This past Friday 11/15, we fished the 10th Annual Stafford PBA 297 Striped Bass Tournament with Eian and Shane. The striped bass fishing was insane with an epic bite all day long. We had our 4 man limit of unders (28 – under 43”) by the time the sun came up. All morning there were birds, bait, bass, and whales all over the surface. It was all of the bass you wanted ranging from 20” to 20lbs on jigs, plugs, soft plastics, and poppers. After messing around with them for a bit we continued to troll, looking for a big fish for the tournament. We released several other fish up to 20lbs throughout the day but never found that big fish that we were looking for. Although we couldn’t find the big one, we caught tons of bass and it was a bite that most people will never forget. We had a great time and congratulations to all of the winners!
We had to cancel our trips this past weekend due to the strong northeast winds. We are hoping to make it out by midweek, weather permitting. We are booked for the upcoming weekend, but have the weekdays available for charter or open boat. With all the bait around, the fall run is in full effect and now is the time to get out and fish!
If you are interested in getting out please contact us to book your trip. Call or text Captain Mike to get out on the water or send us a message through our website! (609)-709-7264
The weather pattern we have been in blows, literally. We get a day or two of fishable conditions only to welcome the next storm. Last time out pre-storm was on Friday with good friend Capt. Dan Siegel and Bob. We trolled bass to 22 pounds. Here is a picture of your truly with a nice bass. Saw lots of scattered surface action but stayed on the troll hoping for a trophy which never made it to the shelf. Before that I had consistent action around the inlet and back on live bait. When the bite is on it is almost drop n reel conditions. With that, the fall bass run is fully underway so get out there. We have the bait to keep the bass coming to the dinner plate for a while in the likes of: big bunker; sandeels; Boston mackerel, and who knows what else. Atlantic herring should make a showing soon. Water temperatures over ten miles offshore in the upper 50’s will surly push out the low to mid 50’s along the beach thanks to the latest nor’easter. So look for the bass bite to be spot on once the ocean calms midweek. Still got days open so contact me and book soon before the run runs out.
On the nature side of things: Has anyone thought why are we seeing whales every spring and fall along our beaches??? We are seeing them for two reasons. Number one is the Marine Mammal Protection Act on 1972 which stopped the killing of most whales. Protected under this act their populations have been come back. It takes a long time for large mammals such as whales to repopulate and increase in numbers. Large whales like the humpbacks and finbacks we have been seeing have an 11 month gestation period and may only give birth to one. But whales can only truly come back for reason number two, increased forage (what an animal feeds on) in the likes of bunker. Our management of bunker has definitely increased this most import fish of the sea population. Being on Barnegat Bay for some 40 years now I have witnessed a lot of change. First for the worse and now for the better. Two and a half decades ago I did not see the countless schools of juvenile bunker that is now see come late summer and early fall. I did not see massive schools of adult bunker off our beaches for many months of the year like I see now. Speaking of bunker, if you are an American and a fisherman you should be really pissed off about a foreign company, Omega Protein, coming into our waters, Chesapeake Bay to be specific, and overfishing their quota and acting like they don’t give a f**k. You can read the story here: Oemega Protein Breaking the Law
The past two days (Thursday/Friday) were on fire with all day long striped bass action! Hopefully you got in on it because today (Saturday), Sunday and Monday are blown out. These days will be great for getting gear back in order. The westerlies swing back Tuesday and stick around throughout the work week. Be ready for the fish frenzies as West Is Best!
As per our previous report update (11/13/19) the influx of small striped bass is real, “Recently a smaller class of striped bass have filtered in.” Their abundance is good offering tons of fishing fun. “Not saying the big fish are gone.” A few large linger. One really big one was just caught by Captain Vinny Vetere. He got a fish of a lifetime… 55″ monster 67.55# striped bass on a bunker spoon trolling the waters of Northern Jersey.
