We are still chumming with live grass shrimp for weakfish. Every day the size changes, they range from 12 to 19 inches. Once they get to be 15 inches or bigger they zip some drag off of our six pound spinning outfits. In the mix, and dominating the slick, are a million snapper blues, some that are approaching the one pound mark now. Also, silver perch, sand sharks, out-of-season and short anyway fluke, and more. It is steady, sometimes constant action. A test of endurance to fish through the body of snapper blues. We are using little 1/16 oz jigs tipped with shrimp as our best weakie catcher right now.
Sailing Open Boat or Charter Sun, Oct 7 and Mon, Oct 8 Shrimping Trips 8AM to 1PM on Sun and 9AM to 2PM on Mon (it’s a tide thing). $125 person, 4 people max on Open Boats, all fish are shared. $500 for the whole boat if you charter.
From here in we will only be sailing on Sat, Sun, and Mon’s through the rest of 2018. I am launching the Philadelphia Fishing Show, Feb 22-24, 2019 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo center in Oaks, PA. I am committing all of my time to coordinating this event. If you are looking to book a striper date with us we will only have these three days available each week and some are already booked. Just a heads up.
Although the summer flounder season in New Jersey has ended, the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are putting together some good catches bottom fishing on the inshore artificial reefs and structure further offshore. This fishing will receive a shot in the arm when the fall season for black sea bass re-opens on Monday, October 8, with a 10-fish per day limit.
Captain Carl Sheppard had an outstanding trip on the “Star Fish” recently. The annual trip of the Eppinger family was a great success with a wide variety of fish caught. The weather cooperated with nice sea conditions and a sunny 80-degrees. A total of 200 fish were brought to the boat including many large black sea bass to 18-inches and fluke, both of which had to be released. Captain Carl estimated about 45% of the sea bass were keeper sized. For a while they caught bluefish until their arms tired and then shifted to bottom fishing. They kept 14 two-pound bluefish and 6 triggerfish. The best fishing was in over 100-feet of water.
Captain Lindsay Fuller had the Jim Warren party on the “June Bug” recently, and they located quite a few pods of peanut bunker and a few rainfish pods as well. No fish appeared to be feeding on the bait, however. They trolled up a small Atlantic Bonita and a small Spanish mackerel. They ended the day on the Little Egg Reef where they found bottom action including a large fluke that was released. Captain Lindsay is hoping water temps cool off soon to activate the striper action.
Captain Gary Dugan is gearing the “Irish Jig” up for striper season. Until that action begins, he is wreck fishing and trolling inshore for bluefish, bonito, mahi, and other similar species. He says dates are filling up fast for the fall run.
Captain Jimmy Zavacky reports things have slowed a bit for the “Reel Determined” once fluke season closed. Captain Jimmy notes the 2018 fluke season was a good one with a lot of keepers. He is now booking black sea bass and striper trips and is looking to get offshore this weekend if weather permits.
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.net.
The bait and resident striped bass continue to offer fun in the bay. Store staffer Jordan fished last night and got two bass fishing Kettle Creek Paddletail Softbaits. Other reports came from the bayside haunts up and down the Island’s west side as well as the mainland.
The bay’s water hold blowfish and weakfish among other species.
Bill Bannon of West Creek was on the jetty today and caught a 5.38 pound triggerfish while targeting blackfish. Word from other anglers up on the rocks is the tog fishing is very good!
Also roaming the inlet; blues, striped bass and the occasional surprise false albacore. Be ready with an Hogy Epoxy Jig (gotta stop in to buy… not enough for website demand) or Deadly Dick Metals for fool the fat alberts!
64th LBI Surf Fishing Classic
The nation’s oldest surfcasting tournament is only a few days away! Sign up now for 9 weeks of surf fishing fun and take advantage of the early registration promotion… While supplies last free collectible hat and t-shirt. This offer ends on October 15 at which time all shirts will be $20.
Save the dates for all of the bonus days! The first bonus day is October 7, $500 cash prize to the largest striped bass. The second bonus day will be October 12, $250 cash award for the largest Striped Bass. Don’t miss out on these great opportunities.
