<b>Staten Island</b>

Big blues and a couple of medium-sized striped bass, 16- to 18-pounders, were tackled on three trips Friday to Sunday with <b>Angler Sportfishing Charters</b>, Capt. Chuck said. The stripers took work to catch, and came from deep waters 65 to 70 feet. Trips fished on the ocean from Ambrose Channel to off New Jersey. Stripers should become more aggressive soon. Chumming and fishing with bunker chunks could pound blues nearly anywhere trips sailed. The charters typically troll on the way to a place like Ambrose. But nothing, not even blues, bit on the troll these days. After trolling, the trips usually chunk or fish with live bunker. The live baits are particularly an attempt to pick up a striper. Angler Sportfishing will concentrate on stripers a lot once the angling takes off. The weather was breezy on Friday but no problem for the trip. Seas were rough on Saturday, so the trip returned to the bay, running into big blues chasing bunker right off Great Kills Harbor. A breeze began to blow at 1 p.m. Sunday, when the trip had returned to port. But winds were no problem on the trip itself.

One of the open-boat, bottom-fishing trips that are running with <b>Barbara Anne Fishing Charters</b> sailed on Sunday, piling up a good catch, Capt. Anthony said. A mess of ling 3 to 4 pounds, some sea bass to 3 ½ pounds, 15 cod to 14 pounds, a few blackfish, two fluke and two winter flounder were reeled up from the ocean. Barbara Anne obtained Research Set Aside permits that allow fluke, flounder and certain other ground fish to be kept during the closed seasons for the fish. The tog, fluke and flounder, all out of season in New York, could be kept because of that, and Barbara Anne will be able to keep sea bass when the sea bass season closes on October 12, for the same reason. So that was a healthy catch for the anglers to take home, and the fishing should only get better. The open trips will sail through October, and call for the schedule. New York’s blackfish season will open October 1, long before New Jersey’s blackfish bag limit will increase to six from the state’s current limit of one. Blackfish/sea bass combo trips will become a focus for Barbara Anne then. When blackfish begin to make a strong showing, the boat will chase them full time.  

<b>Bayonne</b>

Anglers started fishing the East River a lot, said Capt. Akira from <b>True World Tackle</b> and <b>True World Tackle Charters</b>, and he ran a trip there Thursday. Big blues to 34 inches were eeled on the trip. Not a lot of blues filled the river, and a few striped bass swam the waters. The river’s eeling for stripers could kick off any time. Lots of porgies, though many of them small, hovered at Sandy Hook Reef. A trip two Sundays ago bagged sea bass and fought false albacore at the Mud Buoy with True World. Many of the sea bass were small at the Mud, and a better population of larger ones swam there a couple of weeks previously. Many blackfish bit for anglers at the different grounds, though only one could be kept per angler. Six will be able to be kept later this season. Customers reeled in stripers, blues and porgies from the bulkheads and piers at places like Jersey City and Hoboken.

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

“It’s great to be back in the game!” said Capt. Ron from the party boat <b>Fishermen</b> in the report on the boat’s Web site. Trips began sailing for striped bass on Saturday, after a break from sailing once fluke trips ended when fluke season closed after Labor Day. The anglers caught: “Great way to start out the season!” he said. Alec George, 12, Middletown, was hot hand, landing five stripers, including three keepers, and winning the pool. “Anchored the boat on our first drop and had the bite right away,” Ron said. Shorts were hooked first, then some keepers were. The angling then tapered off. More of the fish grabbed the hooks on the change of the tide, and the action lasted 45 minutes until slowing down. The trip took one last look around, and the best action of the day went down. Keepers, shorts, porgies and big sea bass were nailed. The trip’s stripers were “clean,” Ron said, and healthy looking. “The shorts were the fish we didn’t catch in the spring, but seemed to have shown up for the fall,” 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.captainronsfishermen.com/index.php/atlantic-highlands-fishing-reports" target="_blank">video of the trip</a>. <b>***Update:***</b> Fishing on Sunday’s trip didn’t fare as well as on Saturday’s, and a few short stripers and a couple of keepers were boated, and so were some healthy-sized sea bass and a few porgies, Ron said in an e-mail.

