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Hi Flier Inshore and Offshore

Fishing is firing on all cylinders, inshore and offshore. Bluefin tuna, bonita, spanish mackerel, weakfish, and stripers are all on the feed. We also had a Spinner, Atlantic Sharpnose, and a big Dusky Shark just 4 miles offshore on Friday on spinning tackle. I struck out on tuna at the 30 mile spot Saturday, as did the small fleet that was there, but that’s just a day in the life of tuna fishing. On the way back we stopped at Barnegat Ridge and put out some light rods. It didn’t take long and we had bonita and spanish mackerel bending the rods. For those of you that are unsure about the edibility of these two species, they are both excellent. You can prepare bonita, technically bonito, any way you prepare tuna including as sashimi. The spanish mackerel fillets are white, sweet, and delicate. Cook them the same way you do flounder or weakfish. There’s a lot of confusion here with these two fish because south of Jersey, from the Carolinas to Florida, they call what we know as false albacore….bonito. Which are so bloody and full of red muscle inside, they are inedible. The mackerel part of Spanish mackerel has a lot of people put off because of our locally caught Boston mackerel, which are not that high on the edible scale, though people eat them. I returned to Barnegat Ridge Sunday with Chris Lang of Barnegat Light and his brother Phillip who was visiting from San Diego, as well as Chris Soukatis of Staten Island. We boated six nice bonita and a pair of two foot Spanish mackerel in some sporty conditions. We decided to head into the bay and try some light tackle action. Using shedder crab we connected with 15 to 16 inch weakfish and fluke. Monday I had Wayne Hopkins of Kutztown, PA and Jim Soch of West Milford, NJ for a bay/inlet combo. We only managed one weakfish for the cooler along with some action with fluke and sand sharks. When that slowed up we decided to try the inlet jetty and it was on fire with schoolie stripers. These two guys caught and released a dozen bass between 22 to 27 inches. A great finale. Here’s a clip of Wayne with one of his stripers: youtu.be/L_EyKqrrWdM Thursday August 1 and Friday August 2 has light winds forecasted, so we are running Open Boat Barnegat Ridge trips for Bonita and Spanish Mackeral. 10AM to 4PM. $150 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared. Sunday we are headed to the Mid Range Tuna grounds or the Canyons in search of mahi, tilefish, and billfish. Pics: 1. Cutting table with our mix of bonita, Spanish, and weakfish on Sunday 2. Wayne Hopkins of Kutztown, PA    Dave DeGennaro Back Bay Adventures 732.330.5674 cell www.hiflier.com

Fishing Report Update July 29th

Here we are winding down the month of July with great fishing on Long Beach Island. It’s the heart of summer! Get out on the water and enjoy. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update For Monday July 29, 2019.

The past weekend was full of great weather and great fishing.

Barnegat Bay Fun Fishing

A great assortment of species await! Blowfish are plentiful in the main area of Barnegat Bay. Reports from the mid-island were ok but much slower. Fluke fishing is going strong. Small blues roam the waters and savvy anglers are playing catch and release with striped bass and weakfish.

The abundance of spikes (small weakfish) is awesome to see. One customer reported catching seven up to 17″ on an LBI west side spot.

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Report

The Long Beach Island surf has been really warm and consistently warm this year. That is until the recent southerly blow. The southerly blow has put a good chill in the water which slowed the surf bite. Both fluke and kingfishing were very good going into the weekend.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a huge upwelling events like some that can be a week long. We have onshores Thursday thru Monday so we expect things will be bounce back quick.

Mid Shore Fishing

Lake Atlantic conditions prevailed Friday and Saturday allowing boats of all sizes to get out and reach the bluewater. Some did very well. From bluefin (30-50 miles out of BI), cobia and mahi to king mackerel, bonita and spanish mackerel the inshore and midshore waters have lots of life. That’s not even accounting for the plethora of sharks.

The bluefin jig bite continues… Some state it’s the best two month run we’ve seen in years!

Rosetto Stone reported, “I couldn’t be happier! Got one of my best friends up from Florida and on to this crazy jig bite. Thanks for the jigs! This one was on the new Mustad Moon Riser Sardine Jig.”