September draws to a close and the fishing front looks good. We are getting closer to sea bass fishing and the real deal fall run. The NJ Black Sea Bass season opens on October 8th with 10 fish bag limit at 12.5″ minimum size.
October is always a great month for fishing and this is what’s happening right now….
Tog fishing at the Barnegat Inlet Jetty is good. We expect the tog fishing to be good for the next couple weeks, possibly beyond. While the water is cooling there are still some of the warm water species present. We heard of a triggerfish caught Saturday.
On the surf small blues dominate. Other species like kingfish, pompano and fluke are present. Yesterday afternoon Joe and Mike Polladino of Beach Haven West stopped in and asked, “Set us up and send us to the fish.” We gave them some options and they chose to target the small blues in the surf. We shared a nice looking stretch of water on the mid islands surf not far from the shop. An area I surfed the area and witnessed fishy activity; schools of mullet with predators on them. They headed up and gave it a go. A couple hours later they returned with smiles and shared this report…
“Two-four pound blues were there just like you told us. We caught ten blues and then decided to leave even though they were still biting. Lots of fun! There was another angler fishing about 100yds away and didn’t get a bite. You put us in the right spot. Thank you!”
Saturday morning, Dan D. was on the water and found some good action with striped bass and blues. He reported catching on lures early then switching over to live bait. He got a 24″ fluke on a live spot.
Ronald Diorka of Pendleton KY stopped in with a 15.48 pound bluefish that he caught offshore in the boat this weekend. He entered the big yellow eye into The Fisherman Magazine Dream Boat Challenge. Word on the street is there’s some big blues out at the Mud Hole. Let’s home they slide our way and crash the beach!!!
Konrad and Nate (see Saturday’s Fish Head Charters report below) fish the bayside this morning. Fishing the Nomad Chug Norris popper and reported, “We got some follows and even connected with one striped bass. The fish absolutely choked on the thing… fully engulfed! It’s safe to say the Chug Noris works.”
The blowfishing in the Barnegat Bay continues. Some good reports from customers anchoring up and fishing clam and squid. Once angler plugging the sod banks reported catching a monster blowfish on a Rat-L-Trap.
Fish Head Charters
Saturday was another awesome day aboard the Fish Head. Konrad and Nate from the Eastern Shores of Maryland were in for a fun filled dawn patrol four hour trip. Both have experience fly fishing fresh water but never tried saltwater. This was their first. Some how both hooked up on their first cast. You can’t be introduced to saltwater fly fishing for striped bass any better than that! Konrad and Nate caught fish, just about one after the other for the first hour of the trip. Then, things slowed down. We looked around and found a couple big schools of mullet in the waves. We tried out best to get in tight but the long periods swell made it difficult. After wasting too much time we shifted gears and headed into the backwaters where we hunted the flats. Working the shallows we found small bait and had a blow up right away, on one of the first casts. Our expectations went up but it didn’t pan out. There was life but no hungry striped bass willing to commit. Only follows and swirls. Luckily Konrad pulled out some magic and fooled one on a Stillwater Smack-It Popper. It was a great way to end the trip.
Sunday store staffers Blake and Mike were aboard. We went for a quick morning session. The early morning bite was good with striped bass and a few bluefish eating poppers and small swimming plugs. The sun came up the bite went down. Early bird got the worm! We switched and tried out the flats. There was very little bait and once again not many fish. We could only muster up two boils.
With the cool nights the bay waters in Barnegat Light are in the mid 60’s. I expect the fishing in the bay to be productive for the next month plus. I also look forward to the run ahead. The striped bass migration isn’t far away and I’m geared up and ready. Until then I’m daily looking for resident striped bass and bluefish. I’ve also got an eye out for albies but have yet to find them. A commercial friend reported a couple in the gill net this weekend. It’s proof there are a couple around. Hopefully more show up!
Well into the second full week of the Jersey Shore Mullet Run and it’s going strong. This is definitely LBI’s the best mullet run since Sandy. The weather hasn’t been pretty but manageable especially in the backwaters. While not for everyone there’s good fishing to be had. We aren’t talking big fish but really fun light tackle entertainment.
