Early Season Back Bay <b>Bass Fishing</b> Tips

Striped bass season begins in the back bays and rivers March 1, and Patch caught up with Dennis Palmatier of Murphy's Hook House Bait and Tackle in Toms River for some tips.

The regulations for striped bass remains two fish per angler, per day, with a minimum size limit of 28 inches.

Striped bass season in the back bays and rivers runs from March 1 through Dec. 31. In the ocean, the season is open year-round.

Anglers fishing Oyster Creek should keep in mind that fishing the west side of the Route 9 bridge over the creek requires a freshwater fishing license. Fishing the east side of the bridge does not, though all anglers statewide must obtain a free registration card online before fishing.

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Shep on <b>Fishing</b>: Weakfish an early season surprise

Posted: Saturday, June 2, 2012 12:15 am | Updated: 1:42 am, Sat Jun 2, 2012.

One of the promising developments in the first part of the improving fishing season is what looks to be the return of decent catches of weakfish.

The Press Fishing Contest has received five entries, which is probably already more than the last two seasons combined.

The heaviest weakfish weigh-in so far is a 7.81-pounder caught by Egg Harbor City resident Skip Compton. It was entered into the Senior Division at Dolfin Dock in Somers Point. It was caught May 21 with a yellow and white bucktail with purple worm in the back bays of Margate.

Other hefty weakfish entered - Joe Craner of Northfield with a 6.54 fish caught off Drag Island between Somers Point and Ocean City and certified at Dolfin; Gary Goll of Cape May Court House at 6.05 caught at the 8th Street jetty in Avalon on May 25 and weighed at Moran's Dockside in Avalon; Paul Dailey of Pine Hill at 4 pounds, 10 ounces caught in Absecon Bay on Tuesday and certified at Up The Creek Marina in Absecon.

You can only keep one fish, minimum 13 inches, so the stale joke is that they all limited out.

One of the long-time weakfish hot spots is Mullica River. Violet Meyer at Chestnut Neck Boat Yard in Port Republic said the early returns are better than they have been for at least three years. She said Friday that the usual weakfish spots such as Deep Point and Doctors Point in the Mullica have produced "lots of big fish."

As usual, shedder crab is the best bait. Meyer said the best time is high water or early morning.

Incidentally, apologies to all shedder crabs. They were misidentified as green crab in this column Tuesday when describing a one-day out-of-state bait-buying trip from Dolfin Dock by Joan and Rob Barrett.

Mike Hughes has seen a number of 4- to 6-pound weakfish at Budd's Bait and Tackle in Cape May, and he had a hint of a rumor of a 13-pounder that was not confirmed. Hughes said kingfish, croaker and weakfish are mixed together in the surf at Alexander beach in Cape May, and they are biting on bloodworm, shedder and even night-crawlers.

There seem to be lots of 3- to 5-pound summer flounder throughout the area. Another old-fashioned doormat was caught, and again the women are topping the leaderboard.

Howard Sefton got a call 8 p.m. Thursday - after closing Capt. Howard's Bait and Tackle in Egg Harbor City - from a very excited Kimberly Hackney of Hammonton. Sefton opened the store and Hackney walked in with a flounder that weighed an even 7 pounds and was 26 inches in length. Hackney caught it in Absecon Bay with what she described as a freshwater rod with light line and a minnow. Basic and effective.

She was fishing with Raymond Acevedo of Hammonton, who, oh by the way, picked off a 3-pound flounder.

The heaviest flounder entered into The Press Fishing Contest to date is a 10-3 pounder caught May 18 by Nancy Tregnan of Brigantine. And to add to the theme: Candy Jankowski of Marmora has been leading the way at Frank's Boat Rentals in Strathmere with keepers that went 18, 19, 20, 20 and 20 inches caught over Memorial Day weekend.

Other keepers reported recently include the first of the season by 87-year-old Tony Pagano of Cardiff. It happened May 17 on the Duke of Fluke back-bay partyboat docked in Somers Point.

Duke Capt. Brook Koeneke said it was 18 inches in length and weighed 2.3 pounds. Koeneke also reported a 4.5-pound flounder for a 14-year-old from Deptford.

Rolland Reeve of Avalon picked a 5.8-pound flounder out of Paddy's Hole, one of the best flounder spots inside Townsend Inlet.

In addition to the weakfish, Dailey caught a 4.6-pound flounder. Joe LoPane at Up The Creek said he was drifting near the Brigantine Bridge in Absecon Inlet and caught both the flounder and weakfish with a minnow.

The new fishing area at the Somers Point-Ocean City causeway bridge is a cool place and it looks like it can only get better as more people learn about it.

Brian Lee, a mechanic from Clementon, has fished it four times.

On Thursday, he pulled a 21-inch keeper flounder over the rails, and earlier he caught two. He was using a plain hook with minnows for bait at high water and the outgoing tide.