Brett Ekelmann sent in this report, “Awesome weekend jigging bluefin. I picked up some jigs on Friday and that new Mustad Moon Riser out fished everything else we had in the water. Thanks for the heads up!”

Fish Head Charters

It’s been awhile since my last update. Hasn’t been for a lack of fishing, just lack of time. Here’s a recap of recent days on the water.

Thursday (7/25) morning I had three time (three years in a row) return clients, father Tom and son aboard. We had a great sunrise session with bass and blues on light tackle.


Friday I ran the Pal O’ Mine out to the tuna grounds for a fun day with some friends. It was a beautiful but sort of frustrating day. There were lots of boats and much less fish feeding activity then Thursday (that was a really good day). Looking back we kinda bobbed when we should have weaved. Hind sight is always 20/20. The entire crew worked together and stayed on point all day long. Finally late in the day our bite came.  I dropped a Mustad Moon Riser Jig (very similar to the very popular Nomad Streaker Jig, same slender profile but slightly heavier in the same length) on a couple marks, some quick speed jig pumps and bang! A short 5 minute fight and it was gaffed boatside. It never felt so good to get a boat bloody. The brand new Grady White 27 Canyon loved every minute of it.

Saturday night Scott T and his wife were aboard for a bay shark fishing trip. The tide and water temp were perfect but the abundance of grass made fishing difficult. We regularly cleaned the rigs and managed to get three bites in the 3-4 hour trip. Two were released boatside, the third was a run off but it offered a great screaming fight before it spit the hook. I feel the night would have been much more productive with less grass and a lighter wind. A stiff south never helps. Only a few hours after cleaning up…

Sunday early morning I jumped aboard the Reel Innovation to go on the hunt for tuna. We fished the same areas where fishing was good but we found very little life. Just a few scattered marks. We jigged like all hell but didn’t get a bite.  Went on the troll for a little while, with no results.  Other boats reports slim pickings.

No Limits Sportfishing – Fishing Report

Fishing report

Saturday 7/27 – I had Kevin and his girlfriend Jamie from Forked River, NJ out for a 6hr ocean fluke/sea bass trip. This was their first time jigging for fluke so there were quite a few swings and misses before they started to get the hang of it. There was little to no drift so there wasn’t a ton of action, but we were able to work some pieces of structure and catch over a dozen shorts as well as 2 solid keepers that were 25” and 21.5”, weighing in at 6.0lbs and 4.0lbs.

Halfway through the trip we were also surrounded by hundreds of spinner sharks jumping out of the water and a couple of them even hit the side of the boat. We hooked up with a couple and Kevin and Jamie were able to catch and release their first sharks. It was a great day on the water and we’ll see you guys during the fall striped bass season!

Sunday 7/28 – I had Joe and his friends Joe, Mario, and Jamie from NY out for a 6hr ocean fluke/sea bass trip. We started the trip working some of the same areas as Saturday but did not have any luck due to the conditions not being in our favor. We went from no drift the day before to way too much of a drift, drifting at 1.8-2.0kts due to a hard southwest wind. We tried several areas of open bottom but could only manage to catch some shorts. We also had a ribbon fish jumping along side of the boat at one point to add some excitement. The guys fished hard and never gave up. They shared lots of laughs as they kept saying that it was much better than being at work. We will get you guys on some fish in a few weeks!

In other news, our new website is up and running thanks to our first mate Jess, so go on over and check it out! www.nolimitssportfishingllc.com/

We are booked up for these next 2 weeks but have an opening on August 10th if anyone is interested. If you are interested in getting out please give us a call to book your trip. Call or text Captain Mike to get out on the water or send us a message through our website! (609)-709-7264. www.nolimitssportfishingllc.com/

