Sorry for the brief Blog yesterday. but after doing a detailed report I was unable to publish it. I’m hoping for better luck today.
I joined Capt. Erwin Heinrich today on his Scales N Tales from Twin Lights Marina in Highlands, along with Jim Hutchinson Jr. of The Fisherman magazine, Jerry Gomber of Folsom Fishing Tackle, and Point Pleasant marine art dealer Tom Lynch. Erwin started the morning in light rain in Raritan Bay with striper readings and spraying bunker schools, but we weren’t getting hits among them by casting Tsunami shads. Gomber managed a 39-inch striper, but the skipper made what turned out to be a good move by taking a quick run down the beach with his 31 Contender where we encountered many more schools of bunkers with some bass under them which were willing to vary their diet. I finally got hot and released four stripers in a row starting with a fat 49-incher on the 6.5-inch Heavy Tsunami Pearl Spot Shad worked slow and deep after casting to the edge of splashing bunker schools. All of the bass we caught were well over the maximum size, but we weren’t complaining about having to fight bass too big before heading in when it slowed down..
The forecast isn’t too bad early tomorrow if you don’t mind rain. The wind forecast is only 5-10 knots northeast before increasing to 15-20 with gusts to 30 knots in the afternoon. A gale warning will go up tomorrow evening to Friday afternoon.
At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Rob Semkewyc has had fine striper action with some anglers catching multiple big stripers up to 50 pounds. He is sailing in the morning, and advises anglers to dress for the rain. All of his bass have been too big to keep, but that could change any day.
The Fishermen has given up bottom fishing, and will resume sailing on Saturday when stripers will be the target.
Miss Belmar Princess reports getting into big bass today that were on the surface and hitting heavy Ava jigs. They also reported having some keepers.
The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant had a very good Tuesday Striper Marathon trip for the big bass up to 47 inches as Jim Steel was high hook with six releases to 46 inches.
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There’s marginal weather ahead of us, so be sure to check with skippers before coming down t
Stripers too large to keep turned on in many areas from Raritan Bay to the Shore today. I did a detailed blog, but Word Press couldn’t send it. I’m hoping this is published and will catch up later or tomorrow.
It’s unlikely that anyone sailed today, but the forecast for tomorrow is for only north at 10-15 knots after small craft warnings come down today at 10 p.m. Furthermore, the prediction is for the wind diminishing in the afternoon to 5-10 knots. Enjoy the break in weather as it appears that we’re in for more wind and rain starting Thursday night.
The Big Mohawk from Belmar will be switching to striped bass tomorrow, and anglers are advised to bring a heavy spinning rod for snagging bunkers as well as a boat rod for jigging.
At Atlantic Highlands, the Sea Hunter should be back after those big stripers that were hooked Sunday, but the Fishermen is sticking with bottom fishing until the school bass arrive.
With surfcasting a poor bet in bad weather plus a big swell, Vinny D’Anton made several calls about Raritan Bay fishing and had only negative comments as even the small blues under wildly diving birds that used to be so abundant under birds in October have been missing.
After two days with only a few stripers on his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Rob Semkewyc said the northeast wind turned the bass on — but none of those they caught were small enough to keep. The smallest was 40 inches, and the largest about 45 pounds — though another even larger got off. Unfortunately, the weather looks even worse tomorrow. Rob is hoping for Tuesday. Call him at 732 291-4468;
Also at that port, the Fishermen reported a huge swell killed bottom fishing Saturday and will make fishing impossible tomorrow.
The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported a nasty day at sea today though they did catch some blues and sea bass. They won’t sail tomorrow, and the Queen Mary from Point Pleasant has also canceled.
Sorry about no blog yesterday, but I was locked out of my account — which was fixed long distance by my daughter Cyndi in Florida his morning.
The forecast is for east winds at 15-20 knots, but dropping to 10-15 in the afternoon. Morning showers and patchy fog are likely.
Even as big stripers are providing trollers with plenty of release action, Shore surfcasters have been having a hard time finding any life during what used to be a good month for that sport.
John Mazzeo, of South Plainfield summed it up yesterday by describing his trip to Sandy Hook as “Different day, different time. different tide — same result.” At least he did see a bass caught by another angler though it was barely larger than the plug it hit. That angler described the mini-bass as the highlight of his fall surfcasting. Frank Huza of Aberdeen made the long trek to the point of Sandy Hook yesterday only to find even that prime spot to be barren. Those who had fished in the dark had the same report.
