6/17/17 Fluke-A-Mania

Headed out at sunrise this morning on the west side of the bay to fish the outgoing tide on my cousin Greg’s boat. All morning we had solid fishing every drift on hi-lo bucktail rigs tipped with gulp.  For the most part, each drift produced multiple Fluke as we fished along the slopes of channels. The chartreuse swimming mullet and shrimp  were the ticket in the overcast conditions. We fised until about 11am and ended with well over 30 fish to 22″. On top of that there were multiple bluefish blitz’ throughout the morning, all you had to do was spot the birds. As the water continues to warm up, the fishing should only get better.  Get out and get on it, tight lines. -Dan DiPasquale

Old Barney Charters Father’s Day Weekend Fluking

Today I had Brian and Jim Mcgee out with their father, Jim Sr., for their annual Father’s Day trip. The trio boated over 50 fluke and took home 3 for dinner. The fish measured 23″, 19.5″, and 18.5″. We are fishing 7 days a week now and July dates are filling quickly.  All tackle, bait and fish cleaning included with all trips. Come out and catch fish!

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Kevin Schmidt – Old Barney Charters – 267-918-1746 – oldbarneycharters@aol.com

Fishing Transitions into Summer

As the spring season winds down and we transition into summer new fishing opportunities arise… Read On!

Crabbing has been on fire all spring and it continues! We are looking forward to an awesome summer of crabbing. Here’s a photo of Richie Southwick with one of many nice blue claw crab hauls. Richie is doing great with the feisty blue crabs.

This is the last push for Black Sea Bass! The NJ Black Sea Bass Fishing Season closes Sunday June 18th. It will reopen on July 1st with a bag limit of two fish at 12.5″

The Carolyn Ann III reports, “The last two days of fishing were pretty good. Still a lot of shorts to weed through but the keepers are there! This Sunday is the last day for us to go Sea Bassing as the season closes. Starting Monday we will be targeting everyone’s favorite flat fish, the summer flounder aka fluke. Come aboard!”

Austin Pounds shared this yesterday,”Fluke are in the wash! Toss out a 1/2oz bucktail topped with a Gulp white swim mullet and they are all over it.” Austin has been targeting and catching fluke off the surf all season. He has some really nice sized fish to show too. This surf based fishery traditionally is great all summer long. Just a heads up there’s a possibility that we’ll get some upwelling. Depending on how drastic the temp swing is with the event, it could effect things. A quick cold snap in the water temperature due to upwelling shocks fish and can lock jaw a bite like a flip of the switch.

Another report came from Austin on the beach shark fishing. “And so it begins! They are here so gear up and soak some whole bunker. We got our season’s first sand tiger off the surf yesterday.”

Another surf sharking report came from ApexAnglers… “The 2017 NJ surf shark season begins with a bang! Two personal bests. Dan’s largest sand tiger to date measuring 8’2″. Seconds after Dan’s fish a 6’2″ sandbar shark takes the 9/0 with an eel. Then towards the end of the night a massive  7’7″ sand bar shark. The largest we’ve seen and possibly the largest caught off the surf in NJ. What a super successful early season trip. The action will only heat up from here.” Check out Apex Anglers for more details on NJ’s premier land based shark fishing guide service.

Sharking inshore/offshore has been good. We’ve heard reports of a couple large makos. Numerous customers reporting blue sharks out the wazzoo making for frustration but action non the less. In the past week we got some positive news on threshers 3-6 miles off the beach.

Like always, Joe Shute Lures are pulling tuna! These lures are about as consistent as they come. Don’t leave the dock without ’em! Store staffer Dan DiPasquale got offshore recently and has this report to share… “Our first offshore trip of the year resulted in our first bigeye. The good water we were after unfortunately pushed off making it all very difficult. Fished three different canyons with a water temp of 59-60 degrees. Took a couple hours but we finally got the right bite. It went for red headed Joe Shute. Nice way to kick off the year on the boat, still very early. There is a very good bluefin bite and yellowfin bite to the south of us right now, hopefully we get another good push of water soon!”

The striped bass bite off northern NJ as been very good this week. Lots of anglers out of the northern ports reported an awesome bite. Many local anglers headed up that way to get in on the action and had a blast. Both Waterman Charters and Shore Catch Guide Service has been dialed in on the bite. Here’s one report from Captain Gene from Shore Catch, “Last night was one for the record books! Epic cast and blast on topwater poppers. Kept one for the table and released over 20 all over 40 pounds.” Now that’s some great fishing. Below is Captain Gene boat side releasing a quality striped bass that fell for a pencil popper.


Pete Utschig wanted to share this post. The photo below is a beautiful striped bass that Pete caught one morning earlier this month. He had three nice bass that morning.

