fishing

Lost in the rod ‘n reel and turkey season craziness is that the three-day blast of hot weather has finally brought out, in force, all creatures great and small that are walking, creeping, crawling and flying in and over the woods, fields, swamps and salt marshes.

And in about two weeks, the tentative taps will accelerate to the rapid beat as in the solo on the Surfari’s skin-thumping ‘63 hit “Wipeout”.

To be sure, the arrival of big-to-jumbo bluefish, a.k.a. “choppers”, and “slammers,” and then “gators” and “gorillas” is beyond eagerly anticipated.

Sort of quoting Horace Greely here: “Go west, young man and young woman, on Route 195 to Route 29, to the Delaware River to catch American shad!”

The trout season kicks off Saturday at 8 a.m., and the traditional “Opening Day” draws tens of thousands of eager anglers to stocked lakes, ponds, reservoirs, rivers, streams and brooks from Sussex County to Cape May County.

Paint the Easter Bunny black. As in blackfish!

The eagerly-awaited 2018 Saltwater Fishing Expo thunders in like a three-day rod ‘n reel tsunami tomorrow through Sunday at the New Jersey Convention & Expo Center.

A very timely deep freeze for those of us who enjoy standing over 4 to 6 inch holes cut in the ice, jigging rod in hand.

When John Matt dragged in what proved to be a robust 48-pound striped bass into Surf City Bait & Tackle early in the afternoon of Wednesday, November 1, it pretty much signified the autumn north-to-south striper migration was underway in, uh, a big way!

The sea bass season re-opens this Sunday, and if catch ‘n toss ‘em action on the party and charter boats the past two to three weeks is an indication, it will be a rip-snorting rod bender.

Fishing tournaments centered around striped bass and bluefish are springing up like May dandelions, some offering 100% paybacks, some donating part of the entry fees to a specific cause or charity, and some more giving it all to the former.

How do you spell “transition” when it comes to September-into-October inshore bottom fishing? P-O-R-G-Y.