Anglers aboard the Reel Fantasea continue to enjoy fast out of the gate action minutes away from throwing the lines off the dock,  mixing it up between a host of usual suspects with a heavy dose of drag burning denizens  such as big double digit slammer blues, and fluke and even welcomed stripers rounding out the catches for August for our instructed anglers.

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Some say strike while the iron is hot. Well, looks like the Debbie M’s iron is hot. Thursday I had Tom Foote along with four kids Thursday for some fluke fishing. It started off slow and I had to make few moves to find the bite. Before the fluke turned on they did get to battle a southern sting ray that was about the size of a Civic’s hood. Boat side knowing it would never fit into my net I tried. After seeing the tail on this beast and remembering Steve Irwin I put enough tension on the line to break it free. No way did I want to be near its business end if it meant business. Once on the fluke, the kids had steady action landing over twenty shorts and some small blues and sea bass. With the kids slowing down it was time for Tom to fish. Well even though he got one fish it was a quality flatty coming in at 7.9 pounds. It was until Friday’s trip with friends from Oregon, Kurt and Alison Albrecht, and Brian Farmer from Florida. All three are seasoned fishermen and fisherwoman. In the last few years, Allison has really dialed in the saltwater fishing off Oregon’s rocky coast. Over the years Brian has fished with countless times when back in NJ. Around the jetty, we did not find the blues cooperating even after seeing them surfing cresting waves. They are still here but since the ocean got into the mid-70s have not been feeding all day long. We did manage some blues and a schoolie bass for Alison. Switching over to fluke we went big looking to target keeper. Brian and I each got a fish a little over 20’” but it was Alison fish that had the hot iron striking. Using a ultralight St Croix, the best rods on Earth, spooled with 6-pound mono the doubled over rod and screaming drag was all we needed to know the fish of a lifetime was on. Alison fought it like a pro, letting the fish take drag when it wanted to and pumping the rod and reeling keeping the pressure constant all the time. During the fight, the fish went under the boat against the current and managed to tangle two other lines. Brian worked on freeing the lines calmly while I just wanted them cut so we did not lose the fish. Tired from the fight the beast came to the surface sideways. Lucky I am all practiced up with my getting skill’s 😉 Alison’s fish pulled the scale down at Bobbie’s Boats to 10.1 pounds. A true doormat and the second one for Lighthouse Sportfishing in the last eight days. Also, don’t let it overshadow Tom’s 7.9 pounder which is also a quality fluke. Oh, and Alison got a Barnegat Bay slam. Was supposed to run an off the beach shark trip today but canceled based on the forecast.

Have some dates open for the next two weeks. Remember all trips are customized. Still some time for fluke and if are looking for a big fish I am dialed in right now. No positive word on weakfish in the bay. Spikes should be congregating off the beaches by now. Hoping the ridge open up this week. I will let you know and if it does will offer those trips as well.

Screaming drags, Capt. Alex 609-548-2511

The beaches of Long Beach Island have a lot to offer. Beautiful soft white sand, clean soothing warm saltwater, relaxing sound of the waves on shore and FISHING!!! We all know the LBI surf has some of New Jersey’s (and the eastern seaboard’s) best surf fishing. Come down to the shore and enjoy the best before summer ends.

The Beach Boyz, Austin Pounds and friends are making the most out of the summertime surf fishing on Long Beach Island. “Limit of fluke by day and sharks all night.” Austin said, “No boat needed! Just put your feet in the sand.” Recently the Boyz caught their fluke limit with fish up to 24″ and by far their best night of the year with big sand tiger sharks! “Epic night! Six sharks, two giants. One taped out at 90″ and the largest one stretched 97″.”

Antonio Vitelli also reported releasing a large sand tiger a couple nights ago.

While fluke and shark dominate the surf all summer other species like kingfish, bluefish and striped bass are here. Grey Coleston said his last trip out on the surf produced a couple kingfish.” Bluefish are still in the suds too with an occasional striped bass.

We posted a report about the flare up of striped bass activity on the recent full moon and a reader Louise Warren DeMichele sent in this confirmation, “They are out there! We caught this one off the Ship Bottom surf.” Others that set out to target bass on lures produced fishing the Inlet rocks at night on the incoming tide.

Fish in the bay are having a field day (and night) with all of the bait that’s around. Both peanut bunker and spearing are thick in the Island’s backwaters. The other night anchored up sharking massive piles of bait pushed past with the tide. Achers of bait lit up with breaking fish in the moon light is an awesome sight to see but probably the most frustrating thing when the boat is outfitted with all compact lever drag reels on short medium class stand up rods. Not a lure on the boat and even if we found one in the bilge nothing to cast it more than 10′. Never again!!!

Fluke Fishing:

While some are still hammering out really nice fish in the bay and Inlet, now is a great time to fish the reefs and wrecks.

Captain Mark of Laura Sportfishing reports good fluke fishing especially late week and into the weekend. “Gulp baits are the ticket! The bigger the better. The 5 and 6″ minnow and grubs are what they want.” We suggest fishing them on Spro Bucktails (some bucktails fail to have the proper balance, flash on head and hair but most importantly the proper hook and bait keeper ) with a stinger Gamakatsu assist hook. You’ll put an end to missing short strikes

“I’ve been on the water everyday and right now I’m totally dialed in. Certain areas have been fished hard and picked. If you know where to look there is an abundance of some really nice ones at that. In the past week the boat had 40 keepers. We are mowing through Gulp but you got to give them what they want! Fish the reefs and wrecks and you’ll score!”

