<b>Staten Island</b>

Several striped bass, including a keeper for each angler, tons of bluefish and some sharks were cracked on a half-day trip Saturday with <b>Angler Sportfishing Charters</b>, Capt. Chuck said. The trip fished “on the New York side,” he said, with chunks of bunker, and probably 30 fish were landed. So the fishing went well, and the anglers were happy, he said. Striper fishing was coming along, and lots of bait was around, including peanut bunker, and adult bunker sometimes schooled. Fluke fishing remained an option on trips, if anglers wanted to sail for a combo of fluke and whatever else was biting, like blues. A trip today was slated to head out for stripers.

Fishing remained about the same as before, said Pat from <b>E-Z Catch Saltwater Traps & Tackle Co.</b>. Previously he reported good catches of fluke from the Arthur Kill to the bay, and that porgies and snapper blues were becoming sizeable in waters like the Arthur Kill. Big blues to 10 and 12 pounds swam waters from locally to Staten Island’s south side, and will continue to school the next weeks, he said in the last report. Crabbing remained phenomenal all around. For freshwater anglers, largemouth bass were pancaked at Sylvan Lake. Throughout summer, dusk, dawn and night were the times to catch them. But now that the weather is cooling, the bass will begin to be landed during the daytime. Sylvan is a larger lake, so was one of the first to clean up after the storms, and smaller lakes took longer to clear. The store is also a <b><i>premier manufacturer and supplier of saltwater traps</i></b> for wholesale and commercial, including custom building and servicing. See the online <a href="http://www.e-zcatch.com/catalog" target="_blank">catalog of traps</a>. E-Z Catch is also a train store.

<b>Keyport</b>

Strong winds blew, and seas were rough, the past couple of days, said Capt. Joe from <b>Papa’s Angels Charters</b>. No trips sailed aboard in the past days, and Joe was at the docks Saturday morning, and saw anglers on small boats who apparently attempted to sail but turned back because of the weather. Open-boat trips are available for fluke fishing 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily through Sunday, the final day of fluke season, when enough anglers want to sail. Call to reserve. Bookings are being accepted for striped bass fishing that will begin next on the boat. 

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

Fluke trips aboard Saturday and Sunday had to fish the bay instead of the ocean, because of easterly winds, said Capt. Tom from the party boat <b>Atlantic Star</b>. Anglers picked at throwbacks and a few keepers on each trip, and the fishing was poor, and Tom hopes conditions will settle, and trips will be able to fish for fluke on the ocean again, “and see what happens,” he said. Some areas on the last days’ trips held more shorts than others, and not many keepers chomped. But trips will likely keep fluke fishing through Sunday, the last day of fluke season, before switching to porgy fishing. 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.

Capt. Ron from the party boat <b>Fishermen</b>’s dad, Capt. Ron Sr., who now often fishes on the boat, was in the hospital the past couple of weeks, and Capt. Ron had given no fishing report since then. But Capt. Ron Sr. had one of his heart valves replaced, and Capt. Ron hopes his dad is now on the road to recovery, Ron said in a report on the boat’s Web site Saturday. Ron thanks everyone for all their well wishes that were unbelievable. “Now for the dreaded fishing report!” Ron said in the report. A trip finally ran Saturday aboard, but fluke fishing was slow on the outing, so that was the final fluke trip of the year on the boat. Daily striped bass trips will launch Saturday. Some stripers already started biting, and fall fishing for them looks promising. “Amazing how we were all so happy in the spring to have the extra days (for this year’s fluke season) to only have our bubble busted once again by the weather,” Ron said. “The quota should be up there next season, but we really have to push for at the very least (a size limit that’s a half-inch smaller). They could give us 10 million pounds additional, but what the hell good is it if we can’t utilize it?”

