The last few trips have seen many species aboard The Bonnie Anne. Last weekend we were on sea bass with Brian and Jim McGee and their father Jim Sr. on their annual Father’s Day trip. The group was on the sea bass and left with bags of fillets filled with sea bass and ling. Our first stop had throw back after throw back. It was our 3rd stop that was holding nice hump heads for the group. Father’s Day I was out with “The” Bonnie Anne and our 3 boys, ages 8, 6, and 2. We hit sea bass for an hour and the kids put 8 in the box and then we played with cocktail blues using metals at the inlet. Perfect Father’s Day. Sea bass opens again on July 1st.
This weekend I had Janet and Rich Krakowski out with sons Rich and Alex. This was their first time ever bucktailing for fluke and Janet’s first time ever fishing. We hit channel edges on the outgoing at the north end. The group put 3 keepers in the box at 18”, 19”, and 20.5”. The fish didn’t seem to prefer a certain color and all Gulp! colors produced. The group finished with over 20 fish, a couple 3ft. houndfish and a sundial.
School is out and we are fishing weekdays now! We use top quality rods, reels, and tackle, provide all bait, and ice. Just show up and have a great time catching fish! Call or email to book.
Sorry for missing last weeks update but I was enjoying my Father’s Day with family and friends and couldn’t pull my self away. I certainly hope all the dads enjoyed their day as well!
Stripers, Blues and Fluke have been our main targets this week with the closing of seabass season for now. With that being said our anglers have scored all three species [ Barnegat Bay Slam!!] consistently on trips with some of our anglers scoring multiple slams individually !!
Blues have been running into the drag scoring 9-12lbs ranges with most ranging about 3 – 5lbs while our fluke have been scored to 25″ and weighing up to almost 6lbs. Stripers are of the catch and release variety but are fantastically entertaining on light spinning tackle.
Presently I only have next Sunday July 1st available for folks looking for some salty light tackle fun!
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With lesser tidal current, the backbay Fluke fishing is definitely start to improve, but we still have to contend with slime grass and close to 20 degree temperature swings. The key has been to finding cleaner water and you can really do some damage when the wind is close to calm. We have been averaging 20 to over 35 fish per trip and the keepers are varying 1 to 5 depending on the winds. With the end of the school year and finals, I got a little behind on my reports (too many to list here), so check them out on our website (www.reelreactioncharters.com), click on reports. I’m out of school and I’m running charters 7 days a week through September 1st.
We are 7 days a week (morning/afternoon). If interested in booking a charter, book our site (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.
Summer is officially here! That means inshore fluke fishing and offshore shark/tuna. Both of these are firing on all cylinders!!!
Fluke fishing in the bay has been good. surf anglers are also cranking out a catch. The ocean is picking up too but shorts, sea robins and dog fish dominate. We expect the inshore reef sites and wrecks as well as open bottom areas to pick up. Usually July and August are very good out there.
The surf fishing continues with a mix of different species. Even though most surf anglers have switched over to fluke and kingfish, the occasional striped bass and bluefish catch prove they are still hanging around.
Bill Montes fished the mid-island surf today and caught a nice size striped bass on our FishHeads salted clam.
Those looking for a good pull are looking towards sharks. Both sandbar and sand tiger sharks are present.
The inlet is producing fluke, striped bass and triggerfish.
Those looking to get out and enjoy the water and all that Long Beach Island has to offer should get out on Barnegat Bay. Go crabbing! Or if you are into other shellfish… head to the state’s website and purchase a shellfish license. Get out and go clamming! We’ve got all the essential crabbing and clamming supplies.
Speaking of shellfish and the bay… I had a blast last weekend clamming with the family. We had a great haul. Between four of us, in two hours we got almost 300 hard clams in a good assortment of sizes.
On Wednesday got a request to help out the Chamber with an oyster farming media project featuring Forty North Oysters. Went out to the “farm” and learned a lot about these tasty bivalves. The group was the first to sample the exclusive Parker’s Pearls for Beach Haven’s Parker Garage. For those that watched our live Instagram feed… I hope you enjoyed. There was a lot shared and I learned a ton about the amazing value oysters potentially offer to our waters. An adult oyster filters about a gallon of water per hour!
Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Fishing Report
by Jim Hutchinson Sr.
Black sea bass season is temporarily on hold, but fluke fishing action continues to remain steady for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association. A few bluefish are around the inlets, and offshore reports are very good for both yellowfin and bluefin tuna. Sharks are also making their presence known offshore.
