Big bluefish were scarce this fall in NY/NJ Bight. but there have been some reports of them from striper fishermen.In addition to yesterday’s report from the Fishermen, Capt. Frank Masseria of Vitamin Sea from Keyport sent the following about yesterday’s trip.

“Had Paul, Richie, and crew on board today. Excellent action right from the start with bass eating everything we threw at them- jigs, shads, spoons, and topwater. Fish ranged from 22” to 39” with a few fish pushing 30 pounds. Full boat limit of keepers and bonus fish and some JUMBO bluefish with many more bass released. Super December bassing continues.”

Capt Ron Santee finished his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands season in rough waters and rain — but went out with a bang!

“The Ocean was Angry, the rain was coming down, it was Fishing in the Snot at it’s Finest!!!

Had an awesome couple hours of non-stop action on fish up to 38 inches before the change of tide…..I always like to end the season on a High note, today was perfect.“

A small craft advisory is up through Monday afternoon. The forecast is for west winds at 15-20knots with gusts to 25 — perfect for surfcasting at the N.J. Shore!

There was an unprecedented volume of surfcasters fishing this morning along much of the Jersey Shore.

Mike Monte started in Ocean County where it wasn’t as crowded and conditions were perfect for catching stripers feeding on sand eels. He started catching by making long casts with an Ava jig before noting that most hits were coming near the beach, A switch to the Tsunami Sand Eel resulted in catching mostly 25-30-inch bass on short casts.

Vinny D’Anton also started to the south, and caught bass there before getting a call about the Monmouth County surf, He said there were literally hundreds of anglers there despite a significant swell that required caution on the backwash. Most bass w ere from 23 inches up to his 30-incher, but he saw a 35-incher beached by Tommy Cox.

Capt. Ron Santee of the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands reported

“Amazing amount of life once again today!

Action from start to finish with Bass from 18-40 inches along with a couple dozen Monster Blues! The Blues were loaded with Bunker & Baby Weakfish. Several guys lost count at 35 plus fish. All went home with the meat.“

Sunday may be the last trip of the season for the Fishermen, but Santee will check the weather for possibly making a few more trips next week.

A small craft advisory is up from Sunday morning to evening. The forecast for Sunday is for east winds at 15-20 knots plus gusts to 25. Rain is also predicted.

Jim Hutchinson Sr. says age is only in your mind. Dave Rinear and he went out of Barnegat Inlet in sub-freezing temperatures to catch 15 stripers in less than an hour before returning with their limits Dave is the young guy at 79!

Eric Kerber sent along this shot of his daughter Lyla (12) with her first striper.

Gerald Cece said Bay Head was the place for surfcasting this morning – “Lots of bass – cold”

The forecast is for west winds at just 5-10 knots with possible fog.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported another excellent day of striper fishing with many legal fish and lots of releases.

Capt. Ron Santee said it was another beautiful day on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands as he had a couple of areas to work without boat traffic There were fish right off the bat.”The last Hour and a Half after the change of tide the bite was insane, fish boiling on top with just about every cast producing a fish. Found the bigger fish in the afternoon as well and released many from 34 up to 42 inches. Couple customers with 30 plus fish by days end.“

Sunday may be Ron’s last trip, but he’ll check the upcoming weather at that time.

The “old guy’s” limit

Sand eels moved into the Jersey Shore surf a few days ago, and it appeared that they were going to be the primary forage fish for school stripers until yesterday morning when Mike Monte caught one bass at first light in the Monmouth County surf on his Tsunami Sand Eel before peanut bunkers flooded in. After that, he watched other anglers cast every type of lure without a hit as those bass only wanted a live bunker.

The peanuts were back this morning, but Vinnie D’Anton was pleased to find that they hit lures today. Indeed, he did best with the L’ll doc plug which doesn’t look anything like a peanut or a sand eel,

Blog reader Joe Gale was also in on the long-lasting Monmouth County bite which included bass up to 35 inches.

