TRENTON - To help increase striped bass numbers, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will require anglers to use circle hooks when catch-and-release fishing for striped bass with natural bait, effective Jan. 1, 2021.
The requirement stems from changes the Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board made in 2019 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan, to address overfishing.
The board, part of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, reduced New Jersey’s striped bass bag limit in 2020 to one fish, between 28 inches and less than 38 inches long, and required states to implement mandatory use of non-offset (inline) circle hooks when fishing for striped bass with natural bait.