December 27, 2009

5:00 PM

A few anglers tried surf fishing today and came back with a report that was common to them all, “Nice day to be on the beach, the wind and waves looked good but the water was too churned up… no fish caught”.

Received: Sunday, December 27, 2009 4:55 PM Subject: John Larson

Please mention the passing of John Larson on your site. Below is a link:

www.legacy.com/obituaries/app/obituary.aspx?n=john-larson&pid=137841775

Jim T., Bridgewater, NJ

John was a true local who did so much for Barnegat Light and the entire Long Beach Island. Because of John, there are a lot of anglers both young and old who have enjoyed great fishing trips aboard the Miss Barnegat Light both in New Jersey and in Florida. Also so many visitors enjoyed fresh seafood that came across his Viking Village docks. May his legacy continue. The entire family and staff of Fisherman’s Headquarters offer our sincerest condolences to the Larson Family.

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December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas!

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December 23, 2009

Open Thursday December 24th until 3PM…
Could be a little later, but you will need to call to confirm if considering coming after 3PM…
Have a Merry Christmas!

Yes, we have Gift Certificates.

Need a last minute present or stocking stuffer…
Along with a store full of tackle and apparel consider our rod clearance rack or the 50% off tackle walls.

A limited amount of Green Crabs are currently in stock.
…Please continue to give us your comments, otherwise we will not even try to order Green Crabs.
– Thank you

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December 22, 2009

A limited amount of Green Crabs should be here around noon time on Wednesday.
…Please continue to give us your comments, otherwise we will not even try to order.
– Thank you

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December 21, 2009

Is there any demand for Green Crabs out there?
…Please give us your comments, otherwise we will not even try to order.
– Thank you

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December 20, 2009

Received: Sunday, December 20, 2009 8:08 AM Subject: Re: Last Day ’09 Stripers

Took one last shot @ them B4 pulling the boat for the season right B4 the storm. The big boys (really girls) are still here and the upcoming storm put them on the feed! Caught Stripers along IBSP in 45 ft of water. 39″ length x 24″ girth – 28.1 lb Striper & 37″ x 24″ – 26.6 lb. Lost another big one @ the back of the boat. No birds, but lots of bait and when you were on the marks, you were on the fish! The schoolies have not shown yet, the big girls are still here, looks like fish into January!

Tight Lines til ’10 !

~ The Professor

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December 18, 2009

Just in time for Christmas but there is already only a limited stock… The new ZeeBaaS SurfEdge 3.5 knife now available.
www.fishermansheadquarters.com/zeebaas_surfedge_knife.htm

Received: Friday, December 18, 2009 8:38 PM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters last fishing report for 2009.

We finished our 2009 fishing season this week with frigid 18 degree temps at time of departure making ice on every surface that the sea spray came in contact with [ boat, canvas, rods ]. Regulars Jay Simmons and Ernie Rosenberg spent most of the day attempting to catch a few more stripers before they closed out their season. Although we gave maximum effort we could not find any stripers willing to cooperate so it was off to some wrecks for some nice blackfish action. The guys finished the day with a strong blackfish bite but with a strong snow storm baring down on us we had to head for the dock where a fork lift was waiting for us for the end of season haul out. It is a sad time of year but it has been a great season and with that I look forward to the next. Remember we are already booking for the 2010 season! Thanks for a great Season!

Happy Holidays from my family to yours. Best Fishes!

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

Received: Friday, December 18, 2009 3:01 PM   Subject: Saltwater angling registry

Could you tell me what is the reason for the upcoming saltwater angling registry that is going to happen in 2010 ? Also if you do not register what will the penalty or fine be and lastly who is going to patrol all of NJ beaches and back bays to issue fines if this is a mandatory registration.

~Thanks, Rich

Rich –

It’s our Federal Government at work. Basically Sportfisherman commented to the Feds that regulations are based on poor data and that we are not being properly represented, so this is a federal reaction that will create a registration that should assure more sportfishing information is acquired for a better data base. Yes, in a nut shell it’s more Big Brother stuff. But at this point it may be described as a necessary evil for us.

With few exceptions, registration is mandatory for those fishing Federal waters and in some cases State tidal waters for some species. Registration starts in January.

Enforcement… not actually sure. The federal government is to enforce. I guess that would be the Coast Guard and the Federal Wildlife Enforcement. (The guys that run up and down Holgate) Not sure how much if any the State will get involved. But since State tidal waters are involved you may see NJ Marine Police and NJ Wildlife officers also getting involved. It’s all going to be new grounds for everybody.

Fines… don’t know the penalty for non-registration.

If at some point the State of NJ creates a State Saltwater Fishing License, (another can of worms) and if the Fed’s approve the State program then the Federal registration would likely go away since the Fed’s will get there info from the State database.

Anglers tuna permits have been contacted for years and now more anglers will be contacted for inshore fishing information. If at some point in time you are contacted for a report… Don’t hold back data. Be honest… If your catching… Tell them so. The Feds need to know that fish are actually being caught. Otherwise we might be cut back harder.

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December 16, 2009

Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 6:24 AM  Subject: Striper Report 12/14

Per your request to here from private captains regarding Stripers…

They’re still here, had 3 quality fish 32″, 34″ & 38″ all on bunker spoons with three missed fish as big or larger in 4 hrs of trolling. Had to hunt around, no bird play, just needed to find the bait and the fish were there. Water temp was 48-49 so I believe it’s not over yet, just a lull in between all the storms, rain and wind. If we get the NWesterlies that they are predicting for the next 3 days I’ve gotta believe will get some balling of the bait and the fish and hopefully one last burst of fish before the fat lady sings. Tight lines.

~ The Professor

A good chance that the Stripers will be around as long as the sandeels remain.

Received: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 11:31 AM Subject: Head boats still fishing for Stripers

For the gentleman looking for a head boat to go out on for Stripers check out the “Miss Barnegat Light”. They are still sailing Fridays through Sunday, weather and patrons permitting. They will look for the fish! Excellent Captain and Crew!

~ Capt. Dave, “Kelley Lynn”

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December 15, 2009

Received: Tuesday, December 15, 2009 10:50 PM   Subject: striper trips

Are any headboats still going after stripers off of the island?
~ Thanks Bob

Dear Bob,
Headboats are more likely going for Tautog and Sea Bass this time of year that will place the headboat in federal waters. Since Striper fishing is prohibited all year long in federal waters the headboats are not likely to allow any fishing or possession for Stripers.
You may wish to contact your favorite headboat to confirm what they are actually doing.
There may be a walk on spot available on the smaller 3-5 man charter boats possibly making a last minute trip but you’ll need to find a captain that is still chartering. Sorry not sure which charters are still operating this time of the year. To our knowledge most have shut down operations for the year.
Any small boats that we are still getting reports from are all privately owned and fishing for tautog. The Striper reports are quiet.
Maybe some of those captains can give us some feed back.

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December 13, 2009

Sunday morning Steve Wurst was out in the Sea Trevor. It was a 4-man crew and 16 Tautog were caught. 80% of what they caught was keeper size. The biggest was a 9-lber. No Sea Bass at all. Steve fished mostly from a drift hitting spot after spot on the Garden State North using Green Crabs.  For some reason it seemed like there were more fish on the smaller structures.

Received: Sunday, December 13, 2009 5:38 PM Subject: report

Saturday December 12th there was a pretty stiff wind out of the west, the seas were about 3 to 5 feet. Water temperature was 48 degrees and there was a hard current out of the South. Fishing was steady most of the day a lot of life on the bottom, mostly shorts average catch today was 2 to 5 keepers per man. Big mouth Bob (aka Woo Woo) fished hard all day he was going for the hat trick three pools in a row, but he was shut down by his best friend Al from Lawrenceville NJ with a 10 lb 9 oz tog what a beauty.

~ Capt Frank, The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

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December 10, 2009

Receive: Thursday, December 10, 2009 6:49 PM Subject: Big Surf

No fish today – but surf was up & water dirty even though west wind made it very nice on the beach. If there was a surfer season I could have limited out.

PS I did catch a seagull who got caught in my braided line – lucky for him I had my knife to cut the line. The gull was able to fly off before the line cut his wing.

~ Tony C., Collegeville PA

Received Thursday, December 10, 2009 7:48 AM Subject: Reel Fantasea fishing report

This weeks early report is due to another Gale warning. I will not be fishing the usual Thursday and Friday. Stripers continue to be caught but keepers are becoming harder to come by. Blackfishing has been very productive with “drop and reel ” type fishing with some black fish hitting the scale at 9.5lbs [we had a few bigger fish break us off] with most keepers running 2-5lbs.

I had a chance to fish with my “lil’ bro” Ryan and Friend Brian Schmidt aka Schmidty for stripers and blackfish on a last minute cancellation. We started off slow but finished strong with 10 stripers [2 keepers ] and non-stop action with blackfish to that 9.5-lb mark I mentioned.

Wow is it me or does it seem like this years calendar seems to be missing a few months ? How can it be December and near the end of the 2009 fishing season? What a great year of camaraderie and fishing with all of you! I count my blessing everyday being able to do what I love to do and share in the fishing experience with such wonderful people who are as passionate about fishing as I am. My wish is that you all enjoyed your time as much as I did! I continue to be a student on every trip and keep an open mind on new ideas and tactics to hopefully bring excellence to the “action and catch” in this endeavor of mine. I hope that I have communicated that only 100%+ effort on my part will do and through that you may have become a better fisherperson and have enjoyed your fishing experience. The weather sometimes kept us on our toes but when the weather cooperated the fish did as well. With a great Blackfish bite going presently and weather permitting I will be closing out the season with blackfish. These trips will sail on weather windows only on Thursday and Fridays. Anyone interested in joining open boat trips shoot me an email or call. Give the gift of fishing ! I have gift certificates in any amount for the 2010 fishing season for that special fisherperson in your life. It beats a “Snuggy” or “Chia Pet” any day and you don’t have to deal with Mall traffic or parking. This years winners of the Reel Fantasea Charters season long Tournament are regulars Wayne Salvi and Jay Simmons. Wayne is Grand Master taking 3 top spots for biggest striper, biggest bluefish and biggest fluke while Jay takes the biggest weakfish category. Congratulations Guys! Remember top weights are good for 1/2 off a 5-hr back bay trip or a free open boat trip. All those who book trips are eligible and entered for the tournament. Can Wayne be unseated from his throne in 2010?

Did your Reel Fantasea experience meet your expectations? Was there something you may have preferred to do? As I strive for excellence any constructive feedback would be appreciated. If you enjoyed your fishing experience drop me a message as I will be adding a “Customer Testimonies” page and would love to add your quote.

My sincerest thank you to all of those who have chosen to fish with me this year and I hope to see all of you again next season. To all anglers out there, I wish you and yours a wonderful and blessed Holiday Season and a healthy and Happy New Year!

Best Fishes!

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

Received: Thursday, December 10, 2009 8:23 AM Subject: Christmas shopping

As a final edition of the fishing reports from the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association, I have prepared a gift list for Christmas.

Happy Holidays!
~ Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Finding the right gift for the fisherman on your Christmas list is not an easy chore. It can be very difficult to pinpoint what fishing gear he or she might really need and want.  The Captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association were given the assignment recently to prepare a Christmas fishing shopping list for all budgets.  Many captains like the idea of a gift certificate. With a gift certificate the recipient makes the final decision on exactly what is needed.
Captain Adam Nowalsky of the “Karen Ann II” has come up with the novel idea of “gift letters”. Captain Adam prepares 6-10 gift letters every year that families of regular customers can purchase for the angler in the family to fish on the “Karen Ann II”. He also likes the idea of tackle shop gift certificates.
Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Star Fish” also thinks a gift certificate for a fishing trip makes a thoughtful present. The amount of the certificate can be for all or part of the cost of a day on the water.
Captain Frank Camarda, who runs the headboat “Miss Beach Haven”, also likes the idea of a gift certificate, especially for the regulars on his boat. Since a day of fishing on a headboat costs much less than chartering a whole boat, this is a less expensive way to provide a day of fishing, especially for a beginning angler.
If you have a full bank account, Captain Tim Knorr who runs the “William Knorr” suggests treating your special angler to a fishing trip to an exotic local like Costa Rica. On a less expensive level, Captain Tim suggests a gift certificate on the “William Knorr” for an overnight tuna trip to one of the local offshore canyons.
Captain Dave Wittenborn of the “Arlene Ann” has some ideas for fishing gifts that will not break the piggy bank. A t-shirt with nice artwork adds a touch of class to an angler. Captain Dave also likes the idea of a Boga Grip (land & release tool) as a gift.
Fran Verdi, Captain of the “Drop Off”, suggests several items anglers would love under the Christmas tree. Captain Fran adds these are items he himself would like to receive. In addition to a gift certificate for a fishing trip on one of the BHCFA boats, he would like a new pair of sun glasses. Other items include a Trevela jigging rod, some new filet knives, and new Grundens foul weather gear. Surf fishermen might like a surf bag for the beach while a fish cooler always comes in handy. Captain Fran also likes the idea of a gift certificate to the tackle shop.
Captain John Koegler of the “Pop’s Pride” views presents as getting someone something they ordinarily would not splurge on. His examples of this line of thinking include a nice pair of sun glasses or some high quality filet knives like the Dexter-Russell brand. He recommends hi-carbon steel blades they (rust much easier but) hold their edge better than stainless steel blades. Captain John also likes the Florida style long sleeved guide shirts which are cool and comfortable regardless of the temperature.
Dave Kreines, Captain of the “Sweet Baby”, spent time preparing a list which includes a subscription to a fishing magazine. Another learning opportunity would be a ticket to the annual Saltwater Sportsman Fishing Seminar. Other ideas from Captain Dave include a surf bag, a set of PDF suspenders, hand-held VHS radio or GPS, a personal EPIRB, or a tool which is a combo pliers, knife, and cutter. Dave’s final suggestion is a gift certificate to your local fish market for those days when you come home empty handed.
Captain George Finck of “Sparetime Charters” has four very specific ideas. He suggest a gift certificate for a fishing trip, gift certificate to bait and tackle shop, a pair of suspenders that double as a life preserver, and a ditch bag in case of emergency.
Finally, Captain John Lewis of the “Insatiable” believes it is important for fishing captains and anglers to be activists in preserving their fishing rights. Both he and Captain Fran Verdi advocate gift memberships in the Recreational Fishing Alliance. He explains that a $35 tax deductible membership fee will help defend recreational fishing for everyone. Captain Fran also touts a gift membership in the Save The Summer Flounder Fund.
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December 8, 2009

3:45 PM

At 1:00 PM Ian King from Riverside, NJ stopped by the store after having a great time fishing the Ship Bottom surf this morning. (Today’s High Tide was at about Noon) Using “Fish Head’s Frozen Bunker” he landed 2 Bluefish and a 31″ Striper. Ian said there were anglers around him snagging bunker and then live lining them but he didn’t see them hook-up.

Received: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 4:50 PM Subject: 12-8-09 Report

Hit another blitz this AM in ship bottom – bunker everywhere – more huge blues & stripers under them – weighed in at FH – 19lb 12oz. Start of incoming tide for about 2 hours. (This morning’s Low Tide was at about 5:45 AM)  All on frozen bunker chunks. Perfect Day!
~ Tony C., Collegeville PA

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December 7, 2009

Received: Monday, December 07, 2009 7:20 AM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

The stripers are still here and cooperating when the weather allows us to fish. Thursday’s trip was cancelled due to another Gale warning but Friday’s trip with the Tony Maffei crew was greeted by calm winds and seas. It was one of the nice days of the Fall. Steady action from stripers, a few slammer blues and even a few nice throw back fluke on a variety of of artificial lures and live bait. The 3 man crew boated over 30 stripers, keeping 5 stripers and a few big blues.

Sunday, regular Jay Simmons accompanied by son Justin were out in cold mid 30 degree temperatures backed by a knifing 20-30 mph wind for steady action with a catch of 20+ stripers. Justin not only landed his first ever stripers but managed the “pool fish” over bass veteran Jay who is his dad. The guys toughed it out through the cold temperatures and winds and were rewarded with a couple of keeper stripers. We did a lot of catch and release.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

Fishing reports both good or bad from either boat or surf would be appreciated. Thank you.

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December 6, 2009

2:00 PM

Yes, fresh bunker, fresh clams, green crabs and live eels are in stock.

Received: Sunday, December 06, 2009 12:59 PM Subject: Fishing report for Dec 4th

Fished with Capt Steve on the Reel Fantasea. Great day on the water with 30+ Stripers. Steve works hard at putting you on fish. Good pick throughout the day. Jigged plastics and then went to spot. Both worked well throughout the day. Thanks Steve for a great trip.
~ Tony Maffei

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic – Some recent weigh-ins

Name
Type
Lbs
Bait
Location
Date
Time
SCOTT SIMPSON
Striped Bass
32.25
Bunker
Brant Beach
12/5/2009
12:45 PM
RICH BERGMAN
Striped Bass
29.69
Bunker
Beach Haven Crest
12/5/2009
1:00 PM
JOHN O’CONNELL
Striped Bass
19.19
Bunker
Holgate
12/5/2009
4:40 PM
GREG OCONNELL
Striped Bass
18.00
Bunker
Holgate
12/5/2009
4:20 PM
ROBERT GATTON
Striped Bass
17.69
Bunker
Ship Bottom
12/5/2009
1:30 AM
RAYMOND SULLIVAN
Striped Bass
15.25
Bunker
Brant Beach
12/5/2009
9:00 AM
CHUCK KORTMAN
Striped Bass
13.19
Bunker
Brant Beach
12/5/2009
5:00 AM
JOHN PARZYCH
Bluefish
12.31
Bunker
Brant Beach
12/5/2009
8:00 AM
BRIAN J. ANDERSON
Bluefish
11.75
Bunker
Beach Haven
12/5/2009
10:30 AM
RICH BERGMAN
Bluefish
11.00
Bunker
Beach Haven Crest
12/5/2009
12:05 PM
PAT CIERVO
Bluefish
10.88
Bunker
Spray Beach
12/5/2009
12:30 PM
JEFFREY R. NUEL
Bluefish
10.50
Bunker
North Beach Haven
12/5/2009
10:10 AM
CHUCK KORTMAN
Bluefish
9.94
Bunker
Brant Beach
12/5/2009
7:00 AM
STEVE WARREN
Bluefish
9.94
Bunker
Beach Haven Crest
12/5/2009
10:00 AM
CHUCK KORTMAN
Bluefish
9.00
Bunker
Brant Beach
12/5/2009
11:30 AM
DONALD THARP
Striped Bass
13.88
Bunker
Ship Bottom
12/4/2009
8:00 AM
Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic ends today Sunday December 6th.
Remember to so leave the surf in time to have your fish weighed-in or on our property before the 6 PM deadline.

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December 5, 2009

11:00 PM

Check out our newest metals from Point Jude Lures. We have the PoJee, Sea Scollop, Butterfish, Mullet, Sandeel, Cobra, Jointed Sandeel and Wobblehead in stock! FYI the Tsunami Sandeels are finally here too.

Week 8 of the Surf Derby is winding down! Tomorrow, December 6th is the last of the tournament. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Today we have had a number of weigh ins. Robert Gatton of Manahawkin weighed in a 17lb 11oz bass that he caught off of the surf (in the midnight hours) in Ship Bottom on bunker. Scott Simpson of Hainesport weighed in a 32lb 4oz bass that he caught (shortly after noon time) off of the surf in Brant Beach on bunker. Steve Warren weighed in a pair of bluefish both caught in Beach Haven Crest on bunker; 10lb 2oz and a 9lb 15oz. Greg O’Connell of Mays Landing and the Merchantville Fishing Club weighed in a 18lb striper that he caught down in Holgate on bunker. John O’Connell of Vineland and the Merchantville Fishing Club weighed in a 19lb 3oz striper that he caught in Holgate on bunker too.

Yesterday, the 4th Don Tharp of Manahawkin weighed in a 13lb 14oz striper that he caught on the Ship Bottom bayside on bunker.

12:00 Noon

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic ends this coming Sunday December 6th.
Remember to so leave the surf in time to weigh-in your entries before the 6 PM deadline.

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December 3, 2009

Received: Thursday, December 03, 2009 11:05 AM Subject: 12/02/09 Fishing Report

Fished Beach Haven Crest from 13:30-18:00. Saw lots of guys snagging bunker inside the bar and dropping in for the blues to slam the bait. I myself landed 5 blues all between 28”-30” (had 2 bite offs too) beginning around 14:30 once the tide turned to 17:30. No bass in my bag, just blues. Had one report from just up the beach of one “nice bass” beached but I saw nothing but blues landed.
~ GRL – Cape May, NJ

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic – Some of today’s weigh-ins

Name
Type
Lbs
Bait
Location
Time
RUSSELL SHORT
Striped Bass
28.69
Bunker
Holgate
6:30 PM
THOMAS WHITE
Striped Bass
19.75
Bunker
Brant Beach
4:00 PM
BRIAN J. ANDERSON
Striped Bass
17.63
Bunker
Holgate
8:30 AM
CHRIS KOLODZIEJ
Bluefish
13.38
Bunker
Brant Beach
4:00 PM
ROBERT COATES
Bluefish
11.19
Bunker
Ship Bottom
5:30 PM
Fishing reports both good or bad from either boat or surf would be appreciated. Thank you.

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic – “Top Ten Bass & Blues” as of this morning

Class
Position
Lbs
Name
From
Bait
Location
Date
Striped Bass
1
42.69
MICHAEL KANE
DOYLESTOWN, PA
Bunker
Loveladies
10/12/2009
Striped Bass
2
39.94
BRIAN MCALLISTER
MIDDLETOWN, DE
Bunker
Holgate
11/28/2009
Striped Bass
3
38.69
JOHN PARZYCH
TRUMBAUERSVILLE, PA
Bunker
Holgate
11/1/2009
Striped Bass
4
38.44
MIKE GREENE
SHIP BOTTOM, NJ
Bunker
Ship Bottom
11/1/2009
Striped Bass
5
36.94
KENNEY DEPIERRO
YONKERS, NY
Bunker
Haven Beach
10/11/2009
Striped Bass
6
36.81
SCOTT SIMPSON
HAINESPORT, NJ
Bunker
Spray Beach
11/1/2009
Striped Bass
7
36.06
CHRIS MASINO
BEACH HAVEN, NJ
Other
Brant Beach
12/2/2009
Striped Bass
8
36.00
BRIAN J. ANDERSON
SPRAY BEACH, NJ
Bunker
Holgate
11/10/2009
Striped Bass
9
35.31
DENNIS STEPIEN
MARLTON, NJ
Bunker
Holgate
11/19/2009
Striped Bass
10
35.25
DAVID BELL
MANAHAWKIN, NJ
Bunker
Ship Bottom
11/2/2009
Bluefish
1
16.31
RANDALL MATLACK
BEACH HAVEN PARK, NJ
Bunker
Beach Haven Crest
11/18/2009
Bluefish
2
15.31
SPENCER GARES
EASTON, PA
Bunker
Barnegat Light
11/6/2009
Bluefish
4
14.19
DAVE HERSHBERGER
RINGWOOD, NJ
Bunker
Barnegat Light
10/24/2009
Bluefish
3
14.19
RAYMOND SULLIVAN
BRANT BEACH, NJ
Bunker
Brant Beach
10/27/2009
Bluefish
5
14.00
THOMAS WHITE
SHIP BOTTOM, NJ
Bunker
Holgate
11/2/2009
Bluefish
6
13.75
FRANK MARASCIA
RARITAN, NJ
Bunker
Surf City
11/7/2009
Bluefish
7
13.38
CHRIS KOLODZIEJ
SHIP BOTTOM, NJ
Bunker
Brant Beach
12/3/2009
Bluefish
8
13.19
ROBERT COATES
CEDAR RUN, NJ
Bunker
Ship Bottom
11/6/2009
Bluefish
9
13.19
BILL MONTREY
MANAHAWKIN, NJ
Bunker
Brant Beach
11/17/2009
Bluefish
10
13.19
FRANK REILLY
MANAHAWKIN, NJ
Bunker
Surf City
11/20/2009
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December 2, 2009

8:00 PM
From: John DeBona – The Fisherman Magazine
Received: Wednesday, December 02, 2009 10:13 AM
Subject: RFA Action Alert – 12/3/09 Angler Registry Hearing in Trenton

John DeBona has forwarded this email with the following message:
Let’s pull together and join forces in show of support and make this happen for all our sakes. Bring a friend or two or even three! PLEASE PASS ON THIS INFORMATION TO FELLOW ANGLERS ASAP

Recreational Fishing Alliance Action Alert
NJ Senate to Hear Saltwater Registry Debate: RFA-NJ In Trenton This Week to Testify

On Thursday, December 3 at 10 a.m., the New Jersey Senate Environment Committee will meet in Room 10 on the third floor of the State House Annex in Trenton. At the top of the day’s hearing agenda is Senate Bill 2194 sponsored by Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May) and co-sponsored by Sen. Christopher “Kip” Bateman (R-Somerset), a bill which create a free recreational saltwater registry in New Jersey in order to comply with new federal fisheries guidelines for data collection.

As written S2194 would specifically direct the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), in consultation with the Marine Fisheries Council, to establish and implement a registry program for saltwater recreational anglers modeled on the registry program to be established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

This bill specifies that the State cannot charge a fee for registration under this program, and also directs the DEP Commissioner to apply to the federal National Marine Fisheries Service for “exempted state designation” so that New Jersey’s saltwater anglers do not have to participate in the national registry of saltwater anglers.

As reported in last Wednesday’s Atlantic City Press, State Sen. Jeff Van Drew is rallying support for a proposal to establish a free state registry for saltwater fishermen, a bid which would keep state fishermen from having to pay federal fee in 2011.

“The people of New Jersey are being taxed and fee’d to death,” Van Drew told the AC Press on November 25. “The least we can do is give them a chance to do a little saltwater fishing without having to pay another fee for the privilege.” Van Drew said he opposed a fee out of fear that future lawmakers would raid the fund, and explained that putting forth a free saltwater registry could help boost coastal tourism by not charging a fee to those who come to New Jersey in order to fish.

Van Drew who is vice chairman of the Senate Environment Committee proposed the legislation in October 2008. An Assembly version of the saltwater registry legislation has already been passed successfully out of the Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee in a unanimous vote, though that bill (A3252) is now resting with the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Van Drew has indicated that Senate Committee chairman, Sen. Bob Smith (D-Somerset) would prefer to see anglers pay the administrative costs associated with such a registry program, which is estimated to run at $1 to $2 per person.

The Recreational Fishing Alliance supports Sen. Van Drew’s effort to establish a free registry, and is asking RFA-NJ chapter members to make plans to be in Trenton on Thursday at 10 a.m. in support of the S2194. “We would really like to see the state do what Senator Van Drew wants to do,” said RFA Executive Director Jim Donofrio. “We all agree the registry should be free. This should not used to fund the Division of Fish and Wildlife, it should be about getting better data to do better science and research. This is not the time to be taxing people.”

RFA-NJ and RFA-PA members who would like to see New Jersey set an example for other “license-free” states are encouraged to get to the State House early on Thursday to show your support of the registry legislation. The State House is located at 125 West State Street in Trenton, NJ 08625. Metered, on-street parking is available along West State Street, while there are several pay lots located within walking distance. Handicap parking is available in the parking garage and on West State Street in front of the State House and Annex and across the street from the State House.

On July 30, the Senate Environment Committee and Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee held a public hearing in Forked River to hear testimony from the public and invited witnesses on the impact in New Jersey of the new federal saltwater registry. Click here to read the official transcript (registry testimony begins on page 115.)

While there was no open opposition to the registry legislation at the July 30 hearing, it’s expected that handful of registry opponents will be in Trenton on December 3 to speak out against Sen. Van Drew’s legislation, including representatives from the New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs (Federation). According to the Atlantic City Press, Ed Markowski, Southern Region Vice President of the Federation said his group is backing a fee to help support what he called the “grossly underfunded” state Bureau of Marine Fisheries.

Saltwater anglers in New Jersey who are passionate about the future of this important registry legislation are encouraged to join the RFA-NJ chapter in Trenton on Thursday.

New York Legislators Look to Repeal Saltwater License

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer announces plans to repeal the saltwater license in New York in place of a ‘free’ saltwater registry.

Click here to read more about New York’s saltwater license problems and the efforts by Long Island legislators to repeal the “onerous” fee.

About Recreational Fishing Alliance
The Recreational Fishing Alliance is a national, grassroots political action organization representing recreational fishermen and the recreational fishing industry on marine fisheries issues. The RFA Mission is to safeguard the rights of saltwater anglers, protect marine, boat and tackle industry jobs, and ensure the long-term sustainability of our Nation’s saltwater fisheries. For more information, visit www.joinrfa.org.

Received: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 11:25 AM Subject: LOST ROD IN HOLGATE

Please pass the word that Rich Dimartinis lost a 12 foot Tica and a Calcutta reel off his truck top rod holder [left it in open position] in Holgate today around 8:00 AM 12/1/2009. if someone picked it off the beach could you please return it to Fisherman’s Headquarters for Rich to pick up. Thank you. ~ Michael Dimartinis

The Happy Ending…

Received: Wednesday, December 02, 2009 3:58 PM Subject: lost rod found

A fellow angler found and returned Rich’s rod and reel. Thanks,
~ Michael Dimartinis

… Great News! Now you can get back to fishing!
Sent: Wednesday, December 02, 2009 8:28 PM   Subject: Bass

Caught 8 Striped Bass up 28 inches along with 1 Large Bluefish added to the mix. Fished from boat using Hopkins lures in the 8-1/2′ shallower water South of Barnegat Inlet’s South Jetty. Time: 3:00 to 4:00 PM.
~ John R

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic – Some of today’s weigh-ins

Name
Type
Lbs
Bait
Location
Time
CHRIS MASINO
Striped Bass
36.06
Other
Brant Beach
3:30 PM
RUSSELL SHORT
Striped Bass
28.69
Bunker
Holgate
6:30 PM
JOANN SULLIVAN
Striped Bass
24.25
Bunker
Brant Beach
4:00 PM
ROB VALLONE
Striped Bass
24.06
Live Bait
Brant Beach
1:10 PM
VINCE ORZEL
Striped Bass
22.56
Bunker
Brant Beach
7:30 AM
KURT HORENSKY
Striped Bass
22.00
Bunker
Beach Haven Terrace
5:15 AM
MATTHEW SHAPIRO
Striped Bass
18.38
Bunker
Brant Beach
9:00 AM
VASILLE BAGEAG
Striped Bass
18.25
Bunker
Beach Haven
8:30 AM
MATTHEW SHAPIRO
Striped Bass
17.13
Bunker
Brant Beach
3:30 PM
GARY SWEET
Striped Bass
16.69
Plug
Barnegat Light
4:00 PM
WILLIAM CLARK
Striped Bass
15.81
Bunker
Brant Beach
2:30 PM
GEORGE HAWRILUK
Striped Bass
15.50
Bunker
Holgate
3:00 PM
RICHARD KING
Striped Bass
12.50
Bunker
Holgate
3:00 PM
GEORGE HAWRILUK
Striped Bass
12.50
Bunker
Holgate
3:00 PM
JOHN SYLVESTER
Bluefish
11.81
Bunker
Brant Beach
7:30 AM
VASILLE BAGEAG
Bluefish
11.56
Bunker
Brant Beach
8:30 AM
STANLEY STEINBERG
Bluefish
11.50
Bunker
Holgate
12:00 PM
ROB VALLONE
Bluefish
11.31
Other
Harvey Cedars
4:00 PM
PETER BARTLOLMEO
Bluefish
11.19
Bunker
Holgate
12:00 AM
RICHARD KING
Bluefish
10.94
Bunker
Beach Haven
10:30 AM
CHRIS MASINO
Bluefish
10.81
Bunker
Brant Beach
3:30 PM
RICHARD KING
Bluefish
10.75
Bunker
Beach Haven
10:30 AM
MICHAEL GOWEN
Bluefish
10.31
Bunker
Brant Beach
7:30 AM
WILLIAM CLARK
Bluefish
9.94
Bunker
Brant Beach
2:30 PM
VASILLE BAGEAG
Bluefish
9.81
Bunker
Beach Haven
8:30 AM
ANTHONY PEPE
Bluefish
9.44
Bunker
Harvey Cedars
3:30 PM
KURT HORENSKY
Bluefish
9.44
Bunker
Beach Haven Terrace
2:30 PM
DONALD THARP
Bluefish
9.38
Bunker
Holgate
7:30 AM
MATTHEW SHAPIRO
Bluefish
9.13
Bunker
Brant Beach
9:30 AM
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December 1, 2009

11:00 PM

John Sanford weighed in his first ever striper. Congrats John! His fish weighed 25lb 1oz and was caught off of the surf in Beach Haven. Click here to see John’s fish
~ Greg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
><{{{{{(º>

Received: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 11:25 AM Subject: LOST ROD …IN HOLGATE

Please pass the word that Rich Dimartinis lost a 12 foot Tica and a Calcutta reel off his truck top rod holder [left it in open position] in Holgate today around 8:00 AM 12/1/2009. if someone picked it off the beach could you please return it to Fisherman’s Headquarters for Rich to pick up. Thank you. ~ Michael Dimartinis

Received: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 10:13 PM   Subject: 12-1-09 Report

After stopping into your shop for some clams & bunker for some surf fishing I proceeded to catch two stripers in Ship Bottom at sunrise; one on a popper & one on a Slug-go. Moved mid-day to Harvey Cedars where the bunker were all over the beach and out for 500yds and a mile long. Keeper stripers & BIG blues under them in places.
~ Tony C., Collegeville PA

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic – Some of today’s weigh-ins

Name
Type
Lbs
Bait
Location
Time
JOHN SANFORD
Striped Bass
25.06
Bunker
Haven Beach
4:30 PM
BRIAN J. ANDERSON
Striped Bass
17.81
Bunker
Holgate
8:00 AM
BILL MONTREY
Striped Bass
16.94
Live Bait
Brant Beach
4:30 PM
EUGENE SLAUGHTER
Striped Bass
16.56
Bunker
Holgate
9:30 AM
RICHARD CROSTA
Striped Bass
16.56
Bunker
Beach Haven
3:15 PM
KURT HORENSKY
Striped Bass
16.25
Bunker
Beach Haven Terrace
5:30 AM
BILL MONTREY
Striped Bass
13.56
Live Bait
Brant Beach
4:30 PM
LESTER SMITH JR
Bluefish
10.94
Bunker
Haven Beach
2:00 PM
TED MILEWSKI
Bluefish
10.81
Bunker
Surf City
8:30 AM
MATTHEW SHAPIRO
Bluefish
10.31
Bunker
Holgate
1:15 PM
JAY ZIMMERMAN
Bluefish
10.19
Bunker
Harvey Cedars
2:00 PM
EDMUND P OGMOND
Bluefish
9.75
Bunker
The Dunes
12:00 PM
JAY ZIMMERMAN
Bluefish
9.44
Bunker
Harvey Cedars
2:15 PM
CHRIS MASINO
Bluefish
8.56
Bunker
Holgate
7:00 AM
The Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund (SSFFF) will be holding a public meeting on Tuesday, December 1st in Manasquan to address issues with the upcoming 2010 and beyond fluke seasons. A recommendation was recently made that would change the fluke season potentially to 2 fish at 19.5″. Additionally, the black sea bass closure could just as easily be repeated as a summer flounder closure next year or in future years. Come on out to learn about these issues, how the SSFFF continues to address the problems and how you can help. Click the following image link for info…
ssfff.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/ssfff/flyer_2009_final.jpg

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November 30, 2009

8:00 PM

Received: Monday, November 30, 2009 7:58 PM Subject: Sunday’s report

Sunday November 29th, we headed out with our usual suspects, minus our main man Brant who was on a hunting trip with his family. The water temperature was 50 degrees and the wind was out of the South-west. We fished 3 spots all day, the 2nd and the last were the best. The black fishing was pretty good; there was a steady bite all day with tons of shorts and plenty of keepers. Average catch was 2 to 5 fish each; also we had several guys with limit catches. Once again BIG MOUTH BOB was on the prowl for the pool and by the end of the day he locked it up with a 5-lb tog.

~ Capt Frank, The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic – Some of today’s weigh-ins

Name
Type
Lbs
Bait
Location
Time
MATTHEW SHAPIRO
Striped Bass
20.63
Bunker
Holgate
6:30 AM
THOMAS KIRK
Striped Bass
18.19
Bunker
Brant Beach
6:00 PM
CHRIS MASINO
Striped Bass
17.00
Bunker
Holgate
6:45 AM
KURT HORENSKY
Striped Bass
15.44
Bunker
Beach Haven Terrace
6:00 AM
CHARLES HESS
Striped Bass
14.88
Bunker
North Beach Haven
7:30 AM
DENNIS STEPIEN
Bluefish
12.19
Bunker
Holgate
8:00 AM
MATTHEW SHAPIRO
Bluefish
11.31
Bunker
Holgate
8:00 AM
MATTHEW SHAPIRO
Bluefish
10.94
Bunker
Holgate
8:00 AM
KURT HORENSKY
Bluefish
10.38
Bunker
Holgate
5:00 PM
PETER BARTLOLMEO
Bluefish
9.06
Bunker
Holgate
10:00 AM
—————————————————————————————————-

November 29, 2009

SURF:

Bunker in Holgate yesterday and again today. Hours of hot action in the Rip. Twenty pound bass (common) and fish over 30 too. Also fish along the front beach up and down LBI.

Bunker in Ship Bottom today. With the incoming tide they were right on the beach. Big bluefish on them and stripers too. One customer said, “Bluefish left and right and stripers too!”. Most of the fish were caught bunker that was snagged but fish also took chunked bait and plugs.

Al Asplint of Manahawkin weighed in a 10lb 13oz bluefish. Al hit the beach late morning and went straight to his honey hole in Ship Bottom. Al had consistent action right into sunset. He said the beach was mobbed, “There were a lot of people and trucks. It was a beautiful day. There were birds out side the bar and bait in tight to the beach.”

Paul Castrati of the Long Beach Island Fishing Club also fished Ship Bottom. He weighed in a 9-lb 5-oz bluefish that he caught on bunker. Paul also reported having a great day on the beach with a number of fish on bunker.

OCEAN:

Ted Phillips of Waretown fished aboard the “Black Cloud” out of Forked River with Capt. Chuck Boyer and First mate Chuck Boyer Jr. Went out early, broke the BL Inlet and went North catching a number of stripers trolling ( ~ 1/2 – 1 mile) off the beach. The bite was hot for a couple hours. Lots of take downs! Had a number of shorts with four keepers and lost a number of fish too. Had a few double headers on the Panther Martin Umbrella Rigs

Uncle Moe was on the water this morning aboard the “Seatriever”. Fished an undisclosed wreck outside of Barnegat Light for about four hours. Caught about 15 sea bass and 8 blackfish (up to 4-6lbs). Green crabs were the bait! Morris said he was catching on gulp too.

Also this morning, Wayne Smith fished aboard the “Lady Grace” out of Harvey Cedars. They trolled off of IBSP, North of the Governors Shack. Trolled in 50-60 feet with nothing. Trolled shallower into about 20-25 feet of water and started catching. They caught 40 short Stripers and two keepers plus a couple of Bluefish. Wayne said, “Tried jigging with little luck (one short), It was too spread out”. He noted a number of double headers trolling. Umbrella tube rigs (green & white) did the trick.

Wayne also reported fishing aboard the “Karen Ann II” with Capt Adam out of Tuckerton. Wreck fishing outside LEI on Friday. There were six guys on the boat and everyone limited out. All nice keeper blackfish with green crabs. Wayne said, “Capt. Adam knows how to put you on the fish!”

~ Greg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
><{{{{{(º>

Received: Sunday, November 29, 2009 7:48 PM Subject: Fishing report

Fished off Beach Haven this morning trolling stretch 25’s to bring in 4 nice blues 6-10 pounds. Lost two fish close to boat could have been stripers. Water was clean. No birds were seen from Holgate to Beach Haven.

~ Martin M.

Received: Sunday, November 29, 2009 7:37 PM Subject: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving ! This week was again abbreviated by more bad weather in the way of another Gale warning but we were able to fish on Sunday to find a steady bite for stripers on combinations of artificial lures and live bait. Regular Jay Simmons was joined by his clients Steve and John Sfugaras from Stevens Best Buy Food Services of Paterson. Steve and John not only caught their first stripers ever but also limited out. The bite was a steady pick of stripers and bluefish spicing up the catch. By trips end we landed 38 stripers [to 31′] and only 4 bluefish [to 10lbs] .

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

Received: Sunday, November 29, 2009 2:26 PM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. As usual, we took a couple of days off to enjoy the holiday with family and friends but did make it out twice this week and found very cooperative fish both days. These fish are absolutely gorging themselves on sand eels, and even the fish we’re landing in the bay are stuffed with them. Looks like the stripers have been enjoying their own Thanksgiving feast, and no doubt it’s going to continue right through into the New Year.

After being blown out by the strong Northeast winds early in the week, we finally made it out on Wednesday. Scott Fritz was back again this week, this time bringing along brother-in-law Mitch Kernstine and 12 year old nephew Ben who were up visiting from Richmond, VA. With the seas still looking pretty big, we stayed inside where drifting live spots behind the lighthouse produced a lucky 13 stripers for the guys including a limit of keepers and Ben’s first ever striper. Talk about excitement, when Ben was the first to score with what proved to be the biggest fish of the day and earning him bragging rights for the entire holiday weekend.

We wrapped up our charter season today, with George Selph and Bob Keller being back aboard for one final go at the striped bass. When jigging produced only a couple of shorts, we headed back to the inlet and absolutely slammed the bass again on the outgoing tide. Final tally was close to 30 bass landed, with five fat ones in the box when we headed. Nice way to wrap things up for the year.

I’ll be out fishing a couple of days over the next week or so then pulling the boat out until spring. Then it’s on to updating the web site and getting things ready for next year. This is always a sad time of year as it marks the end of yet another great season in which I’ve had the opportunity to spend time and fish with so many good friends, both old and new. I know how fortunate I am to have been blessed with this opportunity… thank you all for giving it to me.

Have a wonderful Holiday season, be safe and enjoy the gift of life we all have. Hope to see you all again in 2010.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic – Some of today’s weigh-ins

Name
Type
lbs
Bait
Location
Time
BOB DUGAN
Striped Bass
22.3
Bunker
Barnegat Light
4:20 PM
RAYMOND CURNEW
Striped Bass
21.1
Live Bait
Holgate
9:00 AM
DON INGLING
Striped Bass
20.6
Live Bait
Holgate
7:30 AM
MATTHEW SHAPIRO
Striped Bass
20.2
Live Bait
Holgate
7:00 AM
NICOLE T. BAXTER
Striped Bass
18.0
Bunker
Holgate
12:00 PM
DON INGLING
Striped Bass
16.5
Bunker
Holgate
1:30 PM
STUART DUENKEL
Striped Bass
14.6
Bunker
Holgate
8:45 AM
MATT KING
Striped Bass
14.0
Bunker
Holgate
10:30 PM
Name
Type
lbs
Bait
Location
Time
ALAN SMITH
Bluefish
11.8
Bunker
Loveladies
7:20 AM
BARRY P BAXTER
Bluefish
11.4
Bunker
Holgate
1:00 PM
MATTHEW SHAPIRO
Bluefish
11.3
Bunker
Holgate
11:00 AM
GREG OCONNELL
Bluefish
11.1
Bunker
Holgate
7:00 AM
AL ASPLINT
Bluefish
10.8
Bunker
Ship Bottom
3:00 PM
DONALD LOCICERO
Bluefish
10.3
Bunker
Holgate
11:00 AM
GEORGE KRZYZANOWSKI
Bluefish
10.3
Bunker
Brant Beach
2:20 PM
DON KAKSTIS
Bluefish
10.1
Bunker
Beach Haven
1:30 PM
PAUL CASTRATI
Bluefish
9.31
Bunker
Ship Bottom
2:00 PM
Fishing reports both good or bad and either boat or surf would be appreciated.
Request From The Vikings of Tarpon Springs, FL (vikingfleet@hotmail.com)

Received: Sunday, November 29, 2009 11:38 AM
Subject: Take Action Against National Marine Fisheries

CONGRESS TAKE NOTICE.
YOU SHOULD TAKE ACTION.
ARE YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPS INVOLVED?

It does not matter where you fish. This could be the beginning of the end of recreational fishing unless WE take action NOW.

Congressmen Mica and Brown and others are pleading to the House Natural Resources Committee to conduct a hearing on the South Atlantic red snapper closure proposed by NMFS. They want the committee to hear the argument made for a new stock assessment in H.R. 3307, which requires that the findings be evaluated by congress prior to any closure of the fishery.

This is an extremely important request which we need to throw all our support behind. You should show your support in TWO ways – contacting your congressional representative AND sign our online petition so the supporting Congressmen can see who all supports them.

Write or call your law makers and tell them that:

In Writing –

I am a sport fisherman residing in ___________ and help contribute to the $35 Billion that the industry provides to the economy every year. As a stakeholder and participant in the fisheries resources, my assessment, made from direct personal observation conflicts with the presumptive models based in incomplete and questionable data being presented by the national marine fisheries service. It is import to all of us that this moratorium on sport fishing for this abundant species be delayed until sound data are collected, assessed and summarized clearly and in a defensible manner.

Please show your support for Congressmen Mica, Brown and other supporting members of Congress in their request to hear this important issue before irreversible economic damage occurs from taking action that may not be necessary at all.

Respectfully,

YOUR FULL NAME, FULL ADDRESS, FULL PHONE NUMBER, EMAIL ADDRESS

By Phone Call –

Ask them to please support the request by Congressmen Mica and Brown for a hearing on the Red Snapper closure and on H.R. 3307 or thank them for their support if they have already signed on.

Finally –

SIGN THE PETITION TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT TO ALL OF CONGRESS.

Go to www.ipetitions.com/petition/FRArsclosure to read the November 17th letter to Representatives Rahall & Hastings from Congressmen Mica, Brown and others.
… and then please sign the petition.
… and then please spread the word!

Thank you,
The Vikings of Tarpon Springs, FL (vikingfleet@hotmail.com)

—————————————————————————————————

November 28, 2009

6:45 PM

SURF:

Dave Wark stopped by this evening. He fished the Barnegat Light Surf this afternoon. About 1:45 PM he caught a 31″ Striper on clam. He said, “Had one bite and one fish.” An angler up the beach from Dave caught a 29.5″ Striper.

The South-end of the island was hot this morning with bass and blues in the surf. There were birds and bunker in close to the beach. A number of anglers caught fish by snagging and then swimming these bunker.

Brian McAllister of Middletown, DE took the lead in the FHQ Calcutta! Brian McAllister stopped by the shop this evening to check-in his 39lb 15oz striper. He caught a couple fish with his two sons around the 3 o’clock hour at the Wooden Jetty in Holgate. Brennan McAllister weighed in two stripers, 21lb 8oz and a 19lb 9oz. All of the McAllister’s fish were caught on bunker.

~ Greg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
><{{{{{(º>

Received: Saturday, November 28, 2009 11:26 AM Subject: Fishing Report 11/27

I was out yesterday and figured I would share my report:

Managed to get out at dawn and immediately found birds working the surface. Not much action but did manage to pick up one short striper. In an attempt to find more fish we headed about 2 miles North and found a giant pile of birds working with fish scattered all over. The bite was slow, however, we managed another short striper and a 10-lbs blue. Around 8:00 AM the winds picked up and few crew members started getting sick so we headed in. All fish were caught on diamond jigs on or near the bottom.

~ Lance, Waretown

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic – Weigh-Ins

Striper
Brian McAllister (dad) weighed-in a 39-lb 15-oz Striper he caught at 3:00 PM in Holgate on Bunker.
Brennan McAllister (son) weighed-in a 19-lb 9-oz Striper he caught at 8:00 AM in Holgate on Bunker.
Brennan McAllister (son) also weighed-in and released a 21-lb 8-oz Striper he caught at 3:30 PM in Holgate on Bunker.
Bill Montrey weighed-in a 18-lb 5-oz Striper he caught at 7:30 AM in Holgate on Bunker.
Bob Miller weighed-in a 25-lb Striper he caught at 6:00 AM in Holgate on Live Bunker.
Bob Miller also weighed-in a 15-lb 15-oz Striper he caught at 8:00 AM in Holgate on Live Bunker.
Yesterday, Ray Sullivan weighed-in a 29-lb 4-oz Striper he caught at in Holgate on Bunker.