Vinny said the early bite in Ocean County appeared to be on sand eels before peanuts arrived.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported as follows: “It was EXCELLENT STRIPED BASS fishing right away today! We were able to fish local and close so it was a nice short ride. There was plenty of life with excellent readings and nice long drifts with action around the boat. We had numerous fish on at times and the boat was limited out on KEEPERS and SLOT FISH with plenty of fish safely released. Shads along with jigs, plain and tailed, all worked great today.“

Capt. Ron Santee said he had a perfect November striper trip with his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands. “Headed out knowing there were 3 large area’s we could fish & catch, my first choice was close to Home as we had several area’s of Birds working. Got on the Meat right away with some awesome action on all size Bass from tiny to tossing back a few 34 inch beauties.

Everyone went home with plenty for dinner. Weather looks good right through the weekend, don’t miss the last of the Bite as the Fat Lady is getting ready to sing for us!

Thanks to all my Regs that made their last trip today, the Gift cards, the Balvenie and Cigars….. Love you guys. Merry Christmas, till next season.

Chuck Many made what could be his last in NY/NJ Bight for the pre-spawning 50’sbefore making the move to Virginia for the pre-spawning 50’s That possibly last northern trip with Tyman worked out well,

A small craft advisory is up through late tonight. Friday starts with southwest winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20. There’s a chance of afternoon rain.

As noted in yesterday’s blog, surf fishing conditions were ideal along the Jersey Shore — and this time the stripers took advantage of the situation.

Vinny D’Anton said the Monmouth County surf this morning was full of peanut bunkers with 24-30-inch stripers feeding on them. The only problem was getting bass to hit lures in all that bait. Vinny got some on paddletails, but the best bet was one of the peanuts.

At the same time, Vinny got a report from a friend in the Ocean County surf that it was even better there as he had caught 40 already.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported :

“The STRIPERS were more than ready to bite today!!  There were plenty of fish and they kept coming over the rail.  We had a boat limit so everyone got to bring fish home.“

Capt. Ron Santee is planning to finish the season with his Fishermen out of Atlantic Highlands from Thursday through Sunday. With the volume of sand eels now being “unreal”, He recommends metal jigs with, or without, tails.

A small craft advisory is up to late tonight. By morning the southwest wind will be 10-15 knots plus gusts to 25 early.

Chasin’ Tails Outdoors Tackle in Atlantic Beach, N.C. weighed this huge 67.9-pound kingfish after it was caught Nov. 25 east of Cape Lookout. It hit a live bunker being fed out on a Penn Spinfisher 8500. As it was credited to two anglers, I’m not sure if it was a legitimate sportfishing catch.

The big swell that Mike Monte reported yesterday morning was down to a perfect condition by dawn as he caught five stripers casting an Ava jig with a green tail to imitate the sand eels which now seem to be abundant all along the Jersey Shore.

Despite the good weather, I couldn’t find a single party boat report as of 6 p.m.

A gale warning is up through late tonight. Wednesday starts with west winds at 15-20 knots plus gusts to 25.

The fall bluefin tuna run has been very good, but this Shore Catch bluefin taken last week by casting a split tail jig could be the last if the winds don’t relate.

Mike Monte fished the Monmouth County surf at dawn, but soon found that his Tsunami Sand Eel and teaser was lost in a large swell that came up overnight. The only angler who caught school stripers did so by casting a large bucktail jig.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported that it took some time to get the stripers started, but ended up with boat limits.

There’s a small craft advisory up to late tonight before it changes to a gale warning through late Tuesday.

Nick Honachefsky of saltwater Underground had a ball in the NJ surf last week as he and Purple Pants Pete released over 60 small stripers. Nick even took advantage of bass in the wash to catch some on his fly rod.

Sand eels are the most important late fall to winter striped bass fishery as they stick around while other forage fish head south. The first boat mention of them came today from Capt. Ron Santee of the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands. He noted

“Changed things up a bit today and took a ride….Glad we did!