Captain Ray Lopez and mate Liane Lopez on the “Miss Liane” reported some great family type fishing for black sea bass on inshore structure. The Occhipinti family celebrated Father’s Day in great style with “drop and reel” action.
Captain Carl Sheppard reports he too has been running family trips of up to 12 anglers on mostly half-day trips. His groups have been averaging 25 fish per trip. He has been blaming cool water for the slow action but anticipates increased action as the water has starting warming. On one recent inshore trip Captain Carl had bluefin tuna breaking water around the boat, but he was unable to coax any to his lines.
Captain Brett Taylor of Reel Reaction Sportfishing reports a definite improvement in his fishing trips over the past few days. As the water temperatures have warmed, the slime grass on the bottom is leaving, making fluke drifting much easier. Weather conditions made fishing touch recently for Ian Habich and his wife Tracey. Using bucktails, they managed to put 3 keeper fluke in the box up to 5.5 pounds along with a catch and release short striper. The finished the day with 3-6 pound bluefish caught in the inlet. Other trips resulted in 20 short fluke along with one keeper and another with five keepers to 22-inches. The bluefish in the inlet have been completing his trips.
This is a good time to book an offshore tuna trip. The weather is decent and the fish are there. For information on tuna fishing and the boats of the BHCFA go to the website at www.bhcfa.net.
We ran out to the Wilmington Canyon early Saturday morning. We met at the dock at 2:30 AM and threw the ropes by 3 AM. The chart plotter displayed 88 miles to our destination and I thought that’s a lot further than my Seaside Piers or Lavallette run. Ocean was flat calm and the marine forecast was for more of the same all weekend. Hoping this was going to be redemption time for last weeks zero we pulled at the Spencer Canyon.
I had a full Open Boat trip of four guys, Stuart Lombardi of NYC, Alan Smith of Manahawkin, NJ, Craig Kelley and his son-in-law Jarrett Powell both from Tuckerton, NJ. We arrived at the Wilmington around 7:30 AM and put out an eight rod spread. Three spreader bars, three squid chains, a cedar plug, and a Yummee Flying Fish I attempted to fish from a kite. There was not enough wind and the helium tank did not deliver enough gas to the assist balloon so I wound up with a whirling dervish instead of a stable square kite. It wrapped around one of the other lures and I spent the next 20 minutes untangling. When we started we had 63 degree water and some pilot whales. During my untangling, I gave the wheel to Stuart and gave him a heading to bring us deeper and more southerly. In that 20 minutes, the radio was lit up with boats hooking up yellowfin in 68 to 69 degree water. I grabbed the wheel back from Stuart and noticed the spike in water temp as well as a dozen circling boats and whales and porpoise. He brought us right to the spot!
We trolled around that area seeing and hearing boats hooked up, but not a touch for us. I started second guessing our spread, our speed, …..me. I dropped the RPM’s a little and that dropped us from 6.3 to 5.8 knots. I started checking the lures for grass as there was a little on the surface but they came in clean and alas…as I was checking the last lure we watched a yellowfin crush a rainbow spreader bar, and another hit the green machine bar, and another hit the flatlined cedar plug, and another on the second rainbow spreader bar……four on! We boated three of the four, all about 20 something pounds but over the legal size so they went in the cooler. We beat up that area some more and got a double header of slightly bigger fish and then we tripled up with a 20 pounder and two others that were taking more line and a little longer to subdue. They wound up being 40 and 50 pounders.
Here’s a video of that hookup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65qGkX2xTII
We were all boxed up and headed for the barn feeling great about the day and about halfway home I saw schools of bluefin airing out. We put out a quick four rod spread and a 50 pound bluefin crushed the flatlined red and white cedar plug. Forty five minutes on a 20 class, Jarrett decked a 50 pound bluefin. Got back to the marina by 6:30 PM and all was right with the world.
Craig, Jarrett, Stuart, Alan
We will be running offshore to the tuna grounds from time to time. Either the canyons or hopefully the mid range grounds, like 40 to 60 mile range will heat up in the coming weeks. These trips will always be announced with short notice, sometimes only a day or two before, as we are looking for perfection weather to run offshore. If you would like to be on our email list for these and all of our trips, as well as our fishing reports you can email us from our website.
As always we will also be fishing for bonita, albacore, bluefish, stripers, weakfish, fluke, kingfish and all of the mixed bag bay fishing. We will also be light tackle shark fishing within five miles of the inlet for two to four foot browns, dusky, and spinner sharks. All catch and release and a lot of fun.
