Striper Season Winding Down? Fishing Tips from Dennis Malloy [PHOTOS]

Here we are heading into the Fathers Day weekend and I can fondly remember four years ago catching two of the biggest stripers I've ever seem with two of my buddies on Father's Day 2008. We had six over 35 pounds in less than an hour and were back at the dock by 9 am.

Hopefully this weekend will make the same kind of memories for some lucky anglers off the Jersey coast. One charter captain I know says he thinks the striper season is over. While others say you just gotta be out there and know where to find em. Some spring runs have gone into very early July.

All but the most hardy of fisherman have stayed on land or safely tucked in coves on the bays the past few days with a pretty strong and sometimes gusty northeast wind hammering the shoreline. We may catch a break in the wind this weekend, but maybe not until Sunday. Check Alan Kasper's forecast for details. We might try some bay fishing for big spawning weakfish in the next few evenings in Barnegat Bay out of the way of the wind.

This is the time when they stage up before heading out into the Atlantic and it's not uncommon to land some 10 to 14 pounders. Usually a "pink Finesse" on a 3/8 red, white or pink jig head bounced on the bottom on a good moving incoming tide will do the trick. The real trick is finding them.

Whether from a boat or the bank I've seen some incredible weakfish caught this exact time of year, but the window is short and the reward is great. I'm gonna give it a try and with any luck (ok a lot of luck!) you'll see the pictures here. Good reports on Fluke in the bays up and down the coast with more keepers than in the past few years ending up in boats from Cape May to Sandy hook. While reports on crabbing being slow in the Chesapeake in Maryland for this time of year, here in the Barnegat Bay crabbers are getting early catches of keeper crabs in pots and traps earlier than usual.

In the meantime, freshwater anglers and enjoying great largemouth bass action in rivers, lakes and ponds all over New Jersey. I picked this one up pictured below, last night (Wed. 6-13-12), again on a pink Gulp 6 1/2 inch plastic night crawler in a lake in Medford, Burlington County.

Let's hope the wind dies down in the next day or two and this should be a banner weekend for fishing fresh or saltwater in New Jersey.