Jeffrey Fiedeldey sent in this report…”Wednesday Barnegat Inlet was on fire with cocktail blues 1-3 pounds. The afternoon low tide was good with them hitting mullet and top water poppers and SP Minnows.”
LBI Surf Fishing Report
The Long Beach Island surf is alive with bait and fish. Surf anglers are reporting lots of blues. Most are small but there are 1-3 pound cocktails around. There’s also STRIPED BASS, kingfish and other species too! Just a heads up to surf anglers fishing this weekend, extra lead will be required with rising easterly groundswell on the beaches. It arrives Saturday and will last into much of next week.
Chris O’Neill was up on the beach this afternoon and found the little blues (12-15″) were snapping. These feisty devils are taring up rigs baited with mullet and also piling on lures like
Anglers targeting kingfish are picking. Some better then others. Occasionally other species are coming up… Andre from Ohio stopped in the other day and report, “Pompano in the surf! I’m fishing FishBites in the surf at low tide looking for kingfish. I’m catching pompano.” Andre got them two days in a row so there must be a good number of them around. This isn’t our first reports of these.
Today (Thursday) we got a report from our bait guy, “You don’t see this everyday… Fluke were on the mullet in tight to the beach eating on top. They are well know for being very aggressive fish but top water fluke sightings are something special. Major bummer the season’s closed because this is the best time of year for land base flounder pounds to get into good quality flatties.
64th LBI Surf Fishing Classic – The LBI surf fishing tournament is only days away! Sign up not to take advantage of the early season sign up incentives… Free T-Shirt and Free Hat!!! Reminder the Kick Off Seminar is Saturday Oct 6th at 10am. There will be free coffee (sponsored by How You Brewin?), donuts from Crust & Crumb Bakery and some awesome giveaways.
The bay is loaded with good fishing opportunities. From blowfish to weakfish and striped bass to bluefish there’s fun fishing.
Mike Kelly was out on the bay today (Thursday) got 20 nice blowfish in a morning session. He also caught some kingfish and croakers. While he did not catch any spot there are some around.
Robbie Vallone was working poppers on the backwaters and found hungry bass. He said the amount of bait stacked and staged is very promising.
Rob Vallone found lots of life in the bay. This striped bass went for his top water popper, a Storm Chug Bug.
Fish Head Charters
With all of the foul weather, I took the opportunity to get some boat work maintenance and upgrades taken care of. Why push off something that can get done now?
I’m back in the water and off to a stellar start with fall!
Wednesday I had Brooks from Cortland aboard for some saltwater fly fishing. [Anyone who’s not familiar with Cortland… Let me introduce to you the oldest and best braider in the country! Since 1915 Cortland has been dedicated to fishing line now offering top quality fly lines, Dacron, Master Braid (great spectra braided line) and C-16 (the world’s best hollow core spectra). Best of all Cortland line is made in the USA!] We started out the morning working a number of different areas in the fog. On the hunt bait was found but no game fish (striped bass, bluefish, weakfish). All we had to show for our efforts was a boil but that was all we needed to stay active.
Fortunately by late morning (930ish) the dense fog lifted and the wind started up. Despite the super rough conditions, we made a quick decision to see what was around the Inlet. We were greeted by monster swell and acres of bait! Mullet were pushing in every which direction and fish were all over them. It was ROUGH but the bite was on like Donkey Kong! First cast and Brooks was tight with a screamer on a white deceiver. This nice striped bass in the rough conditions took him for a ride on the six weight rod meant weakfish and small striped bass. We made a couple more drifts each time hooking more fish but we were forced to call it quits when the Brooks got green. These conditions could have turn any good sea legs weak.
Brooks from Cortland Line Co. got this yellow eye on the fly. It put up a great fight on his six weight outfit.
Today (Thursday) I was back on it. This time for first light and sure enough it was the right call. Again acres of bait scurrying for their lives with bass and blues all over them. Within 5 minutes the boat was a murder scene with blood and regurgitated bait all over the deck. The all out blitz went on for about two hours. We surprisingly caught more striped bass than I would have expected, about 10-12 all together. The largest was about a low teen size fish about 13-14 pounds. The rest were blues from snappers to four pounders. Too many fish to count with no one around!