Lighthouse Sportfishing Report 7/28/2019

The warmer ocean water has brought in some cool stuff. Saturday, we scored this nice Mahi (pic attached) within a few miles of the inlet. We also boxed two chicken dolphin (small Mahi). There were many more Mahi swimming below the Debbie M, but they had lockjaw or were full. The latter likely being the case because when I cleaned them, their bellies were jam-packed of 1-2’ herring. Also saw flying fishing around the ridge and tons of small bonito. Note: if you are seeing flying fish there, there may be Mahi or kingfish (king mackerel) around. Then on today’s outing in the bay, we landed a sharksucker (aka remora). See pics attached. OK, enough about the cool stuff, how about a report? Blowfishing is still strong as is fluke fishing. Tons of small fluke, just need to go big or go home empty cooler type of fluke fishery. Small blues are still present and resident bass are acting like it is summer out. Wait, it is summer. You can catch bass if you want, but need to play your cards right. Still, have not given weakfish a shot.

On the nature side of things: for some reason, the bay is clearer this summer than in many years past. Not complaining, but why? Usually, the bay visibility decreases during the summer as the water warms and the algae population goes through the roof. This roof blowing off growth is often fueled by nutrient-laden stormwater runoff from lawn fertilizer after rain events. Lots of rain events that cause unnatural algae blooms, as it has been doing for decades. Well, we have had the rain, so why no algae blooms? Being a scientist I need data to support any claims about anything. Without data, I can only theorize, or speculate. So here are some suspects: Oyster Creek power plant shut down in September 2018 and is not discharging 110 million gallons of extra warm water into the bay daily; we are getting betting with fertilizer use and stormwater management; filter-feeding bivalves, clams, and oysters, are making a comeback which helps to naturally filter the bay; or with better fisheries management bunker, which are also feeders, are also making a big comeback. Could be any of these, or none, or a combination, but we will have to wait for Mother Nature’s right-hand man, Father Time, to shed some clarity.

Screaming drags,

Capt. Alex
609-548-2511
Lighthouse Sportfishing
YouTube Channel: Fishing Barnegat Bay

Hi Flier Open Boat Tuna, Barnegat Ridge, and Bay

We had an interesting catch in the bay yesterday (Wednesday). I had a mix of Dads and kids and the inlet was a little sporty for our crew so we opted for some back bay fishing.

I had Jeff Frazier of Toms River along with his daughter Sienna and his son Rex. Also on board were Ed Cugno of Westfield and his son Nicholas. Fortunately, as I always do, I had some gourmet bait in the cooler…..live shedder crabs. We anchored up and fished a mix of 1/8 oz jigheads and baited hooks under bobbers on six pound ultralite spinning rods.

After about five minutes Jeff was tight to our first fish a throwback fluke. After that it was non stop action with small weakfish, a lot of fluke to 16 1/2 inches, one pound blues, a sea robin, a ton of sand sharks, and a short striper. In the end nothing went into the cooler, but they had a blast with the light tackle and constant action.

Saturday and Sunday, July 27 and 28, the marine forecast looks great for getting offshore to the tuna grounds. The best action has been on jigs and bait which is the most fun way to catch a tuna. These are 30 to 150 pound bluefins and you never know what size is going to eat your bait. We will have the trolling and casting gear on board, as well. We always have the mahi spinning rods armed, too.

Leaving at 2AM, returning 12 to 14 hours later (2PM to 4PM). $350 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. Monday we are probably looking at the bay or Barnegat Ridge, depending on the sea condition. We are also catching two to four foot spinner, blacktip, and Atlantic sharpnose sharks just 4 miles offshore. We can combo any of these Ridge/Bay/Inshore Sharking into the same trip. The Ridge has been holding a good amount of bonita and is due for some Spanish and king mackerel, as well as mahi.

~Dave DeGennaro, Back Bay Adventures
C: 17323305674 www.hiflier.com

LBI Fishing Report Weekly Update Sunday July 21, 2019

In the midst of a heat wave Long Beach Island is hot and the fishing is even hotter. With 62 more days of summer left, let’s embrace it. There’s no better way to beat the heat than on the water! Get out and fish!

Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Monday July 21st.