Bluefish
Thomas Gardiner Jr. weighed-in a 10-lb 8-oz Bluefish he caught at 1:15 PM in Holgate on Bunker.
Dominic Savasta weighed-in a 12-lb Bluefish he caught at 8:30 AM in Loveladies on Bunker.
Steve Warren weighed-in a 10-lb 7-oz Bluefish he caught at 8:40 AM in The Dunes on Bunker.

—————————————————————————————————-

November 27, 2009

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic – Weigh-Ins
Striper
Today, C. Foos weighed-in a 17-lb 8-oz Striper he caught at 6:00 AM in Holgate on Bunker.
Yesterday, Joanne Sullivan weighed-in a 19-lb 15-oz Striper she caught at 9:30 AM in Holgate on Bunker.
Bluefish
Today, Joe Carmelengo weighed-in a 11-lb 8-oz Bluefish he caught at 8:15 AM in Brant Beach on Bunker.

Received: Thursday, November 26, 2009 7:57 PM   Subject: fishing report

As we headed up the beach Thursday we found plenty of bass and blues. We had a steady pick most of the morning, every body on the boat caught at least one keeper bass. Five fares plus myself had limits catches by 11:00 AM we were on are way home with coolers full of fish over all it was a great day of fishing.

~ Miss Beach Haven The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

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November 26, 2009

Have a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving Holiday!

Surf:
Bob Morano & John Kirby both caught 10 to 14-lb Stripers today early AM at the tip of Holgate on Bunker.

Boat:
During the last few days Bluefin tuna on a feeding frenzy were located in about 80′ of water off of Seaside Heights.
“The birds were so thick they could be seen on radar miles away. Troll your lures way-back. Since some of these Bluefin have hit umbrella rigs close to the beach, you could try an un-armed Red Gill umbrella teaser with a Siwash hook armed larger Red Gill on the lone central following trailer. In the past some anglers have used an easier method of just a Daisy Chain of Red Gills. Make the rig with Heavy Duty lines and connections. Don’t forget to bring your Federal Tuna Permit. www.nmfspermits.com/ ”

—————————————————————————————————-

November 24, 2009

Received: Sunday, November 22, 2009 9:20 PM Subject: Saturdays report

Saturday we headed up to the south reef, the water temperature was 54 degrees and the wind was out of the NW at about 10 mph Our first and last stops were the best, we had a pick most of the day. By the end of the day we had a couple of limits, some guys had 2 to 3 fish it was a great day to be on the water. The pool winner today was BIG MOUTH BOB from Hamilton, NJ with a 6-lber.

~ Miss Beach Haven The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

Received: Sunday, November 22, 2009 7:51 PM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

Last weeks Nor’easter shut us down but this week as the weather settled we were right back at it with limits of stripers along with plenty of catch and release on almost all trips. The week got started strong with regular Joe Franke joined by friend Ed in sporty inlet conditions but with a solid striper bite the guys toughed it out for their limit of stripers along with plenty of catch and release. Regulars Jay Simmons and Ernie Rosenberg were out with business associates Mark Hansen for an all out Striper Blitze. The guys started fast out of the gate with action right outside the inlet under some bird play. From there we moved a few miles to the North and stayed with the fish all day long landing over 80 stripers even with the guys taking breaks from the exhausting action. Ernie took “pool fish” honors with a stout 20-lb class bass with Jay earning Bass Master honors landing 40+ bass. Later in the day regulars Chris Spring and Karl Steffan were out for the last scheduled “Friday Night at the Fights” for this year. We start right were we left off earlier in the day “at the scene of the crime “. The fish finder lit up with fish hanging in the same area and with confidence we sent down a combination of live bait and jigs to have the fish ignore everything put in front of their noses. Licking our wounds we made our way back to the inlet where the guys managed only a quick 3 stripers before the bite died again. Moving around from inlet to back bay still provided no more action even though the fish finder was lit up with fish in all the “right areas” all trip long. Saltiest Crew honor goes to the Steve Sweeney Party who fished in stiff North East driven seas [Sunday] in sloppy 4-6ft conditions. The guys managed only a pick of stripers and blues despite good readings of fish under the boat. The guys boated a total mix of 10 stripers and blues with about the same amount being lost due to rough conditions. Way to hang tuff guys. The last remaining dates for the 2010 season are Dec. 4,10,11 and 1 spot available on Dec 3 open boat. I wish everyone a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

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November 22, 2009

Received: Sunday, November 22, 2009 11:57 AM   Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

Last week we were wondering what impact that major nor’easter was going to have on our fall bass run. Well the answer is in, and it’s great news… the run is even stronger than it was before the blow. If only the weather gods would now cooperate and just let us enjoy it.

Early in the week, immediately after the storm, we stayed pretty much in the back bay as even the inlet was an ugly place to be fishing. What we found was that the storm brought a fresh batch of fish into the bay and restarted the bay fishery that had seemed to be starting to wane. Monday I had Steve Rosenthal up from the DC area banging five bass, with three of keeper size up to 35″ mostly drifting live spots in back after a wolf pack of spiny dogfish made clam fishing almost impossible. Wednesday brought out Steve Sweeney from Medford Lakes along with buddies Big Frank and Little Frank. After testing clam baits and again finding the doggies were still abundantly aggravating, we switched to drifting spots to nail five more bass, this time with four keepers topped by Big Frank’s 23 pounder. These were all fresh in from the ocean, with beautiful colors and loaded with sand eels.

Late in the week we shifted gears to run along the beach looking for fish that would respond to jigs, and were majorly rewarded both days. Friday I had Scott Fritz out with brother-in-law Ike and buddy Pete Haupt, and the guys used A47’s to jig up 50-60 bass in boxing their limits from the beachfront along Island Beach State Park. Saturday’s trip was even better, with regulars George Selph and Bob Keller culling their limits from among roughly 70 landed bass. Add in the occasional jumbo blue, and you’ve got jigging action at its finest.

It looks like we’re may have some weather problems the next day or so, but I expect fishing to continue like this for a while yet. I’ll be wrapping up my charter schedule for 2009 after weekend, but I plan to be out there fishing as long as the weather holds.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic – Weigh-Ins
Bluefish
Steve Warver weighed-in a 8-lb 5-oz Bluefish he caught at 7:30 AM in Surf City on Bunker.
Dan Sullivan weighed-in a 11-lb 2-oz Bluefish he caught at 8:45 AM in North Beach Haven on Bunker.

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November 21, 2009

5:30 PM

Yes, Fresh Surf Clams and Fresh Bunker are in stock.

Paul and Lee aboard the “Grinder” had a great day. They caught blues (10-14lbs) and schoolie bass off of Harvey Cedars. They were catching by both trolling (deep divers – Stretch 25’s) and jigging (metals – AVA’s).

Tom Bentlif went North out of the inlet first. He caught one keeper bass on a white bunker spoon and two shorts on an umbrella rig. Tom then decided to look South of the Inlet. There he caught 7 bass and 6 blues on the umbrella. Tom said, “We had a number of double headers!”

~ Greg
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Received: Saturday, November 21, 2009 4:05 PM Subject: report

Fished off Beach Haven today in 30 feet of water with only one lone confused sandbar shark (He didn’t realize water temp was 55). He hit a bunker chunk. Several other runoffs had to be blues. Heard the chatter on VHF that 2 miles off Ship Bottom was the place to be. Stopped by to find plenty of boats pulling up blues on the troll with spoons and Mann’s Stretch 25’s.
~ Martin M

Received: Saturday, November 21, 2009 12:01 PM Subject: LBI Drive-On Conditions

Haven’t seen any information on your site about beach buggy access since the storms. I had called Ship Bottom PD last week and they said it was virtually inaccessible because the beach level had dropped so much, in effect leaving severe drop-offs where the drive-ons are located. This is why I haven’t been down. Are the beaches accessible in Surf City and Ship Bottom?
~ George Bailey

4:30 PM

We received mixed beach condition reports from various anglers but a common comment on all beaches was, “watch out for the debris”.

With the sun starting to set and the tide just past low and the water starting to come back in, Ken went out and made the following quick observations…

Loveladies beach seems okay but may be “sketchy” at high-tide.
Harvey Cedars beach is in very bad shape… it’s a shear cliff… Check with HCPD it might all be closed.
Surf City’s 25th street ramp is very steep but beach looks okay
Ship Bottom’s 5th street ramp and beach seem to be okay.
Brant Beach’s 31st Street ramp has been and continues to be a soft entrance but has been used. Harder to get off than get on.

… Ken ran out of daylight to check the remaining beaches. Reports from anglers would be appreciated.

As mentioned flood-tide may produce difficulties. So know the area you are fishing and be aware of that incoming water. Tonight’s beach front high-tide will be about 10:15PM.

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic – Weigh-Ins
Striper
Tom Daly weighed-in a 21-lb 14-oz Striper he caught at 9:00 AM in Surf City on Bunker.
Matthew Shapiro weighed-in a 14-lb 14-oz Striper he caught at 2:15 AM in Holgate on Bunker.
Gary Naylor weighed-in a 13-lb 13-oz Striper he caught at 9:30 AM in Holgate on Bunker.
Brain Andersen weighed-in a 13-lb 11-oz Striper he caught at 10:15 AM in Holgate on Bunker.
Bluefish
Ray Sullivan weighed-in a 10-lb 0-oz Bluefish he caught at 9:00 AM in Holgate on Bunker.
Rich Goodman weighed-in a 10-lb 0-oz Bluefish he caught at 10:30 AM in Ship Bottom on Bunker.
Joe Handley weighed-in a 9-lb 10-oz Bluefish he caught at 9:30 AM in Brant Beach on Bunker.

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November 20, 2009

4:00 PM

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic – Weigh-Ins
Striper
Chuck Kortman weighed-in a 17-lb 6-oz Striper he caught at 5:00 PM in Holgate on Bunker.
Bob Massa weighed-in a 15-lb 6-oz Striper he caught at 5:00 AM in Holgate on Bunker.
Bluefish
Frank Reilly weighed-in a 13-lb 3-oz Bluefish he caught at 10:00 AM in Surf City on Bunker.
Matt Gogojewicz weighed-in a 12-lb 7-oz Bluefish he caught at 9:00 AM in Surf City on Bunker.
Brian Dalton weighed-in an 11-lb 9-oz Bluefish he caught at 9:00 AM in Holgate on Bunker.

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November 19, 2009

9:30 PM

This morning, Dennis Stepien weighed-in a 35-lb 5-oz Striper caught last night at 9:00 PM in Holgate on Bunker.
This afternoon, Tom White weighed-in a 14-lb 13-oz Striper caught at 5:00 PM in Holgate on Bunker.

SURF:
There was bunker down in Holgate today. A lot of snag and live-lining but have not heard of any BIG fish today. (There was that 35-lb class fish caught last night by Mr. Stepien.) Also today Bluefish in the ~10lb range; Brant Beach and South. Have not heard much about from Ship Bottom and North.

~Greg Cudnik
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November 18, 2009

Surf:
This morning there were a number of fish weighed in for the Derby. Some of these were…
Randy Matlack of Beach Haven Crest caught a 16-lb 5-oz blue on bunker just before 7:00 AM.
Chris Masino of Beach Haven caught a 10-lb 5-oz bluefish on bunker around 9:00 AM.
Michael Gowen of the LBIFC caught a 11-lb 2-oz blue in Brant Beach on bunker about 7:30 AM.
John Sylvester of the LBIFC caught a 19-lb 8-oz striper in Brant Beach on bunker.

Yesterday,
Christian Martin of Beach Haven Crest caught a 24-lb striper on a plug in Holgate.

Boat:
Bass and blues trolling and jigging! There have been more bluefin sightings the last couple of days.

~ Greg
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November 16, 2009

Received: Monday, November 16, 2009 6:28 PM   Subject: reports

Opening day we headed out to the fishing grounds with are regular crew, the weather was great light winds out of the north and a south east swell. We fished one spot all day and limited out the entire boat accept one person most of the fish were between 2 and 4 lbs.Daren Grabo from beach haven nj. won the pool with a tog just over 4 lbs I would not call it a mad dog bite but a steady pick all day. Just a reminder we are sailing Saturdays and Sunday at 7am

BHCFA Weekly Report

The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are hopeful the fishing will be as hot after last week’s severe nor’easter as it was before it struck.
Captain Fran Verdi of the “Drop Off” fished the day before it hit and began the day with two keepers on the incoming tide on the north bar of Little Egg Inlet. When the white water disappeared, and Captain Fran pulled anchor to look for more white water. He reports that spot was constant action despite the rolling white water and crashing waves. At the day’s end the crew had seven fish 34-39 inches. He is continuing to fish Wednesday to Monday with mostly open boat fishing.
Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Star Fish” out of Beach Haven says he wanted to fish last Saturday, but it was just too rough. He adds that his action on Sunday helped to make up for missing Saturday. He started by trying to fish a rip in the bay, but had to stop due to muddy water and an excess of sea weed. He made the decision to brave a few swells in the inlet and see what the ocean had to offer. The move was a good one as he located a flock of gannets working over an area in 35-feet of water. What he found was a school of striped bass with no bluefish mixed in. He managed to jig up 22 bass with most of them keeper sized. He even tried trolling a diamond jig on his way back to port and even picked up a bass this way.
Captain Frank Camarda and the “Miss Beach Haven” fished Monday taking good advantage of the increase in the daily blackfish limit. Both the weather and the fish cooperated as the every angler aboard limited out except for one. The boat remained in one spot for the day, and most of the fish were between two and four pounds. Darren Garabo of Beach Haven won the pool with a 4-pounder. Captain Frank says he will be sailing Saturdays and Sundays at 7 am.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association
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November 15, 2009

Received: Sunday, November 15, 2009 10:26 AM   Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

As you might imagine, there’s not too much to report this week as the storm that battered our area kept us pinned to the dock from Wednesday right into Saturday morning. Friday was probably the worst of it, with sustained winds over 40 and regular gusting close to 60 mph. Fortunately, aside from some road flooding, damage was minimal and things are getting back to normal.

We did make it out on Tuesday just before the blow. Bill Staples and Rich Smith were in from King of Prussia, PA and got into some mixed bluefish/striper action off of Long Beach Island on A47 jigs. Surprisingly we had very little action north of the inlet early in the day, but the long run south to Harvey Cedars paid dividends for us. The bass clearly knew the storm was on its way, as all the fish I cleaned were absolutely stuffed with peanut bunker and sand eels, and they were still feeding. I guess they knew what was about to hit.

The storm hit us just as the traditional fall jig fishing was really getting under way, and it will probably be a couple more days before we know what impact it may have had. What we really need now are a few days of light northwest breezes to flatten things out and draw the bait back close to the beach. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to be in the forecast for this week so we’ll probably be fishing in the bay until the ocean settles down a bit.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

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November 13, 2009
FRIDAY THE 13TH!

High Surf Advisory, High Wind Warning, Coastal Flood Watch and Gale Warming in effect through this evening. There is not going to be much beach after this one. The wind is and has been cranking with gusts up to 40+ kts. At noon time the Delaware Bay Buoy (44009) was reading 21.3′ @ 12 sec.

With solid 8-10’+ (and building) surf up the street from the store and a stiff alongshore pull there cannot be much beach left in Harvey Cedars. They were just getting setup to pump sand to rebuild the beach too. This must have twisted those plans. Earlier this morning the roads were really flooded (impassable) but at 2 PM it looks like it went down at least at the store. This storm is not going anywhere fast so we will have a number high tides still to go. The tide is forecasted to be 4’+ above normal high tide so know your limits. A number of cars were stalled out this morning. Plan around the tides if possible.

Got a call from a friend this morning, “The house on Merivale (boarder of Beach Haven and Holgate) is about to go into the drink.” The home owner has had a many year battle with the whole situation. It might be over today. Sad story. I saw some news crews driving around so it might be on TV.

Greg
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Normal Tide Predictions Bayside (Island Center – Manahawkin Bridge)
11/13/09 High 7:16 AM
11/13/09 Low 2:20 PM
11/13/09 High 7:36 PM
11/14/09 Low 2:35 AM
11/14/09 High 8:06 AM
11/14/09 Low 3:11 PM
11/14/09 High 8:26 PM

Normal Tide Predictions Oceanside (Seaside Park Ocean – “Couple minutes different than LBI”)
11/13/09 High 4:10 AM
11/13/09 Low 10:16 AM
11/13/09 High 4:30 PM
11/13/09 Low 10:31 PM
11/14/09 High 5:00 AM
11/14/09 Low 11:07 AM
11/14/09 High 5:20 PM

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November 10, 2009

11:30 AM – Fresh Bunker & Clams, Live Eels & Green Crabs In Stock.

This morning there were a number of fish caught down in Holgate. There were fish on both bait and artificials.  Rich DiMartinis landed a 21lb 11oz striper on a plug.

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November 9, 2009

11:00 AM

Yes, Fresh Bunker and clams are in stock.

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November 8, 2009

7:00 PM

SURF:
Ken Austin of Manahawkin weighed in a 17-lb 8-oz Striper that he caught in Loveladies on bunker.

BOAT:
Spoke with a number of customers today that reported bass and blues trolling and jigging off of Island Beach State Park and off of Long Beach Island. Customers also reported 75-lb bluefin sightings at a few different locations; the Axel Carson Reef (~3 mile off of Casino Pier) areas around the Barnegat Ridge.

2:00 PM

While plugging last night at around 7PM in Harvey Cedars, George Gilbert hooked and landed a 30-lb 7-oz 45″ Striper.

Received: Sunday, November 08, 2009 6:16 PM Subject: fishing report

Saturday’s fishing was pretty good. We fished two spots all day. Everybody caught multiple black fish. Also caught porgies and one trigger fish. Pool winner was Bam Bam from Philadelphia, PA with a 4-lber. Over all fishing was good all day.

Sunday we fish 4 spots and the water temperature was 58 degrees with a southerly swell. The fish were not aggressive at all. You had to work hard to make up a catch but by the end of the day everybody had there one fish with several other keepers being tossed back to fight another day. Pool winner was John from North Jersey with a 5.5-lber.

~ Miss Beach Haven The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

Received: Sunday, November 08, 2009 11:03 AM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

What a great week for fishing. The weather finally cooperated and we had some excellent fall action on all of our trips this week. We started the week out fishing on Tuesday, Election Day with Rick, Joyce and Gavin Fisher from Newtown, PA nailing bass on both live spot and clams all morning long from Oyster Creek Channel, keeping four fish up to 18 pounds for the table.

Wednesday brought Butch Mellott down from Hopewell to get in on the action, with Oyster Creek again delivering a limit of fish to 34″ mostly on clams.

Things changed a bit on Thursday when action in the channel seemed to dry up for Bensalem’s Vince Barba, so I headed outside for the first time this fall and found non-stop jigging action on mixed bass and jumbo blues a couple of miles from the inlet. Making this even more fun was the fact that we were using tackle much more suitable to fishing in the bay, and trying to guess from the length of the line peeling runs what kind of fish was at the other end.

NOAA’s bogus “gale warning” forecast for Friday caused us to cancel that trip, but we were back out there again yesterday with regulars George Selph and Bob Keller for the Barnegat Fishin’ Hole’s fall bass tournament. Hoping to find some bigger fish for the tournament, I broke out the wire line and switched to trolling Tony Maja bunker spoons north of the inlet. Unfortunately the bass and blues we put in the box didn’t win the tournament but there was action all the way from the inlet up to the Seasides. We even heard reports of big schools of 75-100 pound bluefin beating up on sand eels within a couple hundred yards of the beach! You’ve gotta love fishing in the fall, and there’s still a few more weeks of this to go before we pack it in for the year.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

“Fisherman’s Headquarters stocks the complete line of Tony Maja Bunker Spoons plus the EZ Out-Rodder.”

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November 7, 2009

National Weather Service Forecast for Ship Bottom NJ
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 45. South wind between 13 and 16 mph.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 63. West wind between 5 and 10 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 47. South wind around 6 mph becoming calm.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 65. South wind between 3 and 10 mph.

7:00 PM

Jim McFeeley of Morgantown, PA fished the BL Inlet Rocks early this morning with a couple friends. They caught 7 bass and lost a number of fish too. They mentioned that all of their fish were on needlefish plugs and clams.

John Cannon of Shamong just weighed in a 10lb 4oz bluefish. He was fishing bunker in Surf City.

3:00 PM

Blitz just outside Barnegat Inlet this morning. From 6:30 AM – 11:00 AM there were acres of birds and boats all over them. John McFadden said, “It reminded me of Montauk. First three cast, striper after striper.”

Received: Saturday, November 07, 2009 7:14 AM Subject: Reel Fantasea Report – Insane Action!

The weather cooperated this week and so did the fishing. Even with a Gale warning that was forecasted for Thursday night into Friday afternoon, with winds out of the NW fishing along the beach was flat as a lake.

Regulars Wayne Salvi and Mike Balkum along with business associate Ken were out in phenomenal weather with light winds and warm temps on Thursday. The guys started the day securing their limit of stripers in under 1 hour along with a few throw backs . From there the guys continued slamming away at stripers and blues along Island Beach State Park in oil slick calm seas. Stripers to mid teens made their way to the our artificials on light spinning tackle all day long.

Fridays forecasted NW Gale of winds to 40mph lead to more of a bad “hair day” than anything else with the ocean blown flat along IBSP beaches. The fishing was as good as it gets with the sky black with gulls and gannets. ALL DAY LONG! Regular Jay Simmons joined by business associates Jerry Kronemeyer and Mike Satt experienced “off the charts action” with surfacing stripers and bluefish from start to finish! Both Jerry and Mike are lifetime fishermen and residents of Cape May and have never experienced such “white hot action” even though they frequent the states Southern rips! By lunch time the guys were so spent they had to refuel with a bite to eat ignoring breaking fish within a few feet of the boat! The action continued with vast schools of stripers and blues so thick that there was not enough gulls in the air to keep up with surfacing fish, it looked as though M80’s [ the large firecracker ] were hitting the water as fish after fish erupted on fleeing bait fish! It seemed rafts of gulls were so laden with full stomachs they could no longer take to flight even while drifting through breaking fish.

I have 2 spots left for November 13th “Open Boat Friday at the Fights” for anyone interested. The bass are here in force and it’s time to get to it!

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

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November 6, 2009

11:30 PM

SURF:
Blitz! The beach went going off today! Bunker were in tight to the beach. Bluefish and bass were on them all day long and the action was nothing less than stellar.

Doug Dunkelberger of Surf City fished in the morning time off of the surf in Loveladies, nothing. He went home for lunch and then walked up his street to take a look at saw bait in close and birds working hard. He ran home, grabbed his pole and then got into the action. He caught two nice sized stripers utilizing the snag (weighed treble hook) and swim (liveline) technique. One was 33lb 13oz and the other was 27lb 1oz. Doug mentioned that an angler next to him on the beach caught a “much bigger fish” (40+ pound class) but was not in the derby. Doug mentioned that the angler successfully released the cow.

Other weigh-ins at the shop today: Mike Olson of Manahawkin caught (~5pm) a 30lb 9oz, 44 inch Striper in Brant Beach on bunker.  Basil Dubrosky of the Village Harbour Fishing Club weighed in a 15lb 13oz striper that he caught in Surf City. Basil caught his striper on bunker at noon time.  Scott Simpson of Hainesport weighed in a 23lb 3oz striper that he caught in Surf City on live bunker.  Steven Kientz of Wayne weighed in a 11lb 2oz bluefish that he caught in Brant Beach. Steven caught his blue on bunker at 1:45pm.  Dennis Stepien of Marlton weighed in a 10lb 6oz bluefish that he caught in Ship Bottom on bunker.

On another note, we have found the mid night clam stealers. A few customers have reported ling at night on clams off the front beach. Just another reason to chunk bunker.

12:30 PM

SURF:  The reports of blues and bass continue to filter into the store. What earlier was for the most part mid-island south has also turned into mid-island north.  There are fish all along the island’s front beach from North to South ends!

This morning Michael King of Cherry Hill weighed in a 11 lb 11 oz bluefish.  He caught the blue around 10 am in North Beach on bunker. Also, John & Christian Martin of Beach Haven Crest both weighed in some fish that they caught around 10 am in Holgate: 26 lb 3 oz, 42″ Bass and 10 lb 15 oz, 32″ Blue.  There fish were caught on bunker.

Yesterday late afternoon, Scott Simpson of Hainesport weighed in a 10 lb 5 oz bluefish. Scott caught the blue around 1pm on bunker in Loveladies.

10:00 AM

A number of surf anglers reported a good bite of bluefish and stripers on bunker mid-island (from Ship Bottom on South).

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November 5, 2009

The Wild Honey III was out today and took advantage of the great weather day. While breaking the inlet on the incoming tide boats were spotted hooking up or landing Stripers that were caught on live bait.  We tried bucktails and plugs but were not successful. Continued out into a very calm ocean to 60 feet of water off of the “White House” on Island Beach State Park and sent out the wire line rods with umbrella rigs. Bluefish after bluefish in the 10-lb class but no stripers on the troll for us. Other boats did report landing some nice size Stripers in this same area. Upon the tide turning we headed back into Barnegat inlet and plugged the “North-side” (Island Beach side) around Barnegat Inlet and came up with one short Striper. Later we went further into the bay an fished off the Hi-Bar sedges and hooked up with four Stripers. To our surprise all of these fish were 28″ to 32″ fish. We did hear that at about the same time we were off Hi-Bar an angler bucktailing the North jetty was hooking up with Striper after Striper. It’s just the best feeling hooking up on Stripers while working a bucktail jig or plug. Also have to mention that the weather for the daylight hours was just fantastic. If it wasn’t for the occasional big boat wakes, a kayak could have been out fishing in 60′ water.

Received: Thursday, November 05, 2009 10:09 PM Subject: Fishing report

In response to a bleak weather report I “layered up” and went fishing. Fortunately, the weatherman was wrong, again, and I found myself removing layers and catching fish. Blues and keeper bass weren’t hard to find off of IBSP from 20 out to 50 feet of water. Personally , I drug ‘brellas’, and ‘bars’ for most of my fish, but jigging worked just as well. My freezer’s looking better prepared for this winter now. B.T.W., the fish were packed with sandeels, mostly sub-4”’s. ~ The “R.E.A.”

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November 3, 2009

Received: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 7:56 PM Subject: BHCFA Weekly Report

The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are reporting hot action on some very decent striped bass. The fish seem to be coming in waves with some days being a pick and others very steady action throughout the tide.

Captains George Finck of “Sparetime Charters” went striper hunting with regular mate Jim. They returned to the dock with four nice striped bass from 34-42 inches and report pulling the hook on three others. Captain George adds he has open dates in November for some of this striper action.

Captain John Koegler of the “Pop’s Pride” reports he has been able to get in on the striped bass action. He says poor weather forced him into the bay. He personally boated a 42-inch bass that weighed in at 26-pounds that was too large for the net he had on board. His crew did not want to gaff the fish as they usually release the larger bass.

Captain Fran Verdi of the “Dropoff” has been catching stripers on a daily basis, usually with fresh clams. One day when fresh clams were in short supply, he switched to salted clams and still put keepers of 33 and 34 inches in the fish box. He too has open dates in November for both charters and open boat trips. Most of the fish he has been catching have been in the 33-39 inch class with some larger fish in the mix. He reports fishing the inlet areas until the seas push him into the calmer bay waters.

Captain Fran had Don Jennings out on his first bass trip of the season the outgoing tide produced four keeper bass up to 36-inches, including one tagged fish.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association

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November 2, 2009

1PM  FRESH BUNKER & CLAMS, LIVE EELS & GREEN CRABS – IN STOCK

SURF:
This morning David Bell of Manahawkin weighed in a 45″ x 25″ 35 lb 4 oz striper. David caught his fish last night (~10pm) on bunker in Ship Bottom.

BOAT:
Brian Deane of Forked River was in the shop this morning to pick a some trolling gear. He shared his report from yesterday. Trolled wire line off of Island Beach State Park out to 3 miles(30-50′ of water). There was bait all over. He said for every three bluefish he caught one striper. The bluefish were up to 15lbs and the stripers up to 40 inches. Brian said that more fish were caught on white umbrella rigs than anything else he was trolling.

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November 1, 2009

9:00 PM

SURF:

Surf anglers up and down the Long Beach Island surf kicked off the first day of the new month with a bang, Bluefish and Big Striped Bass in the 30-lb class! The majority of the fish were caught on bunker. We did have one 32-lb bass weighed in that went for a clam.

Mike Green Sr. of Ship Bottom weighed in a 38 lb 7 lb, 46 inch striper. Mike caught his fish in Ship Bottom on bunker. Linda Hollins of Riverton weighed in a 18 lb 3 oz, 38.5 inch striper that she caught in Ship Bottom on bunker. Everett Eckart weighed in a 39 lb 9 oz, 45 inch bass that he caught in Ship Bottom on bunker. Bruce Hannah of Manahawkin weighed in a 32 lb 9 oz, 45 inch bass that he caught on clam.Rob Countess weighed in a 24 lb bass that he caught in Ship Bottom on bunker. Scott Simpson weighed in a 40 inch, 36lb 13oz bass. Scott was fishing bunker in Spray Beach. Ron Solewski also fished Spray Beach with bunker and caught four bass up to 30 pounds, all released. Brian Dalton landed a 31lb 4oz bass in Brant Beach and then headed down to Holgate, there his good friend John Parzych landed a 38 lb 11 oz bass on bunker. John Parzych’s striper just took the lead in our Store’s Striper Calcutta (today the cash pot reached $2000).

A number of customers also reported bluefish up to ten pounds in Ship Bottom/Surf City as well as the South End.

BOAT:

Capt. Walt Johnson of the “XYZ” along with George Gilbert had 26 fish over the roughly 48 hour Sea Shell tournament. They were all caught chunking bunker in the Island’s South Inlet. There last fish was 34.55 lbs, which was large enough to but the boat into 3rd place in the Sea Shell Derby.

Sea Shell Boat Derby Final Results

1) Rugby 40.20 lbs
2) Outcast 38.35 lbs
3) XYZ 34.55 lbs
4) Bite Me 34.25 lbs
5) Locals Only 33.80 lbs
6) Donuts 32.65 lbs – Tie
6) Eyesore 32.65 lbs – Tie
8) Grinder 31.40 lbs
9) Pat & Joe 31.30 lbs
10) Lucky Stripes 30.70 lbs

Received: Sunday, November 01, 2009 11:27 AM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

The weather continued to make things difficult for us this week, but when we did make it out the fish were there and ready to eat. Early in the week drifting live spot seemed to be the ticket for putting fish in the boat, but by the end of the week fresh clam was clearly the bait of choice. While the weather has been a bigger factor this fall than usual, the back bay fishing seems to be much better than the past couple of years and most of the fish have been over 30″, really quality fish.

Yesterday was a good example of what’s been happening. Regulars George Selph and Bob Keller were back out with me, putting five bass in the boat in the first hour and a half before the strong winds and boat traffic made fishing near impossible and we headed in early. Four of the fish were 32″ and above. Sooner or later I’m sure we’ll have to start joining the fleet outside the inlet, but right now the bay fishery is going strong and we’re going to try to stay with it as long as we can.

Several folks have asked me when I was going to finally start putting some of this year’s pictures up on the website, so I took advantage of a couple of weather days this week to go through them and get the process started. It’s always fun to relive some of the catches we’ve had, and look forward to those yet to come. Check them out at www.barnegatbayfishing.com/gallery to see some of this year’s highlights.

Time is running short on this year’s fall striper season, but I still have three weekdays open before Thanksgiving if anyone wants to get out for one last fling before wrapping things up for 2009.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

Received: Sunday, November 01, 2009 2:53 PM Subject: Fwd: ReeL Fantasea Charters fishing reports

Stripers continue to dominate most catches this week when the fish and the weather cooperated. Open Boat Trip [ Thursday] with Dave Davis, Peg Glenze and Bucky Hayes were greeted by stiff NE winds keeping us in the bay/inlet area. We picked away at 8 stripers with Peg earning “Bass Master” landing 4 stripers and releasing all including fish over 28″. Bucky took “heaviest” fish with a nice fat 35″ striper while Dave finally scored his first keeper at 33″.

Regular Chris Spring was out on the 1st “Friday Night At The Fights” duking it out with 11 stripers to 36″ with most of the fish over the 28″ size limit !! Chris was minutes into the trip securing his limit of stripers and then playing catch and release with the rest on a combination of live bait and artificials.

The Dave Rowan Party was out [ Sunday] for a quick out of the gate start with Dave scoring on his cast with a keeper striper hitting the ice. Hopes were high but the striper bite seemed to elude us with only a few more blues being caught till trips end.

The last available dates in November are 8,12,15 for open or private charter and anyone interested in “Friday Night at the Fights” these are open boat trips and have 1-2 spots available on 6,13,20. Please contact me if interested.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

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October 31, 2009  —  Happy Halloween!

3 PM – Fresh Bunker & Clams, Live Eels & Green Crabs – In Stock!
Surf:
The bass bite today was off the hook! There have been a number of nice size fished weighed in today.  Hit the beach with the fresh bunker and give it a go. I cant wait to see what the late afternoon/evening high tide brings.
Darcy Kolodziej of Ship Bottom weighed in a 30 lb 6 oz, 44″ Striped Bass for the Surf Derby. She caught the fish at 1pm in Harvey Cedars on fresh bunker.  She rushed down to our shop to weigh-in for the tourney by 1:15pm, snapped a quick picture and then successfully released it down the street at the boat ramp. Congrats Darcy on the release of your personal best fish. Good Karma will reward you with a bigger one in the future.

Boat:
Jim “Diamond” Sprague stopped by the shop this afternoon on his way down to the “Shell” for weigh-in.  Diamond’s striper pulled our scale to 32 lbs 12 oz. He said that he caught the striper on bunker and noted that his boat caught 4 others in the teens and lost another nice sized fish on a live eel. Diamond mentioned that he was fishing in Tuckerton. Take a look at Diamond’s Striped Bass!
Walter Zhushma and his father Oleg drifted live eels last night in the channels of Tuckerton too.  They had three fish, the largest was 41.5 inches.  Oleg mentioned that Thursday night he fished the same general area and caught 7 bass, all keeper size.

12:00 NOON
Surf:
Earlier this morning Linda Hollins of Riverton, NJ weighed in a 31 lb 12 oz, 43″ striper for the Surf Derby. She caught the fish in Ship Bottom on a bunker chunk around 8:15am. Take a look at Linda’s Striped Bass!

Also weighed in today:
Shawn Hawthorne of Philadelphia caught a 13 lb Striper, 33.5″ (just short for the derby) on bunker in Ship Bottom around 8:30am. Shawn also caught a 27″ striper on clam.
Jerry Viola of Cedar Grove caught a 9lb, 31″ (just short of the derby) Bluefish that he caught in Surf City on bunker around 9am.

Rick Pumphrey of Manahawkin stopped by yesterday afternoon around 2pm to load up on fresh bunker and clams. He hit the beach in Love Ladies and had his first striper on the beach within 20 minutes. Ended up hooking up with five stripers. Lost one in the wash. Largest was 31inches. Rick said he moved north as the tide was coming in because the drivable beach was getting slim. Nothing but weed so he packed it in for the night.

Boat:
Harold McMaster (of Forked River) went out trolling yesterday morning(7am-3:30pm) aboard the “James Gang” Charter Boat out of Forked River. They trolled wire line ~1.5 miles north of the inlet off IBSP in 50-55′ of water. Harold said they were marking tons of bait. The fish wanted white spoons, “the green spoons did not get touched.” All together they caught 20 bass up to 20lbs and a dozen bluefish that were all under 10lbs. Harold noted that it was snotty and there were only a couple other boats out there.

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October 30, 2009

10 am – Fresh Bunker & Clams, Live Eels, Green Crabs – In stock!
6:20 am
Stripers in the bay are heating up. Eels and Clam as well as artificials (soft baits like Hogy’s and Gulp and plugs like X-Raps) are working along side of the sod banks both at the north end and the south end. A few customers that picked up bushels of clams yesterday afternoon told me (with fish in the cooler to prove) clamming the back side of Holgate was producing stripers in the high teens and twenty pound class fish. The rips and white water down on that end of the island are also producing on various baits(clams, bunker, eels, etc.).

SURF: Yesterday night just as we were closing Ron Alia weighed in a 31.75″ Bluefish that he caught off of the Barnegat Light surf on bunker.

FYI: The NJ DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife has announced a limited one-week harvest season of the oyster beds known as Fitney Bit and Oysterbed Point, located at the mouth of the Mullica River. The season will commence on Monday, November 9, 2009 and end on Saturday, November 14, 2009 (daily harvest times are sunrise to sunset). The harvest is open to all commercial and recreational shellfish license holders.

For more information on the harvest, including charts showing locations of the open and no-harvest areas, visit www.njfishandwildlife.com/news/2009/oysterharvest09.htm on the division’s website.

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October 28, 2009

5:20 pm – Fresh Bunker & Clams, Live Eels, Green Crabs – In stock!
SURF: David Bell of Manahawkin just weighed in a 12lb 15oz bass that he caught at 2:30pm on the beach in Ship Bottom on Bunker.

Ed Lapp weighed in a 32lb 9oz bass yesterday evening. HE caught the fish at 6pm in Haven Beach on Bunker.

2:45 pm
The captains of the Beach Haven Charter fishing Association managed to catch good numbers of fish in the past week while fishing vastly different locations.
Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Star Fish” had a good day wreck-fishing on a trip with Chris Metric as mate. At one point they had over 60 fish in less than an hour with many sea bass which would have been keepers if not for the ban. They also picked up some nice sized porgies.
Captain John Koegler took the “Pop’s Pride” out to the canyon on his last canyon trip of the year. The night chunking and jigging was slow although the anglers lost two deep jigs which were bitten off after heavy strikes. The troll produced one yellowfin tuna along with 9 small tuna-like fish which were later identified as “bullet mackerel.” Captain John found some recipes in a Japanese cookbook for bullet mackerel and reports they were delicious. This was his first experience with this species.
Captain Fran Verdi has been doing some striped bass prospecting on his own in preparation for his upcoming bass charters. He reports nice action around the bottom of the tides. He has mostly been fishing the incoming tide with bass from 33-39 inches in length. Most of his fishing has been in the Great Bay area. Captain Fran says he has some open dates for charters and also spots on his open boat trips still available in November.
For additional information on the Beach Haven Charter fishing Association please go to www.fishbeachhaven.com

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October 27, 2009

4:30 pm – Fresh Bunker & Clams, Live Eels, Green Crabs – In stock!

Basil Dubrosky of the Village Harbour Fishing Club was out on the surf again today.  He fished fresh bunker from noon to 3pm in Surf City.  He said there was a lot of grass in the water and there was a swift current.  He mentioned that he needed 7-8oz of lead to hold. Basil weighed in three stripers (bonus tag). The largest was 17lb 12oz.  Basil submitted the Bonus Tag information firsthand to Nick Remer of NJ Fish and Game. While here at the shop Nick took measurements and scale samples.

10:30 am

It is raining and it is windy, but the fish are biting!  Jon Law of Manahawkin weighed in a couple fish just a short while ago. He weighed in a striper(17lbs 14oz, 36″) and a bluefish(9lbs 9oz). He caught both fish in Surf City between 8:30-9am on FHQ Fresh Bunker.

Joe Carmelengo caught a big fish this morning(8:20am). 32lb 2oz, 44″ striper, Bunker, Spray Beach. It was weighed in at another shop.

Last night Michael “Flynn” Dicellis of Rahway weighed in a 18lb 15oz, 38 1/4″ striper that he caught in Loveladies(@ 5pm) on bunker.

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October 26, 2009

5:30 pm –  The 13th Annual Sea Shell Bass Derby is this weekend!  We are offering a 15% OFF DISCOUNT to any and all angler who place a prepaid order for bushels of clams. Orders must be place via phone before 8pm on Wednesday. Call the store to reserve a bushel bag of fresh clams.  For more information on the Shell’s Tournament Click Here.

Surf:
Hit the beach with fresh bunker and clams! We got the freshest of both for you. Striper and Blues are cruising the front bars. I heard it through the grapevine, “there were some bigger fish caught farther to the north of LBI.” Keep you fingers crossed. With persistent easterly wind the next few days we could have an epic bite.
Basil Dubrosky of the Village Harbour Fishing Club stopped by the shop early this morning and loaded up on our prime bunker. He fished the beach in Surf City. He stopped back to weigh in a striper (8lb 11oz) and share his report. Basil caught a couple bluefish up to 2lbs. He also landed a 15” fluke on a 8/0 circle hook with a big old bunker chunk. He will be back at it tomorrow morning.
Elsewhere on the island there were bluefish (up to 12lb 4oz) and bass (up to 35lb 3oz) weighed in. Most on bunker.

Inlet:
BL Inlet- “Robo” Reale fished yesterday morning. He would not reveal his exact location; however, I know he was fishing the Barnegat Light Rocks. He caught blackfish up to 15 plus inches on live green crabs. Rob said that the blackfish bite slowed a little bit from last week. “I get my one keeper and go home,” Robo said.

LEI Inlet- Anglers have caught some nice fish in the breakers/whitewater. Chunking bunker and live lining have produced bass in the 30lb class. A word of caution: Be careful. Do not fish the whitewater there unless you are confident. If in doubt don’t go out. This season especially there have been some nasty accidents there with one just happening yesterday. Check out the Bass Barn to see a current happening. This can happen to experienced fisherman.
Barry Gabler of Manahawkin stopped by the shop this evening. He fished Little Egg Inlet (the outer bar) yesterday and today. Yesterday had two fish one on spot and one on clam. Today, he lost a bunch of fish and released a 25lber. He reported seeing a number of boats on a large school of bunker off of Little Beach too. “You gotta be careful in the white water,” Barry said.

Ocean:
Inshore- I have not heard stellar reports but trolling is producing bass and blues! Bunker spooning and shad or tube umbrella rigs will do the trick. I would suggest starting trolling in the 50’ of water off IBSP. The water is chocolate, so troll bright colors. White and/or chartreuses green would be a good idea. As the wind died out this afternoon, there was bird play with bluefish in the 7-15lb range off of IBSP (out to 6 miles).

Offshore- Capt. Keith Burnet of the “Obsession” stopped in the shop this afternoon to pick up some big game tackle. He shared with me this report: Fished Wednesday/Thursday in the Toms. Eight yellowfin and a long fin on the troll. Night time chunk produced three swords, kept one 57” which was caught on a whole squid. Not one tuna bite in the night. The “Obsession” will be heading back out the next time the weather breaks.

Bay:
The ICW which runs the length of the island has stripers for sure. Catch ‘em a number of different ways. Take your pick; drift live eels, spot or baby bunker, anchor up and clam ‘em up, drift bunker chunks, plugs, small bucktails. A reporter who requested to be anonymous told me a few minutes ago (as he picked up a fat bag of live eels) that he had bunch of stripers (late last night) up to 25lbs drifting eels in (the bayside channels of) Barnegat Light.  FYI: Crabbing is still good. Sam W. (FHQ Staff) caught a dozen and a half keepers this morning off of his lagoon dock in Forked River.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Greg Cudnik           ><{{{{{(º>

Received: Monday, October 26, 2009 1:00 PM Subject: Monday, October 26 Report

Stopped by the shop for bunker and green crabs. Did my normal zero on the beach.

Went to the Lighthouse for blackfishing. Landed 5 and lost countless others. What a great time. Lost all my rigs. You need either split shots or no weight at all. Lots of rocks down there but there are tons of blackfish there.

Jim T.
Bridgewater, NJ
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October 24, 2009

Received: Saturday, October 24, 2009 4:00 PM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

Just as we expected, last weekend’s back to back nor’easters was exactly what we need to get our fall striped bass fishing underway. We’re still a little sensitive to swings in water temperature, but the fish are here and when condition are right they’re on the feed!

The best day of the week was Monday, immediately after the big blow. Despite the dirty water from the storms, unfishable inlet and icy morning conditions, Cam Rispoli and John Ferrara proceeded to land 21 bass topped by John’s 33.4 pounder from the back channels. Almost all of those fish were of legal size, with most of them (including John’s jumbo gal) being safely released to fight another day.

Tuesday’s trip saw John Wendolowski, Walt and Stan Tatko, and Kevin Broderick landing a dozen more bass (including six keepers), this time mostly on live baits drifted in the inlet.

Wednesday, George Selph and Bob Keller took the opportunity to get out in the middle of the week and bang seven more bass from the inlet.

Things finally slowed down on Friday, when Steve Mastej snuck out of work with Luis and Oscar only to find some pretty ugly conditions that became completely unfishable by mid-morning. Even so, a couple of bass still put in appearances around the inlet.

There seems to be plenty of fish, including some real quality ones, around right now and things should only get better from here on out. It’s definitely time to go fishing!

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

Received: Saturday, October 24, 2009 10:55 PM Subject: Keep America Fishing

I thought your readers might want to know what Obama wants to do to our fishing rights.

Please go to www.keepamericafishing.org

~ Jim T., Bridgewater, NJ

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October 23, 2009

WAKE UP!!! WAKE UP NOW!!! RALLY SATURDAY in New Egypt NJ!!!
Saturday, October 24, 2009 2:00 PM – BE THERE!!!
Anyone who values New Jersey’s Great Outdoors
In particular Saltwater Anglers lets Help to Save NJ’s Great Outdoors! Visit…
www.njoutdooralliance.org/assets/events/NJOAflierCOL092709.pdf
New Jersey Outdoor Alliance – The Grassroots R.O.O.R (Rescue Our Outdoor Rally)

7:00 PM

Surf: The surf bite was on today. The stiff east-northeast wind had the bass and blue on the beach. Received a number of weigh-ins from the north end of the island earlier today. This evening a number of the fish came from mid island.

Striped Bass: Darcy Kolodziej of Ship Bottom weighed in a 20lb 2oz bass that she caught in Barnegat Light on bunker.
Rick Wieland of Ship Bottom weighed in a 17lb 5oz bass that he caught in Harvey Cedars on clam.
Bluefish: Tom Stackhouse of Manahawkin weighed in a big bluefish, 13lb 1oz, that he caught on bunker in Brant Beach.
Richard Sellnow of Yardville weighed in a couple bluefish in the 10lb range, all on bunker in Ship Bottom.
John Canale weighed in a 10lb 11oz bluefish that he caught on bunker in Loveladies.

Boat: I spoke with Joey Zac this afternoon. He reported fishing the Little Egg Inlet this morning. He had two nice stripers; one on clam and another on live peanut bunker.

Received: Friday, October 23, 2009 8:18 AM Subject: Barnegat Inlet

We fished the South Jetty yesterday (Thurs.) morning from about 7:30 to 9:30. We were able to drift along the north side parallel to the submerged rocks and throw 5″ Bombers over the wash. Almost all of the strikes were right on top of the rocks and the bite was pretty consistent for a while. We landed five school sized fish 24 to 26+, with one keeper. He had a couple of peanut bunker and a sand eel in his stomach. There were about 8 other boats in that same drift and we saw numerous other hook-ups. Even a really nice fluke! The bite turned off about 9:00 so we trolled off Island Beach for an hour or so with no luck. Outside of baitfish, we weren’t marking much on the fish finder either. Was still better than working though 🙂

~ ML

Received: Friday, October 23, 2009 11:26 AM Subject: report

Fished Loveladies last night 7-12. First cast landed a 29” fat bass on bunker. Released. Next cast a decent pickup and runoff and drop. After that nothing. Heading back to same spot for outgoing this afternoon.

~ GRL, Cape May

Received: Friday, October 23, 2009 4:04 PM  Subject: Carolyn Ann III Fishing Reports

Wednesday, October 21: Carolyn Ann III had 31 people on board. The boat limited out on blackfish. Everyone caught their one keeper! I had my one keeper blackfish and many shorts. Had a lot of barely short sea bass. And I had one keeper porgy. The 3 mile limit is a disaster for the boat.

Thursday, October 22: We had about 25 people on board. Again, the Carolyn Ann III limited out with all patrons catching their one keeper blackfish. I think mine was the first boated. I caught it early. Again, lots of short sea bass and blackfish. I also had two keeper porgy. One guy had an offshore type of porgy. It was fluke size.

