<b>Staten Island</b>

Snapper bluefishing improved, said Pat from <b>E-Z Catch Saltwater Traps & Tackle Co.</b> Kids had fun fishing for the snappers along the St. George Fishing Pier on Kastmasters and Snapper Poppers. Plenty of porgies gathered around the pier, and cocktail blues were angled there at sunup on tins. Striped bass were hooked from the Arthur Kill in the middle of the night on clams or bunker chunks. In freshwater, largemouth bass, good catches, were landed at Sylvan Lake at night after 8 or 9 on nightcrawlers or crank baits. But spinner baits grabbed them at sundown. Clover Lakes served up catfish and carp during the daytime, also fun for kids. The shop carries saltwater baits, and, for freshwater, nightcrawlers. The store is also a <b><i>premier manufacturer and supplier of saltwater traps</i></b> for wholesale and commercial. Custom building and servicing of fish, lobster and any traps is provided at the customer’s own specifications. See the online <a href="http://www.e-zcatch.com/catalog" target="_blank">catalog of traps</a>. The store is a PVC-coated and galvanized Riverdale wire distributor, and is also a train store.

Some of the first trips of the season sailed from Staten Island with <b>Angler Sportfishing Charters</b>, scoring well, Capt. Chuck said. The boat previously fished form Montauk, like every season. On one of the trips Thursday, the three anglers limited out on fluke. Angler Sportfishing is fluking in deep waters 55 to 70 feet. The trip then jigged medium-sized blues and one short striped bass. “A great day all around,” Chuck said. A trip Friday trolled lots of blues and, off the Highlands, two keeper stripers. During the last two hours, the trip drifted for fluke, bagging a couple. Angler Sporfishing is also bottom fishing, and this week will begin nighttime trips for stripers, chunking and worming the fish. Heads up: Angler Sportfishing is also picking up charters in New Jersey. Call to go.

<b>Keyport</b>

The Robert Rusnack party aboard fluke fished Saturday at Reach Channel, reeling up one after another, an abundance of the fish, bagging a half-dozen keepers to a 24-inch 5-pounder, Capt. Joe from <b>Papa’s Angels Charters</b> said. They fished with killies and squid. Open-boat trips for fluke are running 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. each weekday this week. Deep-water, open trips for fluke will fish 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Open trips for fluke are also steaming 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Reservations are required for all trips.

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

Fluke fishing was a washout in the stormy weather Sunday, said Capt. Tom from the party boat <b>Atlantic Star</b>. But the angling was good on the trips Saturday. That fishing was covered in an update posted here that day. But for those who missed that, a re-hash: Both of the Saturday’s trips fished the channels and the bay, working the channels until currents became too fast, then hitting the bay. That worked out well. Plenty of action on shorts and a fair number of keepers were crunched. One angler bagged six keepers on the morning trip, and the high hook probably bagged three on the afternoon trip, but the afternoon trip gave up a better spread of keepers around the boat, was a somewhat better trip. Anglers who fished aboard last week and hooked no keepers took some keepers on the afternoon’s trip. Was a nice day all around, Tom said, and was good to see the fish in both areas: the channels and the bay. If conditions like a rough ocean happened in the channels, a trip could shoot into the bay to catch. Some anglers like to fish the deeper waters of the channels, but Tom saw no difference in the size of the fish at either place. No big fluke bit, and pool-winners were probably 4 to 5 pounds. A good number of 17-some-inchers, just under the 18-inch size limit, swam both places. The Atlantic Star is fishing for fluke on two trips daily 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Aboard the party boat <b>Fishermen</b> the trip Friday hustled out to the ocean to catch the tide, Capt. Ron said in a report on the vessel’s Web site. Good fluking for keepers and shorts was clubbed, “despite the tangles,” Ron said. A few anglers bagged four or three, and two anglers with 5-pounders tied for the pool. By 12:30 p.m., currents were ripping, and anglers tried fishing with extra weight, but “the bite was done for us,” Ron said. A charter aboard Friday was an excellent day on the waters, with some of the best weather, a calm ocean and fluke that bit. “Not too often when you can fill a cooler full of fluke with all (rental rods),” Ron said. Nobody fished with bucktails or braid. “No double-hook rigs,” Ron said. “Just like it used to be.” A 5-1/2-pound fluke was the pool winner, and several of the fish weighed 2 ½ to 4 pounds. The Fishermen is sailing for fluke 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily and 3:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

