<b>Staten Island</b>

Almost all trips were weathered out, but a solid catch of sea bass was walloped Saturday with <b>Barbara Anne Fishing Charters</b> during a moment of calmer conditions, Capt. Anthony said. Two trips are slated to fish on Tuesday but will probably be cancelled because of the weather. Barbara Anne received a Research Set Aside permit that will allow the vessel to keep fishing for sea bass when the lumphead season closes October 12. Open-boat, bottom-fishing trips are sailing on Wednesdays and Sundays this month by reservation. New York’s blackfish season opened on October 1, and blackfish/sea bass combo trips will become a focus. When blackfish begin to make a strong showing, trips will chase them full time. 

Trips fished with <b>Outcast Charters</b> on Saturday and Sunday, and Saturday’s weather was calm, but Sunday’s weather relegated the trip to fishing the bay, Capt. Joe said. The six-angler charter on Saturday clobbered a healthy catch of sea bass, decent sized fish, lots of action, on the ocean. Because lousy weather kept Sunday’s trip on the bay, the anglers fished for tog, and New York’s season for the blackfish opened. The angling was slow, but the six-person charter landed just more than a limit of four per person, keeping no more than their quota, and a few porgies. The biggest blackfish weighed 5 pounds, and the rest weighed up to 4 pounds. That trip was supposed to be a combo sea bass/blackfish charter, and that is now an option. Outcast always concentrates on blackfish when angling for them picks up later in the season.

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

Seas were calmer on Saturday than Capt. Ron from the party boat <b>Fishermen</b> thought they’d be, after rough weather on Thursday and Friday, he said in the report on the boat’s Web site. There was a little swell and some muddy waters, but fish did bite! Good action on short and keeper striped bass and sea bass lasted until 11:30 a.m., and the trip only fished two drops. More short stripers were hooked than keepers were, the opposite of catches last spring on the boat, “but that will change in weeks to come,” he said. The Fishermen is sailing for striped bass 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.  Check out a <a href=" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckcd3AgWYXY&feature=player_embedded" target="_blank">video of the trip</a>.

Bottom fishing turned up a good pick of fish on the morning trip on Saturday and a great trip in the afternoon, said Capt. Tom from the party boat <b>Atlantic Star</b>. The fishing on the afternoon trip was as good as anyone could want. Mostly porgies, sizeable ones, were bagged, and a few sea bass were kept among lots of short sea bass that bit, typical during this time of year. A few small blackfish showed up. The trips that day were the only that could sail in the past days because of the weather, and they fished between the channels. Saturday’s weather was beautiful, and forecasts originally called for better weather on Sunday, but Sunday’s fishing was weathered out. Was a shame that some anglers skipped Saturday’s trip, figuring they’d fish on Sunday. The fishing was good on trips lately. 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. for sea bass, porgies and blackfish.

<b>Highlands</b>

<b>Fisher Price Charters</b> sailed for striped bass for the first time this season on Saturday afternoon, during a break between the weather, Capt. Derek said. A pick of keepers and shorts were reeled in on clams, and Derek knew anglers who boated great catches in the morning. The angling looks like it started, and the fishing will only get better. The weather was beautiful in the afternoon, and seas were fine. Derek heard seas were somewhat bouncy in the morning. Striper charters are being booked, and open-boat trips are sailing. The next open trips will fish for stripers on one trip Thursday and on two trips apiece on Friday and Saturday. Call to jump aboard, and anglers can call to be kept informed about the future open schedule. Fisher Price is also bottom fishing for porgies, sea bass, a one-blackfish-per angler limit, and sometimes other fish like ling.

<b>Neptune</b>

All the blues anyone could want were trolled and baited on the ocean Saturday with <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b>, Capt. Ralph said. Two 31-inch, keeper striped bass were also trolled, and the bachelor party charter, sailing from 2 to 8 p.m., had a good time, he said. “Weather has been the big story,” Ralph said, but winds are forecast to switch to the west on Tuesday, looking like fishable conditions will develop soon. An individual-reservation wreck-fishing trip for cod, pollock and ling was weathered out today and rescheduled for this coming Monday, Columbus Day, and three spaces are available. Room is left on an individual-reservation trip on Wednesday for inshore bottom fishing for sea bass, porgies, ling, blackfish and triggerfish. That will be the final of those trips, because sea bass season will close on October 12.