Rob Vallone and his buddy Andy found fish on the beach on Friday. Rob reported, “We worked the bars with metal and a teaser, each catching a number of fish up to 27 inches.”
William Clark weighed in a 10# striped bass for the LBI Surf Fishing Classic. He caught it off of the mid island surf on an artificial.
When the wind is in your face the fish are at your feet. We are expecting some fish on the beach during the next few days; however a Saturday morning report came in from Mike Cucinotta, “Can’t say I didn’t try. 12 oz would not hold more than five minutes.” While those looking for classy fish are soaking bunker, it’s our suggestion to leave the bait rods at home. For one the dog fish this year are relentless and two, the fish are keyed in on sand eels. Match the hatch!
Even with a no fish session it’s still a special time spending time on the surf at sunrise.
Tog Fishing
Today is the day, the New Jersey Recreational Tautog aka Blackfish limit bumps up today to five fish, still at 15″.
The tautog action continues on red hot! With the reg relaxing the next weather window will be when the real slaughter begins. Please remember these are slow growing species. Fish responsibly!
Now’s the time to gear up to be ready for your next trip. We currently have live crabs; both green crabs and “white legger” stone crabs. Stop in as soon as possible if you want them. First come first serve.
Store staffer Frezza got his first double digit white chin on Friday. He’s been hunting for one and just got an 11.4 pounder while fishing aboard the “No Moores”. It’s been a great week for the boys aboard the “No Moores” with lots of quality size fish and more than a handful of Double D’s. Magictail game changer tog jigs continue to out producing. Change your game with these proved big tog tamers! Magictail Tog Jigs
Offshore Report
Captain Jeff aboard the Reel Innovation reported a fun past couple of days. “We did one last trip to the sword grounds on Thursday with high hopes of 64-65 degree water still on the bank. Unfortunately it seems as though the bigger fish have migrated past our area.”
“Flag Pole” Jim Kuhl reported, “Awesome day on the water with my boys! Got a pre Thanksgiving butterball!”
Fish Head Charters
Had a Blast with the schoolies the past two days. Here on Long Beach Island it’s light tackle striped bass fishing at it’s finest!
I’d have to say targeting this current mass of fish trolling with heavy gear is a sin! But to each is own. For me fishing is about the fun and the challenge. Right now this body of fish keyed in on sand eels is super fun and super challenging with a light tackle lure approach. Take it one step further pull out the long rod and a fly! If you want to jump aboard and enjoy a day on the water give me a call. Depending on the day we could be blind casting and jigging. We could be sight casting to slurping fish on top!
Lots of action! Jigging, casting or trolling the fall run is in full swing. Yesterday we went out trolling for the last few ours of daylight and we’re rewarded with non-stop action. Doubles and even triple striped bass on the same rig. There’s plenty of bigger fish are still around if you put the time in. The abundance of smaller bass is great and are a lot of fun on light tackle.
If you are looking to get out fishing this season, now is a great time to go! Bring the kids along and enjoy this awesome fishery. Call to schedule your trip. We have Tuesday and Wednesday available this week.
~ Captain Jeff Warford Cell: 609-377-9136 F/V 27’ Worldcat
What a wild day yesterday! It started out a nice somewhat warm (60 degree) morning quickly got frigid. Temperatures dropped and by noon time it was snowing. Then the day finished off with a great sunset light show.
Here’s the fishing report update to pick up where our last post (Nov 8th) left off. So far this fall we’ve had a quality run of large striped bass and this cold snap has things turning on all gears. I will go out on a limb here and make the call… Coming off the full moon (Tuesday), the prime “big fish” section of fall has past. Not saying the big fish are gone, but from here on out it will be nothing like what we saw the first 10 days of the month. Hopefully we’ll have another push of classy ones in early December (like 2017), but I’m not holing my breath. Recently a smaller class of striped bass have filtered in. In our book it’s ok because the abundance of smaller fish makes for a lot of fun!
