Fisherman's Headquarters

Last night the magic hour lived up to its name.  Before then I caught some of the outgoing tide in some of the channels behind Barnegat Light.  With bay temperatures at 78 outgoing was close to that.  I talked to two anglers that had fished through incoming noting the water temp went as low as 60. As if the fluke read the textbook they did not feed much on the colder side of the tide preferring the warmer ebb. I spent about an hour fluking and C&R about a dozen shorts.  After that, I headed over to the inlet for the magic hour hoping to catch some cooler water and a few bass.  With the water still warm but the first cast set the tone.  Bluefish in the 2-4 pound range were on the feed and in excellent numbers.  In fact, it was the best bluefishing I have experienced this year. Nonstop, light tackle, screaming drags for an hour. The blues were popping up from time to time and when on em it was blitz conditions.  It did not matter what I threw: BKDs; metals; or bucktails. I left them biting. Schools now out and I am running full time.  I am booked tomorrow morning but am available for an afternoon magic hour trip.  Also, this weekend is open for last minute booking.

Screaming drags, Capt. Alex

609-548-2511

Was out Friday evening and Saturday morning.  Friday I had  Debbie M on board the Debbie M for some evening fluking. We caught the last of outgoing and the beginning of incoming. It was kind of strange but the current never went slack around low tide. It was going one way and then just started going the other.  We had solid action with fluke but no keepers. At one point I was trying to tie a rig to fish the second rod and it just could not do it because I was busy landing five fluke one after the other.  Saturday I had the Frank Sutton group on for a quick bluefish and bass trip.  They landed a handful of bluefish to about 6 pounds but no bass.  With incoming tide around 58 deg thought we would have landed a few stripers. Guess they were waiting for Sunday morning tide if you know what I mean. Attached is a picture of Frank with his 13-year-old son will. With school ending Thursday, I will be available 7 days/evenings a week.  In addition to charters, I will be launching (get it) my new LBI eco-kayak tours through the Long Beach Island Foundation of Arts and Sciences.  I hope to be up and paddling by the end of this month. The planned two-hour destinations will be Clam Island in Barnegat Light and Bonnet Island in Ship Bottom. With close to 40 years on Barnegat Bay and a true passion for the environment, it makes sense that I should start sharing all of the marvels that Barnegat Bay has to offer.  Whether you want to get out fishing or on an eco-tour give me a call.

Screaming drags,

Capt. Alex 609-548-2511

The best bite of late has been Bluefish and Fluke, but there are still some smaller Striped Bass coming from spots close to the inlet.  Ocean Striped Bass has been tough for most as I’m hearing lots of hours trolling (20+ hours) without a touch.  Our most recent trips have focused on a combination of Bluefish and Fluke which gives anglers a taste of two different types of action.  I highly recommend Bay Fluking for the little ones as it is usually calmer waters and provide more action.  Reminder: We have started running 7 days a week until September.

In the beginning of the week, I had return client Mike Galindo, and his two sons Bennet and Mason on a 5hr Bay & Inlet charter for Striped Bass and Fluke. We started working the inlet area for Striped Bass, but could only muster Blackfish and Dogfish. With the Bass bite not happening, we resorted to working the backwaters for Fluke. The trio did an awesome job jigging over 30 Fluke with 3 keepers (18in, 18.5in, 19in). Mike was the top hook, and finally took it over the two boys. Sorry Mason and Bennet, had to put that in there! Great day on the water and look forward to seeing the crew on their next trip.

Next, I had return client Art Diebel and his son Bruce from Freehold, NJ on a 4hr Bay/Inlet charter.  We started working the backwaters for Fluke and the father-son team caught a few at each spot, but they did not reach the 18in mark.  With the tide change, we switched to working the inlet area for Bluefish, and they both hooked up with Blues to 28-inches.  With their fill of Bluefish action, we headed back to a few more spots for Fluke.  On our literal last drift, Art nailed a fat, 6 pound Fluke that taped at 23.5 inches.  They did a good job fishing through tough slime conditions as almost every drop had the lures being fouled by the bay slime-algae.

