A gale warning is posted for tonight, and many boats are going to wait out another day before sailing into calmer seas on Thursday and Friday. The forecast for tomorrow is northwest at 20-25 knots and very cold early, but dropping to 10-15 in the afternoon.

Today’s forecast seemed to scare off most surfcasters in northern Ocean County, but Maren Toleno and John Gregor got into a hot surf bite on a northern Ocean County early this morning and had stripers on steadily for awhile even though there was no sign of anything in the area. Maren stayed most of the morning to work the rest of the beach and ended up with 20 striper releases. I got there a bit too late, but still managed three 23-inch releases plus a sun dial and a doubleheader if hickory shad. The latter was unusual because I was casting a Vision Surf Eel at that time and one of those 14-inch shad was on that lure which it couldn’t have possibly swallowed.

 

The surf was rough with a big swell, byt clean. The strong west winds should flatten it out very shortly

The Golden Eagle from Belmar has cancelled for tomorrow, but will sail early at 7 Thursday on a limited striper trip. They’re anxious to get out again after the great bite of surfacing bass yesterday.

The Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands took today off, and will do the same tomorrow. They had a great Monday trip with hundreds of shorts not far from port plus four bass over 28 inches on the boat.

Capt. Hans Kaspersetz’s grandson, Sheldon, fighting an estimated 350-pound  blue marlin off Quepos, Costa Rica last week, More about this tomorrow.

It may be hard to get out to them tomorrow, but there were lots                                                                       of feeding stripers in the ocean today.

At Belmar, the Big Mohawk reported a boat limit of bass aboard by 9 a.m. after an early start. The pool   winner was about 30 pounds. Due to the weather forecast, they will not sail tomorrow.

T h e   G o l d e n   Eagle d e s c r i b e d   a   m a s s   o f   s t a r t i pers on the surface as keepers,bonus bass and shorts were all biting and everyone brought home fish.

Cob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den has weighed three stripers over 50 pounds this week, with the largest being a 58-pounder trolled on a bunker spoon by Jeff Fairbanks of Bradley Beach off Asbury Park Bob says smaller bass now dohinate the boat catches. Winter flounder and blackfish are hitting in Shark Rive. Bob is picking some school stripers in the surf, but no keepers so far.He’s looking forward to the blackfish limit increasing to five on Nov. 16.

John Mazzeo missed a surf striper blitz at Sandy Hook, and has given up trying to run after fast-moving fish as some were able to do.

Jay Russel fished the Spring Lake surf this evening and was delighted to hook a striper on a Tsunami Sand Eel.

Blog follower Charlie G. said there was a blitz of 10-pound bass in the Asbury Park area at 3 p.m. Friday. At this time of year you just never know when it might happen.

 

Small craft warnings are up through Tuesday afternoon, and the go to a gale warning. Tuesday starts with west winds at 20 knots and gusts to 25 while going northwest in the afternoon. Rain is also predicted.

Capt. Arthur Stokes was looking for bluefin tuna today on the Mentor from Monmouth Beach but those spotted couldn’t be trolled. They did catch a couple of stripers trolling inshore at tuna speed.

The Jamaica from Brielle had a good start to offshore wreck fishing on Sunday as there were some sea bass limits to 6 1/2 pounds plus some porgies, cod and pollock along with a few ling. Michael Dennis of Newark won the pool with a 16-pound cod, followed by Alex Morgans of Bayville with a 7-pound cod. Wreck trips will sail every Wednesday Friday, Saturday and Sunday leaving at 11 p.m. the night before. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.

Though the action wasn’t up to what we had Thursday, Mark Roy and I had good casting for school stripers today on Mark’s Release Me from Raritan Marina. My first fish was a 27 1/2-inch bass, and I thought that might mean bigger bass than the abundant shorts and slots had moved in. Yet, it wasn’t until the afternoon that I picked up a 29-incher among the 39 bass that Mark and I caught on 5 1/2-inch Storm and Tsunami shads.

Capt. Rob Semkewyc told me that he had good action in the morning off the park with some keepers plus slots on his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported stripers splashing on the surface and more willing to hit. as they ended up with a good catch.

The weather holds tomorrow with south winds at 5-10 knots before there’s a switch at night to southwest gusts to 30 knots  that will lead to very cold and windy weather on Tuesday.

 

It was very cold this morning, but many anglers who dressed for the weather enjoyed fine striper fishing both in Raritan Bay and the ocean.

Capt. Rob Semkewyc was disappointed to see so few anglers at his Sea Hunter in Atlantic Highlands, but they soon warmed up to the jigging and all went home with stripers.