<b>Highlands</b>

Very good striped bass fishing was crushed aboard the <b>Hyper Striper</b> this past week, Capt. Pete said in an e-mail. On last Monday Dave Priester’s party bailed super fishing for the linesiders, limiting out on the fish to 18 pounds. On Wednesday Jack Schmidt’s charter hammered their limit of stripers to 16 pounds, adding a limit of one blackfish per angler, fish to 8 pounds, releasing a bunch more. On Thursday Jeff Schwieters’s trip picked at stripers, bagging three keepers, releasing a bunch of shorts, adding a few porgies and blackfish to the catch. But striper fishing “returned to normal on Friday,” Pete said, when Nick Frattalone’s charter limited out on stripers, afterward making a quick drop for blackfish, axing super fishing for the tog. “Again, the one-per-man ridiculous limit was boxed,” Pete said. On Sunday Ritch Dittrick’s party nailed very good striper fishing in east winds, coming one short of a limit, scoring plenty of action with shorts.

Striped bass fishing broke wide open aboard this past week, pounding the fish on worms and peanut bunker, said Capt. Derek from <b>Fisher Price Charters</b>. But a trip aboard Saturday clammed 16 keepers to 14 pounds and 20 throwbacks. “So they’re here; it’s starting,” Derek said. Charters are fishing, and the next open-boat trips will sail maybe toward the end of the week, but definitely over the weekend, probably for stripers. Derek will know for sure in the next days, and anglers can call him to confirm, hop aboard or be kept informed about future open dates. Bottom fishing was good for porgies and catch-and-release blackfishing, with one of the tog per angler allowed to be kept, and Fisher Price is also sailing for them. Fluke season will remain open through Sunday, and the angling’s been slow, and Derek didn’t know whether he’d keep running trips for the flatfish. But if anglers want fluke, he’ll sail for them. Derek heard nothing about offshore fishing, and nobody probably sailed for tuna because of winds.

<b>Neptune</b>

The best season for fishing is starting, said Capt. Ralph from <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b> in an e-mail. Striped bass, blues, porgies, blackfish, tuna and cod will be targeted. Sea bass will be socked when the season for them reopens November 1. Plus anglers currently have a last chance at fluke, before fluke season closes this coming Monday. Now is the time to book striper and bluefish charters, and blues are already on the bite. A trip aboard Saturday morning mugged a mess of big blues and a 20-pound striper. Three trips for fluke aboard this weekend had to be cancelled, because of northeast winds. Tuna fishing now is hot when the weather allows trips to sail to the canyons. Call for special rates on canyon charters. Space is available on two individual-reservation trips for fluke Wednesday on Ralph’s two boats. Spots are open for an individual-reservation trip for cod, pollock and hake 40 miles offshore or farther on Sunday, October 23. One of the trips is full this coming Monday. Individual-reservation trips for stripers are scheduled for October 2, 9, 12, 26 and 30, and green crabs and clams will be aboard for blackfish and porgies when the trips fish structure. Start thinking blackfish: An individual-reservation trip for blackfish is slated for November 16, when the bag limit will be increased to six of the tog from the current limit of one. “Then open most days (for blackfish) when not chartered,” Ralph said.

<b>Belmar</b>

<b>Barbara Anne Fishing Charters</b> stayed docked lately because of weather, Capt. Anthony said. Fluke fishing is finished for the year aboard, and trips will now porgy fish, and a couple of cod trips might steam. Anglers can call for info. Fall striped bass trips are being booked. Don’t have enough anglers for a charter? Call Anthony anyway, because he can usually fit individuals or small groups on an open-boat trip or charter.

Bluefish, excellent catches, were hot caked Friday on the party boat <b>Golden Eagle</b>, a report on the vessel’s Web site said. A light crowd sailed aboard, and all the anglers caught multiple blues, 8- to 12-pounders, the largest topping 14 pounds, and many limited out.  “The blues are on the bite,” 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. An Iron Man Canyon Tuna Trip, a 36-hour outing, was cancelled today to Wednesday aboard. Check the <a href="http://www.goldeneaglefishing.com/tuna_schedule_res_form_2011.pdf" target="_blank">Golden Eagle’s canyon tuna schedule and reservations form</a> for upcoming trips.

