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Staten Island
Peanut bunker were able to be netted for fluke bait for a trip Saturday with Angler Sportfishing Charters, and six keepers, a good catch, and a bunch of throwbacks, lots of fish, were landed, Capt. Chuck said. One fluke that was a questionable keeper was tossed back, and tons of bluefish were clobbered. So the trip was productive, and fished off the Ammo Pier. Fluking was slower on a trip Sunday, and three keepers were boated, if Chuck remembered, and shorts were thrown back. The peanut bunker on the first trip probably made the difference. Then the anglers spent the rest of the time hooking lots of blues under birds working the waters. They had a good time, Chuck said. Waters were 76 degrees, and the weather was beautiful. Striped bass fishing will probably begin to take off in 10 days or two weeks, and Angler Sportfishing will go after them.
With Barbara Anne Fishing Charters a trip steamed for fluke Wednesday, the Captain’s Blog on the boat’s Web site said. That was the day when the nor’easter departed, “(and) the four days of east winds really clamped down on the fishing,” it said. The fluking was the worst of the season so far on the boat. The anglers worked from the channel to the Mud Buoy. “Too few fish for the effort,” the blog said. On Thursday anglers on the boat fished for sea bass, because of the slow fluking, and that proved the right move, the blog said. A bunch of sea bass to 3 ½ pounds were bagged at the Mud Buoy. Plenty of fluke 17 to 17 ½ inches also bit, “perfect for our RSA Permit fishing,” it said. Barbara Anne successfully bid on a Research Set Aside Permit, allowing trips to fish for fluke when the season ends. Both New York’s and New Jersey’s seasons will close on September 7, and New York’s RSA bag limit will be four fluke from 17 to 20 inches per person, compared with New York’s 21-inch open-season minimum size, and New Jersey’s RSA limit will be the same as the state’s open-season limit: six fluke 18 inches or bigger. Special, open-boat trips are bottom-fishing at the 30-mile wrecks every Monday in September. Sea bass, cod and ling are targeted, and rods, tackle, bait, ice and soft drinks for the entire group are included.
Atlantic Highlands
Fluke trips from Thursday to today searched all over the ocean – at the channels, snags, wrecks, reefs, “you name it,” Capt. Ron from the party boat Fishermen said in the report on the boat’s Web site. But the fluking was slow. Some big sea bass helped make the day on a couple of trips. Tom Krako nailed the biggest fluke during the days, a 7.4-pound beauty. Today’s trip fished the channel, offshore, down the beach, at the reef and at Scotland, only producing a few fluke “with the sea bass,” Ron said. One of the sea bass was a 5-1/2-pounder, a huge one. Bluefishing was great on bait on the boat’s trips for the fish this weekend, and this coming weekend’s bluefish trips will be the vessel’s final ones this season. The Fishermen is sailing for fluke 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily and for bluefish 3:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. However, this Friday morning’s trip is chartered.
On the party boat Atlantic Star fluke fishing was slow on Thursday, affected by the nor’easter during the previous days, Capt. Tom guessed. The fishing served up better action, mostly on shorts, but at least improvement, on Friday morning’s trip, he said. The number of keepers bagged somewhat improved on Friday afternoon’s trip. Saturday’s fishing was mostly the same, turning out mostly shorts and some keepers. The afternoon’s trip was probably the better one of the day. Fluking was tough on Sunday morning’s trip, but was some of the best in two weeks on the afternoon’s trip. The fishing turned around with better fishing conditions, and some of the anglers bagged three and four keepers, and some bagged two, and some landed no keepers, as always, but all at least caught shorts. Trips lately fished at places including Reach Channel, Chapel Hill Channel, Flynn’s Knoll, Sandy Hook Channel and off the front of the Navy Pier. Reach Channel produced some of the better fluking, and sometimes a ship will come through there, knocking out the fishing for an hour. The action was sometimes great on the trips. Tom noted that the rip tides, ground swells and effects of the storms that the media talked about fail to affect the sheltered bay much. Even the upcoming storms shouldn’t hamper the bay much if at all. 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. Tom received a Research Set Aside Permit that will allow the vessel to continue fluke fishing when the flattie season ends September 7. The twice-daily trips for the fish will continue then, and the bag limit will be the same as the current one in New Jersey. The permit will allow 1,500 pounds of fluke to be bagged on the boat, and Tom hopes that will last two or three weeks. Afterward the boat will begin bottom fishing for sea bass and porgies on one trip daily, until the trips begin fishing for blackfish later in the year.