Color on a yellowfin.Stuart and Craig with our bigger yellowfins.
~Capt Dave DeGennaro, Hi Flier Sportfishing, 732.330.5674, www.hiflier.com
Lots of great weather paired with lots of great fishing reports. The offshore season continues to fire on all cylinders with anglers coming in with solid catches.
Captain Cody Melton aboard the Heavy Metals out of Barnegat Light, “We got the first Big Eye in the boat yesterday, paired with some yellowfin it was a great trip.”
Captain Jeff aboard the Reel Innovations out of Harvey Cedars had another great trip to the edge! He reported, “We had a great time on our Father’s Day Canyon Trip! On the way we came across a lots of life on the inshore tuna grounds. Bluefin were boiling on top and we hooked up right away. Got a few fish in the boat and they got back on track to the edge. It turned out to be an awesome time… five big eye tuna, eight yellowfin tuna and multiple bluefin!”
Store staffer Kelley and Dave fished the surf for fluke this morning. They did good quantity wise but only a couple keeprs.. Kelley said the bite was consistent on Pink Gulp.”
Chet Kosarek sent in the report, “Steady pick of mostly undersized sea bass and fluke at Barnegat Reef Saturday. A lot of sea robins to pick through too. Spoke to guys who did well with tuna at the canyons. Fished the surf mid-island Sunday, nothing.”
Duncan Adrift
On Saturday June 16th while fishing offshore about 50 miles out from Atlantic City, Jay Weinberg met Duncan Adrift! Duncan is currently in the early stages of his trans Atlantic row in support of WaterAid (International non-profit advocate for clean drinking water and sanitation.) Four days in rowing a self built clinker style skiff, he’s made great progress but still has a long way to go on his journey from New York to Lochinver Scotland. Go to our Instagram Page for a short video clip.
Here’s the LBI Fishing Report Update for Friday night, June 15th. This past week the weather settled out and the weekend is set for flawless fun on the water. With lots of sun, reasonably light winds and fair seas, the shop has been slamming. Inshore, offshore and from shore anglers are gearing up and fishing hard. It’s game time.
June’s new moon was on Wednesday 13th and this dark side continues to produce! Fluke, Striped bass and bluefish reports continue from the LBI surf. The surf striper action has slowed slightly but we should have another couple of weeks. Yellow eyes are with them and also those anglers chunking bunker are encountering other toothy ones. Both brown sharks and sand tigers are here.
Shop regular Pete stopped in the other night with some line issues. After a long one on one with store staffer Blake, Pete was back on track. He stopped back yesterday and reported, “I released one nice brown shark and dropped one better fish.”
The inshore sea bass fishing is good but small fish ruling the roost. Hopefully you can find a spot that isn’t picked out. Most all reports are themed around lots of small throw backs. The striped bass troll bite is a slow pick at best. We heard a few skunk reports recently. One positive through the grapevine report today of a 25# class fish on an Mojo.
Bay fluke fishing is good and has been strong. Earlier in the week we had some solid fluke weighed in. The biggest was 7.08 lbs, taping out at 25.75″ and the smallest was 3.16 lbs.
Also fishing hard this past week, Store Staffer Max is on the fluke. He was on the bay couple mornings and reported good fishing. Max says, “Good weather and great fishing. Get out there!”
John Delsordo enjoyed the day on the water with his wife Danielle today and they got into some nice fluke. John shared, “(I’m a) proud husband! She pulls up this 25″ fluke all casual.”
Other species like striped bass, bluefish and weakfish are in the bay too.
Ryan Matejik reported striped bass on a great top water popper bite with flat calm back bay conditions.
Fish Heads Alumni Sam Wiesnewski stopped in the shop and gave us a solid report on the weakfish. He reported they are here roaming Barnegat Bay and some good quality size fish too! “Weakfish in the 3-5 pound range are here in strong numbers. Working a small lead head jig rigged with a rubber softbait and you’ll get them. Here’s one of many that he caught and release fishing with his friend the other morning.”
This weekend weather has the offshore boyz pumped and heading east! Sharks and tuna are waiting… Go Get Em!
These patented Side Tracker Spreader Bar feature a Chatter Lures exclusive multi-directional keel rudder which takes the splash bar out and away from the boat. The keel rudder adjusts in seconds so the same bar can be fished on port or starboard. These innovative fish killers are a huge help to small boat anglers, especially center consoles (well know for having limited space and tight spreads) heading offshore trolling without outriggers.
