Hickory shad are being caught now in the Manasquan Inlet during the early evening hours. The fishing is starting on the incoming tide.

The Barnegat Ridge presents anglers with a small version of the blue water world seen offshore in the canyons.

Blackfish season closes this Friday and will reopen July 15 with a one fish daily bag limit. The season ended on a good note with anglers making some limit catches on the inshore pieces and inlet rocks. However, now the bottom fishing boat find themselves with a little time on their hands as they await the opening of sea bass season, which will finally reopen on May 22.

The season is waning for spring tautog. If you want to catch one of these appetizing fish for the table you better get out on the water in the next two weeks. The current daily bag limit is four fish at 14 inches and is open until April 30. After that it closes until July 16 when it reopens and anglers are permitted one fish per day.

In the spirit of Halloween I went looking for the eerie. I drove down the Garden State Parkway South to a house in Forked River because it never fails me — every time I go south in this state I feel like I’m getting close to him — or it. You know what I mean.

I stopped down at Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle in Seaside Park recently to catch up with custom rod builder Mike Malek and see the latest new rod blank he’s using.

The days are getting hotter and the inshore fishing is gradually starting to fall into its summer rhythm. Boats are spread out drifting the grounds for fluke, anchoring on the reefs for sea bass and making the first night excursions for bluefish.

The 25th Annual Mako Mania Tournament, organized by the Greater Pt. Pleasant Charter Boat Association, is this weekend at Clark’s Landing Marina. The Captain’s Meeting is on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. in the marina lot over looking the docks. The fishing days are Saturday and Sunday.

After a long closure, fishing boat captains that fished for sea bass were generally pleased with the life they found inshore. Water temperatures are still a bit chilly but there were sea bass on all the spots as the fish are slowly, but surely, beginning to populate the shallow water structures.

So far it looks like the good canyon fishing is going to continue into August. The water temperatures are insanely warm at 80-plus degrees and the color is a nice, deep blue.