I cannot tell you how many anglers come to me at various points in the Fall and say "fishing is over for the year." They're packing their gear away and backing down their drags in preparation for next spring. Some choose to sit in a tree all day long instead. To me this is just ludicrous.  My love for the sport goes 365 days a year and I will be on the water as much as I possibly can.

That being said what could possibly be biting as Fall winds down into Winter? My answer, just about everything that swims!

Right now many NJ lakes have been stocked with trout. BIG BRUISER TROUT.  Check out the NJ DFW site for locations. http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/flstk.htm Tactics can be found in an earlier Fish Head article here. http://blogs.courierpostonline.com/fishhead/2009/09/10/tactics-for-fall-trout/

Bass fishermen can delight in what's called Rat-L-Trap and Jerkbait weather. Lipless lures like Bill Lewis Rat-L-Traps and the Red Eye Shad are great producers for vicious reaction strikes. Throw them and throw them until you get a bite. If the action slows down and your local water is cold throw a jerkbait. Lures like the Rapala X-Rap and Husky Jerk will have your Extreme Net Man working hard. I recommend "Hockey." http://www.extremenetmen.com/ For the tournament fisherman you can even participate in one of the 3 Winter League trails through Southern and Central NJ. Check our Fish Head Forums for a listing of tournaments and contacts!

 

A December fish. Note the ice on the lake behind the boat!

Pickerel fishing is about to explode. Just about any cedar water lake in the Eastern part of the state is loaded with toothy, angry, and hungry picks. Inline spinners, floating Rapalas, and Zara Puppies provoke explosive strikes. It's so much fun to watch them follow the bait and then attack!

Perch and crappie fishermen better get out the little jigheads and tubes. The colder it gets the better the fishing will be. As Winter approaches these panfish pack tightly in schools. Where you find one you'll find a whole school and it's easy to get 20-30 fish in a short time.

Stay in school!

And if none of that excites you check out the blogs by our saltwater writers. Nick Honachefsky has all the tips you need to bag stripers, sharks, bluefish, croakers, and weakies.

Don't pack the tackle away yet. This season is a great time to get out and fish.

3:16 Baby Wake in Chartreuse Shad color.

 Size: 6 inches

Colors: 8 recommend all

Typically I don't delve into the enthusiast tackle scene here. Some baits are considered a bit too expensive and exotic for the every-fisherman. I find the 3:16 Baby Wake to be an exception. Weighing in at $45 per bait this is one of the most expensive lures I own. Why so much? Throw it one time and you will understand. The Baby Wake is built with a hidden joint and loose plastic tail fin with ultimate realism as the goal. The body is shaped like a crunched up trout and the lip extends straight down giving it a real fish swimming action on the surface. On a straight retrieve the tail fin leaves a noticable V-shaped wake in it's path. Pausing the lure sometimes gives a couple more tail kicks on it's own to look like a struggling fish. Snap your rod tip downward and the bait walks the dog sharply. Harder twitches can even get the tail fin to make a special clack on the water. It's not just bass that think the Baby Wake is real but birds and non-fishermen too! I've had many seagulls and herons try to swoop down on the bait thinking it was a real dying baitfish on the surface. I've had people walking by who did not know I was using a lure exclaiming,"Look! Look! A fish!" The hardware on the Baby Wake is extra tough and the finish is excellent. Even if your lure breaks 3:16 has been happy to repair it quickly and without issue. Just send the lure back with a note and it will return good as new. For tackle I recommend some heavier gear than normal. At least 20lb test, a stout rod, and strong reel for throwing this big bait.

 

Tim Fairlie of Bordentown, NJ with a solid Baby Wake fish.

Right now the best place to get a Baby Wake is through 3:16 directly. http://www.316lurecompany.com/baits/babywake.html All in all I give the Baby Wake a 4 out of 5. The price and fact that it's almost exclusively topwater are the only drawbacks. Big fish eat big baits and this lure is a producer. Keep an eye out for an exclusive interview with one of 3:16's pro staff,  John Valdez, in a future Fish Head blog. Until then get out there and fish!

