FINALLY! The wind subsides enough to have a good go at it in Barnegat Bay this weekend. I will be loaded up with a flat of sandworms and a bucket of fresh salted clams. The target will be stripers, blues, and fluke. Casting lures along the sod banks and channel edges, drift jigging with shad darts tipped with sandworms usually does well for me this time of year for the schoolie bass. Anchoring up and chumming with the fresh clams can produce bigger stripers. Poppers on the west side for blues if we can find them. We can mix in some fluke fishing, it’s all up to you guys. We will be bringing the “kitchen sink”…something has to work…right?
Sat, Sun, and Mon, May 14, 15, and 16. 6AM to Noon each day. $165 person, 4 people max. All fish are shared. Also available to charter these dates.
We just got in the water this past weekend. We are available for charter or Open Boat this Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, April 23, 24, and 25. My plan is to try a few hours of winter flounder and a few hours of casting for schoolie stripers in the bay. We could try anchoring with clams in the channel for the bass, too.
7AM to 1PM. $165 person on the Open Boat, 4 people max, all fish are shared. $650 for the whole boat if you are chartering it.
This is earlier in the season then I usually start, but I am going to load up on worms, clams, and chum and go on the hunt with plugs and soft plastics looking for life in Barnegat Bay. Looking forward to seeing everyone on board this season. Dave DeGennaro
Hey Everybody, I wanted to let you all know about my upcoming event: the Philadelphia Fishing Show, Feb 18-20 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA. phillyfishingshow.com
This is a pure fishing show. Charter boats, party boats, guides, and lodges from all over the world. Great deals on tackle. Exhibits include lure builders, apparel, art, boats, and so much more. Our attractions include: the Hawg Trough, a 5,000 gallon freshwater gamefish aquarium, a fully stocked trout pound where you can actually catch a fish at the show, a Fly Casting Pond where you can either learn or practice with a seasoned guide, and the Great White Shark Challenge that features a 3,000 lb replica Great White. You can get strapped in to a harness while an angler in a fighting chair tries to reel you in!
There are three seminar rooms hosted by The Fisherman Magazine with the best guides and captains in fresh and saltwater sharing what they know about the sport they love. These seminars are continuous throughout the show and are FREE with your admission. FREE parking, as well. Food and refreshments are available. Hope to see you there!
This week the Hi Flier was featured in an episode of Saltwater Underground with Nick Honachefsky. The show combines two different trips in September where we targeted bluefish at the Barnegat Inlet jetty and live grass shrimping for weakfish and the ultralite mixed bag in Barnegat Bay. It was so much fun to fish with Nick, my son Nick, and Austin Perilli. Nick Honachefsky does a great job with this show that shares some tactics and is fun to watch whether you are a fisherman or not. Look for his show on the Sportsman Channel. Our episode aired this past Sunday, and will air again Fri Jan 21 at 10:30 AM and Sun at 4:30 AM and 4:30 PM. Set your DVR! Channel 605 on Direct TV and Channel 736 on Comcast.
In light of the good striper fishing and nice weather coming up I decided to keep the boat in for one more weekend. We have been casting lures into migratory fish under flocks of birds. Mostly 24 to 26 inch stripers with a few pushing 30 inches. When that slows down, we go on the troll where we have been getting a few bigger fish for the cooler. The bellies have been loaded with peanut bunker.
Congratulations to Capt Nick DeGennaro and his crew, John Cavaliere and Colby Capri for landing our boat’s first Fall/Winter bluefin yesterday. A 60 pounder that Colby coaxed into crashing his popper.
Nick will be working deck on the Hi Flier this weekend and it probably won’t be hard to convince us to give that fishery a try if everyone wants to. For now, I’m going to call these trips striper trips because we certainly are no experts in this winter bluefin fishery. If you add Nick’s fish from yesterday to all of mine, it comes out to a total of one, if that tells you anything. I’ve been in them a bunch of times, watching them air out, and crash bait on the surface, but getting them to eat has been a difficult task for me personally. It’s fine, though, I’m enjoying the ride. If any of you guys on board, want to try, we”ll make the run. We have the gear for it, as well.
