Fishing with Dad

I did hear of some action regarding big bluefish in Island Beach State Park.  They were caught on bunker, striped bass are still a little bit of a hit and miss.  Still waiting for the water to cool down a little more to hopefully spark the fishing into a fall blitz.  Today might not be one of the better days to go out and fish, since it will probably be raining all day and the wind will be kicking.  If you are not afraid of the wind and rain, as the fish don’t mind getting wet, you might as well give it a try.  Beats a day at the office.

Capt. Charlie Eble of the Doris Mae IV reports the night bluefishing out of Barnegat Inlet has been great. During the day the sea bass have been biting. Their fall tuna schedule is now posted. They will start this Friday with a special 30-hour offshore trip limited to 20 passengers. If you missed this trip they will be running 30-hour offshore trips every Tuesday and Thursday during September and October. The boat leaves the dock at 7 a.m. and is limited to 23 passengers. They will also be running 24-hour offshore trips Friday-Sunday that leave dock at 5 p.m. and are limited to 26 passengers. These trips will hit the canyons and fish for tuna. Now that fluke season has ended, the captains of the Beach Haven Charter fishing Association have several options available before the onset of striped bass season. In addition to offshore trips to the canyons for tuna, mahi, and other big sport fish, they are managing to find some other good fishing. Capt. Carl Sheppard on the Star Fish found some good numbers of croakers in 70-feet of water off the red tower in Beach Haven. Mixed in with the croakers were some spike weakfish. When he moved out into 90-feet of water, his anglers found some keeper black sea bass along with some small fluke. He has also been picking up small bluefish and herring in the inlet on his way out and in from the ocean fishing. Scott Albertson of Scott’s Bait and Tackle reports croakers were caught in the area of the Little Egg Reef. The best activity in Great Bay has been the blowfish. They’re showing up on the Mystic Island side of the fish factory just to the east of the clam stakes. Clam chum and clams are the ticket to steady catching activity. Graveling Point remains the hot area for the spot fishermen.

Dan Radel

So it seems that early morning fisherman are having a blast with bluefish. Throw anything out there and you are bound to catch one. Just because the birds are not working does not mean they are not there. As the day progresses try your luck with bait. Small stripers are also being caught but don’t expect to catch one, they are few and far between right now. The water is still a little too warm for striped bass. Unfortunately, fluke season has ended. If you happen to hook one make sure you throw it back. Good luck.

Today is your last chance to get your fluke and it sure is a beautiful one. Get out there and give it a shot, there have been some monsters weighed in throughout the state in the last few days. Hurricane Earl churned up the seas and the fish are biting. Big blues are also on the menu, they are being caught on mullet, spearing, anything you can throw at them actually. Some striped bass have also been weighed in recently. You can throw out a clam or two for them but do not focus your time on them. Striped bass are still a hit or miss. Enjoy your labor day weekend.

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

Jeff Bauer of the Carolyn Ann III reports fluke have been winning all the boat pools on their trips lately. The larger fish are beginning to show up as expected for this time of year. However, time is running out on the season to catch that doormat. Bauer said recently the bigger fluke have been hitting Spro bucktails with a teaser rig. Chris DiMeglio from Hamilton captured the big fish this week with a 6.4-pound fluke on a morning trip. Dave Poole of Willingboro was the next closet with a hefty 6.2 pounder that he brought to the net. The weekly report from the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association prior to the northeaster reports that Capt. Dave Wittenborn on the Compass Rose has seen an upturn in the fishing action when the winds shifted to the east which brought in some warmer waters. With the ocean temperatures now in the mid to upper 70′s, he is seeing some of the best ocean fluking of the summer. He has been getting some great catches of fluke and sea bass with fluke to 23-inches and tipping the scale over 5 pounds. He has also picked up some nice bluefish along the beach while trolling Clark spoons. Capt. George Finck of Sparetime Charters reports a canyon trolling trip with Kenny Lieb and his school friends where they returned with a nice catch of yellowfin tuna and mahi. He has also had some inshore reef fishing for decent catches of keeper fluke. Capt. Fran Verdi had an open boat trip on Saturday despite some sloppy seas. Once the wind switched, the waves calmed. Drifting with a combination of bucktails and live bait, they had steady action, mostly on shorts with many less than 1/2 inch short. In addition to the good action the group finished the day with four fluke and six black sea bass in the fish box.

