Likewise, the fishing in Barnegat Bay and other bays in the lower part of New Jersey was sporadic as well.

Delaware Bay also saw similar action, with some bigger fish being caught in the spring and mostly smaller fish being caught during the summer, as did Indian River Inlet.

As with most of the fisheries we're highlighting here, how productive this year's fishing is will be a combination of the weather and the numbers of fish that make it into Mid-Atlantic waters.

In New Jersey, look for the first weakfish action to be off Cape May Point and in lower Delaware Bay sometime in late April to mid-May, depending on how soon the water warms in the spring.

Most anglers will be fishing worms and jigging plastic baits when the weakfish are in the lower bay. By the end of May and early June, weakfish will be spread out throughout the bay. Annual hotspots like Gandys Beach, Fortescue, Reeds Beach, Egg Island Point, the Bug Light and the Middle Grounds will serve up better fishing.

Worms, crabs and chicken are usually the top baits in these areas. Light-tackle fishing can be very good when decent numbers of fish show up in the bay to spawn. In recent years, there have also been some excellent numbers of croakers in the bay; these spry fish make for some excellent light-tackle fishing as well.

By the end of May, if the norm over the last few years holds true, Raritan Bay will see some bigger weakfish in the Reach Channel around the 19 and 20 cans, Sandy Hook Channel and the dredge holes. In this area, worms and jigs are the top producers.

In addition to the fishing in Delaware Bay, Indian River and other inlets along the Delaware coast will also see decent spring action. If you are willing to lose a little sleep, it's not uncommon for you to see some tide-runners moving in and out of the inlets and along the beachfront.

Along the coasts of the Mid-Atlantic states, weakfishing has been a crapshoot at best, and it looks like this trend will continue. It's anyone's guess as to what weakfish anglers will experience in 2007.

TUNA
Now let's look at our biggest game fish, the tuna. The 2006 tuna fishing off the Jersey coast in the Hudson, Toms and other canyons was very good -- when the weather allowed the boats to sail. In particular, boats running from the port of Belmar saw a couple of weeks of super fishing, with some boats maxing out on overnight trips to the Hudson Canon.

Most of the catch, which peaked in early November, was dominated by yellowfin tuna, along with plenty of dolphin and some nice-size swordfish. Most party and charter boat captains who target tuna will tell you that last season produced some of the best fishing in recent years. Only some nasty weather, particularly late in the season, kept the tuna fishing from being even better.