Out of Luck
The captain is having computer problems…yet again. He will hopefully be back with some reports tomorrow.
Tight Lines
Page 227 of 309
Little shark news
June has been prime time for sharking along the Jersey Shore as well as on Long Island, but between the current mako regulations and the pandemic there’s been little interest in tournaments and charters — or even private boat sharking.
Last weekend’s South Jersey Shark Tournament in Cape May was the poorest ever with only 19 boats competing and very few sharks caught. There were no makos weighed in, and it appears the only two eligible entries were a 439-pound thresher on Meraki that was worth $1,260 — and a blue shark of 247 pounds by Gina L for $1,440.ournaments started decades ago with all species eligible, but over the years most switched to only makos, or makos and threshers, in order to avoid killing lots of sharks not normally desired for food. That probably hasn’t made much of an impact on mako stocks, but there’s been a huge increase in longlining for them that now involves most of the U.S. mako landings.’ve been sharking and writing about the sport since the early days on Long Island, and watched the sport change from a man against killer situation with all sharks killed to one in which almost all are released — including many with tags that provide scientific info at little cost. It’s always amazed me that makos could survive since they’ve never been abundant, have a very long gestation period, and produce only a few pups. Yet, they still have produced reasonable catches in line with what we had during those early days when there was hardly any pressure from either anglers or commercial fishermen. Small makos have often been caught in large numbers during tournaments, though they have all been released in recent years due to high minimums. However, now that NMFS has raised the minimum to 83 inches it’s much harder to boat a keeper. It appears that the biggest Long Island shark contest, the Freeport Hudson Anglers, will be contested next weekend, but the venerable Mako Mania of the Greater Point Peasant Charter Boat Association was changed to a tuna format before being cancelled due to the pandemic.
The horribly wrong calm forecast for Saturday resulted in lots of sore anglers, and it’s fortunate that everyone that believed in the 10 knot north prediction survived. Mark Roy ran down to the Resor with his Release Me from Raritan Marina in Hazlet on Friday night in order to be ready for te early bite. However, it was too rough to fish at night, and though a few fish were trolled at first light, they only caught one little tunny. t was too rough to head back in the ocean, so Roy went inside to go north and ended up trolling mojos in Raritan Bay up to dark in order to catch a striper. He also had six mojos chopped, indicating that blues have finally arrived there.
Jimmy Giles ran 15 miles off before turning back, but ran into birds working over tuna at 8 miles off. They were on sand eels, and wouldn’t hit anything.
I fished Point Pleasant Canal this morning and released two 22-inch blues on a 5-inch Z Man. That was a lot better than what’s been going in there lately.
Monday’s forecast is for 10-15 knot winds from the northeast, switching to east in the afternoon.
Worst weather forecast of the year
Sorry for no blog yesterday, but AOL kept putting me off the internet. Perhaps that may have been for the nest as I was going to pass along a fine weather forecast that was totally inaccurate.
That forecast was for north winds at 5-10 knots, but the reality was a strong north wind that turned the ocean into a mass of whitecaps. It was barely fishable for those trolling the medium range grounds for bluefin tuna. Not surprisingly, I only heard of a few isolated tuna on the marine radio. Even little tunny were generally scarce in the sloppy seas during a morning that turned out to be quite chilly as Joe Massa and I trolled the Resor area to no avail with Bob Correll on his Sea Vee 32 from Crystal Point Marina in Point Pleasant.
Just like yesterday, when Mike Heaney and I trolled Little Italy with Correll, we saw only a few scattered tuna chicks, no whales or slicks and no other surface signs of tuna. At least yesterday there were a few large little tunny and a couple of early arriving bonito hitting the tuna lures.
The Golden Eagle from Belmar had good bottom fishing yesterday in fine conditions as sea bass and ling cooperated along with two
cod.
There were no reports today from the Seaside Park tackle shops, but they will be open for normal business on Monday.
Capt. Vinniy Vetere is back to chartering his Katfish out if Great Kills, and is catching lots of stripers — though most are too big to keep.
