Anglers aboard the Reel Fantasea continue to score Barnegat Bay Slams mixing it up between all three species – Stripers, blues and fluke on light spinning tackle to maximize their angling fun!
Stripers ranging just under 28″ to as small as mid to upper teens [ inches] have be bending the rods and straining our light tackle drags to the delight of our light tackle enthusiasts.
Bluefish have also been readily available on most tidal stages ranging in size from 2lbs – 10lbs under heavy bird plays. They have provided exceptional light tackle fun and opportunity for those seeking more drag scorching quarry.
Fluke are also available for those seeking these delicious and delicate gamesters but seeking cleaner water during certain tidal stages have been the best way to score consistently to avoid peak sea weed and algae flow.
I have Friday afternoon/evening 5pm-8pm , Saturday and Sunday morning 5am – 10am available for anyone looking to get out on the action!!
I had a last minute cancellation for tomorrow, Tuesday June 26th. I’m willing to run open boat ($125 per person – need 3) or charter. The rest of the week is booked solid. All tackle, bait, ice, Gulp, fish-cleaning is included. We would be targeting Fluke and have decent tides – I’m willing to go 5am to 9am or 6am to 10am. If interested give me a text or call, 609-290-7709.
Capt. Brett Taylor – Reel Reaction Sportfishing – www.reelreactioncharters.com
The last few trips have seen many species aboard The Bonnie Anne. Last weekend we were on sea bass with Brian and Jim McGee and their father Jim Sr. on their annual Father’s Day trip. The group was on the sea bass and left with bags of fillets filled with sea bass and ling. Our first stop had throw back after throw back. It was our 3rd stop that was holding nice hump heads for the group. Father’s Day I was out with “The” Bonnie Anne and our 3 boys, ages 8, 6, and 2. We hit sea bass for an hour and the kids put 8 in the box and then we played with cocktail blues using metals at the inlet. Perfect Father’s Day. Sea bass opens again on July 1st.
This weekend I had Janet and Rich Krakowski out with sons Rich and Alex. This was their first time ever bucktailing for fluke and Janet’s first time ever fishing. We hit channel edges on the outgoing at the north end. The group put 3 keepers in the box at 18”, 19”, and 20.5”. The fish didn’t seem to prefer a certain color and all Gulp! colors produced. The group finished with over 20 fish, a couple 3ft. houndfish and a sundial.
School is out and we are fishing weekdays now! We use top quality rods, reels, and tackle, provide all bait, and ice. Just show up and have a great time catching fish! Call or email to book.
Sorry for missing last weeks update but I was enjoying my Father’s Day with family and friends and couldn’t pull my self away. I certainly hope all the dads enjoyed their day as well!
Stripers, Blues and Fluke have been our main targets this week with the closing of seabass season for now. With that being said our anglers have scored all three species [ Barnegat Bay Slam!!] consistently on trips with some of our anglers scoring multiple slams individually !!
Blues have been running into the drag scoring 9-12lbs ranges with most ranging about 3 – 5lbs while our fluke have been scored to 25″ and weighing up to almost 6lbs. Stripers are of the catch and release variety but are fantastically entertaining on light spinning tackle.
Presently I only have next Sunday July 1st available for folks looking for some salty light tackle fun!
Remember to join us on Facebook and Instagram for pictures, videos and latest updates and like us!
With lesser tidal current, the backbay Fluke fishing is definitely start to improve, but we still have to contend with slime grass and close to 20 degree temperature swings. The key has been to finding cleaner water and you can really do some damage when the wind is close to calm. We have been averaging 20 to over 35 fish per trip and the keepers are varying 1 to 5 depending on the winds. With the end of the school year and finals, I got a little behind on my reports (too many to list here), so check them out on our website (www.reelreactioncharters.com), click on reports. I’m out of school and I’m running charters 7 days a week through September 1st.
We are 7 days a week (morning/afternoon). If interested in booking a charter, book our site (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.
Summer is officially here! That means inshore fluke fishing and offshore shark/tuna. Both of these are firing on all cylinders!!!
Fluke fishing in the bay has been good. surf anglers are also cranking out a catch. The ocean is picking up too but shorts, sea robins and dog fish dominate. We expect the inshore reef sites and wrecks as well as open bottom areas to pick up. Usually July and August are very good out there.