Friday, October 23: Carolyn Ann III sailed with about 15 people. Only stayed out to 10:30am. The sea became very rough. Towards the end you could not feel the blackfish bite. You would reel up with the remnants of your crab. I caught two large porgy. Many short sea bass and blackfish. One nice human being gave me a blackfish and off to the marina we went. It was rough.

Saturday, October 24: The Carolyn Ann III will not sail. Another weekend storm. For Sunday, we will see.

BTW, the Grundens jacket I bought last Sunday at Fisherman’s Headquarters came in handy for Friday’s trip. The wind was whippin.

~ Jim T., Bridgewater, NJ

Received: Friday, October 23, 2009 4:55 PM   Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

Earlier this week the weather was as pretty as it gets. With warm temperatures and light winds allowing us to recover from last weekends Nor’easter. By mid week the Reel Fantasea was back at it finding blues and stripers off Island Beach State Park with great fishing but as we approached the weekend [starting Friday morning] the wind machined started to “spool up” again.

Reel Fantasea regular Jay Simmons started fast out of the gate with steady action from striped bass getting his limit of striped bass to 34″ within minutes of “lines in “. The stripers continued to bite exclusively leading Jay to ponder “where are all the bluefish ?” The words no sooner left his mouth that we had our first bite off. From there Jay continued mixing it up between stripers and blues all day long. Striped bass and bluefish surfaced through out the day making for some reel cool visual excitement. Fishing along side Jay I managed my own limit of stripers and enough bluefish to make my arms and back sore.

Reel Fantasea regular Cy Collins was joined by brother Brian and sons Brian and Kevin for hopes of the same action. Hopes were high as we approached the same area and flocks of diving and feeding birds were giving away what was going on down below. Brother Brian was first to put a nice 18-lb striper on ice after a spirited battle. As the morning wore on strong North East winds continued to build making for some nasty conditions and also dispersing the schools of fish. The guys stuck it out long enough to put some more blues and 1 more striper on ice before we headed for the barn.

With Small Craft Advisory up till Sunday the Reel Fantasea is forced once again to cancel trips scheduled for the weekend. I do have October 30th available for private or Open Boat for those interested in some Fantastic Fall Fishing.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

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October 22, 2009

6:30 PM

The Wild Honey fished Wednesday morning by trolling bunker spoons in 60 feet of water off of Seaside. The result was lots of 8-lb Bluefish. Tried again further South off the Island Beach State Park Bathing Beach with the same results. Then for the outgoing tide we headed back through Barnegat Inlet to fish the sedge. Using plugs plenty of Striper were caught but the size was no where near a keeper size. Did receive reports from other anglers much later in the day that some boats managed to catch Stripers on bunker spoons in the same ocean areas but they had more patience to bare with all the bluefish strikes. Also heard from anglers fishing the sedges who reported keeper size fish but these were well off the sedge in deeper water.

Today’s Village Harbor Fishing Club Weigh-ins

– Bill Figley 8-lb 8-oz Blackfish (Bill was key in developing our NJ Reefs Program. I’m sure if he had it to do over again more reefs would have been placed in NJ State waters. Bill, thank you again for all your work building the NJ Reefs Program.)

– Vince Sibona 14-lb Striper on the troll North of Barnegat Inlet

Received: Thursday, October 22, 2009 6:52 PM Subject: FR 10/22

Ed and Phil fished the Axel Carlson Reef and caught 27 sea bass to 18 inches. The ratio was about 1 keeper to 3 throwbacks. Very nice blackfish caught on the barge at the SE portion of the reef’

We did not see one bunker both going and coming home, had 56 degree water for the most part.

~ EdC

Axel Carlson Reef distance offshore is 2.1 nm which means it is located in State of New Jersey waters.
Axel Carlson Reef info… www.njfishandwildlife.com/pdf/reefs/axel_carlson.pdf

(Note: Sea Bass fishing is not closed in State of NJ Waters which reaches out to 3 nm offshore. The Sea Bass closure like the Striped Bass closure is limited to Federal Waters which does not begin until 3 nm offshore.)

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October 20, 2009

Received: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 12:22 PM Subject: fr

Greg hit the beach this morning in search of the striped ones. Started fishing around sun up. Fished clams and bunker. Right off the bat Greg had a good runoff on a bunker chuck. Then a couple hours later hooked into, beached and released a 30″ striper on clam.

– FYI the surf temperature at noon time in Southern Harvey Cedar was 58 degrees.

Received: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 2:37 PM Subject: Striped Bass Report Ship Bottom 10-18-09

(William Heade) Fished the 25th street beach for the afternoon incoming tide from about 4 ’til 6:15 beautiful day on the water. Only needed 5 ounces maybe less to hold bottom. First trip on the beach of the fall season came equipped with herring, semi fresh clams, and mullet. We heard of a guy catching a short bass as we got there and within about an hour into our night my rod went off with the clicker screaming I set up on him and landed a 26 inch fat bass on a herring chunk which was released to fight another day. Slow fishing from there with just a few junk fish. Lots of guys fishing from the 22nd to 28th street beach. Although we didn’t see a lot of action, it was not bad for our first fall surf trip. Should begin to take off soon.

~ Capt. Wm. Heade (This is a copy from the Bass Barn of a post by William Heade)

Received: Monday, October 19, 2009 6:55 AM Subject: Nor’ Easter (delayed post)

Sunday’s weather was slightly improving but the constant onshore winds pushed and kept tides running very high leading to flooding along the coast. Barnegat Bay beach’s fencing was knocked down allowing a derelict crab trap to be washed up in the middle of the street with live crabs still in it.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

Received: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 7:48 PM Subject: BHCFA Report

Like everyone else in southern Ocean County, the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are still drying out and thanking their lucky stars for a lack of serious damage from last weekend’s double northeaster. The tides were exceptionally high and necessitated a great deal of care and attention on the captains’ parts. Now that the weather has returned to normal conditions, they are once again turning their attention to fishing.

It remains to be seen what the reef and bottom fishing will be like in the ocean. Naturally black sea bass and fluke are out. There should still be some good numbers of porgies around, but the triggerfish will be moving south very soon if they have not already. There are some good numbers of nice blackfish around, and will make for a nice target when the daily limit goes up from one in November.

Several of the captains will be taking parties out very soon and targeting striped bass. Although much of the baitfish seems to have been chased by the storm, there have been some very positive striped bass reports on live mullet, live bunker, and fresh clam.
Captain Fran Verdi of the “Dropoff” reports he is champing at the bit for the bass, and expects to put some in his fish box within the next week.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association

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October 19, 2009

After the nasty blow the water LBI surf temp had dropped significantly. The weatherman on TV is still calling mid 60’s; however, I beg to differ. I have spent many hours in the water the last few days catching waves. I call it low 60’s max. If it didn’t already, I think the surf temperature will drop below 60 degrees.

As far as the weather over the weekend. LBI was flooded for sure. There was wind and rain like no other. With the late morning bayside high tide there were a number of sections of the island that were underwater. On Sunday, Long Beach Blvd was closed due to flooding. It was impassable. The ocean road was the only way to go. A number of cars bogged down and stalled out at the Faria’s / Heartland Traffic light in Southern Ship Bottom.

Today Monday, was a beautiful day. Cloudless skies with plenty of sun. The water is still a bit dirty but will continue to clean up in the next few days.

SURF:
There were numerous customers who stopped in the shop today (Monday) who reported landing stripers off of the surf. Michael Bennett of Tuckerton weighed in a striper that he caught off of the Barnegat Light Surf this afternoon. The fish was caught on clam and weighed 12 lbs 2 oz and measured 34.25 inches.

INLET:
Hit the rocks with eels and plugs. I have not heard of any big fish but a number of smaller stripers are there for sure.

BAY:
The bay temperature is cold. Last week on Wednesday, depending on the tide ranged from 58-52 degrees off of Turtle Cove (West Side of Bay across from Surf City / Ship Bottom border). The Causeway Bridges have given up fish on select tides. Sam W. – FHQ (Staff) said he had killer crabbing off of his dock in Forked River. The last ten days have been the best days all year. Use a commercial trap with bunker and let ’em soak.

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October 18, 2009

Received: Sunday, October 18, 2009 10:54 AM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

Please, will somebody turn off the wind machine? Seems like it’s been blowing non-stop for the past ten days.

Not really much to report this time, since the weather caused us to cancel all four striper trips we had booked last week. It’s still blowing pretty hard right now, but things should finally start settling down late tonight or tomorrow and the rest of the week is looking promising. The water level in back is about as high as I’ve seen it in the last ten years or so, and I actually need a ladder right now to climb up (!!!) into the boat.

It’s going to take a couple of days for things to settle down, but the good news is that this is exactly the kind of weather we needed to trigger the fall striped bass run. The water temps are just about perfect, there’s tons of bait around…. let the fishing begin!

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

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October 16, 2009

Received: Friday, October 16, 2009 2:31 PM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters

Yet another Gale/ Nor’easter continued to shorten the Falls calendar and it’s fishing opportunities. Thursday’s Open Boat with Regulars Wayne Salvi , Sean Castle and Tom Breeland made it out before the small window of opportunity closed as a predicted Gale Warning was going up later Thursday afternoon. With the thick schools of 9-15″ weakfish continuing to occupy the 30-40ft depth [as illustrated by Wayne’s lassoing his weak fish] and a Gale warning looming on the horizon we started the day close to the inlet jigging mostly spikes but did manage to put a few on the ice. Moving back to the inlet we worked around the inlet to only have a few spots [live bait] shortened by bluefish. Moving around and working the sod banks we managed two small schoolie stripers. As the North East wind and rain started to intensify and the window of opportunity closing we moved back to the inlet for a last chance effort in nasty conditions. Sean Castle who was Bass Master last week continued his reign by adding a nice 32″ striper as the window and the trip closed. Thanks Guys for the solid effort in less than favorable conditions. I have 1- 2 spots available for next Friday night [ October 23rd]. We will be targeting striped bass from 4:00-8:00pm using both artificial and live baits. I still have October 30th morning available and with the full moon on November 2nd this has all the makings for a great trip! I still have a few dates in November for some of the best striped bass fishing anywhere, and don’t forget I have added “Friday Night at the fights” for stripers . November 13th and 20th are scheduled for Open Boat trips and 2 spots are still available. Anyone interested please call or email.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

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October 15, 2009

SURF:

Hit the beach (Harvey Cedars) this morning with some clams and bunker. Caught 4 fluke (up to 18″) on clams. I also had a good battle with a sizable striper that went for a bunker chunk, lost ’em trying to get it over the sand bar. Spit the hook. The illusive striped one strikes again! Don’t let the rain keep you from hooking up. We have plenty of Grundens in stock and they will keep you dry.

~ Greg

Received: Thursday, October 15, 2009 2:40 PM   Subject: Revised Edition of NJ Reef Guide Available

The NJ DEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife is pleased to announce the release of the third edition of its popular publication, A Guide to Fishing and Diving New Jersey’s Reefs. The guide is a valuable reference for anyone interested in fishing or diving on the state’s artificial reefs.

This revised edition of the guide contains DGPS charts of 17 reef network sites (including 3 new sites) and information on more than 4,000 patch reefs. In addition to reef locations and charts, the guide includes information on the types of materials used to construct the various reefs and how to utilize the reefs for diving and fishing.

The guide is available in PDF format in its entirety and in sections on the NJ DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife’s website – there will be no print edition available. To download all or portions of the guide . For information on the artificial reef program visit www.njfishandwildlife.com/artreef.htm .

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October 14, 2009

Received: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 12:58 PM Subject: Striper caught today

Hi Guys n Gals, striper caught this morning at Surf City L.B.I. around 8 AM. The Baby came in @ 47-inchs and 32-lbs. Thanks for the mini bunker and clams. It did the trick. Getting up early seems to help.

~ Mark N Regina Reimann, Mystic Islands

Received: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 2:40 PM Subject: Fishing Report

October 13: Fishing the jetties along Beach Haven Terrace. Croakers and Blackfish caught on light tackle from the surf with fresh clams. A small flounder washed up on the beach, he was quickly returned to grow big for next season. Observed plenty of baitfish in the surf along with small crabs. Appears to be plenty of food in the water. Lots of fishermen chasing the elusive Striped Bass, no catches observed.

October 14: Challenged by the wind and colder air temps. No action to report. Still seeing small baitfish along with small crabs in the surf. Received one report of a short Striper caught in the surf. Still a good amount of buggies chasing the Striped Bass.

~ Matt Green, Beach Haven Terrace by way of Pottstown PA

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October 13, 2009

Received: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 6:13 PM Subject: BHCFA Report

Although season closures for two different species of fish have cut the options for the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association, some other fish are around in good numbers to pick up the slack.

Both the Little Egg and Garden State South Reefs are holding good populations of porgies, blackfish, and triggerfish for the boats fishing the bottom. Although the daily limit on the blackfish remains at one, the size of the fish makes them an attractive target.

Closer to shore, the captains have been able to locate some large schools of weakfish. Most of these fish can be found by looking for marks on the bottom, while some larger weakies can be found feeding on schools of bunker. Most of the weakfish are small, but 13-15 inch fish can be caught with some patience. Metal jigs with teasers seem to be working the best on these weaks. (Ed… Add a white teaser to up the odds.)

Early this week the weakfish were located from Ship Bottom to Holgate with some especially big concentrations off the red water tower in Beach Haven.

Not all of those marks are weakfish, however, as there are still some scattered schools of croakers. When these fish are located, hooks baited with clam and fished right on the bottom are the most effective. There are schools of birds around close to the beach also, usually feeding on the scraps of bait schools after encounters with small bluefish.

The cooler temperatures have many anglers thinking striped bass, but they have not yet arrived in force. Some boats have been trolling bunker spoons off the beach with only a couple of hook-ups to show for the work.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association

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October 11, 2009

4:00 PM

A lot of life in the water in our surrounding area: Mullet (finger and corn cob), bunker (babies and adult), spearing, rainfish and small anchovies.

Surf:

Larger Stripers are showing up just in time for the start of the annual LBI Fall Classic fishing tournament (Derby). There have been fish in the twenty and thirty pound fish caught. There are still fluke being caught off the beach along with king fish.

Bay:

Small bass are being caught in the bay. Earlier in the week Morgan Pedrick of Holgate landed a 22” striper on a bucktail tipped with White Gulp Grub. There have also been a few weakies too.

Inlet:

With all of the bait around there have been weakfish and small bluefish at night in lights at the foot of Old Barney. Also, Sea Bass and Tog are there biting green crabs and clams.

Ocean:

Earlier in the week Nick Remer fished aboard the Magic Jack out of Shark River. They trolled ballyhoo with no luck. They caught a Mahi and a handful of Bluefin up to 60-70lbs chunking (with sardines) at the Arundo (old oil wreck) in ~145’ of water. Nick noted there were bigger fish mixed in but they did not hook into them.

More recently, I just spoke with (via phone on their way in) Brain of the Pez Machine. They landed one sword and a Longfin Tuna chunking and jigging. They had other hook-ups but lost ‘em. They were fishing in the Wilmington Canyon.

Received: Sunday, October 11, 2009 7:32 PM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters

The October 5th closure of black sea bass is unjust, uncalled for, and just plain unfair. The unfair practice of targeting recreational fisherman has got to stop! Sea bass are considered a rebuilt species and are projected as being 103% rebuilt, I really believe they are even in better condition than that as most wrecks and reefs have been 20-30ft thick with sea bass [ I actually believe that some wreck are over crowded , leaving a new problem on the horizon ]. Competition for food can create a whole new set of problems as these fish will winter offshore on limited real estate and limited food resource. The artificial reef system that the state of New Jersey has instituted has been a huge success story for species such as sea bass, porgies and blackfish. Thanks to efforts originated and set in place by it’s founding father Bill Figley, but governing agencies continue to discourage the recreational sector with little thought to the impact to all who participate and the revenue they generate. Ok, I am off my soap box for now.

The “Reel FantaSea” Fall season is underway as striped bass were landed on all trips this week. Weakfish from 8-14″ continued to cover the 30-40ft depth and responded well to jigging metal with teasers. Bluefish have been readily available but only in the 5-7″ size, look for this to change overnight! Fluke continue to be released while jigging for blues, weakfish and stripers. An Open Boat Trip with Regulars Sean Castle, Karl Steffan and new comer from the Village Harbor Fishing club Joe Folice were out for a mix of stripers, weakfish and small 5-7″ bluefish . The guys started the day with non-stop weakfish action and mixing in stripers and small blues. Sean took “Bass Master” title landing 3 stripers on live bait and keeping 1 for the table. Regular Jay Simmons was out to score his first Grand Slam landing 4 stripers, a bunch of weakfish and blues and fluke. Starting October 23rd “Reel FantaSea” will be offering “Friday Night at the Fights”, these trips will depart at 4:30pm and return at 8:30pm using both artificial and live baits for private and open boat [call for details]. I have October 18, 25, & 30 available for private charter and 1 spot left for October 29th Open Boat – striper/bluefish. Call or email for details.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

Received: Sunday, October 11, 2009 11:58 AM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

It’s been another week where the winds have kept “Rambunctious” pretty much close to the dock, but the water temperatures have finally started to come down and serious fall striper fishing should be getting underway any day now. My bait pens are fully stocked with live spot, fresh line is on the reels, and jigs are sharpened…. time to go fishing!

“Rambunctious” did get a break in the winds on Tuesday, and I had Pennsylvanian Greg McGuigan with buddies John and Bob taking a break from the office to get in a little quality time on the water. While the stripers didn’t make their expected appearance around the jetties at first light, we did find a couple of immense schools of small weakfish working over sandeels within a mile of the inlet. Small diamond jigs with teasers produced steady action all morning, with the final tally being someplace in the vicinity of 150-160 weakfish landed, including 15 for the box, plus several mixed size bluefish and croakers. I even got a bit of a surprise when I took out one of my back bay ultralights and tied on a small jig to get in on the fun… then had a seven pound albie run me around the boat a few times on the 6# outfit I was using. I love the fall!

With all the bait that seems to be around, this looks like it’s going to be a fall to remember for striped bass fishing when the weather cooperates. I still have several prime mid week dates open between now and Thanksgiving for anyone else looking to get in on the action.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

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October 8, 2009

Bayside: Good Blowfish reports continue to come in from Barnegat Bay. On the Southern-end, keeper size Stripers at Little Sheepshead on live bait.

Oceanside: Very few Stripers reported on the beach and these reports were from the Northern-end. Bluefish up and down the island. The bigger bluefish are pushing the schools of bunker. Mixed reports on croakers and kingfish.

Inshore: Big Bluefish were off the IBSP Bathing Beach in 40 feet of water. Big Bluefish, False Albacore, & Bonita at the Barnegat Ridge.

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October 6, 2009

6:00 PM

The Wild Honey was into the spike weakfish and hickory shad action this morning just outside of Barnegat inlet. There must have been hundreds of thousands of weakfish in the area all morning. Small and white seemed to be the ticket for hookups. In the afternoon we plugged the Hi Bars sedge banks and landed a few Bluefish and one Striper was caught.

Received: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 6:58 PM Subject: Tuesday 10/6/09 report

Broke Little Egg inlet today at 6.30 am to find plenty of birds working the water with Atlantic Herring storming the inlet. Managed to boat 12 of these fish with some reaching 16-18 inches. They were hungry as they hit a small metal jig with each cast. Next moved up to North Beach Haven area oceanside to find bunker schools bigger then football fields with nothing under them except two sharks that took half a fresh bunker and sheared 60 pound braid. Did manage to find small weakfish and a few croakers in 25 to 40 feet of water. Also found the usual dogfish and skate.

~ Martin M

Received: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 12:04 PM Subject: BHCFA Report

The feds may have closed down the black sea bass fishery, but the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association continue to put together some good catches.

Captain George Finck of “Sparetime Charters” along with his brother-in-law Ed Monro decided to get a pleasure trip in before the season for black sea bass closed. They headed to the Little Egg Reef in 3-foot seas, and Captain George put them on the fish. They managed a really good day catching plenty of porgies, sea bass, and trigger fish.

The “Star Fish” managed to fish three days during the past week, twice with Captain John at the helm and once with Captain Carl Sheppard. Most days they spent the mornings on wrecks and the afternoons trolling. The weather cooperated, and the parties managed to find good numbers of bluefish while the reefs and wrecks produced numbers of keeper sized fish including blackfish, sea bass, trigger fish, weakfish, porgies, and one throwback lane snapper. Thursday’s group was made up of 16 avid fishermen who boated a catch of almost 200 fish in a half day of fishing. Most were throwbacks, but the anglers had a great time. On Sunday Captain Carl ended the sea bass season with a trip to the southern wrecks with the Messler family and friends. The fishing was steady and consisted of keeper porgies, small sea bass, small blues, and a few sea robins.

Captain Frank Camarda and the “Miss Beach Haven” also has been experiencing some good days. Friday’s catch consisted of big porgies, trigger fish, blackfish, and the pool winner, a 3.5 pound sea bass boated by Gregory Ivanich of Beach Haven. Saturday’s fishing was also very good with some croakers mixed in. On Sunday the blackfish were out in force and practically every angler caught his one fish limit.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association

Winners of Governor’s Surf Fishing Tournament Announced

More than 800 anglers enjoyed a great day of family fishing fun on Sunday, October 4 at the 18th annual Governor’s Surf Fishing Tournament. Held at Island Beach State Park, this annual event raises funds for important conservation projects and improved beach access.

Thirty anglers received awards for prize-winning fish, but the grand prize went to Gene Brendel of Nutley, NJ, for catching a 32-inch striped bass.  Mr. Brendel received a plaque along with two rod and reel combos, and will have his name engraved on the Governor’s Cup, which is permanently displayed at the park.

The event was sponsored by the NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife and Division of Parks and Forestry, the New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, the Jersey Coast Anglers Association, and the New Jersey Beach Buggy Association.

The list of tournament winners along with additional information about the tournament can be found at www.njfishandwildlife.com/news/2009/gsft09-winners.htm on the division’s website.

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October 5, 2009

3:00 PM

Ocean: Bob Dodds of Cedar Run and Frank Bove of Little Egg Harbor both were out this morning Sea Bass fishing (inside three miles) on the Carloyn Ann out of Barnegat Light. They reported catching a number of Sea Bass as well as a couple Triggerfish and Bluefish, all on clam.

2: 00 PM

Surf: Glenn Reday of Plainsboro just stopped by the shop to loadup with more bait. He and his brother have fished the beach both in Ship Bottom and Surf City for a number of days now. Glenn said, “In the last few day we caught over a dozen stripers, all shorts as well as small bluefish up to 2 pounds. We are using bait (clams and bunker) as well as lures (metals and plugs).”

Received: Monday, October 05, 2009 4:35 PM Subject: fishing reports

Friday the “Miss Beach Haven” sailed with a private charter and fished two spots all day. Plenty of sea bass with the biggest one being 3.5 lbs. It was caught by Gregory Ivancheck from Beach Haven. Also caught were porgies, trigger fish and black fish.

Saturday the fishing was also very good. We caught sea bass, black fish, porgies and some croakers. Sunday there was no wind or current we started out the day drifting on the reef with a lot of large porgies caught and some sea bass. Almost a boat limit of black fish. Overall it was an exceptional day of fishing.

~ Miss Beach Haven The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

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October 4, 2009

Go get your chowder!

3:45 PM

Surf:

Satoru T. of Cedar Grove stopped by the shop this afternoon. He reported Kingfish and Croakers off of the Brant Beach surf. He has been fishing clams and bloodworms for the last several days with great success.

Another customer noted that he had good success with Schoolie Stripers with plugs off of the surf on the north end of the island. Swimmers and Pencil Poppers!

Received: Sunday, October 04, 2009 2:02 PM Subject: FR

Surf: I fished the Ship Bottom surf this morning for a couple hours. Caught 14 kingfish. Most were good size. All on live bloods.
~ Al A. (FHQ Staff)

Received: Sunday, October 04, 2009 11:14 AM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

The wind kept the “Rambunctious” pretty much tied to the dock for most of this week, but we did make it out on Thursday for some incredible non-stop action on small blues and weakfish in front of Island Beach State Park. Most of the fish were small, with blues ranging from snappers to 3-4 pounds and the weakfish mostly in the 10-14″ range, perfect for breaking out the ultra lights. Small jigs rigged with teasers were good for double headers on almost every drop, and several other fish would come up following the hooked ones. What a blast!

There’s just an amazing amount of bait along the beach right now and more pouring out of the bay with each tide, so the table is set for the start of what should be a great fall run. The “Rambunctious” will be getting started with our fall striper fishing this week, mixing up drifting live spot with soaking clam baits around the inlet. Time to go fishing!

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

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October 3, 2009

5:30 PM

Surf: Todd Barbuto, Juston Barbuto and Rick Zane (all of the SB Beach Patrol) fished the Ship Bottom surf today. They reported catching 22 kingfish, a fluke, five sharks (dogfish) and two spot. All on live bloodworms aka kingfish candy. They also noted that on Tuesday they caught 8 Kingfish.

Received: Saturday, October 03, 2009 2:00 AM   Subject: Berkeley Striper Club Fall Derby

2009 BERKELEY STRIPER CLUB – FALL FISHING DERBY
September 1st through December 31st

Prizes:

◊ 1st Place Striped Bass – $ 400
◊ 2nd Place Striped Bass – $ 200
◊ 3rd Place Striped Bass – $ 125

◊ 1st Place Bluefish – $ 100

◊ 1st Place Weakfish – $ 100

Derby Rules:

◊ Entry Fee – $10 (plus $1 shipping and handling for mail in entrants)
◊ Boundaries: Any New Jersey waters. NO BOATS.
◊ Minimum sizes: Striped Bass – 15 lbs., Bluefish – 12 lbs., Weakfish – 5 lbs.
◊ Entrants must be registered 48 hours prior to weigh-in.
◊ Weigh-In Stations: Any tackle shop with a NJ certified scale and weighed within 24 hours of catch.
◊ Entrant must get a valid weigh slip at the time of weigh-in and mail it to the address below no later than 14 days after weighing in the fish.
◊ Each contestant will receive one numbered button.
◊ One prize per individual, per species.
◊ Prizes based on 100 or more entrants.
◊ Berkeley Striper Club 2009 Fall Derby Committee has final say on all eligible fish weighed-in.

Mail entry fee and valid weigh slips to:

Berkeley Striper Club
Attn: Dominick Talerico
2009 Fall Derby Committee Chairman
1017 Ship Ave
Beachwood, N.J. 08772

For additional information contact: Dom at (201) 725-7726 or email bigbassking@aol.com
or visit our web site www.berkeleystriperclub.org

NAME: ______________________________________________
2009 BUTTON#_______________________________________
ADDRESS: __________________________________________
CITY: _______________________________________________
STATE: _________________________ ZIP: ________________
PHONE: (_______) ________________ DATE:_______________

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October 2, 2009

Received: Friday, October 02, 2009 5:12 PM   Subject: Pez Machine Sportfishing — 10/1-2 — Yellowfin Limit!

Here’s a report from last night:

We fished the toms canyon on a Thursday overnighter.

The “Pez Machine” started by trolling for about 5 hours with nothing to show but 2 dolphin that might have weighed 4 pounds each. The night started off slowly with only one tuna bite before midnight. It was a 25 pounder caught on a dead squid. We had sword bites at 12:30 AM and 1:30 AM and fought both for a bit before pulling the hook. Both fish immediately swam for the surface after taking the bait. The first jumped 6 or 7 times before spitting the hook and the second swam straight for the boat, went deep, and then went right for the bow. Before the fish was even under control the hook pulled on the second as well. Around 2:30 AM we had a nice flurry of yellowfins and quickly went 5 for 9 on both bait and jigs. That stopped just as quickly as it started and we continued to wait. At 5:00 AM we started to mark the fish under the boat again and we ended up going 15 for 17 before the bite ended.

The final tally was 21 for 26 on yellowfin, 0 for 2 on swords and 2 small dolphin.

~ “Pez Machine Sportfishing”, Barnegat Light, NJ 56′ Custom Carolina, 609-287-5136 cell, Stew@pezmachine.com

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October 1, 2009

Ocean: Clay P. stopped in the shop this evening and hooked us up with this report from the boat. “A lot of life out there.” Bait on top and (marked) down deep. Jigging metals in 20-30 foot of water off of Island Beach State Park produced non stop weakfish action all morning. Most were spikes but it was fun on light tackle.

Surf: The past couple of days plugging has been producing schooly stripers on small swimmers. Smoky Joe and Blue Chrome would be a great choice to match up to the mullet.

Bay: There are tons of snapper sized bluefish in the deep bay (mid-island). Catch and release on ultra light tackle, I had a blast. There are also weakfish and a couple stripers mixed in as well as a few herring. – Greg

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September 30, 2009

As per the Chamber (SOCOC) the Tourney hats will be here later today!

There are fish biting (bay, surf and inlets) but if you are looking for the striped ones you’ll have to put some time in but they are here. There are kings, blues, blowfish and a few tide runners for sure. With these cooler nights the striper action will start heating up. Get ready for the fall run! – Greg

Received: September 29, 2009 8:54 PM Subject: Weekly BHCFA Report

Despite several days of high winds and some nasty weather, the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are making plans for the fall fishing season.

Captain Dave Wittenborn reports he has moved the “Compass Rose” north to Sandy Hook for the fall striped bass season. This is the fourth season he has done this and reports he has experienced some very good striper fishing. He will be keeping his boat at the Oceanview Marina in Sea Bright which is a short ride to the fishing grounds.

Meanwhile Captain George Finck of “Sparetime Charters” took Al & Karen Heim of Cincinnati out to the Little Egg Reef recently for some bottom fishing. Besides releasing quite a few summer flounder, they had a nice catch of sea bass and porgies.  Another day Captain George had his son Steve and friends out for some overnight canyon fishing. They put a yellowfin tuna in the boat early and spent the rest of the night catching three mahi-mahi and two small mako sharks.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association———————————————————————————————————————

September 27, 2009

Received: Sunday, September 27, 2009 12:09 PM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

Thursday’s “Reel FantaSea” Open boat trip with regulars Jay Simmons, Cy Collins and Steve Vavrika started at the inlet with calm ocean conditions and an even calmer bite. From there we moved offshore to do some “drop and reel” sea bassing . The particular wreck was stacked with sea bass 15-20ft thick off the bottom. The guys had to work hard and be patient to put keepers on ice with 1 out of 12 hitting the ice but you could hardly get to the bottom without a sea bass on within 1-2 seconds! As we continued to fish, schools of false albies chased bait all around our anchored boat. Pitching and chumming live peanut bunker around the boat kept the albies interested long enough for Jay to connect with one of the speedsters. After a few more missed hits and a depleted peanut bunker supply we set up on the troll expecting some solid action from the albies only to have our spread ignored. The guys ended the day back at the inlet with some action from trigger fish, blackfish, porgies, & bluefish.

The next day the North East wind machine started cranking again making for some tuff conditions and surprisingly even worse fishing for Jay Simmons and business associates.

“Reel FantaSea” has Oct 1-2 available for open or private charter this week, The Fall fishing is underway and action from blues, stripers,f alse albies and fantastic wreck fishing can be encountered all in one trip. Anyone interested in either date can call or email. I have 1 spot left on an Open Boat trip for October 29th. We will be targeting stripers and blues on that particular trip.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

Received: Sunday, September 27, 2009 11:50 AM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

The “Rambunctious” had somewhat a quiet week. Most of the fishing activity seemingly on hold until we start serious striper fishing again in October. Right now the most productive bay fishery seems to be for blowfish and snappers, but bluefish of serious proportions are also putting in sporadic appearances on the ocean side. We should also be seeing some false albacore and Spanish Mackerel around now, but unfortunately the weather the past few days has kept us tied to the dock so we haven’t been able to check it out.

The “Rambunctious” did make it out once this week, with Dornsife, PA’s Ned Kauffman and buddies Jake and Pete getting into some jumbo blues that raided the inlet on Monday morning until the boat traffic killed the bite. The blues ranged in size from just under 12 to over 14 pounds, and were quite a challenge on the extremely light tackle we were using. Some of these fish took upwards of 15 minutes to bring in and the anglers were doing circles around the boat just trying to keep up with the fish. What a blast!

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

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September 26, 2009

7:00 PM

Live Bloods & Eels as well as a limited supply of Fresh Clams and Bunker are in stock. More fresh clams and live green crabs are expected tomorrow.

The 63rd annual “WORLD SERIES OF SURF FISHING TOURNAMENT” (Association of Surf Angling Clubs – ASAC Event) was today. This year there were 52 teams as well as 20 individual angler making up about 300 anglers. More than half caught fish (172 to be exact). For the most part the action consisted of Kingfish. All together there were 3 Stripers, 14 Bluefish, 421 Kingfish, 1 Sand Dial and 111 “Junk Fish” caught.

Steve Adams of AOK Tackle and the Delaware Valley Surf Anglers caught the largest fish: a 20 lb Striped Bass. His fish was 38.75″ long and was caught on bunker in Surf City.

1st Place: Merchantville Fishing Club – 33 fish – 390 pts

2nd Place: Surf-N-Land (Team A) – 33fish – 376.75 pts

3rd Place: Surf-N-Land (Team B) – 34 fish – 368.25 pts

Thanks to the LBI Fishing Club and Congratulations to all of the anglers!

FYI…
After fishing,  Steve from AOK stopped by the shop to restock our AOK T-Hex and AOK P-Nut selection of metals. Check ’em out last fall they were hot.

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September 24, 2009

Received: Thursday, September 24, 2009 8:01 PM Subject: report

The wind laid down today so I ventured out of Little Egg Inlet to find a few small croakers. Water was clean and marked plenty of fish on finder but they were not hungry. I counted 28 Bottle Nose Dolphin in a courtship action 1 mile off beach near Holgate around 2:00 PM today and that was a site. Leaping clear out of the water at times. Anchored up back in Great Bay to find Puffers and Dogfish by the dozen. Seems to change every week out here.

~ Martin M.

Using clam Uncle Moe fished the Loveladies surf this morning and hooked up with 7 Fluke and one Kingfish. Uncle Moe said the Fluke were caught one after the other and as fast as he could release them to put a hook in the water.

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September 23, 2009

Received: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 4:17 PM Subject: Mid-Island surf report

Fished the surf in Beach Haven Park for 2 hrs at high tide today. Caught fluke, small blues and dogfish mostly on mullet. Got a hit on nearly every cast. Ran out of mullet and I chunked up a couple of the blues They kept hitting that too. Water is still very warm but very clear…no stripers in sight!

~ Tom, Beach Haven Park

FYI…
Last night there were 12-lb Bluefish and 12-lb Stripers at the end of the South Jetty.
Heavy Blowfish action in the bay. One angler reported that he a three other anglers must have hooked over 300 fish on one of there trips. They were chumming heavy.

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September 22, 2009

Fishing Report from the Pez Machine – 9/19-22 – Yellowfins, Longfins, Swords and More

We were fortunate enough to have 4 days in a row of great weather and managed to get 3 overnighters in.

09/19/09 – 0920/09
We fished the East Elbow of the Hudson and got into a decent little troll bite on Saturday afternoon. We picked up 3 nice yellowfins, 2 big longfins and a handful of gaffer dolphins on the troll.

At night we had a couple of 25 pound yellowfin on the chunk early, we released a 40″ sword and broke off a nice sword on light leader meant for tuna.

The group decided they wanted to give jigging for bluefin a shot so we ran in and set up on the drift on the bluefin grounds. We marked the fish pretty well but getting the bites was tough. Managed two bites but pulled the hook on both.

09/20/09 – 09/21/09
We headed back out to the east elbow and put a few hours in on the troll without any bites.

We set up on the chunk and did nothing until 11:30pm when we had a double header consisting of a 50″ swordfish and a 25 pound yellowfin.

From then on we had steady action on 20-30 pound yellowfins until 2am. After limiting out on yellowfins we switched over to all sword baits. We had one more sword bite but didn’t come tight and then ran home at first light.

09/21/09 – 09/22/09
We ran right back to where we were sunday night hoping for a repeat on the action. Unfortunately, the bite never materialized for us. we went 1 for 3 on yellowfin early in the night breaking a couple off on the trim tabs. We had blue sharks in the chunks around daybreak.

Finished off the trip doing some tilefishing and pot hopping and put 6 tiles to 20 pounds in the boat and 8 dolphin over 10 pounds in the boat.

— The “Pez Machine Sportfishing” is now Booking Trips for the 2009 Fishing Season–

~ “Pez Machine Sportfishing”, Barnegat Light, NJ 56′ Custom Carolina, 609-287-5136 cell, Stew@pezmachine.com
Received: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 1:57 PM Subject: Surf Fishing Report

Fished this morning up my street with fresh clam and bunker on hi/lo rigs. Had non-stop action on fluke and blues. The bluefish were small, up to 2-lbs and maybe more. I was hoping for some in the larger size range that they were catching off Island Beach State Park.

~ Chris C., North Beach

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September 21, 2009

Fresh Finger Mullet, Surf Clam, Bunker & Baby Bunker as well as Live Bloodworms & Eels are in stock

Received: Monday, September 21, 2009 8:19 PM Subject: BHCFA Report

The summer flounder season may have ended in New Jersey, but the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are finding good fishing on the inshore wrecks and artificial reefs.

Captain Adam Nowalski of the “Karen Ann II” reports he plans to continue bottom fishing through the fall and then get into some good striped bass fishing. Currently he reports the inshore water is a bit dirty but there are still good numbers of spike weakfish mixed in with croakers inshore of 50-feet of water. He advises going into the wrecks in deeper water for a nice mix of sea bass, triggerfish, and small bluefish.

Captain John Koegler of the “Pop’s Pride” reports finding good action on the artificial reefs and inshore wrecks. He has been filling his fish box with a mix of big triggerfish, large eels, nice sea bass, and croakers.

Captain Frank Camarda on the “Miss Beach Haven” reported good conditions last Saturday resulting in a good catch of triggers, sea bass, and some “dinner plate” sized porgies. Sunday’s current and wind were poor, but the fishing was still good. In addition to a nice catch of blackfish, some keeper sea bass, and porgies, they also picked of some croakers.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association

6:45 PM

Mark Gally weighed-in a 18-lb 20-oz Stripers caught on Peanut Bunker in the Holgate surf. The fish was caught at about 5 PM.

6:00 AM

Yesterday late afternoon Paul Galasso of the Village Harbour Fishing Club stopped by to weigh-in some monster bluefish. Paul had three blues in mid teens, the largest was 16lbs and change.  He reported that it was a beautiful day out on the ocean. He caught the blues trolling (ponytails & deep diving plugs) just inside of the Ridge.

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September 20, 2009

Received: Sunday, September 20, 2009 5:54 PM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

This week was just flat out tuff personally and fishing wise. The strong North East winds continued to blow early in the week leading foul weather conditions. Friday the wind abated enough to get a 5 hr Bay/inlet Open Boat Trip with Karl Steffan and father and son team Joe [Dad] and Tom [son] out for some slow fishing. We started in the inlet where we saw stripers chasing bait all over the waters surface. Karl was fast out of the gate and able to capitalize on a very short window of opportunity to land 2 stripers in his first 2 well executed casts on artificials. A few more missed opportunities and the bite shut off like a light switch. Moving to some bottom fishing Tom Kinlin was also quick out of the gate as far as black fish landing 2 and keeping 1.The guys continued to hang in there and fish hard but the fish just seemed to shut down for the rest of the trip. By the weekend the weather was absolutely stellar and by Sunday I was able to fish with my son Stephen jr., brother Ryan and brother in law Kenny for some crazy blow fish action. No blazing runs or hard hits but we slammed over 200 of the blowfish in 3 1/2 hrs, keeping a total of 84 large puffers for some of the best tasting fish that Barnegat Bay offers up. The stripers seemed to be making an early appearance this year and with all the bait fish that is clogging the back bay. This Fall should be another one for the books. I do have October 1, 2, 25, 29, & 30 available for Open or private charter .

On a personal note – For those who knew my mother Elizabeth Purul. he was battling pancreatic cancer for over a year and lost her battle September 13th. She was laid to rest on September 16th . My mom was, and always has been one of my biggest supporters . Although fishing was never her interest she would always express excitement about my endeavor right until the end. I will always miss her. In Loving memory, Your son, Stephen

Received: Sunday, September 20, 2009 6:03 PM Subject: fishing reports

Saturday it was a little breezy in the morning fishing was very good we had a good catch of trigger fish, sea bass and some dinner plate porgies. The pool winner today was Bill from beach haven with a nice trigger fish. Sunday we had no wind and no current not the ideal day anchoring conditions but manageable. We had a nice catch of black fish, some keeper sea bass, porgies and croakers high hook today was pizza Pete from Tuckerton NJ with about 20 fish. Pool winner was today was Diane from Manahawkin with a 5 lb black fish.

~ Miss Beach Haven The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

Received: Sunday, September 20, 2009 7:36 PM Subject: report

Well the weather gods were with us today, couldn’t have been any nicer on the ocean today with very little wind and pleasant temps and croaker biting all day long on clam. They did not touch squid at all. Most fish caught in the 20 to 50′ water depth some on the croaker reaching 1-1/2 pounds. That’s a hefty hardhead. No other species caught except flounder and sea robins. The action seems to be up and down the entire Island in this water depth. We did try the Little Egg Reef to no avail.

~ Martin M.

12:00 PM

The Kingfish bit is still on.  I also heard that there are a few croakers being caught too.

Received: Sunday, September 20, 2009 11:05 AM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

What a week of fishing! I’d have to say I’ve never had a week like that! Sailfish to 120 pounds, a 300 pound plus blue marlin and more Mahi than we could count. Add in a couple of striped bass and it was a great week.

No, I haven’t been smoking the wacky stuff. We’re actually just back from a way too short mini vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico where we sampled some of their unbelievable fishing aboard boats from the Pisces Fleet. Now I understand why Cabo is viewed as one of the four or five top fishing destinations in the world. Big billfish just a short ride from the marina, and so many Mahi we had to move away from them to get a shot at bigger game. And the resorts and food aren’t too shabby either. Definitely a place I’ll be going back to some day.

OK, so back to local reality. Yesterday’s trip really brought home how the misguided management of our fisheries will eventually put us all out of business. With fluke season closed and the cyclic weakfish not putting in a strong showing this year, I spent most of the morning working the inlet jetties in a tough northeast wind where regular Bob Keller managed a couple of short stripers before we switched over to catch-and-release fluke fishing. That’s right, catch-and-release fluking. And with likely severe cutbacks in weakfish and sea bass coming next year, we may just have to close up shop from Labor Day to Columbus Day despite the obvious abundance of fluke. If only I could afford six weeks in Cabo.

Oh well, striped bass fishing should get started pretty soon. The cooler evenings lately have started the water temperatures coming down, so I’m hoping we get an earlier than usual start this fall. Still a few mid week dates in prime time available for anyone interested. Until next week.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

5:00 AM

FYI: The Fresh Bunker never came yesterday.  Our Bunker Guy tried his best but just couldn’t find them.  Hopefully soon. Until then, we have our store packaged fresh frozen bunker (way better than crab bait).

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September 19, 2009

2:00 PM

Fresh Bunker will be here in the evening if out Bunker Guy can find ’em. He is out trying for us all. Until then we have our store packaged fresh frozen bunker (way better than crab bait). Also, Live Eels are expected tomorrow.

Bloodworms are flying out the door.  The Kingfish bite is on!

The BL Inlet rocks have a bunch of Sea Bass and Tautog.  Most are small but there are some nice ones in there. Green crab is the choice bait!  Also in the inlet, bluefish.  Some days are hot and others are not.  One customer raved about blitz like action on lures, “Before the blow I was catching them one after the other! It will turn back on.”  He also noted that there are stripers up there too.

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September 18, 2009

8:15 PM

SURF:
Through out the day today I have spoken to numerous customers who have had some fun fishing the surf mid-island.  Fresh mullet, baby bunker and bunker chunks for the blue or artificials (metals and plugs) and live bloods or FishBites for kings.
I went out for an late afternoon/evening surf session in Surf City around 4pm. While there I spoke with a group of anglers who were on the beach relaxing with there lines out. Randy Knemoller of Hampton, NJ and Christian Schenk of Wolldorf, Germany were among the group and they gave me the low down on there happenings the last few days.  Randy said, “A few minutes ago I broke off a nice fighting bluefish on a bunker chunk!”  Christian caught a 18”+ kingfish on squid.  They both reported a bunch of throw-back fluke and a few sand sharks on FishBites (artificial bloodworm).  They both said that the incoming tide has been the best.  Christian also gave me a report from the other day. He said, “On Wednesday we fished in the rain. The weather was bad but the fish were biting.” They had 3 fluke, a number of bluefish and a couple kingfish on various baits.

A number of customers have asked about tournament signups.  The forms were given to us late this afternoon.  Registration will start tomorrow morning. Sorry no hats yet. Remember when signing up for the tournament consider a Buy-In for the Fisherman’s Headquarters Calcutta! When you Sign-Up that’s your only chance to get into the FHQ Calcutta.

A number of customers have asked so…  As of right now, Holgate is open.  The rest of Long Beach Township will defiantly be open on October 1st.  (May be earlier depending on the town meeting tonight, the definite decision would be made on Monday.)  Ship Bottom opens the 3rd Saturday in September; therefore, it will be open tomorrow (technically tonight at midnight).  Also, Surf City’s beaches will open at midnight tonight.

4:00 PM

The 63rd annual “WORLD SERIES OF SURF FISHING TOURNAMENT” is scheduled for Saturday, September 26th,2009. It is both a team and individual competition. For more details about the World Series of Surf Fishing Click Here!

10:30 AM

Limited Supply of Fresh bunker and Green Crabs are in stock at the time of this email.  More are expected this afternoon; however, not definite.

Off of the surf the bluefish have been around. Pick up some fresh baby bunker &/or mullet.  Also off of the surf kingfish and croakers as well as the occasional striper.  On the bayside we have received a report from a customer who had a good catch of blowfish and kingfish in Myer’s Hole.

FHQ Fall Classic Striper Sidebet “Calcutta” – $10 Are you interested? Check it out and spread the word!

FYI: Sign Up for the 55th Annual 2009 LBI Surf Fishing Classic will begin soon.  We are waiting on the Chamber. The has been a delay with the hats.

55th Annual 2009 LBI Surf Fishing Classic
This year the Derby is 8 weeks!  The Tournament begins at 5am on October 10.  The Tournament ends at 6pm on December 6th.

Registration fee is $30. Remember to register early to receive a souvenir hat (navy blue this year), a coupon for a free exterior car wash at the Manahawkin Magic Wash and a coupon for a free slice of pizza at Panzone’s Pizza. Note: There are no more reserved numbers, decals or sales at the chamber office. Also this year there is no longer mail in registration so stop by the shop and sign up.

Minimum length for bluefish is 32″ and an angler may only weight two bluefish in each tournament day.  Minimum length for a bass is 34″ and an angler may weight two striped bass in each tournament day.

*Free “Super Surf Casting Seminar”
Saturday, October 10, 2009 9am to 1pm
Meet at 9am @ Chamber Office on 9th Street in Ship Bottom (across the street from Fisherman’s Headquarters) for door prizes, coffee and bagels, then join the group at the Ship Bottom Vol. Fire Co. Station on 21st and Central Ave in Ship Bottom where the the Surf City Anglers Fishing Club will share their knowledge.

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September 15, 2009

7:00 PM

Received: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 5:56 PM Subject: fishing report

Nice day on the ocean today, plenty of croaker in fact too many. Got tired of catching the hard heads of the Beach Haven area in 20-45 feet of water. Also brought in 1 keeper weakfish and 1 blue. Several young flounder were also caught and released. Fish are hungry after the week of NE winds.

Martin M.

Received: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 4:40 PM Subject: report

Fished the west side of the bay for weakies the last two mornings without a fish. Switched over to blowfish and caught about 50 each day……the blowfish ate anything.

Sam

1:00 PM

Fresh Bunker & Baby Bunker In Stock!  Surf Clam Delivery will be here soon.

Limited Supply of Fresh Mullet!  It is going fast.

