<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

All of the <b>Atlantic Star</b>’s bottom-fishing trips except Wednesday afternoon’s sailed, and fishing was good, Capt. Tom said. That trip was weathered out, and so was today’s, and tomorrow’s might be too, but forecasts looked like Saturday’s and Sunday’s will run. Mostly porgies were plundered, and all patrons were catching them. A few sea bass, triggerfish and blackfish were bagged. The porgies, a great-tasting fish and fun to catch, were all different sizes from small to beauties. Many small sea bass bit, but a few were keepers and good-sized. More triggerfish than usual were around, and a couple of blackfish were taken on Tuesday afternoon’s trip. Either a mangrove snapper or a cubera snapper, both southern fish, an unusual catch, came up during the week. Seas were okay where the boat fished between the channels, though many other types of fishing were weathered out on other vessels. There was a little ground swell, and patrons had to use 8-ounce weights in the currents, but they only had to fish in 30 feet, so the fishing was fine. Customers were catching fish to take home, and Tom sounded pleased with the fishing. The Atlantic Star is bottom-fishing on two trips daily 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Porgies, sea bass and blackfish could be wrangled up, said Joe from <b>Julian’s Bait & Tackle</b>. The party boats were sailing for them, and a couple of the head boats had special research permits to keep fishing for fluke, after the season closed. A couple of the boats were also fishing for weakfish, and the weaks hung around the 9 buoy and Reach Channel. Fishing for snappers blues was good from the Keansburg Pier to the Atlantic Highlands bulkhead and other places, including some areas on the Shrewsbury River. Striped bass were wormed and eeled on the river at the Highlands and Sea Bright bridges. Nobody weighed in fish from the surf.

<b>Highlands</b>

Friends nabbed striped bass between the channels on eels and clams in the past days, and <b>Fisher Price Charters</b> will now sail for the linesiders, Capt. Derek said. The fish seemed to be most active in the evenings, but with these storms, they could begin responding just as much during the day. Trips on the boat will run for them on the bay from Sandy Hook to New York. An open-boat bluefishing trip is slated to fish the ocean for the big ones Sunday, and space is available, and call to claim. Forecasts called for fair weather then through Tuesday. Trips are also concentrating on bluefin tuna fishing on the inshore ocean, and the fish were out there to catch, if a break in the weather allowed the boat to sail. Fisher Price is also bottom fishing for sea bass, porgies and tog. Derek heard about a few weakfish found, but catches were spotty.

Trips were booked for inshore tuna fishing, like at the Chicken Canyon and the Atlantic Princess wreck, and the fish should still be out there, but the weather repeatedly kept the boat from sailing, said Capt. Brian from <b>Jersey Devil Charters</b>. The winds and storms were relentless, but plenty of tuna, mostly bluefins and sometimes yellowfins, swam the areas when anglers could last sail. Jersey Devil limited out on the bluefins on all trips so far, and the fishery was one of the best lately, and a shorter, quicker run than canyon fishing. Pelagics like false albacore filled the waters closer to shore, if anglers wanted to have fun tangling with the hard-fighters. Jersey Devil even began booking a couple of striped bass trips that will now fish if the weather lets up long enough to squeeze them in between tuna fishing. Resident, non-migrating stripers were active. Both charters and open-boat trips are sailing for the inshore tuna, and call if interested in the open trips, because the more anglers who can go, the easier to schedule the trips. All the other fishing is available on charters.

<b>Neptune</b>

***Update, 9/11:***  From an edited e-mail from Capt. Ralph from <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b>: “After a miserable week of weather, I'm looking forward to fishing again. I will be targeting inshore tuna, bluefish and bottom fish in the next few days. UPCOMING OPEN BOAT TRIPS: Weds., 9/16, INSHORE WRECK, 20 to 25 miles, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., I will have fresh clams, squid, and green crabs on board, targeting sea bass, ling, tog or blackfish and possibly a cod or two; Friday, 9/18, OFFSHORE WRECK, cod, cod and COD, last four trips have been great, cod up to 40 pounds and A LOT of 15- to 20-pound cod, 3 a.m. leave, two spots left; TWO-DAY CANYON--now is the time to go--Sept 23 to 24 (three spots left), Oct 7 to 8 and 13 to 14, 10 a.m. leave. Available for small or large charters every day and night.--Capt. Ralph.”