<b>Brielle</b>

Lots of winds and swells made for tough fishing for fluke aboard the ocean through the past week, an e-mail from the party boat <b>Jamaica II</b>. “Still fluke around when we can get out there to them,” it said. Trips will keep fluke fishing through the final day of fluke season Sunday. Two anglers, Don Colson from Trevose and Fernando Arrelano from New Hope, are tied for September’s monthly pool, each bagging a 5-pound 6-ounce fluke. The Jamaica II is sailing for fluke on two half-day trips daily 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Cod trips are set for 2 a.m. this coming Monday and October 3, and Mudhole Giant Ling and Cod Trips are on the books for September 28, 29 and 30 and October 1. Porgy Special 12-Hour Trips are slated for September 27 and October 5, 9 and 14.

Fishing for fluke wasn’t so good on the ocean, and anglers could pick away at the summer flounder on Manasquan River, but the river’s fishing wasn’t as good as before, said Dave from <b>The Reel Seat</b>. Bluefish and 12- to 30-inch striped bass swam the river and the Point Pleasant Canal. The blues in the river were small, and Dave wasn’t asked the size of the blues in the canal. Surf casters banked 16- to 35-inch stripers from about Belmar to Mantoloking on clams, plugs and metal. One customer fought 3- to 5-pound blues in the surf Saturday. Blues were boated on the ocean, as far as Dave knew. Nobody talked about bottom fishing on the ocean. Offshore fishing was good early last week. Very good catches of longfin tuna were trolled at Hudson Canyon during the daytime, and pretty good catches of yellowfin tuna were chunked at night from Toms Canyon to Lindenkohl Canyon. On Steve and Netta Hegna from Brielle’s Envelopeus at Wilmington Canyon, with Capt. Jim Lund at the helm, a white marlin, a blue marlin and a sailfish were trolled during the daytime, and a swordfish was heaved in at night, on an overnight trip Monday to Tuesday. Dave joined a tilefish trip Monday to Tuesday on a Point Pleasant Beach party boat that bailed a good catch of tiles. At night the trip tuna fished, and 11 yellowfins to 60 pounds, a 125- to 150-pound swordfish and a 150- to 200-pound swordfish were beaten. The Reel Seat, starting last week, is open until 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays instead of 6 p.m. The doors, like previously, now remain open till 8 p.m. Fridays, 6 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. The shop opens at 7 a.m. daily.

<b>Point Pleasant Beach</b>

Check out Capt. Freddy Gamboa from <b>Andrea’s Toy Charters</b>' article in the latest issue of the Big Game Journal</a>. Andrea’s Toy is focusing on mixed-bag, open-boat trips and charters for big game offshore, fishing like described in the article. One of the open trips last week, covered in the last report, limited out on yellowfin tuna and bagged a swordfish at the canyons. Fred reported at the time that canyon fishing was up and down, sometimes great, sometimes not.

<b>Barnegat Light</b>

Some of the anglers aboard Sunday’s trip bombed 10 bluefish apiece, good fishing, a report on the party boat <b>Miss Barnegat Light</b>’s Web site said. False albacore sometimes bit on trips lately, and Saturday’s daytime trip on the boat burned a steady pick of 8- to 12-pound blues. The fishing became better as the day went on. On Saturday night’s trip plenty fish were marked on the fish finder and were seen in the waters, “but they were not in a biting mood,” the report said. A few blues were boated, but the fishing was tough. Miss Barnegat Light is bluefishing 8 a.m. daily and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays.

<b>Beach Haven</b>

On the <b>June Bug<b> an offshore trip Saturday steamed to a 6-degree temperature break toward Lindenkohl Canyon, Capt. Lindsay said. The break was found 16 miles inshore of the canyon, instead of along the edge of the canyon, where it had held previously. The trip looked for catches offshore of the break, and waters were reasonably blue, but held no fish. The trip moved inshore of the break, and two yellowfin tuna 20 to 25 pounds were trolled. Waters on this colder side of the break were green and dirty, but held fish. The trip moved a little farther inshore to 40 fathoms, and a huge runoff, probably a wahoo, took off with a horse ballyhoo, but pulled the hook and got off. A false albacore was also trolled. Only a half-dozen other boats were seen all day in the area, and NOAA forecasts reported 9-foot seas but were inaccurate. Seas were nowhere near that big, and buoys reported calmer conditions that were accurate. Still, NOAA forecasts seemed to keep other boaters from sailing, and anglers even called Lindsay to make sure the trip was safe, because of the NOAA forecasts. The other boats in the area generally caught one or two tuna, and anglers on one that was apparently nearby, because the radio signal was strong, reported releasing two white marlin. Waters on the way out were 64 degrees, and even the lagoons were in the 60s. “It’s fall,” Lindsay said. The boat’s mate joined a trip last week that caught huge croakers to 20 inches, but far from shore in the deep in 70 to 90 feet. Few fish swam closer to shore.

