Weather looks good for Friday, so we are going to run one last Open Boat Striper trip for the season. We are booked on Sat and Sun, and then we are hauling out for the season on Monday.
The best of the action is still a good run north. There’s a better mix of some keepable size fish mixed in with the big fish now. Casting and jigging mostly, only troll if we have to, or if you guys want to. I always bring the trolling gear in case we have to look around or wait out a slack tide. The emphasis is always on casting and jigging. Sometimes we troll with the light spinning rods armed with Crystal Minnows or SP Minnows fished way back.
Open Boat Stripers: Friday November 14, 6AM to 2PM, $275 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. Call to reserve a spot.
Thank you for all the support. Happy Holidays to all of you and your families.
Although I am sure the striper fishing will go well into Christmas this season, this will be our last week of fishing. As some of you know, I put on the Philadelphia Fishing Show, and in 2026, the show will be in January, instead of it’s usual February. That means the planning is five weeks earlier than usual for me, so the boat needs to come out early. Here is the site in case you want to check it out: phillyfishingshow.com
We are already booked Saturday Nov 15 and Sunday Nov 16, with Sunday being our last trip of the season. That leaves Wed Nov 12, Thurs Nov 13, and Fri Nov 14 left if you would like to book a striper trip. The forecast has predominantly westerly winds so it should be nice sea conditions.
Not running Open Boat these dates, just available for your private charter. Departure and return hours are flexible. 5, 6, or 8 hour trips available.
There is a good stretch of weather coming starting tomorrow (Sunday). Both the marine forecast and the traditional weather forecast look good through Wednesday. Mostly NW winds which levels out the sea condition and activates the striper bite at the same time. Air temps are low 40’s to mid 60’s. Not bad for November.
We will be running Open Boat Striper trips Sun, Tues, and Wed. Of course these dates are available for your private charter, as well. The plan is to run out the inlet, make a left, and keep going until we find life. Casting and jigging is our highest priority but I always bring the trolling rods just in case that’s what it takes to put fish in the boat. These trips will run 7AM to 3PM.
Open Boat Stripers:
Sun Nov 2, Tues Nov 4, and Wed Nov 5. 7AM to 3PM. $275 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared.
There is also a chance to do a shorter duration trip on any of these days, 8AM to 1PM, and fish the inlet with live spots. $250 person, 3 people max.
Best way to reserve a spot is to call or text me, not email.
The striper bite was too eratic and too far north, so we changed plans and fished the inlet today with live spots. I had a two man charter who went 5 for 5 on good size bass. We had 4 between 32 and 38 inches and then we finally got one for the cooler on the last fish was 30 inches. Switched to tog at the end of the trip and boated 4 but nothing over 15 inches.
Sailing again tomorrow (Sunday) Oct 26 and Monday Oct 27. Open Boat or charter. Charter or Open Boat, however many people, it has to add up to $700 for the 7AM to Noon trip.
There is a really good stretch of weather coming from Thurs Oct 23 thru Mon Oct 27. Light winds, nice air temps, and no precipitation.
Looks like we will have to run a good deal north to get into fish, so bring your passport, as we are not going to stop until we run into fish.
Birds working, fish surfacing, that’s the scene right now. Almost all are too big to keep, but there’s worse problems to have.
I’ve been seeing on social media that boats as far north as Rhode Island are still catching bonita and albacore. If we run into them, I will have what we need to throw at them, as well.
We will be armed with soft plastics, big metal lip plugs, SP Minnows, swim shads, flutter spoons, AVA jigs, and anything else it takes to hook up with these migratory stripers. I always bring a few trolling rods, just in case, but we will be primarily casting and jigging.
Open Boat Stripers:
Thurs Oct 23, Fri Oct 24, Sat Oct 25, Sun Oct 26, Mon Oct 27
6AM to 4PM. $300 person, 4 people max. All fish are shared.
I have been watching the weather every day, OK, ten times a day, and Friday looks pretty good for getting offshore to the yellowfin tuna grounds. After that, the weather has us blown out for the better part of another week, as far as offshore fishing goes.
The day chunking bite continues in the same area every day. It’s about a 50 to 60 mile run from Barnegat Inlet. 40 to 70 pound fish on 20 to 30 class outfits. Most days they are visually surfacing in the slick eating every floating peanut bunker they could get. Flatlining butterfish, sardines, peanut bunker, or live spots are working equally well.
This is going to be a “freezer dump” trip for us. I don’t foresee getting too many more weather opportunities for my boat, so we are going to be slinging a lot of bait.
Open Boat Yellowfin Tuna: Friday Oct 10, 4AM to 4PM, $450 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. We supply everything. Just bring whatever you like to eat and drink for the time we are out. If you have a favorite rod or two, bring it, but just know we have more than enough of everything for everybody.
The Hi Flier is equipped with an inspected six man survival raft, an EPIRB (satellite search and rescue beacon), and a Sirius/XM Garmin satellite weather station that allows us to see any storm cells as they are born.
On the days we can’t get offshore we are catching a lot of blowfish right now. In another two weeks, we should be striper fishing. Call to get any information or book any of these trips.
The weekend marine forecast looks great! We will be running Open Boat trips for Bonita or Yellowfin Tuna on Saturday Sept 27 and Bonita on Monday Sept 29. I will go with what the majority picks to fish for on Saturday. Monday is Bonita only, as per the forecast.