Received: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 9:27 AM Subject: BHCFA Weekly Report

Some of the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been busy the past week or so despite the very nasty weather we have been experiencing.
Captain Adam Nowalski on the “Karen Ann II” was able to get a fishing trip in over a week ago in a window between storms. Other members of the scheduled group cancelled except for John Skarbek. On their trip out to the sea bass waters, Captain Adam checked out some marks on his machine and spotted a big school of croaker. They caught a half dozen on 2 drops and headed out for the sea bass. A couple of stops resulted in some good fish mostly over 2-pounds. They then returned to the croakers for some of the finest 45 minutes of fishing imaginable. It was non-stop catching with croakers to over 18-inches, bluefish in the 1-3 lb. range, and about a 40 lb. brown shark harassing the hooked croakers.
Capt. Fran Verdi of “The Dropoff” and “Cousins” has made a decision to start tagging Striped Bass for this fall season.  This development came about after discussions with the American Littoral Society about the program.  He will be tagging fish in the Little Egg Inlet area and will offer all of his clients a chance to get a fish tagged in their name.  Fish that are legal size will be harvested but any undersized fish will be tagged this year.  Tags have been ordered and should be here anytime now.  If you would like more information on the program please take a look online at link.www.littoralsociety.org/fish_tagging.aspx

For additional information on the BHCFA go to their website at www.fishbeachhaven.com———————————————————————————————————————

September 14, 2009

Fresh Bunker & Baby Bunker In Stock!

Received: Monday, September 14, 2009 7:27 PM Subject: Surf Report 9/14

Fished the surf at high tide today using mullet. Caught 4 blues in the 3-4 lb range in 90 min. Lost 3 others as they stole the hook off my mullet rig–my fault ): Birds gathering at sunset but so were the flies so I was outta there. ~ Tom from Beach Haven Park

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September 13, 2009

Fresh Mullet, Bunker & Baby Bunker In Stock!

1:00pm  Peter Erskine from Ramsey, NJ fished the North Beach section of Long Beach Township this morning.  He hooked into and landed a 38″ striper on bunker. He also caught 6 bluefish.

FYI: Bloodworms and Surf Clams will be here later this afternoon. Until then Fishbites or Gulp and Fresh Bay Clams or Salted will do the trick.

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September 10, 2009

5:00pm  WOW is it blowing!  Winds out of the Northeast for two weeks now and expected to continue for a couple more days. This afternoon the tide was way way up.  Check out your boat!

4:30pm  Many customers have asked so here it is!   Sign Up for the 55th Annual 2009 LBI Surf Fishing Classic will begin in a couple weeks. The Chamber is waiting for the hats to be received. When the hats arrive registration will begin!

FYI here are some facts that will be listed in the Rules Sheet given out at sign-up.

55th Annual 2009 LBI Surf Fishing Classic
October 10-December 6, 2009
Bluefish & Striped Bass Derby
Registration fee is $30. Remember to register early to receive a souvenir hat (navy blue this year), a coupon for a free exterior car wash at the Manahawkin Magic Wash and a coupon for a free slice of pizza at Panzone’s Pizza. Note: There are no more reserved numbers, decals or sales at the chamber office. Also this year there is no longer mail in registration so stop by the shop and sign up.

Minimum length for bluefish is 32″
– An angler may only weight two bluefish in each tournament day.
Minimum length for a bass is 34″
– An angler may weight two striped bass in each tournament day.

This year the Derby is 8 weeks!
– The Tournament begins at 5am on October 10.
– The Tournament ends at 6pm on December 6th.

Free “Super Surf Casting Seminar” Saturday, October 10, 2009 9am to 1pm
Meet at 9am @ Chamber Office on 9th Street in Ship Bottom (across the street from Fisherman’s Headquarters) for door prizes, coffee and bagels, then join the group at the Ship Bottom Vol. Fire Co. Station on 21st and Central Ave in Ship Bottom where the the Surf City Anglers Fishing Club will share their knowledge.
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September 9, 2009

Hi Folks,
Due to a stretch of strong North East wind and rain conditions the scheduled trips for this week have been cancelled. This may present an opportunity for those who would like to join in on some of the open boat spots. I have 1-2 available spots for September 18th. I also have 1-2 spots available for October 15-16th.  Once this weather settles down we are going to be knee deep in fish !

Best Regards, Capt. Steve Purul, Reel FantaSea Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

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September 8, 2009

There is a limited supply of fresh baby bunker and fresh spearing in stock. It will not last long. The early bird gets the worm.

9pm

Throughout the day today I have spoken with customers who have had great fun off of the surf with the bluefish.  The action has been hot up and down the beach.   Two areas that were specifically reported were mid island and the north end.  The choice bait would be mullet and fresh bunker.  Also off the surf, the croakers and kingfish continue on clam and worm respectively.  To those who want to get ready for live-lining fall stripers, a few spot are here.  Before you know it they will be on the business end of my hook waiting for a striped one.  Get those bait pens ready. -Greg

Received: 9/8/2009 @ 2:59 PM Subject: Mid Island Surf Report 9/9/09
Fished the surf in Beach Haven Park 1 hour past high tide today. Plenty of blues around hitting mullet rigs. I got about 10 in 90 minutes with several hitting the mullet and leaving me with just the head. Fish got larger as the session went on peaking out at around 3-4 pounds. Same story from the other fisherman I talked to. Water is still very warm-not conducive to bassing but we must be patient. – Thomas Lee

Received: 9/7/2009 @ 8:11 PM Subject: BHCFA Report
The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are making the preparations for the upcoming shift from summer to fall fishing. Captain Adam Nowalski of the “Karen Ann” reports he will be targeting sea bass and croakers in September.
Captain Adam says the drop in air temperatures will soon bring a drop in water temperatures provoking a hotter bite from the sea bass. He also is looking for some good croaker action in the ocean.
Meanwhile Captain George Finck of “Sparetime Charters” had Richard and Allison Trosko and their two sons out for a half day fishing trip in the bay. The boys had a nice catch of bluefish, really enjoyed the steady action.
Captain Fran Verdi of the “Dropoff” is already planning to start fishing for stripers after the October full moon. Until then, he will be wreck fishing and maybe trying to zero in on some blackfish.
Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com

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September 6, 2009

Received: Sunday, September 06, 2009 12:02 PM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

This week the action started off excellent with only a slight lull in the action the day of the full moon. Regulars Jay Simmons and Joe Franke were joined by Carl Steffan for an Open Boat bay trip. The guys were fast into action within minutes of the dock with nice weakfish on a combination of freshly netted peanut bunker and plastics . The weakfish were beating peanut bunker to the waters surface making for some visual excitement and a solid bite. The guys got their limit of weakfish with plenty of catch and release action as well before the bite died off. From there we worked our way around the inlet area until we found “torrid action ” as described by Carl Steffan with feisty 2-4lbs blues on light spinning tackle . The guys ended the day in the back bay with a steady pull of kingfish, blowfish, porcupine puffers, sea bass……. The next day Jay Simmons was out on a solo trip to experience a slower pace day with the same species of fish . The stiffer North East wind made the inlet area more challenging but also rewarding with bites on almost every well placed cast from the feisty blues. Sunday [today] stiff NE winds greeted my son [ future Captain Stephen Purul] and brother Ryan for some of the best grass shrimping action so far this year. The weakfish were smaller but plentiful on the shrimp . The wind made detecting the bite challenging but at times as soon as the shrimp hit the water it was fish on ! The back bay is chocked with peanut bunker, mullet, spearing and all sorts of tasty bait that will provide some of the best Fall action ! Our fantastic Fall action is just around the corner and we still have a few dates available for those who would like to experience some of the best fishing anywhere for strped bass , big slammer blues, and wreckfishing for seabass, black fish, porgies……… Don’t miss out !!!

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

Received: Sunday, September 06, 2009 11:12 AM Subject: Lighthouse Sportfishing Report

Hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day weekend. I ended this year’s fluke season with a magic hour trip on Thursday. In stiff northeast wind we had a slow pick of short fluke with some cocktail blues mixed in. Saturday I had the Petti Family out including their three daughters: Marley; Corrine; and Miranda, ages 6-9 (see attached picture). We started off targeting weakfish but only managed a few blues. Switching over chumming clams on the hook we had constant action fishing Barnegat Bay’s west side haunts. The girls did a great job not only landing blowfish, several nice sized kingfish, sea bass, and blues but handling the fish once in the boat. The highlight of the trip is when we chummed in a school of two to four pound blues and had them swirling around the boat.

Crabbing remains excellent. After an overnight soak I pulled over 40 keepers from two “Maryland” style pots. The amount of peanut bunker in the bay right now is awesome setting the stage for a great fall run. I will continue to target weaks and all the other species in the bay right now until I switch over to stripers towards the end of the month.

~ Capt. Alex F. Majewski, “Debbie M”, Barnegat Bay, NJ 609-548-2511 www.LighthouseSportfishing.com

Received: Sunday, September 06, 2009 10:09 AM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

Hope everyone’s having a great holiday weekend to wrap up the summer season.

The fantastic fluke fishing we’ve been having for the past few weeks continued to hold up right through the premature season end on Friday. In three trips this week we boated well over 150 fluke, mostly below the 18″ minimum but with a healthy number of fat keepers mixed in every day. Four solid weeks of super bay fluking, and the best months are yet to come. Too bad we can’t fish. Obviously there are more fluke around than the “scientists” are willing to admit, but admitting that their models are flawed would call their value into question. So here we are, more fluke than ever and nobody can fish for them.

The weakfish put in an appearance again this week on the west side of the bay, generally at first light and again around dusk. The fish were scattered around and mixed in with bluefish, but responded well to plastics in almost any color fished slowly below the blues. I didn’t get the opportunity to try this week, but would bet a properly set up slick of grass shrimp would pull the schools together for some hot light tackle fun.

With summer coming to an end, I’ll be taking a few days off from charters and probably won’t be sending out a report next week unless something really wild crops up. We’re starting to get our fall striper dates filled in, but there are still some pretty good late October and November dates open for anyone interested.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

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September 4, 2009

The Fluke season ends tonight at 11:59 PM.

Received: Friday, September 04, 2009 7:48 PM Subject: Report

Beat the masses of boats fishing the inlet and manage to put 2 keeper fluke (18-1/2″ and 19″) in the box and head home before 10:00 AM. Earlier in the week we were in on the weakfish action and will be back at it again. Nothing big but… action, action, action just east of the 40 buoy. Pretty soon it will be eeling for Stripers time, blackfishing, then the ling, so we have to remember, when one season ends, another begins! ~ Bob, Boston Whaler Conquest, Bayville NJ

3:00 PM

Dave D. of Beach Haven just stopped in to pick up another bag of live bloodworms. He told us that he fished yesterday afternoon/evening catching 4 kingfish and a handful of dogfish. Dave said that the water was pretty rough and that it was very warm.

Kingfishing off the surf should be good for weeks to come so… Go get ’em!

2:00 PM

BEACH:
Beach reports have been rather quiet as of late. But we can’t ask for nicer weather this weekend. So hopefully we will have a good report for the days to come.

BAYSIDE:
The bay is still crammed with little cocktail blues along with weakfish. Fluke up till yesterday has been showing a steady increase in size and quantity. Action off of the Dyke with Fluke, Weakfish and Snappers. Weakfish and Kingfish reported at the center of the island along the docks off the ICW of Ship Bottom. One angler reported catching snapper blues and live-lining them for Weakfish.

Yesterday, the Wild Honey fished the morning’s incoming tide off the flats on the east-side of Barnegat Lights’ “Party Island” hooking over a dozen Fluke of which two were keepers. Not very good results on the outgoing either at that area nor in the inlet area.

INSHORE:
Of course as the Fluke bite comes to a screeching halt tonight. Anywhere from the tires to past Barnegat Ridge keeper Fluke are being caught but not too many anglers ventured off in the 3 to 5 foot seas we had lately. Unfortunately as the season ends we will start hearing more and more about all the 18″+Fluke to be had.

OFFSHORE:
Where have all the Tuna gone? We would love to get some reports if anyone has been having any luck. Nothing new to report from offshore. Hopefully we’ll hear something this weekend.

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September 3, 2009

FRESH BUNKER & BABY BUNKER – IN STOCK!
Stop in the shop and take a look at a bunch of HOT NEW SEBILE PLUGS.  We have the Stick Shadd, Magic Swimmer, Bonga Jerk, Flat Shad, and the Koolie Minnow in stock.  FYI The Flat Shad mimics a baby bunker to the “T.”  Check ’em Out!

~Catch Up those flaties before the season is closed!~

SURF:
With persistent NE winds, surf fishing is worth a try. Resident Stripers, Croakers and Kingfish.  Joe Monteverde of Hamilton, NJ has had Stripers for two consecutive days now.  Yesterday, Joe caught 8 bass off of the Harvey Cedar’s surf on clam.  Out of the eight, three were keeper size.  Then again today, he caught three more short stripers in the same area.

BAY:
NORTH:
The Wild Honey is out fishing today.  They (Al & Stan) are trying to pick up a couple more keepers before the season closes.  I spoke with them around 10:30 this morning.  They had eight shorts and a keeper. Those that have to fish from land, take the hike on the Dike or fish the BL Inlet Rocks.
SOUTH:
Uncle Moe went out yesterday late morning for a couple hours.  He reported a couple shorts with only one keeper.  He was drifting the ICW behind Beach Haven.  There have been small sea bass, snappers and weakies at Morrison’s Dock.
MID-ISLAND:
Snappers and weakies at the Causeway Crabbing Pier.

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September 2, 2009

Good News: Sea Bass may not be shut down.

Received: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 6:08 PM Subject: fish report

Fished the bay the last 3 days with good results. Started the mornings off of Waretown catching weakfish from 1-4 lbs. Used bucktails with gulp or leadheads with Fin-S. After catching 20-25 weakfish we would move over to the channels near the inlet and catch 40-50 fluke with very few keepers. The fluke were caught on bucktails with Chartreuse Gulp! The fluke would die off near noon. ~ Sam

4:30 PM  –  Catch Up those flaties before the season is closed!

INLET:
The Plotkin Family of Voorhees, NJ stopped by this afternoon to weigh in a nice doormat.  The fluke weighted 8-lb 8-oz and was 29 inches long.  They fished the south Jetty around noontime (outgoing tide) and caught ten short with only the one keeper.  They said bucktail and teaser with live minnow was the hot rig.

SURF:
Uncle Moe stopped by the shop this morning on his was out fluking.  He said, “Two days in a row the bluefish were biting like mad dogs!” He was referring to the mid-island bluefish bite on Monday and Tuesday.  Bluefish from 2-4lb (some bigger) were pushing bunker right up on the sandbar.  A number of customers have raved about the fun “blitz” like time. Also the croaker bite is finally on.

BAY:
Although today was dead, the action in the bay has been hot for the past few days.  We have had world class fishing on the West side of the Barnegat Bay. Nice sized weakfish with the average between 3-4 lbs with very little shorts.  Caught on Gulp as well as the traditional Fin-S as well as bucktails.

There is tons of bait all around the bay, both baby bunker and spearing!  The birds have been on the bait and blues. Shy away from them and you’ll find better weakfishing.  Nighttime mid-island has also had a good number of tide runners night after night.

Expect the next couple of days to be much slower “days” due to the full moon, but by Sunday/Monday I think the bite will be back.

-Greg

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August 31, 2009

7:45 PM

Captain George Finck of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association has been finishing up the summer season with some very successful days on his boat, “Sparetime.”
His most enjoyable day recently was when he had his son Steve, 8 year old grandson Eric, and friend Patrick Gorman out for a day of reef fishing off Long Beach Island. Not only did the crew have a nice catch of fluke and sea bass, young Eric took honors with a 5.5 pound fluke.
Another day saw Captain George take the James Ryan party out to the Little Egg Reef for another banner day with the fluke and sea bass. He ended the week with the Brian Cood family from Long Island who had the time of their life with fluke, sea bass, and some nice bluefish.
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at their website www.fishbeachhaven.com

12:00 PM

Get those beach buggies ready!

Holgate Opens Tomorrow.  Buy your LBT Beach Buggy Permit (if you don’t have one already) 24-7 at the Brant Beach, Long Beach Township Police Station (on the south side of the building).  It is $50. Money Order or In State Check only. Cash and credit cards are not accepted.  Also required Drivers License, Registration and Insurance.

Long Beach Island Fall Surf Fishing Derby is right around the corner!  Tournament sign up will begin soon.

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August 30, 2009

3:00 PM

The Plotkin family from Voorhees, NJ stopped in the shop this morning and we hooked ’em up. They said that they enjoyed the beautiful morning out on the water. Drifting just north of the BL Inlet (35-40′ of water) with live minnows and bucktails they caught 10 fluke and a small bluefish. They weighed in their two largest fluke. Ryan Plotkin’s fluke weighed just a hair over 4-lbs and Darren’s (his brother) had a 2-lb 2-oz.

Received: Sunday, August 30, 2009 5:58 PM Subject: Lighthouse Sportfishing Report

This week we saw an influx of weakfish into Barnegat Bay. Better late then never. My best success has been fishing live peanut bunker which right now are easy to get. Some days limits can be had. The biggest fish if the week was a beautiful 21” weakfish. Sunday morning I went out alone and after releasing several keeper weakfish and many small blues on the west side of the bay I moved east towards the lighthouse for some hot fluke fishing. In less than two hours I boxed 5 keepers ranging in size from 18.5 to 24”. Remember fluke season close this Friday 9/4.

~ Capt. Alex F. Majewski, “Debbie M”, Barnegat Bay, NJ 609-548-2511 www.LighthouseSportfishing.com

Received: Sunday, August 30, 2009 4:59 PM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

Another excellent week of fishing this past week. Even dealing with the effects of tropical storms Bill and Danny, we still managed to make it out three times, and knock on wood the bay fluke fishing has kept going at an unbelievable pace. We also saw our first real signs of our summer weakfish, so there may be hope on the horizon.

Tuesday we had Cam Rispoli bringing his 10 year old son Vincent out for a day on the water, and Vincent proceeded to school us in the fine art of catching. Action started with bluefish within ten minutes of leaving the dock and continued with a couple of dozen fluke from Oyster Creek before we headed back into the bay for more blues and Vincent’s first weakfish. Most of the fluke were short, but Vincent’s pool winner of 23″ topped the catch.

Wednesday saw Yardley’s Rich Smith with his son Lyle and old friend Bill continuing the inlet area flukeathon. Despite a somewhat slow start due to some ugly (and unforecasted) wind messing up the drift, once the tide swung around mid-morning the guys proceeded to boat 4 dozen fluke in the last couple of hours. Gulp baits and our custom teasers kept the action going again.

Today I had George Selph and Bob Keller back, mixing it up with small blues and some nice fat weakfish at first light before switching over to fluke once the tide started running out. The weakfish were a little larger than we normally see this time of year, and were responding to albino plastic baits worked slowly below the bluefish busting on the surface. I didn’t keep a good count of how many fluke were landed, but I would estimate around 60 with three keepers so the ratio of shorts to keeps is starting to grow a bit.

One more week of fluke season, so let’s hope this holds up a few more days.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

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August 29, 2009

A limited amount of fresh local fresh Spearing is in stock.

9:00 PM

I spoke with Capt. David D of the “Hi-Flier” again this evening. He took the kids out and fished the same area as yesterday. Today they had a total of 9 different species with Kingfish being the hottest hitters.

On his way off the Island Ryan Rickmers of Barnegat, NJ weighed in two fat doormats. The smaller of the two fish was 29 inches long and weighed 9.5-lbs. The larger was 31 inches and weighed 11.5-lbs. He caught the two fluke in the BL Inlet, on the South-side of the North Jetty. Ryan said, “Fresh Spearing is what they wanted.”

Received: Saturday, August 29, 2009 7:34 AM Subject: Reel Fantasea Fishing Report

The two best words that describe the fishing is diverse and plentiful. The beautiful weakfish finally showed up this week with more consistent action with fish to near 5-lbs . There was action on either live peanut bunkers or artificial lures. Husband and wife team Laure and Terry were out for great action with weakfish, blues, blowfish, king fish, porcupine puffers, and piles of fluke keeping only 2 of the fluke . Regular Jay Simmons was also out for great bay action with big weakfish, bluefish, fluke, blowfish, king fish, seabass, porgies, and porcupine puffers. Plus more variety as we approached the inlet and found clean ocean water pushed deep into the bay thanks to a incoming tide backed by a brisk Easterly wind which led to schools of false albacore busting on rain fish . The albies were all over the waters surface but their lighting speed and shallow 2-4 feet of water that they were in made connecting with them frustrating. Patience and skill won the day as Jay was finally able to connect with these silvery lighting bolts on light spinning tackle… ZZZZ! Jay also landed this year’s biggest weakfish at 5-lbs 2-oz. He moves into first place in the Reel Fantasea onboard tourney which qualifies him for a free open boat spot or 1/2 next years back bay trip along with a trophy. A last minute cancellation has led to next Thursday Sept 3 being available for either and open boat or private charter bay/inlet/ocean.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

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August 28, 2009

9:00 PM

BAY:
Capt. David D. on the “Hi-Flier” was in the shop this evening. He reported catching 11 different species of fish today in the bay on ultra light tackle (6lb test line). Capt. Dave said, “We fished the west side of the bay for only 2 hours!” “We caught all of the fish on sheddar crab; two weakfish (a 3 & a 4-lber), a half dozen big kingfish in the 14-18” range, a fluke, bluefish, porgy, blowfish, porcupine puffer, small sea bass and blackfish, a sea robin and a sand shark. Capt. Dave mentioned that the “Hi-Flier” is available for charters everyday, either back-bay light tackle catching a variety of species or if the anglers choose drifting for fluke before the season closes. Give him a call. Capt. Dave DeGennaro, “Hi-Flier” Sportfishing 732.330.5674 cell

Yesterday afternoon Chris D. of North Beach stopped in the shop and gave us a report. He had a great time with the kids fishing in the Barnegat Bay in the area of the BI & BB Buoys. Chris said they had short sea bass and bluefish with weakfish mixed in, “It’s good to finally see weakfish!” Chris mentioned that his hot lure was the Deadly Dick.

The brownies are still hitting hard down at the south end in the bay. Get in on the action before they are gone! Joni W. (FHQ Staff) fished Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night. He smoked the drags on a couple of his reels. He said, “Most of the brownies are in the 4 foot range but our largest was every bit of 6-1/2 feet.” Bunker and Mackerel are his baits of choice.

SURF:
Yesterday late afternoon (Thursday) I went out for a sunset surf session. Right when I got out into the lineup I was amazed. Yes, Danny’s swell was showing but even better false albacore were crashing bait right in front of me. These fish were on the move! They came up from the South, then they passed and were down the beach to the North in a matter of seconds. If there was more time in the day I would have grabbed my plugging pole and gave it a shot. There was no anglers in sight. On a side note the east wind has warmed the surf temperature, mid to low 70’s. Even with this warm water, I have not heard spectacular kingfish reports off of the beach but have heard some customers report a couple. One thing is for sure, the croakers have showed up and will continue to get better in the coming weeks.

OCEAN:
Yesterday afternoon there was a good fluke bite off of the Coast Guard Station at IBSP (first building north out of Barnegat Inlet, south of the Bather’s Beach) in 40′ of water. One anglers who was there bragged about his great day, limit with the largest at 7-lbs.

This morning (Friday 28th) the Carolynn Ann fished the same area; however, one mate that stopped into the shop said it was not as hot as the day before. He said there was a good drift because of the northeast wind but the anglers were covered up in skates. The SPRO bucktails were the trick as always to bounce through the junk fish and find the fluke. The mate noted that they are switching back to half-day, six hour trips.

OFFSHORE:
Ed Bunnell (FHQ Staff) fished the Tuna Stakes Tourney aboard Capt. Bob Foti’s “Why Knot” this past week. They hooked up with good sized fish at the Lindenkohl Canyon. Ed said there was a lot of life at the Lindy, “There was bait in the lights all night.” The boats totals: five Mahi up to 37 lb, ten tuna up to 61 lb, a Swordfish at 135 lb and one released White Marlin. All of the fish were on the chunk except the White Marlin.

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August 27, 2009

Yesterday, the Wild Honey Fluke fished the Buoy 25 area, “the gas dock”, “the flats”, Barnegat Inlet, and 40′ of water off Island Beach. The days total for three anglers was well over 100 Fluke and fish were caught at all locations but there were only two keeper size fish at 21″ and 22″. The better action was in the bay and inlet. Many fish seemed to be a fatty inch thick but only measured 18″ per the “Igloo Cooler Lid” which meant they were actually just over 17-1/2″ long. Primary bait was Gulp and any color worked.

INLET:
Sky Krokus and his father of Ship Bottom stopped by the store today. They reported fluke, triggerfish and blackfish at the Barnegat Inlet rocks. They had good action yesterday so they are back out at it again.

SURF:
Croakers are starting to show up.

BAYSIDE:
Dave Wark stopped by the shop this morning on his way out fishing. He reported that earlier in the week he had a good blowfish bite in the area of Double Creek to 42 Buoy to Gulf Point. He had between 30-40 blowfish, a couple kingfish and a triggerfish. Dave shared how he does it, “Fresh clam, clam chum and you have to get the tide right.” Today he is going down to the South-end to go clamming and is going try his luck down in Great Bay.

A customer reported great crabbing yesterday behind her Ship Bottom house. Her daughter caught over two dozen nice sized blue claws. She’ll be back at it today.

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August 25, 2009

7:30 AM

Ocean:

The Ocean Party Boat anglers are using Gulp Shrimp Gulp Grubs in colors; Chartreuse, New Penny, Pumpkinseed or White to great effect on Fluke.

Bayside:

Customers reported that today in the early AM there were an incredible amount of fish all over from the BI to the BB buoy. Bluefish (small) on almost every cast. Fluke when the jig would get through the bluefish to the bottom with some being keeper size. Also, weakfish up to 5.5-lbs. All were caught on Spro bucktails and Gulp. Chartreuse and white were the main colors reported being used. (Have a feeling other colors will work too.)

Yes, Weakfish in the back bay. Any artificial should work on these Weakfish but many anglers reported good results using small shad bodies.

Tons of baby bunker with snappers underneath them seem to be in many lagoons from Little Egg to Barnegat. Make sure to bring a cast net on board for any trip through the bay.

Had better crabbing reports of late. West side as usual. This should continue with the water cooling off a bit.

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August 24, 2009

Received: Monday, August 24, 2009 5:18 PM Subject: BHCFA Report

The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are reporting the best summer flounder action of the summer. With the season coming to a close on September 4, they plan to fish every chance they can.

Captain Adam Nowalsky of the “Karen Ann II” reports the best week of fluke fishing on the ocean mainly between Atlantic City and Long Beach Island until the effects of Hurricane Bill began to be felt. He had a group out from the Hamilton Post Office that caught nearly 100 fluke with 20 keepers to 27-inches. Another day he had the Bill Bruner party from Shamong out for a limit catch of fluke with multiple fish between 23-25 inches.

Captain Lindsay Fuller on the “June Bug” had a great family fishing day with Joe and his two boys along with his Uncle Sal and his niece. They began with as many Taylor bluefish as they wanted just north of the inlet on Bud’s Birds and small Clark Spoons. They then tried to find some croakers but had no luck. They went to the Atomic Lump for fast action on small fluke, but only one keeper. All of the Fluke were caught on Wide Gap hooks, mostly 2/0. These hooks are similar to circle hooks and usually hook Fluke behind the bone in the top of their jaws. We only had a single Fluke all day that was bleeding at all. Once they decided to head in, the calm seas of the early morning had turned to noticeable swells from the onset of Hurricane Bill.

Captain John Koegler reports he had two good ocean sea bass trips on the “Pop’s Pride”. He says he is catching more keeper sea bass and fluke than at any time this summer. The sea bass have finished their annual spawning period and bigger fish are now biting. He also had a bay trip with a ratio of one keeper for every three caught which is a definite improvement. He is also finding quite a few small blues around 1-2 pounds.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association

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August 23, 2009

12:00 Noon

Quite a few fluke reports from yesterday in the surf as well as the bay. Seems the screwy weather and weather reports didn’t keep everyone from fishing. Today we heard anglers were either taking there boats to roam the bay or others were heading up to surf fish the beachfront. As far as anglers go, it seems that more are headed to surf fish the front beach. While most of the surf guys reported good amounts of fluke in between all of the rays and dogfish. The biggest issue was holding bottom due to the sea conditions caused by Bill. Keeper ratio is still tough though. Rick stopped in this AM to report over 20 fluke caught out of the boat at Barnegat Inlet. With most on pink Fin-S.

Heard one report of kingfish off of the beach. Maybe it will be a really late year due to the temps. Guys are chomping at the bit for these great eaters.

Blackfish/Tog are still the hot fishery up by the rocks. Snappers and Fluke will make the occasional appearance for the people not working there baits in amongst the rocks. Don’t forget to run any live snappers back out on either a bare hook or weighted rig. Many have been surprised at what a great Fluke bait these little bluefish make.

No offshore updates with the current conditions being what they are.

Received: Sunday, August 23, 2009 8:16 PM Subject: Fishing Report

This morning, fished the pocket at the old south jetty. 12 short fluke, 4 at 17-1/2″. All fat fish on gulp and minnow. Good bite 7 AM to 10 AM only. 2 other people fishing also were catching a few. Only 1 ounce drail weight. If you were not in the pocket your rig would wash down the beach.

~ John P

Received: Sunday, August 23, 2009 10:15 AM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters report availablility

This week, open boat regulars; Jay Simmons, Joe Franke and Wayne Salvi joined forces for reel screeching inshore pelagic action! After a bit of searching the guys patience was rewarded with solid action with false albies, and with skip jack, big blues and boo hoos making the mix as well [ frigate mackerel ]. Initially the first few fish responded best to deep trolled spoons but as we trolled the area we found more cooperative fish hitting feathers right in the prop wash. The feathers also produced the most crushing, rod bending, drag burning action and visual excitement! Once the guys had their fill of the high speed trolling we anchored up and started to pitch live peanut bunker into the water for a couple more bluefish and to watch them get assaulted by unidentified assailants that were chasing them clear out of the water. Making our way back toward the inlet we tried a quick drift just West of the Barnegat Light artificial reef system to find the current requiring more than 14oz to hold bottom. At the inlet the guys ended the day casting artificials at for a couple1-3lbs blues. FYI Wayne Salvi’s hot streak continues with this years Reel Fantasea onboard tourney. Wayne now leads 3 catagories with biggest – striper, fluke, and now bluefish! He is on fire! Will his hot streak continue? Can he be beat? Will he take biggest weakfish as well? Time will tell.

The next day Jay Simmons was out again with business associates for fast action with blue fish, 4 limits of black fish to 5lbs, countless throw back fluke with only one hitting the ice, king fish, blowfish, bergals and sea robins . September 24th scheduled Open Boat trip has 1-2 spots available. This will be a mix of bay/inlet/wreck. October open dates will be 8,15 and 30th. These trips will be a mix of inlet/wreck for stripers/blues/seabass/porgies.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

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August 22, 2009

7:45 PM

Earlier this week, the Barnegat Ridge had Bonita and small Mahi in good numbers.

Reports of some nice size fluke off of the jetty with live snappers. Tog fishing is still quite good in amongst the rocks. It seems like the further down the jetty the better it is. Use green crabs for bait of course.

All week, good numbers of fluke right off the beach no matter North or South. Most saying gulp shrimp or squid/spearing. Did get a report of a larger fish being caught on mackerel strips.

The storm reports seem to have scared many anglers away for the time being. Today the front beach was a churn’ in but with enough weight you could have fished. The big missed opportunity today was a beautiful day on the bayside and plenty of fluke to boot. Also snapper blues, porgies, sea bass at the BI and BB buoys. Many sharpies are using those snappers live to entice some really nice fluke hookups.

Received: Saturday, August 22, 2009 6:32 PM Subject: Lighthouse Sportfishing Report

Fluke, fluke, fluke, and more fluke. The bay fluke fishing is off the charts. Trips during the last two weeks have been landing over 50 fluke. With small blues mixed in it has been non-stop action! Today I had my two boys and wife out. In an hour and a half of fishing we boated over 40 fluke boxing 2 keepers.

~ Capt. Alex F. Majewski, “Debbie M”, Barnegat Bay, NJ 609-548-2511 www.LighthouseSportfishing.com

Received: Saturday, August 22, 2009 10:13 AM   Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

We’re a little early with our report this week since we’re taking the weekend off, but what a great week of fishing it was. As much as I love fishing for weakfish in the summer, it’s beginning to look like we’re not going to have much of a run this year. So this week was entirely devoted to fluke fishing in the bay, and to say that it was red hot would be a huge understatement. It was spectacular!

I started the week with Audrey and John Wendolowski, Walt Tatko and Kevin Broderick landing 43 fluke plus a half dozen bluefish from the inlet on the outgoing tide. Tuesday, George Barbezat brought nephew Jason and buddy Richie out and the action got even hotter in Oyster Creek, with the guys landing almost 60 fluke plus 15-20 bluefish despite a weird cross channel drift.

OK you say… it’s late August and we’re fishing in the bay, how much better can it get than over 100 fluke in two days? Turns out it got even better on Thursday, when Jack Hough brought his son Jeff and grandkids Matt and Katie out for what was expected to be their annual weakfish expedition. Instead, Team Hough landed an estimated 140 fluke in five hours with a dozen fat keepers for the table. Add in a couple dozen blues and endless sea robins and it was non-stop mayhem on the boat all morning long.

Friday was the “slower” day of the week, as Chip Harter and Paul Buchanan were out in the unpredicted 20-25 mph winds that had us screaming down Oyster Creek Channel at over 3 knots for most of the morning. Still, the guys managed to put a couple dozen fluke on the boat with three making it home to the dinner table in very tough fishing conditions.

What a week. While shorts are still outnumbering keepers by at least ten to one, with this many fish being caught everyone is going home tired and with plenty for the table. We only have a couple more weeks of fluke season this year, so let’s hope this holds up.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

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August 17, 2009

Received: Monday, August 17, 2009 2:22 PM Subject: Weekend Report

We fished 3 wrecks on Saturday with only 12 keeper sea bass to show. On the way in we almost ran over a hammerhead shark. Tried to catch it, but it was not interested. Sunday fished 4 wrecks with a catch of 3 keeper sea bass, 1 triggerfish, 1 ling. Then turned over to fluke fishing with one 5-lb keeper, and 12 or more shorts. ~ Captain Kevin

Received: Monday, August 17, 2009 7:03 PM Subject: BHCFA Report

As the ocean water temperatures near 80-degrees, the fishing for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association has been heating up.

Captain Adam Nowalsky of the “Karen Ann II” out of Great Bay Marina reports water temperatures in the upper 70’s and a mixed bag of fish as a result. He reports lots of action on sea bass, fluke, triggerfish, and small blues along with some stories of good sized mahi-mahi, cobia, and big brown sharks. Recent trips on the “Karen Ann II” included the Caruth family of Royersford, Pa., who saw birthday boy Brandon celebrate his 11th with a triggerfish and bluefish. The Bujak family of Drexel Hill, Pa. had a fair catch of sea bass to 2-pounds along with a 20-inch fluke. Bill Bruner had a trip with sea bass to 3 pounds and a 22-inch fluke. Captain Adam’s other trips included the Salisbury House Group of Pottstown, Pa, the Holman Auto Group of Maple Shade, and the Sutphen family of Somerville who all found action on a mix of sea bass and fluke.

Captain Frank Camarda on the “Miss Beach Haven” reports decent fishing over the weekend despite problems getting a good drift going. On Saturday there were a lot of fluke caught with a keeper ratio of 10-1. The pool winner was “Pizza Pete” from Mystic Island with a 5.5-pound sea bass. Sunday was more of the same with Mike Emers the high hook with 5 keeper fluke, and William Post the pool winner with a 4.5-pound fluke.

Captain George Finck of “Sparetime Charters” had a nice combination of inshore and offshore fishing trips last week. One day he had the Laird family of Nebraska out for a good catch of fluke and sea bass. They also trolled up 20 bluefish. Another day he had his son Steve and grandson Eric out in the ocean for a nice catch of small fluke and sea bass. Both the flies and fish were biting. Then on Friday he took Ken Lieb and friends out on a canyon trolling trip. They returned with four nice yellowfin tuna along with four 20-pound class mahi-mahi. On Sunday Captain George was back inshore with Milan and Elliott Indrisek for a good catch of sea bass and fluke. Young Elliot topped the day with a 22-inch fluke.

Captain Lindsay Fuller had a canyon trip on the “June Bug” Monday consisting of all lawyers including a justice on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. They left prior to midnight Sunday night and were fishing by 4:30. They had small yellowfin tuna immediately at 100 fathoms, but there were only 3 keepers out of the 10 caught. Despite their size they hit hard and fought like bigger fish.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association

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August 16, 2009

9:00 PM

OCEAN:

Ocean fluking is heating up as the flatties move out of the bay. The inlets have also been hot but the keeper ratio could be better. As far as the ocean goes, 30-50’ of water off Island Beach from the Barnegat Inlet up to Casino Peir.

One customer by the name of Greg told of good flukin’ 50-55ft of water bather’s beach and a bit north. There have also been fluke caught out just north out of BL inlet in 30-40ft. It seem that further north the keeper ratio gets better.

Sharks are still here in our coastal inshore waters. Brownies and Hammerheads are on the schools of bunker out front. The bunker schools have been plentiful as of late. A few anglers fluking reported having the schools come right up to the boat. Snagging and dropping and catching stripers and cobia. One customer called up and ask what the state record was. He had a 60 pound class fish in the boat.

A couple customers came in yesterday afternoon to get set up with bait and tackle. They reported a good catch of Bonita at the North Barnegat Ridge. One gentleman said that small cedar plugs were the hot lure. Also the staple lure was a small spoon behind a drail weight. Also reported at the Ridge, bluefish between 10-15+ pounds. At the ridge bluefish, bonita and Spanish mackerel. Ocean wrecks are producing sea bass, fluke and ling.

SURF:

Lots of Skates and Rays off of the surf. Fluke up still bitting up there. Best bet is fishing closer to the jetty before the beach goers come out.

Bill Imken (FHQ Alumni) of Holgate stopped in the shop this afternoon and shared with us his happenings off the surf on the South-end. “The fluke are still there! They are in the trough. Yesterday (Wed.) I had a keeper as well as a bunch of shorts.” Billy mentioned that he was casting a bucktail tipped with pink gulp.

INLET:

Today there were a lot of small blues fish in the Barnegat Light area. John said, “We had them every cast on metals.” There are a bunch flatties off of the beach in the area too.

Herring @ Old Barny James B from Burlington, NJ

BAY:

Lots of snapper blues in the evening time on big school of spearing.

– Sharking: Staff member Ed Bunnell (FHQ Staff) and his brother stopped by to pick up more fresh bunker and chum for another brown sharking outing this evening. He reported a great trip out last night with a number of brownies and pictures on his phone to prove. He and his brother said they released one of the biggest brownies of they year. Ed also said that he procrastinated throwing the anchor and was spooled lby a bigger shark. They had a half dozen brownies and a sand tiger estimated at about 50-70lb. They fished from sundown Saturday night til the early am hours of Sunday. The hottest action was at the dead tide around 1am. Fresh bunker and bunker chum. Only one other boat around

The biggest fish of the year are here now. Get on it!

– Crabbing: On the backside of Ship Bottom has been good. Mr. McBride, a Ship Bottom local, stopped into the shop today to re-up his bunker supply. He said that the lasted few days have been the best of the season so far.

– Weakfishin’ is still spotty. Although a few customers have reported great action. However, most have complained of an off-season. Late night up on the north end of the island, there have been weakies in the lights. They are popping on the small baitfish, spearing and peanuts.

Also in the bay, pods of baby bunker are scattered across the bay and in the inlets. Weakfish and snapper are having breakfast, lunch and dinner on these forage fish.

In the boat grass shrimp is the best method as well as chumming and fly fishing. Fishing with fresh spearing is also a good idea.

4:30 PM

Sky Krokus (10 years old) from Ship Bottom and his father stopped by this afternoon after fishing at the Barnegat Light house. Sky caught an 18.5” fluke on his first cast. Sky said that all he uses is fresh snapper blues as bait, “I don’t want the shorts, so I use big bait that doesn’t fit in the mouth of a small fluke.” Sky said that the Inlet was packed solid with herring right now but the bugs just killed us so we had to run. We’ll be at it again tomorrow.

Sky mentioned that he is catching his bait (snapper blues) behind his house on the bay in Ship Bottom. His bait of choice fresh spearing that he’s seining but he said live kellies are also working for him. Sky said, “The snapper blues are nice sized right now. Much bigger than last year at this time.”

Received: Sunday, August 16, 2009 9:31 PM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

Bluefish, Bluefish, Bluefish! This weeks main player was? …you guessed it, feisty 1-5 lb bluefish and all you could catch. Large porgies, trigger fish, blackfish, and under sized fluke spiced the mix as well. Thursday was “sporty” in both weather and clientele with Fred Scalera formerly of ESPN sports network who was joined with his boys in a stiff NE breeze making the inlet a little “sporty”. The guys had a blast catching blues on light spinning tackle while using artificial lures. Former professional Kansas City baseball player/manager and now TBS/XM Radio and Baltimore Orioles announcer Buck Martinez was out with wife and friends in the brisk NE breeze and sloppy inlet conditions to bang away at loads of bluefish till the weather pushed back more calmer waters to play catch and release with undersized fluke. Regular Joe Franke was into another solid outing with the blues in calmer inlet conditions. Changing gears over to some bottom fishing Joe mixed it up between porgies, triggerfish, and blackfish ending the day with some jigging and catching [but no keeping] fluke. Brent Burger and friends were out slamming blues in remarkable inlet conditions with crystal clear waters. The blues could be seen approximately 15-ft down ravaging a bait ball. [really cool!] They ended the day again drifting for more throw back fluke.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

Received: Sunday, August 16, 2009 5:40 PM Subject: fish eggs

I and everyone else thought they were broken up jellyfish as well. Until I asked the lifeguard and he said they were fish eggs, though he didn’t know what kind. Upon further examination I could see that each one had an embryo inside. Just curious, really curious ~ Bruce W.

Received: Sunday, August 16, 2009 6:32 PM Subject: Miss Beach Haven Reports

Saturday, we fished a lot of spots not much of a drift and water temperature was 78 degrees. There were a lot of fluke caught and the keeper ratio was about 10 to 1. The pool winner today was pizza Pete from Mystic Island with a 5.5-lb sea bass. What a whopper!
Sunday, we had a very good catch of fluke. Pretty much the same conditions as yesterday with water temperature 79 degrees and no drift. High hook today was Mike Emers (aka Wired 98) with 5 keepers and numerous shorts. The pool winner was William Post from Florida with a 4.5-lb fluke.
~ Miss Beach Haven The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

Received: Sunday, August 16, 2009 3:36 PM Subject: Sandbar sharks

Thanks for posting the info (see below 6:20 AM) on Sandbar shark catch and release. Found it amusing today that after I emailed you regarding sandbar sharks we caught three today on top and bottom rigs with squid strips on them, next to bunker schools, in 16′ of water off Beach Haven around 11:30 AM. Go figure. Two released themselves one on 60-pound braided line. The last one we fought for 1/2 hour on 30-pound mono up to the boat for pictures and then he straightened the hook and left. That’s what you call catch and release. Great fun for my 10 year old son. We were actually fishing for fluke and kingfish. What a day.
~ Martin M.

Received: Sunday, August 16, 2009 11:15 AM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

Well it was a fun week we just had, dodging the rain and lightning but catching plenty of fish. I had four trips this week, and while we still haven’t seen the arrival of the weakfish that normally give us such great fishing in August and September, the fluke fishing in the bay has been solid and Barnegat Ridge has continued to be hot for trolling.

Bay fluking has started moving more and more towards the inlet areas, as fish start moving out of the bays into the surrounding ocean waters. We averaged 20-25 fluke per trip this week, mostly 16-17″ fish that had to go back but at least a few keepers each day. George Smajda, wife Karen and sister-in-law Sheila got in on the light tackle action on Friday morning, landing 25-30 fluke plus a dozen or so bluefish using Gulp shrimp and our custom teasers. With all the blues that are around right now, I’m going to have to spend a day just tying teasers to get caught up! George Selph and Bob Keller were back out with me to fish the Lacey Elks Tournament, and what started as a slow morning of ocean fluking finished up with an hour of non-stop action in the inlet before we had to head to the scales with four fat keepers.

George Selph also took advantage of a mid-week day out of the office on Wednesday to get in a trip to Barnegat Ridge where we trolled up a mixed bag of bonito, Spanish Mackerel and what I believe were chub mackerel. The highlight of the trip occurred when an 18 pound plus bull dolphin (mahi mahi) came into our spread put on an exciting display of acrobatics before finally coming boatside. We do get a few mahi on the Ridge every year, but they’re normally the smaller so-called “chicken dolphin”. Rarely do we get one this large in this close. Definitely a nice fish!

We’re starting to get our fall striper trips filled up, but there are still dates remaining if you’re looking to get out this fall.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

Received: Sunday, August 16, 2009 11:17 AM Subject: fish eggs

This isn’t really a fishing report, I was in Ship Bottom Saturday and I was just wondering what kind of fish eggs were in the the water by the millions, if anyone knows ~ Bruce W.

Bruce, could what you have seen been jellyfish? There are millions if not billions of broken-up jellyfish fish in local waters lately. If anyone knows otherwise please comment.

Received: Sunday, August 16, 2009 6:20 AM Subject: Brown Sharks

Greg, for your info and all other fishermen out there Brown Sharks (Sandbar Sharks) are not allowed to be kept this year. Law came into effect late spring.

~ Martin M.

Martin, thanks for the heads-up. Sandbar Shark catch and release is allowed. Just as there are Federal Water Regulations and State of New Jersey regulations for Striped Bass the same exists for Sharks. Except in the case of the Sharks there seems to be a lot more confusion as to how anglers are interpreting these laws. This is evident by the chit-chat strings on this subject that can be found at The Bass Barn forum web site ( thebassbarn.com ) . For those who want to read the specific info on State of New Jersey regulations refer to Shark sections at www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/2009/digmar11-19.pdf . ~ Stan

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August 15, 2009

Received: Saturday, August 15, 2009 11:16 PM Subject: IBSP Inlet 8/15

Fished from 4 PM to about 8 PM on the IBSP side of the inlet on Saturday. Landed a handful of short flounder and saw others land a lot of the same. It’s weird, all of the flounder seemed to be the exact same size, about 15 inches. There were loads of tiny bluefish around the rocks, by tiny I mean about 3 inches. There were a few guys who were catching them with cast nets and using them for bait, with great results. I didn’t see any keepers caught, but the fish were great sport on medium tackle and we had a great day. ~ Thaybot

Crabbing: On the backside of Ship Bottom has been good. Mr. McBride, a Ship Bottom local, stopped into the shop today to re-up his bunker supply. He said that the lasted few days have been the best of the season so far.

Ocean: Fluking in 50-55 feet of water off the IBSP Bather’s Beach and a bit north. There have also been fluke caught out just north out of BL inlet in 30-40 feet. It seem that further north the keeper ratio gets better.

Today there were a lot of small blues fish in the Barnegat Light area. John said, “We had them every cast on metals.” There are a bunch of flatties off of the beach in the area too.

Lots of Rays off of the surf too. Fish closer to the jetty before the beach goes come out. There are fluke up there.

Staff member Ed B stopped by to pick up more fresh bunker and chum for another brown sharking outing this evening. He reported a great trip out last night with a number of brownies. The biggest fish of the year are here now! Ed reported that he procrastinated and was spooled last night

To the best of my knowledge, brown sharks come into the southern bay area to spawn in the early/mid summer. Now this time of year, late summer, they are here feeding roaming the shallows. I could be wrong buy earlier in the year I was going out and had fish in the slick as well as around the boat. They just did not want to eat. Now the bite is full on. I can remember over the years, August is the best month for bay brown sharking.

To those who don’t know… Sharks as a whole are endangered. For decades man has had a fetish with killing them (for a number of reasons: jaws/teeth, fins, power show off). Yes they are eatable but so are skates and dogfish. Brown sharks are not good eats! I also don’t see the need to put others on the boat in danger.

