Capt. Dave De Gennaro fished the mid-range offshore areas with his Hi-Flier from Barnegat on the weekend and his party managed to jig a yellowfin tuna before the skipper anchored up to chunk. When a hit came, it didn’t seem like a tuna and the fish soon revealed itself to be a white marlin.  Though presently abundant in Hudson Canyon, whites rarely wander far inshore from the canyon edges.

That white was being fought on relatively light tackle with an Avet reel while Dave continued to chum. He was in for another surprise because a second white was eating every butterfish thrown in the water. At first it wouldn’t take one with a hook in it, but eventually made a mistake — and Hi Flier had an even rarer “inshore double of whites being fought. The original white was released, but the second one broke off.

De Gennaro noted that weakfish still haven’t shown in Barnegat Bay, but there’s lots of action with blowfish which have been of two sizes — tiny and “giant”.

The Shore party boat fleet had another good day with small blues. The Golden Eagle from Belmar started off well jigging before getting into bonito, chub mackerel, fluke and released sea bass. They start night bluefishing on Saturday Sept. 25.

Miss Belmar Princess had good jigging with A-27 diamonds both plain and with red tail for 2-to-4-pound blues north of the inlet. A couple of whales were spotted.

There were two totally different fluke reports from Atlantic Highlands. Capt. Ron Santee said he had his best day of the season on the Fishermen. Gary Long caught fluke of 7.7 and 5.2 pounds plus a 19-incher. Jeff Criswell  had a 6.9-pounder. Santee is chartered Saturday morning, and is worried that the weekend NE forecast could send the fluke offshore before the season closes on Sept. 22.

On the other hand, Capt. Rob Semkewyc had one of those days every skipper dreads as conditions were terrible where he was fishing with the Sea Hunter and only one keeper was caught among the shorts.  There’s never been any question but that Rob tells it like it is — good or bad.

Fluke pro Dave Lilly of Hazlet was incapacitated by a bad back this year and gave others a chance to win fluke tournaments, but got out for the fist time recently to fish with Charlie Parker in the ocean as they caught plenty of large fluke topped by an 8 1/2-pounder for Parker’s son CJ (5).

Capt. Vinny Vetere had another fine day of striper fishing Wednesday with a one-man charter on Katfish from Great Kills as Jim Calvo caught 20 up to 30 pounds. Vetere is open on Sunday.

 

 

 

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Jim Hutchinson Sr, reports: “Labor Day weekend at the New Jersey shore is pretty much the traditional end of summer, but it certainly does not mean the end of summer fishing for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Association. Rather, the captains are experiencing some of the best fluke fishing of the year as they fish out the final weeks of the fluke season.

 

To celebrate Labor Day weekend, the Senker Family and AVH Demolition jumped onboard the “Miss Liane” with Captain Ray Lopez for an offshore charter. By mid morning, the Senker’s son reeled in a 50 pound plus bluefin tuna. The bite didn’t end as the eager anglers caught 5 mahi-mahi also. Another day the Crotty family joined Captain Ray for a day of fishing off Barnegat Light doing some bottom fishing. Throughout the day 8 year old Connor caught a keeper fluke for his family and along with numerous black sea bass.

 

On the boat “Starfish” with Captain Carl Sheppard and mate Marlyn Graham there has been some good fishing for bonito within 2 miles of the beach. They trolled their favorite lures at different depths to score on bonito ranging from 6-8 pounds. The fish have been swimming in with the snapper bluefish along with the mackerel. The water is warm enough for the wildcards from the south.”

 

 

Capt. Chris Di Stefano was aboard  Crisdel from Brielle Yacht Club yesterday as Frank Criscola and his crew enjoyed another great day of white marlin trolling from Hudson Canyon east and north. It’s been the best white marlin bite in that area in many years, and Chis said it’s drawn not only the South Jersey fleet to the north — but even boats from Virginia.