Towards the end of the week, I had new client Dave Kaschak and his 9yr old son Chase from Hazelton, PA on an afternoon 4hr Bay trip.  The father and son were first timers in fishing for Fluke and they had to fight through some tough conditions with winds over 18 knots, full moon current, and algae-slime.  The beginning of the trip had better tide-water conditions and the crew nailed 2-3 shorts on each drift, and after several moves Chase nailed his 1st ever keeper Fluke at a solid 19 inches.  We continued to work different areas, but could only muster short fish.  The father and son team did a great job for their 1st time!

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

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

Steady reports are flowing in from customers that fluking off the beach. Anglers are catching the flatties up and down the island’s beaches. The key has been finding some good structure to work gulp and bucktails off the edges into the drop-offs. Most anglers are reporting that the outgoing tide has been best out front on the beach. Multiple reports of 20+ inch fluke have been caught from the suds. There is good action for boats fluking the back bays from Great Bay to Barnegat Bay. Chad Astemborski and Dave DeFeo managed a 23” fluke fishing Great Bay. Store staffer Rob Vallone has also been finding some keeper fish in the back bay drifting the channels in Barnegat Bay. Targeting the slower current at the top of the flood as well as the  bottom of the ebb tide has helped results with larger class flatties. Gulp and minnow combinations have been the ticket!

There is still consistent action of bluefish throughout LBI beaches as well. For those that like putting the yellow eyed demons on the dinner plate, now is the time to get on it. Both in the bay and on the beaches, smaller 1-8 pound blues have been on the feed willing to eat chunks of bunker and plugs. Speaking of smaller bluefish, these are the perfect size fish to live bait for those going out for makos and threshers which are around! We have plenty of frozen 4 gallon mackerel and bunker chum in stock.

For those that are still going strong on the bass fishing, both beach and boat have been producing some fish. Ted Kamish weighed in a 44lb surf bass on Thursday 6/8 after chunking some bunker at sunset.

Ted Schmutz(pictured) weighed in a 28lb bass after chunking bunker mid island off the surf this morning.

Guys on the boat are picking at bass while trolling mojos and spoons along the 3 mile line in 50-60+ feet of water. First and last light windows are the key to finding bunker pod action for bass. Unfortunately today’s Striper Shootout had few fish caught. We’ll post the result when we get them. 

Sea Bassing the inshore reefs has been great. Squid, clam, and gulp have all been scoring the humpbacks. Some anglers have been dropping down diamond jigs rigged with Tsunami Sandeels to weed out some of the smaller fish hanging around. 
Tsunami Holographic Eel

Diamond Jig Lures

– Store Staffer Luke

Here comes the heat! Looks like warmer temps are forecasted for the weekend and beyond. No better way to beat the heat then swinging for stripers and blues. We will be running combo trips that start with the hunt for big stripers and then end in the bay throwing topwaters for blues. We could also mix in some fluke jigging in the bay. Whatever you guys want to do. Sailing Charter or Open Boat Sat, Sun, and Mon June 10, 11, and 12. Sailing morning and afternoon departures. Charter the boat for your own group or sign on as an individual. There hasn’t been much snag and drop opportunity with the bunker so we are catching the big stripers trolling bunker spoons and Mojos. The upside is they are all huge. 35 to 50 pound fish. Finishing up with some light tackle blues and fluke rounds out the day. $175 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.

BHCFA Weekly Fishing Report
by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

The striped bass action for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association has been hit or miss lately, the black sea bass action has been nothing short of outstanding. Both inshore artificial reefs and some wreck sites have been producing “drop and reel” fishing.

Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Star Fish” reports that there is a good number of keeper sea bass available for drift fishermen. Captain Carl was out with Wade and two friends of his friends, and they managed to catch over 50 fish in about two hours. He has been using the North Cut to travel through the inlet and has found sufficient water to navigate with comfort.

Captain Gary Dugan fished Great Bay last Friday and had several summer flounder to 17.5-inches and one keeper at 19-inches. Saturday was more of the same as he had several fluke again to 17.5-inches along with 3 keepers in the cooler. On Sunday Captain Gary changed direction and went wreck fishing, He reported non-stop drop and reel action with sea bass and big blackfish that had to be returned. His party brought home a cooler of sea bass for the table. Captain Gary feels the fishing is starting to hear up.
Captain Fran Verdi made two trips last weekend on the “Francesca Marie”. On Friday he and his wife did a half-day trip and for a nice mix of sea bass and blackfish on a wreck in 60-feet of water. On Sunday Captain Fran had his whole family join him for their first sea bass trip to wrecks in 70-90 feet of water. His son got the first keeper and the boat’s namesake, Francesca Marie, decided to show why the boat was named after her landing the most keepers. They had a mix of sea bass, blackfish and ling. On the trip in, Francesca turned to her dad and said “sea bass and wreck fishing blows away fluke fishing.” Next up for the Verdi family is a tuna trip.

BHCFA Captains Ray Lopez of the “Miss Liane” and Jimmy Zavacky of the “Reel Determined” donated their time and boats last Saturday to take out groups of wounded veterans. They were participating in the Project Healing Waters in Waretown sponsored by the Holiday Beach Club.

Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.net.

Here’s an awesome offshore fishing report from the crew on the Canyon Runner…

What a way to celebrate the anniversary of D-Day! 7 BIG-EYES FOR 6 HEROES!!! In what only can be described as possible the best day of fishing we’ve ever had all the stars aligned as we took out 6 American Heroes who fought in 5 separate wars – and as it happens – on the Anniversary of D-Day!

This trip was graciously donated by Chris Durnan who unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) smashed up his hand just a couple days before the trip and could not go. Well one post on Facebook to our 38,000 fans and one email to 20,000 subscribers and we had no less than 105 veterans try to get on this trip. The first 6 to reach out got the spots – and we rewarded with a big-eye for each and one for the money! That’s right in just 8 hours of trolling they caught 7 big-eyes – not to mention 17 bluefin up to 135 pounds!

The Crew was Made up the Following Heroes: Art Snyder – USAF pilot – Korean War, Walter Klauser – Navy – Vietnam War, Bill Reynolds – USCG 22 years, Lawrence Harris – USMC then Army – Operation Desert Storm, Dan Smoot – ARMY – Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq), Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Jim Young – USMC – Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq)

They stormed into the canyons on not the nicest of weather days with Capt. Phil Dulanie on the helm and Capt. Ryan Britt working the pit – with the chance of a lifetime and fishing that is as good as we’ve ever seen it – we waited until the last minute to go to make sure we made the right call – and man did we. Arriving at first light it was immediate action on Canyon Runner Mini-Mamba Bars, Canyon Runner Squid Spreader bars – 6″ – and Joe Shutes with ballyhoo. Most of the action was overboard in deeper water and they never went more than a few minutes without a bite. The big-eyes came as a single early – then the big bluefin of 58″ – then the wolf pack of eye-balls of going 5 for 5. Arms were shot by 3pm and they decided to call it a day then as they big fish box on the 60′ Ritchie was topped off!

We’ve done tons of these trips – took over 200 veterans fishing for free – have another free trip coming up on July 4th – but by far this is the best one yet and perhaps one of the best fishing days we’ve ever had!

LOOKS LIKE THE ONLY DATE LEFT UNTIL LATE JULY IS JUNE 18-19 ON THE 48 VIKING – CALL ASAP. WHOLE BOAT OR OPEN BOAT – WHICH EVER FILLS UP FIRST

You Better Call ASAP if interested: 732-272-4445