Unlike fish the sharks have a limited number of offspring. Sharks give birth to live young. Sexual maturity is not reached for many years. It is largely unknown but it is expected to be upwards of 10-15 years before they are sexually mature. Sharks are slow growers, they reproduce slowly and when they do only have a few offspring. While most fish lay eggs by the millions and natural selection takes its toll. Due to the fact sharks have very few natural predators… Sharks are a vital link in the ocean food chain. They balance our ecosystem. Sharks are the clean up crew.

More information must be learned about these fish and little is known about the about the growth of sharks

www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/sharks-&-rays/longevity.htm

To have shark fishing longevity the Fisheries management is essential. Across the world they are overfished. In the future we will most likely see tighter recreational and commercial regulations on all species of sharks.

For me it’s all about the fight. And I hope these fights are still available in years to come. With the increased number of anglers now targeting the species it might be risky.

~ Greg

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August 14, 2009

Received: Friday, August 14, 2009 2:54 PM Subject: BONITA! Hi-Flier 2 spots open for Tomorrow (Sat)

Bonita! They are a blast! They hit violently, they fight great on light tackle, and they’re delicious. The Barnegat Ridge is hot and heavy with Bonita and Spanish Mackerel right now. We are high speed trolling them with a six rod spread of conventional and spinning tackle.

I was able to move a bay trip I had scheduled to the afternoon tomorrow to make an early out Ridge trip possible. I already have one spot filled and we have room for two more people. It’s already a “go” with just the one guy and me as I feel it is my civic duty to keep protecting our coast from the onslaught of these toothy denizens.

We leave at 5AM and return at 11:30 AM. The cost is $165 per person. Just bring your food and drinks, I have everything else.

If you are interested, don’t email me, CALL ME at 732.330.5674 as I am not near the computer.

I will be sailing more of these open boat Barnegat Ridge trips coming up this week as well.

~ Capt. Dave DeGennaro, “Hi-Flier” Sportfishing 732.330.5674 cell

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August 13, 2009

Here’s a couple of fishing reports that were received at the store today…

INLET
James B. from Burlington, NJ reported his fishing action while picking up more gear. He said that the herring are thick in the BL Inlet. He caught a bunch on Monday and more on Wednesday. James said that he was using small spoons and shad darts with a 1/2 oz drail weight ahead to aid in casting and to get it down a bit in the current. James mentioned that the trip to catching was to find the current breaks and boils. “I was catching ’em every cast!”
Fluke, Triggerfish, Tog and Seabass action is still happening in the inlet too. Most fluke are shorts, so be prepared to weed through them.

SURF
Bill Imken (FHQ Alumni) of Holgate stopped in the shop this afternoon and shared with us his happenings off the surf on the South-end. “The fluke are still there! They are in the trough. Yesterday (Wed.) I had a keeper as well as a bunch of shorts.” Billy mentioned that he was casting a bucktail tipped with pink gulp.

Also off of the surf, the brown shark bit in the evening hours continues. Pick up some fresh bunker and/or live eels!

~Greg

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August 10, 2009

Received: Monday, August 10, 2009 9:06 PM Subject: BHCFA Report

Some of the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are reporting very good action in the ocean on fluke and sea bass. For the most party the fish are biting very well, but the keeper fluke are still tough to come by.

Captain Frank Camarda on the headboat “Miss Beach Haven” reports the fluke fishing has been pretty good in the ocean for the past week with a good mix of keepers and shorts. The water temperature is currently right around 73-degrees. Captain Frank adds that the bay fishing has also been decent as the fluke are making their way to the ocean. He has also seen a few cocktail sized bluefish and some croakers around.

Captain George Finck of “Sparetime Charters” had Phil McNeil out last week with son Carter and daughter Sidney for a day of bottom fishing. He reports the kids especially enjoyed the nice weather along with a nice catch of both sea bass and fluke. Another day he had Kevin Kernan and son Jack out for a nice catch of sea bass and short fluke. Captain George reports keeper fluke are hard to come by some days. Over the weekend he had the McCauley’s and Smiths out for bottom fishing. The fishing was great despite a lack of keeper fluke, but they were happy to put a mix of sea bass, fluke, and bluefish in the fish box.

Captain Dave Wittenborn had Sarah Brown and family out last Friday on the “Compass Rose” celebrating Dad’s 60th. The conditions were excellent in the ocean, and the fish cooperated with practically non-stop action for some five hours. The happy party returned to the dock with six nice keeper fluke, several sea bass, and released at least 20 shorts. Captain Dave had even better action on Saturday for Dave Nyre and his crew. He said he did not even have time to eat lunch the fishing was so constant. Besides well over 50 throwbacks, they had 16 keeper fluke. He went through extra bait he had brought and was cutting up strips of sea robin and fluke bellies which produced well.

Monday, Captain Lindsay Fuller had a canyon trip on the “June Bug”. He left prior to midnight Sunday night and were fishing at 4:30 AM. They caught small yellowfin tuna at the 100 fathom drop but there were only 3 keepers out of the 10 caught. Despite their size they hit hard and fought like bigger fish. Around noon they hooked a larger fish but it bent the 12/0 forged carbon steel hook right at the boat. The fish appeared to be at least 80-pounds. The “June Bug” worked the weed lines in the afternoon and picked up a half dozen nice mahi-mahi.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association

Received: Monday, August 10, 2009 8:16 PM   Subject: A report I read

On Friday, July 31, 2009 on the AM trip on the Carolyn Ann “Friday, 7/31, it was “Bazooka” Bob Gorman, Valley Forge, PA shooting down the competition in the morning. Bob caught a 4.3-lb. summer flounder. ”

I know Bob Gorman. He is a 88 years old WWII veteran and a veteran of The Battle Of The Bulge. A great guy! I’ve seen the pictures of the following… While in the war, at some point he not only shot and prepared deer for his fellow mates. With make shift equipment, he would fish and with what he caught was feeding himself and his friends. During a four year span he won the pool on his July birthday on the Carolyn Ann and one year he won both the AM and PM pools.

Mr. Gorman is a true American Hero. Bottom Line. And I am proud to say I know him a little bit and proud to fish with him while I am on Long Beach Island.

I thought I would share this with you. Thank you,

~ Jim T., Bridgewater, NJ

Received: Monday, August 10, 2009 7:27 PM Subject: report

Fished outside Barnegat Inlet on the tires this morning with Rich Labor, we had 35 fluke with one keeper. Watched about a 8-10 ft Thresher jumping and working over a school of bunker 3-4 miles east of the inlet

~ Sam W.

Received: Monday, August 10, 2009 6:20 PM Subject: Bonita and Spanish Mackeral at Barnegat Ridge!

The “Hi-Flier” hit ‘em hard at Barnegat Ridge! Caught a mess of Bonita and good size Spanish Mackerel on the hi-speed troll. They hit feathers, cedar plugs, daisy chains, all surface attacks, even the Spanish Mackerel. Multiple hook-up were the rule with two and three rods getting nailed at the same time. We also put out some spinning rods to keep it sporty. Both of these species are some of the best loin you can eat.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 11, I am running open boat for more of the same. The cost is $195 per person and I will take a maximum of three people. We leave at 6 AM and return at 2 PM. The boat is already booked for the afternoon on Wednesday for weakfish, so the morning is available for either a quick Barnegat Ridge trip or a morning weakfish trip. I will also run open boat Thursday, August 13, and Friday, August 14 to Barnegat Ridge as the weather is supposed to be for calm seas all week.

Better strike while the iron is hot… Hope to see you on board.

~ Capt. Dave DeGennaro, “Hi-Flier” Sportfishing 732.330.5674 cell

Received: Monday, August 10, 2009 5:55 PM Subject: Your Monday, August 10, 2009 Fluke Report

We had about Thirty folks on board today. Enough breeze to make it comfortable out there. Once back at the dock, it was hot!!!

I had two keeper fluke, fourteen shorts, one good eating size bluefish and five sea robins. All caught on squid strips and smelts… Its all you need! Matter of fact, a gentleman next to me was having a bad day. Zero! I gave him a sand eel and some direction and he caught a nineteen incher and it had some weight to this keeper fluke. I was happy for him. I was glad that I could help. Even some of the shorts that were in the seventeen inch range have some weight to them. They are not skinny.

~ Jim T., Bridgewater, NJ

Received: Monday, August 10, 2009 5:25 PM Subject: Lighthouse Sportfishing Report

It was a hectic week on Barnegat Bay making it out most days that the weather permitted. I concentrated my efforts on fluke, blues and weakfish. The fluke are staged to leave the bay and are stacked up for easy pickings. Most of the fluke are shorts but some are making it into the cooler. We also had great action with 1-3 pound bluefish around the inlet. Between the fluke and blues there were constant bent rods and smiles every trip. Weakfishing is another story. During my last four trips we boated three weakfish. Keeping a positive frame of mind I still do not want to write the weakfish season off and will give it a couple more tries on my trips this week. Enjoy!

~ Capt. Alex F. Majewski, “Debbie M”, Barnegat Bay, NJ 609-548-2511 www.LighthouseSportfishing.com

Received: Monday, August 10, 2009 2:21 PM Subject: Blues at the Light

Fished this morning at Barnegat Light… no action from 9-10:30 AM At 10:30 the blues hit and caught 11 in an hour and a half and lost another 6. They were hitting all metals. Then it got quiet! Oh well. A good day at the light.

~Cal, Surf City, NJ

Received: Monday, August 10, 2009 12:47 PM Subject: Fishing Report from Al

Went to the inlet about 12:00 caught 5 fluke one keeper about 3-lbs and a blue fish. Not much else so I was keying in on the fluke. Going to try this week after work. Talk to you later

~ Al Asplint

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August 09, 2009

Received: Sunday, August 09, 2009 9:37 PM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

Tropical trigger fish, bluefish, blackfish, fluke, and large hand size porgies have made up most of the catch this week.

Weakfish on the other hand have remained missing in action for the most part. Are we on yet another downward cycle for our beloved sea trout? Only time will tell.

The Hil ly Berlin Party was weathered out due to thunder and lighting storm but a last minute cancellation saved the day as we were able to proceed as planned the very next morning. The party of 5 had steady action with 1-3lbs blues on arificials. After getting their fill with the fiesty blues we moved to some brisk bottom fishing ending the day landing a nice mix of tropical trigger fish, jumbo porgies, blackfish and huge bergals.

The Bill Stussi party was met with more weather in the way of steady rain and a Easterly breeze that made conditions challenging for the guys. They managed a pick of blues in the 1-4 lbs range but they had to work hard at every fish they boxed as conditions and bite were not in our favor.

The September 10th Open Boat trip booked up but I do have 2 spots left on the September 24th, anyone interested in the 24th, we will be mixing in some wreck fishing along with bay and inlet fishing should call or email. I will be adding a 3rd Open Boat date in September as well as interest has been very high. Thank you.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

Received: Sunday, August 09, 2009 11:48 AM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

Weakfishing in the bay remains slow, even for those of us still working the grass shrimp slicks, and it’s beginning to look like this year is going down as the worst one in a long time. We’re going to continue fishing for them on each trip for another week or so, but plan to switch over to fluke if they don’t make an appearance after an hour or so.

That strategy worked out well on Friday’s trip when Steve Mastej brought out his son Oakley and his dad Fred out hoping to get in on some fast weakfish action. When the weakies failed to show by mid morning, we switched over to fluke and the guys absolutely bailed fish at the end of the incoming tide, landing between thirty and forty fluke in two hours. Gulp swimming minnows and our custom teasers were again the hot baits. Most of the fish were in the 16-17″ range, but we still ended up with plenty of fish in the box by the time we headed back to the dock.

Early in the week we made a run out to Barnegat Ridge, and found mixed schools of bonito and Spanish Mackerel feasting on the small sandeels that are on the Ridge right now. These fish aren’t huge, but they’re still pretty sporty on light tackle and make excellent table fare. A quick stop to drift one of the wrecks on the way back in added some tasty sea bass to the box before the winds picked up and sent us heading back to the dock.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

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August 08, 2009

8:45 PM

Received: Saturday, August 08, 2009 8:49 PM Subject: FR from Greg

A Bull Maxi tipped our scale tonight at 42-lb 6-oz even though is was gutted at sea. Angler Jason Nemec with Capt. Sam Leeper aboard the “4 Play” from Manahawkin, NJ caught the bull trolling in the deep of the Lindenkohl. The fish fell for a rainbow spreader bar. The guys also landed a 70-lb yellowfin tuna.

The bite in the Hudson continued today; however, there’s city like traffic out there.

FYI…
There is no ferry from Barnegat Light to Island Beach State Park. Don’t fall for any jokesters. It happens every year.

~ Greg

Received: Saturday, August 08, 2009 3:44 PM Subject: FR from Ryan Warford

Went up to the North End of Long Beach Island this afternoon to try my luck at the lighthouse. I fished from 10 AM to 2 PM with bucktails and Gulp. Caught 6 short and lost three nice keeper sized Fluke. I just could not get’em up the rocks without a net. There were also a lot of other fish being caught by other anglers near by. Fluke, Blackfish and Triggerfish.

~ Ryan Warford, Surf City

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August 07, 2009

Received: Friday, August 07, 2009 9:36 PM Subject: Friday, August 7 Fishing Report

It was windy today feeling like an October day but warmer. Very nice out.

The fluke fishing was slow, but I did manage to have 3 quality keepers to be the high hook. I beat out the Spro and Gulp folks. I used squid strips and spearing. BTW, they were my first keeper fluke of 2009. Kind of sad.

~ Jim T., Bridgewater, NJ

Received: Friday, August 07, 2009 4:39 PM Subject: Miss Beach Haven Fishing Report

The fluke fishing this week in the ocean was pretty good. Plenty of fish caught with a good mix of keepers and shorts. Water temperature was right around 73 degrees plus the water nice and clean. Bay fishing was also pretty good this week and it looks like the fluke are working their way out to the ocean. Caught this week were several cocktail blues and a couple of croakers. It looks like the weather is going to be nice for this weekend and right into next week . It should be a good time to take a trip.

~ Miss Beach Haven The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

The night fishing fpr Bluefish is good. The fish are small but there are loads of them on the Barnegat Ridge. The Fluke fishing is also good but the keeper ratio seems to change on every trip.

~ Doris Mae IV 1801 Bayview Ave, Barnegat Light NJ 08006 PARTY BOAT call Robin at (609) 494-1692

3:00 PM

Sam fished this morning with 2 other anglers from 7:30 AM to 10:00 AM with their boat drifting the Oyster Creek Channel during the incoming tide. Using lead-head jigs tipped with gulp, together they hooked-up 75 fluke but only one was a keeper.

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August 05, 2009

Received: Wednesday, August 05, 2009 5:17 PM Subject: report

Had George Fox on the boat today, all three of them, grandpop, Dad, and Jr. We started in Oyster Creek at 8:30 AM and never left, the last 2 hrs of incoming tide was 61 degree water, but the fish were on fire in 2 hrs we scored 68 fluke. Then the tide turned and the bite slowed a little with 72 degree water on outgoing tide. We finished at 1:00 PM with 104 fluke but only 2 keepers. Most of the fish were caught on Gulp and some were caught on sand eels. Bucktails and standard fluke rigs were used

~ Sam FHQ Staff)

Received: Wednesday, August 05, 2009 12:11 PM Subject: Please Report Invasive Mitten Crabs

The NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife would like recreational crabbers to be aware that Chinese mitten crabs have been caught in New Jersey waters, the most recent being those captured by both commercial and recreational fishermen in Raritan, Barnegat and Delaware Bays. Mitten crabs are native to Asia but have invaded portions of northern Europe and California.

Biologists would like to gather as much information as possible on any mitten crabs that have been caught this year or in recent years to help determine their current distribution. The public can help by providing information on any mitten crabs that are encountered.

The crabs are easy to identify and the online mitten crab poster lists identification characteristics as well as some general information on the species. If a mitten crab happens to be caught, it is important to document as much information as possible and take a picture of the crab for identification and proof of capture.

For more information on the crabs, how to identify them the online poster and how to report them, please visit www.njfishandwildlife.com/news/2009/mittencrab09.htm on the division’s website.

~ NJ DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife.

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August 03, 2009

Received: Monday, August 03, 2009 6:26 PM Subject: BHCFA Report

The boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been catching a wide variety of fish in different locations the past several days.

Captain Carl Sheppard on the “Star Fish” reports Captain Vic went reef fishing last week off Beach Haven and caught plenty of black sea bass on the Garden Sate South Reef along with some fluke and bluefish. On Saturday Captain Carl went to the Barnegat Ridge for some nice sized bonito and Spanish mackerel plus some bluefish on the way in. Sunday was more of the same at the Barnegat Ridge for bonito and mackerel along with skipjack and frigate mackerel.

Captain John Koegler on “Pop’s Pride” has also had a couple of good days on the bonito. He reports these are not the same bonito caught in the southern waters and make great table fare.

Despite stormy weather and some rough seas, Captain George Finck of  “Sparetime Charters” and a member of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association has been able to put together a couple of bottom fishing trips. On one trip he slipped out between thunderstorms with Joe Hogan, his dad George and son Jack to the Little Egg Reef. They managed a nice catch of sea bass and fluke despite the rough seas. On another trip Captain George had his son Bill and grandson Billy along with some friends out for some fishing in Little Egg Inlet. Although they had no keepers, they enjoyed plenty of action on fluke, sea robins, and dogfish.

Captain Frank Camarda on the “Miss Beach Haven” reported Saturday was a tough day we had a couple of sea bass and a handful of keeper fluke. Pool winner that day was Darl Vanduler from Hamilton Twp NJ with a 6.4-lb fluke. Sunday on the other hand was very good we caught a lot of fish pretty much all day. High hook Sunday was Mike Emers with 4 keeper fluke and the pool winner was Cheeseman John with a 4-lb fluke.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association

Received: Monday, August 03, 2009 10:09 AM   Subject: Miss Beach Haven Report

Saturday was a tough day we had a couple of sea bass and a handful of keeper fluke. Pool winner that day was Darl Vanduler from Hamilton Twp NJ with a 6.4-lb fluke. Sunday on the other hand was very good we caught a lot of fish pretty much all day. High hook Sunday was Mike Emers with 4 keeper fluke and the pool winner was Cheeseman John with a 4-lb fluke.

~ Miss Beach Haven The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

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August 02, 2009

7:00 PM

G. George of Bud Lake stopped by the shop this afternoon and shared with us this report… “Yesterday I went out of Barnegat Inlet about three mile (BL Fish Heaven), fished for an hour and had some fun! Caught a variety of species. Two fluke, one 15 and one 20 inches. Two sea bass, one 14 and another 15 inches. Two bluefish about 1-2lbs.

Rob Reale (FHQ Staff) called in a Fluke fishing report… “Most of our fish were at the Tires. Largest at 21 inches. Bait onboard minnow and strip bait along with ESCA’s. Also caught a half dozen sea bass and a dozen plus short flatties.”

5:00 PM

Ocean: Uncle Moe and Steve aboard the Baytriever went out Fluking. They had three keepers; 18.5,19,& 21”. Moe said in the morning there was “a lot of bunker and brown sharks.” He continued, “No drift early, but after the change of tide a light south wind gave us a drift.”

Bay: A few customers have complained, “Lotta grass and weeds in the bay”. Weakfish is slowly starting up. In the coming day we expect it to get better.

Offshore: Bluefin action is hot up and down the jersey coast. Areas north such as the Chicken Canyon and the Glory Hole and surrounding area to the SE (Atlantic Princess) and have been hot as well as areas south like the Lobster Claw to the inside of the “Claw”.

Received: Sunday, August 02, 2009 4:34 PM Subject: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

The first weakfish started to show this week but unfortunately the bite was a meager one at best. Strong Southerly winds started on Thursday and continued through Friday clouding the back bays water possible adding to the reluctant bite. Fortunately up by the clearer inlet water species such as bluefish, schoolie stripers, blackfish , fluke and tropical trigger fish and pin fish were willing to fill in the gaps. September is one of the most beautiful months along the Jersey Shore and fast approaching! We still have a few dates left and will leave September 10 and 24 available for those who are interested in open boat trips. If interested, call or email ASAP for details. These trips will be sailing for the “Fish De Jour ” that is will be most productive at that time.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

Received: Sunday, August 02, 2009 4:20 PM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

We stayed in the bay this week, and split our time between fishing for weakfish and hunting for some keeper sized fluke. The good news is that the bay continues to give up some decent fluke catches when the winds calm down enough to give us a decent drift. We were battered again most of the week with hard south and southwest winds, but caught fish every time things quieted down for a bit. The number of shorts (if you want to call a 17″ fluke “short”) is still high compared to the number of keepers, but they’re there if you work for them. Gulp shrimps seemed to be the ticket this week, out fishing natural baits by a wide margin.

Weakfish action isn’t where it should be by now. Normally by the time late July rolls around we’re seeing predictably hot action with spike weakies every day, with catches averaging from 70 to 100 weakfish per day even in off years. I spent at least a few hours on each of three trips this week chumming with grass shrimp, and totaled less than a dozen weakies for that effort. The weakfish we caught were nice sized, with most of them being in the 18-19″ class, but the numbers haven’t been there so far. I’m hoping that what we saw this week was just the first wave trickling in with the main schools yet to arrive… fingers crossed. Until next week.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

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August 1, 2009

Numerous customers have reported fun in the sun!

Surf:  Most of our customers who are putting in their time up on the surf are frustrated with dogfish, sea robins and skates.  It seems that Kingfish-in’ has been spotty.  One day there are customers saying that its happening and the next day its dead.  Upwelling I believe is the reason why.  The fluctuating water temperature turns the bite on then like a flip of a switch off.  Today the water was warm and clear.  Yesterday and the day before it was ice cold and dirty.  A number of customers have thanked us for hooking them up with spot on information on how to catch flatties (fluke) off the surf. Gulp Chartreuse Grubs and a bucktail with a teaser of your choice.  Fluke just can’t resist.  Most are shorts but one woman said she had one big enough for a legal dinner.

Inlet:  The live green crabs are flying out the door.  Right now in my opinion the best fishing (with feet on dry land) will be found at Old Barney’s Rocks.  Use green crab, fresh clam or squid with a Tautog (wreck fish style) rig.  There are a number of species roaming the rocks.  First and foremost TOG as well as Triggerfish and sea bass among others.

Bay:  Those chumming with grass shrimp or clam chum in the bay are catching a variety of species.  Weakfish, Kingfish, Snapper blues and blowfish.
Crabbing is good off of the local bayside piers.  There are also a couple snapper blues being caught there too.
Bob Mangold shared with us this report.  Went crabbing at the Ship Bottom boat ramp pier on Friday(7-31) from 9pm to 12am.  Caught 14 keepers between 4-1/2 to 6-1/4 inches, most of them were in the 5 to 5-1/2″ range.  Not bad for outgoing tide, moon may have helped. Lots of little crabs so bring plenty of bunker!
Brown sharking in the bay down towards Little Beach and the Rutgers’s Research Station continues.  Historically this is the best month for them in the back bay.  Get hooked up to some line screamers before they are gone.  It’s your best shot at a 50-100lb+ class fish in the bay.

Ocean:
Inshore:  Jerry Dubeau of the Village Harbour Fishing Club just stopped by to weigh-in his biggest fluke of his day, 4lb 10oz. Check it out!  Jerry said, “We tried all over! Harvey Cedars Lump, Barnegat Light Inlet among other spots, all throw backs.  Later in the day (2-4PM) we fished the Tires outside Barnegat Inlet.  In two hours we had between 15 to 20 fluke with two keepers (2lb 8oz & 4lb 10oz) on squid and spearing.  Not one seabass.

Offshore:  TUNA BIT CONTINUES!  Long time customer and friend of the store Ed Sage stopped by today to pick up bait and tackle in preparation for his next trip offshore.  He reported bluefin tuna on the chunk.  Ed grabbed a bunch of sardines and butters and said that he hooked up with ten plus fish on his last trip.  He was fishing the Glory Hole area.  Other customers have reported a good bluefin bit at the well known South Jersey spots like the “Claw” among others.

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July 31, 2009

Received: Friday, July 31, 2009 5:52 PM Subject: FR

I went out fishing this morning aboard the Atlantis out of Brielle. The captain took us out to the Shrewsbury Rocks. It was rough out there, gnarly seas with a hard wind on top. I tried out the ESCA lure light that Greg from the shop suggested. Took off the treble hook and attached a “J-hook” via a split ring. On the hook was a Gulp Chartreuse Grub plus a squid strip. My rig was very basic, a three way to a 2-3’ leader to the ESCA. Caught 40+ sea bass. There were a few fluke caught aboard but the sea bass fishing was phenomenal with the ESCA.

~ Ryan Warford, Surf City

Received: Thursday, July 30, 2009 11:44 PM Subject: Hi Flier Bonita on the Ridge! New boat for Tuna!

What’s new and exciting on the “Hi-Flier” scene? LOTS! We are clobbering the bonita at Barnegat Ridge. We had 30 on Tuesday with Kevin Veal from California and his father-in-law Gene Arico from Green Brook, NJ. We trolled them on small red and white Jap feathers and 4 inch red/white cedar plugs. I troll a six rod spread and it was not uncommon to have three or four rods go off at once and we even had one six bagger where every rod in the holder was bent. After a good dose of fish went in the cooler we started blending in lighter spinning rods in the mix to enjoy the fight even more. On Wednesday, I had Tim Wanner of PA out with his two sons, TJ and Chris and we trolled a bunch more bonita while dodging some thunderstorms and late afternoon breeze. These fish are on the feed, they are ravenous, and spitting up gobs of sandeels when you unhook them on board. Bonita are excellent to eat. They have been running in the three to five pound range and are great sport on light tackle. Table wise, they are a half notch below tuna loin and don’t let anyone confuse you as they are often mixed up with false albacore, aka: little tunny that are inedible. The further south you go, they start calling little tunny or false albacore, bonita. Here is where a great amount of confusion starts. To recap: Bonita-Excellent, False Albacore-Not Edible.

Any day I am not chartered for back bay weakfish or Barnegat Ridge, so I will be running the “Hi-Flier” as an open boat to Barnegat Ridge, 6AM to 2PM, $195 per person, three person max.

The other exciting news is a new boat that we will be offering for charter. The “Bewitched” is a 31′ Albemarle sailing from Point Pleasant Beach. It is a twin diesel express that is perfect for running offshore to the tuna grounds August through October as well as striper fishing into the Fall. The bluefin tuna fishing has been excellent with a 20 to 40 mile run being the norm. The fish are 20 to 80 pounds and are hitting jigs as well as traditional trolling lures. There has also been good size mahi (dolphin) in the mix as well. I will be running the “Bewitched” to the tuna grounds throughout August, September, and October. Most comfortable are groups of four or less. This fishery is well underway, so call me to book one of these exciting trips.

The weakfish just started to show up finally yesterday and today, so I will be fishing for them as well. Whatever you want to do, we can do it: 5 hour Back Bay Weakfish on Live Grass Shrimp, 8 hour Barnegat Ridge Bonita, a 14 mile run from Barnegat Inlet, or Tuna and Mahi Offshore on the 31′ Albemarle, usually a 40 mile run for this 27 knot express cruiser out of Point Pleasant Beach departing from Manasquan Inlet. Hope to see you on board.

~ Capt. Dave DeGennaro, “Hi-Flier” Sportfishing 732.330.5674 cell

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July 30, 2009

A limited amount of Fresh Squid is in stock.

Receiving reports of weakfish along with some blowfish and kingfish from the bayside. Sam fished in 7′ of water depth in Barnegat Bay off Forked River. Anchoring he used clam chum and small baits for a slow pick on both blowfish and kingfish.

Except for smaller bluefish mostly at the inlets the reports off the front beach are quiet.

Best reports on Fluke are from boats that fished deeper waters. The drop-off east of Barnegat ridge was one area. However even the few reports from those who made the long ventures is no guarantee of catching keeper Fluke. Recently the weather too has been keeping boats at homeport.

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July 29, 2009

Received: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 7:52 PM Subject: Lighthouse Fishing Report

They’re back! Weakfish that is. Today I ran my first grass shrimp chumming trip of the season and got on the fish within 10 minutes! We had steady action with weaks to 19 inches and many weaks were landed. Although there are still some fluke in the bay I will be concentrating on weakfish for the next two months. If you are interested in getting into this unique fishery Barnegat Bay has to offer give me a call at 609-548-2511

~ Capt. Alex F. Majewski, “Debbie M”, Barnegat Bay, NJ 609-548-2511 www.LighthouseSportfishing.com

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July 28, 2009

Received: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 8:17 AM Subject: BHCFA Weekly report

Captain John Koegler of the boat “Pop’s Pride” reports good fishing for the past couple of weeks. He says fluke have shown up in Little Egg Inlet in good numbers, but not sizes. Only a few have been large enough to keep, but the anglers on board enjoyed catching and releasing fish. He finished off the trip by moving a little into the ocean and catching some good numbers of keeper sea bass. On a previous trip Captain John landed two large mahi-mahi while tuna fishing. In addition, they lost a bluefin tuna right at the boat when the hook pulled. Looking to the future, Captain John reports bluefin action is improving daily, and Atlantic bonito and bluefish have been returning to the Barnegat Ridges.

Captain Carl Sheppard on the “Starfish” has been fishing both inshore at the reefs where he found some nice black sea bass and offshore at the 40-Fathom Line where he has found bluefin tuna and mahi-mahi.

Captain Dave Wittenborn on the “Compass Rose” reports his sea bass action is good. He fished the GS South Reef and had near perfect conditions all morning. He estimates catching 40 sea bass with a few big enough for the dinner table. There were a few double headers. When the winds and seas kicked up around 1:00, Captain Dave made a couple of drifts by the OPT research buoys. They picked up a keeper fluke along with a short.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association

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July 27, 2009

Received: Monday, July 27, 2009 10:44 AM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

“Small craft advisory”, was the catch phrase warning of the week with a strong Easterly flow from an offshore low pressure system starting mid week and a stiff Southerly winds to close out the week. Andy Pemrick and Chris weed from Albany New York started the day at the inlet with both guys landing their first stripers ever along with some blues. Moving offshore for some wreck fishing the guys had drop and reel fishing with 12″ seabass with putting only a dozen keepers on ice. As the weather kicked up with heavy “white out” rain and a building Easterly wind it was time to head for the safety of the bay where the guys continue their trip landing a mix of trigger fish, bergals, and blackfish to end the day. The Ken Reed family was out on Sunday for a slow start grass shrimping weakfish . Moving around a bit we found non-stop action with 1-2lbs blues on light spinning tackle along with short fluke to add into the mix.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

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July 26, 2009

Inlet: Joe M. called in this afternoon 7-26 to report some action from the rocks at Barnegat Inlet. He said that he was catching trigger fish one after the other using crab as bait.

Surf: Off of the surf there are still fluke being caught off the beach by surf anglers and a few kingfish on live bloods.

Bay: In the bay there have been a few weakies in the Barnegat Bay; 12-20” 2-4lb grass shrimp-in. Crabbing has been consistent off of the local area crabbing piers and some street ends. Also some customers are reporting snapper blues at the crabbing piers

Ocean: Fluking could be better. Lotta shorts still but those with the patients and finesse are getting a keeper or two. Sea bass on the wrecks and some fluke being caught on the surrounding areas. The slammers of last week disappeared and we are left with just snapper blue 1-2 lbers on the ridge.

A lot of brown sharks both in the ocean and in the bay. Fluking could be better.

Bluefin outside! The action is heating up both trolling and jigging. South Jersey spots up to the Mudhole, Glory Hole, and Chicken Canyon areas. Bluefin up to a 200 lbs have been reported. We have received numerous bluefin reports off of south jersey. One angler released 4 bluefin fishing the 19 fathom lump, troll the edges with ballyhoo. Drop them way back in the spread. Another customer aboard the “Fishhard”reported 130lb Bluefin and released a couple hundred pounders on Saturday (yesterday). They also lost probably a bigger fish. They were fishing the 30 fathom line.

Received: Sunday, July 26, 2009 10:53 AM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

We only made it out twice this week with somewhat mixed results. Tuesday’s trip saw plenty of action fluke fishing in the back bay, although the vast majority of the fish were under 18″ and went back. Still, a couple of big keepers in the box yielded both smiles and some fat filets for the table. Saturday I took my party outside to get away from the weekend boat traffic, but that proved to be the wrong move as the ocean only gave up a couple of shorts despite hitting six different pieces of structure ranging from 30′ all the way out to 80′. Not too sure what to make of that, since the surface water temps were almost perfect and we weren’t hooking any coldwater fish either. Just an odd day, I guess.

We’re still awaiting the arrival of the main body of weakfish that comes into the bay every summer, and it’s starting to look like they’re determined to keep us on edge. There are a few weakfish being caught, but nothing like the 50-100 fish days we’re accustomed to around this time of year. I’m planning to start weakfishing in earnest this week, probably splitting the day between a couple of hours chumming with live grass shrimp at the outset, then switching over to fluke if the weakies don’t cooperate. We’ll be full time weakfishing once they finally arrive so hopefully I’ll have more to report next week.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

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July 22, 2009

Yesterday afternoon I took my surfboard up the street (Ship Bottom) to catch a couple waves on the incoming tide.  With the light Easterly breeze the water warmed significantly.  I can say that it felt nice to be in just “trunkse”.  There was bait pushed right up to the backside of the bar.  Cocktail blues were having a feast on small baitfish which looked like spearing or sand eels.  Nobody was fishing. ~ Greg

Received: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 9:06 AM Subject: Bluefin Tuna Fishing Report 7/20/09

Went fishing for Bluefin with Harry McLaughlin on my boat “The Professor” to the Chicken Canyon on Monday, 7/20 after hearing good firsthand reports of bluefin there on Sunday. One knockdown and a landed a small skipjack and had skippies breaking water but no bluefin at The Chicken. On the way back in, hooked up with a schoolie bluefin which I lost at the boat. Back up on the troll hooked up with and then landed a 47″ bluefin with a 28″ girth estimated at 60-70lbs @ 11:00 AM. First bluefin of the year. Hope this is the start of a good inshore bluefin season. ~ Potter Rumsey

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July 20, 2009

Received: Monday, July 20, 2009 8:52 PM Subject: BHCFA Weekly Report

Despite water temperatures that have been changing as much as 10 degrees from one day to the next, the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been putting together some nice catches.

Virginia’s fleet of menhaden reduction boats were off Long Beach Island last week, working their way back south. If you see a fleet of a half dozen larger commercial boats with smaller sets of boats around them and a spotter plane flying overhead, give them a wide berth because they don’t have much courtesy for the recreational fishermen while setting their purse seine nets.

Captain Adam Nowalsky of the “Karen Ann II” sailing from Great Bay Marina reports continued good weather and catching for anglers in southern Ocean County. Fluke continue to migrate out of the bays, with mostly smaller fish remaining in the bay. He says the majority of the keeper sized fluke are now coming from the ocean. The sea bass bite is dominated by sub-legal fish. This is a good sign for the future. Captain Adam said the Bender family from Bethlehem, Pa. led by 7-year old Luke ”The Boaterman” had a nice catch of big black sea bass. Another day he had a group of Seton Hall Alumni for “A Day With The Pirates.” They had a good catch of mostly black sea bass with Jerry Walker leading the way.

Captain Dave Wittenborn of the “Compass Rose” found his fluke bite slowing with west winds and accompanying cooler water temperatures. Captain Dave solved that problem by fishing offshore some 8 miles where the deeper water was warmer. He said it was “Drop and reel” with a lot of shorts, but some real nice sea bass up to 5-pounds.

Last week’s fishing was inconsistent for Captain Frank Camarda and the “Miss Beach Haven”. A lot has to do with water temperatures and the amount of grass and seaweed in the water. On the ocean trips there have been some jumbo sea bass up to 4 lbs and fluke to 6-pounds. Nina from Bordentown was Saturday’s pool winner with a 6-pounder. Sunday’s conditions were poor most of the morning, and they concentrated on sea bass until a breeze arrived and the fluke started to bite. High hook was Tom Hook from Manahawkin with 3 nice size fluke and a couple of sea bass. Pool winner Sunday was the duke of fluke himself, Ted Alves of Mount Holly, with a 5-pound fluke.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association

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July 19, 2009

6:00 PM

Dave Sikorski and Basil Dubrosky both of Manahawkin and the Village Harbor Fishing Club just stopped by to weigh in their day’s catch.  Dave caught a fluke that weighed 4lb 8oz and had a 24.5″ length. Basil caught a 2-lb Sea Bass and a fluke that weighed in at 4lb 9oz, 23.75″ length.  They were fishing together aboard the Miss Lynn at the Little Egg Reef with various baits, such as gulp and natural live and strip baits.  They said that it was a slow day until the wind picked up and provided a drift.  They had about a dozen fish overall with the two keepers.

About a hour ago we had our first weigh in for the Garbage Fish Tourney.  Matthew Antolino of Verona, NJ went out fishing looking for fluke.  Matt drifted around the Little Egg Reef and the surrounding areas with a number of different baits including Gulp! chartreuse minnow grub, live minnows and squid.  He caught one keeper sea bass and 3 Skates, the largest being a 4lb 2oz Skate with a 26 3/4″ length. We believe it is the current leader of the tourney.

SURF:  A customer from Holgate reported a number of small fluke off of the surf using squid strips.  The kingfish reports have been spotty at best.  After surfing this morning I spoke with a surf angler on the beach in Ship Bottom.  He reported that he caught a small bluefish and a kingfish on the outgoing tide around 8 AM. He was using small bunker chunks on one rod and bloodworms on his other.

FYI: Although smaller than yesterday, there is a lingering long period ground swell showing in the 1-2’+ range. The ocean temp has a slight chill to it.  It is “trunk-able” but I would suggest a thin wetsuit if you are looking to spend a little bit of time in the water. ~ Greg

Received: Sunday, July 19, 2009 7:46 PM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters Fishing Report

This weeks Southerly winds pushed our beach’s warmer water to the East causing a drop in water temperature inshore which translated into a rejuvenated striped bass bite. Wreck fishing has remained strong for the most part with seabass, ling and blackfish spicing the catch. Trolling the inshore lumps has not been reliable, but the stage is set with the amount of bait present and the 72-74 degree water tempurature offshore, look for this fishery to blow wide open any day with pelagics such as bonitos, albies, and mahi. Think “NE flow” for 2-3 days!

Regulars Jay Simmons and Ernie Rosenberg were out to find the Barnegat Ridge loaded with bait, feeding terns and a whale which at times could be heard and seen. What appeared to be slam dunk with the masses of bait dimpling the water and the diving and wheeling birds turned out to be not much of anything else. After switching gears to wreck fishing the guys found a steady seabass bite. As we headed back to the inlet we spotted a school of bunker. Jay was retrieving the first snagged bunker and a 6 foot brown shark launched half way out of the water engulfing the whole bunker right at the boat. After a spirited battle on the light spinning tackle the release was made easier by a failed snap swivel on the light tackle we were using. The guys continued more fantastic catch and release action of 4 more brown sharks in the 4-5 foot range. At times we had sharks swimming around the boat inhaling the baits in front of our eyes making for visual excitement as well. Back in the bay the guys had a blast with stripers and blues on artificials. Jay was ” The Bass Master ” catching 4 stripers with 2 hitting the ice at 28-1/4″.

Regular George Kitzler joined by Mom Mary were out for a steady pull of seabass. As we just got set up on the wreck we had a flury of mystery fish working schools of bait all around the boat with diving birds and sizable splashes as well, just watching the activity was totally cool. The keeper seabass ration was probably 3 out 10 but they still managed 23 keeper tasty seabass which made for a nice bag of snow white filets. George also had a 6 foot brown shark follow his seabass right to the boat only to have the shark turn away at the last second.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

Received: Sunday, July 19, 2009 7:14 PM Subject: Miss Beach Haven Fishing Report

This week bay fishing has been inconsistent. Some days we catch some keepers, and other days we catch a lot of shorts. It all depended on the conditions. The fluke seem to be biting best on the incoming tide this year. The cabbage and grass is always less with incoming tide and it is very important to have your bait clean. No grass makes a big positive difference on what we catch. On our ocean trips we have been catching some jumbo sea bass up to 4 lbs and fluke up to 6 lbs. Saturday’s pool winner was Nina from Bordentown, NJ with a 6- lber. Nina also had a couple of sea bass over 2 lbs. Sunday’s conditions were poor most of the morning. We concentrated on sea bass and did catch several up to 3 lbs. At about noon time we finally got a breeze and then the fluke started to bite. High hook today was Tom Hook from Manahawkin, NJ with 3 nice size fluke and a couple of sea bass. Pool winner today was the duke of fluke himself Ted Alves from Mount Holly, NJ with a 5 lb fluke.

~ Miss Beach Haven The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

Received: Sunday, July 19, 2009 5:38 PM Subject: FR from Cody (staff member)

Yesterday afternoon, Cody, his father and co-worker “Slice” went wreck fishing out of Barnegat Inlet aboard the Carolyn Ann III. They slammed some nice sea bass up to 5-lbs with clam. The three anglers had approximately 20 seabass but only one fluke. There was consistent action especially with ling.

Received: Sunday, July 19, 2009 12:45 PM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

It was another week of fluke fishing for the “Rambunctious”, as the arrival of our summer weakfish is anxiously awaited. The past few days we’ve been marking what appear to be weakfish in some of our normal locations, so it looks like we’ll probably get started with the grass shrimp sometime this week. Grass shrimping for weakfish… Ya gotta love this kind of fishing and it’s time to bring it on!

Fluke fishing was again mixed this week. On Tuesday’s trip we decided to get out of the bay and worked a couple of the wrecks along Island Beach for several dozen fluke, all but a pair of which turned out to be shorts. Mixed in with all the sub-legal fluke were 8 or 9 ling, a clear sign that the water is still cold in the deeper areas we fished. Someone please make this south wind go away for a week, PLEASE!

The past two days we were back in the bay. On Friday, I had Joe Rossi and Greg Lamendola out fluking in the shallows, and putting together a nice box of keepers to 24″ from the Double Creek area. A picture of Joe and Greg showing off part of their catch is attached. Naturally I headed back to the same area Saturday morning with Bill Murphy and sons Bill and Kevin, and found the same kind of action with 10-12 fish in the first hour or so until the boat traffic and winds seemed to turn things completely off. There are definitely plenty of quality fish to be caught, but right now timing is everything. The early bird catches the fluke.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

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July 17, 2009

Had a visit from the Carolyn Ann III mates today. They strongly suggest if you want to catch fish off the wrecks try jigging instead of just dropping a bait down. The best producing wrecks seem to be in the 100 foot or greater depths.

Received: Friday, July 17, 2009 8:35 PM Subject: Your Friday, July 17, 2009 Fishing Report

Went to my favorite place today. The Mud Hole. It was like a lake out there. So calm but it was a tad hazy. I had eighteen ling and most were very good quality. Two short sea bass. A couple of eels and a few skates. Some had more than I and some had less. But it was a good day and a fun day, especially after all the bad fluke trips.

Saw a whale at the Mud Hole, but I have no idea what kind it was. And, a school of dolphin. Very cool.

The Mud Hole is alive and well. ~ Jim T., Bridgewater, NJ

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July 15, 2009

Received: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 3:06 PM Subject: Starfish report

Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Starfish” reports finding “lots of black bass” on the reefs, especially the Garden State South. On another trip he found lots of small sea bass on the Little Egg Reef but few keepers. He attributes this to it being their breeding season. On Saturday he had a party of 11 anglers that caught over 50 sea bass, sea robins, ling, blues, and one keeper fluke. The largest sea bass was about three pounds.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association

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July 14, 2009

Received: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 12:39 PM Subject: Hi Flier Open Boat Bonita Wed-Fri-Sun

It is time for the “Hi-Flier” to troll the Barnegat Ridge. That area has clean 68 degree water and is loaded with bait, including sandeels. The first bonita catches have hit the dock, though I struck out there on Saturday with a handful of other guys. It apparently delivered again on Sunday and Monday. The “Hi-Flier” will be running an open boat to Barnegat Ridge, tomorrow, Wed. July 15th, Friday, July 17th, and Sunday, July 18th. The plan is to meet at dock at 5:30 AM, throw the ropes by 6AM, run 14 miles out the Inlet to Barnegat Ridge and troll feathers, spoons, and cedar plugs until we find our target… Bonita! Albacore or small bluefin would be a bonus. We’re back at the dock by 2PM, sometimes a little later. I take three people maximum. The cost is $195 per person, and I only need one person to call it a trip. Call me to reserve a spot.

~ Capt. Dave DeGennaro, “Hi-Flier” Sportfishing 732.330.5674 cell

Received: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 7:12 AM Subject: Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Weekly Report

The boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are seeking fish both offshore and inshore at this point in the season.

Captain Lindsay Fuller and the “June Bug” fished a bachelor party on Saturday hosted by dad Marty for son Andy due to wed in September. While they worked offshore a little further than an inshore trip normally would go, they didn’t find any bluefin tuna on the lumps and holes northeast of the 28 Mile Wreck. Andy did get tired out on a nice Mahi on the long rigger way back. The sea conditions were super. Captain Lindsay noticed unusually high numbers of squid between 30′ and the canyons. What he doesn’t understand is why various game fish are not all over this huge biomass.

Captain Fran Verdi ran an open boat Saturday on the “Drop Off” They fished in 75 to 100 feet of water and found a nice pick of sea bass. The water temp was 71 degrees, and they filled the box with 8 keeper sea bass and 2 bluefish. On Sunday Captain Fran had the Ben Allicker party on board at the reef for sea bass and fluke but only found short fish in 50-55 feet of water. They headed in close to shore to drift for fluke and did pickup up a keeper to go with several throwbacks there.
On Monday the Dave Diaz family with two young daughters had a great time catching short fluke around the inlet on the incoming tide. Both little girls managed to catch their first fish.

Captain Dave Wittenborn of the “Compass Rose” spent a week at the Outer Banks and visited a couple of his favorite marinas-Pirate’s Cove in Manteo and the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center. He says the boats were loaded down with yellowfin tuna and mahi-mahi. Captain Dave adds that he hopes this is a good sign of things to come for the canyons within reach of the BHCFA’s boats out of Beach Haven as they gear up for offshore trips later this summer and fall.

Capt. Adam Nowalsky of the “Karen Ann II” reports he did not get out fishing this past week as his boat received her annual maintenance. Captain Adam reports hearing of some nice mahi-mahi being trolled in the 30-40 mile range along with some bluefin in the 40-80 pound class. He adds there have been good catches of smallish yellowfin tuna in the offshore canyons from the Lindenkohl to the Hudson.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr., Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association

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July 12, 2009

4:00 PM

FYI: FHQ is an official Weigh Station for the On the Water 2009 Striper Cup!

Boat: Saturday, Mike Verde of the “Escape” out of Beach Haven fished offshore and called in today with this report…
“Trolled the Spencer and Toms and had a bunch of baby Yellowfin tuna. There wasn’t any signs of bait, it looked like there was no life out there. But we managed to catch fish working a 4 degree temperature break. Landed a nice 25-lb Mahi Mahi that was hooked up while trolling near a weed patch.”

Surf: Yesterday after work Cody (FHQ Staffer) hit the beach with live blood worms. The tide was low and the water was warm so he fished out on the bar. In an hour he caught 6 kingfish with a Corky’s double hook 3-way swivel rig with a red float.

Received: Sunday, July 12, 2009 2:00 PM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

The “Rambunctious” does not have too much new to report this week. We were out fluke fishing in the bay three days this week, and while we caught fish every day the number of keepers seems to be declining fast. That’s not unusual for this time of year, particularly the last couple of years with the 18″ size limit we’re living with. As the bay waters get warmer, the cooler waters of the ocean get more appealing to the larger fish and out they go. What is surprising is that the fluke fishing outside the inlet hasn’t really gotten going yet. If we can get a few days where the wind doesn’t crank from the south, that should finally turn on.

While things seem pretty quiet right now, there’s actually a lot going on and more about to get started. There are still plenty of fluke to catch in the bay, with keepers mixed in for those that are willing to sort through a bunch of shorts to find them. Bluefish in the 1-3# class are prone to pop up any time the boat traffic slows down, so first light is generally a pretty good bet. I haven’t seen any signs of our summer influx of weakfish as yet, but that should get started over the next two weeks and we’ll begin targeting them with grass shrimp and artificials. And for the past couple of years bonito have shown up out at Barnegat Ridge in late July to provide some excellent sport and some great eating.

