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Locations of New Jersey Artificial Reefs
The Division of Fish and Wildlife is currently maintaining 15 reef sites in the ocean along the New Jersey coast as part of the Artificial Reef Program.

New Jersey -(FishNLand.com)- The Division of Fish and Wildlife is currently maintaining 15 reef sites in the ocean along the New Jersey coast as part of the Artificial Reef Program. These sites are located between 2 and 25 nautical miles offshore from Sandy Hook to Cape May.

Reefs are constructed by intentionally placing very heavy structures, such as old ships, concrete debris, rock, obsolete army tanks and prefabricated concrete artificial reef units on the sea floor. The structures are placed within areas designated as reef sites by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Advisory to Commercial Fishermen and Marine Contractors
Regarding the Location of Sea Floor Structures

Reef sites should be avoided by operations using equipment on the sea floor, such as commercial trawl, net and dredge fisheries, cable or pipeline projects and sand or mineral mining projects. Reef structures may impede, entangle or destroy sea floor equipment and endanger operators. The use of heavy equipment on reef sites may cause damage to and move reef structures as well. Structures dragged outside reef boundaries by commercial fishing gear or other activities become unknown, uncharted hazards to all sea floor operations.

This notice applies to all of New Jersey’s 15 reef sites. All of the reef sites have been plotted as “Fish Havens” on current NOAA nautical charts. Fish havens (reef sites) are delineated as blue-shaded areas on NOAA nautical charts. Please retain this notice on your vessel and refer to appropriate nautical charts to identify the location of reefs in the area of ocean you are working.

Enlarge map (.jpg)
Printable map (pdf, 48kb)

NOTE: There are specific navigational advisories round the following artificial reefs:
Axel Carlson Reef
Shark River Reef

Reef coordinates in Digital Global Positioning System (DGPS) using dd mm.mmm (degrees, minutes and thousandths of minutes) are available in PDF format. Coordinates in the traditional dd.mm.ss (degrees, minutes, seconds) format and LORAN C are available by calling 609-748-2020.

Artificial Reef Site Locations in DGPS (pdf, 28kb)

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Reef Tactics For Black Sea Bass

Spring black sea bass fishing on New Jersey’s artificial reefs can be fast and furious.

New Jersey -(FishNLand.com)- Spring black sea bass fishing on New Jersey’s artificial reefs can be fast and furious. Having a successful day depends on many factors, such as getting to your chosen reef site early, using an appropriate angling method, and finding a good anchoring location. The strategies discussed in this article will increase your hook up percentage leaving you with aching arms and great memories.

Fishing on reefs goes hand in hand with the old cliché, “The early bird gets the worm,” as every weekend hundreds of private boats and fleets of charter/head vessels are making excursions to reefs. Getting to a hot wreck first usually translates into catching more fish. This may mean getting up an hour earlier or putting the throttle down on the way out, but by getting there first you will have the first crack at black sea bass stacked up and ready to be caught.

If contending with “weekend warriors” isn’t your thing, then fishing during the week is a good way to avoid the crowds. Fishing trips scheduled during the latter part of the week are usually more productive, as fish harvested over the weekend are gradually replaced with new recruits.

In some instances you may have done your planning and executed your plan, yet as you approach your location you spot a boat that appears to be anchored right on top of your numbers. As you get closer your suspicions are confirmed. When this happens, show proper etiquette and don’t muscle your way in. Either anchor a safe distance away or go to a “Plan B” location. The person who arrived first was the early bird and deserves the worm.         Nice black sea bass A prime example of a “hump back” black sea bass Click to enlarge

Beginners, novice and seasoned veterans all know that squid or clam fished on a top and bottom rig will always catch black sea bass. However, one method that can be equally effective is the use of a jig. Jig fishing for black seabass means no freshening up your bait, and when it works it can be absolutely deadly!

The rig consists of three feet of 50-pound fluorocarbon leader with a 3-ounce egg sinker sliding freely above a 30-pound snap swivel. A ½ ounce jig head is tied to the end of your three-foot leader. This rig is effective when fishing less than 70-feet of water. If you fish deeper you will want to tie your weight to the leader instead of having it free sliding above the swivel, as it will tangle every time you drop it down.

As with any jigging, certain colors work better than others do. If one color does not work try another. For instance, you may be catching black seabass like crazy on chartreuse and then switch to motor oil and have your catch ratio drop in half. My experience has shown that the larger black seabass will usually hit the jig. Smaller black seabass avoid it.

Anchoring location and technique separates the haves and have nots in reef fishing. A seasoned wreck angler who can place his boat directly over the most productive part of the wreck (usually the area with the highest relief) will out fish those who are on the periphery. Many novice wreck anglers have experienced the sight of people pulling in fish after fish at twice the rate that they are! What is different? Their boat is directly over the best part of the wreck and remains stationary. This angler has done his homework and knows through years of experience where the fish are on the wreck.