Shall We Debate… Quality Vs Quantity?
Would you rather: Go fish five trips in a row and catch one 40# striped bass or fish five trips in a row and catch 10 small mediums each trip? Leave us a comment and let us know!
Fishing LBI Fishing Report Update
Fishing this past weekend was good on all accounts. Both boat and land based angler reports were strong… striped bass, blackfish, a few straggling albies and a speckled trout! No bluefish yet. Usually the first week or two of November bluefish show. We’ve yet to see them. Heard of a couple small ones but really haven’t seen much since they were plentiful in the warmer months.
Tuna and threshers are still hanging around in close!
You never know what you’re gonna catch! Jack Keating caught this speckled trout while fishing the Jetty at Barnegat Light this weekend. He was casting a Super Strike Bottle Plug searching for a striped bass. Some say with the Oyster Creek Power Plant being decommissioned these resident fish have to find a new home and are on their way out. This was not the only one caught. Last week John Nixon caught one off of the mid-Island surf.
Hope you got out and enjoyed some fall fishing recently. The striped bass fishing has been good. Anglers trolling bunker spoons, mojos and umbrella rigs are picking fish. Those fishing sandeels imitations are producing more fish as the majority of the local striped bass are keyed in on the slender profile baits.
Chris O’Neill sent in this photo on November 9th, “Kegga just got this one a minute ago fishing off of IBSP.” It turns out their was their only fish all day. Chris reported there was lots of. bait around but it was a slow day. This fish and some whales rounded out the day. Gabe Ercol was aboard LBI Charters with Captain Greg Carr recently. He reported a decent morning with six bass on the troll, with four being keepers. He said the bite shut off at 9am.Store staffer Willie was out on the water yesterday morning before the weather arrived. He got into good fishing casting lures. The mad hooker also ended up hooking his hand.
Land Based LBI Tog Fishing
The Barnegat Light Inlet Jetty has been very productive for land based anglers. It’s been going strong for a number of weeks and we expect it to be good right into Thanksgiving. Anglers are catching good number and finding keepers regularly. The white chins are loving green crabs! Anglers fishing rigs and jigs are going good.
The NJ Tog aka Blackfish Season’s Regulations expanded, opening up on Nov 16 (from one fish) to 5 fish.
Tyler Carlson tagged us in this photo and shared the caption; “After talking to a women about how I haven’t caught anything all morning. She wished me luck and began to walk away when BAM! Fish On! After the past few evenings feeding the dogfish at night I decided to switch up my fishing this morning and went for some tog. Felt good to catch a real fish for a change.”
From The Boat – The tog bite is off to a great start this season. The big fish are on the chew and it looks like the stage is set for a great back half of November and an even better December.
Cow Alert! Gary Adair caught this 12# tog on a 1-1/2oz Magictail Tog Jig.
Congrats Dante on another monster! Here’s a 29″ biggin’ that weighed in on the Boga over 17 pound. It was safety released to grow even bigger and breed some new classy blackfish.
Here’s a recent monster catch by Dante at Magictail, maker of top quality Mojos for striped bass and Game Changer Tog Jigs. Just one of those days you could do no wrong. Fishing With Dave from Patriot Plumbing aboard the No Moores. Got into a mad dog bite landed a 29″ a little over 17#, a 11#, a 10# and three 9’s along with 20 or so more fish from 5-8 pounds All on Magictail Tog Jigs baited with crab.
Fish Head Charters
Saturday November 9th I had Joe C (father and son) aboard from North Jersey. We got on a few fish right away. The morning bite was good but short lived bite. We went on the hunt for bigger size but after an hour of looking we switched gears and set up for tog. The fishing was good and Joe’s 8 year old son had a bent rod for the rest of the day.
