Author: Hi Flier

Finally! The big bass have finally come our way. We had a 42 pounder today that crushed a big white Mojo. We were trolling off of Island Beach State Park in 63 feet of water this afternoon. Here is the YouTube clip of the end game: https://youtu.be/1nJMnukli-8 Lots of bunker pods around. Something was giving them a push at the surface. I almost reeled in the trolling gear and switched to snagging but I wanted to see if I could put another one in the cooler first and sometimes you should stay with what just worked instead of switching gears but I’m still not sure if I made the right call. After a while the bunker went down and we never got another bite. We still read big balls of bunker on the machine and a nice steady stream of big single marks right in the “kill zone” but they eat when they are ready not when we are.

We will be starting to run trips this weekend. The Hi Flier was just repowered with a pair of brand new 150 Suzuki Four stroke outboards. It cost us a little later start than usual but it will be well worth it to run with new power.

I know it’s hard to think about fishing when we are experiencing an Arctic Blast right now, but better days are coming….and soon. High temps in the 40’s and even a few days in the 50’s once we get past tomorrow (Fri) for the next week or more in the long range forecast. Along with that we have west and northwest winds dominating the marine forecast making this the longest stretch of that desirable direction all season. Calm seas and warmer temps. The stripers are still here and we are trolling them as well as casting swim shads under birds or on heavy readings. Everything from shorts to 15 pound fish in the mix. A lot of 28 to 30 inch fish now.

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We all knew it had to happen sooner or later. Yesterday (Thurs) afternoon we trolled our limit of 28 to 34 inch fish as well as the slot fish on umbrella rigs and Mojos. Two and a half miles due east of Barnegat Inlet. Later in the trip right after the tide started moving the gannets were hitting the water hard and concentrated. We dropped in some swim shads and retrieved them and the bass instantly responded. These were the biggest fish of the trip, as well, all 15 to 18 pound fish! That we couldn’t keep, but it was a blast to get them on the drift. I heard from a few other captains that today was another epic day. I cancelled tomorrow, (Sat) because the forecast changed to 20 knots of NE with this one day snow storm that’s passing through. Sunday and Monday look great for sea conditions so we are sailing Open Boat or Charter those days, 6AM to 1PM.

Next week we will be sailing Tues thru Thurs, Dec 12-14 9:30AM to 4:30PM and Fri thru Mon, Dec 15-18, 6AM to 1PM.

Get ’em now!

What an incredible Fall run of stripers we are having. 12 to 20 pound fish are common. That is not the norm for this time of year. We do have to troll to catch them. Jigging and casting has not been productive, though, that can change any minute. No real bird play lately but I always have the jigging and casting rods on board for when it’s time. For now, you just troll Mojos and bunker spoons over readings at about 3 to 3.5 knots and the rods go off. We are doing great with big 20 ounce single MagicTail Mojos and #4 Tony Maja bunker spoons. White is working the best on both lures, to the point where I am dragging four white lures in a four rod spread. Wireline on the bunker spoons and braid on the Mojos. We’re using our smaller wireline rods that only have 150 feet of wire on them instead of 300 feet. The rod and reel is a lot smaller, too, so you don’t get worn out by the gear and you enjoy the fight more. That 150 feet of wire is putting the lure right in the hot zone. These short rods with less wire were custom made for a technique we employ this time of year known as jigging or bucktailing. We tie on a 2 or 3 oz. bucktail with a strip of pork rind (yes, we have some) and you hold the rod and sweep it while we slow troll. Very effective on the size class fish we have right now and it is a train wreck of a hit.

Go fishing! That’s the report. This is possibly the best Fall Striper troll I have ever seen. 15 to 35 pound fish are on the feed. This is predominantly a troll bite anywhere from the Bathing Beach to Lavalette. White Mojos and Maja bunker spoons are working the best for us. There are tons of bunker to snag, sometimes 30 to 40 feet thick readings of bunker on the fish finder but the snag and drop is not productive. There are a good amount of birds working and hitting the water yet casting and jigging are not resulting in hookups either. The good news is that the troll bite is insane with quality size fish. Most of our action is on the braid rods with Mojos which is a lot of fun without the wireline involved. When we do use wire, it’s our shorter rods with only 150 feet of wire instead of the bigger rods with 300 feet. We tie a big bucktail on tipped with pork rind and have a guy on each side of the boat jig these while we slow troll. It works really well and is a train wreck of a hit when you hook up! The last week right up until today has been a quantity of quality fish every trip.

 

Open Boat or Charter Wed thru Fri, Nov 29, 30, and Dec 1, departing at 10 AM, returning around 4:30 PM. 

