By Jim Hutchinson Sr.

As spring finally starts to arrive, the fishing action in the Beach Haven area continues to heat up. Several captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been putting their time in on the water and coming up with some positive results.

Captain Gary Dugan of “Irish Jig Sportfishing” usually will pull the plug when weather conditions make it too uncomfortable for his anglers. On a recent trip, he termed it “like an episode of Deadliest Catch.” The group had to take the trip that day or no trip at all. Captain Gary managed to find some protected areas of Great Bay and provided them with some action on big bluefish.

Captain Tom Masterson had a great day on the bay with the Pat Lavanga party aboard Captain Carl Sheppard’s “Starfish” with bluefish being the request of the day. The group had some great action catching 15 big bluefish trolling Rebels and spoons between the inlet and Great Bay.

Captain Matt Curtis of “Olbarney Guide Service” reports “crummy” weather slowing action down a bit but when he can get out he has managed a good mix of keeper striped bass and black drum to 35-pounds in the bay. Outside the inlets, he hears the striped bass bite is underway a little north of Beach Haven with 30-40-pound bass taking Mojos and spoons. Last Sunday he had a bay trip that had non-stop action on big dog fish and plenty of blues along with a 50-pound drum that was released. He managed to pick up one 28-inch striper that made its way into the fish box.

Captain Jimmy Zavacky of the “Reel Determined” and Captain Ray Lopez of the “Miss Liane” will be donating their time on June 3 to participate in a fishing event for “Project Healing Waters.” Sponsored by the Holiday Beach Club in Waretown, this is a day of fishing for injured veterans. Both captains are to be commended for their efforts to pay back to those who have served our country.

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

For the most part the local troll bite has been quality with some really nice fish coming up. We’ve got the spring’s largest fish here now!!! Go fish! Randy Townsend got a good one on the troll yesterday. He was working the waters off IBSP when this large striped bass ate a Tony Maja #4 two-tone green bunker spoon.

Reports from this morning were slow; however, Jeff Warford went out this afternoon and found them. He got a good one among others pulling spoons.

Looks like another wave of bluefish flooded our area. Yesterday afternoon we got some great reports of medium to large size blues. The racers are in the bay, inlet and the surf. We got positive reports from the mid-bay yesterday and the Inlet late in the day. The surf was good in the afternoon too on both bait and lures. Blake and I went out for a couple hours last night looking for bass, only pulled blues. I pushed back out in the morning and went on the search but couldn’t find bass. Stumbled on some small packs of bunker deep. Snagged a couple but no takers. Ended up trolling around for an hour or so then resorted to Plan B, the Inlet. Hammered the blues on lures. Among the mediums, I managed to get a couple good size teen gators fishing an extra large pencil popper. The schools of blues racing around the popper and the hooked fish was cool.

Fluke…
They are here! Ed Sisson was recently fishing the surf and had his bunker chunk inhaled by a 22″ fluke. It must have hurt to let it go! 

On the fluke front, we’ve got a lot of emails and calls asking about the fluke regulations. After this past weeks fluke meeting, the NJDEP Commissioner Bob Martin approved, the measures for NJ’s recreational summer flounder fishery. There’s only one speed bump or potential brick wall, the Commerce Department, but a little birdie says they aren’t planning on stopping it. So here it is, as confirmed via email from the NJ Fish & Wildlife email…

The 2017 NJ Summer Flounder “Fluke” Recreational Regulations…

For all NJ coastal waters:
18-inch minimum size limit
3-fish possession limit
Open season May 25 through September 5

For Delaware Bay and tributaries:
17-inch minimum size limit
3-fish possession limit
Open season May 25 through September 5

For Island Beach State Park (Shore Mode only)
16-inch minimum size limit
2-fish possession limit
Open season May 25 through September 5

The Jersey coast is alive with bass and blues showing daily in the ocean and bay. The recent south winds did not offer perfect conditions but anglers worked through it and produced catching quality bass and bluefish. They are being caught from both the beach and the boat. We anticipate this to continue with prime time Jersey Shore fishing the next four weeks. Here’s some recent reports…

The surf has blues and bass cruising the suds. Anglers are catching fishing bait and lures. The bass seem to be getting larger (upper 40″ range) and the blues seem to be getting smaller but there are some racers mixed in. Sloane Endick got this bass of the LBI surf recently.

