; Rick George of Prospect Park, Pa., with a 6-pound sea bass; Louis Ada of Queens, N.Y., with a 4-pound sea bass. Other anglers like Art Spatafore Sr. and Art Jr. (11) caught over 100 fish, sea bass to 5 pounds, porgies up to 18 inches, and a few whiting and ling. Chris Steinert of Brick had 13 sea bass, 25 porgies, one cod, two ling and a whiting. Glen Padla of Hillsboro caught his limit of sea bass plus 25 porgies, and Angelo Ruvio of North Haledon bagged 20 sea bass, 20 porgies and a dozen ling.

With water temperatures remaining steady, wreck fishing should continue to be productive offshore right into April. If you can't decide what boat to jump on, the Jamaica II from Brielle continues to lead the pack offshore with plenty of action; she is a sure bet this time of year.

Capt. Jimmy on the Miss Belmar Princess had a tough week due to weather. The crew hoped to hit those big schools of mackerel again this week but high winds offshore made it difficult. Miss Belmar Princess did locate some big schools this weekend and expects them to hang around for a while. If you can get a day off, join the crew on theMiss Belmar Princess for mackerel; she sails daily at 7:30 a.m.

The Big Mohawk continues to blackfish, and with steady numbers Capt. Chris has found some ground in 60-90 feet of water and has picked away at a good number of fish with a few cod mixed in. The Big Mohawk sails for blackfish 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

The Voyager continues to work the grounds of themud hole for ling and cod.Reports from the Voyager this week were good with double-digit ling formost and a few cod in the mix. The Voyager sails 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. every Tuesday andWednesday.Offshore trips are Friday to the 60- to 80-mile wreckswhere they have been doing realwell with jumbo sea bass to 4 pounds, porgies and ling.Afewpollock and cod to 15 pounds. The Voyager did have one drop that produced 55 keeper cod up to 20 pounds and an equal number of shorts.

The numbers of cod being reported this past week have been greater than past recent years. The Garden State cod reports were better and earlier than expected these past two weeks than reports from Captree and Montauk fleets who have not been doing as well. This past year we have seen numbers and size in every category of fish from bigger bluefish, striped bass, fluke, porgies, sea bass, ling, blackfish, flounder, weakfish, bluefin tuna, sword fish, whiting, cod, pollock, even baitfish were seen in more numbers than in the past years from peanut bunker, herring and sand eels. I say this because of all the concerns of managing our stocks with tighter restrictions on size and limits.

Congress seems to be making up rules as they go. Could it just be the weather or cleaner oceans? Could it be because there is less demand for these fish? Maybe fuel prices are so high the average boat can't afford to fish as much, allowing stocks to grow.Maybe the Internet is so much more powerful than we first imagined and we just never had the information to make such comparisons. Web sites like NJSaltwaterfisherman. com are perfect examples. It actually reports daily catches and updates in real time from the captains themselves as well as patrons. Whatever the answer is to healthier stocks, we should all be thankful. Fish on

Did You Know?

Don't miss it. Get your 2008 tackle and tips from the experts Feb. 9: Hi-Mar Striper Club's sixth annual Fishing Flea Market & Seminar Series 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Middletown VFW Post 21791 on Veterans Lane, Route 36, PortMonmouth; $5 for ages 12 and over. Call (732) 671- 1442 for more information.