On the party boat <b>Atlantic Star</b> trips began bottom fishing on Saturday, Capt. Tom said. Previously the trips fluke fished with a permit that allowed the vessel to catch them while the flattie season was closed. The bottom fishing was fair for a mix of porgies and sea bass through the weekend. Some drops gave up more porgies than others, and more of the porgies were keepers than shorts, and more of the sea bass were shorts than keepers. A load of small, tiny sea bass were around, normal for the time of year. Everyone went home with at least a few fish, and some anglers hooked more than others, like always.  The trips fished between the channels, a short ride for the half-day outings. Sometimes strong currents will run on the bottom grounds. Anglers sometimes had to fish with 8-ounce weights to hold bottom. Anglers who could feel the bites under those conditions scored better. Anglers can bring two rods, a heavier one for when currents run, and a lighter one for when currents slow. Clams are supplied for bait, and one angler brought sandworms, but Tom saw no advantage to the worms so far. Sometimes porgies can bite better on the worms, and if worms begin to help, Tom will let anglers know in reports. This is ocean fishing, and seas can be rougher sometimes. Anglers might want to watch weather reports and pick the days to fish if concerned about seas. Visit the <a href="http://mysite.verizon.net/atlantic_star/index.html" target="_blank">Atlantic Star’s Web site</a> for a link to the Ambrose weather buoy, showing recent seas and conditions there, and weather forecasts. Anglers can check the conditions in the mornings before trips, for example. 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>

Lots of porgies, a couple of blackfish, some sea bass and, mixed in, some triggerfish were swung aboard bottom-fishing trips Friday and Saturday with <b>Fisher Price Charters</b>, steady action, Capt. Derek said. He plans to begin striped bass fishing this week, and word sounded like stripers began to be clammed, eeled and trolled. No trips might sail until Thursday, because the weather looks rough. Anglers aboard will poke around for stripers, and if none of the fish turns up, the trips can bottom fish to put fillets in the cooler. Charters are sailing, and the next open-boat trips will probably run Friday to Sunday, weather dependant. Anglers can call Derek to be kept informed about the open schedule.

<b>Neptune</b>

An offshore wreck-fishing trip, sailing for cod, pollock and ling, was postponed today because of the storm, said Capt. Ralph from <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b>. The trip was rescheduled for this coming Monday, and spaces might be full, but call Ralph to make sure. Another one of the individual-reservations trips will probably fish in October. An inshore wreck-fishing trip scored well on Saturday, and Ralph, who talked about that trip briefly in a phone call on Sunday, was yet to hear how another inshore wreck trip, with one of his other captains at the helm, made out on Sunday. An individual-reservation trip will sail for the bottom fishing on Wednesday.

<b>Brielle</b>

A few boaters bottom fished on the ocean on Saturday, and sea bass fishing was terrible, for unknown reasons, but ling and cod were clocked at the Mudhole, said Dave from <b>The Reel Seat</b>. The weather and seas were often too rough for boating. Good catches of bluefish and false albacore were hammered on the ocean. Seas became at least okay for surf fishing in the last days, after being too rough previously. A striped bass was wrangled up here or there from the surf, and false albacore occasionally invaded the waters. Sometimes blues corralled mullet or sand eels in the wash. Fishing for the albies and blues was a matter of being at the right place at the right time. Not a ton of mullet schooled along the coast so far this season. Overall, surf fishing was nothing to get excited about yet this season, but some catches were made. Blues or albies sometimes shot up Manasquan Inlet. Again, right place, right time. Blackfishing was productive at the Point Pleasant Canal, and sometimes stripers were lifted from the canal at night on soft-plastic lures or bucktails. Seas were difficult for sailing offshore most of the past week. But boaters fought plenty of bluefin tuna when they were able to sail earlier last week. Party boats steamed to the canyons farther from shore toward the end of the week. One of them from Point Pleasant Beach ran a combo tuna/tilefish trip to the canyons overnight Thursday to Friday. The anglers decked a handful of tuna, and most bagged two or three tiles apiece. Check it out: The shop is the first in the nation to stock Shimano’s new Terez rods for braided line, Dave said. All the models and colors are on hand.  Shimano’s new Waxwing lures, a jigging system made to be fished with the Terez rods, are also stocked, and so are new butterfly jigs and reels from the company. Stop by to see. The Reel Seat is open new hours: from 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>Point Pleasant</b>

Good to excellent fishing was plowed for bluefish in all sizes small to extra large, false albacore and skipjacks on the ocean through the weekend on the party boat <b>Cock Robin</b>, an e-mail from the boat said. Dave Lewis bailed 18 albies and two skippies. Trips are fishing for blues, and the other fish have been mixed in, from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. daily. Special trips for albies, skipjacks and other pelagics like bonito and mahi mahi are sometimes running. The next one of the trips is slated for Wednesday, limited to 20 anglers, and reservations are required.