<b>Highlands</b>

Action all day, on fluke to 7 pounds, was latched into on Friday with <b>Raritan Bay Charters</b>, Capt. Dave said. The trip began fishing at the channels, and ended up in the ocean, and sea bass to 4 pounds were mixed in. On Saturday a trip on deck bucktailed a dozen keeper fluke to 6 pounds at the ocean rough bottom. Trips aboard will now mostly fish the ocean rough bottom for fluke and sea bass. Open-boat trips are running when no charter is booked.

Waters were dirty on the bluefin tuna grounds closer to shore on J.R. Bristow’s charter last Monday on the <b>Hyper Striper</b>, Capt. Pete said in an e-mail. So the trip pushed somewhat farther offshore, and “bailed out,” Pete said, landing four yellowfin tuna to 30 pounds. Closer to shore, trips at times trolled big blues and sometimes keeper striped bass in the mornings. Then trips usually added fluke to the catch, bucktailing them along the rough bottom. Brett and Brandon Cardinal aboard  Thursday “had a very nice catch of quality fluke (to 6 pounds),” Pete said. Ron Marks’ charter on Friday ran back to the tuna grounds, smoking a good catch: 13 yellowfins trolled east of the Chicken Canyon on plastics and ballyhoos. Six of the tuna were 45-pound class, and the rest ranged down to 15 pounds. On Saturday Brad Viana’s crew jigged blues in the morning, adding sizeable fluke to the catch afterward.

Anglers aboard kept bucktailing away at fluke at the deep waters, channels or rough bottom, said Capt. Derek from <b>Fisher Price Charters</b>. Large strip baits or other baits were fished on the bucktails, and the summer flounder to 8 ½ pounds were pancaked aboard in the past days. Only fluke trips sailed then, but Fisher Price is also bottom fishing. Bottom fishing reportedly turned up more sea bass than before, ling and, at deeper wrecks, cod. Charters are fluke and bottom fishing, and the next open-boat trips will probably leave port on Friday or the weekend. Anglers can call to confirm or to be kept informed about future open dates. Fishing for bluefin tuna and yellowfin tuna slowed for everyone at the midshore grounds, probably because of water quality. But if clear waters return, the angling should rebound. Anglers can call for info if interested in the tuna fishing with Fisher Price.

<b>Neptune</b>

<b>***Update, Tuesday, 8/16:***</b> Despite forecasts for rough weather, Monday was calm, with light winds, and Dave Barrett from Teaneck’s trip aboard that day nailed sea bass, ling, cod to 10 pounds, blackfish, fluke and pollock, “in local waters,” said Capt. Ralph from <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b> in an e-mail. Dave caught a 4-pound 8-ounce sea bass, one of the biggest sea bass Ralph saw on a trip in local waters. A 6-pound blackfish, a female full of eggs, was released. Individual-reservation trips for fluke are sailing every Wednesdays through September 21, and kids under 12 are free with an adult, limited to two per adult. Another one of the trips, fishing for the big ones – bring extra weights and bucktails, Ralph said -- will sail Sunday, September 25, the last day of fluke season. An individual-reservation, inshore trolling trip is set for Thursday for bonito, tuna and mahi mahi, and if trolling strikes out, the anglers will bottom fish for cod, sea bass and ling. Individual-reservation trips for sea bass, ling, blackfish, cod and pollock will run to the inshore wrecks and rough spots on Friday, August 26 (full), Sunday, September 11 (full), and Saturday, September 24 (space available). Individual-reservation trips for cod are on the books for the Mondays of August 29 (one space left), and September 12 and 26. Bluefin tuna and one- or two-day canyon charters are available, and call for special prices. “Also available for full-boat charters every day and night,” Ralph said.