Highlands
A mix of sea bass, porgies, blackfish and ling were knuckled aboard during a bottom-fishing trip Friday with Fisher Price Charters, Capt. Derek said. Fishing was slow on a trip for fluke Saturday, and only two keepers were bagged. Whether last week’s nor’easter or other conditions were the reason couldn’t be known, but the catch wasn’t good. On Sunday nearly a limit of sea bass to 3 ½ pounds was shoveled up on a bottom trip. Boaters who sailed for bluefin tuna beat good catches at the compass rose, the Virginia wreck and the Chicken Canyon, and charters and open-boat trips are fishing for them with Fisher Price. Anglers will see whether the hurricane forecast for the end of the week will affect the fishing, like whether the storm will push out the tuna, draw them closer to shore or not make them move at all. Open trips are also fluke or bottom fishing, and Derek was yet to schedule the next ones, waiting to see what will happen with the weather. But anglers can call him to be kept informed about the open schedule. Now was the time to think about dates for fall striped bass trips. Fisher Price will probably begin striper fishing at night in September. In October the boats’ fall schedule will kick in: striper fishing daily and bottom fishing mixed in. On November 16, when the blackfish bag limit is increased to six fish from the current limit of one, trips for the tog will be added.
Neptune
Space is available on the year’s final individual-reservation fluke trips on Wednesday and Sunday, before fluke season ends next week on Tuesday, Capt. Ralph from Last Last Lady Fishing Charters said in an e-mail. Kids under 12 sail free, limited to two kids per adult. Three charters with the Caracciolo’s, Bermans and Wallaces boated good numbers of sea bass and some blackfish, ling, triggerfish and porgies. Weekly individual-reservation trips on Wednesdays, trips that had been fluking, will switch to such inshore bottom-fishing next week. Clams and green crabs will be supplied for bait. The Fahey party on Friday bottom-fished offshore, clocking a healthy catch of cod, ling and pollock. Not many of the fish were big, but many were keepers, and there was lots of action. An individual-reservation trip will bottom-fish for cod at the offshore wrecks on Monday, September 20. Also on Friday, on Ralph’s other boat, the McLaughlin group slammed blues to 8 pounds. Farther from shore, “the inshore bluefins are back,” Ralph said, and one of the tuna was jigged on one of the trips Friday. Trips are available for bluefins day or night. One spot remains on an overnight, offshore trip for tuna to the canyons from Tuesday to Wednesday, September 14 to 15.
Belmar
Trips are available on Tuesday and, because of a cancellation, on Labor Day on the Nan Sea J, Capt. Tom said, and those are prime dates for a last shot at fluke before the flattie season ends the day after Labor Day. A couple of trips pounded bluefin tuna, had no problem limiting out on an over and under – what anglers call the two sizes of bluefins allowed to be kept on a trip – during the weekend at the Virginia wreck. The tuna were jigged, and skipjacks were also hooked on the trips, and mahi mahi were bagged on one of the outings. Sand eels and whales were seen, along with the skipjacks, and the weather was beautiful. Charters and open-boat trips are sailing for bluefins, and call if interested in the open trips. A bluefishing charter was sailing today, and the boat is also sea bass fishing.
Capt. Eric from On a Mission Fishing Adventures ran trips on his smaller boat, fluke fishing on Shark River, while his bigger boat underwent maintenance, he said. A couple of kids on a trip last week on Monday hooked a load of fluke and one keeper on the river. But anglers aboard Tuesday fluke fished with livelined snapper blues, nailing four keepers, if Eric remembered. His big boat is expected to be back in action Friday. Eric also fishes on the Delaware River, lately banking okay catches of smallmouth bass, “nothing exciting,” he said, at Bull’s Island, including on rubber grubs, crank baits and Rat-L-Traps. He also guides surf-fishing trips and began to fish the suds, catching striped bass at night on Bomber lures and any eel imitations like Gulp eels on jigheads that work well. Striper fishing will continue to improve in the wash, and so will bluefishing from the beach. No false albacore swam the surf, but Eric hopes they will soon.