The only problem from his point of view has been the complete lack of tuna in that area. The yellowfin tuna bite has been much further inshore, and the same applies to dolphin. Crisdel trolled the canyon lobster pots and didn’t raise any dolphin. They’re also inshore, where blue waters extend into the Mud Hole and flying fish are a common sight. Surprisingly, Di Stefano said there was no surface life where the white marlin are abundant.

Fluke fishing was much better for the Atlantic Highlands fleet today.  Capt. Rob Semkewyc of the Sea Hunter said there many more keepers plus lots of short action all day. Capt. Ron Santee had a similar report from the Fishermen, where his father boated the largest fluke at 6.6 pounds. The pool went to a 4.5-pounder.

At Belmar, the Big Mohawk reported OK fluke fishing that wasn’t as good as the previous day though there were a few limits and the pool fluke was about 8 pounds. They sail at 6:30 a.m.

The Golden Eagle picked at 2-pound blues before adding some fluke and releasing many sea bass.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant had an angler aboard who limited on blues plus two bonito by 10 a.m. Capt. Dave Riback noted that four of his last six trips have been successful.

Vinny D’ Anton of Wall fished his local beach this morning to release stripers of 20 and 24 inches on his Chug Bug. Lots of snappers were also hitting it.

John Bushell Jr. got out of Betty & Nick’s Tackle in Seaside Park yesterday to fish and reported some blues up to 6 pounds in a surf full of bait.

 

Capt. Mark De Blasio was one of the big money winners with his specialty bigeye tuna during the MidAtlantic Tournament out of Cape May, and he continued his hot streak with Blue Runner during the 38th Manasquan River Marlin & Tuna Club Offshore Open that concluded over the weekend.

The Joe Miele party boated tuna of 95.55 and 93.85 pounds that took most of the Calcutta funds, over a 75.75-pounder by Charles Heil on Miss Tres — though the latter was in the tuna stringer Calcutta and won at 138.05 pounds just ahead of the 134.95 pounds posted by Marshall Allegra on Internal Fixation.  Miss Tres also won the Small Boat Calcutta.

De Blasio left no doubt in the mahi and wahoo Calcuttas with a huge 51.25-pound dolphin and a husky 44.85-pound wahoo.

The Costa Release Award for blue marlin releases was tied at one and decided on earliest release by Tom Britt on Lucky Strike over Adam La Rosa on Canyon Runner.

The Costa Release Award for white marlin was a tough one as so many whites were caught that it took 33 releases on Jason Parker’s Reel Steel to win. Larry Hesse recorded 28 white releases on Goin’ In Deep.  There were no entries for the swordfish and longfin albacore awards.

There was no contest on Labor Day, but Blue Runner scored big with tuna at the mid-range grounds. Capt. Hans Kaspersetz of Sheri Berri at Twin Lights Marina in Highlands was aboard as the crew limited on yellowfins and used up all their mackerel for chunking before returning a day early. A big golden tilefish was added on an electric reel drop along with the smaller grey tilefish. (see below)

 

Ocean bluefish jigging was very good today. Miss Belmar Princess got into them north of Shark River Inlet on long drifts as A-27 jigs both plain and with tails produced best on the small choppers. The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported very good bluefish jigging as anglers could limit with fish up to 4 pounds plus some bonito before they switched to catching some short and keeper fluke.

The Jamaica from Brielle got into blues that didn’t hit jigs well on Labor Day morning, and switched to chumming offshore where fish were in the slick but not hitting during several drops. They finally found eating fish and ended up with lots of chub mackerel plus some bonito, blues and fluke. The pool went to a 5-pound bonito caught by Sammuel  Florea from Reading, Pa. Reservations are available for the first canyon trip on Thursday at 7 a.m. Call 732 528-5014.

