The accumulative effect of the Continued SW winds have thrown a salty , rusty wrench into the temped coastal inshore waters into the polar zone to the dismay of both beach goers and inshore fisherman alike. Incoming tidal temps have taken a tail spin way down into the lower 50f [ 53 lowest we have seen] .

 

The boat just became available Monday 6/26 for all day tuna or half day bay fishing for weakies, blues, and fluke. The weather report and sea condition are excellent for either. Open Boat or Charter. Sign on as an individual or charter the boat.
I will be offshore from 4AM to 2PM tomorrow (Sun). I will be back in cell range around 2PM to reply to your email, text, or voicemail. You could also get me between 3:30AM and 5AM tomorrow (Sun) before I’m out of cell range if you feel so inclined. 
Also available Tues, Wed, and Thurs afternoons for bay trips, Charter or Open Boat. It looks like I will have live grass shrimp for these dates so we will be targeting weakfish and the mixed bag on ultralite tackle. We could also mix in topwater lures and soft plastics for blues and short stripers in the inlet. 
Capt Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing 

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

We have room for one person tomorrow Sun 6/25 on our Open Boat tuna trip. The fare is $300 and the target is bluefin. Four people total. Recent reports have been really good. The run is about 50 miles. The size is varied. A lot of pint size fish with some bigger ones in the mix. I’m going 20 class! Some 30 class and at least one way back ballyhoo for a shot at a cooler fish. All fish are shared. Call me at 732.330.5674 right up until go time.

Hi Flier Sportfishing 

732.330.5674

hiflier.com

The last couple of days have produced incredible fishing for both inshore and offshore anglers. Both the bay and surf are loaded with Fluke. Over the past week I caught well over 40 fish all on gulp. A good friend of mine Max Lentz caught a 30 incher on a white 4″ swimming mullet from shore on the north end yesterday evening (6/22). There are also quite a few reports of weakfish, blowfish, and kingfish being caught throughout the bay. The fishing should only improve as the water temp is still climbing back up after the south wind knocked it down last weekend. With a cooler temp, lots of bass have been showing both in the surf and bay. Paul Haertel had 11 the other night up to 30″. Paul also did very well Cod fishing on the mid-shore wrecks boating quite a few keepers along with a bunch of ling.

Out front the tuna fishing is on fire, some of the best fishing in a while. Bluefin has been lights out on the mid-shore grounds with blitzes producing fish up into the 40 pound class on plugs. Multiple customers got into them yesterday between 30-50 miles out whether it was trolling Joe Shutes with Ballyhoo or throwing stickbaits. Mark Haley went 7-8 and another friend of mine went 16-16.

  With a few nice bodies of water out in the deep, the canyons are even hotter. I was lucky enough to score big time on Thursday (6/22) aboard the Reel Innovation run by one of my best friends’, Captain Jeff Warford. We started off the morning with a triple header on Bigeyes but only landed one that came in at around 90-100 pounds. Then about 20 minutes later I came tight to the fish of a lifetime. We finally found the one, a 67″, 200+ pound Bigeye. Another solid fish was caught today by the Hubris. These are the first larger-sized class Bigeye of the year. After that, we decided to play around with the yellowfin. We had around 15 or so up to 50 pounds but broke an 80 pound class fish off at the boat. They were feeding on squids at the surface. To end the day we filled the box with over 30 golden and blue line tilefish. I had multiple friends in canyons both to the north and south catch fish as well. Giant Bluefin are still around too as a 350# was landed and an even bigger one was lost. It seems if you can find the right break in the water temp out there, you will get into fish. The amount of bait and life spread out right now is unbelievable.

Finally, sharking continues to get better and better. Brown sharks are being caught both in the bay and on the beach. Threshers are still close in as a customer went 1-2 the other day 5 miles off. The canyons are loaded with Mako’s on the night chunk. Don’t forget, Mako Mania is this weekend!

Looking forward to the coming weeks as everything seems to be coming together nicely, now is the time to get out and get on it!
Tight Lines,

Dan DiPasquale

It’s been a pretty busy since school ended, and I have been on the water almost everyday, except when it’s blowing 20 and over.  After some careful investigating, I changed some things up in our lures and it has paid off with some nice keepers in the last few trips.  I plan on running double trips on the days when the afternoon winds aren’t howling, so don’t hesitate to call.  Here was the past few days rundown:

I had an opportunity to fish with my son Luke and my father on a quick morning trip to check out some new areas.  We ended with over 20 Fluke and one keeper to 22 inches.