<b>Belmar</b>

An excellent catch of sea bass to 3 ½ pounds, a boat limit, including lots of good-sized ones, was tackled on the ocean Saturday on the <b>Nan Sea J</b>, Capt. Tom said. Some good-sized porgies were also boxed, and the anglers blackfished an hour, each bagging a limit of one. So the trip was good, and the weather was beautiful, and seas were fine, though another bottom-fishing trip was weathered out on Sunday. A trip was also cancelled today because of the storm and was supposed to fish for tuna offshore at the canyons overnight.  

<b>Brielle</b>

Boaters belted blues and false albacore on the ocean on Saturday, the only day with weather calm enough for them to sail, said Dave from <b>The Reel Seat</b>. Surely some boaters bottom fished on the ocean that day, though no customers at the shop reported they did, and the fishing was probably affected by stirred up waters from the weather. Practically nobody fished offshore in the seas, though one of the Brielle party boats pulled an overnighter offshore Saturday to Sunday. No results were heard, but seas were probably stiff. The surf was too rough to fish at least on Sunday, so Dave cancelled plans to fish there that day. Blues and striped bass sometimes bit in Manasquan Inlet. Hickory shad, spots and small weakfish swam Manasquan River. Good blackfishing was claimed at the Point Pleasant Canal, and a few stripers were managed at the canal at night. But striper fishing there was better a couple of weeks ago. Check out new tackle that arrived at the shop. The Reel Seat is the first in the nation to stock Shimano’s new Terez rods, Dave said. The rods come in a variety of models for different uses and five colors. Some of the Terez rods are built to use with Shimano’s new Waxwing jigs. But customers bought other models for uses including tilefishing, tuna chunking and white marlin fishing, for example. Several new styles of Shimano’s butterfly jigs are stocked. So are the new Tony Maja’s Custom Bunker Spoon Rods. Dave is now building new sand eel umbrella rigs that are a close imitation of the old red-gilled sand eel rigs that are no longer available. The Reel Seat’s fall hours are currently 7 am. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays, 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, and 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays.

<b>Bricktown</b>

A few who sailed Saturday during better weather boated sea bass at the reef, said Capt. Rich from <b>Jersey Hooker Outfitters Bait & Tackle</b>, located in Bricktown, and <b>Jersey Hooker Charters</b>, sailing from Point Pleasant Beach’s Canyon River Club Marina. A few cocktail blues were beached from the surf recently, and blackfish should be able to be landed at the Point Pleasant Canal, but nobody seemed to try during the weather. Customers occasionally mentioned tugging in striped bass from the canal at night lately. That was about the only news in the weather, but calmer days are supposed to arrive Wednesday or Thursday.

<b>Seaside Park</b>

The winners of the annual Governor’s Surf Fishing Tournament on Sunday at Island Beach State Park were as follows, according to an e-mail from Tom Fote from the Jersey Coast Anglers Association:

<b>Striped Bass</b>
<br><br>                                                                                       
Governor's Cup Winner: Gary Grimm, Flanders, 30 ½ inches
<br><br>
Adult (Male)<br>
2nd place:Jozef Ciepiela, Linden, 30 ¼ inches<br>
 3rd place (time tie break): Francis Burns, Mount Holly, 29 5/8 inches
<br><br>                                                                                                                             
<b>Bluefish</b>
<br><br>
Adult (Male)<br>
1st place: Raymond Evans, Philadelphia, 18 inches<br>
2nd place: Chris Rogers, Toms River, 17 ¾ inches<br>
3rd place: Dennis Laureigh, Bayville, 17 ¼ inches
<br><br>
Adult (Female)<br>
1st place, Mary Ruth Hart, Manassas, Va., 18 ¼ inches<br>
2nd place, Amanda Caskey, Smithfield, Va., 16 ¾ inches<br>
3rd place, Kelly Cameron, Churchville, Pa., 15 34 inches
<br><br>
Teen (Male)<br>
1st place, T.J. O’Neill, Westfield, 16 ¾ inches
<br><br>
Teen (Female)<br>
1st place: Claire Abdill, Delran, 16 5/8 inches<br>
2nd place: Catherine Silvernail, Yardley, 15 ½ inches<br>
3rd place: Rebecca Marcus, Berkeley, 15 inches
<br><br>
<b>Blackfish</b>                                                                            
<br><br>
Adult (Male)<br>
1st place: Lawrence Margiotta, Thiells, N.Y., 16 ½ inches<br>
2nd place: Zoltan Egyed, Trenton, 16 ½ inches<br>
3rd place: Rob Chin, Howell Township, 14 inches                                                                                                
<br><br>
<b>Kingfish</b>
<br><br>
Adult (Male)<br>
1st place, Gregory Rasar, Burlington, 15 ½ inches<br>
2nd place, Ed Keyes, Milltown, 13 ¾ inches<br>
3rd place, Owen Willams, Philadelphia, 13 3/8 inches
<br><br>
Teen (Female)<br>
1st place: Erin Pawlowski, Forked River, 13 ½ inches

<b>Tuckerton</b>

Winds blew, and seas were big, said Capt. T.J. from <b>Legal Limit Charters</b>. Trips that were slated from Thursday through Sunday were weathered out. He spent the time catching spots for striped bass bait for trips later this fall, and lots of spots swam around. One of his boats will fish for stripers from Tuckerton, and the other will sail for them from Cape May like every year. The Cape May striper trips will begin October 23. Open-boat trips/shared charters from Tuckerton are slated to bottom fish Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Keep up with the <a href=" http://www.legallimitcharters.com/c-11-open-boat.aspx" target="_blank">open-boat/shared charter schedule</a> online.

<b>Mystic Island</b>

A good ole fall nor’easter “has settled in and is here to stay,” said the report on Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b>’s Web site on Sunday. Waters were up to the streets in some areas, the report said today, Monday. But on Saturday a few spots were boated on the bay, and the lagoons and back creeks supposedly served up more. Tog and sea bass, mostly shorts, bit in Great Bay. Find a ledge and fish with green crabs for the tog, and if no action happens, move down the bank a bit. Small blues ½ pound to 1 pound swam along the edges of the bay, especially at the creek mouths, chasing peanut bunker, last week. Bigger blues reportedly worked Little Sheepshead Creek toward the end of the week. A few weakfish, small but just legal, swam the creek. Anglers were anxious for striped bass fishing to begin.

<b>Longport</b>

On the <b>Stray Cat</b> anglers whacked croakers, a load, on Saturday in 50 feet on the ocean, Capt. Mike said. Big hogs bit among small ones that came through in waves, and weakfish were mixed in, and snapper blues also chomped. Anchoring, instead of the usual drifting for croakers, was the trick, because the lines wouldn’t hold bottom while the boat drifted. Space is available on an open-boat trip on Wednesday that will sail for sea bass if the weather allows. The weather kept the boat from sailing offshore for sea bass for two weeks, and the lumpheads should be waiting. Open trips are sold out Sunday and Monday, Columbus Day. Open trips might begin to sail daily the following day, and an open trip will definitely sail on November 1, when sea bass season reopens, after closing on October 12 for a moment. Mike saw his first flock of sea ducks migrating down the beach on Sunday. Annual Cast and Blast Trips, fishing for striped bass, blues and blackfish and gunning for ducks in one outing, will kick off on October 15.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