If you can believe it, there’s some good weather coming after tomorrow. Today’s afternoon forecast is northwest at 5-10 knots. After midnight it goes to northeast at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20. That holds for the morning, but changes in the afternoon to 5-10 knots.
Starting from scratch
Though the weather prediction is good, it will be a whole new ball game when anglers get back to fishing tomorrow. Today’s exceptionally strong winds followed by afternoon storms will shake up the ocean and muddy some inshore waters. All of what was learned before the bad weather may have to be discarded in favor of a new search.
That especially applies to the inshore bluefin tuna run which had been very good at Little Italy and even closer to the beach though Capt. Chris Di Stefano said he heard that Little Italy trollers had to go further south Wednesday in order to find school bluefins.
I suspect that most party boats stayed in port today, but the Golden Eagle is ready to sail from Belmar tomorrow– probably checking for schools of small blues before filling bags with sea bass and ling. The surf may require a few tide changes to clear up, but you never know. There had been sightings of bunkers out of range in many areas, and those who happen to be around when stripers attack them have scored with stripers on popping plugs.
Small blues are also a surf possibility. Dan Sheehan said bunkers stayed out of casting range yesterday morning at Sandy Hook, but some small blues hit Hogy epoxy jigs.
Point Pleasant Canal has been dead lately, but it was the only place I was sure would be fishable this morning. Casting a jig into the howling south wind wasn’t easy, but I actually had the opportunity to catch something. A fish fighting like a legal fluke came off at the surface with a splash at 5:20 when it wasn’t bright enough to identify it as the Z Man jig came out. Later, I had a small blue on for four jumps before it got rid of the jig next to the wall. There were also two other taps on the ebb before I left. The only other angler released about a 16-inch striper.
Ray Rogalski commented on Monday’s whale incident, and noted that he was trolling close to the beach recently when a whale seemed to make an aggressive move toward him. That’s something I’d never heard about before.
The south wind should decrease after midnight to north at 5-10 knots before switching to southwest in the afternoon.
Too much south wind
Small craft warnings went up at 4 p.m. and extend to Thursday afternoon. Some boats are already cancelling Thursday trips, so be sure to check with your skipper before making a trip in the morning. Jon Falkowski of Linden reports yesterday’s sea bass fishing on the Golden Eagle from Belmar wasn’t as good as two weeks ago . After an unsuccessful attempt at bluefishing, the sea bass were finicky as he only caught seven — of which there were four keepers. A current developed that became so strong he couldn’t hold bottom with 12 ounces. The Golden Eagle reported getting a good shot at 2-4-pound blues this morning before other boats broke them up. There were a lot of sea bass marked, but they didn’t bite well. Some ling and fluke were added. The Thursday trip is cancelled due to the wind forecast.
Watch out for whales!
It’s a thrill to watch a huge whale fly out of the water before crashing back into the ocean — unless your boat happens to be where the whale is coming down.
Joe Daley passed along some info about that happening to an unfortunate boater yesterday off D St. in Seaside Park.
An internet check of various accounts indicated that the incident occurred about 11:50 a.m. yesterday, and that the two anglers were unhurt and able to swim to the nearby surf. The estimated 25-foot boat was trailered off the beach a few hours later.
When whales were making a comeback several decades ago, I was tuna fishing on Mako outboards out of Montauk and started seeing them swimming under the boat at times as I chunked. That was a little scary at the time, but they never seemed to rise up to threaten a boat that would have been only a toy to them.
However, shallow water is a different story. Boaters are usually fishing very close to a school of bunkers that the whale may also be interested in, and there’s nothing you can do short of moving away to prevent a long-shot accident.
There may not even be any sighting involved. I once hooked a whale while casting a 1/4-ounce bucktail jig for school stripers off Ocean Beach even though I hadn’t seen it surface at any time. By unning with the annoyed whale I was able to shake the tiny hook out of tough skin that I knew it couldn’t penetrate.
Tuna fishing relatively close to shore exploded today as Capt. Dave De Gennaro put a charter on his Hi Flier out of Barnegat into “lots of unders” before tangling with a 70-inch bluefin that was fought for 2 1/4 hours on stand-up tackle.
