The striped bass bite keeps rolling on Raritan Bay. The wind and rain this weekend did not slow it down, according to those near the bay.

"With all the wind and cold, there are not a lot of people thinking about bass, but they are here," said Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet.

Sciortino said he weighed in a 26 ¾-pound striped bass for Kathy Jo Kaeline, of Parlin, who was trolling bunker spoons with her husband Scott off Keyport when she hooked that fish up. The Kaelin's caught and released a couple dozen bass on Sunday.

Matt Calabria of Hazlet had a striped bass in the 30-pound range on Sunday night fishing with cut bait and released a bunch more

Sciortino said boaters trolling Stretch-25s lures also had good success as did anglers tossing rubber shads right on the surface.

Anglers who went for blackfish had great bite on Sunday, said Bobby Matthews at Fishermen's Den. The Ocean Explorer and Big Mohawk both had anglers who had their limit catches of four fish.

Rock Bottom Charters had a six-man charter where all anglers limited out on blackfish. Beatriz Soto was on the charter and had her limit and big 7-pound, 8-ounce blackfish. The big fish on the boat was a 10 pounder.

Matthews said the blackfish are biting good for the jetty hoppers in Shark River Inlet. Marty Westerfield of Wall, had three keepers and reported most anglers on the inlet had keeper fish.

The Voyager is back in action after some time at dry dock.

Capt. Jeff Gutman said his first open trip of the year for cod had good results. Most anglers had two or three fish, a couple of guys had four and one person had six.  Archie Stewart of Nutley won the first pool of the year with a 15 pound cod

"Most fish were caught on bait but a handful were jigged and there were also a couple of keeper pollock," said Gutman.

The black drum are beginning to bite in Great Bay. The fish are pretty hefty, weighing between 15 and 45 pounds said Scott Albertson at Scott's Bait and Tackle.  He said the night time bite is doing better than the day and the incoming tide is the better tide. The fish are hitting on clam baits.

Dan Radel: 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com


 

Chris Pratt has now a new, young bass fishing partner whom he is training to be the next bass masters pro. He is none other than Pratt’s 3 ½-year old son, Jack with whom the 36-year-old actor went on a fishing trip during the weekend. And the results are simply adorable.

In an Instagram video, Pratt is seen with the bespectacled toddler, using the fishing pole. The video caption says that the kid will be Pratt’s partner in the bass masters pro when he grows up. The “Jurassic World” actor says that together the father and son duo will take the fishing world by storm and urges his fans to tag him with picks of monster bass, reports USA TODAY.

Jack Pratt is the only kid of the “Andy” actor, and actress/comedian, Anna Faris and the two have been married for more than six years. Recently, during his acceptance speech at the MTV Movie Awards, Chris Pratt appreciated his wife. The actor won the award for his best action performance in “Jurassic World.”

Both Son And Dad Go Fishing Crazy

In the adorable, video, little Jack tries to catch and reel a fish. However, his hook comes up empty to which the toddler cutely says that it did not work. Later on, Jack it seems did manage to catch a fish. One of the snaps uploaded by Pratt shows the young one holding a wish, beaming with happiness. The photo caption says that the young dude is as crazy about bass fishing as his daddy is.

Dream Come True For Pratt

It is like a dream come true for Chris Pratt who in September posted a vintage photo of himself with his father on a fishing trip on Twitter, reports People. The vintage tweet had a caption that included a list of life like have kids, play outside, teach them to fish, and take pictures. Pratt posted the throwback photo in the memory of his father thanking him and said he missed him.

As springtime sets in, bringing blue skies and warmer weather, anglers are heading to the water. Miles of coastline along southeast Florida make our region a popular destination for recreational fishing, contributing to our local economy and solidifying Florida's reputation as the Fishing Capital of the World. However, there are ongoing efforts that threaten access to our waters and could lead to a reversal of the tremendous success our state has achieved in fisheries management.

One such effort is led by a group called Our Florida Reefs, which is seeking to close up to 30 percent of our reef tract to fishing. Despite a lack of scientific evidence to show that fishing is a problem for the reef ecosystem, the group is proposing massive no-take zones from St. Lucie Inlet to Key Biscayne. They also recommend nominating the entire area as a National Marine Sanctuary, which would turn management of these waters over to the federal government.

