Sat July 20, Sun July 21, and Mon July 22 are the best days to go offshore. This is the “weather window” all of us have been waiting for. Light and variable winds and no storm activity. There are bluefin tuna in a few different places now. After that, my next availability for any kind of fishing is not until Tues, Aug 13. Open Boat Tuna: Sat July 20, Sun July 21, and Mon July 22, 4AM to 4PM. $450 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared. If you call on one of these fishing days to book another day, I will not be able to respond until I am back in cell range. I will get right back to you as soon as I get a signal. You can call right up until “go time” for a spot. Any of these dates are also available for your private charter.
Tues July 23, Wed July 24, and Thurs July 25 are also light winds, but the forecast has possible storm activity on those three days, so we will be fishing the bay and inlet. We just watch the weather radar closely and try to pick the best 5 hour slot to go fishing. If any storms come up while we are in the bay, we just head to the nearest dock for shelter, let it blow through, then go back to fishing. You can’t do that offshore. We are available for charter only on these inshore trips. We will be chumming for weakfish and more with ultralite spinning gear. $700 for the boat for the 5 hour bay trip
Weather windows have been few and far between for running offshore, but the end is finally near. By Friday, it looks good, and the weekend and beyond, even better. Looking at the long range forecast, from Friday on, all looks good. The wind drops out and the sea condition will be much nicer than what we have been experiencing. Now, fingers crossed with the relentless fog. Speaking of fog, we don’t leave in the fog. Yes, we have radar, but I like to see everything with my own eyes when I am on the ocean. We do occasionally get caught in the fog, that can’t be helped. We are very selective about weather and conditions. The boat is a 25 ft World Cat center console with twin motors, a very capable boat for it’s size. We have all of the safety equipment, 6 man survival raft that is maintained, an EPIRB (search and rescue satellite signal), and an onboard Garmin Sirius/XM satellite weather station that allows us to see any storm cells as they are born. With all of that, we are still very selective on what conditions we sail in. It is not beyond me to get up at 2AM, load the truck and then the boat with all the gear. Take everyone to the inlet, just to turn around and say, Nope, not today. I make these sail/no sail decisions based on prevailing conditions only, not the people’s level of disappointment. I say all this because if you only have this one date to fish and you really want to get offshore, you might want to consider booking a bigger boat. We have a great number of customers that are content with this approach, as they know it is in their best interest, as well.
I usually don’t plan offshore tuna trips this far in advance but all the models I have been looking at are in agreement that the upcoming weekend looks really good. There are school size bluefin in the 30 to 60 mile range with some bigger ones mixed in. We will be headed to wherever the latest intel directs us. Trolling, jigging, and bait fishing. Yellowfin are still further offshore, but 4 to 5 days from now is an eternity in tuna movement, so we will be looking for those fish, as well, if they move back into striking distance.
Open Boat Tuna: Saturday July 20 and Sunday July 21, 4AM to 4PM. $450 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared.
Open Boat Barnegat Ridge: Friday July 19. 6AM to 2PM. $300 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared. We have been catching bonita at the Ridge, you just have to fish through the small blues that are also there. Always a wild card, the Ridge could be holding bluefin, albacore, and more at this time of year. The bonita have been small, 2 to 3 lbs, but they are delicious!
Some good news on our bay fishing, our live grass shrimp supplier is now up and running, so we are available for charter for Live Grass Shrimp trips from here in. These are 5 hour trips in the bay, anchored, chumming with live grass shrimp. The target is always weakfish, but everything that swims in Barnegat Bay eats these shrimp. We use ultralite 6 lb spinning outfits so everything you hook is a good fight. You can see the videos of these trips and all of our fishing on our website below.
FYI: We have available dates up until, and including Thursday July 25. After that, we are fully booked until Tuesday Aug 13.
Things are about to get interesting. Hope to see you on board!
Pic: Retired USMC Andrey Elisha of Burlington NJ with a Barnegat Ridge bonita
We have announced two Open Boat Tuna trips over the last two weeks. The first one did not sail as we did not fill all the spots. This past Friday, we had a full boat and ran north to where I heard the life was, the west side of the Mud Hole. Upon arriving, we had two square miles of fresh slicks with chick birds picking at them, a good amount of finback whales, and nonstop bait ball readings on the machine. We beat that piece of water up for three hours, trolling Joe Shute/Ballyhoo’s and Chatter Side Tracker bars. Never had a sniff. I switched to the drift and we tried bait and jigs for another hour and a half but it only yielded one small shark. On the way back south we stumbled on some shearwaters, a nice size bluefin that aired out, and a pair of humpback whales that put on quite a show. We tried the poppers but no takers.
Not good, I know but we are looking to sail again Tues and Wed, July 2 and 3, 4AM to 4PM, as those days are the weather window to run offshore. We plan on running east this time in search of life and tuna. We will be ready to troll, bait fish, jig, and pop. It’s a beautiful forecast with light winds and calm seas. After that it blows up for a while. Hoping to get some intel on what happened today or we will be off to check out the usual haunts. I really would like to see what is happening at the Resor-Atlantic Princess area.