<b>Mystic Island</b>

Northeast winds settled in during the weekend, so the ocean was too rough for boaters Saturday and Sunday, and the bay was “ripping” Sunday, a report on <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b>’s Web site said. Today was a picture-perfect day, but the ocean remained 5 to 7 feet, leftover from the winds. Hopes of getting in the last days of fluke season, closing after Sunday, didn’t look great, because forecasts “continue to look damp all week and into the weekend,” the report said. Waters remained warm, though. On Saturday boaters on the bay banged out plenty of blowfish, many of them very small, but enough keepers for a few dinners. An occasional good-sized kingfish was a welcomed, surprise catch in the mix. A few of the porgies in the mix were becoming close to the 9-inch keeper size, but nobody seemed to grab a keeper yet. Spots seemed a no-show this year, and will probably remain so. Spots are usually plentiful by the first week of September. Fish kills in Chesapeake Bay from cold weather after Thanksgiving seemed a big cause. See an <a href=" http://www.wbaltv.com/r/26357581/detail.html" target="_blank">article about the fish kills</a>. Snapper blues swam the lagoons, and were becoming large, and a 10-inch weakfish was sometimes hooked among them. Crabbers gave mixed reports, some talking about good catches, others talking about “nothing but a bunch of small crabs,” the report said. Plenty of crabs were around to keep crabbing entertaining.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

Dave Hall and Chris Ripportella popper-plugged striped bass to a 29-inch 11-pounder aboard the flats of the back bay Saturday, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b>. Skitterpop lures were fished, and popper fishing for stripers, a specialty for Jersey Cape, both with lures and flies, has been going well on the bay for Jersey Cape all summer, including soon after the hurricane and following storms. The angling was some of the first to turn back on after the weather, and the bay has cleaned up lots since the storms. Jersey Cape stalks the fish in the skinny waters on a flats boat, and will keep after the fish until mid October. Then trips usually begin fishing for the migration of stripers and blues on the ocean. On a trip aboard Sunday winds were horrendous for fishing, but the anglers, Kevin McCarty, son Zach and father-in-law Joe, wanted to get out and catch. So they angled sea bass and sand sharks on the bay, made a day of it. Fishing for tuna was good overnight at the canyons, and Jersey Cape is sailing for them. 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 through the end of this month and first two weeks of October.  See the <a href=" http://www.captainjoehughes.com/page4.html" target="_blank">traveling charters page</a> on Jersey Cape’s Web site. Also see the page for Jersey Cape’s annual trips to the Florida Keys this winter from Christmas to Easter. Anglers can arrive at the Keys on a Friday evening, fish all day Saturday and part of Sunday, return Sunday evening, and be back to work Monday. The trips can be a mini, fish-filled vacation, for a large variety of catches from redfish to sailfish. Keep up on Joe’s fishing on <a href="http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s blog</a>.

<b>Cape May</b>

Fishing aboard was weathered out, said Capt. George from the <b>Heavy Hitter</b>. He knew about no boats that sailed in the past week, because of weather. Northeast winds mostly forced the boat to be kept docked this weekend. A trip on deck had to be cancelled Saturday because of the blow. But charters aboard are inshore trolling for fish like blues, bonito and mahi mahi, are summer flounder fishing until flounder season closes next Monday, and are tuna fishing offshore on day trips or overnight ones. Plus if anglers are interested in striped bass fishing this fall, trips are being booked for October to early December.

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