Fishing with Dad

Hurricane Earl, has come and gone. Looks to be a great Labor Day weekend for the beachgoers and for the surf fisherman. The seas are churned up, perfect fishing water for striped bass. The best thing you can do is get out there this weekend and give it a shot. The fluke season is almost over, try giving one of your local charter boats a shot this weekend. I would not recommend fluke fishing off the surf as the water will still be dirty and probably too rough for fluke. Try throwing out mullet for the monster blues that are finally showing up in our local waters. False albacore and kingfish have been caught recently also. There is plenty of action out there, get out and throw out some metal or some fresh bait. There probably will be some beach erosion, if you are driving onto Island Beach state park this weekend, be extra careful during high tide especially at beaches 12, 17 and 18.

The crew from the Miss Barnegat Light reports the bluefishing has been heating up. Limits have been the norm for anglers on blues from 6 to 12 pounds. The fish have been hitting bait and jigs. Jeff Bauer of the Carolyn Ann III reports fluke won all their boat pools this week. Rich Rolenc of Manahawkin landed the biggest fluke, a 7.2 pounder. Stew Patterson from Conshohoken, Pa., was next closest with a 5.8-pound fluke. Capt. Jack Shea of the Rambunctious had David Kruge, his 11-year-old son Kevin, and brother-in-law Jerry on the Barnegat Bay grounds for fluke. The charter landed about 80 fluke during the morning putting only two in the box that were big enough. “It’s still a 40-to-1 throwback to keeper ratio, but with a fish coming over the side on ultra-light tackle every couple of minutes, it’s surefire fun,” Shea said. The boats of the Beach Haven Charter fishing Association have been sneaking out on successful fishing trips in between northeasters and tropical storms. Capt. Carl Sheppard on the Star Fish reports he had some great trips. The spawning season for the black sea bass is just about over and he sees improvement in the catches of sea bass. He says there are occasional keeper fluke in the back bay, but the best action is in the ocean. Both the Little Egg and Garden State South Reefs provided him with some keeper fluke. He is also picking up a dozen bluefish each day around the inlet on his way out to the reefs. Capt. Fran Verdi reports his parties are coming home with a mixed bag of fluke and sea bass. He has also gotten some good reports of croakers and small weakfish along the beach the last couple of days.

Dan Radel

Ronny Bala at Fisherman’s Supply reported the fluke fishing was good in the Manasquan River this week. Ashley Hawes, 9, of Brielle, had five fluke up to 17 1/2-inches fishing with Gulp! bait. Blowfish have moved into the Upper Barnegat Bay. Anglers are finding them around Dale’s Point. Big bluefish showed up a quarter-mile off the Mantoloking beaches. They were big fish up to 15 pounds. “A lot of bait moved in. We’ll have to wait and see how the fishing shapes up after the hurricane,” Bala said. Capt. Bob Bogan of the Gambler reports the fishing has been changing constantly. “Not just day to day but almost hour by hour.” On a morning trip this week, they caught fluke and sea bass but it wasn’t very good. In the afternoon, the fishing picked up and anglers caught small weakfish, big blues and keeper fluke up to 5 pounds. Tommy Kilgannon at Pell’s Bait and Tackle reports people fishing the Manasquan River are mostly catching fluke. In Barnegat Bay, the snapper blues are getting bigger. “They’re almost bluefish,” he said. People are catching them with spearing. In the bay, blowfish are also beginning to hit hook baits and the crabbing remains good. In the Point Pleasant Canal, nighttime anglers are catching a few stripers on live eels and soft plastic shads. Blackfish are also biting in the canal. Dennis Palmatier at Murphy’s Hook House said the crabbing is still excellent from Island Heights to Good Luck Point in Barnegat Bay. The snapper blues are all over and ranging between 6 to 8 inches. Over by the BB buoy, there is a decent run of blowfish going on. Anglers anchoring up and chumming heavy with clam chum have caught up to 50 of them. Mixed in with them have been small croakers and burr fish.

Dan Radel

Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said the fluking is still good in the Shark River with the rental boats getting two to three keepers per trip. The better anglers are coming back with more. Matthews is hoping the weather doesn’t hurt the last few days of fluke season too badly. The kingfishing is also good with nice catches reported inside the inlet. One angler landed 10 the other day on worms. Surf guys are doing well on bass with fly rods and plugs with teasers. The snapper fishing continues strong and guys are doing will with blackfish on crabs. Capt. Ron Kish of the Capt. Cal II reported he’s fishing in 70 feet of water on mussel beds and doing real well with nice sea bass. There are also a number of keeper fluke in the mix. Capt. Howard Bogan of the Big Jamaica, Brielle said the bluefishing couldn’t be any better than it is right now. They are biting on jigs and bait. On Wednesday’s trip, Capt. Bogan reported false albacore and skipjacks mixed in with the blues. Capt. Captain Greg Markert of the Golden Eagle. Belmar, said customers are reeling in blues until their arms are too tired to reel anymore. Greg Bogan of Brielle Bait and Tackle reported Lee Karosen of Manasquan caught two school stripers in the early morning surf on clams. He also weighed in a 6-pound fluke for Greg Jewell, Manasquan, he got off Sea Girt.