<b>Belmar</b>

Bluefish bit for a little while on Friday night’s trip on the <b>Golden Eagle</b>, a report on the vessel’s Web site said. Large schools of blues were marked on nighttime trips, and the fish “should start biting like crazy any day now,” the report said. On the daytime trip aboard that day, blues 2 to 5 pounds were jigged, “providing good fun action,” the report said. The Golden Eagle is bluefishing daily 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Mondays are double-coupon days: Bring a competitor’s coupon for up to $5 off, and the value will be doubled on the Golden Eagle, up to $10 off.

<b>Brielle</b>

The trip aboard the party boat <b>Jamaica II</b> Sunday morning met perfect conditions for fluke fishing on the ocean, and action was fierce at times, Capt. Ryan said in an e-mail. Sometimes 20 to 30, not all keepers, but plenty, were hooked at a time. A bunch of anglers, including novices, bagged three to five keepers, and many customers were aboard. Bruce Casagrande won the pool with a fluke larger than 7 pounds. Fluking slowed to a fair pick on the afternoon’s trip, when winds and currents faded out to no drift. Ritchie Stillmen took the pool with a 7-pounder. “Hopefully this is just the beginning of a hot August run of fluke,” Ryan said. “Best action we have seen this month so far, with tons of 17-inch-plus throwbacks chewing up the baits.” Bluefishing was super on the all-night trip for the fish Saturday. The trip made one drop, and anglers picked away at jumbo blues all night. Brian Weiss, 14, tackled 13 blues to 15 pounds, and Trevor Mansen bombed nine blues to 14 pounds. Ryan Stander, 9, put the brakes on seven blues to 14 pounds, and Tim Wallace walloped five blues to 15 pounds. The Jamaica II is sailing for fluke and sea bass on two half-day trips daily 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays  A full-day trip is fishing for fluke 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every Monday. An all-night bluefishing trip is running 7:30 p.m. to 4 a.m. every Saturday.

Ocean fluke fishing was good, said Chuck at <b>The Reel Seat</b>. Fairly consistent catches were clumped at Sea Girt Reef and Axel Carlson Reef, and bucktails with Gulps worked well. Bob Lake checked in a 10-pound fluke. Lots of fluke, not lots of keepers, carpeted Manasquan River. Anglers had to work hard to bag a keeper, but they caught lots of the flatfish. Someone might work through 30 to 40 fluke to catch a keeper on the river. Snapper blues swam the river, and nothing was heard about hickory shad in the river, but Chuck assumed they were around. Back on the ocean, anglers picked a few sea bass. “Nothing consistent,” Chuck said. A diver said the bottom was 55 degrees in 70 feet. Bottom fishers picked ling and cod, too. Chuck saw one boat return with a catch with sea bass, some ling, a couple of cod and, he thought, a couple of blackfish. “So, a menagerie of fish,” he said. For big game anglers, bluefin tuna fishing had good moments, and bad ones, apparently because waters turned green, and the fish moved deeper to cleaner waters. Still, bluefins, with yellowfin tuna mixed in, were picked at the Atlantic Princess wreck and the Texas Tower. Farther from shore, the Jenny Lee reportedly overnighted between Hudson and Toms canyons toward the end of the week, Friday to Saturday, Chuck thought, trolling a great catch of yellowfin tuna during daytime, catching only sharks at night.

<b>Point Pleasant Beach</b>

One of the open-boat Fluke Till You Puke Trips slam-dunked 35 keeper fluke Friday with <b>Reel Class Charters</b> on the ocean, Capt. Allen said in a report on the boat’s Web site. A dozen sea bass and a ling were also bagged, and the six anglers probably landed a hundred fluke, including throwbacks. A 6.2-pounder was the biggest, and eight to ten of the flatfish were 3 to 5 pounds. Only two were just larger than the 18-inch size limit, and the rest were 19 to 22 inches. An awesome day of bucktailing, Allen said. On Thursday a half-day fluke charter iced six keeper fluke, reeling up 40 of the summer flounder, including throwbacks, bucketing three keeper sea bass, on the ocean. Most of the anglers had never fished saltwater before, and the boat drifted 1 ½ knots, and 10-ounce weights skipped the bottom, “but the crew got past that learning curve and started catching,” Allen said. The keepers were 18 1/4 to 19 inches. A trip Sunday was weathered out. Charters are fishing, and check out <a href=" http://www.reelclassfishing.com/rates/open-boat-info" target="_blank">Reel Class’s open-boat page</a> online.

