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TUNA!! Hi Flier Open Boat Tuna Monday July 11

They blew the forecast for Saturday (yesterday). It was supposed to be torrential rain all day so we cancelled all fishing for the day. I don’t mind a few hours of rain but I’m not scheduling a long day in an open center console with nothing but rain. I woke up at 7AM and checked the Weather Channel forecast, no more rain forecasted for the day. I started mad texting people, scrambling to put a few people together to run to the tuna grounds. Two people jumped at the chance and we were off the dock by 9AM, a very late start in the world of tuna fishing, but it beats staying on land.

I had the GPS set for the 35-40 mile run where the fishing has been good the last few days, but 20 miles in, the sea condition worsened and the two footers we started out in were now three to fours and capping. I opted for the closer grounds, only 5 miles behind us, and we went on the troll. It was not good. The ocean was very sloppy and the lures were not tracking right, and mid day is not the best time to be trolling as it is. 

I did have some good readings on the machine and some bait in the cooler so we reeled in all the trolling gear and got two bait rods ready. You will see trolling rigs in the tuna pic because I was going to properly stow them while we were drifting and waiting for a hookup. I put a sardine on the first rod to go out, a weightless flatline that I was going to go really long with except about 30 feet from the boat, the line was snatched out of my hand and what followed was a smoking run off against full drag on the AVET LX. Obviously a tuna.We decked a nice 35 lb bluefin and ran back to do another drift. Hooked up again on the flatline, only this fish never hit the RPM’s of a tuna run. After a 20 minute fight we got him all the way to the boat for a quick release, looked to be about 130 lb class dusky shark. 
A few more drifts with no more action and we headed for the barn.

Running an Open Boat Tuna trip tomorrow (Monday) July 11. Looks like a good marine forecast to hit these closer tuna grounds. We are going to use bait and jigs. I will have the trolling rods and gear on board but the emphasis is going to be on bait with light 30 class conventional outfits. It’s just more fun to catch them that way. If we are not hooking up and the boats trolling around us are, then we can always change things up to what’s working. 4AM to Noon. $300 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared. Everything is provided.

Herman Diaz of Waretown, NJ with a 130 class Dusky Shark release.
Ross Mansbach from Atlanta, GA with his first tuna, a 35 lb bluefin.

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

Hi Flier Open Boat Stripers, Blues, Tuna

Lots of options this week for fishing. Fishing the inlet jetty for stripers and blues. We will also be getting our first batches of live grass shrimp this weekend to target weakfish and the mixed bag on ultralite tackle in the bay. Saturday looks like a good day to run offshore for tuna and we have our first good reports from the mid range grounds on that fishery. 

Here is the reality of all the trips listed below:

Our Striper/Blue trips in the inlet have been producing more blackfish (Tog) than anything else. We have to catch 30 Tog to catch a few nice stripers as they are all hitting the same bait. The tog are all 2 to 5 pounders but they are out of season until August 1. The upside is we are catching everything on 10 pound spinning rods and bobbers drifted right into the jetty. As some of our customers have pointed out, there are worse problems to have than catching too many fish. Agreed. The bluefish are in there thick one day and gone the next. The bass are mostly 25 to 30 plus inch fish and we have tags to keep the 24 to 28 inchers. 

Live Grass Shrimp trips. This is the first time we have been able to buy this bait this season. The same slime or snot grass that has plagued our bay fishing has also made it impossible for our shrimp supplier to catch the bait…..until now. So, I don’t have any weakfish reports but shrimping usually stirs some kind of action up and we go all the way down to the six pound spinning outfits for this fishery. I like the idea of combining this with the jetty fishing in hopes one or the other will be successful. 

TUNA!!! For the last 7 or 8 years our inlet has been close to countless choices of mid-range tuna grounds for bluefin and yellowfin tuna. So far, this season, it has been a struggle to locate them at a reasonable distance. Cape Cod is loaded with fish and Cape May/OC,MD just heated up. Yesterday there were finally some nice fish caught at a reasonable distance from Barnegat Inlet. That’s where we are headed on Saturday as long as the marine forecast holds up. It’s not a slam dunk, a few boats went and caught yesterday (Wed), that’s all I got. And no, I can’t share where, as it was given to me in confidence. If I find them first, then I can tell whoever I want. It’s just the code we live by. 