Threats to recreational fishing exist beyond our waters as well. In the Gulf of Mexico, red snapper fishing in federal waters has been reduced from a 365-day season to a 10-day season, and recreational red snapper fishing is prohibited in the south Atlantic. In addition, Florida's sportfishing industry is facing environmental threats. Water quality issues in the Everglades, Florida Bay and Indian River Lagoon are having a devastating effect on fisheries, causing a decline in fishing opportunities.

Any closure will have a negative impact on our economy. Florida's sportfishing industry supports more than 80,000 jobs and generates $8.6 billion in economic activity each year. Further, one in three of Florida's 3 million anglers are from out-of-state.

   

As the vice president of a Fort Lauderdale-based company that manufactures marine products, and as the president of the Broward County Chapter of the Florida Coastal Conservation Association, I support measures that ensure healthy and abundant fisheries for years to come. Fortunately, Florida has a state agency that knows how to manage fisheries effectively in our state waters.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission does outstanding work by balancing recreational access to fisheries with sustainable practices. For example, after a severe cold snap killed a large portion of snook in early 2010, FWC closed Gulf and Atlantic harvest of the species. They worked with stakeholders to determine best management alternatives, and in subsequent years, were able to re-open snook to harvest. Today, an angler can bag one snook per day during open harvest season, which is five to seven-and-a-half months of the year, depending on where you fish.

FWC's success is made possible by the financial support of Florida's anglers. Fishing license fees and excise taxes on fishing equipment and motorboat fuel provide $40 million annually toward Florida's conservation efforts. By working together rather than independently, FWC and the sportfishing community are better able to identify challenges and opportunities within the fishing industry.

On April 2-3, Floridians and visitors were able to enjoy Florida's license-free freshwater fishing holidays. Gov. Rick Scott in partnership with the FWC approved the holidays, which include four days of free freshwater fishing and four days of free saltwater fishing this year. The next free fishing days are coming up June 4-5 for saltwater and June 11-12 for freshwater.

As we head to our beautiful ponds, lakes and beaches to enjoy a day of fishing this spring, it is important that we remain focused on the future. We must be vigilant against the growing attempts to ban recreational fishing in Florida.

If you are interested in joining the effort to protect Florida's fisheries and the public's right to fish, I encourage you to visit KeepFloridaFishing.org. Keep Florida Fishing is an initiative with the goal of ensuring Florida's resident anglers and visitors have clean waters, abundant fisheries and access to both.

Let's make sure future generations can experience the joy of fishing.

In 2007, the recreational fishing season for red snapper in federally controlled waters of the Gulf of Mexico was 194 days, with anglers limited to retaining no more than two 16-inch or longer snapper per day.

Over those six-plus months, according to the harvest estimates used by the federal fisheries agency charged by Congress with rebuilding the Gulf's red snapper stock after it had fallen to record lows in the 1990s, recreational anglers landed 5.8 million pounds of these highly sought-after reef fish.

This year, federal officials have set the Gulf-wide allowable catch of red snapper for the recreational fishery at 7.19 million pounds. That is the highest total since annual catch limits were first imposed in 1997 to limit harvest to a level allowing red snapper to continue what has been a stunningly rapid and significant recovery of a fishery not so long ago on the verge of collapse. The daily bag limit during the federal season, which opens June 1, remains at two red snapper per day with a 16-inch minimum length.

So, how long will the red snapper season for recreational anglers fishing from private boats in federally controlled Gulf waters be this year?

No more than nine days and maybe as few as six.

That is the projection offered last week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries branch, the agency charged with setting regulations governing fishing in federally controlled waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

At nine days, the season will equal the shortest red snapper season recreational anglers fishing from private boats have seen; the 2014 recreational season was nine days, one day shorter than the 10-day 2015 red snapper season for anglers fishing federally controlled waters from private boats.   More fish, fewer days
The seeming illogic of such increasingly draconian restrictions on recreational anglers, especially when all evidence - empirical and anecdotal - indicates the red snapper population in the Gulf is expanding in some areas to levels not seen in decades, underscores just what a convoluted and contentious train wreck red snapper management has become over the past 20-plus years.

But that is pretty much what you'd expect with a fish underpinning much of the Gulf's offshore recreational fishing and a highly valued commercial fishery, with private anglers, charter/for-hire businesses catering to recreational anglers and commercial fishing operations vying to get and keep access to what they see as their part of the fishery.