The boat was motored out at night on a canyon trip with Mat Losielle’s group with <b>Andrea’s Toy Charters</b>, a report on the vessel’s Web site said Friday. Great time was made under the full moon, and the trip set up to chunk on the drift near the canyon. Within a half-hour, yellowfin tuna 30 pounds swam under the lights, and seven were bagged. The fish bit into first light, then stopped. Then the anglers did a little fishing for mahi mahi, landing a couple. Instead of trolling for more big game, the charter wanted to fish wrecks for pollock, and left the canyon. The trip “saw some life, and dropped the jigs and bait, (and the) flatlined sardine went off, and an hour later, we had a 120-pound 58-1/2-incher in the box,” the report said. The charter had enough, and made a run for the barn. Great day of fishing, the report said.

<b>Seaside Park</b>

“More sea bass limits!” a report on <b>Fishguts Inshore Charters</b>’s Web site said. “The bite really blew open for us the last few days,” Capt. Rob “Birch” Birchmeier said in the report Sunday. Most trips aboard had already been limiting out on sea bass, but “this new showing of fish was very impressive,” Birch said. The average size in the past days was smaller than last week, “but the shear numbers of 12.5- to 14-inch fish make them hard to pass up,” he said.  On one trip the ocean and winds were rough, and currents were strong, but the three anglers did a good job, “putting some nice fish in the box,” Birch said. Conditions improved, and the fishing “really blew open,” he said. The anglers hammered steady action on sea bass to 2.7 pounds on bait and jigs, easily limiting out, and boxed three ling. On another trip four anglers – Birch’s friend and three nephews – instead of the usual three climbed aboard for sea bassing on the ocean. Though Birch is licensed to carry six passengers, he said, he usually limits the wreck-fishing trips to three for customer service. But he made an exception on this trip, on the condition that if he limited out the anglers, his friend would clean the fish. “Well,” Birch said, “I did not have to break out the fillet knife.” All four anglers limited out on sea bass, mixed-sized ones, with a keeper-to-throwback ratio of 1-to-3. The bite was steady -- “real easy fishing,” Birch said -- and the anglers also bagged six ling, six blues and a cod. They landed throwback cod, fluke, blackfish and a large southern stingray. Seas were calm, great conditions. “Like we have been saying just about the whole summer season, it’s about as good as it gets, when it comes to inshore bottom fishing anytime, anywhere.”

<b>Barnegat Light</b>

A slow pick on 1- to 3-pound blues was angled aboard today on the party boat <b>Miss Barnegat Light</b>, a report on the vessel’s Web site said. “Not great, but a better sign for the day trips,” it said. Bluefishing sounded slow previously on the vessel’s daytime trips, according to recent reports on the site. But good bluefishing was clocked on the boat’s nighttime trips Friday and Saturday. Blues 1 to 2 pounds were caught, and a few 8- to 12-pounders were thrown in. The Miss Barnegat Light is bluefishing at 8 a.m. daily and 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

<b>Tuckerton</b>

With <b>Legal Limit Charters</b> summer flounder fishing was good, Capt. T.J. said. Trips pulled them in from the ocean in depths 45 feet to 70 feet. “One day here, one there,” T.J. said. The fish were pretty much everywhere. “Just depends on where you want to stop,” he said. Sea bass started to be mixed in. “So that’s a good thing,” he said. No offshore trips sailed in the last days aboard, and T.J. heard nothing about the angling. Charters are fishing, and the next open-boat trips will sail Thursday and Friday. See Legal Limit’s <a href=" http://www.legallimitcharters.com/open-boat.php" target="_blank">open-boat page</a> online.

