Vinny D’Anton raised a few cocktail blues to his Chug Bug in the Monmouth County surf this morning, but remains surprised at the lack of school stripers there as none of the regulars are catching them. Stripers should be gorging on sand fleas by this time, and those baits are abundant. Yet, Vinny can’t get a bite on them despite perfect conditions. A switch to fluke on Gulp was a lot more productive even though there wasn’t an 18-incher among them.

Capt. Frank Masseria of Vitamin Sea from Leonardo has been out of action due to a reaction from a medication, but his crew has continued to do well with the Raritan Bay stripers.

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The NY/NJ Bight forecast is for east winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20. There’s a chance of morning rain.

Party boat skippers often contend that NOAA Fisheries underestimates sea bass populations which results in tougher regulations than necessary. The results from New Jersey’s season so far seem to uphold that stance as catches haven’t dropped off.

The latest report from the Golden Eagle from Belmar was of a full boat sea bass limit along with the usual few ling. Capt. Ron Santee actually had a slower start on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands this morning due to poor conditions, but the trip ended with another good catch. That boat is chartered on Sunday.

The forecast for NY/NJ Bight is for northeast winds at only 5-10 knots before increasing to 10-15 plus gusts to 20 in the afternoon.

Sorry I couldn’t get up for the annual Manhattan Cup (now run out of Liberty Landing in Jersey Cit),especially when compared with the first one I fished in pouring rain plus thunder, lightning and hail before ending up with a tornado warning which required ordering all boats into Great Kills. The contestants had to be transported by a party boat to Manhattan for dinner and all the festivities.

The Viking Fleet at Montauk reports as follows: “Steven Sr. reports a very good trip on the Viking Starship. Day 1 the Tilefish were picky to start, but when the conditions changed it got better and better. We had mostly Tile with some Pollock and Hake too. A lot of the Tiles were Large and X-Large. Day 2 started with a bang then slowed down, so we tried deeper water where we found Jumbo Tiles and very Large Hake. On Day 3 we fished the Fluke grounds. It started off slow with wind against tide. As the tide picked up it got better and better! We left them biting!! Don Wetzel won the Tile pool with a 39.6 pounder. Anthony Zheng won the Fluke pool with a 9.2 pounder. The edible pool went to Bill Beacher with a 34.9 lb Hake. “

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The forecast in NY/NJ Bight is for south winds at just 5 knots. There may be some areas of fog plus showers in the morning, and seas will be up to 5 feet.

Vinny D’Anton found no stripers yesterday morning in the Monmouth County surf, but had good action with medium-sized blues. Blind casting with a Chug Bug brought the blues up. Unfortunately, surf stripers remain hard to come by. Vinny and Frank Manzi gave sand fleas a good try one day last week. There were plenty of bugs to be raked, but no hits on them. It’s just a question of time before that fishery breaks open as the surf remains cold.

Kil Song reports “I fished weakfish on the Hamton Lady out of LI
.I read they catch many weakfish on the boat and I missed weakfish so long. I used Kil R Rig with sand eel style Gulp which I bought for fluking. I know Kil R Rig is working for weakfish as I caught many big 10 plus lb weakfish with the Rig in Bay Ridge Flat in front of Statue of Liberty years ago.
Finally I got a baby weakfish. 
Back to fluking on next trip.”

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The forecast remains great with southwest winds at 5-10 knots, and only a slight chance of afternoon showers.

 

Kil Song did some rod testing on Long Island Sound this week and reports “IFished for fluke on the Celtic Quest out of Port Jefferson, NY again today

Fishing was as good as on the last trip. KIl R Rig was not effective today though I had 44 shorts and one keeper. I missed lots of bites as my hook setting timing was off. One angler got my attention as it seems he landed fluke on every cast though majority were shorts. He must landed 100 fluke today. He used small jig with long Gulp and sand eel style teaser on the high hook. I think it matches bait as fluke are feeding on sand eels.”

Capt. Ron Santee reports sea bass fishing on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands was very good again on Tuesday. No fluke were added, but there were some ling.

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The forecast in NY/NJ Bight is for southwest winds at 5-10 knots before increasing to 10-15 plus gusts to 20 in the afternoon.

It wasn’t long ago when scientists were worried about the striped bass resource in NY/NJ Bight. but the change to a release fishery has resulted in trophy bass becoming so common that it’s often harder to find a much smaller bass to keep.

Johnny Calamari was amazed at the size of stripers caught yesterday by winners of a raffle to raise funds for the fight against cancer which took his father’s life. Yet, that’s become relatively common these days as a result of so many spawners being released every year.

I also had other such reports on Facebook today, though something went wrong with my computer and they were lost.

Capt.Ron Santee had another fine catch of sea bass up to 2 3/4 pounds during Sunday’s trip on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands. A few ling and a couple of fluke were added.

The Sea Tiger II from that port worked hard for fluke on Sunday, but the catch included some bigger specimens at 3.6,4.6 and 5.2 pounds.

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The forecast is for southwest winds at a modest 5-10 knots.

Though the N.J. sea bass season has been open for some time, it appears to be standing up quite well. Capt. Ron Santee reports he only needed two drops with his Fishermen out of Atlantic Highlands for a good Sunday catch of sea bass up to a 3-pounder plus a few fluke and ling and the first mackerel which I assume were chubs rather than Atlantics.

Tuesday looks to be ideal for that fishing with a forecast of northwest winds at 5-10 knots which shift to southwest in the afternoon.

Nick Honachefsky was surfcasting for black drum with clams on the southern Jersey Shore when this surprise visitor joined the party.

Betty & Nick’s in Seaside Park reports Kat caught this 24-inch, 5 1/2-pound fluke in the surf.

Anglers have the opportunity to fish for stripers and blues with combat veterans on Friday as the annual Manhattan Cup is run out of Liberty Landing in Jersey City. The contest is a fun occasion right from the big breakfast to clams and oysters before a huge dinner — and there are some impressive prizes to be won while raising funds for vets plus Gray Fishtag Research’s Northeast Striped Bass Study.

For info call Mike Dean at 917 873-6651 or visit manhattancup.com

A small craft advisory in NY/NJ Bight ends at 6 p.m. The forecast is for southwest winds at just 5-10 knots.

The sea bass fishery continues at a good pace in N.J. even though it’s necessary to fish through lots of shorts. The Miss Belmar reports “Both Miss Belmar boats went out today and did good despite the howling winds! ALOT of short SEA BASS came over the rail today and had to go back. A few people had their LIMITS but you had to weed through them today! Some LINGand BLACKFISH came up as well. Back at it again tomorrow.”

Capt. Frank Masseria has been fighting the weather with his Vitamin Sea from Leonardo while N.J. fluking has been slow as spots which were producing lots of keepers last year at this time now only yield shorts.

Amandas Toy made its first offshore trip which produced good action with both tuna and tilefish.

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A small craft advisory is up through Sunday morning. The morning forecast is for west winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20.

Every dedicated striper angler hopes to break the 50-pound mark which is achieved only by a few during a lifetime. However, those odds change greatly for those with the last name of Many.

Chuck Many has put many anglers into 50-pounders aboard his Tyman from Highlands, and Kevin Many joined that elusive club last week when he released a 51.

Kevin Many with his 51 before release.

Chuck Many specializes in big bass off the northern N.J. Shore by slow-trolling live eels. He uses a certified 60-pound Boga Grip scale to weigh bass in the course of tagging them with a Gray tag.

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Saturday’s forecast in NY/NJ Bight is for west winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20 and showers.