Pluggers should be throwing out yellow or white colored Bombers in the discolored water.

It's surf striper time. If you're feeling lazy, bring the bunker chunks and clams to the beaches, bait up with a three-way swivel rig, 30-inch, 40-pound fluorocarbon leader and a size 8/0 to 10/0 Gamakatsu Octopus Circle Hook and hold on tight. Pluggers should be throwing out yellow or white colored Bombers in the discolored water, or casting Deadly Dicks or Ava 007 jigs with white colorings. Be sure to use 3/0 chartreuse or white bucktail teasers as well when plugging.

DiCecco weighed in dozens of linesiders, six of which were over the 35-inch mark, including Mike Tee's 38“ incher and Walt Cahill's big girl of 32 pounds.

Fresh bunker and clams have both been working to put bass on the beach, but fresh bunker heads are taking the larger model linesiders that are prowling around.

Valerie Zak, Oceanside Bait and Tackle, Brighton Beach, said more bass are showing up by the day. Bill Long landed a 33-incher on a herring head, Dante Sorriente scored big time with a 31-pound bass taken on a plug and Steve Sopot bested a 33-incher on a pearl Redfin plug.

Holgate and Beach Haven beaches have been the top spots of the week. Zak said she has the new After Hours plugs and Super Strikes as well, perfect lures for the fall run.

"Right before the storm, Poverty Beach was giving up nice catches of bass and bluefish to 5 pounds,'' according to Matt Slobodjian, Jim's Bait and Tackle, Cape May. "Topwater poppers got whacked both off the beaches and off the Coast Guard jetty where more keeper bass were found.''

Slobodjian said water temperatures dropped down to the high 50's in some areas, which is good news for striper hounds.

The Megabait Charlie, an inexpensive swimbait.

Sizes: 3.5in , 4in , 5in, 6.5in, and 8in

Colors: 8 recommend Dark Green, white, and Ayu

The Megabait Charlie hit the scene a few years ago with great accolades. The lure is an award winner taking home an ICAST trophy for best soft lure of the year. The reason behind the award is the innovative construction of the lure. It's half hardbait and half soft bait. The head portion is a hard plastic like a conventional lure but the body and tail are soft and ribbed for incredible action. Inside are Tungsten balls for weight and fish attracting noise. Furthermore, the lure suspends in fresh water and floats as a wake bait in saltwater. This is a double duty bait! Fishing the Charlie is pretty enjoyable. The smaller sizes can be thrown on conventional tackle and have a wide side to side S-pattern action. When a fish blasts this lure there's no doubt about it. They're looking to make a KILL. Try cranking with hard handle turns and quick pauses down to about 3 feet. While the Charlie has some great fish catching attributes it does have it's downfalls too. The rounded lip on the bait sometimes gets overpowered and causes the lure to roll uncontrollably. Shaving some of the lip on the sides may aid to end this issue or ruin the bait so proceed with caution. The color patterns are cartoony in the water as is the action of the bait itself. The single hook is a problemif the fish doesn't engulf the lure but they typically do.  I've found the 3.5" to be the most consistent fish producer and the 5" to be better for triggering a bigger bite. I haven't found a situation for the 4" or 6.5" that has been effective as of yet. The 6.5" is also a bit harder to throw at 2 ounces.  At the prices these swimbaits are offered it's hard to go wrong. These lures are almost exclusively found at ExtremeLures.com. This has been a great shop for me in general with quick shipping and some rare products. Overall I give the Charlie a 3 out of 5. I wish it didn't have so many quirks but the price is right!

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The passing double shot of Nor'Easters really tore up the beaches, with 6-foot drops straight down from the dunes in many spots along the coast, but the extended Nor'Easter also brought in the bass.

Stripers really began to show both in the backwaters and out front, and the Fall Run may just be kicking off in full effect this week.