Some of the trips to Montauk fished this weekend that sail annually with Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Gibson’s Tackle</b>, he said. Chad and Kristen Sharber joined the outings on Saturday and Sunday, and winds blew strongly. But Joe over the years found places to fish tucked away from winds at Montauk, so trips can usually fish in all but the most severe weather, and catch fish to boot!  On Saturday with the Sharbers eight striped bass were landed while they fished tucked away from winds at Orient Point, inshore of Montauk Point. In the afternoon winds calmed, so the boat was trailered to Montauk Point, and fish blitzed 4 hours straight. Way more than 30 blues to 12 pounds were fought, and so were a few stripers. The fish hit on almost every cast, almost one after another, including on lots of double headers. On Sunday winds 20 to 25 knots and 10 foot seas made fishing at the point impossible. But the anglers fished on Gardiners Bay, landing two stripers. The fish on the trips were fought on both spinning and fly rods. On spinning rods the anglers fished with 5-3/4-inch Fin-S Fish and Deadly Dicks. On fly rods they tossed electric chicken Clouser Minnows on sinking lines but also on floating lines when the fish were on top. Where the flies were placed in the water column didn’t matter so much. No false albacore were landed on the trips, and the anglers were more interested in hooking numbers of fish than hunting a few albies. But albies were around and can often be caught if anglers want, and were landed on the previous trip. Check out a <a href=" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stdROyED6TI" target="_blank">video of an albie that was fly-rodded</a>. Jersey Cape will probably fish at Montauk two more times this season, and weekend charters are available. Back at home, Joe’s trips are fishing for striped bass on the shallows of the back bay at Sea Isle with popper lures and flies in the evenings on high tides. Trips are also catching blues on the ocean. The migration of larger bass and blues in the ocean usually kicks off locally during the second half of October, lasting through November. See <a href="http://www.gibsonstackle.com/page6.html" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s Traveling Fisherman Web Page</a> for info about trips to Montauk and other destinations. Keep up with Joe’s fishing, photos and videos on <a href=" http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s blog</a>.

<b>Avalon</b>

In forecasts for a break in the weather a 14-hour trip fished Saturday at the inshore grounds with <b>Over Under Adventurers</b>, an audio report on Over Under’s Web site said. A few bites attacked the trolling spread right away in the morning at Massey’s Canyon, and one came tight: a 52-inch bluefin tuna that was landed after a challenging fight for 35 minutes because of rough seas. Lots of bait was marked, and another boat at the Hambone scored a few bites at the same time, around 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. There seemed to be a tuna bite in the morning. Over Under’s vessel was motored to the Hambone, and lots of life including whales and porpoises was seen, and lots of false albacore were trolled, fun to catch. The trip moved to the Hot Dog, and more albies were fought. Probably 30 albies were totaled for the day. Seas and the weather calmed in the afternoon for the ride home. The crew hopes to resume sailing offshore for tuna Tuesday evening, if the weather clears, and space is available on trips through the week.  Charters and   <a href=" http://overundercharters.com/index.php?page=opendates" target="_blank">open-boat trips</a> are fishing offshore.

<b>Cape May</b>

Only one scheduled trip was able to sail last week on the <b>Down Deep</b>, because of the weather, Capt. Bob said. A gale even blew on Sunday, making sailing impossible, and the rest of the fleet appeared weathered out on all of these days. But catches of sea bass were possible on the ocean, and bluefish could be trolled at 5-Fathom Bank. Bob doubts trips will be able to run offshore for tuna anymore this year, unless the weather clears. Recently no stretch of weather was forecast long enough to give time to head offshore. If the weather clears, he’s up for going, but otherwise the weather might be closing in for the year. Fall striped bass charters are being booked, and so are trips for any fish in season in fall, including sea bass, blues and tog.    

Lots of winds and rains were about the only things to report! said Capt. George from the <b>Heavy Hitter</b>. None of his trips could get out because of the weather, and on Sunday, though winds blew, he began to catch spots for live bait for striped bass fishing later this fall, considering no other fishing was possible in the weather. But then torrential rains began falling, and he had to give up trying for the spots after grabbing a few. Winds now were supposed to blow until Wednesday or Thursday. When the weather is clear, charters are fishing for sea bass at the ocean wrecks, blues at 5-Fathom Bank and croakers close to shore. Fall striped bass charters are being booked, and space remains during a couple of weekends. Call if interested.

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