Here’s what’s going on. There are Yellowfin Tuna 55 to 65 miles from our inlet. They have settled in to this area and are hitting bait more than anything else. Every day there are a few taken on jigs, as well. No trolling whatsoever. Day chunking is the technique. Live bait is working the best, and we are well stocked with that. In my opinion, this is as exciting as fishing gets. Not just fishing in NJ, fishing anywhere. You have to experience slow feeding a weightless bait into a chunk line, expecting a tuna to eat it any minute, and then the spool goes from 0 to 30 mph.
No experience necessary. You don’t need a thing. We have everything you need on board. Just bring whatever you want to eat and drink for the time we are out. If you have a favorite rod, bring it, let’s see if we can’t blow it up!
I sailed this past Friday with a light rail of me and two anglers. Went to the “magic spot” where they had them solid just 24 hours earlier, and us, and two dozen other boats caught nothing for two and a half hours plus. On the way out, I throttled back on a whale, a slick, and two chick birds in a tight area. I didn’t read anything on our slow roll through, and I thought I should get to where they had them yesterday. If I had any courage, I would have threw some chunks and put a few rods out. Instead, I never put a rod out, but at least I marked it as a waypoint. After not catching at the spot, we had a quick meeting and I suggested we hit that spot where we saw the life. All agreed. When we arrived, we immediately saw a few chick birds. Enough to go on the drift. Not a soul on the horizon. Started slinging the chunks heavy and after 30 minutes, I saw a boil pretty far back in the slick, and then another….and another! Pretty soon we had 40 to 50 pound yellowfins eating every floating peanut bunker in the slick. The rods were not going off but it was something to see. We changed things up and I had these guys on my heavy spinning gear casting live and fresh dead peanut bunker into the boiling fish and they started hooking up. I can’t describe the mayhem or how we lost so many fish, but we went 1 for 7 in two hours of feeding these fish. One broken rod, a few busted off on the 30 lb flouro the rods were rigged with, so many more blunders. Mark Marquez, who some of you may remember, used to run Fishing Reports Now, a NJ website with fishing reports, finally got one close enough to stick with a gaff…….Thank you Mark! There is no greater jump in numbers than between 0 and 1, when you are fishing. We had lines is by 3PM, started cleaning up for the ride home, and put the numbers on the VHF for those close by. Before we throttled up, there were six boats on us. I hope they connected.
We are drifting or anchoring on the 15 to 25 mile lumps for bonita, albies, and a few spanish mackerel. All bait and jigs, no trolling. Catching them on spinning rods. They are great sport on this tackle and bonita are delicious.
Sailing Open Boat Tuna or Bonita on Saturday Sept 27, your choice, whichever gets the most people interested:
4AM to 4PM, $450 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.
Open Boat Bonita: Monday, Sept 29. 7AM to 3PM $300 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.
It’s a great time of year to be fishing. There is something unique about the ferocity of these species when the migration kicks off. You feel it in every hookup.
Stop in to Fishermans Headquarters for insight from their guys who know these fisheries inside and out. They have all the bait, lures, gear, and intel from the most helpful “no ego” guys who just want you to have the best day on the water.
We never sailed our Open Boat Tuna this past Monday. I pulled the plug Sunday night because when they updated the marine forecast, the NE wind had a little more velocity and it was going to come earlier in the day than originally forecasted.
This Friday Sept 19 looks really good. Light winds and a nice ocean are what is predicted so far. We are headed to the yellowfin grounds, 50 to 70 mile range. Day chunking with fresh, frozen, and live bait. We will have jigging rods set up, as well.
Open Boat Yellowfin Tuna 4AM to 4PM, $450 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. Everything is provided.
I’ll be at the marina all day Thursday getting ready so call or text me on my cell below is the best way to get me.
Beyond Friday we will be sailing for bonita in the 15 to 20 mile range, no trolling, all bait and lures on light tackle. We will also be fishing the bay and inlet for fluke, bluefish, blowfish, and an assortment of other characters on ultralite rods.
Weather looks good for this Monday Sept 15 so we are headed offshore to the yellowfin tuna grounds. Good size fish, 40 to 60 lb, and the best part is, it’s all on bait. My absolute favorite fishery on the planet….day chunking tuna! We will have jigging rods also, if you prefer, but most of the fish have been hitting bait. It’s about 70 miles to the grounds, so crash out in one of our beanbag chairs and we”ll wake you when we get there. We have everything you need onboard, just bring whatever you like to eat and drink. If you have a favorite rod, lure, gear,….bring it, but we have enough of everything for everybody. No experience necessary!
Open Boat Tuna: Monday Sept 15 4AM to 4PM. $450 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. Call to reserve a spot.
Finally! There is a weather window coming up this weekend. Sat, Sun, and Mon have light winds, nice sea conditions, and no rain. We are headed to the bonita grounds. We will be chumming with spearing and using spinning rods. There are some albacore mixed in, as well. We will be using both bait and lures. If you have never done this type of fishing, it is a blast. Both the bonita and albies are great sport on light tackle. They burn line off the reel, and while the albies are inedible, the bonita are delicious! Any way you prepare tuna, you can prepare bonita……including sashimi. As long as you take the time to bleed and slush them, which we do. We have everything you need on board, just bring whatever you like to eat and drink for the time we are out. If you have a favorite rod or two, bring them, but just know I have enough rods, tackle, and lures for everyone.
Open Boat Bonita: Saturday Sept 13, Sunday Sept 14, and Monday Sept 15. 6AM to 2PM. $300 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared.
These dates, and every day are also available for your private charter. When the ocean is too sporty we are fishing the bay for fluke and blowfish. When I see a perfection weather window, we will jump out for yellowfin tuna. They are in the 70 mile range right now.
