Rack n Fin

The touchy weather hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm for the early season back bay and tidal river striper pursuit.

It’s all systems go for the 2023 season when it comes to summer flounder (fluke), sea bass, and porgies (scup) as per the dates, lengths, and bag limits decided on by the NJ Marine Fisheries Council last Thursday after reviewing four options and listening to public input.

A half-hour after sunset Saturday (6:15 PM), the curtain drops on the 2022-23 small game season.

The tog (blackfish) season draws to a close at 11:59 pm Tuesday, February 28.

The Light Goose Conservation Order hunt commenced Thursday and it’s a no-hold-barred tactic to reduce light goose numbers to a point where they are not too damaging to the respective habitats.

Last year’s event was a home run. This year’s looks to be a grand slam as exhibitor space has been sold out and the show floor expanded to a whopping 45,000 square feet.

It’s been one day sort of week since it opened, but the 2023 winter bow season for deer feels more like its month-long October counterpart.

The hunt will extend through half an hour after sunset Saturday, December 10. In the event that the management goal of 20% tagged bruins is not met, there will be an additional three days of hunting, Wednesday, December 14 through Saturday, December 17.

The six-day firearm buck season draws to a close Friday, and so far it’s been a pretty good season from what we can see visiting various parts of the Garden State.

The cold snap has jump-started what will be the final push of striped bass down the Garden State coast.