<b>Belmar</b>

The <b>Big Mohawk</b> was able to sail one or two times since bottom-fishing began on the vessel Saturday, when fluke season closed, so fluke trips ended,  Capt. Chris said. The bottom-fishing dredged up fairly good catches of sea bass, including big ones, a few porgies and some blackfish. The fishing wasn’t like autumn, but looked promising for when trips will be able to sail in calmer weather. The Big Mohawk is bottom-fishing 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

Seas like 8-footers today kept the party boats docked lately, so there was no news about bluefishing or bottom-fishing on them, and surf fishing was out of the question recently, and seas along the beaches were really bad today, said Jessie from <b>Fisherman’s Den</b>. The only real fishing was for porgies in Shark River. Some customers bought clams and worms and caught them. Striped bass, shorts, were hooked in the river, and so were snapper blues, cocktail blues and tiny blowfish.

<b>Brielle</b>

Bluefin tuna swarmed the inshore ocean, and catching them was a matter of getting the weather to go, said Capt. Mike from the <b>Katie H</b>. He’s got trips lined up to chase after them, and a slew of the fish were creamed on a charter on the boat at the Chicken Canyon on Saturday, covered in the last report. The vessel’s canyon tuna schedule is also busy in the coming weeks, and an overnight canyon trip is booked for Saturday to Sunday, but the crew will give the anglers the option to hunt the bluefins instead. Maybe the weather will at least let them fish inshore. The Katie H is also bottom fishing, but everybody lately wanted to fish for tuna. The inshore trips were especially convenient, a short ride, saving time and money. Bottom fishing for sea bass and tog will become more popular in October to December, and the boat will also run for striped bass when the fall migration heats up. One of the only good effects that the northeast weather had on fishing lately was to cool the waters and make resident, non-migrating striped bass more active. Mike knows anglers who beat three keepers on the ocean off Sea Girt recently. Don’t have enough anglers for a full canyon charter? Call Mike, and he can probably book an individual space on a make-up trip.

Anglers were tearing up false albacore and bonito at the inshore lumps, and a special trip will chase after the fish 6:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday on the <b>Jamaica</b>, an e-mail from the boat said. No word came in about the vessel’s daily bluefishing trips, so apparently the fishing was cancelled during the weather. A bluefin tuna trip was slated for today and was presumably blown out, but another is on the schedule for 3 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, September 17, and more might be added to the schedule. One of the trips already fished, lambasting more than 50 of the fish, releasing all but a limit of two for the boat, plus false albacore and skipjacks 50 miles from shore. The Jamaica is fishing for blues 7:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Check the boat’s Web site for discounted specials on the bluefish trips, and visit the site to be added to the e-mail list for specials. The boat is also fishing for canyon tuna, and see its site for the schedule and info.

<b>Point Pleasant</b>

The latest news about daily bluefishing on the <b>Cock Robin</b> rolled in from the weekend. Seas then were not always favorable for the fishing, but catches were “good to epic” for customers who put in the time at the rail, an e-mail from the vessel said. Trips were washed out since then. But fall fishing has essentially begun, and the crew is keeping an eye on false albacore, bonito and bluefin tuna, and trips will get on them if the fish come within 30 miles of port.  Striped bass will begin to be mixed in among the bluefish before too long, and then trips will focus on the linesiders. The Cock Robin is bluefishing 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.