We still have a few mid week dates available in late July, and are starting to book up our August weakfishing trips. If you’re interested in getting out this summer, give me a call and we’ll get things set up.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

Received: Sunday, July 12, 2009 8:24 AM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters

This week aboard the “Reel FantaSea” it was more fishing than catching but as we gain a little more distance from the full moon phase I am sure that the fish will respond in a favorable way. New comer Charles Hulse [age 79yrs young ] from Delaware joined by grandson Chris and lifelong resident of Barnegat Ed [91 yrs young] with a brisk Northerly wind in the bay. The guys had a slow start to the trip but ended the day chasing 2-3lbs class blues with light spinning tackle in 2-3 ft of waters on the flats. At times the blues were visible in the shallow water chasing bait all over the flat. Regular Joe Franke was out for possibly the toughest trip of the season. The inlet proved to be a little more sportier than we could fish while the back bay was calmer but no more welcoming with Joe working as hard as anyone could but the bite just never developed. I still have a few dates available left for September thru December. I am putting an Open Boat List together for those who would like to fish but whose friends or families don’t. These trips will start running in September and run thru December for species such as weakfish. blues, stripers, false albies, bonitos as well as wreck fishing for seabass, porgies, black fish. The space and dates are very limited so if you see something that interest you then please call or email to reserve.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217, reelfantasea@comcast.net

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July 11, 2009

Today at around 10 AM while fishing for Fluke using a bucktail w/teaser in the area just past the “Tires” off Barnegat Inlet Bob Pianetti of Manahawkin, NJ hooked up and landed a 16-lb 3-oz Bluefish. …That must have been a heck of a fight.

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July 8, 2009

Jeff Lane of Clarksburg, NJ trolling the Barnegat Ridge South using cedar plugs, Clark spoons and Ballyhoo topped with an Islander. The water didn’t look great but the catch turned out to be 6 Bluefish with the biggest being a rod bending 17-lbs 11-oz. Also caught were a few nice Bonita.

Received: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 5:02 PM Subject: fish report

Fished this morning from 7-10 AM with Rich Labor in 10-11 ft of water off of Waretown. We had 17 fluke with 4 keepers. Most of the fish were caught on bucktails with Gulp and a few were caught on bucktails and spearing. Most of the fish were spitting up shrimp except for one fish that spit up 3 small flounder. ~ Sam

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July 7, 2009

Received: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 3:37 PM Subject: Hi Flier Open Boat–Shrimping, Fluking, and Topwater Blues

The “Hi-Flier” has one spot available tomorrow, Wed. July 8, for a ocean/bay fishing combo. We are going to start out chumming with live grass shrimp into the Inlet jetty for stripers. Depending on the co-operation of the fish we will be heading into the bay for some fluke fishing in shallow water where we have been doing quite well with action, but struggling to put keepers in the cooler, though we have had some 19 to 21 inch fish. Lastly, we will cast top water lures in three feet of water for the 1 to 3 pound bluefish there. The forecast is mint for our ocean effort, a light northwest is forecasted. The trip tomorrow is from 5:30 AM to 10:30 AM, though I usually run overtime at no additional expense. The cost is $135 per person. I will also be running the same trips on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, July 9-11, leaving and returning about a half hour later each day, if anyone would like to reserve a spot or charter the boat. We take a maximum of three on our open boat trips. If the ocean shrimping is not successful tomorrow, we might try shrimping in the bay for weakfish and more on the Thursday, Friday, Saturday trips. Either way, it is a good three sided plan for what should be an interesting couple of days of fishing. Call me on my cell to reserve a spot.

~ Capt. Dave DeGennaro, “Hi-Flier” Sportfishing 732.330.5674 cell

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July 6, 2009

4:00 PM

Today, Ted Werner weigh-in an 8-lb 6-oz (29″) Fluke. At about 11:00 AM this morning while using a strip bait the Fluke was caught drifting in the ICW near the Little Egg Inlet.

Most offshore reports on canyon action are coming from the Lindenkohl, Spencer, and Carteret. Anglers are hoping that the approaching full moon will signal canyon action for fish larger than the small Yellowfin that have mostly been reported.

The West-Southwest winds over the last few days have chilled the surf water temperature from the above average temperatures that we had been experiencing. No actual weigh-ins from the surf but a few customers have reported catching short Stripers on the surf. If the water temperature do climb back up then the Kingfish action should get going. Until then it will be spotty action for these tasties.

On the bayside anglers are targeting Weakfish by chumming Grass Shrimp. These anglers are also hooking up on Kingfish.

Received: Monday, July 06, 2009 2:35 PM Subject: BHCFA Report

Summer like weather and sunny skies finally arrived in Beach Haven. The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been producing some enjoyable fishing trips for their customers lately.

Captain Adam Nowalsky of the “Karen Ann II” reports the fishing this past week was as good as the gorgeous weather. One trip he took the Greg Vilardo party to the Barnegat Ridges for a day of bluefishing. After good reports, the bluefish action there has slowed and moved north. Captain Adam tried chumming, bait, jigging, and trolling, all to no avail. There was excitement when they hooked up either a big shark or tuna that took all 300 yards of line before they could pull the anchor. They finished the day bottom fishing for about 75 sea bass, mostly throwbacks. On another trip Captain Adam had the Preis party out for a day of bottom fishing. They caught a good number of sea bass to 3.5 pounds, and with 40 in the box, made a few fluke drifts. They found no fluke but did pick up a couple more sea bass drifting. On the 4th of July, the “Karen Ann II” made a half day trip for Jericho Pacho and his family. They had steady catching all morning of tog to 6-pounds and sea bass. Jericho landed one of the season’s best sea bass, at 4-pounds, 12-ounces.

Captain Fran Verdi on the “Dropoff” and the “Cousins” has been finding good numbers of black sea bass. He reports “drop and reel” fishing in various depths of water. Most of the fish have been just under the 12.5 inch legal size, but he has been finding enough keepers to satisfy his parties. At times he also picks up ling, bluefish, and fluke. Captain Fran had a couple of “open boat” trips over the weekend and found good numbers of fish on some wrecks rather than fishing the artificial reefs. On the 4th he moved into deeper water and found larger fish. He says if the legal keeper size was still 12-inches, he would be limiting out. Sunday was more of the same but he provided an enjoyable day of fishing for the Paul party and their 8 year old son on his first saltwater fishing trip.

Captain Dave Wittenborn on the “Compass Rose” had the Mike Kirkup crew out for sea bass and fluke at the Garden State South and Little Egg Reefs. With water temperatures in the 70’s they had a steady pick of fluke and sea bass until the winds died. Fishing around the Research Buoys produced more nice fluke including a 22-incher. For the day they caught over 20 fluke, 5 keepers, and several nice sea bass. On Saturday the water temperatures cooled for Captain Dave, and the fishing action slowed although they managed a couple keeper fluke. Sunday’s action rebounded with a rise in water temperatures, and the “Compass Rose” had fluke up to 24-inches.

Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Star Fish” reports several decent trips over the July 4 holiday. Captain Vic had the boat on Thursday on a wreck trips resulting in over 40 sea bass and some very large porgies. Captain Sheppard had a party of 8 anglers wreck fishing out Friday in the morning with a catch of over 50 sea bass, bluefish, and fluke, including one monster sea bass. Captain Tom Masterson ran the afternoon trip on Friday also producing decent fishing. Strong winds made drifting difficult for Captain Carl on Saturday, and he anchored for a good catch. He also did some successful drifting in the inlet for fluke on the way in. Captain Tom had the same wind problems on Sunday with a party including 6 young children. Once again anchoring made things fishable, and they caught fish.

The “Miss Beach Haven” and Captain Frank Camarda fished the reefs most of Saturday with a fair amount of shorts caught with some nice sea bass and some ling. The pool winner was “Wall Street Richie” with a 2.5-pound fluke. On Sunday there were not as many shorts with sea bass up to 3.5 pounds. Pool winner was a 5-pound fluke. The bay fishing trips during the week for Captain Frank have been mostly shorts with some keepers for the kids. The big fish of the week was caught on Friday and tipped the scale at 6-pounds.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Received: Sunday, July 05, 2009 5:31 PM Subject: Lighthouse Sportfishing Report

Hope everyone enjoyed the perfect weather during this July 4th weekend. Right now we are in the early summer pattern. Lots, and I mean lots of 1-3 pound bluefish roaming Barnegat Bay. Early morning and late afternoon seem to be prime time. Barnegat Bay is still infested with fluke, although most are shorts. With this year’s 18″ minimum, limits are hard to come by but there are enough going in the box. We should start to see the bay load up with weakfish during the next two weeks. The preferred method during the summer is chumming with grass shrimp. There is no better summer technique of catching Barnegat Bay weakfish during the summer than chumming with grass shrimp. Over the past few season my trips averaged 75-100 fish. Great light tackle fun! Crabbing has been excellent with lots of BIG Jimmies. The bite will slow down with the up coming full moon as the crabs mate and shed, but after that it will turn back on.

~ Capt. Alex F. Majewski, “Debbie M”, Barnegat Bay, NJ 609-548-2511 www.LighthouseSportfishing.com

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July 5, 2009

Received: Sunday, July 05, 2009 2:03 PM Subject: Reel FantaSea fishing report

A significant rebound was experienced both in the back bay and offshore this week.

The back bay shared more of it’s bounty in the way of blues, fluke and school stripers. There is a very good showing of blues that are ranging in size from 1-5lbs thru out the bay and can be caught on both artificial and natural bait, coupled with the bay’s fluke and school striper population there is plenty of action to entertain both novice and veterans.

Offshore with some nice wreck fishing the poles were bending at a better pace than last week! Wreck fishing continues to be rewarding with action from sea bass , ling and throw back blackfish . The throw back ratio may be 3 out 10 but it is still “drop and reel” type action! Patience is the key for landing more keeper sea bass. Knowing when to “swing” while letting the little sea bass peck first until the bigger fish push the little guys off the bait will put more fish on the ice.

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel FantaSea” Charters, 609-290-1217

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July 4, 2009

Happy Independence Day!

4:30 PM

Inlet: Yesterday Ryan Rickmers of Barnegat weighed in a 30″ 10lb fluke.  He caught the doormat while drifting his boat in Barnegat Light.  Today Mark Holly of Philadelphia weighed in two stripers that he caught on live eel.  The larger bass weighed 13lb 4oz.

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July 3, 2009

5:00 PM

Boat: Mike Wood weighed in a 8lb 6oz Fluke, 28″ long.  He was fishing this morning in the bay, down by the Fish Factory with squid and minnow combo. Check It Out!

Surf: Yesterday morning, Dustin Smith caught over a handful of fluke off of the surf.  All shorts. He was fishing live minnows off of the North Beach Haven surf.  He tried again this morning with no success but he saw another angler battle a striper to the beach just a block away.  The striper was about 30″ and went for a clam.

12:00 Noon

Received: Friday, July 03, 2009 11:28 AM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fluke and Blues

The “Hi-Flier” is catching fish. Fluke and bluefish in very shallow water behind mainland Barnegat. All the action is in 3 to 6 feet of water. Both of these species are gorging themselves on the sand shrimp that live on these flats. The evidence is in the shrimp they spit up when we are unhooking them and in the bellies of the ones we keep and clean. We are catching mostly sublegal fluke, 14 to 17 inches, 18 is a keeper, but there are some 18 to 21 inch fish mixed in. It’s a lot of action and a sporty way to catch fluke, vertical jigging in shallow water with a 3/8 ounce jighead tipped with a 3 inch chartreuse Gulp minnow. We are jigging them on light spinning tackle and even though it is a struggle to put a few big ones in the cooler, it is action and the quest for keepers keeps you sharp on your jigging. Almost on those same grounds, just a foot or two shallower we are catching one to three pound bluefish on surface lures. You get to see them crash the lure. These smaller blues are good table fare as well, a lot different than their bigger kin, these cut close to white at the fillet table.

The “Hi-Flier” is running charter or open boat for the next three days: Saturday, July 4, Sunday, July 5, and Monday, July 6 from 6AM to 11AM. I will take up to three people on the open boat, and I only need one person to sail. The cost is $135 per person. Everything is provided, just walk on with your rations for the morning.

Capt. Dave DeGennaro, “Hi-Flier” Sportfishing 732.330.5674 cell

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July 2, 2009

11:00 PM – New Arrival, Guide’s Choice Plugs!

Fishing the last few days has been slim pickings.  I have fished all around with little good news to report.  I fished Tuesday morning and afternoon down on the south end; around the Fish Factory and a little bit towards the south, Grassy Channel, Little Beach/ Holgate Inlet area as well as Middle Island Channel.  No keepers, a bunch of shorts (fluke), a bunch of doggies (dogfish) in the inlet and a line screaming ray.  On Wednesday, I decided to take a stab at fluking the ocean.  Fished off of IBSP, about two mile north of the BL Inlet.  Before the storms came in, we caught a short fluke, a cocktail bluefish and a bunch of skates. Hustled into Bobbie’s dock to seek shelter from the storm then went to Double Creek and had one short, 17 inches.  Long story short, there are a few fluke around but you gotta work for them. I hope other anglers are doing better then I am!  As Capt. Dave D. said to me, ” It’s a number game,” gotta catch ’em and try to weed through them. It seems that there are more positive reports coming from anglers fishing the central bay area (BI & BB) and towards the flats. – Greg

Rob and Joni (FHQ Staff) fished for a couple this afternoon (incoming tide).  They started in Double Creek toward the west side of Clam Island, then fished around the Dike area. Nada. They then put some time in around the BI & BB bay area.  Two shorts on chart Gulp Grub. FYI: Yesterday Rob fished Double Creek for a half hour (before the late morning storms) and had five shorts on the outgoing tide.

Surf:
Justin & Melissa Haynes stopped by the shop today to pick up some bait and tackle.  They reported that yesterday they fished the Barnegat Light Surf and hooked into a striper on clam. 16lb 5oz.  I also had a report from an angler who recently caught a weakfish off of the surf on clam.

AM  – Another BaitMasters Ballyhoo Delivery Arrived Today. This adds to our Huge Selection of Premium Baits Now In Stock.

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July 1, 2009

Red Gill Lures are back in stock. Plus introducing a limited availability of the NEW Red Gill Pilchard lure in color Black.
… Soon to be your secret weapon, if not already!

Received: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 9:52 AM Subject: fluke

Fished Tuesday morning 06-30-09 with Rich L. and we caught 20 fluke with 4 keepers to 4 lbs. All fish were caught on small bucktails tipped with Gulp. We were fishing off of Waretown in 10 ft of water. ~ Sam

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June 30, 2009

Received: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 8:13:52 AM Subject: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report- late report.

Last week’s heavy rain which may have led to a drop in the bay’s salinity seems to have taken it’s toll on the fishing , along with a skyrocketing ocean temp of the low 70’s has “prodded” the cows [ stripers ] Northward. With less rain over the last few days the fishing seems to have started to rebound in the bay. The “Reel Fantasea” has finished up with chasing bunker schools for now as trips which ran as far North as Spring lake, just shy of Asbury Park, found only huge schools of bunker swimming carefree with only slight signs of agitation with no striper hook ups or run offs. We will continue to target stripers, blues, fluke, and weakfish in the bays all summer long as they will provide plenty of action. Along with offshore trips to wrecks, reefs and ridges for bonito, false albacore, and mahi-mahi. As of 6/29/2009 PM 2 to 5-lb blues were all over the inlet area with a few stripers thrown into the mix to provide some action on artificial lures. Wreck fishing has been very rewarding with some nice sea bass and ling along with throw back blackfish that makes for some “drop and reel” fishing action. Coupled with the bags of snow white delicious fillets these trips have flat out been a blast!

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel Fantasea” Charters, 609-290-1217

Received: Monday, June 29, 2009 7:17 PM Subject: BHCFA Report

The boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been returning to dock with some big catches. The “Hot Tuna” with Captain Bob Gerkens won the Beach Haven Marlin and Tuna Club’s Mako Shark tournament on Saturday with a brute weighing in at 186.5 pound. The crew for the trip consisted of the boat’s regular off-shore mate of Rich Stracensky, its junior mate in training Ryan Kellogg, and Barry Thomas of Allentown, P. Capt. Gerkens was near the pole when the Mako hooked up on a whole mackerel and did its first of two spectacular back flip jumps. He had the duty of handling the rod to the end of the battle. The fishing team did every thing correctly right up to the final gaffing. There were 3 other hookups for the day, one of which resulted in a release of what appeared to be a 75 to 100 pound juvenile thresher shark.

The “June Bug” with Captain Lindsay Fuller made it out to the Lindenkohl Canyon with Dante Soriente and friends. The action was fast and furious as they managed to boat some 25 yellowfin tuna. Most were small, but they did box 3 keepers along with several skippies.
The next day Captain Lindsay had the Catanese family from Hunterdon County out. Despite some rough seas they looked for bass in bunker pods, picked up a keeper fluke on the Garden State South Reef, trolled for bluefish at the Barnegat Ridge, and picked up several sea bass at the Garden State North Reef.

Captain Fran Verdi had a full week of anglers. One day he had Tom and Matt Pitzer for a day of sea bassing on the reef. The two brothers were all about catch and release with 46 fish released including 10 in the 14 to 17 inch range. Another day Captain Fran shared the Huffnagle party, a large group from Pa., on the “Cousins” with Captain Adam Nowalsky on the “Karen Ann II”. Capt. Adam fished the waters from 65 to 80 feet and Captain Fran took the waters from 50 to 65 feet. Capt. Adam ended the day with 40 keeper sea bass, along with a thresher shark that was on the line for a couple of minutes. Captain Fran had 19 keeper sea bass, 4 bluefish, one ling and a keeper fluke. The “Cousins” won the prize for the largest fish, a 3.6 pound sea bass.

Captain Fran was back on the “Dropoff” with the Williams party for some sea bass. He marked plenty of fish but it was hard to get them to bite. He worked 6 areas and managed 10 keepers plus loads of shorts. Captain Fran finished the week with Lori Dobson’s party and Dave from the “Fish Eye” group. Lori’s two young sons fished hard and managed 4 keeper sea bass. Dave’s group came up empty on stripers but managed to pick up quite a few sea bass including 8 keepers.

Capt. Adam Nowalsky from the “Karen Ann II” reports that fluke are being caught on the ocean in lesser numbers than in the back bays but the percentage of keepers is higher. He says he plans to make the switch from wreck fishing to fluke very shortly. His recent wreck fishing trips include the Doriety charter which finished the day with a box of 86 fish, mostly sea bass to 3 pounds along with some line and a 12-pound bluefish. The Sara Madonna Charter, a good group of EMT’s fought the rough seas for nearly two dozen keepers for half a morning. The Beskin charter had similar results for half a morning’s fishing. The Marhan Colangelo Charter from the Long Branch area filled the box with 56 fish, mostly sea bass to 3 pounds along with some nice ling to 2.5 pounds. The Fred Verdi Charter from Lawrenceville kept almost 60 fish, primarily sea bass along with some ling and a bluefish.

The Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association held its first Junior Mate’s Program last week with 8 eager future mates. It is not too late to sign up for this year with another meeting slated for Thursday, July 2 at the Beach Haven Maritime Museum at 7 pm. For information call Captain John Koegler at 609-290-3349. Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr.

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June 29, 2009

5:30 PM

Lost VS 150G:  Saturday (6-27) morning at 7:00am a kayaker was launching on the beach when he got hit by a wave. It dumped his rod and reel in the wash around 30th Street in Barnegat Light. If found please be honest and take it to one of the local tackle shops. I was not present at the time but felt that I should get the word out. There are a lot of members here which ups the odds of recovery. Thanks to all. – Posted on the theBassBarn.com Surf Fishing Forum by LBI striper searcher

Jeff from the Little Chic (out of Barnegat Light)  reported a good day on the water today.  They went out bluefishing at the Mudhole.  ~95 bluefish  between 8-14lb chunking and jigging.

Ed B. (FHQ Staff) was out on the water with Capt. Bob Foti of Why Knot Fishing Charters. Here’s his report.  Went out to the Lindy on Sunday morning.  Hooked into ~30 football yellowfin tuna, only two keepers.  All were caught trolling; squid spreader bars, ballyhoo and cedar plugs.

5:00 PM

As of yesterday evening the 8th Annual Simply Bassin’ Surf Tournament is officially over. Thanks to all for another great spring tourney and congratulations to all of the anglers who put their time in.  Here is the most up to date information that we have on standings…
1. Gerard Ladzinski 47-5
2. Dante Soriente    42-0
3. Brian Hopkins     38-6
4. Scott Simpson    38-4
5. John Grasso       38-0
6. Robert Massa     36-9
7. Tim Stumpf         32-1
8. Robert Vallone    31-8

Received: Monday, June 29, 2009 9:14 AM Subject: Lighthouse Sportfishing Report

Well it finally feels like summer, almost. I made it out five times during the last week. My focus has been small blues and fluke on all trips. Some days the blues, 1 – 3 pounds, are easy to find on the way to the fluking grounds while other days they are not. Even with that they have been showing up on the flats towards the end of incoming every day. Fluking continues to be good with all trips landing a lot of fluke but mostly below the size limit. Keepers landed this week on the “Debbie M” went as big as 22” and there have been enough in the box for a fish fry.

Looking over the records from the last few years, we should start to see weakfish coming into the bay in large numbers in about 2 weeks. Once they do I will concentrate on grass shrimp chumming trips. Over the last few seasons these trips have averaged 75 – 100 fish on light tackle.

~ Capt. Alex F. Majewski, “Debbie M”, Barnegat Bay, NJ 609-548-2511 www.LighthouseSportfishing.com

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June 28, 2009

12:00 Noon

Earlier today Ken Kaneshira of Las Vegas, NV was fishing off of the Surf City beach.  He hooked into and landed a nice striper on bunker.  The Striper was weighed-in at 18-lb 2-oz (39″).  Ken comes to the area every year (for a week) to visit his family.  He has been in the shop everyday and finally got a striper on his last day here.  Great job Ken your hard work and patience paid off.

Received: Sunday, June 28, 2009 3:24 PM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

Just a real quick report this week as things really haven’t changed too much for the “Rambunctious” since last week. Striper fishing for the big migrating bass seems to be about over for now, as all the action has moved to the North and it’s unlikely they’ll move back South again until the fall. The fish we caught this week were smaller, probably some of the resident fish that will stick around right through the summer. I guess we can hope that another large body of migrating fish will still show up, but with the ocean getting warmer they’re likely to pass by out in the deeper (and cooler) water. But you never know… there’s still an amazing amount of bunker around.

Fluke fishing aboard the “Rambunctious” this week was hot one day, cold the next. Most days saw at least double digit catches, mostly below the 18″ minimum size but there were some nice fat keepers up to 24″ mixed in. Bluefishing in the bay is now in summer mode, with most of the fish being in the 1 to 3 pound class. No sign of weakfish as yet, but they should be making their annual summer appearance in the next few weeks. As usual, once they arrive we’ll be using grass shrimp to chum up those tasty sparklers so now’s the time to get those August weakfish trips booked. Once they arrive, the calendar fills quickly.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

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June 27, 2009

Received: Sat Jun 27 23:02:27 2009 Subject: Fishing report

Fished Brant Beach from 7:30 – 10 PM. Caught a 32″ bass on an eel around 9 PM. It hit in about 1-1/2 feet of water, 10 yards from the beach. No hits on bunker or clam. ~ Jim Crane

Received: Saturday, June 27, 2009 12:09 PM Subject: Hi Flier Fishing Report–Sat., June 27–FLUKE!!!

“I don’t fluke… Not that there’s anything wrong with that”, that is what I always say. Well, I’m fluking now!

The “Hi Flier” is usually targeting other species while the fluke are around. However more than a few friends have told me lately about an unusually good run of flatties right in my own backyard, so I had to go check it out. I had my two boys and our friends, the Scaleas; Tony, Anthony Jr. and Brendan of Roselle Park on board and we mugged them. All the action was in shallow water behind Barnegat. We used light 1/4 ounce bucktails tipped with Gulp and we jigged 30 fish in a few hours with the ones in the cooler measuring 19 and 20 inches. This is fluking how it should be, using artificials and jigging them like the game fish that they are. We used light spinning rods and had a ball even with the throwbacks. We had a lot of 15 to 17 inch fish. Don’t forget they have to be 18 inches to keep.

(Don’t trust the measuring scales built into the cooler lids because they are often wrong!)

The “Hi Flier” will be fluke fishing for the next three days, including open boat trips or charters tomorrow, Sunday, June 28, Mon. 29, and Tue., 30. We will be sailing from 6AM to Noon. The six hour trip is $395 for a charter or $135 per person open boat. The open boat is a maximum of three people, but I only need one person to sail. The charter is flexible on the head count depending if there are kids, we could squeeze a few more on for no extra charge.

This fishery is hot right now and the size of the fish is what makes it appealing. Call me at 732.330.5674 on my cell to get in on it.

~ Dave DeGennaro, “Hi Flier” Sportfishing, 732.330.5674 cell

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June 25, 2009

9:45 AM

New Leader in the Simply Bassing Tournament…
The new leader is Gerard Ladzinski who fished Bunker this morning in Loveladies and landed a 47-lb 5-oz Striper. Yes, we have fresh bunker in stock. Will the 50-lb mark be broken in the Simply Bassing Tournament this year?

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June 22, 2009

Received: Monday, June 22, 2009 5:42 PM Subject: BHCFA Report

The recent horrible weather that southern Ocean County has been experiencing has put a damper on much of the fishing. However, it has not kept all of the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association at the dock.

Captain Fran Verdi got the “Dropoff” out fishing for a while Saturday with George, the “Fluke Guy”, to the LE Reef for sea bass. They fished 3 hours in the morning and picked away at sea bass with some bluefish mixed in. Then heavy rains arrived, and they headed home in a torrential downpour. The final tally was six 14-17 inch sea bass and two bluefish. They also caught fluke, scup, and skates, but no dogfish. Captain Fran says George has been on a streak of bad weather. Known last year as the “Fog and Rain Man,” he may graduate to “Bad Weather George.”

Captain Carl Sheppard on the “Star Fish” said he had a “beautiful day on the water” on Friday despite a miserable weather forecast. After exploring bunker pods for bass with no luck, he did some wreck fishing for over 40 sea bass and some very large porgies in a half day morning trip. On Saturday he went offshore with a party of 8 anglers where they drifted a number of wrecks until finding a productive spot. They caught over 50 sea bass, bluefish, and fluke. Sunday’s weather cancelled Captain Sheppard’s morning trip, but he managed to fish the back bay in the afternoon for a few fish. Captain Carl’s mate of 5 years, Tom Masterson has upgraded his license to 50 tons and will be running charters on Sunday afternoons on the “Star Fish”.

Captain John Koegler on “Pop’s Pride” fished Saturday and had a good catch of sea bass and bluefish. Two of the bluefish were small snappers less than 8″ long which is unusual for June. The group gave stripers a try early but had no hookups. Captain Koegler has announced that the Junior Mate’s Program of the BHCFA will begin classes this Thursday night, June 25, at the Maritime History Museum on Dock Road in Beach Haven. All interested participants are requested to arrive by 7 pm. Additional information on the classes including phone numbers and the association in general is available at the association’s website at www.fishbeachhaven.com

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr.

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June 21, 2009

Happy Fathers’ Day!

2:40 PM

Earlier today, Eric Czak of Barnegat weighed in a striper that he caught off of the beach, 31″ 9lb 8oz.  Eric caught the bass on bunker in Beach Haven.

FYI Yesterday was the first day of lifeguards on the beach; however, due to the rain they were called off.  So today is the first you’ll see them.  Fish either earlier or later in the day and the beach is yours.  If going to the beach to fish when the guards are on duty the best thing to do is talk with them to let them know you are fishing.  Generally try to stay outside/away from the flagged swimming are, which is most of the time closer to the jetties. It will be frustrating for all of us the next couple of months. -Greg
Received: Sunday, June 21, 2009 11:13 AM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

Things were a bit slow around here this week. Maybe it’s all the rain we’ve had, maybe it’s the runoff from roads carrying undesirable stuff into the bay, maybe it was caused by UFO’s, but even the crabbing was off this week. Back bay striper fishing usually starts to decline around now, but our Monday and Tuesday trips netted only a couple of shorts which may be a sign that we’re already done for this Spring. Along the beach, the bunkers schools were a little hard to find on Friday after the mid-week storms of last week, but by Saturday morning they were starting to get reorganized and we should still be bass fishing outside for another week or two. One of the bunker schools we found yesterday out in deeper water stretched several miles in length, so it’s just a matter of time until the jumbo bass and blues find them again. It’s supposed to blow again for the next couple of days, but we may see some spectacular bass fishing out there later in the week if things settle down and the stripers’ dinner bell rings.

The good news is that the bay seems to be loaded right now with 1-3 pound bluefish to provide some fast light tackle fun, and there are plenty of fluke in both the main channels and along some of the deeper water edges. A lot of the fluke this week were shorts (if you call 17″ short for a fluke), but there are some nice fat keepers mixed in. And each year around Father’s Day we generally start to see some of our summer finned visitors arrive, so there should soon be reports of weakfish and kingfish showing up with some regularity.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters www.BarnegatBayFishing.com
Received: Sunday, June 21, 2009 8:53 AM Subject: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

Will somebody turn off the water works? Or should we start building the ark now? Part of the week was met with a little more potent weather [wind, rain, lighting] than we could safely fish in . When we did make it out we found 2-3lbs blues, a couple of stripers to 15lbs, and a 4 1/2 lb fluke willing to cooperate. Regular Wayne Salvi and crew were out on Friday for a solid bite with 2-3lbs blues on light spinning tackle . After the guys got their fill with the feisty blues we headed toward the inlet . Traveling in and out of the inlet was OK but, a steep and hazardous sea condition did not produce a favorable or safe condition to fish the inlet properly. Back in the bay we found some more birds working over a bars edge . Working the area did not produce at first but as we worked the edge down current, Wayne scored a nice 4 1/2 lb fluke. This now makes Wayne the leader in 2 categories in the Reel Fantasea’s onboard Tournament [43lb striper, 4 1/2 fluke]. Can Wayne continue his hot streak? Time will tell. As the outgoing tide abated against the Easterly swell it was time to fish the inlet. The guys ended the day with 2 stripers . The first was a 27″ that was released and the 2nd at 32″ 15lber hitting the ice. It might sound too early to even think about but, anyone interested in our Fantastic Fall fishery might want to reserve your dates now as the calendar is filling at a record pace!

~ Capt. Steve Purul, Reel Fantasea Charters, 609-290-1217
Received: Sunday, June 21, 2009 7:03 AM Subject: Lighthouse Sportfihing Report – Happy Fathers Day!

Let me start by wishing the dads out there a happy Fathers Day. Weather was a big factor this week keeping most in port. Yesterday I stayed inside starting off with 1 – 3 pound blues on top water plugs. These fish were spread over a large area of the bay and a lot of fun on light tackle. If you stayed with them you could have easily got your limit and then some. After tired arms we went fluking. Staying in the channels the action was constant; however, keepers were hard to come by. Did manage to invite two keepers to dinner.

~ Capt. Alex F. Majewski, Lighthouse Sportfishing, Barnegat Bay, NJ, 609-548-2511 www.LighthouseSportfishing.com

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June 20, 2009

8:30 PM  Fresh Bunker, Clams & Live Eels, Minnows, Bloods & Sands.

SURF:  Just had a couple weigh ins from the surf!  Steve Warren came in with a lively 22lb 5oz Striper.  He reported catching the fish at quarter after 7, Surf City on bunker.  Steve noted that he lost another bigger fish.  Shortly after Steve’s weigh in Barry Sandilads weighed in a bass that weighed 30lbs even, 42.5″ x 23″ that was caught off the Ship Bottom surf on bunker.

BOAT:  Joe Trapani and Jason Hoffman just stopped in the shop to check out some reels and tackle.  They told us about their day: Despite the poor weather forecast, got out early to fished the ocean.  There was a lot of bunker out there and the dolphin had them corralled tight to the beach.  Managed a couple fish but the hookups were spread out.  The fish were caught between 8 and 10am; 38lber, 44lber, and a 47lber.  All fish were caught on the bunker pods north of Seaside, Lavallette area.

7 PM

SURF:  Earlier today Scott Simpson stopped in the shop to pick another bag of bunker.  He reported one striper, mid island surf.  Yesterday evening Terry Wasser of Allentown, PA weighed in an 18lb 3oz Striper.  He was fishing off of the Ship Bottom surf with bunker chunks. Terry caught the fish around 7pm.

BOAT:  When the bunker boat delivered yesterday, I ask if there was any action on the ocean.  The captain reported a couple Threshers on the pods.  Dante Soriente called in and reported his (yesterday’s) catch, 63″ 165lb Bluefin Tuna, trolling ballyhoo.

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June 19, 2009

5:30 PM

In stock:
Fresh; bunker, surf clams, hard clams
Live; eels, minnows, bloodworms and sandworms.

Crabbers FYI…
Blue Crab Tagging Study – njbluecrabs.wordpress.com/
Barnegat Bay National Estuary Program – www.bbep.org/

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June 18, 2009

1:30 PM

With the foul weather the reports have been nil.

Tim K. from ZeeBaaS, (Rob’s son), stopped by the shop today.  He spoke about ZeeBaaS’s bullet proof design that is here to stay.  He noted that the company has stepped up the machining (tighter tolerances) increasing the performance even further from their already superior quality.  All of the reels that we (FHQ) have in stock are the newest of the new; increased spool capacity, increased max drag capabilities, anodized finish, and easily self serviceable without special tools.  In fact, the ZeeBaaS main gears can be re-lubed without the need of a tool. The Full Bailed Models will be unveiled Mid July at ICAST in Orlando, FL. The ZLX’s (right hand retrieve models) will be available in early August.  Tim also shared, “Once the company catches up with the demand,” there might be, “Pliers in the works!”  I’m stoked to see these bailed models and the pliers when they become available. – Greg

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June 17, 2009

2:30 PM

SURF:  Earlier today we had two weigh ins.  Both were stripers caught on bunker in Ship Bottom.  One was a 33lbs.  The other caught by Rick W. of Ship Bottom weighed 28lb 8oz, 43″ long by 23″ girth.

BOAT:  Brewer and Ryan caught a few more bass last night.  They had a 15lber and two short as well as lost a couple fish (spit the hook). Live eels in the Inlet just like the night before (see below).
11:30 AM – Fresh Bunker & Clam, Live Eels & Minnows In Stock!

SURF REPORT EMAILED IN:

Received 6/17/2009 @ 8:27am
Fished last night outgoing in Brant Bach for 3 hours till 2130, nothing.  Fished Loveladies from 0400-0630, got one bass 32″ – 14lbs on bunker head.  One other hit on clam, that’s it.
– Bob L. from Cape May

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June 16, 2009

9 PM – Fresh Bunker & Clam, Live Eels & Minnows In Stock!

Sorry for no report earlier.  It was a busy day for me.  Better late than never.  Here it is!

SURF:  The east winds have spun in a large area of warm water.  The surf temperature today was in the high 60’s.  With this water it seems that the Striper bite has slightly slowed; however, the bass should continue into July.  More and more reports filter into the store about fluke in the surf.  One customer reported a couple nice ones (20-22″).  Also there have been reports of “bait robbers” off of the surf aka Kingfish as well as Tog (near the jetties; although, you have to throw them back, season opens July 16 @ one fish).
Tom Daly of Barnegat weighed in a 30 lb Striper that he caught on clam while fishing the surf earlier today.

BOAT:  Stripers in the 20 pound class range on live eels at the foot of Old Barney!  Kyle Brewer fished the BL Inlet last night with friend and boss Ryan Kelly.  They had three bass.  As I type, they are out, at it again.  I will try to post how they make out.

FYI:  We have the freshies! And more bunker is expected tomorrow afternoon; however, it is not definite.

-Greg

Received 6/15/2009 @ 7:44PM
BHCFA Weekly Report from Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Despite some nasty weather recently, the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been finding fish on a number of different fronts.

Capt. Adam Nowalsky the “Karen Ann II” reports that he will be sticking with the wreck and reef fishing for the black sea bass as long as the bite continues to hold up. He has also been catching some good sized tog with the sea bass, and there have been a few fluke caught on the ocean now, as well. His weekly highlights include the Ben Brown family of Hamilton who boxed 40 sea bass to 2.5 pounds along with a 7-pound blackfish released by Jessica.

The Pang Family of Stroudsburg, Pa., had a thunderstorm shortened trip of non-stop sea bass catching with the girls out catching the guys by a wide margin. The Sutphen Charter of Somerville had a great day landing in excess of 600 sea bass with nearly 60 in the box.
The big fish of the week was boated by Jack Buckafusco, Somerville, a personal best 12-pound, 15-ounce blackfish that was released.

Captain Dave Wittenborn on the “Arlene Ann” picked off a nice 24-pound striped bass in Little Egg Inlet on live bunker. He found plenty of bunker pods in the ocean in 40-feet of water but no bass under them.

Captain Lindsay Fuller on the “June Bug” hosted Scott and Rich on Sunday for a half-day inshore trip. A northeast wind of about 10 knots keeping his drift at about 3/4 of a knot. Since a half-day trip does not permit much travel time, he focused on the Little Egg Reef, trying a dozen or so pieces. Half had good concentrations of sea bass on the fish finder, but only one keeper could be found among all the throwbacks.

Captain Carl Sheppard on the “Star Fish” fished a party of 2 on Friday with a total of 49 black sea bass and two sea robins, the first of the year, in two hours. They had 12 keepers, all blue-head males over 2.5-pounds.  That night Captains John and Tom tried a night wreck fishing trip on the “Star Fish.” This trip the sea bass that filled the cooler filled the cooler were feeding on squid.  On Saturday the “Star fish” tried shark fishing at the 140-foot hole. They caught a 200-pound blue shark along with several smaller blues. They had a big mako estimated at 300-400 pounds on which pulled the hook after a lengthy battle.  Sunday found Captain Carl back wreck fishing in 60-feet of water. The Hopkins family was hot with the black bass, porgies which were released, and sea robins despite the NE wind.

Captain Frank Camarda on the “Miss Beach Haven” found good sea bass fishing on Saturday with a lot of fish caught. After sifting through the shorts they put together a catch of sea bass and some ling with quite a few blackfish that were released.
On Sunday Captain Frank tried fishing for fluke and caught fish pretty much every drift. The high hook was Tom Hook from Manahawkin with 4 fluke over 19 inches with the biggest being 8-pounds, the pool winner.

Captain Fran Verdi on the “Drop Off” made trips all week despite the weather even times in the fog when he needed his radar to find his way. One day t he Chris Nelson party ended the day with 9 keepers in the 13-18 inch range. Another trip with a group from the Village Harbor Fishing Club also resulted in 9 keepers but many more than that which were released.  On Saturday Captain Fran fished the JCAA fluke competition with Team Chum Bucket. The anglers fished all over the bay but could only get one keeper at 18.5 inches. Shorts were the word of the day.  On Sunday he had the “Cousins” out today with the Joe Tool Party. They looked for stripers but found none. They turned to sea bass and after several stops ended up with 9 keepers for the day.

Additional information on the BHCFA can be found at their website www.fishbeachhaven.com

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June 15, 2009

9 AM

BOAT:  Yesterday afternoon Jacob Kuziw of Middletown, NJ weighed in a 4.28lb Sea Bass. Jacob (4 years old) was fishing at the Barnegat Light Reef with his father.  They caught 15 fish (sea bass).  Jacob told us that he caught his largest on a squid head.
One of the mates from the Doris Mae IV stopped in yesterday.  He reiterated the really good morning fluking; however, their location was not given.

SURF:  Yesterday afternoon a customer came in to puck up more clams.  He reported that he caught 5 bass between 30-40″ off of the Ship Bottom surf.  He said all of his action was on clam.
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June 14, 2009

1:15 PM

About an hour ago, a surf angler brought in a nice striper in to check its weight.  It pulled the scale to 41lb 9oz.  It was caught off of the LBI surf; however, the angler did not give any further information.

Received: Sunday, June 14, 2009 9:20 PM Subject: Miss Beach Haven Fishing Reports

Saturday June 13, 2009 sea bass fishing was pretty good a lot of fish caught today mostly shorts. By the end of the day we put together a catch of sea bass and some ling, we also had quite a few blackfish that were released. Pool winner today was Ed from Philadelphia, PA. With a 2-lb sea bass.

Sunday June 14, 2009 we tried fishing for fluke today the water temperature was 64 degrees and the wind was NE about 15 to 20 knots, pretty much we caught fish every drift, a fair amount of 17 inch fluke and some keepers caught today. High hook was Tom Hook from Manahawkin NJ. Tom had 4 fluke over 19 inches the biggest being 8 lbs which sealed the deal for the pool.

~ Miss Beach Haven The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

Received: Sunday, June 14, 2009 8:05 PM Subject: Sunday, June 14, 2209 Flag Day Fishing Report

We had a good gathering of folks on board today. And the fishing stunk. We had only have a dozen or so keeper fluke. Not a lot of shorts. I had three shorts and one was just a hair shy. It was that close but no go. A lot of birds. I had three myself. Others had many more.

I used smelts, sand eels and squid strips for bait. The Spro people did not have any luck either. The Captain took us all over searching but the Fluke would not bite. The birds did. But not the Fluke.

Be good and I hope I have a better report next time.

~ Jim T., Bridgewater, NJ

Received: Sunday, June 14, 2009 6:30 PM Subject: Doris Mae IV

Well the Fluke are in and the “Doris Mae IV” had an excellent day. Wayne Smith won today’s pool with a 5.7 pound Fluke and had 4 other keepers. For some reason Fluke some times gather in large numbers in a small area and it makes for fantastic Fluke fishing. They usually spread out after a short time but if you are looking for some awesome Fluking come on down, I will be doing a daily report to keep every one on top of this fishing. The night Blue fishing continues to be red hot too.

~ 06/14/09 100′ “Doris Mae IV”, Capt. Eble, 609-494-2369

Received: Sunday, June 14, 2009 4:34 PM Subject: Fwd: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

This weeks action can only be described with terms such as World Class, Stellar , Awesome ,and a Striper Maniac’s Dream! [Even though sleep was a precious commodity.] Limits of huge stripers from the low 30-lb class all the way up through the 40-lb class were encounter on all trips!

Regular Wayne Salvi was aboard with his brother in law Mike and business associate Mike Balkum for fantastic striper action on live bunker. The stripers had the bunker packed tightly along the beach in fog and drizzle. At times there were visible 30-40lb class fish inhaling bunker on the waters surface. The guys were doubled and even tripled up with huge stripers through out the trip not only getting their limit but also playing catch and release as well. The biggest bass official weight was 43-lbs with the majority in the mid to upper 30’s. The foggy and rainy conditions served us well as we had the fish all to our selves for awhile and left them biting!

Regular Jay Simmons with business associate Carlton Bird was out for the exact same action with live bunker the next day . At times the snag bunker never made it back to the boat as huge stripers would consume the bait on the way in or if not consumed the stripers would just “tailgate the bait” to the boat! The guys also limited out and with a couple releases and missed hits as well making for another fantastic day! Regular Chris Spring experienced a slower pace bite but fantastic just the same with Chris hooking his limit but just keeping one fish for the table. Chris had what appeared to be a HUGE striper on for 30 seconds or so with the line continuing in the wrong direction with no sign of slowing! Unfortunately as the reels line was being emptied the hook pulled to Chris’s disappointment.  With a few more missed hits it was time to head for the barn and put an end to a PHENOMENAL STRIPER WEEK !

~ Capt. Steve Purul, “Reel Fantassea” Charters, 609-290-1217

Received: Sunday, June 14, 2009 10:48 AM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

The weather, primarily a dense fog enveloped the bay almost every morning this week. This kept the “Rambunctious” pretty much tied to the dock most of the time. The “Rambunctious” did make it out in a dense fog on Tuesday, only to find ourselves in the middle of a pretty serious lightning display by mid-morning that sent us scurrying into Barnegat Light to wait it out. With more t-storms on the horizon, we finally took advantage of a break in the lightning and headed in early with our first fishless box of the season.

With striped bass fishing inevitably winding down over the next few weeks, I took advantage of a cancellation on Friday to do a little scouting around for fluke by myself once the fog burned off. There seems to be plenty of fluke in the bay right now as I was able to land 18 on bucktails in a little over two hours, including three that taped out at 20″ plus. We’re still picking through four or five shorts for every keeper we get, but that’s a lot better than last year’s ten-to-one ratio and there seems to be a goodly number of fish available. Keep your fingers crossed.

The “Rambunctious” will probably continue bass fishing through most of this week, then start switching over to fluke. Until next week.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

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June 13, 2009

5:48 PM

2009 JCAA FLUKE TOURNAMENT PORT LBI RESULTS:

2009 JERSEY COAST ANGLERS FLUKE TOURNAMENT
PORT WINNERS LOG – TOP 10
Port: Long Beach Island – Fisherman’s Headquarters
Place
Weight (lbs)
Registered by
Caught By
Hometown
1
06.98
Lippincott, Eric, S
Eric S. Lippincott
Pemberton, NJ
2
06.12
Lefebvre, Bob, A
Bob Lefebvre

3
05.86
Pritchett, Wayne, A
Kevin Pritchett
Sommerdale, NJ
4
05.60
Mehalick, Russell
Scott Bush
Perkiomenville, PA
5
05.58
Trembula, Tom, J
Tom Trembula
Cookstown, NJ
6
05.40
Pasko, Felicia
Bill Thomas
South Plainfield, NJ
7
05.04
Elbertson, Dave
Dave Elbertson
Forked River, NJ
8
04.78
Schell, Paul, L
Paul L. Schell
Barnegat, NJ
9
04.38
Gallagher, Jamie
Clare Gallagher
Little Egg Harbor, NJ
10
04.36
Savino, Rocco
Rocco Savino
Forked River, NJ
(NOTE: These look like the final Port LBI results but data is still subject to review by JCAA)

During the weigh-in the reports reflected that most anglers opted to go to either the Barnegat Ridge or Double Creek Channel.

Received: Saturday, June 13, 2009 3:18 PM Subject: Hi Flier Fishing Report: 41-1/2 pound striper today, Sat. June 13

The “Hi Flier” started out early, got to the grounds by 5 AM and found bunker pods to snag off of Island Beach State Park but couldn’t get any stripers to bite. After a few hours of no hits, we went on the troll and Nick Tanzola caught his first striped bass ever, a 41-1/2 pounder, on a chartreuse Bunker Spoon. Five minutes after boating that fish we were hooked up again, only to lose it during a brief hookup.

Tomorrow I am sailing open boat again, $160 per man, 3 person max, departs at 4:30 AM sharp from Sun Harbor Marina in Barnegat and returns at 10:30 AM. I also pick-up and drop off at Barnegat Light for anyone staying on LBI. I plan on trying to snag and liveline bunker first and then switch over to trolling if the live bait does not produce. Please call me on my cell with any questions.

~ Capt. Dave DeGennaro, “Hi Flier” Sportfishing 732.330.5674 cell
1:00 PM – Today is the JCAA Fluke Tournament! We will post any fluke weigh in/ report as soon as possible (this evening).

I finally got the kinks rolled out of my boat, the Wild Honey (Jr.).  Headed out early this morning with friend Denny Miller and brother in law Justin Hoffman.  We broke the BL Inlet shortly after 4 and had the lines in the water off of Seaside about a quarter before 5.  The action was hot for the first half hour (Justin kept a 36 pounder for the grill and chill this evening); however, due to the extreme amounts of boat traffic the bite did not continue.  Gave up after an hour and headed south in search of pods with less traffic.  Ended up fishing again off of Barnegat Light.  There were bunker right on top of the bar with only one angler fishing from the beach.  Since we were late to the party we ended up filling the live well with bunker; then, heading to the inlet.  Livelining there, Denny landed a 26 pounder just off of the south Jetty.  Made a couple more drifts and headed in to the dock for a long day of work.
FYI while we were fishing there (South Jetty), there was a lone soldier hammering small fluke in the “South Pocket” using what looked like a three way swivel rig with a Green Gulp Grub. He must have caught a half dozen in the few minutes that we were there.
-Greg

Here are a few more short reports from yesterday:
After work Ridge of Tuckerton headed out north of the inlet, stopped on a bunker pod at the Bather’s Beach (IBSP) and hooked into a 48lb 6oz cow.  It was his only fish of the day.
Denny Miller went out fluking yesterday afternoon in the Double Creek area.  Had 8 shorts and two nice fish, a 25″ and a 26″ all on the fluke sandwich (squid and minnow combo).
Off the surf, Scott Simpson reported a couple of small bluefish on bunker. Other than that he said it was slow.

