Category: Fishing Reports

Anglers aboard the Reel Fantasea continued to find solid light spinning tackle action with striped bass, bluefish  and fluke [ when targeted] . The stripers are ranging from 18-28 +- ” , bluefish have finally showed up in force with the choppers ranging in size from 2-12lbs .Fluke fishing has also provided action when we are able to find cleaner water that isn’t heavily clouded by our annual dose of free flowing algae.

 

With a strong blow upon us, most boats are tied up. It’s great for gear work, repairs and preparation so everything is in order. It’s also a perfect time to put your feet up and relax, but not if you’re a surf rats. A good north east blow means go time!

Mike Ambrosio is one of those. “The wind was howling, the sand was blasting and the current was ripping!” Mike hit the beach and caught a big bluefish, “Thanks Fish Heads for the fresh bunker. It was windy as a mo’fo’ but I found a way!”

Looking back on the days leading up to the blow, local fishing was good with a steady pick of striped bass and bluefish on the surf. Anglers both fishing bait and lures caught fish. Reports came in from the entire stretch of LBI with no one particular spot stealing the spot light.

As the waters warms surf sharking will kick off. We’ve already heard about the season’s first sand tigers. Due to their liking for cool water temperatures, they show first. Shortly after the brownies make an appearance.

Big Game Fishing Report

Speaking of sharking… June offers excellent inshore shark fishing. The month is off to a great start with some positive reports flowing in.

Jeff Thummel fished with Mike Kulinski and posted, “Great day sharking!!! 200+ pound mako, 160 pound mako, six blue sharks and a brown shark. All released.”

Daniel Rosetto (@rosettostone) reported fishing out of Forked River with Captain Tom Crespo on his new Buddy Davis “Off The Hook”. Dan reported, “Successfully hooked up and safely released a great size mako offshore yesterday. Too bad they have to be 83″ this year to kill. What an amazing fight! It jumped ten feet out of the water when hooked. It lives another day, big thanks to Captain Tom for the invite.”

While on the topic of big game fishing… Summer means one thing to blue water anglers, Prime Time! The waters are already producing so the stage is set for a great season.

Captain Jeff of Reel Innovations Sportfishing returned from the edge and reports, ” Bigeyes! Yellowfin! Another solid trip for the Reel Innovation. We enjoyed steady action on the short day troll with spreader bars getting it done.”

Captain Deane and Mike aboard the Canyon Runner report, “26 bluefin tuna with two at 52″, two yellowfin as well as a trolled mako and a mahi.”

Near Shore Boat Fishing Report

The Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club hosted their Spring Striped Bass & Bluefish Tournament this weekend. Here’s the results… 20 boats/52 anglers fished. Congrats to the winners!

Striped Bass
1) 39.42  Jason Marti – OB1
2) 39.22  Mike Greene – Lucky Stripes
3) 38.5  Paul Riker – Rebait

Bluefish
1) 6.44  Bill Figley – Red Herring
2) 4.96  Calli Casey – Dirty Martuna
3) 4.2  Ron Roshelli – UNO

Captain Ken Nutt aboard the Striper got 48 pound bass yesterday.

Magictail’s Dante Soriente shared some awesome news, “Just got wind of the 6th reported 50 plus pound striped bass this spring on Magictail products.”Magictail is the real deal! They are well know for catching fish and really big ones at that!

High Point Striper Shootout

Next weekend is the 11th Annual High Point Striper Shootout! Now’s the time to geear up and prepare for what we expect to be a awesome weekend of fishing! Captain’s meeting is Friday June 8th at 7pm. For more information go to www.HPVFC.com

After closing out May with fishing on the slower side our expectations are high for this new month. We welcome June with open arms.

The local surf fishing off the surf has been slow and steady. Nothing spectacular but anglers are picking fish. Striped bass, bluefish and black drum are in the suds.

Todd Luyber got this 33″ bass yesterday plugging the surf. Todd reported, “It went for old reliable,  yellow/black Daiwa SP Minnow. I dropped another fish too.”

Chris Masino caught a 30″ bluefish yesterday off the surf.

Kristi Reillo Cooper got a bluefish on the South End surf at 10 am. She reported, “Got a bite on first cast. Then hooked up on second cast. Only two bites of the day.”

Chris Colasante weighed in a black drum today. 29.5 pounds 39″ 26″ girth. He caught it off the mid island surf on clam.

Bayside fluke fishing is strong. Anglers are on them, some doing very well catching their limit.

Joe Pongonis of High Bar Harbor stopped in today with a nice fluke. He got a 26″ 6.16 pound fluke. He was fishing bay with bait, squid and spearing.

I had Brain aboard Fish Head Charters this morning for a light tackle trip striped bass – bluefish charter. The first hour was very slow but things picked up as the morning went on. We had cocktail blues in the 1-5 pound range chasing lures. After having fun with them, we tried to switch gears. The intel from up the beach was poor so we stayed in the bay. A short attempt at the flats only turned up one small bass. We looked around some more but couldn’t find much. Ended up finishing the trip working some more blues.

Beach Haven Charter Association Weekly Report

by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Memorial Day has come and gone at the Jersey shore, and, despite some nasty weather, anglers were out on the water catching fish. The one big factor on the fishing scene was the variety of fish caught by the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association (BHCFA).

