A good-sized tautog, like this one caught onboard the "big Mohawk iii" out of Belmar, will put a smile on the face of most any cold-weather angler. Photo by Ken Freel.

You’ve got to have some serious ice cubes in your veins to play in this game. Any fisherman can lay claim to putting in time in the spring, summer and fall. After all, what’s more fun than live-lining bunker during the springtime striper run? Or bouncing bucktails for summertime fluke? Or surf-casting plugs to bass, blues and weakies during the explosive fall run?

The point is, where are you when the bitter cold of December and Ol’ Man Winter rolls in? Step away from that fireplace! Get hardcore and forget about hibernation. It’s time to head straight into Jersey’s promised Winter Wonderland!

RED LING
The anchor of the wintertime fishery rests on the shoulders of one aesthetically challenged critter with bottom-feeling barbels -- the ugly, yet tasty ling. These fish populate near-shore wrecks in the 10- to 30-mile range and give the wintertime anglers a really worthwhile ride through the winter seas. Catches can range from 15 to 60 fish per man, per trip.

No, sir, ling aren’t known for their vicious rod-bending fights. Once you get them about 30 feet off the bottom, their air bladders pop out, and they give up. But they will give the bait a good initial whack, and a 3-pound-plus ling will definitely give you a little jolt when reeling it in.

Ling mainly weigh in between 1 and 3 pounds. But 4- to 6-pound “baseball bat” specimens are not uncommon and will usually win the pool money for the day.

A standard two-hook rig works best to bring up the feisty scrappers, with a snelled 2/0 hook tied right above the sinker, with another snelled hook on a dropper 12 inches up from that hook. Small bits of clam work well to take most fish. But if you have strips of sea robin, bergall or bluefish, cut them in 3- to 4-inch slices and lance them on the hook for a shot at a 4-pound-plus bracket ling.

Capt. Steve Spinelli of the Skylarker II has jumped on the ling train for his charters in the last three years.

“Ling have bounced back in major numbers in the last few years. I think it’s a cyclical thing with bottom-fishing. Right now, we are seeing a serious presence of ling every winter on the inshore grounds around the dumped rock and wrecks. I specifically make charters now to target ling, as people are happy going out on a trip and filling coolers.

“My only problem now is for the fares to have enough ice to keep all the fish cool!”

Spinelli says that in December and January, ling can be caught in the inshore depths of 100 to 125 feet. But they will move into the deeper waters of 120 to 200 feet come February and March.

“For bigger ling, you just have to be in the right place at the right time. But to up your advantage, I’d say to drop down with a 2/0 beak-style hook. Put a strip of bergall or conger eel on the line, so long as there are no spiny dogfish around. The strip baits seem to find the bigger ling.”

COD & POLLOCK
Mud Hole, Scotland Grounds, The Arundo Wreck
Granted, it’s not a constant free-for-all on cod and Pollock as it is off the Georges Bank. But in recent years, Jersey winter wreck-pounders have been delighted with the increasing presence of both species on the 40-mile wrecks.

It used to be that cod and pollock were a gratuitous bycatch on ling and blackfish trips. But captains have become savvy to the idea that organized trips could actually be structured to target these bottom bullies.

January and March seem to be when cod begin to root down in the holes and tunnels of shipwrecks. Ambitious boaters will find that anchoring above one of the structures and instituting a clam slick will usually bring the cod out of a wreck to feed actively. This type of fishing is different than Jersey’s northern counterparts in Hyannis, as they tend to set up on a drift over shoals and ledges to bounce for cod. But the method works well in Jersey waters.

After all, cod aren’t as numerous or spread out over a large area. They’re more penned up in a few select spots. You just have to knock on their door.

A good trip out to the 40-mile wrecks for cod could have the boat into about 12 to 48 keeper codfish up to 30 pounds -- if the bite is right.

Happily, pollock have really made a comeback of sorts in the Garden State’s waters. Any offshore trip could find the pool winner with at least a 20-pound caliber pollock. In 2007, pollock bit even through the spring and summer months. Bluefish trips out to the Mud Hole saw anglers catching 20- to 35-pound pollock using diamond jigs.

Be prepared to drop a heavy 8- to 16-ounce Viking or Crippled Herring Jig down with a 6/0 bucktail teaser tied about 3 feet up to jig above the wreck. Place some strip baits from bergalls or herring on both hooks.

If pollock or cod are there, they’ll be on it. And if you do happen into one, more will be hanging around the structure, since pollock tend to school up. High-speed retrieve reels with 6-to-1 ratios are a must in this type of fishing, as you may be over depths of more than 240 feet.