Bob Matthews reports from Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina that anglers continue to weigh in big fluke. Ryan Sherwood boated a 9 3/4-pounder on the Big Mohawk, and Noah Pokojni (9) from Easton, Pa. had a doormat of 10 pounds, 1 ounce in Shark River. The river also produced fluke of 5 1/2 pounds for Myra Reevey and 5 3/4 pounds for Harris Reevey. Bob also noted the great tuna bite at the mid-range areas, and hopes for better surf striper action when the mullet drop out of the river.

Vinny D’Anton caught a school striper in the river this morning, but the only other action was from pound-size blues. He moved to the beach and caught two mini-bass on a Chug Bug before switching to fluke to catch four small ones before snappers started tearing up his lures.

Bob Correll of Bay Head was on his local beach at about 10:30 yesterday morning when birds started working over cocktail blues. Bob did well with them on metal, but two friends each caught a legal striper in the midst of that bluefish blitz.

Capt. Ron Semkewyc said drifting conditions were horrible for him yesterday on Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands, as the current was too strong. Today started out the same, but conditions turned around at noon and his fares started catching fluke up to the 4.6-pound pool winner.

Capt. Vinny Vetere reported another good day of striper fishing on his Katfish from Great Kills with over 10 bass up to 30 pounds.

Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park noted a mix of fluke plus small blues and stripers in the surf along with an occasional bonito or Spanish mackerel. Blowfish are building up in the bay at the BB and BI markers. Chumming is important.

Capt. Chris Di Stefano said Frank Criscola’s Crisdel from Brielle Yacht Club had red hot white marlin fishing this week in Hudson Canyon — but there were no tuna at the time. They couldn’t catch up to the 33 whites posted in the Manasquan River Marlin & Tuna Club Offshore Open by Reel Steel. That contest has ended, but the club hasn’t posted official results as yet.

Fluke fishing conditions were good today on a calming ocean and with less current.

At Belmar, the Big Mohawk reported a pick that included several limits and an 8.5-pound pool winner.  They will sail at 6:30 a.m. all week. The Ocean Explorer had high hooks that took limits from four to six keepers, though others had a hard time hooking the fluke holding tight to structure. The Golden Eagle  found blues to be a little tougher today, but some fares caught up to 10 plus a few  bonito and Spanish mackerel.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands reported a couple of fluke limits were taken, but jiggers didn’t do as well as yesterday. Gulp and bait was best.

Capt. Stan Zagleski had a decent pick of keeper fluke  on his Elaine B. II from Bahrs in Highlands. Robert Finley of East Brunswick took the pool with a 6 1/4-pounder by just two ounces over Melanie Fazio of Spotswood.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant did well with blues, bonito and a few Spanish mackerel today, but they are chartered on Tuesday.

Capt. Jim Freda of Shore Catch Guide Service in Point Pleasant reports there has been great mid-range action on both poppers and jigs the last few days for both yellowfin and bluefin tuna in areas not far from each other. This is the time to take advantage of a surface fishery that doesn’t occur every year. Lots of whales and dolphins out there also.

The ocean was a lot more comfortable today, and boaters took advantage of that. The forecast has hardly any winds over 10 mph during the next several days.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands reported Jeff Criswell Jr. caught five legal-sized fluke today — topped by a 27 1/2-inch 9-pounder. Capt. Ron worked rock piles, and said jiggers did best.

Also at that port, the Angler had a new monthly and big pool leader on Thursday when Tom Karg of Millington boated a 29-inch, 9 13/16-pound near-doormat.  Ray Slodowski of Toms River had an 8 1/2-pounder Wednesday. Prowler V reported a 7.11-pound fluke Tuesday for Carlos Santos of Newark, and an 8.8-pounder Wednesday for Pa. angler Wayne Horner.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had very good jigging for blues today, with some limits and a pool blue of about 6 pounds.

The Big Jamaica from Brielle had slower fishing today, but ended up with good little tunny action  along with bonito, chub mackerel, and some blues. The pool went to a 14-pound little tunny boated by Dylon Podlinski of Bayonne.

