John Tatu and his son had a good day dropping jigs down on hungry stripers late last fall aboard the Miss Barnegat Light.During the fall blitz, one of Alexandar Finlay’s best fishing buddies – Finn from Long Branch – got in on the surf striper action.No boat? No problem. Dave Pavelko found a 16-inch keeper tautog on the rocks in the fall of 2022 after throwing back just two shorts somewhere in Cape May County.Gene Blineberry of Holland, PA with a 12-pound tautog taken aboard Capt. Steve Spinelli’s Skylarker out of Belmar on December 13.Thomas Lawrence found a steady catch of stripers along the Seaside beaches back in December using an Ava 27 with green tail and a white teaser.Who’s ready for summer? Nelly B. is, and she’s ready for fluking again too! Nelly shows off the 22-inch fluke caught last summer on Alan Pasternak’s Fin Aqui out of Keyport.Noah Sansalone, fishing in Mantoloking with Capt. Jimmy Freda, caught stripers up to 42 inches and 35 pounds in November of ’22 while tossing MaddMantis planks, JPLures and JiggingWorld Doc Spooks.Whippany’s Don DiDomenico caught this monster muskellunge in September of 2022 in Monksville Reservoir while fishing a 6-inch plastic Ghost Minnow swim bait.Good eats for John Riley with a fine mahi caught aboard Rob Bye’s Out Cast in October out of Barnegat Light. Soon folks, very soon!While tautog action in the Garden State won’t pick up again until April, anglers like Denny Joyce – shown here with 5.38-pound, 22-incher out of Barnegat – are already gearing up for April action.Many anglers bailed on the surf stripers after the December 4th blitz, but Lou Hernandez was still finding success later that week under cover of dark tossing a white mag darter to this 28-pound bass.Tackle World’s Mike Sancetta brought his Jigging World gear aboard the Starfish out of Sea Isle in January, scoring this 16.75-pound blackfish.