The side tracking ability of these elite spreader bars help anglers by effectively doubling the width of ones spread and more over tracking out into clean water way from the boat’s wake and prop wash. These are already well known in offshore circles for concsistently being the first to get bit. Professional rigged with top quality components in the USA. Check them out here at Fisherman’s Headquarters today.
Chatter Lures Side Tracker Spreader Bars are innovative fish killers. In the photo you’ll see the 19″ wide Ti-Bar with two, two plus one bird drops and a mainline three plus one hard head bullet interchangeable stinger(aka Green Machine). At the center of the bar you’ll find the magic, a Chatter Lures Side Tracker Bird which features an adjustable keel rudder. Please note this photo shows the bar upside down. Don’t worry! In the water when flipped, this bar rights its self auto correcting to the proper position.
Availability Info – Our first delivery of the Chatter Lures Side Tracker Spreader Bars arrived today June 15. For now only two colors (green and zucchini) with green birds. We expect in the next week or two we’ll see some yellow birds as well as some black and purple which are made with purple birds. Eventually word has it white will be one of the later colors to be made.
Fluke-A-Mania Fishing Tournament
Save the date! The 3rd Annual Fluke-A-Mania Fishing Tournament is July 7, 2018. Hosted by the Beach Haven MArkin Tuna Club, the tournament is to benefit The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Last year the even raised $3000. The Awards Dinner on Saturday July 9, 2018 will have live entertainment, cash bar, complimentary BBQ dinner and raffles. For the $100 registration fee this is by far the most bang for your buck tournament wise.
Patrick Sebile stopped by the shop last week (6/6/18) and made a special delivery. He hand delivered the new Ocean Born Lures. The Ocean Born Flying Series Popper and Pencil are finally here. Check out these certified fish killers today…Ocean Born Lures!
About Patrick Sebile
Ocean Born Lures by A Band Of Anglers is a fairly new and unknown company from the world’s top lure mastermind, Patrick Sebile. Most in the fishing world know Patrick Sebile. For those who don’t… He is one of the world’s best lure designers and anglers. Well known for traveling the world and fishing hard, to date Patrick recorded catching 776 species of fish. He’s held records all around the world including many IGFA records. Through traveling Patrick studies different predator game fish, forage (bait) and experiences diverse fishing situations.
With his deep knowledge Patrick started Sebile Innovative Fishing. Renown for tournament and award winning fishing lures, Sebile is the only brand to ever make a clean sweep of the lure categories at the top three tackle trade shows in the same year.
Sebile introduced to the world the Magic Swimmer and the Stick Shadd (among many other unique and very productive lures). For us in the northeast saltwater market, these two lures downright revolutionized the saltwater lure market. From inshore to offshore these lures changed the game. For anyone who has not fished them, I strongly suggest giving them a few casts. They’ll quickly become one of your top producers. There’s a lot to be said about each of these however that’s for another blog post.
Pure Fishing purchased Sebile Innovative Fishing in 2011. Eventually, Patrick left the company in 2017 and less than a year later… he’s back making lures. This is where the real story begins…
A Band Of Anglers
With passion for fishing and deep understanding of fish and hydrodynamics, Patrick confidently founded A Band Of Anglers. Patrick said it best, “A Band Of Anglers is a team of anglers who all understand the facets of fishing and the industry. Most of all they all share a love of the sport.” This team made Ocean Born Lures and they have lots of new and exciting fishing related items coming. For now we’ll introduce the new Ocean Born Lures.
Ocean Born Lures
Ocean Born Lures by Patrick Sebile’s A Band Of Anglers are real deal fishing lures dedicated to powerful saltwater game fish. Built with the utmost attention to detail these lures offer the best action, strength and quality craftsmanship. Using top quality hardware (split rings, treble hooks) these lures are ready to fish right out of the package. Best of all these lures are priced right offering anglers a solid value. Can’t beat a custom style plug at $20.
Ocean Born Flying Series
The Ocean Born Lures Flying Series is based around the fundamental principle, you can’t catch fish if you can’t reach them. The lures in this series feature a huge leap forward in lure design, optimized to be the ultimate long cast fishing lures. The unique side wings enhance aerodynamics which maximizes casting ability and these wings give the lure lift once in the water. The specialty belly ribs reduce air resistance on the cast and they add turbulence in the water during the retrieve. Another key feature that was not over looked was action. As with all of Patrick’s lures the swimming/ popping action is spot on!