The surf fishing continues with a mix of different species. Even though most surf anglers have switched over to fluke and kingfish, the occasional striped bass and bluefish catch prove they are still hanging around.
Bill Montes fished the mid-island surf today and caught a nice size striped bass on our FishHeads salted clam.
Those looking for a good pull are looking towards sharks. Both sandbar and sand tiger sharks are present.
The inlet is producing fluke, striped bass and triggerfish.
Those looking to get out and enjoy the water and all that Long Beach Island has to offer should get out on Barnegat Bay. Go crabbing! Or if you are into other shellfish… head to the state’s website and purchase a shellfish license. Get out and go clamming! We’ve got all the essential crabbing and clamming supplies.
Speaking of shellfish and the bay… I had a blast last weekend clamming with the family. We had a great haul. Between four of us, in two hours we got almost 300 hard clams in a good assortment of sizes.
On Wednesday got a request to help out the Chamber with an oyster farming media project featuring Forty North Oysters. Went out to the “farm” and learned a lot about these tasty bivalves. The group was the first to sample the exclusive Parker’s Pearls for Beach Haven’s Parker Garage. For those that watched our live Instagram feed… I hope you enjoyed. There was a lot shared and I learned a ton about the amazing value oysters potentially offer to our waters. An adult oyster filters about a gallon of water per hour!
Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Fishing Report
by Jim Hutchinson Sr.
Black sea bass season is temporarily on hold, but fluke fishing action continues to remain steady for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association. A few bluefish are around the inlets, and offshore reports are very good for both yellowfin and bluefin tuna. Sharks are also making their presence known offshore.
Captain Ray Lopez and mate Liane Lopez on the “Miss Liane” reported some great family type fishing for black sea bass on inshore structure. The Occhipinti family celebrated Father’s Day in great style with “drop and reel” action.
Captain Carl Sheppard reports he too has been running family trips of up to 12 anglers on mostly half-day trips. His groups have been averaging 25 fish per trip. He has been blaming cool water for the slow action but anticipates increased action as the water has starting warming. On one recent inshore trip Captain Carl had bluefin tuna breaking water around the boat, but he was unable to coax any to his lines.
Captain Brett Taylor of Reel Reaction Sportfishing reports a definite improvement in his fishing trips over the past few days. As the water temperatures have warmed, the slime grass on the bottom is leaving, making fluke drifting much easier. Weather conditions made fishing touch recently for Ian Habich and his wife Tracey. Using bucktails, they managed to put 3 keeper fluke in the box up to 5.5 pounds along with a catch and release short striper. The finished the day with 3-6 pound bluefish caught in the inlet. Other trips resulted in 20 short fluke along with one keeper and another with five keepers to 22-inches. The bluefish in the inlet have been completing his trips.
This is a good time to book an offshore tuna trip. The weather is decent and the fish are there. For information on tuna fishing and the boats of the BHCFA go to the website at www.bhcfa.net.
We ran out to the Wilmington Canyon early Saturday morning. We met at the dock at 2:30 AM and threw the ropes by 3 AM. The chart plotter displayed 88 miles to our destination and I thought that’s a lot further than my Seaside Piers or Lavallette run. Ocean was flat calm and the marine forecast was for more of the same all weekend. Hoping this was going to be redemption time for last weeks zero we pulled at the Spencer Canyon.
I had a full Open Boat trip of four guys, Stuart Lombardi of NYC, Alan Smith of Manahawkin, NJ, Craig Kelley and his son-in-law Jarrett Powell both from Tuckerton, NJ. We arrived at the Wilmington around 7:30 AM and put out an eight rod spread. Three spreader bars, three squid chains, a cedar plug, and a Yummee Flying Fish I attempted to fish from a kite. There was not enough wind and the helium tank did not deliver enough gas to the assist balloon so I wound up with a whirling dervish instead of a stable square kite. It wrapped around one of the other lures and I spent the next 20 minutes untangling. When we started we had 63 degree water and some pilot whales. During my untangling, I gave the wheel to Stuart and gave him a heading to bring us deeper and more southerly. In that 20 minutes, the radio was lit up with boats hooking up yellowfin in 68 to 69 degree water. I grabbed the wheel back from Stuart and noticed the spike in water temp as well as a dozen circling boats and whales and porpoise. He brought us right to the spot!
