After catching lots of redfish and cobia at Hilton Head, Chuck Many is back at his first love releasing big bass in NY/NJ Bight — and doing it in his favorite way with live eels. Bob and David Mangone were aboard for the usual results!
Reports from boaters using live bunkers were also very good today, with lots of “overs” being released.
The forecast is for southeast winds at a mere 5-10 knots with a chance of showers.
At Belmar, the Big Mohawk reported lots of out-of-season sea bass were hitting blackfish baits Tuesday, but a tog of about 6 pounds took the pool. The Ocean Explorer had a nice bite all day with some keepers among all the hits.
Ginger Tatum enjoyed her blackfishing yesterday with Gary Caputi.
There isn’t much information about it so far, but one of the oddest fish species has been caught off N.C. in world record size.
There’s only two ways for people to turn when a fish photo is shot, and it usually seems to be away from the sun. Yet, in this case there shouldn’t be any problem identifying the unusual pomfret. This one was weighed in at Chasin Tails Bait & Tackle in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. It weighed 26.7 pounds — well above the present record of 20 pounds, 10 ounces from Florida. I assume that was a canyon catch from great depths.
Andreas Toy from Perth Amboy reported a slow start on Raritan Bay stripers this morning before everything changed as live bunkers did the job.
The forecast is for just 5 knots east before going southeast in the afternoon.
There are great variations from day-to-day, but blackfish populations seem to be in relatively good shape despite all the pressure on them. Best of all, it’s good to see so many females being released during the current spawning season.
Capt. Mark DeBlasio of Water Proof at Point Pleasant reported yesterday’s big swell limited the Michael Kefalas party to 21 keepers. De Blasio noted “Today we saw better conditions and a better bite with Nick Tennaro and crew catching 40 keeper sized fish .. kept our limit and released the rest including two DD that went back safely. Big one was 14 lbs on the scale.”
The best Raritan Bay reports lately seem to be coming from boaters fishing with live bunkers. However, obtaining those bunkers hasn’t been as easy as it usually is in April.
Capt. Joe Massa reported plenty of striper action in the bay on Friday from his My Three Sons out of Morgan Marina, and also checked the Hudson River to find it full of striper marks. However, he had to work hard for the bunkers which produced bass.
Chris Buchta had a similar report today, with more effort going into catching the bait than the bass.
Capt. Frank Masseria said Saturday morning was a struggle because his customers were having a hard time hooking stripers on live bunkers with circle hooks. He switched to trolling with Vitamin Sea from Keyport only to find the bass finicky despite lots of marks. Everything was back to normal with limit catches this morning.
A small craft warning is up until 2 a.m. when the northwest wind drops to 10-15 knots before switching to southwest at 5-10 knots in the afternoon.
.Yesterday evening I received a call froma concerned friend who had heard from a friend who had heard from another friend, etc, that I had passed away. In case that rumor is floating around, I am happy to report that it is greatly exaggerated!
Though I have to be very careful getting on and off boats these days, and can no longer walk miles to the best ponds in my Ft. Myers development, I’m still ready to fish anytime I might get an invitation I can get to without having a car. Old age has its drawbacks, but I’m rolling with it — and have no lack of great memories which I’m compiling into a book.
Spring weakfishing in NJ. has been poor for years. but I finally got a report today from Fisherman’s Headquarters of a Long Beach Island weakfish.
There was also news from Betty & Nick’s Fishing Club of striper action in Seaside Park where Annabelle Long released this 32-incher.
Fish Bound from Ocean City, Maryland reported as follows on their trips for tautog over 10 pounds as follows:
Some Super nice weather for April, and some beautiful fish. Our largest this week out of 5 trips was Jimmy Lee’s beautiful 18 pound fish that was safely released. Groups were able to release 25 DD out of 5 trips run.
A small craft advisory is up from 6 p.m. to late tonight, but by the morning it drops to south at 5-10 knots before going west in the afternoon. Morning showers are likely.
The Hudson River striped bass spawning stock appears to be in great shape. and everyone is getting their shots at them. All reports from private and charter boats have been positive even if some started off slowly.