<b>Toms River</b>

Weakfish to 3 pounds were sometimes plucked from the Toms River on trolled Rat-L-Trap lures, cast Fin-S Fish or drifted killies, said Dennis from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b>. Snapper blues attacked killies or spearing in the river. A few larger weakfish were picked up from the BI marker in Barnegat Bay to Barnegat Inlet, and small blues schooled around the inlet. The bay’s boaters anchored and chummed with clams to collect blowfish and kingfish on sandworms or clam-with-squid combos. No striped bass were heard about or weighed in, and nobody really fished the surf. Bait or peanut bunker and mullet should pour out from the bays and rivers and school along the surf after the weather or by Sunday. Crabbing was good all over.

<b>Seaside</b>

The surf was mostly deserted, but one angler stopped in during a break between chasing false albacore and bonito that were tantalizingly close to casting range but not close enough, said the report on <b>Grumpy’s Tackle</b>’s Web site. He was having a ball trying, though, and said he couldn’t believe how deserted the beaches were. Check out this awesome YouTube video of albies in the surf that a customer showed the shop. If you fish the suds, be careful about rip currents that are always possible in extended periods of northeast winds. Click here for updates.   

<b>Forked River</b>

Some anglers tried for blowfish on Barnegat Bay, and other customers went crabbing, and that was about all the happened because of the weather, said Dave from <b>Grizz’s Forked River Bait & Tackle</b>. The blowfish were reeled in from places including near the 40 buoy and at Tices Shoal when anglers anchored and chummed with clam or a chum log, fishing with clam or small strips of squid dunked close to the chum pot. Kingfish were also around in the bay, getting nabbed with the same chum and baits, and anglers tried for weakfish in the waters, but none reported scoring luck. The only striped bass that Dave heard about were small ones that were caught and released in the Oyster Creek power plant outflow. The season was early for stripers.

<b>Barnegat Light</b>

The northeast winds and the rains caused all trips to be cancelled this week for <b>Reel Fantasea Charters</b>, Capt. Steve said in an e-mail. Space is available on open-boat trips for one to two anglers on Friday, September 18, and also on Thursday and Friday, October 15 and 16. “Once this weather settles down, we are going to be knee deep in fish!” he said. The last trips scored excellent fishing for a variety of species including weakies, blues, kingfish, blowfish, porcupine puffers and sea bass from Barnegat Inlet to Barnegat Bay.  Fall action is right around the corner for some of the best fishing for striped bass, big, slammer blues and, at the ocean wrecks, sea bass, blackfish and porgies. Don’t miss out, and a few dates remain for those who want to experience the angling.

<b>Beach Haven</b>

Bottom-fishing on the <b>Miss Beach Haven</b> on Saturday’s trip pummeled a great catch, including a load of croakers, a bunch of triggerfish and some porgies, Capt. Frank said. Sunday’s trip was a different story in rough weather, and many patrons became seasick, and a few fish were decked. Although the vessel’s open-boat trips are now running on weekends, the open trips on weekdays were wrapped up on Friday, the last day of fluke season, with excellent fishing for the flatties, lots of keepers bagged. Open-boat trips are bottom fishing 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Charters are also available for everything from bottom fish to tuna, whatever’s biting.

<b>Tuckerton</b>

A 300-pound blue marlin, a white marlin and a small mahi mahi were landed at Toms Canyon on Sunday with <b>Legal Limit Charters</b>, Capt. T.J. said. Seas and the weather were calm in the morning and became rough in the afternoon, and the stretch from Saturday to Sunday morning was the only calm weather recently. The waters, a beautiful, blue color, held a temperature break from 75 to 83 degrees and lots of bait. Legal Limit is also bottom-fishing for croakers close to shore in 30 feet and sea bass and triggerfish at the wrecks farther out. One of T.J.’s boats will move to Cape May for striped bass fishing that will begin in late October, but his other boat will remain in Tuckerton for bottom-fishing. From Cape May the striper trips will bunker-chunk on Delaware Bay and fish live bait at the Cape May Rips. Sometimes stripers school the ocean front, usually later in the season, and if so, trips will troll and jig for them or fish clams. That action usually lasts a couple of weeks if it happens. It happened last year, but one never knows from year to year. 