We trolled around that area seeing and hearing boats hooked up, but not a touch for us. I started second guessing our spread, our speed, …..me. I dropped the RPM’s a little and that dropped us from 6.3 to 5.8 knots. I started checking the lures for grass as there was a little on the surface but they came in clean and alas…as I was checking the last lure we watched a yellowfin crush a rainbow spreader bar, and another hit the green machine bar, and another hit the flatlined cedar plug, and another on the second rainbow spreader bar……four on! We boated three of the four, all about 20 something pounds but over the legal size so they went in the cooler. We beat up that area some more and got a double header of slightly bigger fish and then we tripled up with a 20 pounder and two others that were taking more line and a little longer to subdue. They wound up being 40 and 50 pounders.
Here’s a video of that hookup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65qGkX2xTII
We were all boxed up and headed for the barn feeling great about the day and about halfway home I saw schools of bluefin airing out. We put out a quick four rod spread and a 50 pound bluefin crushed the flatlined red and white cedar plug. Forty five minutes on a 20 class, Jarrett decked a 50 pound bluefin. Got back to the marina by 6:30 PM and all was right with the world.
Craig, Jarrett, Stuart, Alan
We will be running offshore to the tuna grounds from time to time. Either the canyons or hopefully the mid range grounds, like 40 to 60 mile range will heat up in the coming weeks. These trips will always be announced with short notice, sometimes only a day or two before, as we are looking for perfection weather to run offshore. If you would like to be on our email list for these and all of our trips, as well as our fishing reports you can email us from our website.
As always we will also be fishing for bonita, albacore, bluefish, stripers, weakfish, fluke, kingfish and all of the mixed bag bay fishing. We will also be light tackle shark fishing within five miles of the inlet for two to four foot browns, dusky, and spinner sharks. All catch and release and a lot of fun.
Color on a yellowfin.Stuart and Craig with our bigger yellowfins.
~Capt Dave DeGennaro, Hi Flier Sportfishing, 732.330.5674, www.hiflier.com
Lots of great weather paired with lots of great fishing reports. The offshore season continues to fire on all cylinders with anglers coming in with solid catches.
Captain Cody Melton aboard the Heavy Metals out of Barnegat Light, “We got the first Big Eye in the boat yesterday, paired with some yellowfin it was a great trip.”
Captain Jeff aboard the Reel Innovations out of Harvey Cedars had another great trip to the edge! He reported, “We had a great time on our Father’s Day Canyon Trip! On the way we came across a lots of life on the inshore tuna grounds. Bluefin were boiling on top and we hooked up right away. Got a few fish in the boat and they got back on track to the edge. It turned out to be an awesome time… five big eye tuna, eight yellowfin tuna and multiple bluefin!”
Store staffer Kelley and Dave fished the surf for fluke this morning. They did good quantity wise but only a couple keeprs.. Kelley said the bite was consistent on Pink Gulp.”
Chet Kosarek sent in the report, “Steady pick of mostly undersized sea bass and fluke at Barnegat Reef Saturday. A lot of sea robins to pick through too. Spoke to guys who did well with tuna at the canyons. Fished the surf mid-island Sunday, nothing.”
Duncan Adrift
On Saturday June 16th while fishing offshore about 50 miles out from Atlantic City, Jay Weinberg met Duncan Adrift! Duncan is currently in the early stages of his trans Atlantic row in support of WaterAid (International non-profit advocate for clean drinking water and sanitation.) Four days in rowing a self built clinker style skiff, he’s made great progress but still has a long way to go on his journey from New York to Lochinver Scotland. Go to our Instagram Page for a short video clip.
Here’s the LBI Fishing Report Update for Friday night, June 15th. This past week the weather settled out and the weekend is set for flawless fun on the water. With lots of sun, reasonably light winds and fair seas, the shop has been slamming. Inshore, offshore and from shore anglers are gearing up and fishing hard. It’s game time.
June’s new moon was on Wednesday 13th and this dark side continues to produce! Fluke, Striped bass and bluefish reports continue from the LBI surf. The surf striper action has slowed slightly but we should have another couple of weeks. Yellow eyes are with them and also those anglers chunking bunker are encountering other toothy ones. Both brown sharks and sand tigers are here.