Open Boat or Charter: Sat Dec 4 and Sun Dec 5. 6AM to 2PM $250 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. $950 for private charter.If we go chasing bluefin, either exclusively, or combined with striper fishing $350 person, $1,350 for private charter. Dave DeGennaro
Open Boat Stripers this Saturday, November 20, 6AM departure $250 per man, 4 people max. Snagging, trolling, casting, jigging…… Whatever it takes to put fish in the boat. Return time around 2-3PM.
Only two more available dates: Monday, Nov 22 and 29, available for Charter or Open Boat and then we are hauling out for the season.
This big turkey showed up right around the fish cleaning table at our marina. Thought that was pretty bold considering how close to Thanksgiving we are! The other striper pics show every size class fish is available right now.
The latest models have Hurricane Henri passing by NJ this weekend about 200 miles offshore. Far enough to keep us safe, but close enough to make the ocean too rough for small craft like ours. At least for a couple of days. We have had some good and bad days on the tuna grounds as of late. The inshore bluefin bite that we have been running hard to has been hit and miss for us lately so I switched gears to the longer run for big yellowfin on Monday and we did nothing but observe other boats that were hooked up. I have a pretty good idea of why we came up short and can not wait to return there to make things right as soon as the sea condition allows. We are available Sat Aug 21 and Mon Aug 23 for weakfish charters in the bay. We chum with live grass shrimp
We are running an Open Boat Tuna trip this Wednesday August 4, 9AM to 5PM. $350 person. 4 people max, all fish are shared. It has been a very steady bite at the 25 mile range on 30 to 60 lb bluefin and yellowfin. We are catching all our fish on bait while drifting and chunking. Day chunking tuna is very exciting. The hits are violent! Give me a call to reserve a spot. Also sailing Open Boat this Sat and Sun, Aug 7 and 8, 4AM to 3PM. $450 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.
The bite is on!!! Day tuna chunking is as good as it gets right now. We had bluefin from 30 to 100 pounds and a solid 15 pound bull mahi. All fish were caught in the last 48 hours, less than 30 miles offshore, all on bait, with 30 class outfits. Tons of fun!
We Are Sailing Open Boat Trips… $350 person, 4 People Max, All fish shared
Wednesday July 28 – 4AM to 1PM
Tuesday July 29 – 4AM to 1PM
Captain Dave DeGennaro – Hi Flier Sportfishing Cell: 732.330.5674 – – www.hiflier.com
It looks like the weather window is there for Friday to run to the tuna grounds. We have been catching a mix of yellowfin and bluefin tuna from 30 to 50 pounds. The best part is we are not trolling. All of the action has been on jigs and bait. Very exciting way to connect with these amazing fish.
Running Open Boat Tuna Trips: Friday July 23 9AM to 4PM $300 per person 4 people max. All fish are shared.
Pics: Mike Sedor of Norristown PA (Blue shirt and Hi Flier hat) Steve Ondrof of Rockaway NJ (Dock shot)
The tuna are here and it is very exciting. We have been running 25 to 30 miles for 20 to 40 lb bluefin tuna on jigs and bait. Saturday and Sunday we never had to put the trolling rods out to put tuna in the cooler. We are using 20 and 30 class outfits to keep it sporty. Slicks, chick birds, readings, lots of life. Blue-ish green 71 degree water. Getting quite a few king mackeral bite offs, too. I was tired of getting bit off so I put a few circle hooks on and wound up fighting a 5 foot hammerhead to the boat before cutting him off. If you want to catch tuna but don’t like to make the long trek of 60 to 90 plus miles, this is a unique opportunity. No telling how long it will last. Forever…..I hope!
Here’s Dave Flood of Mantua, NJ battling a 45 lb bluefin tuna on 20 class: youtu.be/U0uar_F5C9c
Running Open Boat or Charter for Tuna:
Thursday, July 15 10AM to 5PM, $300 person
Saturday, July 17 5AM to 2PM, $400 person
Pics are: Dave Flood of Mantua NJ (green cargo shorts and visor) Jim Hutchinson, Editor of The Fisherman magazine, Brick NJ (Light blue shirt, blue hat, blue lenses)Fabian Colonna of Matawan NJ (dark shirt, red hat)