It just seems to be a matter of keeping all options open. In most cases the bass will hit shads and flutter spoons, but at times they only want live bunkers. Topwater lures are often effective, but don’t count on them especially with a lot of boat traffic on weekends. No report so far has mentioned catching stripers in the ocean, but they should be out there by now.
Surfcasting has been picking up steadily. Betty & Nick’s in Seaside Park reports clams have been the best bait lately, but Joe Less used sand fleas to catch this 33-incher yesterday afternoon.
Though some drizzle and fog is forecast in the morning, the early wind prediction is for light southeast before increasing to 15-20 with gusts to 25 knots in the afternoon.
Northern N.J. surfcasters will be sorry to hear that Ernie Giglio passed away on April 12. Giglio’s Bait & Tackle was a Sea Bright magnet for many of the best anglers in the area, including Skip Smith of Smithy’s Lures who now lives in Florida. According to the little bit of info I’ve received so far, Ernie ran the shop from 1996 to 2004, and then worked there to 2017.
Blackfishing remains a good bet, even though shorts dominate most of the time. At Belmar, the Ocean Explorer reported Bob the Butcher managed a limit Thursday while releasing two dozen tog. The Big Mohawk had a 7-pound pool winner. Cod are a possibility every day.
At Brielle, the Jamaica will be striper fishing at 7:30 a.m. This morning’s action was good on shads and crocs, and the bass were often on the surface.
A study by the National Marine Fisheries Service of recreational pelagic species catches along the Atlantic coast has shown them to be arriving earlier and going further north as waters have warmed
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“A new study by NOAA Fisheries has identified shifting distributions of Atlantic Highly Migratory Species catch, including tunas, billfish, and sharks, off the northeastern United States. The findings are part of efforts to better understand the effects of climate change on marine species and the fishing communities that rely on them.
“Shifts in the timing and location of Highly Migratory Species catch have important implications for recreational anglers, including seasonal fishing tournaments, and coastal communities that rely on these fisheries,” said lead author Dr. Dan Crear, Marine Spatial Ecologist, NOAA Fisheries HMS Management Division. “Fishermen may have to travel farther and/or fish earlier in the year to find certain target species. The species found at a favorite fishing spot may be changing over time, with species typically found further south becoming more common in northern waters earlier.”
“It was striking to see the extent of shifts in the catch for some of these species over the last 20 years,” said author Dr. Tobey Curtis, Fishery Management Specialist, NOAA Fisheries HMS Management Division. “Fishermen are observing these changes in fish distributions, and adapting to these shifts.”
The study used recreational fishery data collected as part of NOAA’s Large Pelagics Survey to explore the locations and timing of HMS recreational catches from 2002 through 2019. Recent studies are finding that HMS and other species in the region are generally shifting northward along the coast and arriving earlier in the year as ocean temperatures warm. These behavioral shifts are now reflected in HMS recreational catches, according to this current study. For example, catches of large and small bluefin tuna were found to be shifting northward at a rate of 4–10 kilometers (2.5–6.2 miles) per year.
The spatial shifts appeared to be related to the increasing water temperatures across the study region, which spanned from Maine through Virginia. Recreational catches of blue sharks and thresher sharks are shifting northward at rates of 30–40 km (19–25 miles) for each 1°C increase in water temperature.
The survey collects data from June through October each year when most offshore recreational fishing occurs. The study found that catches for most HMS have been occurring earlier in the season over time. For example, early bluefin tuna catches off Massachusetts in 2019 were estimated to have occurred 80 days earlier than in 2002. Similarly, early blue shark catches were estimated 66 days earlier off Connecticut, and early blue marlin catches were estimated 27 days earlier off New York. “
It’s interesting that NMFS hasn’t noted that their prediction that warmer waters would bring red drum to the north has not occurred even though (as my readers are aware) that species was the most important inshore game fish in central N.J. over 100 years ago when the Barnegat area was considered to be the channel bass capitol of the Atlantic coast.
Though there have been incredible catches of tautog off Maryland this year, tog anglers in NY/NJ Bight rarely see such specimens. Yet, two were reported on Belmar party boats this week,
One roe-laden female was released Wednesday on the Ocean Explorer by Davy and estimated in the upper teens tough there was no weight given or even the measurements with which to compute a widely-accepted weight by formula. A great move by Davy, but Ocean Explorer customers should take up a collection for a scale and tape on that boat;
The other outsize tog was an 11-pound. 14-ounce black on the Big Mohawk by “Dave”.