~ Captain Greg Cudnik
This striped bass fell for a Bomber plug. A great choice when trying to imitate mullet.
Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Weekly Report – Thursday September 27, 2018
~ Jim Hutchinson Sr.
Fall officially arrived this week, and recent cooler temperatures have the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association starting to think about the arrival of the area’s greatest inshore sport fish, the striped bass.
Just like “snowbirds” heading down to Florida when winter arrives, the striped bass on their way south for the winter stop by local waters looking for food. When they find abundant food, they have been known to remain for quite some time. Right now with a good supply of mullet and bunker, they will be sure to stop in to fill their bellies.
To commemorate the presence of striped bass in the fall, there are several local striped bass tournaments, most for boats only. To mention a few-the Sea Shell Club, the Maximilian Foundation, the Stafford Township PBA, and the Red Men Lodge in Tuckerton all have e vents set for this fall. Most of these are for charitable causes and come with cash prizes, calcuttas, and various parties replete with good food.
Fishermen do not have to own a boat or be an expert to be competitive in one or more of these tournaments. Some of the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are available to take anglers out to compete in these events. A good boat and expert captain can make a difference in coming home with fish or empty handed.
To see how fishing with one of these experts might be accomplished, go the association’s website at www.BHCFA.net and get in touch with one or more of the captains to see what can be worked out.
We are sailing Open Boat or Charter Sun, Sept 30 and Monday, Oct 1. Leaving at 7AM and returning anywhere from 5 to 8 hours later. Fishing for….???? These trips are a work in progress according to whatever everyone wants to do and what the sea condition will allow. We could fish the inlet jetty for bluefish, shrimp the bay for weakfish and the ultralite mixed bag, anchor up on the west side of the bay for blowfish, cruise the shoreline outside for migrating albacore, run to Barnegat Ridge for bonita and albacore either on the troll or chum, Whatever you guys want to do. We could also combine any of these species.
Rates according to duration. My trips are $100 an hour and range from 5 to 8 hours. 4 people max on Open Boat trips. All fish are shared.
Today was the 72nd World Series Of Surf Fishing Tournament hosted by the Long Beach Island Fishing Club. For anyone who was on the island or better yet the beach… the place way jumping. There were 52 teams and a total of 283 anglers fishing (23 women and 27 youth anglers under 18). All together there were 425 fish caught; 320 bluefish, 10 king fish, two fluke.
Harvey Cedars ASAC Tournament Results
1st Place: 35 Fish – 435 Points – SJ Surfcasters A
2nd Place: 27 Fish – 335.75 Points – Anglesea – A
3rd Place: 30 Fish – 316.50 Points – RH Custom Rods A
4th Place: 29 Fish – 225.5 Points – NJ Beach Buggy Ass
5th place: 18 Fish – 185.75 Points – Merchantville FC – C
First place largest fish men’s went to Dave Bosch for his 19″ Fluke. First place largest fish women’s went to Lisa A for her 13.5 ” bluefish.
Alex Thaler got the largest fish youth (14-17) with a 15.75″ bluefish. Brett Clark got the largest fish youth (13 & Under) with an 11″ bluefish.
Most Fish Men’s – Bob Rienir with 159.75 points, 12 Bluefish plus one other. Most Fish Women’s – Lynda Greaves with 57.75 points, 5 blues plus one other. Most Fish Youth (14-17) – Alex Thaler with 64.25 points, 5 bluefish. Most Fish Youth (13 & Under) – Brett Clark with 11 points, one bluefish.
Other Reports From Today
Dennis and Elise Fortuna from Runnemede, NJ had a fun day off the surf today. They fished the mid-island surf and caught a number of kingfish. Dennis reported, “Kingfish were chewing on Fish Bites. Elise got a pompano too. We fished a mullet rig with fresh mullet but it didn’t get a touch.”