It takes time to find the most productive part of a wreck, and by no means does it remain the same. Sea conditions, wind direction and currents are all part of the equation. The best method to quickly assess where fish are concentrated is by making several passes over the wreck while closely watching your depth finder. As you go along, mark these concentrations with man over boards (MOBs) or waypoints on your GPS. However, keep in mind that conditions are dynamic on the seafloor especially at the wreck interface. As conditions change with the tide, one area of the wreck that is producing fish like gangbusters may suddenly go quiet.

One feature to note as you are scanning the reef for fish is the highest point. This location should be saved on your GPS permanently and named appropriately. At this location, bottom currents are directed upwards at the highest rate creating turbulence. This turbulence creates eddies and upwelling that black sea bass key in on for feeding. Remaining in place over this area is critical for successful fishing.

There are several anchoring systems that may be utilized to position your vessel precisely over reef material. One method that works well is a modified bridling technique that can be accomplished using a single anchor.

Anchoring technique

With the ever increasing cost of fuel it is important to try to anchor your vessel on the first attempt. Failure to do so will result in the tedious task of retrieving the anchor and resetting. This delay not only results in consuming more fuel, but also takes away from your valuable fishing time.

The modified bridling technique works well for smaller center console and walk around vessels. This technique involves using one anchor and enables the vessel’s position to be altered by adjusting the steering wheel slightly.

When you are anchoring on a shipwreck you must first locate and mark the exact location where you want to fish on the GPS. Once you have located the prime fishing area, save a waypoint and place two marker floats on the area. After your floats are deployed and firmly holding bottom, shut down your engine for several minutes. This will give you the opportunity to analyze the effects of wind and current. After drifting about 300 feet, enter your current location into the GPS. Program your GPS to give you the distance and compass course to return to the marker floats. Once you have returned to the marker floats following the course, continue a few hundred feet on the same course past the floats to allow yourself enough room to set the anchor. Here you must take into account the depth of the water and the amount of anchor line needed to maintain a scope of 5:1. For example, if you are fishing in 75 feet of water, you will need approximately 375 feet of anchor line to maintain a hold on the bottom.

When you have made the determination that you have traveled far enough up wind and up tide of the marker floats, deploy your anchor making sure you have an adequate length of anchor line. Pay out anchor line until your vessel approaches the floats marking the targeted structure and then tie off. Hopefully you will have executed this procedure correctly and positioned your vessel directly over the target.

Should you discover that you are not precisely positioned due to slight variations in the wind or current, you have one more option to consider before retrieving and resetting. This option is to rig a modified bridle using 30 feet of ½-inch nylon rope with a stainless steel snap hook on the end. Attach the snap hook over the primary anchor line after pulling in several feet of slack and tie off the other end on an amidships cleat, either on the port side or starboard side. This will enable you to have the ability to glide several feet towards the reef structure by simply adjusting the steering wheel to port or starboard.

Adjusting the ½-inch line on the amidships cleat and steering wheel position will allow you to slightly alter the vessels location and enable you to drift over the target. If the desired position is not achieved, try placing the ½-inch nylon rope on the opposite side (port or starboard) amidships cleat. This method works quite well most of the time, but it can become difficult if the wind and tide are opposing each other and there is not much drift.

Fishing for black sea bass is a spring ritual that everyone can enjoy. The techniques described here will give you the tools and the opportunities to catch more fish. However, taking coolers of black sea bass home only to have them spoil by freezer burn is not a good use of this valuable resource. Exercise restraint when fishing and only save what you can eat in one meal. By doing this, there will be plenty of fish available for more fishing excursions, as well as for other anglers

Submitted By Hugh Carberry, Reef Coordinator and Jeff Carlson, Technician, Employees of NJDEP, Division of Fish & Wildlife

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Wire To Wire, Texan Janet Parker Claims Her First Women’S Bassmaster Tour Victory

All week Janet Parker of Little, Elm, Texas, has been saying she was “keeping it simple”

Champion Janet Parker Wins Her First WBT

WEST MONROE, La. -(FishNLand.com)- All week Janet Parker of Little, Elm, Texas, has been saying she was “keeping it simple” out on the water, but Parker also made it look easy when she won wire-to-wire Saturday by more than 8 pounds at the second stop of the 2009 Academy Sports + Outdoors Women’s Bassmaster Tour event on the Ouachita River.

The first day she led by 11 ounces. The second day she stretched her lead to almost 5 pounds. With Saturday’s weight of 11 pounds, 2 ounces — her best of the three days — she totaled 32-2, easily staying in front of Sheri Glasgow of Muskogee, Okla., who took second with 23-13.

Patti Campbell of Waxahachie, Texas, who on Friday moved up from 21st into third place, also finished there with 21-13.

It was the first WBT title for Parker, who’s been competing in the women’s circuit since its inception in 2005. Her previous best finish was in June 2008 at Tennessee’s Old Hickory Lake, where she finished 14th after leading the first day.

“Last night, when I realized I had a 4-pound, 12-ounce lead, I thought maybe I could win here,” Parker said. “I didn’t get overconfident because maybe my fish would turn off, or someone would catch an 8-pounder — you just don’t know. I did not count my chickens before they hatched.”