In the ocean big striped bass were trolled up while black sea bass were biting on the inshore wrecks and reefs. Meanwhile in the bay waters good catches of summer flounder and bluefish were happening.

Captain Brett Taylor of “Reel Reaction Sportfishing” put his anglers on both striped bass and fluke. He had Art Diebel and son Bruce out for some striper action. Bruce is a 7th grader who caught his first ever striper along with some feisty bluefish. On another trip, Alison Mack with her brother Jon and 10 year old boys Eoghan and Rogan did some fluke fishing. Using bucktails they boated over 30 fish with 3 keepers to take home. Rogan also caught a short striped bass.

Captain Carl Sheppard fished the “Star Fish” for fluke on Friday and black sea bass on Saturday. Captain Carl had five keeper fluke out of a total of 12 caught. He found moving baits working the best. On Saturday he looked for striped bass and then turned to black sea bass. The stripers were scarce but he found enough sea bass to keep his fishermen happy.

Additional information on the boats of the BHCFA can be found at www.BHCFA.net.

Some nice bass on the beach. Coming out of the full moon we expect fishing to kick back into gear.

Store staffer Steve-o got a nice bass last night. He was chunking fresh bunker off the surf.

John the local UPS man is enjoying his vacation. He got this twenty pound bass off the surf on bunker.

Store staffer Matt was aboard Fish Head Charters this morning for a light tackle session. We started off tossing plugs with both blues and bass on the chew for the first hour. But as the cold ocean water moved in the 64 degree water dropped to 56 in a matter of 15 minutes. Then by 54 the bite was dead. We headed to the flats and we picked up right where we left on yesterday. Small bass splashing top water eating poppers as well as streamers. The fly fishing has been great drifting the rolling shallows of the bay.

One to five pound pound bluefish are in the bay and inlet. The past few days there was an influx of these yellow eyes. Anglers fishing bait for fluke are having trouble with them.

Surf fishing today was on the slow side. We got numerous reports from anglers that reported grass. Chet Kosarek reported seeing a nice 20 plus pounds striped bass caught off the north end surf on Sunday, “There’s some nice fluke in the same area.”

Mike Ambrosio sent in a message and a photo, “Thanks Fish Heads for the fresh bunker that landed me this beauty!” He caught this 20 pound 39″ bass off the surf.

Fluke Fishing LBI

Fluke fishing is good. The waters of Barnegat Bay as well as the main thoroughfares (Double Creek & Oyster Creek) are producing. Anglers are doing best when they stay away from the cold water which floods on the incoming tide. The chilly water slows the bite.

Store staffer Mike Freeza was on the water this morning fluke fishing the South End of the Island. He got into some fluke… his biggest was 22″ which went for a small bucktail with tipped with Gulp.

The fishing musician Rick stopped in the shop for a pack of Gulp. He headed out and then shortly returned with a fat flattie. Six pounder to be exact! He got it fishing the south end bayside.

Ocean Striped Bass Fishing

The ocean striped bass bite has been inconsistent with fish stretched out along IBSP-Pier. Anglers out of BL are taking the ride and fishing even further north. The best fishing recently has been found about 25-30 miles north of BL. While not a run everyone wants to make it can be well worth.

Some anglers pounding the local grounds hard are pulling fishing. Bunker spoons and mojos would be the tactics unless you can find bunker podded up. So far this spring the bunker have been spread out and only is disorganized small schools.

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday (Monday) I got the skunk… Today (Tuesday) was off the charts! I had Bob Bruns from Binghamton, New York aboard Fish Head Charters this morning for a fly fishing dawn patrol session. With the ocean striped bass fishing hit or miss, we decided to stay inside. Right off the bat, Bob connected on one of his first casts. A nice feisty gator bluefish gave him the wake up call. From there it was slow. We made moves and looked all around. After trying a number of different spots and striking out, we found some life in an early season spot.

When in search for the warmest water, I usually fish the flats in the early spring. Bass and blues can be found on the rolling bottom, roaming around and chasing bait. It turns out they are stacked in there now. THICK! While most of the fish were small jabbies, Bob did pull a couple better fish (about keeper size.) All on the fly. At times we were doubled up and hooking on consecutive casts. Whole lotta fun! Here’s a short clip of bass breaking on bait in 2-5′ of water while Bob lays a cast out and gets bit almost right away. As this shows it was on!

Here’s some video from the day… Fly Fishing Striped Bass Barnegat Bay With Fish Head Charters

May’s Full Moon Calls All Cows

Congrats to Paul Haertel on his new personal best 54.8 pound striped bass. He got this fish yesterday fishing up the beach a ways. Exact location not provided.

Not Crazy But Bluefish Are Around

Rich Beverly got a gator off the surf this weekend. Not sure… Who has a bigger smile?

Back Bay Fluke Fishing

Today Austin Pounds fished the south end’s bay with some friends and found some really food fishing.

Jake Bowles fluke fished yesterday morning and reported cold 54 degree water, “The chilly water made for a slow bite but we managed to pick through some shorts and finished with three keepers.”

Offshore Report

Jeff and Dan aboard the Reel Innovations just arrived home from their first trip to the edge. Dan reported a good trip, “We went 8-10 on bluefin and released one 60″ mako.”