Some anglers down on the south end reported lots of small blues and a few fluke on the beach in Holgate.
Swagmattic Matt S. was aboard the Carolyn Ann today for the last day of fluke. The boat fished the Garden State North. It was good fishing early then it turned off. Matt was fishing live snappers and got a five pounder. It was a nice fish but not enough for the pool. However it was enough to take top honors in the South Jersey Saltwater Anglers Fall Fluke tournament weigh in. Matt took the top a 5.12 pound fluke.
I have a few spots open for Sunday morning 630-1130am will be targeting weakfish [ grass shrimping] , stripers and blues [ live bait and artificals ] . There has been plenty of light tackle action and fun for all the above.
We have plenty of striper bonus tags [ 24″ -27.999″ are keepers] so come on out and have some light tackle fun and excitement!
Fluke season is coming to a close tomorrow on Sept 22th and like every year it’s prime time fishing. Good reports coming from the from the surf, inlet, ocean and bay. Be sure to get out and enjoy the last of it. Don’t over look to power of live mullet… fluke love them!
We had a five pound fluke weighed in today from a boat angler who was working the Barnegat Light Reef. He said it was rough but full of life, catching about forty shorts.
Herb Weikel of Ship Bottom stopped in the shop for some fresh mullet and shared he found good fishing this week, “Fluke and blues are chewing cut mullet! A few days ago I got some some keepers near the Inlet. Wednesday only shorts.”
On the bayside blowfish continue in good numbers. Anglers having fun with them are also getting a couple weakfish and spot.
Anglers fishing the Barnegat Inlet are into tog on live green crabs. The bite is strong and has been for a couple weeks. We expect this to continue right into October mid possibly later. Gear up with live crabs and hop some rocks. The NJ Recreational Limit for Blackfish aka Tog is one fish at 15 inches until November 15 when it goes up to a five fish bag. Speaking of regulations, in a couple weeks we will have Black Sea Bass… Oct 8th to Oct 31 is 10 fish 12.5″ and then in November it bumps up to 15 fish.
The Fishing Musician Rick happily reported his magic shad was his ace, “Got a weakfish, fluke, bluefish and a sea robbin. The blowfish were also present and taring me up.” Rick’s land based fishing adventures have been good all summer. He’s looking forward to soon switching gears to the fall striped bass run.
Store staffer Kelley is finding fish at night on soft plastics. There’s tons of snappers but if you weed through them there’s bigger fish. Got a nice fluke, some striped bass and bigger blues.
Hot New Products
The all new Heavy Duty Bullet Jig Head from Magictail is finally in. This is the jig head for anglers who demand a heavy hook jig head. Whether targeting gamefish in heavy water or big pelagics these are the go to jig head. Great for rigging Lunker City’s Slug-go, Ronz and Megashads among many other softbaits. Check them out today!
Today we received a monster delivery of Grundens All Weather Gear. We are stocked up and ready for the fall weather. Are you? Stop in to check out our selection of bibs, jackets and much much more.
Beach Haven was spared Hurricane Florence, and the strong winds and large seas which have been present for over a week have begun to subside. The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are ready to catch fish despite the closure of the summer flounder season on September 22.
A recent uptick in bluefish action has been stirring interest the past few days. Naturally, the bay waters are filled with snapper blues, some grown to a pound already, but good numbers of bluefish in the 2-6 pound class have been making their appearance in the ocean.
Captains choosing to troll in the waters not that far off the beach have been finding some pretty good action on these bluefish, Spanish mackerel, albacore, bonita, and small mahi-mahi.
The reports coming from the offshore waters indicate that there is a decent bite on tuna when the ocean conditions permit boats to make it there. Captain Lindsay Fuller of the “June Bug” reports some of these fish can be caught on the troll, but he recommends overnight trips to the canyons with a combination of trolling and chunking through the night hours.
A plethora of bait in the bay and inlet waters is a positive sign, and eyes are already looking to the north awaiting the arrival of the fall run of striped bass. There are small, “schoolie” sized bass in the bay which are being caught casting lures around the sod banks, especially during the hours of low light.
Complete information on the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.net.