Store staffer Kelley went out after work yesterday and found some life in the dark. He locked into a good size bluefish on a NorthBar Bottle Darter.
Click here to buy Northbar Bottledarter Lures

Store staffer Dan D plugged for a couple hours in the evening. He found some bass plugging. He reported, “Who needs a boat when you can smoke them on the beach… persistence pays off. My exploring trip paid off big time.” Here’s his biggest.

The troll bite has been a slow pick but at times there’s signs of greatness. A couple have picked up fish live-lining too. Dan Rosetto got this one on the troll yesterday. He reported, “There’s bunker around. By the by weekend the snag might be good, if there isn’t 1000 boats blowing them apart.” We got a nice bunker delivery yesterday from our local gill net boat and news from them was sweet and sour. “Lots of bunker patches stretched along LBI and IBSP. There was an active whale the other day. The reduction fleet seine boats are actively working and pounding the bait.” Let’s hope they meet their quota quickly, skip town and there’s some bunkers left for the bass to set up and feed on.

Jeff Warford went out on the bay for an afternoon-evening session yesterday. He reported the blues were thick and active. “They were good size ones and lots of them chewing hard! We crushed them on plugs.” I was stoked to hear Jeffie got out and had a safe and successful trip. Our last outing wasn’t. Getting hooked while on the dock loading up puts a damper on a trip really quick. Thanks to Dr. Todd for the emergency help!!!

Eight year old Wyatt Spalding weighed in a 11.36 pound bluefish yesterday.

A local angler Tom shared this report, “I fished the inlet and it was kind of a dud. Not the usual elbow to elbow lineup and only a small handful of fish to be had. This certainly has not been the epic season as it’s been the past few years. None the less the weather was perfect and the smell of salty air makes it all good.”

Now that it has settled down more anglers are getting back out and reports are flowing in. The fish are on the chew both on the beach and boat. Here’s some recent reports.

Bass along the beach is getting better.

Fresh off the surf, John Murry stopped in the shop to get a new tip installed on his Lamiglas surf rod. While here John reported bass and blues on bunker. John said the fishing was good where he was on the mid-island surf.

Another angler was in and reported fun fishing with his son on the bayside, small blues.

The crabbing is red hot.  Customers are raving on the blue claws right now.

The Inlet was good yesterday.  Got word from a couple customers who had fun there on bucktails and plugs.

Some good reports today from the boat guys. We heard there’s bunker patches along the beaches of LBI and IBSP. Here’s a nice one from Mark Finelli of Laura Sportfishing. Mark reported catching a couple on the snag and drop today out of Barnegat Inlet. Looking to get out on the water with Mark? Give him a call… 8563416562

Paul Sowney Jr sent in this photo of a nice bass. Caught and released off the LBI surf yesterday.

Matt Polito reported a good day yesterday. “It was a nice day on the beach catching bluefish on the LBI surf.” Here’s a photo of one yellow eye.

The Grundens Deck Boss Boots are in. Stop by and check them out. One of the only made in the USA boot available. Retail $99.99

David DiGangi sent in this photo and report… “I caught this 45″ bass on Thursday at about 9:30 am trolling a white #4 Bunker Spoon with a complete Tony Maja rig and wire line. We were just north of the Barnegat Inlet in 40′ of water.”

/

Some good reports off the Island surf today. Bass and blues…

Store staffer Rob was on the beach and got fish. Todd Luber reported “Decent morning chunking the surf. Got this one and dropped one. The old man got two nice bluefish.”

More fish pulled yesterday! Anglers slow trolling along the beach are catching classy fish.

Positive vibes are in the air (along with heavy amounts of pollen)! The fishing on LBI is ramping up into the prime spring season.

Classy bass arrived in our local waters and will be here for the next few weeks. Mid May and June is an awesome time to target trophy striped bass on and around Long Beach Island.