I had return client Tom Clark of Waretown, and his 11yr old daughter Alexis working a variety of areas with jigs to produce a decent number of Fluke. We had a steady bite at most of the areas we worked and Alexis nailed a nice 5 pound Fluke, along with two other keepers to 20 inches. Tom was a close second with a fish at 18in and 19in. We did catch a few that were about an 1/8in shy of making it into the box. A great day on the water, and nice job by Alexis for being the high hook of the day.

Next, I had new client Doug Wainwright of Columbus, NJ and his son Doug Jr. on a 4hr Bay/Inlet trip. The father and son team had to contend with a little more wind and different tidal conditions, but they worked hard at a variety of spots to put 3 quality keepers in the boat. Two of the fish measured close to 23 inches and weighed about 4.5 pounds. We deployed all tactics to slow down our drifts allowing the team to use light jigs to nail the Fluke. Nice job by the crew on working those rods the entire time. We thank and wish Doug Jr. the best of luck on entering the U.S. Marines Corps Officer Training this summer.

Finally, I had return client Dan Unger of Long Beach Island and his son Danny on a 4hr Bay & Inlet trip with Fluke as the target. We had a tough morning with some weather fronts that came through and it blew over 20 knots. We fished a couple of areas where the current wasn’t as strong and the father & son team nailed some Fluke with some close to the 18 inch mark. After working a few of the areas hard, the two ended up with two decent Fluke at 18.5 inches and 22 inches that fell for our “new” custom teaser. The last hour of the trip had us battling 20 knot winds, rain, and tide. Nice job in some challenging conditions.

If interested in booking a charter, book through the website (www.reelreactioncharters.com) or call/text 609-290-7709. As always, we use the highest quality gear and everything is included: gear, tackle, fish-cleaning, and ICE!  It’s “no worries” fishing.  Just come aboard and FISH.

Capt. Brett Taylor ~ www.reelreactioncharters.com ~ Call or Text: 609-290-7709

We had some nice weakfish this week in the bay. 15 to 17 inch fish and then we had some 23 and 24 inch weakies like this one Greg Borras of Wantage, NJ bagged on a live killie meant for a fluke. We did have a pair of nice fluke, too, 19 1/2 and 20 inch fish that were mixed in with the weakies on the east side of Barnegat Bay. We also had a two bad efforts in the same spot, so it’s not like we’re beating them up, but they are quality fish when we get them. The inlet is giving up all size blues for us lately, last night (Wed) we had 3 to 6 pound fish, a pair of 9 and 10 pounders and some short stripers. Those fish are on soft plastics and poppers. Mix in some fluking and it’s a well rounded trip.

Sailing Open Boat or Charter tomorrow (Fri) afternoon, Noon to 5 PM and two trips Saturday, 5AM to 10 AM and then again 10AM to 3PM.

The forecast looks really good for running offshore Sun and Mon so I am running Open Boat or Charter for either inshore or offshore fishing. Maybe Barnegat Ridge…Resor…Fingers….Bonita, Bluefin, Mako? I’m game! Call me for more info.

Capt. Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

5f55AM 

We had some improvement late last week with a decent catch of fluke and sea bass with plenty of action for a first time charter group from Lancaster, PA. The south winds cranked up from Friday on and it hurt the fishing. The water temps dropped from the upper 60’s to the upper 50’s. Once things get straightened out with some west winds it should bounce back. 
We are currently fishing for fluke everyday 8AM to 1 PM. Sea bass is closed till July 1 so they are safe for the moment. We are also sailing our nightly sunset cruise at 7 PM.

The south blow over the last couple of days cooled the water off quite a bit along the beach. Very similar to last week after  a hard south wind, the bass chewed very good early in the wash. Austin Pounds landed quite a few schoolies on bucktails this morning on the north end before the sun burned through the clouds. The fluke were picky throughout the morning but once dead low came it was just about every cast. No doormats, but respectable fish and a much better improvement size wise compared to last week. Both chartreuse and white swimming mullet were the ticket. I also ran into Steve George who was doing very well and tagging fluke for Monmouth University.  Eventually, the south wind picked up and the tide changed causing the bite to shut off pretty quickly. Fortunately, both the wind and forecast look to be in our favor over the next couple of days. Now is the time to get out and get on it! 