The big southeast swell has made surfcasting more difficult to the south, especially during early morning low tides. I found the expected rough surf this morning at Sea Girt. where the loose sand was being sucked out from under my boots. That’s a dangerous situation which requires backing up steadily to get out of the resulting holes so as not to be vulnerable to the force of the backwash. Getting knocked down in the wash is perilous when you’re alone on the beach as getting back up in waders is a problem while the waves just keep coming.
October used to be a good month from the beach as big blues would respond to poppers even when they weren’t showing. Unfortunately, the only big blues these day seem to be well offshore, and I haven’t even seen any small choppers in the Monmouth County surf. A few stripers have been reported by night anglers in Ocean County, but there hasn’t been any sign of the migrating schoolies from the east so far. Warm waters and a lack of bait probably have something to do with that – and many regulars blame beach replenishment.
The Jamaica from Brielle has room on its 10 p.m. Sunday tuna trip, as well as upcoming 31-hour tuna expeditions. Recent trips have provided limits of bluefins plus rellowfins up to 90 pounds. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.
The Mimi VI from Point Pleasant has set up striper trips with a fare of $100 and a 15-man limit on Nov. 2,3, and 5 — plus a Nov. 4 $90 bottom fishing sailing. Call 732 370-8019 for reservations.
At Belmar, Bob Matthews reports from Fisherman’s Den that jumbo bass were attacking bunkers off Deal this afternoon. He notes that most are over legal size and urges anglers to handle them gently for release.
Miss Belmar Princess is switching to those big stripers at 7:30 a.m. The Golden Eagle saw bluefish today, but only picked at 4-12-pounders. They also caught some sea bass and fluke.
Jim Hutchinson Sr. reports for the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association as follows:
Right now, the fishing scene in southern Ocean County is caught between summer and fall fisheries. No matter how hard the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association wish for the start of the striped bass migration from the north, the warm water temperatures are delaying their arrival.
Surface water temperatures remain in the low 60’s, a bit too warm for the stripers’ liking. There continues to be an excellent bite on bottom fish around inshore structure, however, to fill the fish boxes.
Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Star Fish” has had several groups out fishing recently taking advantage of the hot bottom fishing. One group with Captain Carl and mate Max Goldman fished several wrecks boating over 75 fish including black sea bass, bluefish, triggers, sea robins, and blowfish. Another trip with a family resulted in over 40 fish caught including sea bass up to 15-inches. A final day with two trips resulted in much the same type of action along with a feisty black-tip shark. The afternoon group had some 80 fish keeping 14 sea bass to 16-inches.
Captain Gary Dugan had two anglers out on the “Irish Jig”, and they experienced drop and reel fishing inshore reefs. They ended the day with a fish box packed with black sea bass, triggerfish, tautog, and some porgies. Captain Gary reports he is keeping a sharp eye out for the arrival of stripers from the north.
Captain Brett Taylor of Reel Reaction Sportfishing had a busy weekend with the Hank Wright group on a striped bass charter. Strong winds made a trip to the ocean a poor choice, so they landed a limit of tautog around the jetty rocks of Barnegat Inlet. They switched to stripers and landed 6, keeping two with bonus tags. Paul Kaufmann and Steve Sharf fished Sunday with their sons on a bottom fish charter. They worked hard and managed to box a limit of sea bass, 4 triggerfish, and one porgy. They ended the day boxing a quick limit of tautog.
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.net.
Capt. Rob Semkewyc reports his Thursday trip with Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands eels in the Hudson River wasn’t great, but not too bad either as noted with some of the stripers caught:
They took a long time for them to arrive from the east, but big stripers finally flooded into local waters Wednesday as Capt. Vinny Vetere reported releasing 15 bass between 40 and 50 pounds from his Katfish out of Great Kills. Vetere called it the best day in his 50 years of striper fishing!
He was trolling his TGBT bunker spoons, and Robert O’Hara said they came in by 10:30 a.m. Katfish was still open for the weekend when this was received. Call 917 693-8908.
Chuck Many put Alex Katyan and Mike Michael into bass up to 47 pounds on Tyman from Highlands that morning despite the fog. Many also knew that big bass were caught off Long Branch and Asbury Park on Tuesday.
The Golden Eagle from Belmar had a good Wednesday tuna trip with limits of the smaller bluefins and 12 yellowfins up to a couple of 90-100 pounds. They picked at 4-10-pound blues today along with some sea bass and porgies.
Though the wind forecast is only east at 5-10 knots tomorrow, there are small craft warnings for large swells from the southeast.