Allen Riley fished the Sandy Hook surf this morning with Duke Matero and Frank Huza. They had ideal conditions with the water temperature way up to 64.5 degrees. Riley had a hit on his bunker bait during the first cast, but that was it as nothing was caught by any of the anglers on the beach. There were bunkers well out of casting range, and two whales put on a show for them.
Despite having to avoid an armada of kayaks, Capt, Chris Di Stefano joined Jimmy Herrick for limits of fluke again in Navesink River. Just after the limits were filled, Chris had to cut loose a 7-8-pounder.
I tried casting into Manasquan River from shore for the first time this spring and only had one hit on a 5-inch Z Man paddletail, but that was from an unexpected 19 1/2-inch fluke that felt like a doormat after only having caught shorts this spring. It was released as thanks for saving my morning.
Tomorrow starts with light south winds of 5-10 knots, but goes to 15-20 with gusts to 25 knots in the afternoon.
The Golden Eagle from Belmar was catching sea bass Sunday when bluefins from about 100 to 150 pounds began splashing on the surface and picking off dead, floating ling. Those tuna often follow trawlers to pick off fish falling out of holes in the net, but it’s unusual for them to ne attracted by just a few floaters.
The new Word Press system eliminated my title, so I’m publishing what I can save before losing it all,
There have been great quantities of small bluefins far offshore, especially at the 1000 fathom line. Many of those bluefins are short of the 27-inch curved fork length minimum, but there are some larger ones among them. The largest bluefins seem to be around the intermediate offshore areas such as the Atlantic Princess.
Capt. Chris Di Stefano saw a couple of school tuna brought into Shark River Yacht Club today from even closer.
Boaters must purchase a NMFS permit to catch tuna, and the limit this year in the Angling category is two bluefins from 27 to less than 47 inches plus one large school/small medium from 47 to less than 73 inches. Charter boats can retain three of the smaller bluefins plus the one “over”. Party boats are allowed six schoolies and two overs.
The Golden Eagle sea bass limits and a few 2-3-pund bluefish yesterday. As a result, they started out looking for those blues this morning and got into themon jigs when located — but couldn’t hold them for long. The sea bass and ling bite then continued/
Capt. Rob Semkewyc was hoping for a repeat of Saturday’s great quantity of big striprd bass in Raritan Bay, but instead it was the same poor result as on Sunday as the only bass was hooked was lost. Semkewyc has cancelled the rest of those striper trips and goes back daily fluking tomorrow with his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands,
The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant also got into blues up to 4 pounds on jigs during Saturday’s trip that also produced sea bass.
The marine forecast remains good with west winds at 5-10 knots in the morning that increase to 1-15 with gusts to 20 knots in the afternoon.
The Mimi VI from Point Pleasant added a limited striper trip Thursday that costs $100 and runs from 4 p.m. to dark. Call 732 370-8019 for reservations on this and other special trips.
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What a difference a day can make
Capt. Rob Semkewyc was surrounded by stripers yesterday on his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands, as was noted in yesterday’s blog. Yet, he said today it was like the Sahara Desert in the same area. Only one small group of bass came up, and just one striper was boated. Of course, as fast as they can disappear, they could well be right back tomorrow.
Frank Jones was at the right place Saturday as he and his son Kyle livelined four stripers up to 48 inches in the fog off the Red Church while fishing on Bob Murzada’s Knee Deep before heading out to the Farms for limits of sea bass.
There was a surprising lack of reports today in such fine weather. There was one report of very cold water in the surf after days of south wind upwellings. The northwest wind is predicted to continue at 10-15 knots into the morning, which could help improve that situation before turning to southwest in the afternoon.
Point Pleasant Canal was dead this morning though conditions weren’t bad except for the usual weekend boat traffic. Yet, I saw only one angler get a hit. I stuck it out to the end of the outgoing and finally hooked a 17-inch striper on a Z Man 5-inch white Swimmereez. As far as I know, that was the only fish caught here this morning.