Moments like this, shared with friends, family, and even strangers is what makes it all worth while! It’s been a tough spring up and down the east coast. Besides some very spotty big fish bites the bass have been almost non existent. We need to WAKE UP!!! No more excuses or pointing fingers. We need to educate our friends and neighbors to stop killing breeder bass. We need to protect our precious resource and pastime. Until regulations change we can’t stop the endless charter boat slaughter, but if you have friends going on a fishing trips take five minutes to tell them about your love of fishing. Explain why instead of fishing in their local bay or inlet they have to steam 3 miles out to find the only body of fish we have left. Try and convince them to keep one fish per group not five fifty pound fish. We all love fishing for different reasons. I love it for the smile on a kids face when you hand him your pole on the beach and let him reel in his first fish. I love the 4am excited call from a buddy that you helped teach how to fish after he gets in on his first reel big fish bite. I love meeting guys just like me who just want to travel, laugh, (drink a couple cold ones) and catch fish. I just love fishing for the fun of it! Let’s protect our resource before we lose it forever!

With a sad and heavy heart I share the news on the recent passing of John Sweet. I had the pleasure of knowing the kind, generous man who did so much for others. He’ll be greatly missed in our community. Here is John’s obituary from Maxwell Funeral Home.

John F. “Tiderunner” Sweet, 78, of Ship Bottom, NJ passed away June 14, 2017 at his home. Born in Camden, NJ, son of Helen and John Sweet.  He moved to Cherry Hill and married Lois Zuzga Sweet who passed away too soon.  Together they had three children, Susan Lucas, Amy Smalfus, and Jane Faiola. He is survived by 9 grandchildren: Zachary and Melissa Johnson, Alexander, Nicholas and Gabriella Faiola and Rachael and Amanda Smalfus and Alexander and Victoria Duffy. He is survived by his loving wife, Joan Duffy Sweet, of 31 years, and her children, Christopher and Kathryn, who have been a great blessing to him.

He lived Medford, NJ with Joan for 18 years just prior to Ship Bottom where he resided for the last 14 years. His passion for fishing was well know, and he served as President and Treasurer of the Long Beach Island Fishing Club.  John initiated a fishing program for the LBIFC for wives, children and significant others called the Powder Puff Derby.   He was an active member of the LBIFC for over thirty years and served in many other capacities: teaching fishing at the Surf City Library, teaching casting and fishing at the Hooked on Fishing Not on Drugs and participated in numerous fishing tournaments throughout his life.  He has many “winning plaques” because of his knowledge of the surf and the correct fishing gears to use.  He leaves a huge emptiness in the countless lives he has touched.  He was an active member of the Ship Bottom Fire House, and served as a Fire Police.  John volunteered at Southern Ocean County Medical Center for 8 years where he helped out in the Same Day Surgery Department.  In addition, he was an active member of the Kiwanis and participate in their many events.  John was active in St. Francis of Assisi Church serving as a Eucharist Minister as well as assisting the Secular Franciscans in their activities.  John was loved and respected by all and he deeply changed many lives for the better.  He always wanted to be remembered “as doing his best for everyone.”

A Memorial Mass will be held at St. Francis Church, 4700 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach Twp., NJ 08008 on Thursday, June 22, 2017, 11AM.  Relatives and friends may greet the family from 10AM to 11AM in the church.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the St. Francis Food Panty at the same address as the Church.

 

 

 

 

Lighthouse Sportfishing Barnegat Bay Report 6/15/17

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

BHCFA Report

Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Report

By Jim Hutchinson Sr.

The Beach Haven Charter Fishing association will be starting its highly popular Junior Mates Program on Thursday, June 22. Normally, the sessions are held both out in the field and at the Maritime Museum on Dock Road in Beach Haven.

However, due to a scheduling conflict, the first class will be held at The Beach Haven Marlin & Tuna Club which is located at 420 N. Pennsylvania Ave in Beach Haven. Any interested teenagers are urged to attend the session which will begin at 7pm.Questions can be answered by calling Captain John Lewis at 609-670-5980.

The fishing action for black sea bass on the inshore wrecks and reefs continues to be very good. Captain Ray Lopez of the “Miss Liane” had Rich Hamburg and his two grandchildren out for a day of bottom fishing. The group had nonstop action with over 60 feisty sea bass boated. The group took six nice fish home for dinner. Captain Ray reports he is also pleased at the fluke action thus far.