Dan Radel

Not much to report, the rain is keeping the fisherman away. I know the fish don’t mind getting wet, if you can brave the cool weather and rainy day, give it a shot.

Capt. Dave DeGennaro of the Hi Flier said they have been catching a crazy amount of stripers on 10-pound spinning outfits in the Barnegat Inlet. The fish are mostly schoolies and they are catching them chumming the water with grass shrimp. Also getting drawn into the chum slicks are blackfish, sea bass and some big porgies. Capt. Jack Shea of the Rambunctious said the great Barnegat Bay Fluke-a-thon continued this week. “The bottom of the bay is absolutely paved with fish right now, and if you time the tides properly the action is unbelievable,” he said. Capt. Steve Purul of Reel Fantasea said they hooked up with some 4- to 6-foot brown sharks in the Barnegat Bay this week. The sharks attacked live bergal baits almost instantly. They also saw a few weakfish in the mix, but not very many. The crew from the Miss Barnegat Light reports good catches of 1- to 3- pound blues. Anglers have been getting about 10 fish to a limit of these smaller sized fish. Fluke won all the pools this week on the Carolyn Ann III reports Jeff Bauer. Dennis Haney of Lumberton and Jim Reviello of Manahawkin tied for the big fish this week. Both anglers caught 5.7-pound fluke. Frank Camarda of the Miss Beach Haven reports the fluke fishing in the bay has been excellent most of the summer with tons of fish caught each day. Their biggest fish out of the bay this year so far is an 8.5-pound fluke. Outside the story has been different. The ocean fishing has been a struggle between the unstable water temperature and the poor conditions with no drift on most days. So far this year Pete from Philadelphia is leading their season long fluke pool with an 8 pounder. Captain Tim Knorr of the charter boat William Knorr had the John Donegan party out for a night chumming trip at the Barnegat Ridge for bluefish. At some point during the night’s fishing they hooked up with something that they knew was entirely too big to be a bluefish. When they finally got the fish to the boat and aboard, they discovered they had a 69-pound cobia.

Dan Radel

Jeff Bauer of the Carolyn Ann III said squid and spearing are doing the job on the fluke as well as jigging with bucktails. Sea bass and fluke won the pools this week. Steve Nulph of Southhampton landed the big fish for the week. It was a 6.2-pound fluke. There were quite a few 5 pounders brought to the nets also. Ren Nociti of Barnegat Light had one at 5 pounds that Bauer said he caught in between naps. Sounds like Huck Finn style. On and off days with the blues reports the crew of the Miss Barnegat Light. They are finding the fish in the two-pound range hitting bottom jigs with teasers fished off the bottom. Some days anglers can catch a limit and other days the catch is just a pick. The captains of the Beach Haven Charter fishing Association have been fishing in a variety of locations for a variety of fish. Capt. Carl Sheppard of the Star Fish reported the inshore ocean water is cold and the fish do not seem to want to bite. Most of the black sea bass he has been keeping have been males. Capt. John Koegler took the Star Fish to the canyons and returned with a catch of tuna and mahi-mahi. Capt. Fran Verdi spent several days last week fishing on the Hot Tuna as a mate fishing the marlin and tuna tournament. He said they returned empty-handed after a couple days of hard work. It is now back to the inshore ocean fluke and sea bass trips for him now. Capt. George Finck of Sparetime took Todd Kutikoff and Frank Smith out in the ocean for a nice catch of fluke and sea bass, all on the drift. Scott Albertson of Scott’s Bait and Tackle said water temps cooled off a little bit. Jake Pysher had a pair of fluke this week, one at three pounds and the other 2.6-pounds fishing aboard the SonKat. They were fishing back up in the bay in the Intercoastal Waterway. Jesse B. also found some kingfish by the clam stakes in the Great Bay.
Dan Radel