Author: Hi Flier

I finally have a location on the bonita where we could cast lures and catch them on bait with spinning rods. We will be chumming and casting for these speedsters. So much fun on light tackle, these little torpedoes burn drag. They are also delicious. Any way that you prepare fresh tuna, you can prepare bonita. Seared, grilled, or even sashimi. As long as you ice them properly. We set up buckets with ice and sea water, bleed the fish while they are still alive, and submerge them in the slushy brine. The finished product are what we call “bullets”. Chilled to the bone, ready to be loined out. 

It’s about a 25 mile ride from the inlet.

Running Open Boat or Charter Bonita: Friday Aug 15 and Sun Aug 17. 6AM to 2PM $300 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared.

After Sunday, Aug 17, the effects of Tropical Storm Erin will put a halt to our ocean fishing for a week or so. Fear not, you don’t have to give up fishing. The bay will be fishable throughout that whole timespan. It is the swell and wave heights that are the problem in the ocean. The wind velocity never gets crazy, so we will be fishing the bay every day for weakfish, fluke, kingfish, blowfish, and more on light tackle.

Pic: Ray Polikoski and his son Brayden of Albany NY each with a bonita.

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

August and September are great months to fish in NJ. Everything is firing up in the bay and offshore.

Ran to the 25 mile grounds on Tuesday and bagged a nice 60 lb bluefin on a way, way, back ballyhoo. Thanks to Mike Erwin on the Peyronie’s out of Waretown. He was generous enough to share the exact coordinates of where he hooked up the day before. Our fish came within a half mile of those numbers. Thanks Mike! 

No more troll bites, we switched to the drift, put some bait rods out. Released a big brown shark and caught a bunch of small boo hoo mackerel on light spinning tackle. They look like juvenile false albacore. Ran back to the same spot on Wednesday but no takers on the troll, and basically very little life. The radio chatter proved this was not the spot to be. Ran 20 miles to the Atlantic Princess, where it looked promising, two tone dolphin, a few whales, and mackerel on the surface. We put our time in but only managed two bonita and an unwelcome gator blue. This area may be ready to “pop” sometime soon.

Fished the bay this past week with shedder crab and caught some weakfish, croaker, sand sharks, fluke, and more, on the 6 pound spinning rods. This will keep getting better every day. 

Weather looks great for this Sunday. Running an Open Boat Tuna trip to the 20-30 mile grounds this Sunday August 10, 4AM to 2PM, 

$350 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. Call or text to make a reservation. 

Running Open Boat Bonita: Wed Aug 13 and Thurs Aug 14, 8AM to 2PM, $300 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. Bait fishing, jigging, and casting lures. We provide everything.

Call right up until “go time”!

All Open Boat trip dates are also available for your private charter for bay, inshore, or offshore fishing.

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

Pics: 

Rob and Lori Wallace of Barnegat, NJ with Lori’s sand shark   

Dan Malone of Loveladies, NJ with his 60 lb Bluefin Tuna   

Don Schafer of Beach Haven West, NJ and his daughter Emily with a pair of Bonita   

Jon Rose of Bergen County, NJ with his first ever weakfish caught on a shedder crab.

Here we go! Things are getting interesting. The normal size bluefin tuna have shown up on the inshore grounds, as well as the bonita. We are going to troll, jig, and baitfish. Running 20 to 25 miles from the inlet. Good weather window coming up Sun thru Tues then it blows up. When that happens we fish the bay. 

So many fishing opportunities in August: Bay fishing for weakfish, kingfish, blowfish, and more on ultralite tackle. Light tackle sharks just 4 to 5 miles from the inlet. Trolling and bait fishing for bonita. Bluefin tuna within 20 to 25 miles from the inlet.  

Sun Aug 3, Mon Aug 4, and Tues Aug 5 all look like really good weather and sea conditions. Sailing Open Boat Tuna and Bonita each day: 5AM to 2PM, $350 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.

These dates and every day we are also available for your private charter for bay, inlet, inshore, or offshore fishing.