James Sonday and Katie Marshall reported a great day on the water recently. They caught fluke up to 25″ managing seven keepers.

Pat DiPasquale fished with Howard Clark and they got on the meat! They pounded out their limit.

Fish Head’s alumni Rob Reale got a nice 26″ fluke recently. As you can see in the photo his dad Rocco was pumped!

Captain Lou aboard the Miss Barnegat Light reports fishing continues with waves of action. “We’ve had some high points but also some lows.  Lots of action with short fluke, sea bass and mackerel with a handful of keeper fluke each trip. The fluke that are keepers are all nice fish in the 3-5 pound range. Sometimes the kids show the adults how it’s done! Here’s one youth angler showing off two nice fluke.

Amongst fish, one guy caught a nice quality rod and reel setup off the bottom. It must have just went overboard because it was in great condition. You never know what you are going to catch! Jump aboard for some fun bottom fishing or join us on a sunset cruise!

Offshore Fishing Report:

The offshore report as of late has been up and down. One day the bite goes off then the next… “You should of been here yesterday.” On the midshore bluefin grounds anglers have been pounding Lemkes and the waters around the Edward Cole. Recently the light tackle chunk at Lemkes has produced fish. The ones catching are scaling down to 30/40# flourocarbon leader. The Cole, a spot which produced very well for many seems to have dried up but that may change. Let’s hope it turns back on. Recently we got a solid report of fish at the Star and the Fingers. There anglers caught on the jig and troll. It is anyone’s guess how long they will stick around. Maybe they’ll push up the line and hang on the west side of the Chicken. They could be already making a nice heading for boats out of Barnegat Light. One report of fish at the Little Italy so that area is worth a look.

Out at the edge reports back from a couple boats had a skunk theme both on the troll and chunk. One captain reported, “We smashed them on the moon. Fishing was bonkers!” Sometimes coming off a moon fishing can slow up and that’s what seems to be happening now. The Hudson reports slowed. A couple large 60-80# yellowbirds were taken out of the Toms. There’s boats catching just not a ton. You gotta persevere and take the good with the bad. Keep on keeping on. This season has been great and there’s a lot more season ahead of us!

Colette Tallent stopped in and geared up for an offshore trip with the kids. The kids first trip offshore was an awesome experience. This smile explains it all!

Can you really catch stripers in August? Yes, YOU can ! Because I know how! Keepers? Of course are another question all together. Anglers seeking a coveted Barnegat Bay Grand Slam continue to jump aboard the Reel Fantasea because we “ARE” “THE” inshore light tackle specialists! We won’t take the “easy day” of endless drifts for fluke because we teach and coach as we go, this is “all hand’s on fishing” with you and yours until trips end.

  

The 2017 summer fishing season continues to offer excellent light tackle fishing opportunities for both novice and veteran anglers aboard the Reel Fantasea!

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Been crazy busy the last four days with seven trips during that time. Spending that much time on the bay, during many tide cycles, you kind of get the pulse of the ebb and the flood. So much, that you don’t even need to look at a tide app. All you need to do is to pay attention to nature’s subtle cues and sync your clock to hers. Having fished in Florida many times years ago I started subscribing the to the Florida Sportsman magazine. Even though it was geared to fishing another State, dah that’s obvious, you glean information from the articles and apply them to your area. One resonating theme was the benefits of live bait. Sometimes in Florida, you do not even start fishing until you “make bait”. Now, having long subscribed to that theme, I do what it takes to make bait. And sometimes the rewards from those benefits are reaped to the extreme. Case in point Tuesday’s magic hour trip with Michael Petruzziello. Before we started fishing I had him and his friend Dianne make bait in the form of snappers for the last part of the trip when the tide would be perfect. Coming across what was literally and acre + of snappers blitzing we quickly put a good dozen in the Debbie M’s live well. After messing around with some adult bluefish around the inlet we switched over to fluke fishing. In doing so, and I kid you not, I said to Michael “I just have this weird feeling we are going to be able to catch a really nice fluke tonight”. With two live snappers unhappily sent to the bottom, I positioned the boat so that the lines were in the correct drift. Shortly thereafter, Michael, “I think I have a fish or I am stuck on bottom”. To which I replied, “you have a FISH”. With the St Croix rod doing double duty, I knew immediately he was battling flukezilla. When we got first glimpse of the denizen from the deep I instructed Michael, not the take the fishes’ head out of the water and work with me to get it to the net. I’m not sure if my first try with the net was a big miss or fluekzilla saw the net and dove down 10 feet. None the less, on the second pass the beast was in the net and we welcomed it aboard the Debbie M. Taped out at 30” and coming in at 10 lbs. 2 oz. it was a true doormat. This is the second doormat I have put a client on in the last three years. The last one was 11.5 pounds and fell to a live 8” peanut bunker. There’s something to be said about making bait.

Screaming drags, Capt Alex 609-548-2511