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June 12, 2009

5 PM

Shore Catch Guide Service does it again.  Shelle of Shore Catch had Bill Trevena of Reading, PA on the beach today.  Long story short, Bill caught his first keeper striper, which weighed in at Betty & Nicks at 55lb 9oz.  The monster striper was caught from the beach of IBSP snagging and livelining bunker.  Bill stopped in the shop on his way back to his rental house to show us his catch and to pick up an insulated fish bag.  Check It Out!

11:00 AM

Received: Friday, June 12, 2009 11:05 AM Subject: Fwd: Hi Flier Fishing Report

: MAYDAY! MAYDAY! : BIG STRIPERS RIGHT NOW–Open Boat Tomorrow and Sunday!

Here’s the deal short and sweet. Big stripers, 20 to 40 pounders, some bigger. They are gorging on the bunker schools for the last two days hot and heavy. I am running an open boat trip tomorrow, Saturday June 13 and Sunday, June 14. We meet at the dock at 4:30 AM and we return by 10:30 AM. The cost is $160 per man, I can take up to 3 people. The winds and sea conditions that are forecasted are perfect for the weekend and this fishery.

This is an opportunity to catch the biggest kind of stripers and you get to do it with live bait in 20 feet of water….it doesn’t get any better!

Call me on my cell at 732.330.5674 to join me on either day. I only need one person to call it a trip.

~ Capt. Dave DeGennaro, Hi Flier Sportfishing 732.330.5674 cell

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June 11, 2009

1:00 PM – Fresh Bunker & Clam In Stock

Surf:   Yesterday afternoon Ed Varga spun our scale two full revolutions and then some more.  The fish had a huge head and a very skinny body.  It was 50″ long and 42-lb 6-oz.  “I was fishing about the same spot I had a couple the other day”, Ed said, “it was the only hit I had all day!”  FYI the cow was caught on clam off of the surf.

Inlet:   The bluefish have made there presence know in the Barnegat Inlet for quiet some time now.  These hard fighters have been chasing the baitfish that move in and out the inlet with the tide.  Received reports that Stripers, Fluke and Sheepshead are also species targeting this area.

Boat:   Capt. Adam Scherer had Rick Robertson and party out for a Striper 1/2 trip this morning. They made their way through the fog and headed North up Island Beach State Park.  The captain said, “The early morning was scare but then it broke wide open.  It was like Memorial Day but rougher (sea surface conditions).”   Capt. Adam seems to consistently find fish.  He provided his customers double digit fish today.  Hooked up with over a dozen fish, biggest being 45-lbs.

~ Greg

Recieved: Thursday, June 11, 2009 12:50 PM Subject: 2009 HOFNOD Surf Fishing Tournament

This is John Castrati from the Long Beach Island Fishing Club. Here is the information on this year’s Hooked on Fishing not on drugs Kid’s Surf Fishing Tournament.

2009 HOOKED ON FISHING NOT ON DRUGS®

Kids (Ages 5-17) Surf Fishing Tournament

Saturday August 8th, 2009

Registration at Sunset Park in Harvey Cedars from 8:00 to 9:00 A.M.

* FREE T-SHIRTS TO THE 1st 200 CHILDREN TO REGISTER *

Activities run from 9:00 to 2:00
Educational Booths on Fishing, Casting, Knot Tying and Drug Awareness

FREE LUNCH, BAIT, GIFT BAGS AND DOOR PRIZES
* AWARDS PRESENTED TO THE WINNERS *

Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times

Only A Limited Number of Loaner Rods will be Available…
So if you can… bring a surf fishing rod or more for the kids

Presented by
The Borough of Harvey Cedars
LBI Municipal Alliance
LBI Fishing Club
ASAC for Kids
PBA #175 PBA #373 D.A.R.E.

For Questions and Information Contact
John Castrati 856-220-2082 (evenings only) jcastrati@hotmail.com (email)

Received: Thursday, June 11, 2009 6:48 PM Subject: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

Regular Wayne Salvi was aboard with his brother-in-law Mike and business associate Mike Balkum for fantastic striper action on live bunker. The stripers had the bunker packed tightly along the beach in fog and drizzle. At times there were visible 30-40lbs class fish inhaling bunker on the waters surface. The guys were doubled and even tripled up with huge stripers through out the trip not only getting their limit but also playing catch and release as well. The biggest bass official weight was 43-lbs with the majority in the mid to upper 30’s.

The foggy and rainy conditions served us well as we had the fish all to our selves for awhile and left them biting!

~ Captain Steve Purul, Reel Fantasea Charters 609-290-1217

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June 11, 2009

Received: Thursday, June 11, 2009 9:58 AM Subject: Mycobacteriosis

Saw your (June 10th 7:40 AM & 5:40 PM) notes on Mycobacteriosis. I caught a 38-1/2″ Striper on May 29th in Ship Bottom (surf). I thought at the time the red sides were just from the rocks, fight, etc. I hope it’s not something going on in SB. Grilled it with tomatoes, peppers, onions, olive oil… the redness didn’t affect the taste… Delicious! ~ Don Roberts, Ship Bottom

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June 10, 2009

11:00 AM  Just had a weigh-in from the surf.  Larry Nixon of Beach Haven West fished this morning off the Ship Bottom beach.  As he was getting ready to pack it up and call it a day when he had a take down.  It was a striper that went for his bunker chunk, 37.5″ 16 lb 6 oz. Larry said, “There were a lot of calico crabs eating up the clam.”

Received: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 7:40 AM Subject: Yesterday afternoon

Caught a 35″ 14lb Striper in the surf at Ship Bottom Tuesday afternoon approx 2:45 PM on a fresh clam using a fishfinder rig with a circle hook.

Question: the fish was very pale and had a lot of red, like blood beneath the skin along both sides from the gills back to the tail, was this fish ill, or is the red from exhausting itself fighting me when I was landing it?

~ Brendan deMilt, Manahawkin

Doesn’t sound good but it’s a question that only a biologist which we are not can answer for sure. Read on for a non-biologist fisherman’s point of view:
Stripers could simple be bruised from rubbing on the bottom or banging against rocks. The local perception seems to be if the fish is bruised in a spot or two with no open sores and the gill rakes are a bright red this is a positive sign. If the gill rakes are pinkish or a lighter color this is a negative sign and the fish is released. A safer thought would be if the fish does not look 100% healthy then don’t handle it and release the fish. Even if the fish is just bruised up (and it sounds like yours was badly bruised) you might want to consider a release of the fish just because the flesh quality may be compromised.
You don’t want to handle a fish that might have Mycobacteriosis or possibly other ailments. We keep hearing that Stockton College and/or Rutgers College have been doing studies on this and associated issues. However, we have not seen any reports on this topic so if any one out there has, please share the info.
If we are also talking about eating fish then you might want to view a news release from our friends at the NJDEP about the consumption of… Large Bluefish that also mentions Striped Bass . When you visit the page notice the FishSmartEatSmart link at the bottom of page.

Received: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 5:40 PM Subject: Mycobacteriosis

Fishermen should look for ulcers or wounds on the skin that appear to be slow healing on striped bass. Also, internal organs may show ulcerations, just plain evil looking innards, without any external signs. Mycobacteriosis exhibits itself in multiple ways. The disease is prevalent on the Chesapeake fish. Care should be used in cleaning any striped bass i.e., use gloves… the meat is perfectly safe to eat. Humans can pick up an infection if there is an open cut, etc on the person handling the fish, however most of the time the human normal body temperature is able to minimize most adverse effects.

~ EdC

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June 9, 2009

Received: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 10:07 AM Subject: Fishing Quote

I saw you posted some fishing quotes on your website. One I have always told people is: “Fishing is 50% Skill, 30% Determination, and 20% Luck” ~ Zach Ryba

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June 8, 2009

Received: Monday, June 08, 2009 7:24 PM Subject: Fishing Report

Fished the Garden State North today and ended up with a nice cooler full of sea bass. Bite was early and a1:1 keeper ratio for the first 45 minutes, then the little guys showed up. ~ EdC

9:00 PM

Surf:
Zak Visconti, Vineland 20-lb 11-oz Striper on Bunker
Dave Levin 32-1’4″ 11-lb 4-oz Striper on Clam
11:00 AM

Here’s a boat report from Pez Machine Sportfishing — 6/6/09 HPVFC Striper Shootout

Had the pleasure of fishing the High Point Striper Shootout on Saturday and now understand what all that hype is about.

Everything from the captain’s meeting to the awards party was well organized and a lot of fun. There wasn’t much standing around wondering what was going to happen and when. Everyone there was really on the ball and the show seemed to have gone on without a hitch.

With the format we were able to start fishing at 3 AM so we left the dock at 2:30 AM.

Made the run to the bathing beach off IBSP and dropped in the lines about 3:30 AM. It wasn’t pretty but it was trollable for us.

Luckily the wind dropped out as the sun came up and it was ultimately a pretty incredible day on the water. I just wish the stripers had cooperated as well as the weather.

We put an extremely long day in on the water, the longest I’ve ever fished for stripers on one trip actually, and ended up with 3 bites on bunker spoons.

The first fish pulled off a couple minutes into the fight around 6:30 AM. That was a real heartbreaker because it felt like a good one.

Around 8 AM we picked a small fish off the sewer pipe a mile or so South of the Ferris Wheel in Seaside. This one ultimately weighed in at 16# 9oz.

Hours and hours of nothing, until 2:15 PM, and we finally had a bite on a green bunker spoon. I knew it was a good one. Every time I bumped the boat I felt like we were going to pull the hook. Doug and Andrew worked to net the fish and once in the boat we knew we had a contender since the fishing was so bad. You really could have heard a pin drop during the fight until the fish hit the deck… somehow it seemed the engines weren’t even making any noise…

Made the drive to the firehouse for the weigh-in and our big fish ended up at 37.5 lbs, good enough for heaviest fish. Our first fish gave us an aggregate weight of 54 pounds, good enough for first place in the calcutta as well.

Hopefully someone involved can post a picture, I didn’t get a chance to take one with my camera.

Thanks to everyone who helped with the tournament… all your organization and planning made for a great time all around!

~ “Pez Machine Sportfishing”, Barnegat Light, NJ 56′ Custom Carolina, 609-287-5136 cell, Stew@pezmachine.com
— The “Pez Machine Sportfishing” is now Booking Trips for the 2009 Fishing Season–

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June 7, 2009

6:00 PM

Boat:

On the South-end of the Island the “XYZ” while trolling eels…
– Saturday AM, Walt and TJ Johnson hooked-up with 6 Stripers ranging from 20 to 42-lbs.
– Saturday PM, Walt Johnson and George Gilbert hooked-up with 8 Stripers ranging from 20 to 35-lbs.

Had a reputable customer report that Sea Bass are biting on the wrecks. Now if we could just locate that wreck.

Surf:

Sean Carey, Forked River and Chris Flowers, Cherry Hill fished Loveladies using clams catching 1 Keeper size Striper, 5 Short Stripers and 2 short Fluke.

3:30 PM

Surf:  Jim Brooker of Vienna, VA fished off of the surf in North Beach with clam this morning. He caught a 33.5″ bass that weighed 12lb 2oz. Jim had three fish; two bass and a fluke.

Boat:  Richard Wright of Annandale, NJ just weighed in a 47″ striper that weighed 40lbs 8oz.  He was snagging bunker off of Brant Beach.

2:00 PM

Well I hit the beach with the ‘yak after a phone call from a friend.  It turned out that the couple of streets I looked at in Surf City were very quiet. I’ve been had!  I decided to drive down towards Brant Beach to see what the water looked like there.  I ended up launching with friend Deak (forgot his wetsuit) and went in search of the “bunk”. Turned out that the bunker were very broken up, so we weren’t expecting much. Snagged a few but no takers.  There were a couple other boats in the area but it did not look like they had much going on but I could be wrong.  Had to head in to make work by noon. – Greg

“Fish swim! Can’t chase report, gotta make ’em”, Greg
“You can’t catch fish sitting on a couch”, Adam

9:30 AM

Scott Simpson of Hainsport, NJ weighed in a 38lb 4oz striper this morning at about 8am.  He was fishing with bunker in Brant Beach. Scott hooked into and landed the fish, hustled over to the shop, weighed in the fish for the Tournament and then successful released the fish at the boat ramp.  Way to go Scott! I can remember in my younger years many anglers strived to release after the weigh-in.  Scott, your Karma will reward your efforts.

I just got a phone call from a friend in a boat.  I was told that he has been fishing (snag & drop) off of Surf City.  I am gonna give it a go in the kayak. I’ll give a report later. – Greg

Received: Sunday, June 07, 2009 10:31 AM Subject: “Rambunctious” – Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

Once again, the weather posed some challenges for us this past week but we still made it out a couple of times for some pretty good fishing. In some initially “sporty” conditions on Monday, Vince Barba was back looking to get in on some of the bass action around the bunkers schools cruising up and down in front of Island Beach State Park. We certainly found plenty of bunker tight to the beach, but with no bass found we headed to deeper water for some trolling. There we were almost immediately into big 12-13 pound bluefish that absolutely hammered our bunker spoons as soon as we got them down.

Yesterday I had George Selph and Bob Keller back, and we decided to forego the sloppy conditions in the ocean and see what we could put together from the bay. After boxing a large blue and a 29″ striper from the inlet during the incoming, we moved to the back and found mixed schools of blues and weakfish ravaging rainfish on the west side for some super light tackle action, then finished the morning with a bit of back bay fluking. By the time we came in, the fish box contained a “Barnegat Bay Buffet” of striped bass, bluefish, weakfish and fluke all destined for the table. Bob’s 7 pound weakie and demonstration of how not to lip a bluefish highlighted the morning.

~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

Received: Sunday, June 07, 2009 2:43 PM Subject: “Reel Fantasea” – fishing report

“Reel Fantasea’s” early week saw new comer Charles Lee for a slow pick on a 3 hr back bay trip mixing it up with fluke, blues and and throw back blackfish. Friday’s marine forecast for small craft advisory kept regular Jay Simmons and crew in the back bay. Although we didn’t get outside for a shot at the big boys that day the guys clobbered 23 total stripers in rain and wind. Getting their limit to 17-lbs! Bass Master honors went to Rick Rogers . Rick had his career day total of 10 bass. The guys were doubled up constantly with bass on through out the trip.

~ Captain Steve Purul, Reel Fantasea Charters 609-290-1217

Received: Sunday, June 07, 2009 8:19 PM   Subject: “Miss Beach Haven” – Sunday’s Report

“Miss Beach Haven” set sail today with a light crowd. We mainly fished around the reef, drifting for fluke but there was way too many sea bass around. Could not kept a sand eel on long enough. So we mainly fished for Sea Bass. Managed to scratch together a catch today pretty much everybody took home fish today including me. Pool winner today was Dave Agar from Beach Haven with a 2-lb Sea Bass.

~ Miss Beach Haven The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

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June 6, 2009

6:30 PM

Fresh Bunker is here… Come ‘n get ’em!

2:00 PM

Surf:   We had a few weigh ins today.  Paul Bandini of Blue Bell, Pa. weighed in a 40lb Striper this morning. Paul was fishing off of the Ship Bottom surf with FHQ Fresh Frozen Bunker. Drew R of Milford fished the beach from of Barnegat Light with clams and bunker.  He had two stripers, a 29lb 14oz and a 15lb 4 oz.  Rick Baxter of Mullica weighed in a 13lb 14 oz Black Drum that he caught while fishing the Beach Haven surf.

Boat:   I spoke with a couple anglers who fished the ocean this morning. From what I was told the Inlet was like a roller coater due to the swell. The water was dark brown like coffee. Although I have heard of a few fish caught, from their report it sounds that it was a quiet day. The bunker have been scattered, causing both our bunker boat and recreational anglers hard times.  From the bay,  Nick Baxter weighed in a 17lb bass that he caught on bunker.

Received: Saturday, June 06, 2009 6:29 PM Subject: Saturdays Miss Beach Haven report

Saturday,  Miss Beach Haven had a pretty good today fishing inshore and offshore. It really did not matter since there was plenty of life every where we went. Several anglers had 7 or 8 sea bass and all quality fish. Lots of shorts and one cod also caught today. The water temperature was 59 degrees. The doggies were not too bad today. Pool winner was Pete from Pennsylvania with a 2.5 sea bass.
~ Miss Beach Haven The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

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June 5, 2009

7:00 PM

Fresh bunker is almost out but the clams are plentiful.  We are hoping for a  bunker delivery before the end of the day but it is uncertain. We have live eels for those that are hitting the South Jetty and anglers drifting in the boat. Live Minnows are in stock as well as the Islands largest selection of GULP! for those anglers looking for the fatty flatties.

SURF:   Jim Basciani (weighed in yesterday, report below @3pm) just stopped by the shop again for fresh bait.  He said, “I came in last night and weighed those fish in and then went right back to the spot.  Within minutes I was hooked up!”  Jim said that around 9pm he caught a 44lb on bunker.  FYI Jim was fishing Beach Haven and he is not in the Spring Surf Tourney.  Also just in the store picking up bait before hitting the beach, Steve Gelenites reported catching a 32″ Striper that weighed 15lbs.  Steve was fishing the North End aka Loveladies with bunker. Just like Jim, Steve caught the fish right about 9pm last night.  It seems that is the right section of the tide when the bite is on.

BOAT:  About a half hour ago I received a report from a customer who’s getting ready to fluke tomorrow.  He said midweek he had a number of keeper sized fluke in Double Creek.  He reported one 6 plus pound fish.

3:00 PM

SURF:   Through out the day yesterday as well as today the store has received reports from many different anglers who have fished the surf (up and down the island: BL, Loveladies, Harvey Cedars, and Beach Haven) with bunker at their feet.  The past few days (still continues even with the rain) the bass have had the bait running for the shallows in seek of protection.  I strongly advise to any anglers hitting the beach, grab at least one snag hook and you’ll thank me for it.
Yesterday a group of guys from Brownsmills stopped in the shop for bait and tackle.  Ed (FHQ Staff) suggested they head down to the south end of the island, in particular the town of Beach Haven.  They were back within a few hours.  All with stripers to weigh in.  James Basciani had a 20 pounder and Ian Clark had a 14lb 2oz.
I just got done talking with Bobbie Capri Jr.  He reported a large number of anglers fishing last night off of the Barnegat Light surf.  He said that right about dead high tide he hooked into, landed and released a 48.5 inch striper.  He was fishing bunker.  Bobbie also reported that a lot of small bass were being caught among a few nicer sized ones. He’s on the beach in the rain right now.

BOAT:  It looks that there have been a number of boats making the turn towards the south out of the BL Inlet.  This is a change from the trend as of late.  Capt. Adam Sherer had 8 stripers yesterday afternoon in the ocean off of Barnegat Light and Loveladies.  He decided to go out even though it was raining.  He said for a while there were only a few boats. Towards the end of the day he had the action all to himself.
Reports of both fluke and blues at the Ridge continue.  I have heard of both doormats as well as slammers being caught within the past few days from local anglers; however, no fish were weighed in from those reporters.

The bait is migrating just like the game fish; therefore, areas of action will pop up and move in the coming weeks.  I don’t feel that any one particular area is better than the other.  Put your time in and you’ll be rewarded, maybe with a fish of a life time. Can’t catch ’em if you’re not fishing.
– Greg

NOTICE OF LOCAL HAPPENING:
Cancer Benefit this weekend @ the Barnegat Light Firehouse.  13th Annual Rainbow Party Saturday, June 6th 6:30 to 10pm.  Food, Music & Drinks!  Check out www.surerehab.com for more information.

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June 4, 2009

While fishing the Brant Beach surf using Clam for bait Angelo landed a 30″ 9-lb 8-oz Striper. Angelo said, “for a while there, the Stripers had the Bunker pinned to the beach”. This all occurred today at about 2:00 PM. Angelo will most likely be in the same spot on tomorrows tide.

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June 3, 2009

In Stock: Fresh Clam & Bunker, Live Minnows, Eels, Bloodworms & Sandworms

10:30 AM

The dynamic due-o (Army Green Fish Catchin’ Machine & Capt. Adam Sherer) does it again!

Woke up at three and analyzed NOAA’s site.  The radar had a lot of color both above and below the BL Inlet area.  I noticed the swift movement and hoped it would pass over quick, so I continued my daily routine and hit the road to the Basin. Once there, there was already a number of guys geared up ready to go but the strobe-in’ sky had all weary.  The early morning ride out was a bit sketchy but the fish were biting.  Still in the dark we found an active pod at the bather’s beach. There were fish boiling on top with a few slashes too; however, we could not hook into a fish. Must have had a half dozen drops/mouthings. I also had a serious take down that snapped off (80# Momoi Diamond Leader) right at the snag in less than a second. Because of the visual slashes I’m guessing it was a thresher but it’s iffy.  Another boat showed up on the action in a respectful manner and hooked into the morning’s first bass.  With a number of light heading our way Capt. Adam opted to let the other boat have it to themselves for a couple minutes, knowing that the upcoming boats would more than likely stop on the first pod in excitement. Cruising north bunker were spotted popping but we kept going in search of feeding bass.  Set up just upwind of a large pod and within minutes Denny and then Bob were hooked up. Double header! Bob snapped off a screamer.  More fish were hooked up by all except me.  It seemed I was the black cat of the day until amongst a fleet of boats with a lot of line out, I had a good hookup. With help from the leader man (Denny), I landed the fish after a good long battle. On the rocking boat, the Boga was bobbing from 40-44lb.  After a quick photo, I tried to release the fish but it didn’t want to go.  After 5 minutes of hanging over the gunnel elbow deep, I had to gave up.  The fish was belly-up so it went in the box.  We fished for another 1/2 hour to forty minutes with little success. Back to the dock by quarter after 8. Our day’s score card: Two fish killed for the table a thirty and a forty, all other successfully released. Denny had couple, Adam had couple releases, Bob had two run-offs ( one snapped off right at the boat so we’ll say the two make a whole release) and I had one.  At the dock we got a report from slip neighbor Jerry who fished with Bob, Adam’s business partner.  Three fish up to 30+ pounds.  All of their fish were caught with in minutes of each other.  Good Job Guys! You deserve those after yesterday’s skunk. – Greg

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June 2, 2009

In Stock: Fresh Clam & Bunker, Live Minnows, Eels, Bloodworms & Sandworms

5:00 PM

Hit ’em hard again this morning with Capt. Adam Sherer and friend Bob Nugent (of Mud City Crab House & Ship Bottom Shellfish, IMO the two best seafood restaurants in the area) aboard the Army Green Fish Catchin’ Machine (23′ Jones Brothers CC). Started the morning off quick at IBSP (much closer to home than the past few days) with three fish caught & released within the first 15 minutes.  The bite slowed a bit but the captain’s persistence (moving to find feeding bass) worked out. Bob hooked a nice fish on the backside of the bar, in the whitewater.  Once landed it pulled the Boga Grip to 38lbs and went into the box for the dinner table.  Shortly there after ( in amongst a fleet of boats) Adam hooked up again, seconds after I did too and then Bob had a pick-up but dropped the fish.  Almost a triple header. Close but no cigar.  Unfortunately my fish spit the hook but Adam landed his (39lbs) and released him after a quick photo.  About 10 minutes later George H. aboard Tom B.’s boat (slip neighbors at Sherer’s Boat Basin who was fishing the same area and communicating via cell phone) hooked and landed his personal best, 40lbs.  With a lot of work to be done back on land (hence the late report) we called it a day around 9 am and headed in towards the Basin. Once at the dock I spoke with my buddy Joe and  he reported, “only a bucket of bunker, so I’ll take another stab in the morning.”  It’s odd because he was fishing the same area. Our day’s score card: 8 Stripers up to 39lbs, 7 of which were released. We will be at it again tomorrow morning. I’ll let you know how we do. -Greg

Info from Yesterday:
Surf:  Gary Bittle weighed in a striper he caught off of the surf on clam, 14lb 4oz.
Boat:  Tom Merek of Bellmawr weighed in a cow (bass) he caught on the bunker pods, 40lb 1oz.

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June 1, 2009

4:00 PM  –  Fresh Bunker & Surf Clams In Stock!  Also Live Minnows & Eels.

Boat:   Went fishing again this morning with Capt Adam Sherer of Shore Catch Guide service and good friend Jim “Ridge” Rideway of Tuckerton, NJ. Broke the inlet just a hair before 5 AM. About a half-hour North we got into steady action on 20-35lb stripers. As the action slowed, the Capt made the call to move away (South) from the fleet of boats and it turned out to be the right call as Ridge hooked up. He landed his first 50-pounder. Congratulations to Jim Ridgeway on the fish of a lifetime! The action is just getting started and will continue for another month or so. Any one looking to catch ’em up? I highly recommend to look up Capt. Adam Sherer & Shore Catch Guide Service and hook up – (609) 548-1584 & Shore Catch Guide Service . They will put you on the fish!  – Greg

Received: Monday, June 01, 2009 9:27 PM Subject: Hi Flier Fishing Report Monday June 1, 2009

Today the Hi Flier had Joe Parente and Lou Vasilow, both of Springfield ,New Jersey. We pulled out of Sun Harbor Marina in Barnegat at 5 AM, made a left out of Barnegat Inlet and ran 15 miles north to Lavallette where we found the bunker schools. We started snagging hook baits right away and these two guys teamed up for four stripers between 20 and 34 pounds. It’s a very early bite and it slows up by 9 AM, though we did take one of those fish after 10 AM, Joe’s 25 pounder. The lighter weekday fleet might have made the difference in the action.

I’ll be back up there tomorrow, (Tues.) with another group who already has the boat chartered and then Wednesday is available to either book a charter or I will run open boat, either way, we meet at the dock at 4:30 AM. Beyond Wednesday I will not be available again until June 9.

~ Capt. Dave DeGennaro, Hi Flier Sportfishing 732.330.5674 cell

Received: Monday, June 01, 2009 8:35 PM Subject: BHCFA Report

Captain Adam Nowalsky from the Karen Ann II reports this is the peak of the spring sea bass fishing. He says the number of keepers is limited only by how fast you can get your line back down to the bottom. Some of his recent charter highlights include the Robert Wilson charter with 75 keeper sea bass including a number of 3.5 to 4 lb. fish. On the Safa group’s half-day charter some 50 bluefish and sea bass were boated with a 5-pound sea bass in the mix. Other groups included Zuccarrello with 55 keepers, Preczewski with a nice mix of sea bass and released blackfish to 10-pounds, Tom Siciliano with 75 keeper sea bass, Jim Sutphen with 90 keeper sea bass, and Mike Dahm’s half-day charter, with 20 keeper sea bass out of over 100 caught. Captain Adam said there was an improvement in the number of keepers on the fluke scene this week. All fluke fishing remains in the back bays, with the 50-degree ocean water temp still too cold for a good fluke bite.
Captain Carl Sheppard had two good Star Fish trips over the weekend. On Saturday the Capanna party started with wreck fishing and boated 42 sea bass in less than an hour. Captain Carl got a tip about a large school of slammer blues in the 10-12 lb range about 22 miles further out. The fish were on the bottom, in 80-100 feet of water. He used trolling valves to reduce the speed to under two knots and used a pound of weight with the pony tails to get them to bite. Action was nonstop for 4 hours although they only kept a few. On Sunday Captain Carl had the Tom Phillip’s party along with a couple of off duty captains-Vic Bertotti and Tom Masterson. They fished in 60-70 feet of water and drifted a number of wrecks. They ended up catching over 80 sea bass, but were plagued by spiny doggies.
Captain Fran Verdi on the Dropoff had an open boat trip on Saturday. He had no luck looking for bunker and tried anchoring at Wreck Inlet for striped bass but had no luck. He then headed for the reef and some wreck fishing. That action was drop and reel with double headers every pass. For one and half hours they hammered away at the fish and were able to put 15 keepers in the box out of over 50 fish caught. He did see some pods of bunker at the reef but no bass under them. Captain Fran also ran open boats Sunday and Monday and once again tried to find bass but to no avail. On Sunday his group managed 17 keepers at the Garden State South Reef. On Monday he had John Henderson out, and they found a real hot spot on the Garden State South Reef with John putting 11 keepers in the box.
Captain Dave Wittenborn on the Compass Rose fished the LBI Cup, a striper tournament held by the Beach Haven Marlin & Tuna Club. He first looked for bunker with no success and chunked bunker at Wreck Inlet in the white water. When that produced no action, Captain Dave headed north and tried trolling an umbrella rig and a bunker spoon. They managed one knock down in about an hour on the troll. Then a spell in Little Egg Inlet chunking those rips resulted in just some very large dogfish. On Sunday Captain Dave fished in Great Bay for fluke using Gulp Minnows and squid. He had plenty of action but all the fish were short.
The Miss Beach Haven with Captain Frank Camarda had a good weekend on the ocean. Fishing both shallow and deep water, they found a lot of life on the wrecks and reefs but had to weed through the shorts to get keepers. Despite a keeper ratio of 10 to 1, most anglers took home dinner. Joe Muir was high hook Saturday and Scott of Beach Haven on Sunday, all quality fish. The pool winner Sunday with a 3-pound sea bass was 10-year-old Richard.

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr.

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May 31, 2009

10:00 PM

Plenty of Fresh Bunker currently in stock.

12:00 Noon

The “Black Cloud” Uncle Moe with Steve Wurst and Son Andy were aboard the Sea Triever catching over 30 Sea Bass with 1 keeper size fish in every 4 caught. The largest fish was Andy’s that went over 4-lbs.

Sounds like Barnegat Ridge is stacked with Fluke along with plenty of Bluefish plus a few Stripers.

10:00 AM

Hit the bunker pods again this morning with Adam. There were bunker much closer to the BL Inlet; however, there weren’t bass on them.  The first couple of pods were swimming slow with their tails out, bass-less.  A quick decision was made to capitalize on the early morning bite by going back to the same area we fished yesterday.  It turned out that the fish were in the same place even though there was minimal bait popping on top (could have fooled the impatient).  The bite was on!  In about an hour we released three fish up to 35lb.  During that time we also had a few unfortunate mishaps; a couple runoffs that just mouthed the bait and a couple of break offs.  One thing was for sure, there were a lot of boats in a very tight area. But we all managed to successfully catch fish through respectfully communicating with each other.  I’m looking forward to another trip tomorrow morning. – Greg

Received: Sunday, May 31, 2009 8:27 AM Subject: Reel Fantasea Charters

This weeks action was inconsistent to slow at best with tides that ran from high tide to an even higher tide with mid week offshore disturbance that may have been the culprit. Early week’s trip saw the Dean Stankowitz Party go 1 for 2 on the troll, dropping the first fish but the second rod went down immediately with a 25lbs bass hitting the ice. From there we moved around a bit to find the schools of bunker spread out and challenging to snag and with no apparent bass on the meager schools. The Bill Saurer party was out for the best action of the week in the back bay in dense fog with the guys scoring a solid bite with both blues and bass too 16lbs on clams and bunker. The Jerry Kronemeyer Party was out for the slowest day that found not only the troll not producing but the bunker schools glued to the bottom making snagging impossible. Back at the inlet found the tide slack and the fish napping until we decided to wait the tide out and jig 10 fluke while going 2-10 putting 2 nice 19″ and 20″ fluke on ice. From there we moved around to find finicky action from small blues and bass bass on plastics until days end. ~ Captain Steve Purul, Reel Fantasea Charters 609-290-1217

Received: Sunday, May 31, 2009 6:49 PM Subject: fishing reports

Saturday and Sundays seabass report: two spectacular days to be on the water. A fair amount of catching going on we tried both shallow and deep water there is a lot of life on the wrecks and reefs but you had to weed through the shorts to get a keeper. The ratio was 10 to 1 high hook on Saturday Joe Muir from NJ Fishing and on Sunday it was Scott from Beach Haven NJ with all quality fish. Pool winner today with a 3lb seabass was Richard a young man about 9 or 10 years old I have to say he fished hard all day what a great kid ~ Miss Beach Haven The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

Received: Sunday, May 31, 2009 1:42 PM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

Not as much to report this week. By now you may have already heard about the absolute explosion of striper fishing along the beach on Memorial Day. Huge numbers of big bass, ranging from the mid 20 pound size up through 40 pounds, were ravaging the immense schools of bunker from Island Beach State Park all the way north to Manasquan all day long despite the holiday boat traffic. Everyone out there got fish, in what is being described as quite likely the best bass fishing day ever in these parts. And with all the bunker that seems to be around this year, we may yet see another couple days like that.

Then, as usually seems to happen, the weather turned and we had to cancel our Tuesday and Wednesday trips due to the high winds and dense fog that enveloped the bay and inlet. We did finally get a trip in on Friday, as Ringwood’s Perry Lasiello and brother-in-law Joe Rossi braved the fog and heavy rain (and occasional lightning bolt) to test the back bay waters for a mixed bag of stripers and 5-7 pound bluefish. Perry’s 36 inch bass (picture) topped the catch, and provided some excellent filets for their family seafood feast that evening at his mom’s.

We’ll be sticking with bass fishing for the next couple of weeks until they inevitably begin their migration up the coast, then switch over to fluke and sea bass until weakfishing gets started in earnest in late July. Plenty of good dates still available.

Until next week. ~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

Received: Sunday, May 31, 2009 1:21 PM Subject: Hi Flier Fishing Report, Sunday, May 31

I had Jim Keller and friends on board the Hi Flier today. We broke Barnegat Inlet by 5:30 AM and ran north to Lavallette. There was already a big fleet and lots of bunker flipping at the surface. We snagged hookbaits for everyone and soon after, we had our first runoff. The hookset worked but he came unbuttoned almost right away. Ten seconds later, another rod in the stern went off and we decked this 25 pounder. The weekend fleet has been very heavy and now it’s time to enjoy some weekday lighter traffic. Those bunker schools and stripers are going to be there tomorrow and so am I.

The Hi Flier is leaving at 5 AM which means meeting at the dock at 4:30 AM. I am available for charter or open boat tomorrow, Monday June 1st and Wednesday, June 3. So far, the marine weather and sea conditions look perfect for this fishing. Call me for details.

~ Dave DeGennaro, Hi Flier Sportfishing, 732.330.5674 cell, www.hiflier.com

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May 30, 2009

10 PM

For the morning we have Fresh Surf Clams as well as Live Minnows.  Although not fresh, we have Fresh Frozen bunker that is available in two packs.  Unfortunately, the bunker delivery was very light this afternoon.  It sold out in a matter of minutes.  As far as a fishing report goes I have had first hand information from a few areas.  Both from the BL Inlet and the Holgate Inlet I have had reports of both stripers and blues.  As we all know the bluefish will chomp on just about anything.  The bass on both ends were reported on live eels. A young lady (frequent customer) reported cocktail blues down the street from the shop (Ship Bottom bayside). She said the mullet was the hot bait. – Greg

3:00 PM

A limited amount of Fresh Bunker and Surf Clams are in stock.

Steve G. of Barnegat weighed-in a 21-lb 7-oz Striper that he caught on bunker in the surf.

12:00 Noon

Boat: I just got back in off the water after a  pretty good morning.  Went north out of the BL Inlet in search of bunker pods.  Didn’t see any until we reached the “Pier.”  Fished in tight to the beach off of Lavallette.  Released a few nice sized fish. Kept one for the table.  I’ll be at it again tomorrow. Hopefully there will be bunker closer to home. -Greg

Luke L. just weighed in a 38lb Striper.  The fish was caught just off of Casino Pier livelining bunker.

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May 29, 2009

11:00 PM – Fresh Surf Clams & Live Minnows In Stock

Here’s a short end of day report.
From the boat: Due to the foggy conditions finding bunker pods in the ocean has been difficult.  Most all of the striper action has been from trolling both spoons and deep divers (plugs). Tomorrow’s beautiful weather with light westerly winds will hopefully change this sluggish mid week trend.  Today, I have heard through the grapevine that Victor S. of Barnegat Light caught a nice doormat in the inlet.  Other fluke have also been reported there (BL Inlet) as well as the bay (Double Creek & Oyster Creek) and ocean (Barnegat Ridge) among other locations.  Throughout the day today there have been cocktail blues at the mouth of Old Barny’s Inlet under the active birds.  From what I gather, I think both the birds and the blues are after the small baitfish (I believe rain fish).  Boats as well as a few jetty rock hoppers we in on the action this afternoon.
From the surf:  As far as the High School Surf Tourney goes, Southern regional beat out Barnegat by a skin of there teeth.  Just for general knowledge, the match up took place after school today in the Barnegat Light surf. Ten rods per team.  There were anglers using bunker, clams and artificials.  It was a slow day with the problematic snot grass in the water. But as the day progressed, the tide went out and the weed thinned out.  Barnegat had an 18″ bluefish that was caught on a metal.  Southern had a 25″ Striper that was caught on fresh clam by John W. (FHQ Staff).  It’s great to see this type of after school activity to get young anglers competitive and out of trouble.  I wish I could have been part something like that when I was at Southern. – Greg

8:00 PM

Sorry Fresh Bunker is sold out. We’ll see if more arrives tomorrow. Fresh Clams still in stock.

6:00 PM

A small amount of Fresh Bunker just arrived. It won’t be available very long.

4:15 PM

Spoke with the bunker guy earlier today.  He’s trying his best with little success. There’s a slim possibility that some bunker will arrive this evening.

Rich C. weighed in a bass he caught off of the surf on Bunker, 13lb 7oz. Yesterday, Chris Nosal weighed in a 28lb 4oz bass that he caught on bunker in the Ship Bottom surf.

The High School Surf Tournament is about to start. It’s a surf only, Southern vs Barnegat. We’ll post a report as soon as available.

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May 27, 2009

6:00 PM

Sorry due to the high seas fresh clams were unavailable.  We are trying our best and will post here as soon as more becomes available.  Until then hit the surf with our fresh frozen and salted clam. – Greg

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May 26, 2009

5:00 PM

Surf: Rich DiMartinis of Barnegat just weighed in a striper.  He reported that bass had the bunker pinned to the beach up in the Barnegat Light surf.  Rich said the action started around noon and lasted for about two hours. Rich caught 9 stripers up to 24lbs 14oz, 43.5″ x 21.5.

Boat:  Here’s a few more reports from yesterdays action off of IBSP.  Ken U and his uncle Steve C. started around five in the morning and had fish until five in the afternoon.  They reported numerous triple headers with high twenty and thirty pound fish.  Ken and Steve weighed in a couple stripers, 29lb 8oz and a 34lb 9oz.  Also weighed in yesterday: Mike Goszka’s 27lb 14oz and Vincent Rizzo’s 35lb 15oz.

12:00 Noon

Received: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 7:02 AM Subject: BHCFA Weekly Report

The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association (BHCFA) have been putting the time in and finding fish for their customers.
Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Star Fish” had Irv and Muriel Stoops out for a split day of fishing. They first hit the reefs off Beach Haven for over 50 black sea bass and finished the day up in the back bay waters where they picked up 7 fluke. They told Captain Carl their freezer was “out of fish.” The next day the “Star Fish” had Joe Dawson and a bachelor party of 11 people. Fun was had by all as they boated over sixty fish in a half day trip. Five of the sea bass were over 4-pounds including a 28-incher.
On Saturday the “Miss Beach Haven” with Captain Frank Camarda had fishing that Captain Frank termed “good to fair.” They fished four spots to put together a catch resulting in some nice sized sea bass and some ling. A couple of anglers had over 10 keepers with Tom Hook the top angler with 13 jumbo sea bass including one over 3-pounds. On Sunday Captain Frank had 20 anglers who found the ratio of keepers to throwbacks about 7 to 1. The high hook was Jeff Salabritas from Marlton N.J. with 10 sea bass, and his son Jeff was right on his heels with 9 keepers including a beautiful knuckle head just a hair over 3.5 lbs which won the pool. Also caught today were several black fish, a cod which were released and some ling.
Captain Fran Verdi of the “Dropoff” fished one day last week and had trouble locating stripers in the ocean despite looking for bunker pods and trolling. A tip helped him locate a pod of bunker, and they picked up a 19-pound bass. The next day he had an open boat trip and once again had trouble locating bunker. He ended up doing some wreck fishing, and after several stops, put 6 keepers in the box and released another 15 and one blackfish. On Saturday Captain Fran turned to fluke fishing in Great Bay. He boated numerous shorts along with one 19-inch keeper and a bluefish. Gnats made the use of bug spray mandatory. On Sunday he fished the John Nutaitis party for fluke. Once again the short fish kept the anglers busy, and they managed three keepers to 19-inches along with two feisty bluefish. Monday was more of the same with a keeper to throwback ratio of about 5 to 1. His open boat party had 4 keepers to 19-inches with over 20 throwbacks. Once again the gnats were heavy.
Captain Adam Nowalsky from the “Karen Ann II” reports steady sea bass action. Recent charters include John Bradwell of Philadelphia whose 4 person party boxed 44 sea bass to 3-pounds, Brandon Pfister’s 4-man group from Quakertown that boxed 40 sea bass to 2.5-pounds, and the Muldoon family from Conshohocken that had a nice catch of sea bass to 2-pounds on a half day trip.
Additional information on the BHCFA can be obtained at the group’s website at www.fishbeachhaven.com ~ Jim Hutchinson Sr.

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May 25, 2009

Received: Monday, May 25, 2009 5:43 PM Subject: fishing reports

Appears that all the fish are North of Barnegat as per the reports. Fished today from 8:30 AM to 2:00 PM both in the ocean and back bay with the ocean temp at 47-49 degrees and back bay at anywhere from 49-62 degrees. One blue around 2 pounds and one flounder at 18″ near 126 marker. Nothing else to report. ~ Martin M.

2:00 PM

Boat:  I had a stellar time on the water this morning with Adam, Denny & Jerry.  Broke the inlet a little bit later than we wanted (5:30 AM) and headed to the North.  Finding the bunker was not a problem and in a matter of minutes we were hooked up.  For a bit we were all hooked up with fish screaming line, “over, under, coming down!” Can’t beat a quadruple-header. I underestimate the day’s catch to be 36 fish.  All of the fish were released except for the few gut hooked fish.  The biggest fish of the day was a 44 pounder (as per the Boga Grip) that went back in the drink.  FYI we were fishing off of Island Beach State Park trying to stay as far out of the mayhem of boats as we could.  I think just about every boat had bent rods.  Sean “Deak” was also out on the water in the same area.  His biggest was 40 lbs.  Go get ’em  – Greg

Surf: Yesterday morning Steven Finelli of Madison, NJ weighed in a 36″ 18.6lb striper that was caught off of the Ship Bottom surf on a bunker head.  The evening and night bit has also been good.

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May 24, 2009

9:30 PM

Surf: Just before closing we had two weigh-ins.  Ed Valitotto stopped in with a 44.25″ x 20.5″ striper that weighed 28lbs 6ozs.  Ed was fishing off of the beach in Surf City.  Ed said the bass went for a bunker head.  Basil Dubrosky weighed-in a 36″ x 20″ striper that weighed 17lbs 14ozs.  Basil was also fishing bunker off of the beach in Surf City (but a few blocks to the north of Ed).  Both fish were caught around the top of the tide, which was right about at sunset.

Received: Sunday, May 24, 2009 6:39 PM Subject: Sunday’s Miss Beach Haven Report

Sunday, we headed out with about 20 fares. We tried different depths all produced about the same. A fair amount of fish caught but you had to pick through the shorts probably about a 7 to 1 keeper ratio. High hook today was Jeff Salabritas from Marlton N.J. with 10 sea bass his son Jeff was right on his heels with 9 keepers he had a beautiful knuckle head just a hair over 3.5-lbs which won the pool. Also caught today were several black fish and a cod which were released along with some ling.

5:30 PM

Boat: Garrett Kazar and father caught 8 stripers today up to 26lbs, 43″.  They were live lining bunker off of Island Beach State Park in 40 foot of water.

12:30 PM

Surf: Yesterday afternoon, Basil Dubrosky weighed in a 34″ striped bass, 12lbs 13oz.  Basil was fishing from the beach in Surf City with fresh clam.

Received 5/24/09 11:18 PM Subject: Barnegat Bay Fishing Report
Hello All,
Lots of stuff to report this week. It’s been busy, as it always is leading up to Memorial Day, with five trips over the past six days. Back bay fishing is suffering a bit right now from the large mats of slime weed and eelgrass flowing in and out with the tides, but when you can fish through it there are some really nice fish to be had. And ocean fishing for stripers appears to be ready to get started in earnest.
The week started on Monday, with Jim and Gene Karaman in from Lansdale PA with their old buddy Bill scoring a load of 5-10 pound bluefish on light tackle from the inlet channels. Wednesday saw Bloomsbury’s John Oliver back this spring with son John and friend Gary landing five bass, topped by young John’s 35″ beauty, plus several large blues on the outgoing tide. Thursday the slime weed really took over in the main channels, but Pennsylvanian Mike Hoffman and fishing partner Bill still managed to pull two bass to 31″ plus seven or eight blues out of Double Creek before we moved to the inlet land and release eight fat tog before heading in.
Friday and Saturday I took advantage of the light southwest breezes and relatively calm seas to head out into the ocean off Island Beach in hopes of trolling up some larger bass, and found some real beauties. On Friday the Steve Mastej party was out with me and saw Jim McEwan wrestle in his first striped bass, a massive 43 pound cow stuffed with sea robins despite the abundance of bunker in the area. Then in Saturday’s dense fog, regulars George Selph and Bob Keller got in on the action with George landing our largest bass of the year at 45 pounds and Bob adding a personal best 42 pounder to the box.
So it was a pretty good week overall, with some real quality fish (as shown in the attached pictures) coming over the sides. Hopefully this action will stick with us for a few more weeks, and with fluke season finally opening up we now have a few more options. Hope to see you all soon.
Until next week.
~ Capt. Jack Shea, “Rambunctious”, Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters 609.698.3632

Received 5/23/09 10:07 PM Subject: Saturday’s Report

Saturday May 23, 2009 fishing was good to fair today we had to fish 4 spots today to put together a catch. We had some nice size sea bass today and some ling .A couple of guys had over 10 keepers today high hook was Tom the Swede Hook with 13 jumbo sea bass the biggest being over 3-lb.
~ Miss Beach Haven The Miss Beach Haven PARTY BOAT (609) 978-9951

Received 5/23/09 4:33 PM

Party till the cows come home and keep on partying!  This weeks action was started off with mostly big burley bluefish in the back bay but as the week wore on we were fast into some stellar striper action with up to 40 pound class fish!! First timer John Donohue was joined by sons Pat and Brandon for a slow start searching for schools of bunker that may have some active stripers. The bunker proved hard to snag as most of the schools were in the middle to lower water column. Once back in the bay the guys had a solid non stop bite of 6-12lbs blues till the tide ran out and it was time to head for the barn anyway. Regulars Jay Simmons and Ernie Rosenberg teamed up for a quick out of the gate “tune up” with 2-4 blues on light spinning tackle. From there it was time to hit the wide open ocean with hopes of some big stripers. HOLY COW! It didn’t take long till we had our first 38 pounder landed by Ernie and on the ice! Jay not to be out done put another 40 pounder own the ice in doing so he leads this years Reel Fantasea Charters on board tourney!! The guys managed to land 2 more stripers in the mid 20lb class to get their limit in under 1 1/2 hour. Honorably the guys opted to see what else we could catch as to avoid harming any more released bass. They were rewarded for their good  sportsmanship with a slam fest of 6-12lbs back at the inlet till they were arm weary! Ernie was heard saying, “This should be a new form of aerobic activity, Reel Fantasea Aerobics. Catch fish till you drop!! Come Ernie on give 5 more!!!”
Best Regards,
Capt. Steve Purul
Reel Fantasea Charters
609-290-1217

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May 23, 2009

3:00 PM

* Fluke Season is now open (5/23) until September 4th, 6 fish @ 18″
I just had a customer stop in the store who fished Double Creek Channel.  The bit was slow earlier in the day, but he managed to catch two keepers. “Fluke love the bucktail or a jig head with Gulp,” he said.