Here is our Open Boat schedule for the next few days, of course, you could charter the boat for your own group, as well:

Fri July 8 11AM to 4 PM Stripers and Blues in the inlet.  $175 person
Sat July 9 2AM to 4PM Mid Range TUNA.  $450 person
Sun July 10 6AM to Noon Bass & Blues at the Inlet and Live Grass Shrimp in the Bay Combo $200 person
Mon July 11 6AM to Noon Bass & Blues at the Inlet and Live Grass Shrimp in the Bay Combo $200 person
All trips are 4 people max, all fish are shared.
Call to reserve a spot right up until “go time”. Phone is best as I am fishing more than I am checking email.

See you on board!

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

LBI Fishing Report July 6, 2022

Anglers fishing in and around the waters of Long Beach Island have a variety of species to target. For the most part summer flounder are in the spot light but there’s a variety of other species that offer good fishing opportunities… Sea Bass, Sheepshead, Triggerfish, Weakfish, Kingfish, Striped Bass, Bluefish, Blowfish, +. Here’s the LBI Fishing Report Update for Wednesday July 6, 2022.

The most asked question is, “What’s biting on the Long Beach Island Surf?”

Recently catches are mostly made up of fluke and kingfish. There are some sharks and rays cruising the bars. We had a nice striped bass reported by Walter Horner.

If hitting the surf there’s a decision to make… either heavier rod to chunk via bait and weight-wait or lighter outfit to actively fish via cast and retrieve. If chunking, bunker, mackerel and/or clam would be the baits of choice rigged up on a single hook slide rig, hi/o or half bass rig. If going the lighter way use a small hook hi/lo rig with live bloodworms, Fish Bites Bag O’Worms or DynaBait Freeze Dried Bloodworms for kingfish. For fluke a hi/lo rigged doubled up with 3-4-5″ Gulp or a jig and teaser (baited with Gulp) will catch them.

Right now there is some seasonably chilly surf temperatures (low 60’s) due to a minor upwelling event. Some beaches on the island are warmer (mid 60’s) and some colder (in the mid to upper 50’s). Finding warmer water will offer better results with more active bites. I’ve found that while Fish Bites are incredible live and freeze dried worms out fish during the colder water slow day bites.

Fluke fishing is good in the bay, inlet and ocean sites. Not everyday, all day is it on but some days and times offer quality fishing. There’s still some quality fluke in the bayside waters. Ryan Warford caught this one on July 4th.

In the past week or so reports of ocean fluke fishing were good. Reports from some of the reefs have been good. There’s alos some nice sea bass to be caught.

The current Black Sea Bass regulation (July 1 – August 31) is 2 Fish At 13″.

Anglers in the know who are focusing and doing the work are catching beautiful sheepshead. Fiddlers, sand fleas and blue crabs are the best baits. Triggerfish are also here.

Here’s a link to my last video report. It’s a short one, but stay tuned and I’ll have up a more detailed report in the near future.

Offshore Fishing Report

Some yellowfin and bluefin reports popped up over the past week. A few reports from the mid-shore grounds and others from far offshore. A couple customers in the show reported a few bluefin in the area of the Barnegat Ridge. A couple reports from the AP which usually by this time of year is on fire. We heard about some action that popped up for a couple days in the area of the Bacardi and Texas Tower. There has also been some large bluefin only a few miles off the beach.

Store staffer Frezza got into some good fun deep drop fishing for tiles. Here’s a good size blue-line tilefish he caught on a recent trip.

Mako shark fishing is closed!

Effective July 5, 2022 – No shortfin mako sharks may be landed or retained in any U.S. Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS) fishery until further notice. This zero retention limit of zero in the commercial and recreational Atlantic HMS fisheries is consistent with the management measure adopted in 2021 by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) recommendation. For more information on mako sharks, their biology and management check out this recent blog post.

Hi Flier Inshore and Offshore

I just spent the last four days on the water and finally got a chance to put a report out. Every trip has been at the inlet jetty fishing a  bobber and worms, targeting stripers. All on10 lb spinning gear. A lot of fun. Catching a few legal fluke and too many blackfish in the effort. We are using in line circle hooks as required, so all the tog are released unharmed. The bass are anywhere from 25 to 30 plus inches and we have tags to keep 24 to 28 inch fish for all on board. Any given day we are catching bluefish on lures there, too, but some days they just aren’t there. 

Running Open Boat to Barnegat Ridge for bonita and albacore Monday, July 4, 7AM to 2PM. $250 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. I do not have any bonita reports, only albies that I have heard of, but there could be anything there this time of year, it’s just time to try. 
Also available during the week, Wed, Thurs, and Fri, July 6, 7, and 8, 11AM to 4PM for the inlet stripers and blues fishing. 

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com