Vinny D’Anton is still in Sarasota. and had a fine morning of wade casting as snook turned on just as waves from the tropical storm started building up in the Gulf of Mexico. He ended up releasing 16 on the DOA Shrimp.
Sea Hunter — Hundreds of bass rolling
After getting shut out during his first striper trip on Wednesday, Capt. Rob Semkewyc had a far different experience as he reported bunkers and bass up all day, with hundreds of bass rolling on the surface. The only problem was that they were hard to catch — though some were boated.
The photos supplied looked like bass in the teens and possibly a bit larger, but I’m still unable to post photos in the new Word Press system.
Mark Roy wasn’t into those stripers with his Release Me from Raritan Marina in Hazlet, but the mojo he was trolling did attract a “rare” species with teeth as a bluefish of about 28 inches cut the leader next to the boat off Staten Island.
It was quite a different story when I joined Bob Correll on his Sea Vee from Crystal Point Marina in Point Pleasant for a mid-morning run to the south. We saw some bunker flips off Normandy Beach, and had no trouble snagging baits close to the beach. One small whale was spotted there, but there were no surface bunker schools or any signs of stripers during a few drifts. Moving down to Seaside didn’t provide any more hope, and there were no boats fishing during the run back to Manasquan Inlet on a beautiful day when there would usually be lots of boats working bunker schools for stripers or drifting for fluke at this time of year. There were also no reports from the Seaside Park tackle shops of the popping plug action with large bass on bunkers that occurred earlier in the week.
Capt. Dave De Gennaro ran his Hi-Flier from Barnegat and live-lined a 42-inch bass off the IBSP bathing beach, but did mothing else in the morning before finding a 28-incher off Barnegat Inlet on a bunker. He found bunker and the early bass in just 8 feet of water close to the surf.
The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant reported good sea bass fishing today. Capt. Dave Riback has noted an increase in bunkers, and is going to start striper trips on June 10,11,15 and 18.
The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported good sea bass fishing plus ling. Some spots are open for Sunday’s afternoon trip.
I fished Point Pleasant Canal early this morning, and was pleased to find it finally free of the weed we’ve been fighting there. However, fishing wasn’t good. I had one cast with six hits and fish on-and-off that were probably very small blues. Then a striper of about 20 inches hit my 5-inch white ZMan, but that was it. The only blue I saw caught was a cocktail.
The upcoming weather looks great, with northwest winds at 10-15 knots in the morning before dropping to 5-10 in the afternoon.
Sturgeon provides a thrill
Stanley and Dylan Purzyewski had a northern N.J. trolling thrill yesterday on their High Ambitions when they hooked the “big one” and sought it for half-hour before finding out thet they had hooked a12-foot sturgeon weighing hundreds of pounds.
Though a fully protected species that’s actually quite common in Raritan Bay and the Hudson River. I’ve often seen several jump during the day while fishing in the bay. They feed on very small forage and are invariably snagged. They were very abundant during the early days of our country, but the value of their eggs as caviar resulted in their being all but wiped out by commercial fishermen.
It was supposed to be calm this morning, but a cold southeast wind was blowing , and the ocean was choppy. As a result, the bunkers and large stripers that had been popping up off Ocean Couty were not showing today. Jerry Lasko still tried it at IBSP, but he and Maren Toleno only caught a couple of small blues blind casting poppers.
Capt. Chris Di Stefano made the right choice as he joined Jimmy Herrick on the Navesink River as the crew limited on fluke with few shorts to work through — which is just the opposite of what Chris has found in Shark River,
As noted in last night’s blog, Mark Roy had trolled mojos all day in Raritan Bay without a hit.. However he stuck with it after a tide change when the stripers came alive and the Release Me crew caught eight up to a 37 1/2-incher. The one striper Mark cleaned was spawned out.
The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant reported only a pick of sea bass in the southeast wind after having had consistent action.
Saturday looks better with southwest 5-10 knot winds and patchy fog before the usual afternoon showers and thunderstorms. The Golden Eagle from Belmar good sea bass fishing along with the best showing of ling in some time as some fares had up to 10.
