Fishing with Dad

I have been receiving quite a few positive fishing reports from some of our local experts and fishing captains that I would like to share. They are proof positive that there is some truly good fishing action hereabouts between summer and the arrival of the striped bass.

Andy Tonnesen at Tony’s Bait and Tackle reports a couple of his customers had a good day recently on bluefish and false albacore on the North Barnegat Ridge with blues to 15 pounds and albacore to 5 pounds. Trolling feathers, preferably white or green, worked the [...] Continue Reading…

Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said everybody is getting into the fall fishing. He reported the boats continue to do well with the false albacore, while the fish are still proving a challenge for the guys on the beach. But the beach guys are doing all right with stripers, especially on clams. Matthews said one customer, who is relatively new to the sport has been catching and release two to three fish a day. Guys fishing in the early morning with plugs and fly rods are also doing well with bass. There are plenty of spot and [...] Continue Reading…

“One heck of a bright moon,” Tom Hansen at Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle in Seaside Park said. The shop had their last bass of the summer weighed in one hour before fall officially arrived. The fish was weighed in at 11:09 p.m. Wednesday night. The blues have been in and out of the surf all week. The fish are mostly under 5 pounds and hitting fresh mullet and skinny metal. Some weigh-ins from the shop’s log book this week were Mauro DePinto with a bass over 12 pounds caught on a bomber and Bob Hryszko with a bass over [...] Continue Reading…

Lots of fish to Lots of fish to report from Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle in Seaside Park. Blues, false albacore, bonito and bass were all caught this week from the sand. “It’s definitely shiny metal time,” said Tom Hansen. He said the fast moving schools of albacore have frustrated anglers at times and there have been bonito mixed in with them. The bluefish have been ranging in and out all week and even made a strong appearance after the sun went down. The bass activity has been mostly after dark on needlefish. It seems though, that anytime you can [...] Continue Reading…

False albacore finally showed up in force. Reports of little tunny were received from Sandy Hook to Ortley Beach. It appears boat fishermen got the best of it, but some fish were taken from the beach as well.

Bob Matthews of Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said the albie action was “just phenomenal” with one charter boat catching up to 18 of the speedsters. One customer was chasing them up and down the beach in Mantoloking, Matthews said, but just couldn’t pin them down.
He also reported good bottom fishing on sea bass and porgies, plus a lot of anglers getting their [...] Continue Reading…

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. [...] Continue Reading…

The surf guys are starting to see some stripers and bluefish in the surf, reports Tom Hansen at Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle. Daybreak has seen some good fishing for several days now with blues in a wide range of sizes in a wide variety of places. The fish have not been on top so birds working the surface haven’t been the best indicator of where the blues are. Metals are the number one choice for early morning fishing and bait has been producing the remainder of the day. Weigh-ins at the shop this week were Kyren Dooley with a [...] Continue Reading…

Ronny Bala at Fisherman’s Supply said there is a tremendous amount of bait out front in the surf. Sand eels, spearing, rainfish and peanut bunker make up the list of bait in tight. Bala said bass and blues are now starting to hit the beaches from Sandy Hook south to Barnegat. He said the Sea Girt surf has small schoolie-size bass. Zachery Feaherty, 13, fished with his dad and grandfather aboard the Bib Jamaica and had a catch of 13 blues up to 15 pounds between the three of them. Capt. Bob Bogan of the Gambler reported a fair [...] Continue Reading…

Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said things are getting better and better. Big albies are in the area and getting close to the beaches. There’s also a lot of bait in the surf and the river and anglers fishing a plug with a teaser have a good chance at bass. Not big ones, but they’re around. Guys bottom fishing are also doing well with porgies, kingfish, blackfish and sea bass. He also reported a good finale to the fluke season fish up to 8 1/2 pounds reported from the Belmar party boats. Capt. Ron Kish of the [...] Continue Reading…

Ernie Giglio at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright reports there’s a lot of activity in the surf. Big fish are breaking just out of range at Sandy Hook and there’s lots of bait in the wash, mostly sand eels. Anglers are picking up bass, and some fluke, on Gulp!. The fluke are going back. Bass are also being taken on worms in the ocean and river. The snappers are getting bigger and the crabbing is still holding strong. Jack Monteiro of Surf Side Bait and Tackle in Long Branch reports lots of small bait fish in the [...] Continue Reading…