Capt. Joe Massa was out by himself on his My Three Sons from Morgan Marina and said he had his choice of school stripers over most of the bay. Though there were no keepers caught there on poppers, he went outside the bay and trolled keepers on mo-jos.

 

 

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported lots of fish on top as they boated a mix of bonus bass and keepers while releasing sorts before the current died around noon and dogfish took over.

Capt. Vinny Vetere had hot trolling action with his Katfish from Great Kills and ended up catching 36 bass to a 47-pounder. That boat is open for Sunday,. Call 917 693-8908 if you’d like to get in on that fishing.

The day starts well with southwest winds at 10-15 knots before small craft warnings go up for afternoon gusts to 25 knots that continue into Monday.

 

Capt. Dave De Gennaro is running open Monday with his Hi Flier from Barnegat. The 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for a $200 fare. Call him at 732 330-5674.

The JCAA is running its annual Sportsperson of the Year Dinner Sunday at Martell’s Water’s Edge, 125 Bayview  Ave., in Bayville. Tickets are $80 for the 4-8 p.m. dinner. Call Dan Miller at 609 641-7821  to reserve tickets.

 

 

 

 

Capt.

It may not be warmer, but the wind forecast for Saturday is a lot better with west winds at just 5-10 knots and dropping to a mere 5 knots in the afternoon.

Most boats cancelled trips today, so there were few reports. Saturday will be a different  story.

Surfcasting remains a tough pick. Allen Riley and John Mazzeo tried Sandy Hook this morning and did nothing in 58 degree water, Allen had caught a 20-inch striper and a short fluke there Monday morning, but there was nothing caught early today.. Frank McGuire later reported he worked North Beach with no sign of bait or fish.

I got to Brick Beach at dusk and quickly caught a sun dial on a tiny sand eel teaser which also attracted a 25-inch striper in the wash at dark. That was my only hit during a short effort. That was a big drop from the 30 stripers I released yesterday in Raritan Bay from Mark Roy’s boat. Yet, every striper from the surf is a treasure this fall — and well worth the effort.

 

At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Rob Semkewyc found good jigging action with slots and shorts yesterday in Ambrose Channel from his Sea Hunter. Capt. Ron Santee had a similar report from Thursday with a 15-pound pool winner and several large bonito on his Fishermen.

 

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Vinny D’Anton tried Manasquan in the afternoon and at least came up with some hickory shad.

 

The west wind was stronger than predicted, and there weren’t as many birds as yesterday at the mouth of Raritan Bay when I joined Mark Roy on his Release Me from Raritan Marina this morning, but we soon spotted good marks that allowed us to pick away with school stripers. That action died after awhile, but we stuck around long enough to find more bass further back in the bay during the afternoon.

The release count was up to  48 by the time we returned, though that included only one 28-incher that I measured . However, there were lots of slots, including several 25-26 inchers. All were on Tsunami and Storm shads. See photo below with a double ready for release.

A small craft advisory is up for tomorrow, with 20-25 knot northwest winds plus gusts to 30 by the afternoon. Most boats are canceling for Friday, so be sure to check before coming down.

Capt. Vinny Vetere didn’t have anyone to join him for “monster” striper fishing yesterday, so he went out himself on Katfish from Great Kills to try out new colors on his TGT bunker spoons. The monster he was looking for turned out to be only ounces short of 60 pounds!

The Golden Eagle from Belmar once again found lots of uncooperative stripers on the surface, but did catch some along with large bonito. They won’t be sailing until Saturday — nor will the Big Mohawk from Belmar.

Bud Mc Arthur was fishing with friends ot of Manasquan Inlet this morning and tried snagging the abundant bunkers there, However, spiny dogfish ate them as fast as they snagged that prime striper bait. Trolling ended up producing a 35-pounder.

Vinny D’Anton got word of a surf striper blitz yesterday morning at Sandy Hook, but found nothing there today.f

The Big Jamaica from Brielle  is taking reservations (732 528-5104) for an offshore wreck trip for jumbo sea bass on Saturday. The Paramount will take the Saturday night bluefish trip at 7:30 p.m.

 

Big stripers are splashing on the surface in many ocean areas, but getting them to hit is another problem.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported catching some large and medium stripers, but only a small portion of what was seen. That same thing seemed to apply to everyone out there today.

Capt. Rob Semkewyc had good striper jigging yesterday on his  Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands, but today it was mostly shorts though some slots were included.

Trolling wasn’t the answer yesterday, according to Capt. Chris De Stefano who was aboard Frank Criscola’s Crisdel from Brielle Yacht as they worked hard to troll three bass up to 28 pounds at Norton’s Point.