<b>Mystic Island</b>

Threatening weather Sunday and Monday limited fishing news, a report on <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b>’s Web site said. But a few sizeable summer flounder were weighed in from the ocean at the Rutgers buoys Saturday, and 60-foot depths turned out the fluke Friday. Nobody gave up exact locations. On the bay flounder were drummed up from some of the deep pockets behind Holgate, when water temps and the time were right. Small flounder could be hooked at the clam stakes in the bay. But a variety of kingfish, blowfish, porgies, spots and snapper blues gathered at the stakes. Snappers also ran various areas of the bay, the creeks and the lagoons. Back on the ocean, sea bass anglers on Saturday returned with good-sized fish. Only deep waters shoveled up larger numbers of sea bass.

<b>Margate</b>

Good, strong action on summer flounder was crushed with <b>O-Beth Sportfishing Charters</b> on the ocean in 40 to 65 feet, Capt. Eric said. Sizeable sea bass were sometimes mixed in, and 3- and 4-pounders were toggled aboard the last couple of trips. Trips concentrated on this fishing lately, and none sailed offshore during that time, but Eric heard third-hand reports about yellowfin tuna trolled in the blue waters.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

Chase Kneeland aboard Thursday fly-rodded blues and amberjacks at the inlet on Clouser Minnows in chartreuse-and-white and pink-and-white, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b>. He threw a sinking line, and the fish weren’t deep, but that got the flies to the right level below the surface. On Friday a 60-pound yellowfin tuna was landed and a white marlin or two were hooked on a trip with Jay Vonczoernig, son Luc, Dave McCullough and Mike McCormac. One of the boat’s inshore sharking trips might sail today, and the catch-and-release fishing, within 10 miles of the coast, was giving up sharks like duskies and browns. The action wasn’t fast and furious like earlier in the season, but the angling was exceptional earlier. Summer flounder fishing was grinding away at throwbacks, catching and releasing them, on the back bay, and the ocean reefs produced bigger flounder, and some days were better than others. Sea bass were sometimes in the mix. High tides at night were ideal for striped bass fishing on the bay this week. High tides at dusk, ideal for popper-plug or -fly fishing for stripers on the bay, will come back around next week. Jersey Cape is fishing for all these species.  Limited space remains for Jersey Cape’s annual trips to Montauk for the fall migration of striped bass, blues and false albacore. The trips fish the legendary run the last two weekends of September and first two of October.  See the <a href=" http://www.captainjoehughes.com/page4.html" target="_blank">traveling charters page</a> on Jersey Cape’s Web site. Keep up on Joe’s fishing on <a href="http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s blog</a>.

<b>Cape May</b>

Inshore trolling trips beat plenty of blues and some bonito, Spanish mackerel and mahi mahi on the <b>Down Deep</b>, Capt. Bob said. The fishing was good, and a couple of tuna trips ran on the boat, each rounding up yellowfin tuna and mahi mahi. No wahoos showed up on the Down Deep, but wahoos were around on the same grounds. Bob knew about a couple of trips on other boats that cleaned up on good catches of summer flounder at the Old Grounds, on the ocean off Delaware. But the fishing was like good one day, and not for three days, depending on conditions, like when 20 ounces of weight had to be used to battle strong currents during the full moon. The Down Deep is sailing for all these fish, and dates are available.

<b>Relentless Sportifishing</b> won second place in the weekend’s Make a Wish Foundation summer flounder tournament on a good trip for the fish, Capt. Dave said. The trip fished the ocean, nailing a two-fish total weight of 11.65 pounds, and the biggest of the fluke was 7 pounds. A total of nine keepers were bagged on the outing, and all weighed more than 3 pounds apiece. Plus two cobia and some sea bass were decked. The cobia smacked a bucktail with a Gulp. Relentless will keep fishing for flounder and wreck fishing, and is also offshore fishing for tuna and big game. A couple of offshore trips are coming up.

Fishing racked up blues and other fish like bonito, Spanish mackerel and occasional mahi mahi on inshore trolling trips, Capt. George from the <b>Heavy Hitter</b> said. Tuna fishing got bites at different places: Baltimore Canyon one day, Wilmington Canyon another, in 30 fathoms another, and so on. Summer flounder were boated, and on one day the fish were caught at places like Cape May Reef, and on the next day none chewed there. But a few flounder were being landed. The Heavy Hitter is running for all these fish, and call if interested.

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