Tom P.

With the inevitable arrival of colder water, the bigger blackfish are moving in from the wrecks and structures in deeper water.

Whitetail deer mating season (aka “rut”) is 95% on, and, to put it mildly, the bucks will be love loco for the next two, maybe three weeks.

It’s a striped bass explosion along the northern and central stretches of the Garden State coast, and these are nuclear detonations for sure, going by the sizes of the linesiders.

This week’s blow set the clock running for the last week, maybe two, of crabbing before the crustaceans settle in the mud for the winter.

Segment A of the two-part New Jersey black bear season opens Monday and runs through Saturday, October 19.

The statewide archery season for deer opens next Saturday, and if you have not been out scouting spots, getting bait on the ground and/or getting the trail cameras up, well, get to it!

Two important sets of public meetings will be conducted during the upcoming weeks, topics which will impact recreational saltwater fishing along the Jersey shore.

And they are being pulled big time!

Actually, going deep is now the way to clean doormats and area rugs, i.e. flatties in the 10-lb. and 12-lb. ranges, respectively.

This is the time during the spring-through-autumn fishing frenzy season that we take a breather, and back it down a bunch of notches.

Depending on where you’re dropping a trap or hand line, crabbing has been fair to excellent. As the summer progresses, figure it to hit good to super status, again, predicated on the venue.

In reference to the 1967 #1 pop hit by The Turtles, it’s indeed a happy time when one observes a box turtle in the garden or lawn.