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Report

The three week run carries on with active kingfish on the surf. So long as the water stays warm and clean these tasty surf critters will be happy and feeding on the beaches of Long Beach Island. Local Ship Bottom resident Jim stopped in over the weekend and shared. Like many other anglers fishing the mid island surf, “I’m finding kingfish regularly.” The mornings this past weekend were good even though the tide was low. Most only fish high tide, but not Jim. “At low tide focus on the pockets and fish them as the water floods in with the tide.” Jim also noted, “You don’t need to bother with live worms.” While live bait is always best, it is always an extra project to take care of. DynaBait’s Freeze Dried Bloodworms are very convenient as well as the bloodworm alternative, Fishbites Bag O’Worms.

Also on the surf, fluke continue with reports strong from the north, mid and south end. Who would of guessed? White 4″ Gulp swimming mullet has been the hot color! Rays and various species of sharks cruise the beaches and are taking meaty baits.

The inlet and rocks are holding bluefish, fluke and triggerfish. The triggers made a strong showing a couple weeks ago and continue to offer great fishing opportunities for both boat and land based anglers. They also offer great table fare. Also in the area (Inlet/Beach/Nearshore) bonita and spanish mackerel.

Here’s Anthony Frederickson with a pair of triggerfish he caught recently fishing Barnegat Inlet.

Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

Summertime on Barnegat Bay is a very special time with so much to do. Both clamming and crabbing are good this year. Both of these activities can be done without a boat. In order to access less pressured areas a boat is suggested. Don’t have a boat but want to enjoy a day on the bay? Rent a boat or hire a captain to take you out and show you a great time.

Fishing Barnegat Bay in mid July can sometimes feel like the Daytona 500 however, there are ways to fish and most importantly catch! Get out early and seek out areas less traveled. You’ll be rewarded!

The blowfishing in the bay rolls on. A couple good weekend reports came in. Anglers setting up with clam/squid and chum are catching. Hoven22 reported a great three hour session recently, “Clam was by far the best bait out producing squid.” Another solid report came in from Eli Haegele who had a fun time catching a cooler full.

Here’s a solid catch of Barnegat Bay Blowfish. Photo from Tony Arcabascio aka Tony Maja the maker of Tony Maja Bunker Spoons.

An abundance of very small weakfish seemed to have showed out of nowhere. In the past couple of days numerous reports were shared. These spikes were reported in the bay and the surf. Austin pounds, Jack Keating, Grey Colstan and Ray Goeke all reported catching weakfish. One angler did report catching a 20″ one off the north end surf. Ray is catching and releasing in the bay using small jigs, softbaits rigged on Magictail lead heads. Jack and Grey got them on the bayside too. Austin on the surf.

Here’s Jack Keating with a spike weakfish he caught hunting the night haunts.

Midshore Tuna Fishing

So many saltwater anglers look forward to summer for Jersey’s midshore bluefin fishery. This season has not disappointed, so far putting out quite the firework show. The inshore bluefin tuna fishing is awesome!

I got the invite to join the boys aboard Waterman Charters on Sunday and was stoked to get in on the action. The plan was to get out early for a quick dawn strike mission and get back to the dock as early as possible. That’s exactly what we did. We were on the grounds early and got two fish at day break. One on a Ronz Softbait, One on a Shimano Butterfly Jig. We headed in at 8:30 and I was to work at the shop by 1pm. Friends Dan & Jeff from the Reel Innovation showed up later in the morning missing the early bite however they stayed later and it paid off. They got into some great action all on the jig. Jeff reported we had quads on a couple time and all the boats around us were hooked up.

If heading our be prepared as some days the gator bluefish are there and these toothy demons reek havoc on tackle. Guys trolling have had one hell of a time with them.

Offshore Big Game Fishing

The offshore canyons have simmered from their peak action earlier in the month. We heard through the grape vine the more northern canyons (out of local boat’s range) are lit up.. One customer said the bigeyes are jumping in the boat. No joke! Here’s photo of the Canyon Runner Captain Dean with a monstrous haul.