Both of <b>Canyon Runner</b>’s offshore boats headed to Toms Canyon on overnighters Thursday to Friday, following fish-holding waters they had been fishing at Hudson Canyon previously, the report on Canyon Runner’s Web site said. The 60-foot Ritchie Howell fished along the west wall, and eight tuna, a mix of longfins and yellowfins, were bagged. On arrival, one of the longfins was trolled right away. No more tuna hit on the troll then, and the boat was set up there for the night. The anglers picked away, landing three tuna, losing two. Up on the troll the next morning, four more were landed among eight that attacked. That made up the eight tuna that were bagged for the trip. About 25 boats fished the waters then, without much luck. On the 48-foot Viking from Canyon Runner, the anglers fished on the east wall, bagging 12 tuna. Trolling on the first day failed to produce. At night the anglers picked at tuna, going 4 for 5, releasing a 45-inch swordfish, keeping a 20-pound mahi mahi. In the morning the Viking came right behind the Ritchie Howell on the west wall, because the boat was hooking up, and the anglers on the Viking went 8 for 8 on tuna. The two trips combined went 20 for 25 on yellowfins and longfins. Charters and open-boat trips are fishing offshore.

<b>Mystic Island</b>

Rains failed to keep anglers away today, Scott from <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b> said in the report on the shop’s Web site. “Some realize that there is good catching on days like today,” it said. White perch anglers headed up the Mullica River, and tog fishers ran over to Little Sheepshead Creek, fishing the underwater ledges from the banks. Some excellent togging was reported from the banks of the bay last week, and a 6-pounder was the biggest heard about. The report never said where the tog gathered along the bay’s banks, but Scott in recent reports said across from the Fish Factory. A 16-pound 38-inch striped bass was weighed in on Saturday that was clammed at the mouth of the Mullica River at Deep Point, and another that was nearly a keeper was reported landed at the mouth on Sunday. With the couple of stripers picked up, Scott was surprised no customers today said they tried for stripers from the banks at Graveling Point, at the confluence of the Mullica and Great Bay. The season was early for the fishing, “but at least there is a chance at finding a bass at the point again,” he said. Fresh clams are the bait to dunk this time of year. Kingfish showed back up in the bay for a couple of days through Friday, after they had mostly disappeared a while. The Graveling Point area and off Great Bay Marina were the hot spots. But anglers couldn’t get a bait past spots to hook a king on Saturday. Blowfish also couldn’t be grabbed because of the spots. For crabbers, jumbo blueclaws gave up good catches in the Mullica. Crabs were also plucked from around the New Gretna Bridge on the Bass River and from Ballanger’s Creek.

<b>Longport</b>

Seas and the weather were somewhat nasty, but trips in the past days anchored 8 miles from shore on the <b>Stray Cat</b>, whaling a bunch of sea bass and croakers, Capt. Mike said. A few porgies and a couple of blackfish were also beaten. Charters are fishing, and the next open-boat trips will probably sail on Friday, and maybe on Sunday, targeting the same type of fishing. Some of the wrecks farther offshore are loaded with sea bass, if anglers are interested in a charter. A window of weather is all that’s needed to reach them Gather seven or eight anglers, and come get them. Annual Cast and Blast Trips, charters that fish for striped bass, blues and blackfish and gun for ducks in the same trip, will begin around mid October.