Brielle
A trip dusted up sea bass to 3 pounds and fluke to 5 pounds Saturday at Axel Carlson Reef on the Big Kid, Capt. Ken said. The catch on a trip Sunday was slower at the Axel in no drift, and a half-dozen keeper sea bass and four keeper fluke were belted. An overnight tuna trip to the canyons was sailing Sunday to today. Bluefin tuna fishing was apparently on, and anglers brought the fish back to the docks, and give the Big Kid a call to go, and the boat is ready to roll. Looking ahead, reservations are being taken for charters in fall for blackfish, one of the boat’s specialties. Because of last week’s nor’easter, the Tuna Stakes Invitational was postponed until September 20, running through that week, and is available for charter.
Fluke fishing on the ocean remained kind of like all season: up and down and inconsistent, said Dave from The Reel Seat. For example, Bob Lake and Ron Mazzaralla on Lake’s Kimberly Anne whacked 36 keeper fluke to 6 pounds, keeping no more than their limit, on Thursday. They found a patch of keepers on the ocean to the north, catching them on bucktails with teasers. But other customers scored terrible on fluke the same day at Axel Carlson Reef and Sea Girt Reef. Another, fishing in 170 feet at a wreck at the Mudhole, bagged five keeper fluke. Manasquan River held small fluke but loads. Sea bass fishing wasn’t as fast as furious as earlier in the season, but the fish were boated, and porgies and blackfish were mixed in. Few boats fished for ling, but ones that did fared all right on the fish. Good bluefishing was nailed on the ocean, and anglers trolled 32- or 33-inch striped bass at the Shrewsbury Rocks. Bluefin tuna fishing was going off in waters offshore of the Virginia wreck off Long Island, located 65 miles from Brielle. Areas closer to port, where green waters had plagued such fishing this season, sometimes started to clear up. A customer found that waters at the Chicken Canyon started cleaning up, trolling a bunch of large mahi mahi to 4 feet there on Friday. Canyon tuna fishing was on the slow side. Nine tuna boated on one trip at the canyons was the most Dave heard about. That trip landed yellowfin tuna at night on the chunk and longfin tuna during the day on the troll. But many trips to the canyons came up with no fish, and some of the well-known charter boats ended up with poor catches.
Point Pleasant
Bluefishing was nothing short of great on the party boat Cock Robin, an e-mail from the vessel said. “(Groups) of folks catching limits plus,” it said. The fish hit both jigs and bait – “your choice,” it said. The Cock Robin is bluefishing 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily and 7:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. This Saturday’s nighttime trip will be the final of the season. This Thursday’s fireworks and ice cream cruise will be the last of the year. Trips for false albacore and bonito should begin soon. Small albies were seen on the bluefish grounds the boat fished.
Twenty-five bluefin tuna were fought, and 12 were landed, on a trip Friday with Andrea’s Toy Charters, the report on the boat’s Web site said. The fish had to be found, but then the four anglers “(were) treated to some awesome bluefin jigging,” the report said. Sometimes many other tuna were seen trailing the hooked fish, tuna 35 to 55 pounds, around the boat. The anglers had never before caught tuna or jigged for fish. On the way home they light-tackled a dozen mahi mahi “to top off the day!” the report said. Andrea’s Toy is fishing for bluefins inshore and for tuna and other big game farther offshore at the canyons. Inshore trips are sailing for sea bass and big blues.