Surf: Steve Gelenites of Barnegat weighed in a 21lb Striper.  Steve caught the bass around 6:30 this morning, off of the Harvey Cedars surf on bunker.

Boat: Jackie Rodvany of Princeton weighed in a 33lb 8oz, 46″ x 25.5″ Striper.  She caught the bass on the bunker pods off of Island Beach State Park this morning.

Received 5/22/09 9:19 PM

I wrote the below passage for www.njsaltwaterfisherman.com.  Could you post the message and maybe some folks will remember why they have a 2009 fluke season:  Your 2009 Summer Flounder Season is brought to you by www.ssfff.net.  I had the pleasure to speak with Captain Ron Santee of Captain Ron’s Fisherman out of Atlantic Highlands, NJ this morning.  The SSFFF is working hard to keep the Summer Flounder Fishery open for generations to come.  But, they need our help.  I know times are tough.  But even a buck or two would be appreciated.  The SSFFF is fighting for us.  Why not give something to them.  So when you are going out tomorrow and every day you do until September, you can thank www.ssfff.net for every Fluke trip you make.  Be good!
Thanks, Jim T. Bridgewater, NJ

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May 22, 2009

8:30 PM

Surf: Just had a nice striped bass weighed-in!  Jason Delpalazzo of Hainesport (Simply Bassing Badge # 72) tipped our scale with a 30lb 5oz, 44.5″ striper.  Jason weighed the bass in only minutes after catching the fish.  He was fishing the Barnegat Light surf with bunker.

Boat: Uncle Moe fished today with Capt Steve on the Sea Triever.  They had a good trip trolling bunker spoons off of Island Beach State Park.  In three hours they hooked into and landed 4 bass, 2-32lbs and 2-22lbs.

Emailed in  @ 8:21PM
Hit the Scotland Grounds outside of the Hook today.  Had about 30 or 35 on board the boat today.  Excellent Captain and Crew.  I had five blackfish, three would have been keepers and one was large.  All tossed back in the drink.  I had two sea bass, one was over two pounds.  The other a toss back.  I had Fifteen Ling.  Some were big ones.  Had an excellent time today.
The pool winner was a twenty pound monk fish.  I’ve seen them in the outer rim of the  Mud Hole but not that far north and not that close to land.  Lots of blackfish caught today and all tossed back in the drink.  Some winter and summer flounder were caught and tossed back in the drink.  And of course a bunch of skates.  Not by me!!!!  Be Good!  Jim T  Bridgewater, NJ

12 noon
Surf: Had a report from an angler who fished the Beach Haven surf this morning.  It was pretty quiet, no trucks, only a few people on the beach. Around the higher tide, about 6am, caught a 30″ striper on bunker.

Boat: The spring time striper bass action in the ocean on.  Anglers have done well trolling and now the bass are on the pods of bunker.  Yesterday on the troll, Judd L. of Barnegat Light fished off of Island Beach State Park (~25-30′ of water) between the Bather’s Beach and the Governor’s Mansion.  Judd caught a bunch of bass all on bunker spoons; 21, 25, 28 and a 30″.   On the bunker pods north of the BL Inlet yesterday, Brett Taylor caught a 33lb 8oz bass that he weighed-in.  Brett also had a 25+ pounder.

FYI:
New Item:   Hogy Premium Softbaits – Hand-Poured in the USA
– Easy to Rig many different ways! – Incredible Action! – Great for Casting & Trolling!

June 5th to June 14th, 6th Annual Berkeley Striper Club Spring Tournament, Over $7500 in prizes for bass, blues and weaks, surf/shore only, no boats, open to all Ocean and Monmouth County water, $25 entrance fee, optional pool/calcuttas, call 972-943-8201 or visit www.berkeleystriperclub.org

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May 20, 2009

9:45pm  –   For the AM: Fresh Surf Clam, Live Bloodworms, Sandworms & Eels –  In Stock
Just before closing we had a little bit of fresh bunker delivered.  Early bird get the worm.  Also just before closing, Matt Onofrio of Westampton, NJ weighed in a 16lb 4oz Striper that was caught on bunker in Beach Haven shortly after 8pm.  Matt’s brother also caught a bass (31″) on clam around 7pm.

Emailed in @ 8:50pm
Yesterday, May 19th, Ann-Marie Hendrickson caught a 28″ Striper while fishing clam in the Barnegat Bay.  She was fishing behind Island Beach State Park.

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May 19, 2009

10:30am  –   Fresh Surf Clam Live Bloodworms, Sandworms & Eels –  In Stock

Bill Jann weighed in a bass this morning.  He caught the 17lb 12oz, 36″ bass while fishing the Barnegat Light Inlet in a boat.

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May 17, 2009

9:30pm – For the AM: Fresh Surf Clam, Live Bloodworms, Sandworms & Eels In-stock
We are trying our best to get fresh bunker!  I had a customer report a great bit of schooly stripers in the inlet early this morning (2am-4am) on plugs. He had 4 bass between 24-30″. FYI: It was the top of the tide going out. -Greg

Emailed in  5/17/2009 @ 5:14PM
Sunday May 17, 2009 just a hand full of fares today it must have had something to do the crappy forecast. Well we decided to go any way and I am glad we did. It was not nice most of the day 20 kt north winds and a lot of rain but fishing was awesome Brant and I filled 3 five gallon buckets And a couple of the others had close to their limits every day has been different this year you never know what to expect some days the bigger fish bite and some days they don’t I guess that’s why they call it fishing.   www.missbeachhaven.com/

Emailed in  5/17/2009 @ 12PM
This week started fast out of the gate but as the week wore on, strong 30++ SE unleashed a fury of snot grass so heavy and dense it rivaled anything I have seen before. Keeping baits clean for more than a few minutes was almost impossible at times as the outgoing tide carried a blizzard of this annoying substance across our lines and covering our baited hooks in seconds.
Karl Steffan Sr. and Jr. started the week with solid action from blues and striped bass. The guys were doubled up repeatedly with fish on the only two rods that we could get into the water. We actually could not get more rods into the water before a rod went down with “Fish On!”
New comer and determined solo angler Peg Glenze was out in wicked SE winds tipping 40kts. Peg battled not only wind and snot grass of biblical proportions but also enjoyed a solid bite of 6-8lbs blue fish all to herself as there wasn’t another boat insight!  We actually had multiple fish following our hooked fish to the boat. At one point Peg’s eagle eye spotted multiple bluefish following our snot grass laden lines and bait to the boat [You see something new everyday].
Regulars Joe Franke and Cy Collins were joined by Joe’s long time friend Ed for a back bay trip. The guys had an early bite from what may have been a smaller class bluefish, the guys found the more subtle bite difficult to capitalize on.  As the outgoing tide slowed we moved over to the inlet for a “look see” to find a huge school of bunker had taken up residence, live lining and chunking bunker proved fruitless. The guys ended the day with 2-3lbs blues in the box.
Dense fog greeted regular Sean Castle along with new comer wife Sandy and nephew Sam V., [what I would call perfect fishing conditions]. My expectations were high as tide and weather [dense fog] aligned but unfortunately, the fish were not on the same page as me. A couple of nice out of season blackfish were released by Sandy with Sam managing to land his first striper and bluefish before trips end.
Best Regards,
Capt. Steve Purul
Reel Fantasea Charters
609-290-1217

Emailed in  5/17/2009 @ 11:13AM
Fished the surf in Holgate Sat from 5 to 8 pm. The fog was pretty thick at the onset but cleared out nicely. Unfortunately not even those delicious FHQ bunker could bring a bite. Even used a few crabs that found my fish heads, a delicacy but nothing. Steve K.

10:30am
Emailed in  5/16/2009 @ 9:39PM
Saturday May 16, 2009 as we headed out to the fishing grounds we were greeted by huge waves in the inlet and thick fog, once we cleared the outer bar the seas calmed down and the visibly got better. We made our way out to 85 feet of water. Today we had a slow pick on keeper sea bass we caught a lot of fish today just under 12.5 inches the increase in size for 2009 really hurt us today we could have had several limits today. Instead I got to watch a lot 12 inch fish float away from the boat. High hook today Ted Alves and the pool fish was 3lb sea bass. www.missbeachhaven.com/

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May 16, 2009

8pm – Fresh Surf Clam as well as Live Bloodworms, Sandworms & Eels In-stock
Sorry but we are sold out of fresh bunker.  I spoke with one of our bunker guys and he said they had no luck.  With the fog and then the wind the conditions had it very challenging to set the nets.  They did not catch any bunker or bluefish (their target species). We are trying our best to get more bunker.

Boat: Jim Pallante of Burlington, NJ trolled bunker spoons off of Island Beach State Park (IBSP) in 50′ of water today.  He tipped the scale with a 36lb 12oz, 48″ Striper.
Luke Lucis and father Matt were in the store today. They showed a picture of the success they have had the past couple of days. Five bass in the 30 plus pound range, biggest ~45lbs on custom wooden plugs as well as deep diving swimmers (plugs) fished from the boat near the Bather’s Beach, IBSP. They reported 51 degree water in the area.

Surf: Despite the foggy mornings and evenings and the windy afternoons reports still trickle in; however, here at the shop we have not had any recent weigh-ins for the Simply Bassin’ Surf Tourney. There has been rumor (from a few customers) of a 30lb class striper being landed today off of the Barnegat Light Surf.  Only time will tell if its for sure.
-Greg

Emailed in  5/16/2009 @ 4:51PM
Hello All,
This was a strange week on the bay. Normal spring patterns aren’t holding… in fact, there doesn’t seem to be any discernable pattern from one day to the next. We were out Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and the results were completely different each day.
On Wednesday, Karl Stefan brought out his son Karl Jr. for a day of planned light tackle catch and release fishing. The first hour or so was excellent back bay fishing, with a bunch of blues from 7 to 10 pounds plus a 26″ bass coming over the side. Then, as if someone had thrown a switch someplace, the bite stopped. Totally. The only thing that came over the side for the next couple of hours was immense wads of slime weed that continually fouled our baits. Fortunately, a quick trip to the jetty at the turn of the tide led to the guys absolutely bailing big blackfish for the final hour or so of their trip. The final count was around 35 blackfish released, with most of them in the 5-8 pound range… really nice fish. The younger Karl also managed another bass that somehow managed to beat the hungry tog to his bait. A couple of pictures showing the variety that showed up are attached.
Thursday was a different story. Old friend Bill Murphy brought out sons Bill Jr. and Brian to celebrate Brian’s upcoming wedding, and Mother Nature greeted them with winds howling from the south at 30-35 with higher gusts. Tough conditions to begin with, but then the slime weed started flowing as thick as I’ve ever seen it in my years on the bay, making it near impossible to keep clean lines for more than a few seconds. When the rains finally started late morning, we could only laugh and wonder when pestilence would show up. Final tally for the day, just a couple of big bluefish.
Friday was different yet again. Southampton’s Hal Gilham was out with father-in-law Charlie in damp, foggy conditions and not even a breeze on the bay. We still had issues with slime weed, but found enough breaks to manage a pick of blues and bass throughout the morning topped by Hal’s 34″ bass (picture) taken way in back.
So that’s the story for this week. The good news is that there are plenty of fish around, including some big ones, but they’re just not as thick as we usually see them this time of year. The slime weed was definitely a problem this week, but we see it every year, it does eventually come to an end, and things return to normal. We should be in pretty good shape leading up to Memorial Day weekend.
Until next week.
—
Capt. Jack Shea
“Rambunctious”
Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters

2pm
Last night Mike from Mt. Holly fished off the beach in Surf City, nothing.  He then relocated to the crabbing pier at the Ship Bottom boat ramp.  He had bluefish up to 30″ and a few keeper sized weakfish.

9am

Surf:  Finally we have had reports of bluefish off of the surf.  Yesterday one of our customers, Nick, caught 4 bluefish and two short stripers off of the surf. Also there have been reports from the Barnegat Inlet.  Always use caution when fishing the south jetty.  It is especially dangerous when there are misty/foggy conditions in combination with wave action.

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May 15, 2009

5:30pm – Fresh Bunker & Surf Clam, Live Bloodworms & Eels –  In Stock

As far as reports go, it has be quiet so far today. I have spoke to a few customers who have fished throughout the day.  Most have said that it was a slow day; however, one angler reported seeing a nice striper being caught up the beach.  The water temperature has drop significantly due to the hard south wind yesterday, hence the slow bite. We wait patently for the cows.

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May 14, 2009

7:30pm  – For the morning Fresh Clam

Just before closing we had a weigh in from the beach front. Vince Zoppina of Burlington, NJ fished the Ship Bottom surf after work today.  “As soon as I got there, BOOM!” It was a striped bass, 11lbs 9oz, 32.5″ on bunker.

There have been reports of good fishing from all around the island!  Lotta action off the beach basically Island wide, with the majority of the fish coming out of Beach Haven and the surrounding area on the south end of the island.  The flats in the bay continue to produce bass and blues.  I have had a first hand report from a customer who had great success off of the Barnegat Inlet rock using bucktails and artificals (shad bodies).  Every day there are more reports from boats fishing the ocean. Trolling both bunker spoons and Mann Stretch Plugs had caught a number of fish already. Today, I also talked to a customer who had a couple smaller bass jigging metals. -Greg

6am

Surf: I fished the incoming tide in Southern Harvey Cedars yesterday morning.  Had a handful of good take downs (hits) but only hooked one.  It put up a nice fight. Released a 38″ that went for the clam.  I checked the water temp before I packed it in for the afternoon.  At high tide, the surf temperature was 55 degree in Harvey Cedars. – Greg

Boat: Ken U. (FHQ Staff) fished the day before yesterday with his friend Rick Phumphrey.  They caught a nice fish for dinner, 24lb 11oz.  It went for a Mann Stretch Plug (deep diver). They were trolling off of Island Beach State Park in 50 feet of water.

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May 13, 2009

8pm  –   For the morning Fresh Surf Clam & Bunker In-stock

Surf:  Today we had a 41.5″  22lb Striped Bass weighed-in.  IT was caught by Rich P. on the Barnegat Light beach with a plug.

Boat:  The flats of Barnegat Bay are active with blues and bass.  Also reports continue from the ocean.  Trollers are having success with bunker spoons off of Island Beach State Park.
6am – Fresh Clam & Bunker

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May 12, 2009

4pm  –   Fresh Surf Clams In-stock

Earlier today John Humphries caught a couple bass off of the surf in North Beach.  One was 8lbs 6oz and the other was 12lbs 4oz. Both fish were caught on clam.

11am  Also, another round of fresh bunker is expected before the end of the day.

This morning Bob Pras weighed-in a 32lb 10oz Striped Bass.  The fish was caught trolling bunker spoons off of Island Beach State Park in about 30′ of water.

Emailed in  5/12/2009
Fishin on the Hi Flier…Let the Games Begin!
Hello Everyone,
The boat is going in the water this morning and I am starting to fish immediately. There are already good reports of stripers and blues in the bay. The next six or seven weeks will be all about anchoring up and clamming for 10 to 20 pound stripers. Casting surface lures on light tackle for 2 to 5 pound bluefish, and drifting and casting soft plastic lures for big weakfish. All in the bay.
We will be fishing hard every day so give me a call to pick a date and a time. It’s finally here!
Note: This is our new email address

Capt. Dave DeGennaro
Hi Flier Sportfishing
732.330.5674 cell
website: hiflier.com
New email address: hiflierfishing@verizon.net

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May 11, 2009

7pm  –   Fresh Clam & Bunker and Live Bloodworms & Eels

Boat:  Just before closing Mike M. pulled in to weigh-in his days catch, a 21lb 12oz and a 33lb 9oz Striper.  He was trolling white bunker spoons this afternoon off of Island Beach State Park in about 30′ of water.  He also caught 15 bluefish that were all about 10lbs.

6:30pm
Surf:  This afternoon we had a customer report both bad and good news.  The good first: this morning he fished the rocks at Barnegat Light Inlet and had a couple bass on bucktails.  The bad: he had his plug bag was stolen.
Boat:  This afternoon we had a Black Drum (50lb class) weighted in.  It was caught in Little Egg Inlet on clam. On another note, Bluefish action was reported off of Island Beach on the troll.

Emailed in  5/11/2009 @ 3:56pm
Despite several days of heavy rain, the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been able to get some trips in and catch some fish.  Captain Fran Verdi on the “Cousins” had a couple of parties out last weekend after stripers in the Great Bay area. Captain Fran took Nick Rausch and Frank Marrazza to the Graveling point area in dense fog.  After fishing an hour of the incoming tide the tide went slack, and a rod doubled over producing a 29-inch striper for the fish box.  Things then slowed again until the tide started out. One fish was brought to the boat but spit the hook.  It looked to be short but it was going to be close.  Then a combination of increasing winds against the tide made fishing difficult the rest of the day.
Captain Adam fished the next day with the Rob Fraley Party.  They set up at Graveling Point and had the incoming tide to work with for about three hours.  After 30 minutes a line went down and it was the first striper of the day, a 32-incher was landed.  The tide went slack and they had a doubleheader on with Rob getting his first keeper striper ever.  His fish was 31-inches, but the other fish was a very short 10-inches. Ironically that angler’s nickname was “Tiny.”
The boats of the BHCFA that fish the ocean reefs and wrecks are encouraged over the early showing of some decent sea bass fishing.  On Saturday May 9, the “Miss Beach Haven” with Captain Frank Camarda covered a lot of ground all the way out to 100 feet of water looking for fish. Captain Frank reports he found plenty of life in 90 ft of water, but the problem was they were last years models.  The anglers had a goodly amount of catching going on with a lot of releasing. By the end of the day they were about 14 miles from the inlet with a water temperature of 51 degrees The high hook for the day was 5 sea bass by Jerry from Philadelphia who won the pool with a 3.5 -pound sea bass.
Captain Adam Nowalsky on the “Karen Ann II” reports he was tied to the dock the past week “courtesy of Mother Nature.” Now that the weather patterns seem to have straightened up, he has plans to get back to the fishing grounds soon to tangle with the spring humpback sea bass.  – Jim Hutchinson Sr.

* Additional information on the association can be found at BHCFA.com12:30pm

June 5th – June 14th , 6th Annual Berkeley Striper Club Spring Tournament, Over $7500. in prizes for bass, blues and weaks, surf/ shore only, no boats, open to all Ocean and Monmouth County waters, $25. entrance fee, optional pools/calcuttas, call 973-943-8201 or visit BerkeleyStriperClub.org

We had one report this morning from the mid island surf.  Fished from 6-10am with clam and bunker, nothing but skates.  There were a lot of dolphin swimming the beach.

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May 10, 2009  – Happy Mothers Day

8pm
Surf Report:  “Today there was a 35lb, 48″ Striped Bass caught down on the south end on clam.  It is not confirmed that it was a tournament fish,” Margaret from Jingled Bait & Tackle in Beach haven. (Thanks for the report Margaret)
Throughout the day reports have come in of bass up and down the beachfront.  Most of these fish are getting hooked on clam and bunker but also plugs too.  It seems that the most productive time/tide was between sunrise to noon.  We’ll see if it changes.  It looks like tomorrow will be another beautiful day, maybe a south breeze might pick up by mid day.

Boat Report:  Capt. Dave S. was in the shop today looking at a few reels.  While here he shared his report from yesterday, “Broke the Inlet in the morning and headed North.  The water was dirty so we continued up towards Seaside beach and started trolling.  There was tons of bait (bunker) but nothing on them. We were working hard trying to raise a fish.  Finally around 11am we had our first one in 60′ of water.  Ended out the day with two Bass in the 30lb class.  FYI the ocean water temp off of the Bathing Beach in Seaside was 53-54 degrees.

1pm So far today we have had two weight-ins here at the shop for the Simply Bassing Tourney:
# 28 – John Parazych – 16lb 4oz, 35″ x 19.5″  John caught his striper around 6 am in Spray Beach on bunker.
# 74 – Bob Balaszow – 15lb 3oz, 36″ x 19″  Bob caught his bass around 10 am in Loveladies on clam.

Simply Bassing ’09 Leaderboard (as of 5/10 @ 10:30am):
1) Joe Carmelengo – 18lb 2oz, 37″ x 20″ caught in Spray Beach on Clam (5/9)
2) Joe Filice – 14lb 12oz, 34″ x 18″ caught in Beach Haven on Bunker (5/9)
3) Gene Slaughter – 14lb 8oz, 33.75″ x 17.5″ caught in Beach Haven Park on Bunker (5/9)
4) Kevin Maher – 14lb 1oz, 33″ x 16.75″ caught in Beach Haven on Bunker (5/9)
5) Robert Vallone – 12lb 12oz, 33.5″ x 17” caught in Beach Haven on Bunker (5/10)

Emailed in  5/10/2009 @ 10:43am
Hello All,
Just when it looks like we’ve got things all figured out, Mother Nature throws us a knuckleball. Nine straight days of rain, flooding the bay with freshwater runoff and turning what should have been a spectacular week of fishing upside down.
We only made it out twice this week due to the weather. Wednesday’s trip turned out to be a steady pick right through the tide, with the final tally being six bass and eight bluefish, plus one 5# tog (released) that must have been lost out in the back bay. All the fish were nice sized, with five of the bass being keepers and the blues all in the 7-8 pound class. Not the kind of mind blowing action I was expecting this week, but still a lot of fun and plenty of good filets for the table. Saturday was another story. After another three days of rain, the fish seemed to have finally developed lockjaw with the guys only managing a couple of bluefish and some skates all morning.
Fortunately the bay tends to bounce back pretty quickly after this kind of thing happens, and a few tide cycles should bring things back to normal. With no more significant rain in the near term forecast, this should be a pretty good week of fishing coming up.
Until next week.
—
Capt. Jack Shea
“Rambunctious”
Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters

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May 9, 2009

10pm  –   Fresh Clam & Bunker and Live Bloodworms & Eels In Stock

Emailed in @ 3:15pm on 5-9-09
Another solid week of battling big Slammer blues and stripers ! Regular Jay Simmons was out for a slow start using poppers in the back bay with fish knocking the plugs around but not committing to them [ pretty cool visual though !] . We then moved toward the inlet area to find what Jay termed
“Exhausting Action” from stripers and blues!  We could fish only 2 rods at a time!  Fishing more rods only served to be too crazy as you darted to one bent over rod [fish-on] the other rod would go down leading to more missed fish than landed. Keeping the baits fresh and clean was the ticket to success, if you didn’t have a bite in 5 minutes your bait was covered in seaweed or you missed a bite.  Yes it was that good!  Bill Caulin, President of STS Tire Company, was out for what appeared to be a quick out of the gate start with bird play and visible “V” wake from cruising fish [ I think it may have been big weakfish] on top off a shallow sand flat. With the bays clarity being so clear it was almost like fishing the “Florida flats.”  Disappointingly, the flat proved to be a bit to shallow for to present any offerings. After multiple futile attempts and a tide change it was time to we anchor up . Once at anchored it was more non stop action with big blues and 1 keeper striper rounding out the day. The guys were at times doubled up with fish on ! Fresh clams , bunker and a variety of artificials were used with great success.

Best Regards,
Capt. Steve Purul
Reel Fantasea Charters
609-290-1217

12:00 PM

Had a few weigh-ins this morning:
Chris C. fished the surf in Harvey Cedars, 16lb 9oz Striper.  Chris only fished for an hour with clam and had three bass.
Joe F. fished the surf in Beach Haven, 14lb 10oz Striper
Ed V. fished the surf in Barnegat Light, 7lb 8oz Striper

I spoke with the bunker guy and asked him if there was any action in the ocean.  He said, ” Nothing was on the pods (bunker).  It was a very quite day.  Among the bunker they caught only had one bluefish, a couple weakfish, and a few herring.” – Greg

11:30 PM   A report from yesterday:  FHQ staffer Al A. fished the mid Island surf around 4pm on.  He tagged and released 7 striped bass, one keeper size.  Al said he missed a few fish, ” They were quick hit and runs.”

FYI…
Bio Edge Fishing Products are in stock! 100% All Natural Concentrated Extracts; Bunker, Bloodworm, Shrimp, and Crab in both Wand & Potion Form. Made in the USA.

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May 8, 2009

11:30am  –   Fresh Clam and Live Bloodworms

I went plugging in Harvey Cedars this morning for a hour before I surfed.  It looked promising: a little bit foggy, no wind and a deep incoming tide. But, nothing wanted my Panther Martin.  I’m gonna give it another try later tonight. -Greg.

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May 7, 2009

10:30am  –   Fresh Bunker & Clam and Live Bloodworms

The sun poked out for a little bit.  It should be a great rest of the day with a south westerly breeze.  The full moon is tomorrow.
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May 6, 2009

11pm
Before the rain and thunder, I fished the Ship Bottom Bayside with artificals (Pather Martin). The high tide was expected (charted) @ 9:29pm; however, the tide continued to fill in until after ten.  The water was really up high due to the full moon (will be in two days).  I hooked, landed, and release a shorty(~25).  On light tackle, it put up a nice fight in the rippy current. -Greg

7 pm
Fresh Surf Clams & Fresh Bunker – IN STOCK Eels are expected on Friday.

12:30 pm
So far today we have had a couple reports of shorts off the front beach on clam.  Presently the tide is dead low and will be coming up through the afternoon.

6 am

Emailed in @ 10:40pm on 5-5-09
After Fished the surf for 4 hours this evening. I had my limit plus a bonus tag fish within the first 2 hours. Two 28s and a 32in striper. Also landed two shorts with one having a pink tag sticking out. The key is to hold your finger on the line; these fish aren’t running with the bait, you gotta set the hook on them. All were caught on fresh clam.  ~Zach R.

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May 5, 2009

10:30 am  Fresh Clam In Stock

Emailed in @ 8am:  A combination of recent bad weather along with some captains doing some out of state fishing on their own accounted for only a couple of reports for the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association this week.
Captains Brant Whittaker and Frank Camarda on the “Miss Beach Haven” had a light crowd Sunday with threatened weather reducing the anglers. They missed some excellent fishing. Sal Rosa of Manahawkin was high hook with 17 sea bass. His biggest fish, a 4-pound sea bass, was the pool winner.
On Saturday the conditions made for some difficult fishing conditions, but once the boat was able to anchor, the sea bass cooperated. Many blackfish were caught and released, and everyone managed to catch some keeper sea bass for dinner.
Captain Adam Nowalsky of the “Karen Ann II” had a wreck fishing trip on the final day of the spring blackfish season and found plenty of fish. His six-man party ended up with 75 blackfish although most of them were throwbacks.
Sea bass continue to show up in increasing numbers, and this day’s party boated over a dozen with about half of them being keepers. The day’s fishing produced two dozen fish in the cooler with some of the blackfish tipping the scales at 5-pounds.
On Sunday Captain Adam took out a party for a day of catch and release blackfish. The group caught close to 200 blackfish up to 5-pounds along with a dozen keeper sea bass.
With the weather expected to improve and a variety of fish including stripers, blues, and weakfish showing up, the BHCFA expects to be in full gear very shortly. Captain Adam reports the stripers are getting bigger, and the bluefish are 5-8 pounds in size.
– Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.fishbeachhaven.com

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May 4, 2009

8 pm  Live Bloods and Salted Clams In Stock, Sorry no Live Surf Clams until mid day tomorrow.

Lotta small bass hitting on clam in the mid-island surf (Ship Bottom and Brant Beach among other location both to the north and south).  FHQ Staffer Ed B. had non stop action yesterday between 2:30- 5:30pm  He said, ” Anglers to my right and left all catching fish. Rods were going down all over.  I could only fish one rod.” It seems that the higher portions of the tide are best.

Emailed In 5-4-2009 @ 4pm

I caught a short (22″) on a Bomber windcheater, mid-island surf, after I left your shop yesterday evening. -Rob S.

8 am  Live Bloods and Salted Clams In Stock for the rest of Today, but sorry No Live Clams
Emailed In 5-3-2009 @ 8pm

Sunday we sailed with a light crowd I guess the weather scared everybody off. Fishing was excellent today Sal Rosa from Manahawkin was high hook with 17 sea bass he still cant believe he out fished everybody on the boat today, but every once in a while a squirrel finds a nut what can I say: he was in the zone today his biggest was a 4 lb sea bass which won the pool

Saturday we headed out to the fishing grounds, conditions were less then perfect for anchoring with no wind and a huge swell some how we managed to get thru it. We fished two spots today, plenty of action with sea bass the entire boat took home fish today. We caught quite a few blackfish that were released over all it was a good day of fishing.

www.missbeachhaven.com/

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May 3, 2009

7 pm  Live Bloods and Salted Clams In Stock for AM and rest of Tomorrow
Despite the rain, we had a lot of anglers coming in for bait and tackle.  Sorry to everyone for not having fresh shell clams, delivery is not expected until Tuesday.  The salted clams do work!  I had a customer stop in and report steady action in the Brant Beach surf on the salted.  He reported that other anglers near him were catching too.  He said he saw a few keepers caught. – Greg

11 am  Fresh Bunker & Live Bloods, but sorry No Clams
After work last night I headed down the street to the bayside and fished for about an hour. Caught and released a shorty (bass) at about 9:30pm. Had another couple hits but didn’t hook ’em.  I was using the Rainfish from Vision on a small jig head. – Greg

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May 2, 2009

6 pm
As far as the surf goes, the Striped Bass action continues.  Most fish are shorts; therefore, small baits are choice. John P. reported a lot of small fish (stripers) in the North Beach Haven area.  He had three bass on bunker and one on clam.  He said, “Find a cut or a hole and they are there.”

Ed McGinnis of Titusville just tipped the scale with a 35 inch bass, 15lbs 10oz.  He caught the fish on clam at 4pm on the surf in Brant Beach.

Report from the boat:  Dave G. from Bayville fished this morning in the bay off of Sedge Island.  He caught 6 small stripers all on artificials, Fin-S. He reported 54 degree water at the top of the tide just as it started to turn and go out.

Emailed in @ 4 pm
Yesterday I had Joe Piskorowski down from Rochester, NY with son Kyle and brother Danny to sample some Barnegat Bay light tackle fishing. After driving through the night to get here, only to be greeted by rain and a honking southwest wind, what happens? The guys started landing fish before all the lines were even in the water, and action was non-stop all morning: double headers, triple headers… every time things would quiet down for a couple minutes and we’d start to catch our breaths, the rods would start going again. As you might expect with that much action it was mostly bluefish, but these were the tackle busting arm straining variety. While we did have a few in the 3 to 5 pound class, most of the fish ran from 8 to 12 pounds providing fantastic sport on the light tackle we use. Joe’s 31″ beauty (picture) topped the bass catch for the day.
So as long as the weather gods cooperate a bit, it looks like we’re in for a couple of weeks of fishing mayhem in the bay. I’ve got a few days open this week if anyone feels the need to sneak out of work for a day to get in on this.  Until next week.
—
Capt. Jack Shea
“Rambunctious”
Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters
Barnegat Bay Fishing

12:30pm  We received a few reports off the surf.  As far as last night goes, I had one report of nothing but skates on clam.  Just a few minutes ago a customer came in the shop to “re-up” his clam bucket.  He reported a good number a shorts and a keeper.  He is fishing clams mid island (he did not tell his location). – Greg  PS our clams are getting low, get ’em before they are gone.

Emailed in @ 11:51 am
This week more stripers and blues have stormed into Barnegat Bay leaving mayhem and disaster to any all creatures that swim or crawl ! The bays striper and bluefish have defiantly made their presents known as catches soared on both species on a variety of artificials such as poppers , and plastics with bunker and clam taking up much of the natural baits. The stripers are ranging in sizes from 22″ to 32″ with the majority falling somewhere in between. ” Hot Rod” honors goes to regular Wayne Salvi on Friday who boated 8 stripers to 281/2″ on clam along with big blues on poppers with light spinning tackle in the shallows of the western bay ! Wayne was at times doubled up with stripers on ! All fish that “took the ride” were found with a variety of bunker, shrimp, soft shell Jonah crabs, and smaller bait fish. The large size variation is most definitely a very good sign of a healthy stock of stripers and it looks like we will have a great spring run this year in the bay. On a solo recon trip I fished 5 different locations and all areas were rewarding with stripers and or bluefish !

Best Regards
Capt. Steve Purul
Reel Fantasea Charters
609-290-1217
Reel Fantasea Charters

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May 1, 2009

Simply Bassin’ Spring Striper Tourney Starts tomorrow, May 2nd!!!!!
– Fresh Bunker & Clam In Stock

11:30 am  I was curious about the water temp, so I brought my thermometer to the beach yesterday around the midday high tide.  At Beach One aka the Holgate Parking Lot (end of the road) the surf temperature was 50-51 degrees. I also spoke with one of my buddies who is a scalloper and he shared, “The water temp has ranged from 48- 51 degrees in the ocean.” -Greg

Received 8pm 4/30/08  –  Stopped in the store today, going to NY tomorrow so I only bought 4 clams and 6 bloodworms.  Nothing on the bloodworms but caught 4 stripers on the clams.  Three 24 inchers and one 28 incher. All in Brant Beach around 10 am.  Not bad for my first day out.  Art M. from Manahawkin

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April 29, 2009

11:30am  We received a report from a customer who fished off the rocks at the Barnegat Light Inlet yesterday.  He had encountered a good bluefish bit on metals.  The blues were in the 3-5lb.  The action started around mid day and continued until dark

The Tautog aka Blackfish season closes tomorrow, Thursday, April 30th.  It will reopen July 16 until November 15 at which time the limit will be one fish at 14″.

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April 28, 2009

4:45 pm   Had a puppy drum weighed in, 16+ lbs.  It was caught on clam in the Ship Bottom surf.

10:30am
Received: 9am Subject: BHCFA Report
A sudden warm spell has raised water temperatures in southern Ocean County, and the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are finding the fish are in a feeding mode.
The boats bottom fishing in the ocean have seen some very good catches of big blackfish, but that season ends on May 1. Fortunately, black sea bass have started to arrive to pick up the slack.
Captain Adam Nowalsky of the “Karen Ann II” reports some good catches of tog or blackfish. Along with the tog, he has been noticing more nice sea bass showing up.  Some recent limit catches of blackfish on the “Karen Ann II” include George Johnston of Philadelphia, Keith Stickles of Princeton, Robert Key of Reading, Pa., Johnny Lucario of Somerville to 5 pounds, and Bob Craney of Parsippany to 7.2 pounds.
Capt. Brant Whittaker took over the chores on the “Miss Beach Haven” from Frank Camarda last weekend and found some nice blackfish and sea bass on inshore wrecks and reefs. Dave Agar was the pool winner with his fat 12-pound tautog.
On Sunday the boat found even better fishing with a mixed bag of sea bass and tog with high hook being 7 fish.
Captain Fran Verdi ran some “open boat” trips on the “Cousins” recently and caught fish each time. One day he had Steve Richter and his son out for some bass. They fished in 55-degree water off Graveling Point. After a slow start, the fish started to bite when the tide turned and the rain started. In addition to several short fish they had keepers of 34 and 29-inches.
On Sunday Captain Fran tried bottom fishing in the ocean. After trying several spots with little success, they found a sweet spot on the Little Egg Reef. They managed to boat about 30 fish mostly blackfish with some sea bass mixed in. Many of the fish were shorts, but they did manage several keeper blackfish.
Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com
– Jim Hutchinson Sr.

8:30am

Emailed In:  Yesterday, I dropped a reel off for fixin’ and hit the beach in Surf City at 5pm. Had a nice run of action from 7:45-8:30. Action on both rods. Landed one 26″ bass. Bob L from Cape May

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April 27, 2009

9pm  Emailed In: After I left your shop yesterday afternoon, I caught a shorty on a black/orange Bomber in the surf mid-island.  Rob S.

10:30am  Had a 14lbs 11oz weakfish weighed in today. It was caught last night down the street from the shop at the bridge. Reports of bass and a few blues in the same area also continue.

Received via email 7am
This weeks fishing was by no means stellar but, the first bluefish showed up in our catches and stripers were active . For the night owls stripers are very thick and active at night at various locations through out the bay. Artificials, worms and clams have all accounted for their share of fish. It’s is a matter of right place and right time . At times the bass have been visible all over the waters surface making for some interesting viewing but frustrating catching! . We have been marking huge schools of bass on the recorder during the day but been only seeing evidence of life at night. I have 1-2 Open spots for this Friday for a backbay striper/bluefish trip . I am sure that all this warm weather will have the fish active by than.

Best Regards,
Capt. Steve Purul
Reel Fantasea Charters
609-290-1217

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April 26, 2009

8:30pm  For the AM: Live Bloodworms In Stock but our Fresh Clams stock is getting low.

Dave W. & Gary S. both of Forked River stopped in the shop this evening to grab some bait and sign up for the upcoming Spring Surf Derby (starts May 2nd).  They reported and backed it up with a picture from their phone a couple nice sized stripers. They caught ’em the night before last on live eel fishing their honey hole in Oyster Creek.

4:30pm  Hope everyone is enjoying the great summer like day!  Unfortunately the eel delivery never came; however, we are trying again for another delivery mid to late week, we’ll see what happens.  I have spoke to numerous customers today throughout the day.  There have been some good and some not so good report.  One customer reported an increase in black drum action at Graveling Point on clam.  He also said that the striper bit continues but almost all fish are shorts.  Another customer fished Ship Bottom for a couple hours in the dark last night with clam and had nothing but skates.  – Greg

11:30am  Emailed Report
Hello All,
Flounder fishing has continued this week to be somewhat picky at best. There are still some fish around, mostly nice fat ones that produce some great filets for the table, but the numbers aren’t what they should be and it’s probably time to move on to something else.
The good news is that the warm weather of the past couple of days was exactly the trigger we needed to get our spring fishery for striped bass and bluefish underway. Yesterday morning saw the arrival of the first schools of mixed blues and bass on the flats, and with this 80 degree plus weather expected to hold for a few days the bay should be providing some superb light tackle fishing for the next month or so. We’ll be mixing up fishing the flats with top water plugs when the boat traffic is light then switching to clams for some bigger fish when the tide is right. The ocean is still pretty cold, so we’re going to see some pretty dramatic water temperature swings with each tide over the next few weeks. In the past that’s been the key to some really excellent bass fishing, so I’m expecting May to be really special this year. We’ll see.
I still have a number of open dates available this May, so if you’re looking to get in on some great light tackle action this spring, give me a call and we’ll get it set up.
Until next week.
—
Capt. Jack Shea
“Rambunctious”
Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters
www.BarnegatBayFishing.com
609-698-3632

10:30am  Brian Robinson of Langhorn, PA weighed in a 28 1/4″ Striper.  The fish weighed 7 lbs 12oz and was caught off the surf in Ship Bottom on clam.

9am  Gary Furman of Manahawkin was issued the $50 Store Gift Certificate.  He weighed in a 6.1 lbs, 31″ bluefish.  He caught the fish at the bridge on clam.

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April 25, 2009

6:30pm  Nice Tog Just Weigh In!

Pete Grey from Pennsauken just weighted in a 13.22lb Tautog (26 3/4″ length X 20 3/8″ girth) which is eligible for a Skillfull Angler Award from the Fish & Game.  He was fishing the Garden State North aboard the Super Chic with Capt. Ted White. Pete caught his limit today. He had another tog that was right about 8lbs.  All of his fish were caught on Green Crab.  Congratulations Pete!

5pm  Just received an emailed report.
Subject: Blackfish Friday, April 24
Beautiful day on the water. Nice calm seas, gentle breeze and the sunshine. That was the best part of the day. Only six keeper blackfish came over the rail and I had none. About 30 folks on the boat. For some reason the fish did not want to bite. I had three hits all day. But, I haven’t been on the water in a couple of months, so I can’t complain. It was so nice out there.
Jim T.
Bridgewater, NJ

3:30pm  I heard it through the grapevine, “A couple keepers were caught off the surf today in North Beach Haven on clam.” Spoke with the bunker boat guys and they reported a lot of junk fish today, but they are still catching a few weakies and blues.
-Greg

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April 24, 2009

10pm  Just before closing, Tom W. of Little Egg stopped in and picked up some clams & bloods and he shared this report, “Fished the Pebble Beach Area the night before last (22nd) and caught a bunch of shorts (stripers) on clam. A couple drum have been caught during the day too. With the great weather it’s gonna be elbow to elbow tonight but we will all be catching fish.”

2pm   I spoke with the bunker boat guys when they dropped off.  They’re catching bluefish and weakfish about 1/2 to 1 mile off the beach.  As far as the surfcasters, a few customers have talked about a couple shorts on clam.      -Greg

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April 23, 2009

9pm  For the morning: Fresh Bunker, Salted Clam, Live Eels & Green Crabs In stock! Fresh Clams will hopefully be in by midday.

I plugged the beach this morning before my surf sesh, nothing. Still in search of a stripped one, I fished the back side of Ship Bottom/ Cedar Bonnet Island for an hour around sunset (incoming tide). Released my first weakfish (23.5″) of the season. Caught it on an artificial (Vision Sand Eel) with a teaser above it. Hopefully, the spring run this year will be better than expected. -Greg

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April 22, 2009

9pm  For the morning: Salted Clam, Live Eels & Green Crabs In stock! Only a couple dozen bloodworms left.

Get ready for the spring run of bluefish!  It will not be long before these bruisers will be all over the bay and surf. The first angler to weigh a bluefish in that is over 28″ will be awarded a $50 Store Gift Certificate.

FYI Fresh clam will be in stock shortly after the boats go out (hopefully before end of day on Thursday), the storm and swell has kept them at dock.  Fresh bunker is expected to be delivered mid to late day on Friday.

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April 21, 2009

9pm  Went out this past Friday with that hard working Doris Mae crew for the 6 hour Blackfish and Sea Bass trip.  Despite the new coat of paint, we only had one keeper blackfish, a few shorts as well as some great weather. The captain and the crew really went at it trying to get us all more fish. There is always next time Steve K.

Looks like this up coming weekend is going to be another gorgeous couple of days.

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April 19, 2009

In stock Fresh Surf Clams & Bay Clams, Bloodworms, Green Crabs & Live Eels.

7pm “I’ve been driving around for almost an hour looking for a bait shop that’s open!” Duane Bender (no relation to Chris Bender in report below) of Atco was stoked to see that we were open until 6 and had fresh clam and bloodworms.  He said that he fished Graveling Point from noon time until he ran out of bait around 5pm, “Went through a couple dozen bloodworms and clams fishing throughout the day. Caught 5 bass mostly very small (biggest was 27″) and missed one really good take down. There was only a few guys fishing so I’m heading back out cause I don’t have work.”

Another customer purchased a dozen and a half eels just before closing.  He reported that with the eels he bought yesterday he caught 9 stripers on the West Side of Barnegat Bay. He was on his way back out again this evening.

4pm Yesterday evening right about sunset (top of the tide) Stevie G. caught (on clam) and released a 30″ striped bass.  He was fishing the bayside of Surf City.  Steve also shared his friend’s report from the boat this morning: a 32″ & 34″ bass on clam, fishing the shallow waters in Grassy Channel.

FYI  Gill netters are beginning to catch weakfish just off the surf.
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April 18, 2009

As for the morning time: Fresh Bunker, Live Bloodworms & Eels are all In Stock!

9 pm Chris Bender fished the west side of Barnegat Bay yesterday (17th) night and reported stripers on bloodworms and clam, “I had 13 fish over the course of the night. Three keepers; a 29, 33, and a 35″ which were all on clam.  All of the other fish went for the bloods.”

4 pm Dave S. (below) stopped back pick up ice. He ended out his day catching a couple more flaties.

1pm Dave Sauerbaum from Norristown, PA stopped in the shop less than an hour ago.  He purchased flounder chum and hit the water.  He just called in to report, “We’ve been fishing for about twenty minutes and already caught three (winter flounder).  Thanks Bob for putting me on the fish.”  Bloodworms, Chum & Sun = Winter Flounder.

As far as the surf goes, the water clarity has significantly improved but no reports here yet.

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April 17, 2009

Bloodworms & Fresh Bunker In stock, Only a few fresh clams left.

The recent foul weather has put a damper on reports; however, with high pressure in control, the rest of the weekend will be beautiful.  To those hitting the beach, a little extra lead might be needed: “low pressure, located well out to sea, will continue to produce a long period easterly swell on the coastal waters into tonight,” NOAA NWS Local Coastal Waters Forecast. Due to the recent storm, the surf is murky and grassy. I predict by later today and into tomorrow the water clarity will gradually increase as the swell begins to calm down and more so if we get the westerly breeze that is predicted for tomorrow. -Greg
FYI  Earth Day Clean-Up Tomorrow!
Jetty wants all to come out tomorrow (April 18th) for the Alliance for a Living Ocean’s (www.livingocean.org) Annual Earth Day Clean-Up! Get there early and get a free tee designed by Jetty!

Saturday, April 18, 2009 from 10am – 1pmMeet at your choice of 6 locations:
– Bonnet Island, Route 72 Eastbound
– Beach Haven, Center Street Ocean Beach
– Ship Bottom Public Dock and Boat Ramp
– Surf City, 16th street Bay Beach
– Barnegat Light, at the end of Broadway
– Holgate, parking lot at the end of Long Beach Blvd.

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April 13, 2009 12:00 Noon

Reports of Stripers on the Ship Bottom bayside continue. Keeper size fish have been caught but most catches are shorts. Bloodworms have been the bait of choice. Striper reports from Oyster Creek continue along with reports of shorts in Hi Bar using very slowly moving lures.

Received: Monday, April 13, 2009 7:04 AM Subject: Reel Fantasea Fishing reports

This week both I and my friend Capt. Dave DeGennaro of the High Flier (cell:732.330.5674) finally got a chance to fish. Conflicting schedules have plague both of us for quiet some time but with the Easter Holiday weekend came a small window of opportunity for the both of us and Dave’s sons Nick [10] and Max [8] to get out and do a little winter flounder fishing. We couldn’t miss out on this opportunity to try our luck. The winter flounder continue to be picky but the size of the flounder is well over the 12″ size limit with most of the flounder being 14″ and some of the fish approaching 17″. Hopefully the next Reel Fantasea fishing report will include more in the way of stripers and possibly even the first arrivals of bluefish as the calendar dictates them to arrive in the matter of a week if not days. Look for blues to arrive no later than the last week in April. Stripers are already running thru out the bay but time and tide dictates success. For those of you who are not aware or have not yet seen, Barnegat Light has it’s own version of ” snow bird”. Over this past winter we had a few seals that made Barnegat Light their “Winter Getaway”. This particular seal has made the floating docks his/her home for most of the winter. ~ Best Regards, Capt. Steve Purul, Reel Fanatsea Charters 609-290-1217

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April 6, 2009

Received: Monday, April 06, 2009 6:50 AM Subject: Reel Fantasea Charters fishing report

This weeks weather did not help the winter flounder activity. Most of this week’s sun was shrouded by a combination of fog and clouds along with cooler temperatures and rain. When the sun finally showed itself, strong NW winds blew over 30mph! On the upside the first blue crabs have started to show up in my crab pots along with plenty of Jonah crabs. Ahhh! Sweet Spring at last. The Ernie Rosenberg Party was out on the Reel Fantasea for a hard earned catch of a few winter flounder in fog and rain. The guys fished it as hard as anyone could in less than desirable condition and still managed to catch a few flounder and have a fun day. For you New Jersey Angler Magazine fans, starting in April I will be writing for the magazine threw the 2009 fishing season offering fishing forecast for our area, tips, and techniques. Make sure to pick up a copy if you are not a subscriber already and give me some feedback. On May 1 the Reel Fantasea has an Open boat charter so call if you are interested. May 7, 15, 28 are the last remaining dates left in the month of May. May is a great month for blues, Stripers and trophy weakfish as they arrive and are usually very cooperative and ravenous from their journey North! ~ Captain Steve Purul, Reel Fantasea Charters 609-290-1217

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April 3, 2009

Currently in stock is a limited supply of Bloodworms, Green Crabs, Surf Clams, Hard Clams, and Live Eels.

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April 2, 2009

Received: Thursday, April 02, 2009 7:59 PM Subject: Robby’s First Keeper

Robby Vallone broke the ice today. He landed a 29″ Bass while fishing the surf of the north end of LBI. Rob told me he caught the fish on his first cast of the season. The Green Slime was a problem. You can bet he’ll be back at it tomorrow unless Pete schedules a Scallop run. ~ Carl Vallone