Capt. Vinny Vetere did well with medium stripers in the Hudson River, but will be looking for “monster” stripers in the ocean by trolling the next two days with his Katfish from Great Kills.

The Jamaica from Brielle has a Striper Marathon at 6:30 in the morning by reservation at 732 528-5014.

The Canyon Runner from Point Pleasant is trolling stripers now, and may have room on their free Veteran’s day trip for vets. Call 732 272-4445.

The Mimi VI from Point Pleasant is running open striper trips the next two days at 6:30 for $120 per man. Call 732 370-8019.

Wednesday’s forecast is for northwest winds at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20. That should drop off to west 5-10 knots in the afternoon.

Surfcasting has been very slow, but I got into a little action this evening south of Mantoloking. There was no sign of fish, and the swell was big, but I caught a 19-incher in the wash on a Tsunami Sand Eel  on my second cast. I later hooked a 15 1/2-inch fluke on a Joe Blaze teaser fly. At dusk a 25-inch bass hit the sand eel, and I added a third bass under the moon. It hit the teaser in the wash and measured 27 1/2 inches.

Though there was no hot bite, striped bass results in both the ocean and Raritan Bay areas was generally better today.

At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Rob Semkewyc of the Sea Hunter was pleased with much better jigging for mostly slot stripers in N.J. waters. There were a few bass over 28 inches including s 35-pound pool winner.

Capt. Ron Santee had a similar report on his Fishermen from that port. He said the bass were on small bait, and small diamond jigs worked best in shallow waters .

I was casting in the Manasquan surf to no avail this morning when I spotted schools of bunker splashing a couple of hundred yards offshore. Boats didn’t stay in those schools for long, but Capt. Dave Riback of the Queen Mary from Point Pleasant said he managed to get a few stripers from them.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar saw stripers on the surface and caught some, but they were hard to fool. That boat is now sailing early at 6 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays to get a better shot at those bass.

The Paramount from Brielle is taking reservations for a  50-70-mile sea bass wreck trip on Saturday, Nov. 9. Call 732 528-5014 for details.

Jerry Lasko and Maren Toleno  each caught a school striper just before daylight turned them off in the northern Ocean County surf. The afternoon southwest blow killed that bite.

Tuesday’s forecast is for southwest winds at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20 and a chance of rain..

Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina passed along the good news that big stripers are biting again in the ocean. He said the Big Mohawk from Belmar had 10 stripers aboard today up to a trophy 54 1/2-pounder hooked by Nick Commisso of Riverside on a Tsunami Shad.

Capt. Rob Semkewyc of the Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands said there was some improvement in his striper fishing today. He expects better tomorrow without all the boat traffic.

Mark Roy said it was very quiet today in Raritan Bay as he didn’t get any hits on his Release Me from Raritan Marina while trolling mo-jos, but managed a short bass casting under birds late in the afternoon.

Jerry Lasko and Maren Toleno got into some large short bass that were swirling in the evening along the northern Ocean County surf. Those fish hadn’t been there in the morning.

They also weren’t in the Bay Head surf in the morning, though Bob Correll was surprised on his first cast before daylight when a spiny dogfish hit histeaser.

Many were called, but few were chosen. That sums up the striped bass reports from today.

As noted in last night’s blog, I joined Bob Correll on his Sea Vee  32 from Crystal Point in Point Pleasant for a run to the north under good conditions yesterday afternoon  after the hard northwester — but we saw nothing to fish on all the way up to the Highlands Bridge.

Not discouraged by that, we ran south today to find the same thing. There were very few birds and no signs of fish though Bob jigged a spiny dogfish that was hooked in the tail. We ran down to Seaside while Miss Barnegat Light passed us going north. The Golden Eagle from Point Pleasant saw a few bass splashing to the north, but they were quickly chased down by the fleet. They did catch a thresher shark and a few dogfish.

The Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands reported there was only one spot that produced for jiggers, but too many boats were there. Worse yet, it was in N.Y. waters where the slots they jigged had to be returned. Remember that N.J. slot bass are just shorts in N.Y.

Mark Roy returned from Florida to miss the good striper fishing in Raritan Bay with his Release Me from Raritan Marina. He got nothing trolling mo-jos and jigging, but did raise a couple of short bass to pencil poppers late in the day.

The forecast for Sunday is west winds at 15 knots with gusts to 20.

Joe Melillo, at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant, said some surfcasters at local beaches caught lots of hickory shad on teasers and a couple of stripers on metal. Blackfishing in the canal is a best bet.