Captain Dave Kreines of the “Byte Me” has had a couple of bay fluke trips recently. Last Saturday he fished alone on a “scouting mission” that resulted in just a couple of short fish. On Monday he had Mike Delin and his father out on a half day trip and the pair boated two nice fluke of 20 and 21 inches along with a few shorts and a skate. The pair of anglers was celebrating the elder Delin’s birthday, and they are already eager to return for more action.

The offshore bite has started with some nice tuna being boated already including some bigeyes over 200-pounds. In addition, there are reports of some big mako and thresher sharks in the area.

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

LBI Fishing Report June 12th

Fishing LBI offers lots of options for anglers both from the beach and boat.

Prime time beach sharking is quickly approaching! Now is the time to prepare and gear up for the season. We’ve got all the essentials from hooks to wire and cable as well as the terminal tackle and accessories to make simple rigs as well as tournament style – kayak deployed versions. The year’s first land based brown shark and sand tiger reports just came in!

Store staffer Willie said, “The surf is warming up and surf sharking has begun!” Here is a photo of him and a couple friends with a small sand bar shark aka brown shark they just caught. Willie mentioned they lost a sand tiger in the wash.

Kenny Depierro caught this sand tiger off the surf this past weekend. Kenny was chunking bunker in search of a linesider when this toothy one picked and ran.
Striped bass fishing continues to be slow through what normally is a very good section of the season. Participation is way down but those putting in the time are finding fish. We’ve got reports from the beach and boat. Anglers are catching the occasional bass trolling. Those fishing the beach and inlet are finding striped ones.

Rich Beverley of Cedar Run earned himself a new personal best striped bass off the LBI surf yesterday. He caught it in the morning fishing bunker off of the mid-island surf.
The local summer flounder fishery is prime with action in full swing. For bay anglers the areas of Double Creek and Oyster Creek Channel as well as the waters around the 42, BI, and BB are producing. There’s been some good size ones. We’ve heard of and seen numerous fish over four pounds. Bucktails tipped with gulp, live minnow and or spearing are getting it done!

Mark Spranger reported a good day fluke fishing today. His biggest was a 23″ 4.5 pound beauty!

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For land based anglers fluke fishing off the LBI surf continues to crank with some outstanding catches.
Willie “Hits” Kayhart has the touch! On his first trip to the beach this past weekend he pulled this 21″ flatty.

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Jon Kelly shared a photo today with a comment, “Who needs a boat? Got this 20″ off my beach today.”
Austin Pounds reported, “No boat needed! The beach has fluke everywhere.”
Chris Bender reports the weakfish are in. Here’s a photo of a small one.
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Crabbing is solid! Now’s the time to soak some bunker. Here’s a photo from Matt Cornman.

The NJ Recreation Sea Bass Fishing Season Closes Monday June 19th. Now’s the time to get in on the sensational bite!

“Sea bass fishing is crazy right now.” Jacob Bowles reports, “The offshore wrecks are loaded with active fish. Today we had them good. You had to work through the shorts to find the larger fish. I got six keepers to just under five pounds. My largest was big enough to win the pool!”

“Flag-Pole” Jim Kuhl agrees  the sea bass fishing is very good on the reefs and wrecks. He said, “We limited out by 9am!”

Dave Werner the advisor of the MATES Fishing Club shared a solid sea bass report from today. Dave said, “We had an awesome trip today aboard the Carolyn Ann III. There was lots of action so the kids had a blast. We caught about 50 keepers and a crazy number of throwbacks. The pool winner was Jake (photo below). There were also some ling and tog as well as one winter flounder caught. A huge thanks to Gina on the Carolyn Ann III for the awesome trip.”

Carolyn Ann III would like to share a schedule update… On Monday June 19th they are going to start fishing twice daily (2x four hour trips). Since sea bass will be closed the target species will be fluke. Sailing in the mornings 8am to 12pm then the afternoon 1pm to 5pm. The price is $45 for adults and $25 for children under 12. Rod rental is $7. Credit Cards are accepted.

Captain Jeff Warford aboard the Reel Innovations out of Barnegat Light was offshore over the weekend with the crew. Here’s their report… “Good as it gets! The tunas just couldn’t resist piling on. We fished four hours then headed in with a crew full of sore arms. Here’s Kyle with our over bluefin!”

Lighthouse Sportfishing Barnegat Bay Report

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 609-548-2511willbluefish

Reel Reaction Sportfishing – Barnegat Bay Fishing Report 6/11/2017

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

Bass, Bluefish, Fluke, Sea Bass ?!?!

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 SchmutzTed 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

Beat the Heat with Stripers and Blues on the Hi Flier….Sat, Sun, and Mon

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.

Six hour trips departing at 5AM and Noon each day.
Capt. Dave DeGennaro
Hi Flier Sportfishing
732.330.5674 cell
hiflier.com