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

Ran 60 miles east of Barnegat Inlet yesterday (Tues) with an Open Boat Tuna trip. Not a great start. Trolled for two hours without a hit and then the side tracker got crushed. 45 minutes later, we had color on a ridiculously big shark. Seriously? Trolling with plastics? Such a disappointment. Cut him loose and went back up on the troll for 3 more hours of sight seeing two tone dolphins and a few whales. Ran back to where we started earlier because that was where we had seen the most life. Trolled over a school of dolphin and three rods went off. Dropped one after 10 minutes and boated the other two, a 30 and 50 pounder. 

Running an Open Boat Bluefin trip tomorrow, Thursday July 31 to the 20 to 30 mile grounds. 4AM to 4PM. $375 person. 4 people max. 

All fish are shared. Troll, jig, bait fish. Whatever conditions dictate.

The next good days to run offshore are Sunday Aug 3, and beyond, so let’s sneak this one in. We will be sailing more Open Boat Tuna trips during that stretch of Sunday and the days to follow. In the meantime we are available for bay and inlet fishing every day. Bluefish at the inlet on lures. Live shedder crab in the bay for weakfish, kingfish, blowfish, fluke, and anything else we could catch on ultralite 6 lb spinning rods.

Pics:

 Bob Burkhart of Quakertown, PA with 50 lb Yellowfin Tuna (grey shorts)

Chris Contino of Egg Harbor Twp, NJ holding 30 lb Yellowfin Tuna (tan shorts)

 Todd Luyber of Manahawkin, NJ (fish skeleton shorts) 

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

The weather window to get offshore is closing after tomorrow. For my boat, anyway, the bigger boats can still get out. Wednesday is borderline, but tomorrow, Tues July 29 is perfection. Light and variable winds, calm seas, and no storms forecasted. 

The yellowfin tuna are in the 60 to 70 mile range, and I have good intel where to point the bow. Good size fish. We will be trolling, jigging, and bait fishing according to what conditions dictate to put fish in the cooler. There have been some mahi and bluefin in the mix, as well. 

Open Boat Tuna: Tomorrow, Tuesday July 29, 4AM to 4PM, $450 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.

Call or text to reserve a spot. You can call right up until “go time” but of course, the sooner, the better.

Remember, we don’t get to pick the weather, the weather picks us. The boat is topped off with fuel, iced up, and we are loaded with bait, jigs, everything we need. Let’s go!!

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

Monday through Thursday all look like potential offshore fishing days right now. Marine forecast has light winds and calm seas. Traditional weather models such as weather channel as no mention of thunderstorms, as well. This is the exact weather scheme we look for to go tuna fishing.
We are headed to the yellowfin grounds and if there are any bluefin and mahi in the mix, it will be a bonus. We will be trolling, jigging, and using bait.Open Boat Tuna:Monday, July 28 and Wednesday July 30. 4AM to 4PM. $450 person, 4 people max. All fish are shared. Tues, July 29 is also possible. 

We are also available every day for your private charter for inshore, offshore, bay, and inlet fishing.

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing 

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

I am giving the big bluefin effort a break this week, as it is not working for me. I tried yesterday, Sunday. Our departure was delayed by a storm at sunup, so we delayed our departure until 7AM. Hit the inlet for a live bluefish in the livewell. Stopped at a wreck and caught half a dozen ling to add to the bait tank. Put out the live bluefish and he was inhaled by a good size hammerhead that provided the only battle we would have as it was pretty dead from Little Italy to Monster Ledge this day. 

So, we are headed east. Weather is perfect for Tues and Wed. There has been a pretty good yellowfin and school bluefin bite in the 50 to 70 mile range. We will be trolling, jigging, and bait fishing. This also puts us in range for mahi, so they will be on our radar, as well. 

Open Boat Tuna: Tuesday July 22 and Wednesday July 23, 50 to 70 mile Range, Yellowfin, Bluefin, Mahi. $450 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. Open Boat dates are also available for your private Charter.

Call or text is the best way to contact me.