Sat, Dec 2, departing at 6AM, returning around 1 PM.  $175 person, 4 people max on Open Boats, all fish are shared. 

 

Attached pics: 

 

JPEG 0983: Dave Glassberg of PA and Hi Flier first mate Capt Nick DeGennaro holding up Dave’s 35 pound Striper trolled on a Mojo.

 

JPEG 1005: Carlos Hopkins of PA with a 30 lb bass he caught on a big white Mojo.

 

Capt Dave DeGennaro
Hi Flier Sportfishing
732.330.5674 cell
hiflier.com

Crazy striper fishing going on up and down the coast. Bunker snagging, casting lures, and trolling are all working. Inside Barnegat Inlet we are connecting with live spots. The range of size varies from place to place, hour by hour. There are still some 20 to 40 lb fish on the bunker pods, 6 to 15 lb fish in the inlet, and every size fish on the troll. The migration fish have arrived and are colliding with the bigger bunker pod fish. It’s a great time to go striper fishing. The water temp is 53 to 54 degrees so we should be looking at a nice long run……..hopefully until Christmas!

Sailing Open Boat and Charter every day. We have one open boat spot for tomorrow, Monday, Nov 20. 5:30 AM to 12:30PM.

We will be sailing Wednesday, Nov 22 10AM to 5PM.

Also Thursday, Thanksgiving morning, Black Friday, Sun, Nov 26 and Mon, Nov 27 6 AM to 1 PM. $175 person, 4 people max on Open Boat trips, all fish are shared. These dates are also available for your own private charter.

Capt. Dave DeGennaro
Hi Flier Sportfishing
732.330.5674
hiflier.com

We caught slot and keeper stripers in the inlet yesterday on live bait. Apparently while we were doing that, boats from Island Beach to Asbury Park were trolling 25 to 35 pound bass on spoons and mojos. The surf guys caught some fish and there was even some bird play and migration style fishing on the northern end of this bite. It’s time to throw the ropes and have everything on board: trolling gear, snaggers, jigs, swim shads, squid jigs, live bait………we’re going to pack it all. The water temperature dipped into the high 50’s and the fish are on the move. This is what we have all been waiting for!

I don’t do nearly as much canyon fishing as I use to, so when I woke up Saturday morning at 7:30 I realized there was time to make the boat. My friend, Capt. Johnny O’Kinsky was leaving for a two day canyon trip at 9AM and so far I didn’t have enough committed crew to make it a go on my own open boat trips. He wasn’t expecting me but I loaded the truck with all my gear and whatever food was in the house for rations. I figured if he had room, I would jump, and if they were too heavy with crew, I could always drive home. I got lucky and they were four guys looking for a fifth. His boat, the Inspiration is a 36 ft custom twin diesel with a 14 ft beam. We threw the ropes at 9AM and Johnny explained our float plan. Head for the warm water break in the Toms Canyon, troll till dark and set up for the overnight chunk. Troll to the Hudson Canyon and drift for tilefish. On the way back, check out the scallop boats for bluefin tuna. Upon arriving at the Toms, we trolled two small mahi. The overnight chunk yielded no tuna but we still had fun jigging squid and catching 5 to 8 lb mahi on light tackle. When they stopped hitting even live bait, I was able to free gaff three of them. Around 5AM we saw a fish break water behind the boat and I noticed the glow sticks right next to it. Turned out to be a legal sword that ate the deep rigged squid 200 feet down and charged to the surface with it without making a sound on the reel’s clicker. Soon after boating the sword we trolled to the Hudson with no bites. Capt Johnny set everyone up with tilefish rods and rigs. We dropped squid, herring, and sardine baits down 500 feet with two pounds of lead. We boated a bunch of 5 to 8 lb golden tilefish. On the second drift I set up on a fish that maxed out my 30 class outfit like I had never before seen it torqued. This fish was taking runs and head shaking all the way. I loosened the drag three times in fear that I would break it off. I had him on adequate gear, an AVET LX loaded with 65 braid on a Shimano Trevalla 80 to 200 class conventional rod. After 25 minutes, the fish came belly up on the surface and Capt Johnny gaffed my new personal best 43 lb golden tilefish. Here’s the video: https://youtu.be/ZqLTE3PFUeE

On the way back we stopped on the scallop boats and caught five 30 to 40 class bluefins. If we sailed with a one or two dimensional plan of a typical canyon overnight trip we would not have enjoyed the success we did with Capt Johnny O’s aggressive multi faceted attack. Well done Captain! So glad I jumped on for this one.

On the inshore scene there are big stripers on the bunker pods as well as trolling bunker spoons. Albies are still abundant and we are casting small metals on light spinning gear for them.

Capt. Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com