Shop regular Pete stopped in the other night with some line issues. After a long one on one with store staffer Blake, Pete was back on track. He stopped back yesterday and reported, “I released one nice brown shark and dropped one better fish.”
The inshore sea bass fishing is good but small fish ruling the roost. Hopefully you can find a spot that isn’t picked out. Most all reports are themed around lots of small throw backs. The striped bass troll bite is a slow pick at best. We heard a few skunk reports recently. One positive through the grapevine report today of a 25# class fish on an Mojo.
Bay fluke fishing is good and has been strong. Earlier in the week we had some solid fluke weighed in. The biggest was 7.08 lbs, taping out at 25.75″ and the smallest was 3.16 lbs.
Also fishing hard this past week, Store Staffer Max is on the fluke. He was on the bay couple mornings and reported good fishing. Max says, “Good weather and great fishing. Get out there!”
John Delsordo enjoyed the day on the water with his wife Danielle today and they got into some nice fluke. John shared, “(I’m a) proud husband! She pulls up this 25″ fluke all casual.”
Other species like striped bass, bluefish and weakfish are in the bay too.
Ryan Matejik reported striped bass on a great top water popper bite with flat calm back bay conditions.
Fish Heads Alumni Sam Wiesnewski stopped in the shop and gave us a solid report on the weakfish. He reported they are here roaming Barnegat Bay and some good quality size fish too! “Weakfish in the 3-5 pound range are here in strong numbers. Working a small lead head jig rigged with a rubber softbait and you’ll get them. Here’s one of many that he caught and release fishing with his friend the other morning.”
This weekend weather has the offshore boyz pumped and heading east! Sharks and tuna are waiting… Go Get Em!
These patented Side Tracker Spreader Bar feature a Chatter Lures exclusive multi-directional keel rudder which takes the splash bar out and away from the boat. The keel rudder adjusts in seconds so the same bar can be fished on port or starboard. These innovative fish killers are a huge help to small boat anglers, especially center consoles (well know for having limited space and tight spreads) heading offshore trolling without outriggers.
The side tracking ability of these elite spreader bars help anglers by effectively doubling the width of ones spread and more over tracking out into clean water way from the boat’s wake and prop wash. These are already well known in offshore circles for concsistently being the first to get bit. Professional rigged with top quality components in the USA. Check them out here at Fisherman’s Headquarters today.
Chatter Lures Side Tracker Spreader Bars are innovative fish killers. In the photo you’ll see the 19″ wide Ti-Bar with two, two plus one bird drops and a mainline three plus one hard head bullet interchangeable stinger(aka Green Machine). At the center of the bar you’ll find the magic, a Chatter Lures Side Tracker Bird which features an adjustable keel rudder. Please note this photo shows the bar upside down. Don’t worry! In the water when flipped, this bar rights its self auto correcting to the proper position.
Availability Info – Our first delivery of the Chatter Lures Side Tracker Spreader Bars arrived today June 15. For now only two colors (green and zucchini) with green birds. We expect in the next week or two we’ll see some yellow birds as well as some black and purple which are made with purple birds. Eventually word has it white will be one of the later colors to be made.
Fluke-A-Mania Fishing Tournament
Save the date! The 3rd Annual Fluke-A-Mania Fishing Tournament is July 7, 2018. Hosted by the Beach Haven MArkin Tuna Club, the tournament is to benefit The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Last year the even raised $3000. The Awards Dinner on Saturday July 9, 2018 will have live entertainment, cash bar, complimentary BBQ dinner and raffles. For the $100 registration fee this is by far the most bang for your buck tournament wise.
With lesser tidal current, the backbay Fluke fishing is definitely start to improve, but we still have to contend with slime grass and close to 20 degree temperature swings. The key has been to finding cleaner water and you can really do some damage when the wind is close to calm. We have been averaging 20 to over 35 fish per trip and the keepers are varying 1 to 5 depending on the winds. With the end of the school year and finals, I got a little behind on my reports (too many to list here), so check them out on our website (www.reelreactioncharters.com), click on reports. I’m out of school and I’m running charters 7 days a week through September 1st.