At Seaside Park, Betty & Nick’s Tackle noted continued good fluke action in the surf. A 3 1/2-pounder was weighed in from Island Beach State Park after it hit nuclear chicken Gulp.

 

 

Little tunny are building up in waters closer to shore, and that gamest of our inshore species should be providing lots of opportunities into at least October.

In case that name isn’t familiar to you, little tunny is the proper common name for what most people refer to as false albacore. Like the albacore, the little tunny is a member of the tuna clan within the mackerel family — but it has little resemblance to the long-finned albacore which is a canyon species that rarely even moves into the mid-range tuna grounds. There’s also a world of difference in eating quality between those species.

Little tunny are just as fast as albacore, and a great fish to catch on light tackle. Most are released, but that’s often difficult to do because they literally fight to death. Though I haven’t heard of surf reports yet, little tunny should give surfcasters a thrill if they can get a small metal ahead of them and reel as fast as possible.

The Big Jamaica from Brielle got into little tunny today along with bonito plus some chub mackerel and blues. The pool went to a Maryland angler with a 14-pound little tunny.

 

Capt. Howard Bogan advises fares to use small blue or silver jigs or epoxy jigs.  The first canyon trip departs at 7 a.m. on Sept. 6. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar got into good bluefishing as some fares had limits of 2-to-6-pounders. Be sure to bring spinning tackle for best results.

Though the ocean still had a swell today, Capt. Stan Zagleski of Elaine B. II from Bahrs in Highlands said it was perfectly fishable for a mix of shorts and keeper fluke.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands made it out to the ocean and had decent fluking with a pool fluke of 6.9 pounds — but some big sea bass had to go back as that season is closed again.

The Big Mohawk from Belmar waited another day for conditions to improve, but will sail for fluke at 6:30 Sunday morning. Light winds are forecast the next two days.

Capt. Dave De Gennaro has been doing well with a mix of king and Spanish mackerel plus bonito and dolphin at Barnegat Ridge with his Hi Flier from Barnegat; On Sunday he’s planning to seek tuna at 2 a.m., but may return to the Ridge at the same time on Labor Day.

Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park weighed in fluke up to 4.85 pounds and blues to 1.4 pounds that Phil La Grossa Jr, and his brother Nick caught on their father’s boat this week. 

 

 

 

 

 

Chuck Many once again proved there are lots of stripers in all sizes available in the Metropolitan NY/NJ area during mid-summer along with the more usual targets.

He already had lots of action before I arrived at 4:30 with husky porgies plus some small stripers and blues in Shrewsury River  on his Ty Man from Gateway Marina in Highlands for Mike Greene of the Bronx, Bob Bowden from Little Silver and Jason Marti of Harvey Cedars. After loading up with large bunkers. Many ran past schools of small blues to the Hudson River, where those bunkers were drifted for stripers in the 20-pound class until dark. Then he switched to power drifting for weakfish with sandworms, but couldn’t find any of the target species while putting his crew into school stripers (including one over 28 inches) and a surprising triple of big cownose rays where he’d never seen them before. I even caught a short fluke in the dark on a worm.

Many then anchored for chunking, and we were soon getting hits from bigger bass than expected. A 29 1/2-pounder was larger than anything we had caught on live bunkers, but it was soon surpassed by a 38-pounder. We had to work through some bluefish and a smooth dogfish to release additional legal stripers, and I added a 33-pounder just before leaving.  Below is a shot of Mike Greene with the biggest bass just before Many (left) released it.

The bass release count ended at 41, and brought the Ty Man’s total over the 1,000 mark for the season. I’ll settle for striper fishing like that in prime time, and was amazed to do so well in the dog days of August.

We got in well before the northeast wind slew in, but it arrived with some rain this morning. Many skippers cancelled trips, but Capt. Rob Semkewyc warned nine customers that he’d have to stay in protected waters with his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands. They wanted to go and had action with shorts, but the biggest fluke was 17 inches.

