Posted on January 3rd, 2016
Although there seem to be a load of small rockfish in the north bay around both route 90 bridges, there is a definite shortage in the ocean. I got a text from my buddy Eric Sexton who fished the ocean yesterday and had 0 luck. Eric fished the 1st, 2nd and 3rd lumps and then fished the lumps down to Winter Quarter shoal….nothing. I also saw some guys coming out at the ramp who had just finished a trip in the ocean and they too had no luck. I think that some of the fish are cruising by outside of the three mile limit, but with fish still being caught in New Jersey, I’m confident that we’ll see some more fish this winter.
The good news on the rockfish front is the fishing for shorts around the route 90 bridges. John and Grayson Woolridge fished the route 90 bridge today and released their first rockfish of the 2016 season. They caught and released two shorties around 10 AM and then returned around 4 PM and caught and released three more. All of the fish were caught trolling plugs and were in the 22-24″ size range with one real fat one.
There is some good news in the ocean. Wes Pollitt from the Morning Star with Captain Monty Hawkins reported decent tautog fishing today. There were some limits of tog up to 8 pounds and several nice female fish released to help propagate the species. Don’t forget those tautog creel and size limits….16″ minimum size and 4 fish per person. The Morning Star also caught an octopus today which Captain Monty hadn’t seen caught on hook and line in his 36 years of fishing.
