Rack and Fin

Numbers are especially strong in the southern tier counties.

And crabbing, for that matter.

Sure, we’ve sighted a few in late March, these being garters and a lone northern pine snake, but suffice to say they are now in full season mode.

Delaware Bay has long been considered the boomer factory.

A crappy name, for sure, but the fact remains that both the black and the white crappie are perhaps the most popular panfish inhabiting Garden State waters.

Short and sweet. Fast and furious. Snooze you lose.

It’s pretty much the same up and down the southern coast from Waretown to the Cape, there's either enough crabs to scratch by this afternoon, or none in the cooler.

Going into its second weekend of rod’n reel migration mayhem, the annual springtime “Shad Run” will continue through the Memorial Day weekend and possibly beyond.

It’s especially active from early spring well into June, and it seems the feed bag is always on.

The public hearing on the Bluefish Allocation and Rebuilding Amendment, will be held by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

It will be a double shot Opening Day throughout the Garden State for trout.

While not at the level of the summer flounder opener when it comes to angler participation, the April 1st opening of the blackfish (tog) season is nonetheless greeted with over-the-top enthusiasm.