One of the open-boat Fluke Till You Puke Trips fished with Reel Class Charters on the ocean Saturday, Capt. Allen said in the report on the boat’s Web site. By 1 p.m. currents roared, and bottom couldn’t be held with 12-ounce weights, so the anglers switched to sea bass fishing. Before then, sea bass and fluke, a mix of short and keeper fluke, were boated. But when currents started to roar, the boat was anchored for sea bass. The trip then fished in several areas, and the last drop was lock and load on sea bass, pounding the catches, saving the day. “Overall a good day – nice action to finish it up!” Allen said. Twenty-five keeper sea bass, three keeper fluke and plenty of throwbacks of both were hooked. A half-day charter on Sunday sailed for sea bass and bottom fishing on the ocean with five anglers, racking up 30 to 35 keeper sea bass, including a 5-pound 22-inch whopper, the biggest on the boat so far this year. They released plenty of short sea bass and a couple of short fluke. The fish were caught both on anchor and while drifting. “This was a terrific trip with a great group of guys!” Allen said. Charters and open-boat trips are sailing, and check the online schedule for available dates for the open trips. If false albacore and bonito show up close to shore, charters and open trips will sail for them. Lots of calls already came in about trips this fall for sea bass, porgies, blackfish and striped bass.
Bricktown
Customers began to beach a few striped bass from the surf at first light on plugs, said Capt. Rich from Jersey Hooker Outfitters Bait & Tackle. He was hearing more about the catches lately. Blues 2 to 5 pounds sometimes raced through the surf. Blackfishing was on fire at the Point Pleasant Canal, and green crabs were the ticket and are stocked. Fluke fishing was fairly good at the snarly bottom in the ocean off Long Branch and Deal in 65 feet. Bluefin tuna fishing was on a tear at the Chicken Canyon and the Atlantic Princess Wreck, and some customers reported catches from the Lillian wreck. They said the fishing was a jig bite. A charter with Rich’s Jersey Hooker Charters, normally sailing from Point Pleasant’s Canyon River Club, sailed with Rich and friend Capt. Jay on the Hard Ways, because the Jersey Hooker was undergoing warranty work. The anglers went 4 for 5 on yellowfin tuna to 60 pounds, and a couple of bluefin tuna seemed to pop off inshore. All in all, a good day with good action, Rich said.
Seaside Park
Great fishing for sea bass continued this summer: outstanding numbers and great sizes of the fish were reeled in, said Capt. Rob “Birch” Birchmeier from Fishguts Inshore Charters. Most trips had no problems finding large numbers, and the trick was to find big sea bass. An incredible population of the fish an inch or half-inch short covered the ocean pieces. After the nor’easter kept trips docked a few days at the beginning of last week, a charter sailed Thursday to the ocean wrecks for sea bass, finding some of the clearest waters of the season, “and even better catching,” Birch said. A croaker and a weakfish, both the first of the season on the boat, also came up, and the trip was covered in the last report. On Friday another charter left port to fish the ocean wrecks, meeting choppy seas in strong north winds. The two anglers were forced to stay close to shore a few hours, pounding a few keeper sea bass among lots of shorts, while they waited for seas to calm. When seas dropped out at 11:30 a.m., the anglers pushed farther offshore, “finding what they were looking for: big, hungry sea bass,” Birch said. They hammered away at mixed sizes, including big knuckleheads to two 4-pounders. With a two-person limit of sea bass, plus a few more allowed to be kept because Birch was on the boat, one weakfish, a blackfish and a porgy in the box, they headed in, going home with a jumbo bag of fillets. On Saturday a father and 8-year-old son, first-time wreck anglers, sailed to the ocean for the fishing in calm conditions. They pumped in a good catch of sizeable sea bass to 3 pounds, “great action in a few hours of fishing,” Birch said. They had planned to stop for weakfish on Barnegat Bay, but winds were now blowing, so they opted to go to lunch. On Sunday three anglers climbed aboard to sail for sea bass, meeting a flat ocean and light winds. Not every piece was holding sea bass that bit, “but when (we) found the ones that were, the anglers could hammer away,” Birch said. The keepers were mostly 14-inchers or larger, “real nice-size stuff,” Birch said. With many of the fish on ice, the anglers called it a day, leaving the sea bass biting. See the Fishguts photo gallery for shots of the latest trips.