<b>Mystic Island</b>

“Have you seen the forecast?” Scott from <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b> asked when he was telephoned for a report. The weather was a bust! With forecasts for weather as severe as 25- and 30-knot winds and 9- to 12-foot seas, nothing was happening. Bait even ran out at the shop, because suppliers like the local clam boaters or the Maine bloodworm diggers stayed in during the blow. One customer on Wednesday talked about playing with small weakfish, snapper blues and Atlantic blueback herring at the mouth of the Mullica River, saying the herring were the biggest of the bunch. Fun fishing, but that was the only report. Nobody bothered to try for the kingfish, sea bass, porgies and blowfish that had been caught previously in the bay on the Mystic Island side of the Fish Factory. Ditto for any other fishing. The area’s fall migration of striped bass usually arrives by October 28, when anglers looking for them will drift eels near Little Egg Inlet, fish clams at the inlet, troll bunker spoons along the ocean front or go for them every which way. “Anything else?” Scott was asked. “Better days are coming!” he said. 

<b>Absecon</b>

Small blues that were fought on the bay were almost the only catches heard about in the weather, said Capt. Dave from <b>Absecon Bay Sportsman Center</b>. A few weakfish were angled up from the mouth of the Mullica River. The weekend’s weather was hardly better, and little was heard then, too. The waters were stirred up now, and a couple of days will have to pass before it settles. But if you can’t fish, here’s the next best thing. Catch the shop’s
Striper Season Kick Off Sale from Friday to September 25, featuring at least 25 percent off everything, with up to 75-percent discounts on certain closeout items. The dates have been set for the shop’s annual Do It All Night Striper Tournament: 12 noon Friday, November 13, to 12 noon Saturday, November 14. The competition is open to fishing from boats, bridges, the surf, jetties, the sod banks and kayaks.

<b>Margate</b>

With <b>O-Beth Sportfishing</b> a couple of trips during the weekend trolled false albacore and bluefish 15 miles from shore, Capt. Eric said. Probably a dozen of each were wrestled in on each trip, good fishing. O-Beth is also bottom-fishing for sea bass and fishing the canyons for tuna and big game, if the weather ever lets up to get offshore. The boat will make its annual move to Cape May for fall striped bass fishing in mid October. The striper charters will fish bunker chunks on Delaware Bay and live bait or bucktails at the Cape May Rips. Keep and eye on O-Beth’s Web site for info about the striper fishing that will be posted soon.

Blues were boxed and a few big flounder were caught and released, now that flounder season closed, on the bay during the weekend on the <b>Keeper</b>, Capt. John said. Lots of 1- to 2-pound blues, good-eating sized, ran the bay, and the trips looked for weakfish, but none showed up. Trips this weekend will look for weaks again. The Keeper is fishing on two open-boat trips on Saturdays 8 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and one on Sundays 8 a.m. to 12 noon. Charters are also fishing in the coming week.

<b>Longport</b>

The weather kept the <b>Stray Cat</b> tied to the dock, but an open-boat trip for bottom fish should get out Saturday, Capt. Mike said. A few anglers are booked for the trip, and space is available, and call to reserve. Gobs of croakers were clobbered on the last bottom trip, and blues were bombed. Short weakfish chewed, and bigger ones should pile in soon. The fishing was happening 5 miles from shore. Trolling for pelagics including false albacore, Spanish mackerel and king mackerel was gangbusters farther from shore, and charters are available for them. Charters are also on tap for overnight trips to the canyons for tuna and big game. Annual, daily open-boat trips were slated to kick off Friday, but Saturday will likely be the first, because of the weather. The open trips will run except when charters are booked. The open trips will fish for tog when the bag limit gets hiked up to six of the blackfish on November 16 from the current limit of one. Blackfishing is one of the main events on the boat during the year. South Jersey’s wrecks and pieces can be less pressured than farther north, can offer some of the best togging around. Stray Cat bills Longport as the Tog Capital of the World!

