ow that another fishing season has come and gone it is time to look back and examine the year in review. For the Central NJ coast, the area stretching from Sandy Hook Bay to Barnegat Bay, the season had its ups and downs. If large stripers or blues from the surf were your target than all I can say is that you will have to wait until next year. If weakfish were your quest than you had a great year. There are two fisheries that stand out in my mind that were absolutely fantastic this season. They were the summer back bay and estuary weak fisheries in the Barnegat and Manasquan systems and Raritan Bay's fall striper run.

The number of weakfish that were present this summer was absolutely mind-boggling. Fish were present in all size ranges with the largest fish tipping the scales over the ten pound mark. There were many days when an angler could consistently score on almost every cast.

A phenomenal site that I witnessed several times this summer were weakfish blitzes. Hundreds and hundreds of weakfish blitzing the surface like a school of ravenous blues working the water into a frothy boil. It didn't matter whether you were throwing fin-s fish or casting jiggee flies the results were the same, instant hook-ups. This fishery remained consistent through the summer and was best on the incoming tides in the evenings.

The other fishery that gets top honors was the striper fishing in Raritan Bay. Both beach and boat anglers had an outstanding fall season during the months of October and November. While surf anglers were crying the blues due to lack of fish on the beach the savvy back bay beachster was nailing bass consistently. The areas from Cliffwood Beach all the way east to the False Hook all produced fish.

The reason for the tremendous backside action was the enormous amount of peanut bunker that remained in the Bay during the fall. The amount of peanuts that were present this fall season were equally as mind boggling as were the number of weakfish in the summer. This bait held the bass and offered good blitz conditions to beach anglers that were familiar with the access points. Boaters had no problem locating the schools of bait and fish within the Raritan Bay system.

As far as the other times of the year here is a quick overview of what the rest of the season held in the Central NJ area. The spring was good with a good run of bass along the beach and in the bays. It seems that this fishery is developing into a more consistent fishery than is our fall run along the beach. A good run of bluebacks and alewives brought much larger bass into the estuaries and canals and offered live liners good opportunities for fish in the twenty pound range.

The early summer starting with the last two weeks in June up until the second week in July brought large bunkers onto the beach and the large bass with them. Surf anglers or boaters that would snag and live line a bunker were met with consistent action of large bass that tipped the scales in the mid thirty pound range. Some of the largest bass of the season that were taken occurred at this time of year. It even out produced the late fall trolling season with bunker spoons and sassy shad rigs. This early summer fishery has also been consistent for the last several years. Remember those dates for next year.

Our annual mullet run from mid to late September started off nicely and brought a good class of teen size fish into our area. This however was very short lived as one hurricane after another scattered the schools of bait and in some cases made the surf virtually unfishable or unsafe for boaters to get out.

As far as the fall surf fishing is concerned it was a big disappointment. The traditional Thanksgiving period and the weeks to follow where we anticipate the large bass on the beach was none existent. This was mainly due to a lack of bait along the beach. When the bait was present either in the form of peanut bunker, rainfish, spearing, or sand eels fish were there with them. It was a recurring theme for many surf anglers that "you should have been here yesterday" as the bait did not hold along the beach for any length of time.

The bulk of the migration of bass once again occurred to the outside this year as satisfying catches of keeper bass and tons of shorts rounded out the boater's season. Anglers trolling sassy shad rigs, bunker spoons, or jigging Avas scored consistently in forty-five to sixty-five feet of water. No complaints from this department with the number or size of fish they were present.

The end of the surf season brought in the very small bass once again with some fish as small as twelve inches. The majority of fish in the first two weeks of December ranged from fifteen to twenty-six inches. There were some keepers caught here and there but these fish were just tipping the ten-pound range. The fish hit a wide variety of plugs, metal, and teasers offering the most consistent action just before dark. In last two weeks of December we still found these fish holding in good numbers along the beach but the action had shifted mainly to a late night fishery. Good numbers of fish were caught on each outing. The plus of warmer weather made it enjoyable just to be out there and to have some action to bring in the New Year.

Oh, I almost forget to mention the fluke and the winter flounder seasons. Both were excellent but the winter flounder gets the nod. Boaters fishing the rivers in our area did outstanding with many outings producing sixty to seventy of these tasty flatties.

Thanks to Bob and all our friends at StriperSurf.com for another wonderful year. It is great to be associated with such an excellent group of fisherman. You can catch us at the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, NJ each January. Stop by our booth and say hello.

Jim & Gene