$450 person, 4 people max. All fish are shared. You don’t need anything except food and drinks, we have everything. If you have a favorite rod or two, bring it.
Fishing inshore for blues, fluke, and whatever swims in the bay and inlet whenever we are not headed offshore.
Just got some good intel on two different spots within our range to go tuna fishing. Whales, bait, chick birds, nice water and surfacing fish. It’s not my information to give, so please don’t ask. That’s how the information pipeline works. If I find them on my own, I can tell whoever I want, but when it is gifted to me, it’s sacred.
Hoping to find bluefin and maybe one other desirable species, some of you may have already heard.
Sailing Open Boat Tuna tomorrow, Friday June 28, 4AM to 2PM, $450 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared. We plan on trolling, bait fishing on the drift, and jigging.
There is a chance we will do the same trip on Saturday June 29, but the forecast is on the razors edge for my liking with that South wind coming up for the last part of the trip and the ride home. If the forecast shapes up for the better, we will go.
Still fishing the bay and inlet on the days we don’t run offshore.
We are running a short notice Open Boat Tuna trip tomorrow, Wed June 19. Just received some intel on where to try. Lots of life, whales, bait. Good reports on both yellowfin and bluefin. The weather was the deciding factor to run. No storm activity and light winds. This will be mostly a trolling trip. Hunting and searching for whales and life. I will have the jigging and popping rods with us, but honestly it is not our strong suit. I am bringing bait to try and drift if the activity is intense and the rods are not going off. While we are drifting with a few bait rods out, you can jig or pop.
4AM to 4PM. $450 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. We need all four spots filled to sail.
Bluefish are still holding up strong on the west side of the bay. Casting topwater lures at surfacing fish under birds has provided most of the action.
As soon as you find a few terns picking and diving it’s been great action on light spinning gear. Throwing lures at the inlet jetty is also producing blues with a few stripers in the mix. We will be floating sandworms into the jetty to try and increase our odds for a bass but you have to fish through the blackfish to get them. We are starting to catch some fluke on the channel edges and back bay, as well. When the ocean is calm we can also run out a few miles to the reef for sea bass.
The water temp hit a high of 74 degrees in the back bay over the weekend which would explain this big Houndfish that crashed Dennis Cornfield’s topwater lure while we were catching blues. He missed the lure and got snagged which made for a dicey release boatside. If you hook one of these giant needlefish, they average 3 feet plus around here, be careful, they have a lot of sharp teeth.
Running Open Boat or Charter: Wed June 12, Thurs June 13, and Fri June 14, 7AM to 1PM. $200 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared.
Pics:
Paul Levasseur of Clifton Heights PA with topwater Blue
Sailing Tues June 4, Wed June 5, Thurs June 6, and Fri June 7. Open Boat or Charter. We can target stripers, blues, fluke, and sea bass. We could start at the inlet jetty to try for stripers and blues and then head offshore a few miles to fish for sea bass. After that we have the option to cast topwater lures in the back bay for blues or drift the channels for fluke. 7AM to 2PM. $200 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared.
We fished hard Thurs, Fri, Sat, and Sun through the holiday weekend and had great action with 3 to 5 lb blues. Casting topwater lures on the west side of the bay provided most of the action. Here’s a video clip from Sunday: youtu.be/4Ysw__DjKR4?si=go2tPavae8Le7jZs
We are also fishing the inlet jetty but we did not have any stripers. We did catch plenty of 3 to 5 lb tog that are out of season so they had to be released. They are hitting the bobber and worm rig we are using to try for stripers. We are also catching blues up to 7 lbs out by the jetty on soft plastics like Fin-S and BKD’s. We also had a few nice keeper fluke in the mix.
Sailing Open Boat or Charter this coming Thurs May 30, Fri May 31, Sat June 1, and Sun June 2. 6AM to 1PM. $200 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared. Targeting Stripers and Blues.
Pics:
Mike Daly Sr of Bayville NJ with Tog and Fluke
Michael Daly of Bayville NJ with 7 lb Bluefish
Jay Blanchfield of Belvidere NJ with one of his topwater Blues
Looks like we are finally getting a break in the weather here. I am looking forward to getting out this week. We will be in the bay and inlet on the hunt for stripers and blues. We will be fishing a variety of techniques, including anchored with clams, drifting with worms, casting soft plastic and topwater lures, and trolling plugs. Throwing the kitchen sink at ’em!
We are available Wed May 22 and Sun May 26 for charter or we will be running Open Boat on those days. 6AM to Noon. $200 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared.
We also have one spot available on Friday May 24. There is a group of 3 people looking to add one more. Same hours and cost as above.
Attached pic is Bill Buckham of PA with his keeper striper that ate a worm under a bobber at the inlet jetty on a recent trip.
We will be running Open Boat trips this Tues May 14 and Fri May 17, the only days in the forecast without rain. 6AM to 1PM. $200 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.
We will start out trolling plugs on the west side of the bay looking for birds or swirling fish to cast soft plastics and topwater lures. We will continue the hunt through Oyster Creek Channel looking for life and progressing east to fish the inlet. At the inlet we will use a combination of bait and lures. Bass and blues are the targeted species.
609-494-5739 
