“Canyon fever is back,” reports Dave Arbeitman of the Reel Seat in Brielle.

The mood at last Friday’s Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund Third Annual Fundraising Dinner was positively festive. While that may seem at odds with all the doom and gloom that surrounds the battle to save summer flounder, those in attendance had good reason to feel positive about the organization and what it has accomplished.

Right now there is a veritable smorgasbord of fish to catch — cod, pollock, stripers, blues, blackfish, ling and winter flounder. And that’s just in salt water.

For many anglers, The Asbury Park Fishing Club’s Indoor Fishing Flea Market is the true harbinger of spring. It’s a chance to shake off the winter blues, see some old friends, stock up on tackle and get to see the handiwork of some of the nation’s top plug builders.

Everybody loves a good fish story, especially if they’re about stripers caught in the surf. Anglers can pass hours sharing a cup a coffee — or some stronger beverage — telling tales about the ones that did and didn’t get away.

A motion to implement an emergency closure of New Jersey’s black sea bass fishery on Sept. 30 was defeated via a Web-based conference call on Tuesday. Had the motion passed, it would have been a particularly hard blow to a number of New Jersey’s party boats, which switch to sea bass fishing after fluke season, which ends today.

Considerable overages in the landings of black sea bass may put the remainder of the season in jeopardy.

An estimated 4,000 recreational and commercial fishermen descended on Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to let congress know there are big problems with fishery management, specifically the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and they need to be fixed. By all accounts, the message got across.

Angler’s hopes were buoyed a couple weeks ago when it was announced that the Science and Statistical Committee of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council recommended an increase in the black sea bass quota for 2010. It was an increase of 1.8 million pounds above the initial recommendation.

There is every indication that if you get a surf rod and reel for Christmas, you’ll be able to use it right away.