"It's time. The bass are here,'' said Ray Slemmer Jr. of the Absecon Bay Sportsman, Absecon. "We checked in plenty of keeper fish this week … including three over 20 pounds, topping out with Sean Fox's 27-pounder. Live spot livelined in the deep holes in the back bays are producing the most and biggest fish.''

Jimmy Wynn dunked a few clams in the back to come up with a 32-incher plus a few "almost keepers.''

Broad Creek and Meadowcut have been two hot spots for linesiders. Kingfish have also been a steady source of fun from Brigantine Beach down to Longport and the Ventnor Pier, said Slemmer.

For anglers looking to fill up the bucket with fillets, white perch fishing is off the hook up in the Mullica River and Egg Harbor River. Simple bloodworms or minnies floated out will get you into the whiteys.

"More bass are moving in every day,'' said Bill Nickerson of Fin-Atics, Ocean City. "They are literally everywhere right now, off the beaches, in the back bays, around the bridges. Most are shorts, but there are a few decent keepers in the 32- to 35-inch range.''

The Great Egg Inlet has been holding larger linesiders that are eagerly eating up live spot and live eels. The Corson's Inlet beachfront has been hosting a red hot night bite for bass as 26- to 28-inch fish and larger have been gobbling down mullet chunks in the darkness.

Anvil launching is probably the world's manliest sport in front of bear hunting with a wiffleball bat. I just happen to excel at both. And this is Gay Wilkinson, the self proclaimed anvil launching world champion about to send one to the heavens. Watch the video then get out there and shoot your own dangerously heavy objects in the air. Just remember: what goes up is probably going to come down on a bystander. Happy launching!

Photo: John Raoux/Associated Press

By Wayne Parry, Associated Press

Atlantic City, NJ - A rescue attempt is being planned for Ilya, a Florida manatee stuck near an oil refinery in New Jersey where plunging temperatures and a lack of food are endangering his life.

The gentle sea cow has been known to marine scientists for 10 years as he has made his way up and down the East Coast. He has recently been spotted in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maryland.

But yesterday, he was huddling near an outfall pipe at a refinery in Linden, the only place he could find warm water.

A nor'easter pummeling New Jersey with wind and rain yesterday was making things even more dangerous for Ilya, who needs to be in water with temperatures of 68 degrees or warmer. The water where he is now is between 60 and 64 degrees.

Charles Underwood, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Ilya may not be able to survive long in such temperatures.

"Above 68, they're OK. Below that, they become susceptible to hypothermia. That's our concern," he said.

The Marine Mammal Stranding Center, a rescue group in Brigantine, N.J., received permission from federal wildlife officials to attempt a rescue this weekend.

Bob Schoelkopf, the center's codirector, said foul weather yesterday made an attempt impossible. The group may try today or tomorrow if the weather improves.

The rescue would involve loading Ilya aboard a boat and taking him to the group's facility, where he could be placed in a heated holding tank for a few days.

After that, Ilya could be flown to Florida, possibly aboard a military transport plane.

The manatee is in a small tributary of the Arthur Kill, a narrow waterway separating New Jersey and Staten Island, N.Y.

Staffers with the group were at the refinery site yesterday, taking photos of Ilya, who appeared to be in good shape.

"He looks fairly robust, from what we can see," Schoelkopf said.

Authorities are guarding the animal, in a section of the fenced-off and heavily guarded refinery inaccessible to the public.

"Some of them were going to get lettuce for him, to try to keep him there until the storm passes," Underwood said.

Caden was fishing with his family near his home in Joshua, Texas when he hooked the fish of his short lifetime.

“He battled for his life,” his uncle Dan Smith told the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.

Proud mom Natalie said the fish was as big as her son.

“When they got it out, he hugged it,” she said.

Though not a record for its class—a 56-pounder caught in the Trinity in 2004 holds that distinction for a junior angler—it was nonetheless an impressive and memorable feat.

According to the wishes of the newly seasoned angler, the bottom-feeding behemoth was released, to fight again.