He was there with 7-year-old Andy and 8-year-old Aaron Villafana and mom, Dana, of Somers Point.

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Mike Shepherd is the retired sports editor of The Press. His Shep on Fishing column and Shep's Hot Spot appear Tuesdays and Saturdays in the sports section. Call 609-350-0388 or email

sheponfishing@yahoo.com.

You can also hear Shep's on-air fishing reports Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 6:05 a.m., 9:45 a.m. and 7:05 p.m. on WOND 1400 AM and on our website: PressofAtlanticCity.com

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After early ice-out, Minn. water temperatures near seasonal norms for Saturday <b>...</b>

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Anglers can talk about the early spring, ideal water temperatures and whether the fish have recovered from spawning, but the opening day of walleye season in Minnesota always comes down to getting out there and learning firsthand what the fish are doing.

That's Duane Peterson's approach, at least. And as a recent inductee into the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame along with his brother, John, the co-founder of Bemidji's Northland Fishing Tackle Co. knows what he's talking about when it comes to walleyes and opening day.

The 2012 version of Minnesota's grand outdoors tradition gets under way Saturday.

"One thing about this fishing game is we can predict this and that and speculate what's going to happen," Peterson said. "I'm going to play it like I do every other opening day of walleye season. I will go to the best areas I know as a result of past experience and tradition, sample what's happening and adjust accordingly based on what my first few hours tell us.

"That's the beauty of opening day — we find out when we get there, and we adjust accordingly."

Pick a lake or river in Minnesota, and this year probably set a record for early ice-out. That had fishing prognosticators thinking walleye opener 2012 would be more like early June, which often serves up some of the easiest, if not the best fishing of the year.

Lawmakers in the Minnesota Legislature even went so far as to propose moving the season up a week. The measure died, and Mother Nature intervened with a mostly cool April that now has water temperatures closer to seasonal norms. Come opening day, anglers likely can expect water temperatures in the mid-50-degree range.

"I think it's going to be a pretty darn normal opener," said Henry Drewes, regional fisheries supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Bemidji. "It's not going to be like June 1 fishing, which some people were thinking. It will be more like mid-May, which is pretty good."

Drewes said walleyes, which typically spawn in 46- to 50-degree water, should have finished spawning most everywhere across the state this week. That means many walleyes likely will have recovered and backed out of the rivers where they spawn and returned to lakes where they spend most of the year.

"There's a nice size distribution on Red," Drewes said. "The abundance is high, there's lots of fish under 17 inches and lots from 17 to 22 inches. So, if fishermen are willing to spread out from the mouth of the (Tamarack) river, they should have no trouble catching legal fish and some fun-size larger fish."

As a result, Drewes said, the DNR didn't implement springtime closures on rivers such as the Tamarack, which flows into Upper Red Lake, and the Mississippi River.

"That doesn't mean rivers won't be good, but they won't have the excessive harvest that would necessitate closures," Drewes said. "We're going to avert those situations, which is good news."

Drewes said he expects large northern Minnesota lakes such as Lake of the Woods, Upper Red, Leech and Winnibigoshish all to be good bets for opening day. A recent spring survey on the Tamarack River produced numbers of 16- to 22-inch walleyes, Drewes said, along with occasional larger fish.

"There's a nice size distribution on Red," Drewes said. "The abundance is high, there's lots of fish under 17 inches and lots from 17 to 22 inches. So, if fishermen are willing to spread out from the mouth of the (Tamarack) river, they should have no trouble catching legal fish and some fun-size larger fish."

Opening day regulations on Upper Red require anglers to release all walleyes from 17 inches to 26 inches, and there's a four-fish limit. The DNR eases the size restrictions in mid-June.

Drewes said smaller lakes across northwest Minnesota also will be good options opening day. Lakes with particularly high walleye abundance, he said, include Lake Bemidji and all of the downstream lakes in the Mississippi River chain along with Otter Tail Lake closer to Fergus Falls, Minn.

"Otter Tail is just off the charts right now," Drewes said of its walleye abundance.

While current areas near river mouths might not be the walleye magnets they are some openers, they'll still be worth a try opening day. According to longtime fishing guide Brian Brosdahl of Max, Minn., anglers should explore other places if areas with current don't produce walleyes.

"Don't overlook shoreline-connected points that have shallows, rocks and weed growth," Brosdahl said. "That new generation of weeds is going to be hiding baitfish, and the walleyes are going to be in there."

He said many anglers make the mistake of fishing too deep on opening day. This spring, though, the fluctuation in both air and water temperatures likely means there's no wrong depth, he said.

"I think it's going to be a great opener," Brosdahl said. "I think we're going to find aggressive fish and not-aggressive fish. Go explore, don't just fish the classic spots. You're going to have a lot of fish all to yourself."

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