Tuckerton
Ocean fishing for summer flounder netted some healthy sized flatties to 7 and 8 pounds, quite a few keepers, fewer shorts than before, in 60 feet with Legal Limit Charters, Capt. T.J. said. Sea bass catches also picked up, began to give up catches again on the trips. An inshore trolling trip on the ocean landed skipjacks and bonito 20 miles from the coast on Saturday. No bluefish and no tuna bit. “Not a whole lot going on,” T.J. said. Lots of open-boat trips or shared charters for flounder are sailing in the next days. See the online Open Boat/Shared Charter Schedule.
Mystic Island
Mixed reports were heard about summer flounder fishing on the ocean, said the report on Scott’s Bait & Tackle’s Web site. No big numbers, a few keepers here and there, were boated at Little Egg Reef, Garden State Reef South and “within reasonable distance of the Rutgers Buoys,” the report said. Two trips in a row produced six keepers apiece at Garden State Reef South on one boat. Someone else found the fluke in 50 feet off the red tower. Little Egg Inlet was rough, but once boaters reached the ocean, seas were calm, with only a small, intermittent swell, and the weather was gorgeous. Fishing for sea bass and tog was supposedly good on the ocean. Croakers showed up at Little Egg Reef on Thursday after the nor’easter. They were expected to return to waters close to shore, where they schooled before and usually school, after conditions settled after the storm. In the bay sea bass, spots, a few small blowfish, sharks and sea robins bit. “But no cooler quality fish (did),” the report said.
Atlantic City
Kingfish, good catches, were banked in the surf, mostly on bloodworms, sometimes on Fishbites artificial worms, said Noel from One Stop Bait & Tackle. Tons of spots filled the surf, and anglers not looking to hook spots had to fish through them to reach other fish. Small weakfish sometimes swam the surf, and anglers used cut up spots to nab them. Summer flounder were angled up from the sea wall off the Flagship, and Don Yuen weighed in a 9-1/2-pound 29-incher. Snapper blues schooled off the Flagship, especially at night under the lights. Triggerfish and tog were claimed along the jetty rocks. Occasional striped bass to 32 to 38 inches, not many, were supposedly plucked from the suds. Noel saw none at the shop, but a couple of anglers talked about them. The full supply of baits is stocked.
Longport
A ground swell and effects from last week’s nor’easter mostly shut down fishing close to shore on the ocean, and trips had to sail farther offshore for catches, said Capt. Mike from the Stray Cat. Waters were green, and the next storm, the hurricane forecast to barrel up the coast by the weekend, might help fishing by stirring up the waters. Charters before last week’s blow wrangled up croakers, summer flounder, spike weakfish and blues. After the storm, trips caught some of those fish, but, again, had to sail farther offshore. A trip today was supposed to run to even farther offshore to the canyons for tuna and big game. Lots of white marlin apparently roamed from Baltimore Canyon to farther south. A canyon trip last week was cancelled because of a swell and the full moon. Mike wasn’t asked why the moon mattered, but fishing generally can be slow on the moons, for unknown reasons, and the moons can cause difficult fishing conditions like strong tides and currents. The combination of the swell with potentially moon-related effects on fishing apparently influenced the call to stay docked. .
Sea Isle City
Jim Jackson and son Connor wrestled in and released 10 dusky sharks to 60 pounds and jigged some amberjacks on a trip Sunday on the ocean, said Capt. Joe Hughes from Jersey Cape Guide Service and Gibson’s Tackle. The sharks were hooked on mackerel on spinning rods, and the trip was one of Jersey Cape’s special inshore charters for sharks, mostly duskies and browns, catch and release angling by regulation, on the ocean 8 to 10 miles from shore. The trips are a chance to fish the blue waters for big, powerful fish, either on spinning or fly rods, without sailing the long distance usually required for sharking. The ocean held a big ground swell that day, and a trip tonight was supposed to fly rod for striped bass on the back bay. High tides during dark were ideal, and Jersey Cape’s night trips for the bay’s stripers fish with either Clouser flies or soft plastic lures at places like under the lights at bridges and docks. High tides at dusk, ideal for popper fishing for stripers on the bay with fly or spinning rods, another type of trip Jersey Cape runs, will take place later this week and next week. Summer flounder, including keepers at Townsend Inlet Reef, continued to bite, if anglers wanted to fish aboard for them. Jersey Cape is also fishing offshore for a few yellowfin tuna that are around, longfin tuna that began to show up, marlin and mahi mahi. After-work special charters on the bay will resume next week from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, a great time to fish. Joe will post on his blog some of the days with better tides for that fishing. Keep up with Joe’s fishing and photos on Jersey Cape’s blog.