Found the first Sand eels of the season and the Bass were Hungry. First drift went 30 minutes with non-stop action on fish up to 36 inches. Everyone had thier two by trips end. Plain Jigs & Jigs with tails were the ticket catching these beauties. Can’t wait to get back at it tomorrow!

7:00AM Sailing,. Open Boat, No reservations, No crowds, Just come on down. Fare is $90, Rod Rental $20.“

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported another big trip of stripers, and will be back at it at 6:30 a.m.

Mike Monte only had a short daylight shot at stripers in the Monmouth County, and had to switch to a Ava with a green tail for long casts to catch schoolies. He had to stop that for a time because he was afraid of hitting the mass of loons feeding on the sand eels.

Vinny D’Anton said there was blitz surf fishing yesterday morning in Ocean County with bass up to 35 inches on peanut bunkers.

A small craft advisory is up from 6 p.m. to late Monday night. The morning forecast is for west winds at 20-25 knots plus gusts to 30.

Though the surfishing report report wasn’t great, Mike Monte had some very good news about the Monmouth County bait situation as sand eels were definitely in the surf. Loons were diving, and the Tsunami Sand Eel plu a teaser produced three stripers for Mike. Those weren’t the large bass caught a week ago, but rather in the 22-25-inch class which are the norm for the late fall to winter Jersey Shore surfi fshery. Furthermore, Mike said the bite was brief and right around first light. Another angler managed some bass by making long casts with a diamond jig with a green tail.

Capt. Ron Santee of the Fishermen at Atlantic Highlands said being an early boat really helped today. “

“Once again the early sailing payed off for us today….“

Tried an area we haven’t fished in a while and worked the readings. Half a dozen nice drifts slugging away on the Bass.

Gregg P. had the hot hand landing 5 fish, couple guys had two, some with one.

Bite died after we got mugged, spent a few hours in search of with not much luck. Caught the end of the tide on the last drop and landed 3 more fish to end the day.  Back at it in the morning.“

At Belmar, the Golden Eagle reported “

SUPER ACTION WITH THE STRIPERS ALL DAY LONG!!

It was CRAZY GOOD FISHING TODAY with a big area of STRIPED BASS.  We had  nice long drifts with action around the boat and we had 6 to 8 fish on at times!  The boat was limited out with KEEPERS and TAGGED FISH and overs were safely released.“

The Ocean Explorer is fishing for blackfish. On Thanksgiving there was a 10-pound trophy tog caught by Jessie who released that spawner.

The forecast is for sutheast winds at 5-10 knots before increasing to 10-15 in tge afternoon plus a chance of rain.

i was wondering why I couldn’t find a party boat report on the busiest day of the year before seeing Capt. Frank Masseria’s comments from Vitamin Sea out of Keyport as follows: “Today was a grind kind of bite. The bird life that we’ve been used to seeing was nonexistent this morning. In fact, most of the morning went by without us having a single fish. We went into hunt mode and traveled many many many many many miles to find fish. eventually we ran into them and managed to put a limit of keepers in the boat and a bonus fish to top it off. Certainly not the fishing with have been used to but good enough.” Masseria (917 439-6448) has spots open Wednesday and next Sunday.

Capt. Ron Santee had a similar report on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands as it was a tough day without the clouds of birds over feeding fish. There were some mid-water marks, but only a “handfull” of keepers were caught on jigs — with just one on a swim shad,

It appears that the period of rough seas and big swells pushed the initial mass of stripers in NY/NJ Bight along to spawning rivers to the south and perhaps into Hudson River. However, there are many more to come from New England. The waters aren’t even cold yet, and today’s bad surprise should be very temporary.

A small craft advisory is up from 6 p.m. to late tonight, but by morning it’s down to north at a mere 5-10 knots before going back to northwest in the afternoon – creating ideal conditions for surfcasters.