The timing will make this year’s Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club’s White Marlin Invitational Tournament interesting. Will the majority of the boats focus on the marlin side of the game or will they be hunting tuna. Will the tuna guys try to seek out a big eye or take the easy road and try to cull a bluefin out of the heard? Only time will tell. Stay tuned to their website,
thewmit.com/ for updates, weigh ins and a live weigh to see the boats pull in and hit the dock and scale.

Awesome Catches

Kyle Brodwater stopped in the shop over the wekedn and loaded up on Mgictail lures… bucktails and hoochie jigs. He told us he has been catching all of his fish on them. We asked, “On your next trip snap a photo for us.” Today he sent this in… monster knot head sea bass!

Local angler and regular customer Steve-o stopped in and showed us his awesome catch. “I was fluke fishing with light tackle and hooked into a big fish. At first I thought it was a big striped bass then maybe a small cow nose ray. Turns out it was a 72 pound black drum.”

No Limits Sportfishing – Fishing Report

Fishing report

Sunday 7/21 I had Mike and Will from PA out for a 6hr ocean fluke/sea bass trip. We worked several areas but could not get the fluke to cooperate and only caught a handful of shorts. We switched to target sea bass but they did not want to cooperate either and only picked 1 keeper and a ling. We switched gears for the last 2 hours of the trip and the duo put a beating on cocktail blues and mackerel. For over 2 hours, they have fish on every single cast and it was a blast on light tackle. Thanks for coming out guys and we hope to see you guys again soon! Also thank you to capt Greg at Fishermans Headquarters for the referral!

This coming weekend we are booked up and will hopefully have a better ocean fluke report. We have August 3 and 4 available as of right now. If you are interested in getting out please give us a call to book your trip. Call or text Captain Mike to get out on the water! (609)-709-7264

Beach Haven LBI Fishing Report – July 20, 2019

This week’s fishing report for the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association is provided by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Both the bay and ocean waters have been producing good results for the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association.

The “Starfish” under the captainship of Carl Sheppard has been finding some very good action on the inshore reefs and structure. On Monday the Howell family had an action filled day of bottom fishing. A calm day produced non-stop action on black sea bass. The crew caught over 40 fish with 6 large keeper sea bass and a ling for dinner. On Tuesday Captain Carl and mate Marlyn fished with a family of 8 from New York. The group caught over 50 fish and kept 19 bluefish, 1 Spanish mackerel, and 4 black sea bass. A goodly number of short flounder caught and released.

Captain Alex Majewski of Light House Sportfishing reports the bay water has risen to the upper 70’s while the ocean along the surf is in the low to mid 70’s. Ocean water on the bottom is still under 60. Captain Alex is working the bay waters for tons of short fluke and enough keepers in the mix. He is finding small bluefish in the inlet and 5-pound blues close to structure. Captain Alex ran his first shark trip of the season and came up empty handed. He is looking forward to his next trip as he usually can bring several big toothy critters to the boat.

Captain John Lewis of the “Insatiable” reports a good week of fishing with a nice variety of fish to keep the rods bending. In addition to small sharks and sea robins that excite the younger anglers, he has been catching black sea bass to 15-inches, fluke to 22-inches, and loads of bluefish and a few Spanish mackerel. He feels the fishing is improving daily.

Captain Brett Taylor of Reel Reaction Sportfishing reports catching upwards of 40 fluke a day in the bay. Of those numbers his anglers are catching 4-6 keepers a day. He credits his new trolling motor as essential to his success.

Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.bhcfa.net.

No Limits Sportfishing – Fishing Report

This past weekend 7/13, we were supposed to fish the Sunshine Foundation Fluke tournament, but work got in the way of those plans. After OT, we threw together a last minute tuna trip for Sunday. We made it out to the bluefin grounds before first light and had our limit of unders before 6am. We left the area to try and find a bigger fish for our over, but did not have any luck. We ended the trip going 8/8 on bluefin up to 40lbs as well as catching a Bonita.

This weekend I am available for Fluke/Sea Bass trips. It’s going to be very hot so it’s the perfect time to try and beat some of the heat by getting out on the water!

If you are interested in getting out to catch some fish, please give us a call to book your trip. Call or text Captain Mike to get out on the water! (609)-709-7264