If a book is ever written about the early days of fishing along the northern N.J.Shore, Joe Julian will surely be among the leading characters, The owner of Julian’s Tackle in Atlantic Highlands passed away last week at 94.
Untold numbers of anglers have stopped at Julian’s Tackle for decades on their way to fishing the Shore, and Joe was almost always there to set them up with the bait and tackle they needed. Joe, who also had a big ice business across the road, popularized his Montauk bunker spoons which feature a single large Siwash hook that was a big improvement over the huge built-in hook on standard bunker spoons which required the addition of a large treble hook to be effective– but damaged a lot of stripers and blues that were to be released.
Joe had many other interests as well as fishing. In his earlier days, he flew a single engine airplane, and competed in Jersey Skiff speed races which he often won. He was the first to build one of those skiffs in fiberglass. and his My Way was a familiar sight across highway. In his later years, Joe became an accomplished artist, and I treasure sketches he gave me of the Twin Lights and the Highlands Bridge.
Publicizing Shore fishing was a priority for Joe, and he was a big help when I was running the Metro Fishing Classic and the Harbor Festival Fishing Rodeo.
Julian lost his wife Margaret last year, but leaves two daughters plus his son Joe who’s running the business.
Miss Belmar Princess had a breakthrough with big blues today. Bait was best, with up to five on at a time, but jigs also worked on the 6-12-pounders as many fares limited. Some also had sea bass limits.
More big stripers seem to be moving into range of N,J, striper trollers. Chuck Many put Dave Glassberg into a 48-pounder yesterday morning on Tyman from Highlands — and also a thresher shark.
The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant only found a “handful” of bass on Tuesday’s first Striper Marathon, but they were ;large.
The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands reports bottom fishing has remained slow. Anglers who for blackfish today caught their one keeper, but only a couple of porgies were boated along with as many keeper sea bass from among many tiny ones. Capt. Ron Santee Jr. is anxious to start striper fishing, but hasn’t seen schoolies from the east as yet.
Small craft warnings are up from tomorrow through Friday afternoon for increasing seas. The morning forecast is only for west winds at 5 knots before shifting to south in the afternoon. Fog is possible.
Capt. Lou Grazioso has been keeping track of the remarkable yellowfin tuna run in the Triple Wrecks area, and reports that they are still there feasting on large sand eels. Bluefins have also moved into that location.
The Golden Eagle from Belmar had an :OK” trip there this week, catching some tuna and losing others. Some blues and little tunny were also caught. They had a pick of big blues and sea bass on both bait and jigs today, but will be fishing for tuna tomorrow.
Miss Belmar Princess reported a pick of 8-12-pound blues mostly on bait today.
Capt. Rob Semkewyc really didn’t have enough fares to sail his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands today, but he went anyway because the weather was so nice. All but one of the eight anglers caught their one striper limit.
Betty & Nick’s in Seaside Park had good news on the surf front as bass up to 35 inches were reported from the pocket area at the park.
Wednesday’s forecast is for south winds at 5-10 knots before increasing to 10-15 in the afternoon with gusts to 20 knots.
The Canyon Runner from Pt. Pleasant has been sold out for canyon fishing for some time, but they had a cancelation for a Thursday overnighter that they’d like to fill in with a good forecast ahead while canyon fishing is hot. They’re been getting a bigeye every trip along with both yellowfins and bluefins chunking — and a shot at swordfish during the night. Call 732 272-4445.
Email or Call 732-272-4445
Reports Deane’s been catching a big-eye every trip for the past few weeks and the day time chunking for yellowfin and now bluefins is still on fire. Multiple big-eyes caught by Canyon Runner Members their last few trips as well.
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Capt. Rob Semkewyc reports striper fishing on his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands turned around overnight as half of his 18 fares boated a bass today. He’ll be following up in the morning.
Chuck Many posted on Facebook the following about his latest trip with Tyman from Highlands. “Decided to go Monster hunting with Mike Michael Greene & Bob Nikki Bowden. Put out the eels and bam!!!! Awesome early morning and then a pick!! Ended with 11 Bass, 3 over 40 to 45 pounds!! All Released of course.”
Blog reader Dan fished in calm conditions Sunday morning and reported lots of adult bunker both in Raritan Bay and out front, but no takers on a live bait or swim shad before the wind came up at 11.
Miss Belmar Princess reported decent readings of blues which rarely hit. Some anglers managed one or two mostly 8-12-pound blues. They also jigged some keeper sea bass.
Tuesday’s forecast is for south winds at a mere 5-10 knots.
Tight Lines 