Tight Lines,

Dan DiPasquale

Photo: Steve George 

Fishing the offshore waters has offered up awesome action for local angler. Both the shark and tuna fishing have been very good. Here’s some recent reports from this past weekend. Let’s hope this weather clears and allows for more time out on the edge.

Captain Jeff Warford aboard the Reel Innovations got into them good AGAIN! The captain and crew fished the 16th into the 17th and mo-hawked ’em. The crew headed and fished a canyon way down south (100+ miles run) where the yellowfin bite has been good. Here’s Jeff’s report from the epic trip.

“We headed out for an overnight canyon trip and was greeted with flat calm seas. Arriving on the grounds at 5pm on Friday afternoon, it only took four minutes to put the first FOUR yellowfin in the box! The rest of the evening saw much of the same action, boating 12 quality yellowfin from 35-55lbs. We set up at night in 70 fathoms and quickly had mackerel and squid in the lights. About 45 minutes in we were hooked up to our first double header of makos. By midnight we had 5 makos and 2 brown sharks before calling it quits for the night. We kept one 100lb mako for the table and released the rest. The largest was about 175lb. Up on the troll in the morning we quickly boxed another 5 yellowfin before the boat traffic took over and became too much. The guys were anxious to try some tile fishing so I decided to go to an area up the line. We planned one scouting an area on the way and boy did it pay off. After coming across what looked like nat-geo, we were back into a hot bite. Our first pass threw the area and four bluefin piled on at once. We kept our legal limit and continued on to the tile grounds. In less than an hour we had a 50/50 mix of 20 nice golden/blue line tiles. What an awesome trip!”

Captain Bill aboard the Reel Trouble reported nice fishing on the tuna grounds. Check out this round one.

Blue Runner Sportfishing reports the yellowfin tuna are here! “We recently had Greg Steinman along with Bill, George, Don, Ken and Tom out for an extended day trip. Fishing got off to a good start first thing in the morning with the very first rod in the water getting nailed 10 ft off the stern. It was steady most of the day with flurries of red hot bites. By days end we landed 43 Yellowfin (only keeping 12) and 11 Bluefin to 120lbs. We also saw our first Mahi of the season. With the weather holding out, we decided to try for a Mako before heading in. First bite was the right one and a very fat 80″ Mako hit the deck. The fish was easily 200 lbs. Got back to dock very early morning so guys could spend Fathers Day at home. Looks like we will be sitting out next few days with bad weather.”

Andrew Moody reported, “Recent offshore trip was really good. We caugth 10 big eye, four yellowfin and one bluefin. It was nuts! We had a wolfpack pile on… Four 80 pound class tuna all at the same.”

Brandon and Alan Kape fishing with Jeremy Gers got it done. “Slob bluefin and a nice 150 pound bigeye to spice it up the sushi plate the weekend!”

Angler Pete Nork aboard the Las Sofias caught and weighed in a 176 pound mako for the Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club’s mako and tuna tournament. They were fishing the waters outside of the fingers.

While the offshore fishing stole the spotlight on this post, we would like to share info on a doormat fluke that was weighed in this past weekend. Giuseppe Rubino caught this 28.25″ 8.9 pound fatty in the bay a couple days ago. He got it on a bucktail with a live minnow.

Here’s some info from the state…

The recreational summer flounder (fluke) season that began on May 25 keeps intact an 18-inch minimum size limit for fluke, instead of the 19-inch size limit originally mandated by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).

NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife biologists provided data demonstrating that the 19-inch size limit will:

– Result in excessive harvesting of breeding females that are key to ensuring a healthy and sustainable resource
– Negatively impact the fluke population by increasing the discard mortality to levels that are higher than the anticipated harvest
– Adversely affect recreational anglers and businesses, as fluke, is one of the state’ most popular sport fish

New Jersey has been found out of compliance by the ASMFC which has reported this determination to the Secretary of Commerce.  An appeal will be heard on June 20th in front of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In order for New Jersey to support its case for a smaller size limit, it is critically important anglers do their part to reduce the mortality rate of fish that are caught and released. This can be done in many ways including proper handling and release of fluke caught and the use of larger hooks that help reduce the catch of smaller fish (sizes 7.0 – 9.0 are recommended).

The Division of Fish and Wildlife has posted information regarding the 2017 fluke season and information on how to reduce fluke mortality at https://www.njfishandwildlife.com/fluke.htm. Information will be updated throughout the season.

Please do your part to reduce discard mortality of fluke, and ensure healthy fisheries and great fishing for the future!