This image shows the unique side wings and belly ribs which enhance the lures characteristics in the air and in the water.
“The field testing has been unreal!” Patrick reports, “These lures are loved by stripers!”
Ocean Born Flying Popper
The Ocean Born Flying Popper fishing lure is a classic shape with Patrick’s custom modifications. The narrow neck design (commonly referred to as a “Polaris” or “Little Neck Popper”) is known for its great casting ability and versatility working in nearly all conditions (rough water and sweeping current) day and night. With the Flying Popper you can pop, skip or walk it.
Available in one size 5 1/2″ and three different weighed models; floating (FL-2oz), sinking (SK-2 3/4oz) and super long distance (SLD-4oz). The SK and SLD are best in windy conditions and also shine as a sub surface swimmer when fished with a slow cadence. These models swim with action much like a bibbed or lipped swimming plug. This versatility make the sinking versions a must have! Check out the Ocean Born Flying Popper Here
Ocean Born Flying Pencil
The Ocean Born Flying Pencil is Patrick Sebile’s take on the Pencil Popper. All along the Striper Coast, year after year lots of big fish fall for pencils. One of the most efficient long distance casting lures, pencil poppers, are well known for raising fish on slow days. Designed to resemble an injured bait fish skipping across the surface, Pencil Poppers dance on top with sass. They cover lots of water and work great in all conditions. Primarily day time lures, they are a great wake up call at first light and also get the attention of picky fish.
The Green Mackerel color pattern is a great choice anywhere along the striper coast.
Available in one size 6 1/3″ and three different weighed models; floating (FL-2 1/2oz), sinking (SK-3oz) and super long distance (SLD-4 1/2oz). Choose the FL for most common conditions; however, stet up to the SK and SLD on windy days. The SLD is a must have when fishing big water with heavy winds. Check out the Ocean Born Flying Pencil Here
Coming Soon At Ocean Born
With one of the most creative minds in the fishing industry at the helm, be on the look out for more innovation on the radar. Right now it’s Ocean Born Lure Flying Series Poppers and Pencils, but the team is growing the brand with lots of new things in the works. Soon the Series will have new additions like the a spook (Flying Crusher), a darter (Flying Darter) and a bottle plug (Flying Swimplug). We are also looking to these as well as future products like softbaits and rods, possibly more! It’s all in the pipeline! Stay Tuned!!!
Here’s a killer, the Ocean Born Flying Pencil Lure in bunker color way.
We ran to the Spencer Canyon on Sunday. Found the right water. Beautiful shade of blue. Tons of porpoise and whales. Skipjacks attacking our spread every 5 to 10 minutes. Caught one small bluefin tuna, not even big enough for the cooler and way too many skippies. That’s the report. We were one of the boats that didn’t catch that day.
Here’s what we’re doing in the next stretch going into the weekend. We will be running Open Boat or charter tomorrow (Thurs) and Fri, June 14 and 15 inshore fishing. Casting lures at the inlet jetty for stripers and blues with light tackle and drifting the bay channels for fluke. Leaving at Noon, returning at 5PM.
$150 person. 4 people max, all fish are shared.
Saturday, June 16, looks like the best day to run offshore, so as long as that forecast holds up, we are chasing tuna. Right now it shows no storm activity and a 1 to 2 ft sea condition. Probably headed for the canyons unless I get some good mid-range reports in the 50 to 60 mile range. The canyons we are fishing are about 85 miles. We would meet at the dock at 3AM and return around 5PM. $350 person. 4 people max, all fish are shared. If we stayed within the 60 mile range, it would be $300 person, but right now, the best reports are coming from the canyons. Yellowfin and bluefin.
Sunday, (Fathers Day!), June 17, we will be fishing inshore, same as above’s Thurs/Fri trips but we will start at 7AM and return at Noon.
609-494-5739
With lesser tidal current, the backbay Fluke fishing is definitely start to improve, but we still have to contend with slime grass and close to 20 degree temperature swings. The key has been to finding cleaner water and you can really do some damage when the wind is close to calm. We have been averaging 20 to over 35 fish per trip and the keepers are varying 1 to 5 depending on the winds. With the end of the school year and finals, I got a little behind on my reports (too many to list here), so check them out on our website (www.reelreactioncharters.com), click on reports. I’m out of school and I’m running charters 7 days a week through September 1st.