<b>Ocean City</b>

Surf fishers until the blow beached kingfish, croakers, weakfish and blues, said Bill from <b>Fin-Atics</b>. Boaters cranked aboard croakers in 35 to 40 feet in the ocean from the bell buoy off Great Egg Harbor Inlet to Corson’s Inlet. The hardheads supposedly schooled as far north as Barnegat. The back bay around Ocean City was jam-packed with striped bass willing to attack any typical lures. Small blues also roamed the bay, hitting metal or bait. But nobody fished since Monday.

The boat is booked for charters Saturday and Sunday, and Capt. Craig from <b>Fish Tale Charters</b> hoped the weather backed off by then, he said. If the trips leave the dock, they’ll search for big croakers and large, 4- and 5-pound blues that were smoked on the ocean on charters last Saturday and Sunday. The croakers were rounded up from 40 and 50 feet.  Looking ahead, reservations are being booked for fall striped bass fishing, when the boat will be moved to Cape May, mostly to fish at the Cape May Rips with live eels or spots or bucktails. Later in the season stripers are sometimes caught along the ocean off Cape May, like on jigs while trips chase birds working the waters. A few dates are already booked for November, so now is a good time to lock in dates.

<b>Wildwood</b>

The <b>Adventurer</b> sailed Saturday through Monday, bottom-fishing on the ocean, before the weather became too rough, Capt. Gary said. A mess of sea bass were bagged, and apparently the northeast winds pushed them in. Triggerfish, blues and croakers were also bucketed, and the fishing was good. The boat is mostly fishing the wrecks, where sea bass, triggers and even blues are picked up. But if the trips to and from the grounds run across croakers closer to shore, the vessel stops and drifts on them, so anglers can crank them in. Eventually, as waters cool, weakfish should school-up close to the beaches, and then trips will go after them, croakers and blues all at once. Open-boat trips for blues had been fishing on Saturday nights, but the trip last weekend stayed docked, because of weather. The crew might begin to chunk for blues on open trips on Fridays and Mondays, but call to confirm. Trips will probably stick with wreck fishing as long as lots of the bottom dwellers cooperate like they have. The Adventurer is fishing on open-boat trips 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, but call to confirm, making sure no charter is running instead.

Crabbing improved on the bay and was “pretty decent,” said Mike from <b>Canal Side Boat Rentals</b>. Flounder kept biting and had to be released because the flattie season closed. The fluke were in the bay later than usual, and that goes to show the population was large. There were as many of the fish as ever this season. Lots of small, baby sea bass filled the bay like usual at this time of the year, but a few were keepers. Snapper blues schooled through the waters on occasion, and weakfish, not many, were grabbed from the bay here or there.  A few striped bass were caught in the bay, and lots swam the bay, but few people went after them. Minnows and frozen shedder crabs, whole and filleted mackerel, various types of squid, fresh-frozen clams, salted clams, frozen mullet and bunker, including for crabbing, and more baits are stocked. Live blueclaw crabs, currently number 1’s for $20 per dozen and number 2’s for $12 per dozen, are carried for eating. The crabs will be carried at least through the month, so long as the supplier keeps catching them. The shop’s crabs are kept in a live tank and are never refrigerated. Canal Side rents canopy boats and kayaks for fishing, crabbing and sightseeing. The shop is open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, probably through the first week of October, until the doors will be closed through winter. The shop might be closed one day a week on Mondays at some point before then.

<b>Cape May</b>

Boaters and surf anglers pulled in croakers and snapper blues along the shore of Delaware Bay in Cape May a couple of days ago, before the weather turned tough, said Danny from <b>Hands Too Bait & Tackle</b>. The croakers gobbled bloodworms, squid and clams, and the snappers, small fish, smaller than the croakers, actually did, too. Flounder, out of season since Saturday, kept grabbing baits all around. That included in the back bay, and small striped bass like 16- or 18-inchers but occasional keepers could probably be played on the back bay, and try fishing clams. But all fishing really came to a standstill in the winds. 

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