Sunday November 10 morning was a fun day on the water. I had Paul in from Philly. The early morning light show (sunrise) was awesome but fishing was slow. Ran around and found some life. As the wind kicked up the action heated up. We got into good top water action with bass flipping out on bait with birds crashing. Below is a photo of the largest fish of the day.
Monday November 11th – Return client Matt Polito was aboard for a combo bass/tog trip. We started the day drifting bird plays catching a wide range of striped bass from 25″ to 25#. The first hour was best for us then the fish became finicky with the higher sun. We found our albie style approach worked; scaling down tackle, light line/leader and small lures (Hogy Epoxy Jigs & Sluggos rigged on a 1oz jig head). The second half of the trip was good with steady tog fishing. In about an hours time we caught five keeper size fish.
Here’s Matt Polito with a beautiful striped bass that he caught on light tackle fishing with Captain Greg Cudnik aboard Fish Head Charters.
We are bundled up for an Arctic blast and looking forward to fishing Thursday and Friday. Then it’s time to lash down for a coastal blow that looks to stick around for a number of days. Tuesday’s season’s first snow has realization setting in that the end is near. We’ve only got a few more weeks to fish. Now’s the time to get on the water and enjoy some great fishing. If you want to fish (1-2 anglers) give a text/call 6097139299.
Here’s the November 12, 2019 Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Fishing Report Update by Jim Hutchinson Sr.
The stripers are coming! The stripers are coming! The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been saying these words for a while, and it appears the cold weather may do the trick.
Up until recently, the best bass fishing has been from Barnegat Inlet up north all the way to Raritan Bay. With ocean temperatures dropping, those fish are making their way south. When a wave of these fish appears, stripers in the 30 to 30-pound class are being trolled up. In addition to the bass taking bunker spoons and Mojo’s, plentiful schools of bunker and other baitfish have been producing some exciting topwater action on smaller bass. This is a cast and retrieve type of fishing with some jigging also going on.
Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Star Fish got in on some of the action trolling off the beach in the area of Seaside recently when he picked up two nice bass for a party of happy anglers.
Captains Brett Taylor of Reel Reaction Sportfishing and Alex Majewski of Lighthouse Sportfishing are school teachers as well as charter captains. Having last week off from school they fished the waters of Barnegat Inlet almost every day last week, sometimes with two trips a day. They reported good action on smaller bass with a few keepers every trip.
Captain Gary Dugan of the “Irish Jig” has been catching some smaller bass in Great Bay waters and up the Mullica River and is awaiting the push of fish from the north. A recent trip had a large thresher shark take one of his spoons and keep the angler busy for quite a while until finally breaking off.
This striper action will be lasting at least until the end of November.
In other fishing news, Captain Nick Perello had a daytime swordfish trip recent with a 140-bigeye tuna and a 150-pound swordfish to show for his efforts. Captain Nick says he is encouraged by the number of swords he has been seeing and says he plans to run daytime swordfish charters next year.
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.net
Happy Veterans Day to all of the past and present veterans out there. Yesterday we ran a free trip for veterans in honor of Veterans Day. I had the pleasure of having Scott from Philadelphia on board for a striped bass trip. Scott is a career military veteran who just recently retired from the Air Force. I expected a fairly large crowd due to the holiday and weather forecast but when we got out there, we were all alone. After getting the rods in the water we had our first fish on within the first 15 seconds. It ended up being a 26” slot fish but it was also Scott’s first ever striped bass. Since I made the mistake of forgetting our bonus tags at the dock, we released the fish and hoped for good karma. We worked the area looking for bait and fish but there was not much life. After 2 hours of looking around, we hooked up with a nice fish. Shortly after, we boated Scott’s second ever striped bass weighing in at 40lbs and taping out at 47” long. There was not a ton of action today but we were able to get Scott on his very first striped bass and at 40lbs it is a fish he will never forget. Thank you very much for your service Scott, we look forward to having you out with us again and hope you enjoy your fish.