Also available every day for charter for bay, inlet, and inshore fishing. 

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

Pic: Spencer Drotman of California with his first hammerhead caught on a live bluefish at Little Italy on Sunday

I spent last weekend hosting my three good friends from high school, Vinny LaPrete, Steve Ondrof, and John Korn. While these names mean nothing to you, they mean everything to me. Good friends for 45 years, Vinny for 54, we travel, fish, have dinner, crash at one another’s homes, and laugh endlessly. 

I took us to the Little Italy grounds on Saturday. We tried the troll for a solid three hours before switching to the drift. No bites on the troll and it was non stop brown and dusky sharks on the drift with the bait rods. On Sunday we fished the inlet for blues and it did not disappoint. The guys threw soft plastics at the jetty for a few hours of 2 to 4 lb bluefish: https://youtube.com/shorts/xzLmlPivylI?feature=shared Next we anchored up on the west side of the bay with shedder crab and caught some spots, croakers, and fluke on the 6 lb spinning rods. 

Not a great report I know but I have to post the bad with the good sometimes. 

This Saturday is shaping up to be the weather day for going offshore for tuna. Right now, I have my sights on the 25 to 30 mile grounds for bluefin. Troll, jig, and bait fishing, whatever conditions dictate. Open Boat Tuna, Saturday, July 19, 4AM to 4PM, $400 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. If I get intel on the 40 to 60 mile grounds, we could run that way for bluefin and yellowfin together. That would be $450 person to cover some more fuel. That is always a game time decision based on the latest intel I get. 

The boat is also available every day for inshore, bay, and inlet fishing. We will be announcing more Open Boat Tuna dates as we see opportunities in the weather forecast. The long range looks good for next Tues, Wed, and Thurs, but that’s a long way off, so for now, we are just watching and waiting. 

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

On Saturday, we ran our first tuna trip of the season. It was not great. We caught 2 small yellowfin tuna and two nice mahi. 

This Wed, Thurs, and Fri are available, July 9, 10, and 11. Open Boat or Charter. For those that like to stay in the bay or inlet, we could target bluefish at the inlet and then anchor up in the bay for a mixed bag of species on ultralite tackle. We would be looking for weakfish, kingfish, blowfish, and the whole cast of characters that invade the bay once we hit the water temp we are currently at. I’ve been reading anywhere from 74 to 76 degree water temperature in the back bay. Out at the inlet jetty I am showing 72. 

The wind and sea condition looks good for each day. The traditional Weather Channel has a chance of thunderstorms each day, mostly late in the afternoon. This bold prediction is also known as “Summer time”. We usually start early in the morning and finish up before any storm activity. We have a Garmin/Sirius XM satellite weather station onboard that shows us the storm cells as they are born. 

Bay/Inlet trips are available for charter on any of the July 9, 10, and 11 dates. 

Also on these dates, I could offer an Open Boat to Barnegat Ridge and/or Tolten Lump for blue water fish. OK, greenish blue water. On our ride home from the tuna grounds Saturday, I couldn’t help but notice the good looking water on all of our inshore to mid range spots. We could target bonita, mahi, bluefin, and anything else we could find.  6AM to 2PM $350 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. If I get enough interest, and the weather is stable, I would consider running to the 50/60 mile grounds again, especially if I get good intel.

There you have it. Lots of choices.

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

Pic:

Sam Cohen of Beach Haven NJ with his first Mahi Mahi

We have been picking a few stripers and clobbering the bluefish at the inlet jetty. Using live spots, sandworms, and casting lures. I picked up a bunch of live shedder crabs to try for weakfish, kingfish, blowfish, and the mixed bag on ultralite tackle this weekend. 

Available Fri, Sat, Sun, or Mon for Charter or Open Boat. Sat July 5 and Sun July 6 have potential to be offshore tuna trips or Barnegat Ridge to Tolten Lumps. Open Boat or Charter. Any of these days are available for bay/inlet charters as well.

Call for details or to reserve a spot.

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674

hiflier.com