Reports off the boats today were good from the waters off LBI and IBSP. Captain David D. of Hi Flier Sportfishing got a good one, mid-thirty pound class. See his report posted separately. Mike Messler of DocksideDiner also got into some good fish trolling too. Mike was fishing off of LBI with Reed Johnson yesterday. Reed recently geared up at the shop and yesterday he put the tackle to work with some really nice fish. This has been the best first hand report we’ve got this spring. It’s time to get in the game! Three nice fish on the troll; 35lb, 34lb and 20lb. Mike reported, “Some bait balls deep, nothing on surface. We roped ’em on a White #4 Tony Maja Bunker Spoon from Fisherman’s Headquarters!”

BUY MAJA SPOONS HERE

Chris Degennaro got a couple nice bass on the troll yesterday. Here’s a pair he pulled.

There was talk in the shop about a nice fish that was caught late afternoon off the surf. An customer buying bunker reported an angler near by caught a good size bass.

Anglers continue to pick bass and blues off the surf. Today shop regular Sam checked in a nice linesiders off the surf. Arnold Manresa recently reported bunker has been working in the suds. Got another two fish as well as skates and sharks. Hooked up on something else but after a three minute fight the hook came out. All of my action has been before work on the morning tide (5-7AM). Another report came in from Aaron Ho, photo below. He caught and released his first keeper sized striped bass of the year off the LBI surf recently. Simply Bassing, Long Beach Island’s Spring Surf Bass Tournament is on and currently led by Jeff Crabtree at 18.86 pounds.

Still some nice perch in the tidal creeks and lagoons. Store staffer Willie got a couple nice ones last night off his dock.

I fished yesterday morning on the bay with Blake. We got into some blues. The wind was light so I had to pull out the fly. It was a blast getting them on the white gamechanger.

A couple solid reports from the south end of the Island bayside. Word is it’s hot with with large and aggressive blues. One gental man stoked on the awesome fishing stopped in the shop to gear up. “I gotta get em on the fly. I have so much fun fly roding steel head, I’m gonna turn on the blues.” We out fitted him with a phenomenal saltwater setup that will be very universal for bass and blues among other species too. The unit was made up of the G.Loomis Cross Current one piece 8’10” rod and a Hatch 7 Plus Finatic fly reel. After spooling up, he was off to flag down the angry ol’ yellow eyes with the fly.

There was a time when the local demand disappeared; however, there’s a resurgent in the area. So for this year, after a long intermission we brought back a small selection of premium fly fishing gear.

For me, the past fall was off the hook and this spring has been a great start. I’m looking forward to catching a bunch more fish on the fly this year and I’m especially looking forward to gearing up others to get in on the fun. For those that live for fooling fish on artificials this is the ultimate. While not the easiest is isn’t rocket science and it is so rewarding!

Any one looking to gear up and smash them on the fly stop in and see us. We have a selection of premium made in the USA fly reels by Hatch, rods by G.Loomis and line by Cortland. We are also a St. Croix rod dealer so special ordering a St.Croix fly rods is a quick turnaround.

Dave Spendiff of the Village Harbour Fishing Club found some monster blues in the bay.  Yesterday he weighed in a 18.84 pound gorilla! Shown below

Jacob Bowles got five to 15 pounds recently bunker chunking the bayside.

Chris O’Neill sent in this photo and this short report, “34 inch gator caught in Great Bay yesterday on bunker.”

Here is a report from Gianni Marano, dated May 8, 2017: My father and I were fishing in Barnegat Inlet Sunday around 12pm from our boat. We were working the outgoing tide with swim shads. On my third cast a 34″ 9 pound bluefish slammed on and I was hooked up on lite tackle. Unbelievable fight! We also saw people reeling in blues from the IBSP rocks and other boats drifting next to us.

It looks like we have a developing low pressure with increasing wind and swell this weekend… so now is the time to poke out and fish! If you can’t swing it, the long range looks promising. Next weeks looks to be an awesome stretch of weather. Lets hope it pans out.

Surf’s Up!  After the blow we are left with a solid south east swell on the Island’s beaches. No direct reports of fish but they have to be cruising through. The water is on the brown side but hopefully will clear us soon. If heading up both bunker and clams are great choices. Don’t forget alittle extra lead. 

The blues are chewing good today on the north end of the island.  Boat anglers got into them fishing the waters of the Inlet and Dike. “All the blues you wanted.” Deke Ferrell was on the blues today on the north end, photo below. 
We got heads up that the morning was slow off the rocks but we expect that was due to tide. The late morning and afternoon should produce but no reports at time of this report.