The marine forecast looks beautiful for this upcoming Thursday and Friday. I am available for charter or open boat both days. The weekend forecast is looking less than favorable with strong northeast winds forecasted, so I expect these fish to feed before the blow.
If you are interested in getting out please give us a call to book your trip. Call or text Captain Mike to get out on the water or send us a message through our website! (609)-709-7264
The striped bass have finally pushed into our area in decent numbers. We have missed out on them a few times due to bad timing but they are here. I am available for chart or open boat tomorrow 11/10 and Veteran’s Day 11/11. Call or text me at (609)-709-7264 get in on these trips!
This morning I had return client Jay along with his 7yr old son Justin, nephews TJ and Ryan, and father in law Bob out for a 6hr striped bass trip. With hundreds of boats in the area we started working an area away from the crowd hoping to find some fish that weren’t scattered. After a couple hours we marked some bait and fish and put 2 keepers in the box within a 15 minutes. As the fleet moved in to the area, the fish scattered and we could not find any more bites. It was a great day and a successful one as well since we were able to get 7yr old Justin on his first ever striped bass.
This past Wednesday I ran an afternoon trip with new client Matt from Beach Haven West. With some great intel from Fish head Greg we headed into the area looking for the great bite that he was on. When we got into the area, we were late and missed the bite by minutes. We set up on the troll and were able to box 1 keeper bass. All afternoon we had several humpback whales around the boat along with unlimited bait. We marked tons of fish but they didn’t cooperate after their feeding frenzy.
If you are interested in getting out please give us a call to book your trip. Call or text Captain Mike to get out on the water or send us a message through our website! (609)-709-7264
A good chill has arrived and the fall fishing is heating up! Now’s the time to get in on the action. The recent days were full of solid striped bass fishing. Here’s a quick update to supplement our most recent “complete report” post on 11/5/19.
Here is Swagmattic with one of many big beautiful striped bass that was caught and released aboard Fish Head Charters on Wednesday. The fish this day were eating bunker, sand eels and anchovies. It’s rare to find schools of fish eating a variety of baits at the same time but this day all of the fall’s forage was stacked up just a couple miles from Barnegat Inlet.
A good wave a striped bass marched in this week. What started on Sunday/Monday continued on everyday since. Striped bass from 15 to 50+ pounds were caught; troll, jig, live bait, top water, what have you… This large body of fish is here now! However there’s no telling how long they will stay. For all those that always complain how bad the fish is… Please Get Out & Fish! If you need assistant… stop in that’s what we are here for.
The LBI Surf Fishing Classic had a new leader take over yesterday. Here’s the top three.
35.72# Mike Curtin 25.12# Brandon Pomykacz 17.18# Chris McIntee
Just a heads up we currently have a reel promotion running… If you need a new reel and are looking for made in the USA quality, look no further than Avet.
We fished for stripers last Sat, Sun, and Mon and it (we) sucked! I was networked with captains from Barnegat Inlet to Atlantic Highlands on Saturday and I did not hear of a single fish. I went back for more punishment on Sunday, each day running as far as Asbury Park. They did catch on Sunday, right outside Manasquan Inlet, about two miles off, but by the time I found them and put the lines out, the party was over. Thank God for the Barnegat Inlet jetty where we caught three schoolie size bass on light tackle before heading back to the marina. Monday was not much better until the ninth inning with two outs, 9 hours in to our 7 hour trip (I know, that’s some tricky math right there) my homemade umbrella rig gets smashed and we deck a 34 lber. Another schoolie bass at the jetty and we head for the barn.
I know guys caught some fish on Monday, but it wasn’t good. Tuesday, the fishery lit up with every size fish and it’s been “game on” ever since. Sailing Open Boat Saturday, Nov 9 and Monday, Nov 11, 6:30 AM to 2:30 PM $200 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. Call to reserve a spot. I can be reached on my cell below from 5AM to 8PM any day and you can call right up until go time.
609-494-5739