The announcement of projected length of the 2016 federal-waters recreational fishing season for red snapper came last week during a meeting in Austin of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, a group that includes fisheries managers from the five Gulf state's fisheries agencies and representatives of the commercial and recreational fishing sectors. The Gulf Council develops and recommends fisheries management actions to NOAA Fisheries which has final say on rule changes. And red snapper-related issues were, as always, the dominant topic.

A final decision on the length of the recreational fishing season for red snapper in Gulf water under federal jurisdiction hinges on how many red snapper regulators estimate will be taken from Gulf waters under state control. And that number will be different this year as Gulf states, chaffing at the increasingly tight federal season length, open more waters to recreational snapper fishing outside the federal season. States weigh in
This year, all five Gulf states will hold "state-water" snapper seasons that run outside the federal season. And, with the blessing of Congress, those waters will extend to nine nautical miles off the shore of all Gulf states; previously, only Texas and Florida had jurisdiction to nine nautical miles with Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama jurisdiction extending to three nautical miles.

The extra few miles of Gulf water are not likely to have a great impact on the number of snapper landed; red snapper are a deep-water fish, seldom found in any concentrations in the relatively shallow waters inside state jurisdiction. But those "extra" snapper will be counted as part of the recreational catch quota that federal regulators set for the Gulf.

Keeping recreational anglers within that quota is what is driving the ever-decreasing length of the recreational snapper season. Under federal rules, season length is determined by estimating how many days it will take anglers to land the total weight of snapper they are allowed. That number has been decreasing over the past few years for a couple of reasons. With more snapper in the Gulf, anglers are catching their two-fish limits quicker. And the fish they are keeping are larger.

Also, while the annual recreational fishing quota - the so-called "allowable catch limit" - has increased, the actual total weight of snapper used to set the season length has decreased. Part of that is a result of a federal lawsuit, pushed by commercial snapper interests, to force federal regulators to set rules preventing recreational anglers from overshooting their annual catch limits. Harvest data indicated recreational anglers annually were almost taking far more snapper than the quota. (That 5.8 million pounds of snapper recreational anglers landed in 2007 was 2.6 million pounds over the quota.) The numbers game
To prevent recreational anglers from overshooting their annual allowable catch, federal regulators now set the annual recreational "catch target" at 20 percent below the allowable "catch limit," and use that lower number to figure season length. With the 20 percent "buffer," this year's recreational snapper quota of 7.19 million pounds drops to 5.75 million pounds.

For anglers who fish for snapper from private boats, it is further reduced by what has become one of the most controversial moves in snapper management - dividing the recreational fishery into two parts: those who fish from private boats and those who fish from charter/for-hire boats. This "sector separation," pushed by most of the owners of 1,250 charter boats that fish under federal reef-fish permits required of for-hire boats that take customers fishing for red snapper, divides the recreational red snapper quota between the two groups. Anglers fishing from private boats are allocated 57.7 percent of the recreational catch limit with the charter/for-hire operations allocated 42.3 percent. This year, private-boat anglers' portion of the recreational catch limit is about 3.32 million pounds, with the charter/for-hire sector allocated about 2.43 million pounds.

Using those numbers, federal fisheries officials project private-boat anglers will land their annual allotment of snapper in six to nine days. The charter-for-hire season is projected to run 38 to 56 days.

Even if sector separation was not in effect (and there is a continuing court challenge to the rule), the 2016 recreational snapper season would run only 12 to 17 days. And, according to federal estimates, even if all Gulf states abandoned their "state water" snapper seasons and were in full compliance with federal seasons and bag limits, the private-boat recreational season would run no more than 17 days.

The effect of the steady erosion of federal-water snapper season on Texas' offshore anglers who fish from private boats has been sobering. The short length of the season and its timing in early June, a period when seas off Texas are more often than not too rough for safe boating, has dramatically reduced the number of anglers targeting the fish. Texas feeling the pain
Less than 20 years ago, Texas fishers accounted for 20 to 25 percent of the red snapper taken by recreational anglers fishing in U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In 2015, according to preliminary landings data, Texas private-boat anglers landed an estimated 163,700 pounds of red snapper, or only a little more than 4 percent of the red snapper taken by recreational anglers fishing in Gulf waters.

If that is not depressing enough, the U.S. Coast Guard estimates Mexico-based commercial fishers illegally fishing in U.S. waters off south Texas are annually poaching as much as 1 million pounds of red snapper, six times as much as Texas' private-boat recreational anglers legally land.

Texas' offshore anglers who enjoy targeting red snapper could use some good news. Sadly, it doesn't look like they will see any this year.