<b>Ocean City</b>

Fishing was weathered out Saturday and Sunday with <b>Fish Tale Charters</b>, Capt. Craig said. The charters were slated to bottom fish for croakers, blues and weakfish on the ocean close to shore. Thursday was the only day that was fishable for the angling, and a buddy on that day scored well on big croakers, 3- or 4-pound blues and a limit of one weakfish apiece, fish to 18 inches, for the anglers aboard. Sea bass could potentially be mixed in on charters if anglers desire. Sea bass, not enough to focus on exclusively, but a few, held in the area. They’ll probably remain after the current storm, without being chased too far off the coast. Fish Tale Charters will make the annual move to Cape May for striped bass fishing during the third weekend of October, and the first of the charters are on the books for the first weekend of November so far. The trips fish the Cape May Rips with eels, bucktails or spots. Eels and bucktails are provided, and anglers provide the spots themselves. Craig can pick up the spots for them. If striper fishing erupts along the ocean front during trips, jigs, the lure to catch them on, are provided.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

The weather wasn’t so fishable in the past days, but fishing lately picked away at striped bass on the back bay, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Gibson’s Tackle</b>. His trips specialize in hooking the bass on popper lures and flies on the shallow flats of the bay this time of year. A few blues also roamed the bay, and schools of blues swam the ocean. The ocean migration of stripers and blues during recent years began during the last two weeks of October, and November was a solid month. Joe strongly suggests anglers book the November trips now. The fishing usually lasted until Thanksgiving and sometimes until Christmas. Joe poked around at surf fishing around Sea Isle City a few times lately, and didn’t spend lots of time, but surf fishing for stripers could begin soon. The weather is supposed to be cooler this week, and the current nor’easter might also get the fishing going in the near future. Joe will take one of his annual trips to Montauk this weekend, guiding charters at fishing the migration of stripers, blues and false albacore at the legendary location. The angling is usually epic, and he’ll spend at least one more weekend offering charters there this season, if not two. Weekend packages are offered for the angling and also for annual trips to Woods Hole for striper fishing on Columbus Day weekend. Blues and albies can sometimes show up. See <a href="http://www.gibsonstackle.com/page6.html" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s Traveling Fisherman Web Page</a>. 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>

Waters holding longfin tuna, yellowfin tuna and bigeye tuna finally moved within range, and anglers should not wait to fish for them if they want tuna, the report on <b>Over Under Adventures</b>’ Web site said. An overnight trip Wednesday to Thursday bagged them at South Toms Canyon with Over Under, and the waters should stay within range until the weekend or so, before pushing back offshore, out of range. So the waters were sliding south, becoming closer to port. Over Under is arranging as many trips as possible, including open-boat outings, while the fish remain, and if interested, telephone or <a href="mailto:info@overunderadventures.com" target="_blank">e-mail</a>. The trip Wednesday to Thursday began fishing at the South Toms, where reports were heard about catches at a temperature break, at 8:30 p.m., and fished on the cool side. A blue shark was landed at 10:30 p.m., and soon afterward, a bigeye tuna was fought for 4 hours, until the light, fluorocarbon leader broke at the hook. Up on the troll in the morning along the 59- to 71-degree break, nothing bit on the warm side. But a few tuna came tight on the cool side, and a 50-pound yellowfin was gaffed. Two bigeyes next slammed the lines, and a 170-pounder was decked, and the other got off. Then the trip went 3 for 4 on longfin tuna, before heading home. 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 trip fished between the rough weather in the past week, trolling blues and false albacore 15 miles from shore on Friday, on the <b>Down Deep</b>, Capt. Bob said. All other charters were weathered out. The weather is typical for the time of year, though. Plenty of the blues and albies could be shellacked, and sea bass gave up pretty good catches at the reefs. Croakers could be collected close to shore, and a few tuna and some mahi mahi swam offshore, if anglers wanted to sail for them. Striped bass trips are being booked for later this fall, and some dates remain.

Capt. George from the <b>Heavy Hitter</b> knew about no boats that sailed in the weather in the last days, and his trips also stayed docked, he said. But when his charters sail, plenty of blues are being trolled at places like 5-Fathom Bank. Croakers can be nabbed, and sea bass are around, and so are triggerfish. The triggers will probably remain another couple of weeks. Tuna and mahi mahi are holding offshore, if anyone wants a last-minute trip for them. Fall striped bass charters are booking up that will probably begin toward the end of October. George heard about no stripers boated so far, and waters were warm, around 70 degrees. The current storm and winds will probably drop the temps. Call if interested in a trip for any of these fish.

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