John Oswald

Jack Monteiro at Surf Side Bait and Tackle in Long Branch reports sand eels, peanut bunker, spearing and rainfish are in the suds. He’s also had reports of keeper stripers being caught but none weighed in so far. Bigger fluke are being caught in the surf using Gulp! and spearing and killies. Monteiro says the fall striper and blue season looks promising and don’t forget his blowout fall specials with 10 to 20 percent off on most items. Bob Staub at Long Branch Bait and Tackle reported that Shawn and Pat Stiles weighed in a 91-pound bluefin tuna caught offshore. They also released several others, which hit chunks and jigs. James Laco, Long Branch, weighed in a 9 1/2-pound fluke and a 12-pound mahi-mahi. Staub also reported kingfish, snappers, cocktail blues and plenty of bait in the wash. Stripers are being caught at daybreak in the surf and he’s heard of 5-pound weakfish hitting worms north of the Highlands Bridge. Ernie at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle said school stripers are hitting bucktails in the Shrewsbury River and he weighed in an 8 pounder for Paul Noonjian of Laurence Harbor. He also reported blues in the surf. John Christensen at Scott’s Bait and Tackle in Bradley Beach weighed in a 4.7-pound fluke for Ryan Degraw, 11 of Wall, a 5.4-pound fluke for Gene Saks of Bradley Beach caught on squid in the surf and a 10-pound striper for Lee Rubin of Montclair he got on clams at Bradley Beach.

Sam Snyder of Brown’s Point Marina in Keyport said the crabbing hasn’t been this good in years. Anglers are still finding plenty of fluke on the Keyport flats with enough keepers mixed in with the shorts to make it worthwhile. He also reported bluefish up to five pounds are now showing up in the late afternoons. Captain Mike Russo of the Sea Hawk out of Perth Amboy is making the most of the fluking until he switches over to porgies, blackfish and sea bass on Sept. 7. Kasper Pullem, Linden, got a 3 1/2-pound sea bass on last Wednesday’s trip and John Butler, Edison, got a 4-pound fluke on Tuesday. Capt Sal Cursi of the Cathy Sea will fish in the bay until Earl passes by then head back in to the ocean where he’s doing well with fluke and sea bass. Capt. George Bachert of the Angler said the ocean was flat on Thursday, despite all the warnings. Tuesday’s fishing was good in the Ambrose Channel but a tougher on Wednesday. The Angler will continue fishing for fluke after the season closes with a special permit. The Angler is one of five boats in the Raritan Bay area that has the permit. Phil Sciortino of the Tackle Box in Hazlet reported his father and uncle did real well on bluefin tuna, landing a 125 pounder and releasing a bunch more.

John Oswald

Tom Hansen at Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle said time is running out for the fluke season and they are just beginning to see the big ones. The spearing are on the move and the bigger fluke are on them. Joe Barbee nailed a 10 pounder in the Barnegat Inlet. The fluke are also in the surf. Unfortunately, Hurricane Earl may cut the season even a few days shorter. Bigger 10- to 12-pound blues are coming close enough to be caught from the beach. They are hitting metals, bunker and mullet. Mike Malek said he got a new shipment of Hercules 748H blanks into the shop. Weigh-ins from the shop this week were Bill Morgan with a 5.5-pound fluke caught with Gulp!, Joe Barbee with a 10.1-pound fluke with spearing and Craig Napolitano with a 12.2-pound bluefish that hit metal. John Bushell at Betty and Nick’s Bait and Tackle said one of his early morning customers this week found the pocket at the North Barnegat Inlet Jetty loaded with small bluefish. “He had them in the dark all night on Hopkins. These bluefish will provide that action we want until the striper run gets here time around the end of September.” Bushell said. One of their shop regulars already found some stripers. John Bartoli of North Bergen had a nice day this week fishing when he landed a 30-inch striper and a 36-inch bluefish. Some of the bigger blues are slowly making their way to the beach now. Dave Hughes at Grizz’s Bait and Tackle said the fluking is good in the Barnegat Inlet. Triggerfish are also being caught in the inlet on the rocks. He said a lot of people are doing the blowfish thing as their bite really seems to have turned on this week. “Lots of snapper blues, peanut bunker and mullet in the lagoons,” Hughes said.

Dan Radel

The big bluefish are here. Had reports of monsters being weighed in at the local bait shops, the biggest one being a 14 pound behemoth blue. Nothing from the fluke fisherman as the shoreline has been quite active because of Earl. I tend to believe that fluke like somewhat calmer waters, but this is definitely good water for bass if they were around. Another gorgeous day, get out there and enjoy.

The jetty is really the place to be if you want to catch fish. Fluke and snapper blues are hitting throughout the day. Try your luck with a squid, killie combo for the fluke. You can usually throw out about anything for those blues. Earl is starting its way up the coast, get your fishing in now.

I heard there was a 10lb fluke caught at the Island Beach state park jetty yesterday. Shows what a little time and effort can do for you. We might be getting hit with Earl later on this week, so get out there and enjoy this beautiful weather we are having. Spearing are on the move which means that the fishing is starting to pick up. Good blue fish action in the surf has been happening as of late. Get out there and cast some metal.