Her wire-to-wire win was worth a $55,000 Triton/Mercury boat package, $650, and a valuable 315 points in Toyota Tundra Women’s Bassmaster Tour Angler of the Year race, where the eventual AOY winner will qualify for the 2010 Bassmaster Classic. Parker also received a bonus $500 that was donated to the winner by the Ouachita River Valley Association.

By “keeping it simple” on the Ouachita River, she meant she worked a Texas-rigged plastic crawfish in the same way to trigger a reaction bite, regardless of where she fished.

“I felt the key was having a weight and a magnetic bead,” Parker said. “I’d let the lure fall, then hop it up, and the beads would clack together. Then I’d let it rest and hop it up again.”

She fished the same rig in two markedly different areas. One was a shallow backwater, and the other a main-river ledge.

In the backwater, she picked up bass hitting baitfish at the mouth of an underwater culvert in water from 2 feet to about 8 feet deep. She also flipped to trees and brush in the same backwater.

On the main river channel, she threw her craw to bass holding in an eddy behind a ledge. Her only alteration in the rig for the main-river spot was a switch from a 3/8-ounce to a 1/2-ounce weight.

Ending in second place, Glasgow relied on a custom-made spinnerbait with a single Colorado blade, the same bait she used to win a WBT event at Arkansas’ Lake Dardanelle in 2007.

“It puts out a lot of thump, a lot of vibration, your rod tip’s bouncing as it pulses through the water,” said Glasgow, the 2007 Toyota Tundra WBT Angler of the Year. “You can slow-roll it, and when you bring it by a piece of structure, you can stop it and let it flutter. It worked great in this muddy water.”

Glasgow said she stayed in the Ouachita’s backwater lakes, working flooded buckbrush and cypress trees, moving with the fish as the water level changed each day.

Winner in the co-angler division and the $25,000 Triton/Mercury boat rig was Day Two leader Linda Owens, a retired law enforcement officer from Brandon, Miss. Her three-day weight of 16 pounds, 14 ounces, was almost 5 pounds more than her closest competitor.

“This is my first win at a tournament, ever,” said Owens, whose first look at the Ouachita River was on the first day of competition. She said the boat she won will replace a boat she had to give up after retirement.

Owens said she flipped and pitched to cypress trees and brush all three days, a technique that is “right up my alley.” Her go-to lure was a soft-plastic creature bait with a chartreuse dip on the tail.

“For some reason, they wouldn’t hit if the tail wasn’t dipped,” Owens said.

Other top finishers in the co-angler division included Gail Wood of Russellville, Ark., was second with 12-2. First-day leader Terri Bittner of McKinleyville, Calif., was third with 10-12.

The final two stops of the WBT regular season will be out of Little Rock, Ark., for a June 4-6 competition on the Arkansas River; and Sept. 10-12 stop at Old Hickory Lake out of Hendersonville, Tenn.

After the Old Hickory tournament, the top 20 in both the pro and co-angler points standings will advance to the Oct. 16-18 Academy Sports + Outdoors WBT Championship on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La.

One pro will emerge from the championship as the Toyota Tundra Women’s Bassmaster Tour Angler of the Year. She’ll win a Toyota Tundra and qualify for the 2010 Bassmaster Classic, Feb. 19-21 on Lay Lake out of Birmingham, Ala.

Pam Martin-Wells of Bainbridge, Ga., who finished in seventh place at Ouachita, retained her first-place position in the points race with 582 points. Juanita Robinson of Highlands, Texas, is second in the AOY with 556 points.

The local sponsor of the Women’s Bassmaster Tour stop on the Ouachita River is the Monroe-West Monroe Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Sponsors of the Women’s Bassmaster Tour
Title Sponsor: Academy Sports + Outdoors. Official Sponsors: Toyota Trucks, Berkley, BOOYAH Baits, Mercury, OPTIMA Batteries, Skeeter Boats and Yamaha Marine. Supporting Sponsors: Ramada, Triton Boats, LaserLure and Legend Boats.

For more information, contact BASS Communications at (407) 566-2208 or visit Bassmaster.com. Visit ESPNOutdoorsMedia.com for BASS and ESPN Outdoors latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos and more.

About BASS
For more than 40 years, BASS has served as the authority on bass fishing. With its considerable multimedia platforms and expansive tournament trail, BASS is guided by its mission to serve all fishing fans. Through its industry-leading publications Bassmaster Magazine, BASS Times and Fishing Tackle Retailer and comprehensive Web properties in ESPN360.com, ESPN’s broadband sports network, Bassmaster.com, BASSInsider.com and ESPNOutdoors.com, the organization is committed to delivering content true to the lifestyle. Additionally, television programming on ESPN2 continues to provide relevant content – from tips and techniques to in-depth tournament coverage – to passionate audiences.

The organization oversees the prestigious Bassmaster tournament trail, which includes the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bassmaster Opens, Academy Sports + Outdoors Women’s Bassmaster Tour and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the Bassmaster Classic. Through its grassroots network, the BASS Federation Nation, BASS annually sanctions more than 20,000 events.

BASS also offers an array of services to its more than 500,000 members while spearheading progressive, positive change on issues related to conservation and water access. The organization is headquartered in Celebration, Fla.

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