The forecast is for east winds at just 5-10 knots before increasing to 10-15 in the afternoon.
Chuck Many is in Hilton Head, where he and Greg waited out the cobia before spotting one under a manta ray.
Even marginable weather days usually haven’t slowed striper fishing in Raritan Bay this spring. Charter boat reports remained very good today, and the forecast is for east winds at just 5-10 knots.
The N.J. surf is slowly coming to life. Mike Monte cast a white Bomber in the Monmouth County surf and broke the ice this season with a schoolie.
Absecon Bay Sportsman Center reported an unusual catch of a legal bass right in Absecon Creek rather than the backwaters. That 31-incher hit a Berkley paddle tail.
Vinny D’Anton has been working hard to catch a few fish by wading in the Sarasota area, but came up with a beauty yesterday on a DOA Shrimp – a 24.5-inch spotted sea trout.
Fish were a lot easier to come by this morning when Vinny joined a guided boat trip. The guide castnetted small greenbacks which were gobbled up by snook and other species as Vinny said he must have released about 40 fish!
Mike Monte had no luck again this morning with stripers in the Monmouth County surf on lures,, but he did see one caught on sand fleas by an angler using that bait earlier than I’ve ever heard of it being tried in the northern surf. Furthermore, that angler also lost another bass.
Sand fleas are a logical bait as waters warm up and live bait gets scarcer since bass can always root through the sand to fill up. Fishermen who have picked up that skill have often scored well while others can’t raise a thing on lures.
Every report from charter and private boats fishing in Raritan Bay was positive. It just seemed to be how long it took to catch what they wanted in various sizes.
The Jamaica from Brielle reported a very good Saturday striper trip with almost a boat limit on shads and crocs. They are sailing daily at 7:30 from Tuesday through Sunday.
A small craft warning is up through 8 p.m. The forecast for tomorrow is for southeast winds at 5-10 knots.
You’ve probably seen enough striper photos lately, so here’s something completely different – a bluefin trevally caught by Bob Malloy during Chuck Many’s trip to Pesca Panama. When I first went to Panama’ Pacific coast decades ago we called that abundant species cobalt jack.
It’s hard to believe the following April 15 article by Scott Lenox:
There was a pretty thick fog bank over Ocean City’s back bay for a good part of the day, but other than that it was absolutely beautiful and not what the weatherman predicted. Forecasts earlier in the week called for a good chance of rain today, but that changed yesterday and today was really quite nice. Warm temps, sunny skies and light winds had lots of folks out on the water looking to bend a rod.
Captain Chase Eberle of Chasin’ Tides had his “best tog trip ever” today with 19….yes 19 double digit tautog coming over the rail. Captain Chase had some seasoned tautog anglers on board today, but I expect that even they haven’t seen anything like they witnessed on today’s trip. Anglers on board Chasin’ Tides caught this list of tautog today……three 10 pounders, two 11 pounders, four 12 pounders, three 13 pounders, three 14 pounders, one 15 pounder, one 19 pounder, a 20 pounder and a 21 pounder. Bill Decosta had the third largest fish at 19.5 pounds which he caught on the jig and tog fisherman extraordinaire, Joe Mole caught both the 20 pound fish and the largest 21 pound fish. All of the fish caught on today’s trip except the 21 pounder were released. Congratulations to Captain Chase, the crew and to Joe for 20 pounders on one trip!!
I wasn’t able to download any photos, but this one is of an earlier 17-pounder by Chris Cullen on the same boat.
After enjoying “insane” striper fishing yesterday, it was exactly the opposite today on Miss Belmar Princess. The readings were there, and birds were working — but the bass wouldn’t bite. Only about a dozen keepers were caught after everyone scored yesterday. A small craft warning is up, and that boat won’t sail tomorrow due to the weather. West winds at 15-20 knots will gust to 25.
There was also a sudden change in the Monmouth County surf where Mike Monte had seen decent school stripers being caught on white surface plugs the previous morning. He made his first try at dawn, but found no action at all as no bass were caught.
Tight Lines 