Vinny D’Anton said Shark River was fishable this morning, but he only caught one bluefish there on his Chug Bug. Sea Girt pro Frank Conover got a couple of blues on a jig. It’s great to see him fishing again after having to go through an adjustment to his hip replacement.

The Jamaica from Brielle got into bluefish on jigs early Thursday before switching to what’s become the usual variety of small dolphin, chub mackerel, bonito, sea bass and fluke. A 5-pound bonito won the pool. Unfortunately, the two-fish sea bass by-catch ends with the end of the month.

 

There will be some relief from the heat and, most importantly, from flies on the beach after the northeast front moves through around midnight.

Joe Melillo, at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant, said some small blues have been coming into local beaches, but the flies have been so bad at Bay Head that no one can stand being there.

At Seaside Park, John Bushell Jr. said flies at Island Beach State Park yesterday were horrific — the worst ever.  It’s not often that almost everyone is hoping for a northeast blow, but this time there will be some important benefits on the beaches. Small craft warnings will go up after midnight for winds gusting to 25 knots, and those planning to fish on party and charter boats Friday should check with skippers before coming down.

That northeaster could also start a movement of mullet out of the rivers to get surf  stripers active on poppers again. There was no repeat of the Shark River bluefish blitz as party boats were coming out the previous two mornings.  I saw one caught by a kayack angler,  but never raised anything. Vinny D’Anton and Frank Manzi caught a few mini-stripers on surface lures, but I couldn’t get them to even swirl on a pencil popper. Vinny finally released a 23-inch bass on his Chug Bug.

Nick Honachefsky  got into some great fluke fishing Wednesday morning not far south of Manasquan Inlet while fishing aboard Killer Bea with Brian Keating, Adam Neimic and Christian Palmisano as they limited on fluke from 4 to 8 pounds by 10:30, and released five other keepers as the keeper ration was about 85%.

Jim Freda of Shore Catch Charters said the tuna bite was off on his last trip, but little tunny were appearing in force and should soon present an inshore target for great fighting fish. Freda took this epic shot of a whale during a recent tuna trip.

Dan Drodzinsky of Piscataway, the Tinman, saw lots of bait and snappers in the Sandy Hook surf yesterday morning, and didn’t catch anything among them — but saw the oddest sight. A small shark was swimming right along the surf line and several times beached itself on the dry sand before a small wave would put it in water again. When it got to a jetty, another fisherman had to carry it around to the deeper north side so it could continue on — just as the 100-pound brown shark that Jerry Lasko released in Barnegat Bay this week.

Jim Hutchinson Sr. reports “As summer in Beach Haven nears its end, the inshore fluke action is reaching its peak for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association. The fish are large and plentiful around almost any type of structure in the ocean. The season will continue until September 22.

Captain John Lewis on the “Insatiable” reports weather, clients and fish all came together for a busy and successful week. Every trip produced keeper fluke, many of which were 20-23 inches long, and plenty of shorts to keep everyone occupied. Additionally, there were a lot of small sharks to make it exciting.

Captain Jimmy Zavacky got in on some of the torrid fluke action recently on the “Reel Determined” with the Arnold group. He and fellow BHCFA Captain Ray Lopez helped the group fight some rough seas to boat 10 keeper fluke along with some black sea bass and a bluefish. Another day the Robertson crew also managed 10 keeper fluke for a great day on the water.

 

Captain Ray Lopez had the Rietmann family out on the “Miss Liane” for a day of non-stop trolling experiencing knockdowns every few minutes. The crew returned to shore with 7 nice mahi. Another day the Andrew Simon charter combined some trolling with bottom fishing. They picked up a few fish on the troll along with some fluke.  

 

The Junior Mates of the BHCFA had a large role in the recent 3rd Annual Fluke-A-Mania tournament benefitting the fight against cystic fibrosis. Several association boats were filled with junior mates fishing in the event, and the teens later assisted at the awards ceremony and even cleaning the fish. Three BHCFA mates swept the junior angler division with Tyler Spicer first, Max Goldman second and Aiden Hunsberger third. Association boats “Reel Determined,” “Miss Liane” and “Insatiable” along some mates’ family boats participated.