Avalon
An overnight trip offshore Thursday to Friday with Over Under Adventures first tried to find a temperature break the satellite charts showed at the southwest side of Lindenkohl Canyon, the audio reports on Over Under’s Web site said. The break wasn’t found, but three white marlin were seen, and one was missed, before the boat was set up to fish at night. At night a 100-pound mako shark, a double-header of dusky sharks and a 150-pound hammerhead shark were landed. The area looked good, and lots of squid schooled. At 4 a.m. a mystery bite from a big fish, either a bigeye tuna or a swordfish, pulled the hooked. Then one 45-pound yellowfin tuna was bagged on a double-header, the other fish getting off. On the troll in the morning two yellowfin tuna bites never came tight, but some mahi mahi to 30 pounds were reeled in. At the end of the day 30 to 35 mahi, sizeable ones to 35 pounds, were waxed. The temperature break, 75.2 to 78.6 degrees, was found that morning at the northeast side of the Lindy, and the crew planned to intercept the break on another overnighter that night. The break was found on that trip from Friday to Saturday at Spencer Canyon, “but to no avail,” the report said. Nothing bit on the troll in the area. The boat was set up to fish at night, and one swordfish bit and got off, and a dusky shark and a blue shark were landed. In the morning the anglers began lobster-pot hopping to catch mahi mahi at Lindenkohl and Carteret canyons. Forty to 45 mahi 6 to 12 pounds were decked, successful fishing. Not much was heard about tuna caught by anyone during the trip, and the fishing sounded slow. At least the lobster pots were loaded with mahi. A daytime trip on another one of Over Under’s boats fished around Wilmington Canyon on Friday. No tuna or other fish showed up on the troll, but the anglers had planned to do lots of mahi fishing, and that worked out well. The boat was backed down on lobster pots up and down the west wall of the canyon, and the anglers hooked 30 mahi while casting. The boat was trolled back inshore, and most waters looked bland, but life including bait and skipjacks was found in 30 fathoms. Skipjacks were trolled, but no tuna bit, though tuna seemed to be marked at one point. Charters and open-boat trips are fishing offshore.
Cape May
A good catch of yellowfin tuna was trolled offshore on a day trip with the Kristofferson party on the Down Deep, Capt. Bob said. Another one of the trips was headed out today. Anglers with the I&I Sling Company trolled a healthy catch of 4- to 5-pound bluefish. Charters are also fishing for summer flounder. Dates are being booked for fall striped bass fishing and are “going,” Bob said.
Anglers aboard fished at the ocean reefs, said Capt. George from the Heavy Hitter. John Stoneck’s charter, including John’s daughter Laurie and Mike and Al, landed summer flounder – some keepers, including Laurie’s 23-incher, and a bunch of shorts – croakers and small blues. Candi, Austin, Ron and Sean from Berlin’s First Student Bus Company caught flounder – keepers and throwbacks – a few croakers and some blues. The blues on the trips were 2 to 4 pounds, and bigger blues, 5- to 7-pounders, could be trolled at the lumps 20 miles from shore. Those trips could tackle blues and get a chance at fish including bluefin and yellowfin tuna, mahi mahi and wahoos. Anglers never know what’ll hit. Blues disappeared from off Cape May Point after last week’s nor’easter. Trips farther offshore are catching yellowfin tuna, mahi, wahoos and white marlin. Dates are available for a trip for any of these species, and call if interested. Flounder season closes the day after Labor Day, if anglers want to fish for them one final time this week through the holiday.
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