 

 

 

 

Conditions were good for fishing the bay side of Island Beach State Park last night, and Jerry Lasko of Point Pleasant took advantage of hat situation to release seven up to a five-foot brown that he estimated at about 100 pounds. Maren Toleno, who makes the shark rigs sold at Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park, added four shark releases (see photo at bottom) plus rays.

Fluking was hot today, at least in terms of the heat as skippers complained about the lack of a breeze that would have provided some relief. Capt. Ron Santee reported it was still a good day for John Froelich whose first fish on the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands was a 6.9-pound fluke and his next a 5-pounder.

Capt. Stan Zagleski said his customers worked hard for their fluke on Elaine B. II from Bahrs in Highlands, but were treated to whales and dolphins feeding. Sharon Lisa of Philipsburg won the pool. 

Bluefish once again made a move into Shark River just as party boats were coming through. Vinny D’ Anton had already caught stripers on his Chug Bug before adding blues which he said were bigger than yesterday’s 3-pounders. Indeed, that’s what I expected and was surprised when my first of five releases was two-feet long. All of them were likely easy pool winners on the bluefish party boats.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar got into small blues in the ocean, but they were hard to hook. Some fares managed 9 to 10, and they also had some bonito and little tunny. After that the Golden Eagle  added a boat limit of sea bass (two per man) that included what was reported as a 6-pounder. If the weight stands up and the angler is a Fisherman magazine subscriber that will put him in the sea bass lead (over a 5.85-pounder from New England), in the coastal Dream Boat Fishing Challenge. Some fluke were also caught.

Capt. Vinny Vetere reported he was back into the “big girls” again today with his Katfish from Great Kills as mate Percy Wentworth netted lots of bunkers with the castnet he makes that enticed stripers from 20 to 42 pounds. He’s open the rest of the week.

It may have been a scorcher on land this afternoon, but it couldn’t have been nicer when I joined Chuck Many on his Ty Man from Gateway Marina in Highlands at noon. A light south wind kept it just cool enough despite the 82 degree water temperatures   — even up in New York Harbor.  On the way up we came across surface action for the first time this summer, but it was all 1-to-2-pound bluefish. There were no other boats around, and we could have caught them in unlimited numbers but didn’t see any signs of bonito. Spanish mackerel or kittle tunny.

Shore party boats caught small blues in good quantity today. The Big Jamaica from Brielle reported adding dolphin, bonito, fluke, sea bass, and chub mackerel. Pool winners this week included Sam Florea of Reading, Pa, with a 6-pound bonito, and Ryan Romanowski from Gilbertsville, Pa. with an 8.2-pound fluke.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had blues up to 5 or 6 pounds in the morning — though most were 2 to 3 pounds. They then added some sea bass, bonito, small dolphin and keeper fluke.

Small blues also invaded Shark River. Vinny D’Anton said it was slow there early, but both small bass and 3-pound blues started rolling on bait even as party boats were going through. He released nine bass plus blues on the Chug Bug.

There was plenty of fluke action for the Atlantic Highlands fleet. The Sea Hunter reported steady short action with keepers mixed in. One fare caught 30 fluke with three being keepers. The pool winner was 6.1 pounds. The Fishermen had several fluke from 4 to 7.12 pounds. Joe Sullivan was back to catch over 25 fluke up to one just over 6 pounds.

Many’s  big bass plans were turned aside when we couldn’t net bunkers in mid-day, though we did snag a couple on the way north and I lost one bigger bass on live bunker in the Hudson before we moved to the East River. Sandworms produced steady action with school stripers and we ended releasing 31. We had to fish through lots of porgies and tiny sea bass later while trying for a Hudson weakfish though I did release my first of the season — a 25-incher.