Everything is shaping up for Monday striper trips in NY/NJ Bight. The forecast is for west winds at just 5-10 knots with seas down to 3 to 4 feet.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported some action on surfacing stripers today, though all were overs that were released. Run-Off jigs of 4 ounces were the best bet — both plain and tubed. They also noted that Saturday night bluefishing was good for 3-9-pounders.

Chuck Many reports striped bass fishing with live eels from his Tyman out of Atlantic Highlands started relatively slowly for his crews, but improved yesterday.

With a big swell continuing, the fall party boat striper fishery got off to a slow start. Capt. Ron Santee Jr. reported making several long runs to mark some fish and bait, but nothing was caught on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands. The Golden Eagle from Belmar did record two stripers, but they were too big to keep. They did jig some 2-3-pound blues plus a few bigger bonito.

Conditions should improve with a forecast of west winds in the morning at 5-10 knots — though seas are still up to 5 feet. A small craft advisory is up through Sunday night.

Very rough seas off N.J. are preventing anglers from getting to stripers which should be building up at this time.

Nick Honachefsky warns surfcasters to be careful with the big waves hitting the beach and creating a dangerous backwash that can take your feet out from under you.

Betty & Nick’s Tackle in Seaside Park reported at 11:44 a.m. that the surf was virtually unfishable in surf up to 8 feet.

A small craft advisory is up through Saturday afternoon. Though the forecast is for only 5-10-knot northeast winds — but with seas up to 8 feet. The wind shifts to east in the afternoon.

Just when it appeared that the NY/NJ 0cean striper run was about to explode, there was bad news today.

Vinny D’Anton reported a disturbance offshore resulted in northeast wind and somewhat discolored waters. None of his contacts caught anything along the northern N.J. Shore — and there were only a few boats looking for the schools of bunkers and bass spotted yesterday.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar is cancelling tomorrow’s trip due to the weather. A small craft advisory is up through late Friday night. The forecast in NJ/NY Bight is for north winds at 15-20 knots before diminishing to 10-15 in the afternoon.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands will switch to stripers daily at 7 a.m. on Saturday.

The overdue fall run of migrating stripers down the Jersey Shore may be underway.

Vinny D’Anton didn’t catch anything in the Monmouth County surf this morning, but he did see quantities of adult bunkers well beyond casting range. Boaters were fishing on them, but I haven’t received any reports so far. With continuing west winds and cooler night temperatures, the table is set.

This photo from Capt. Joe Massa’s bluefin tuna trip with Capt. Vito Manzi out of Manasquan Inlet didn’t make it into yesterday’s blog.

Capt. Joe Massa fished mid-range tuna grounds

. recently with Capt Vito Manzi out of Manasquan Inlet “The trip out was in fairly choppy seas, but with the NW west wind at our back which made the ride out not so bad.  Heading home was a another story. but the Crew of Mike Riccardi and Jay Zebrowski  were all smiles from one of the best Tuna bites on big fish that we can all remember .

We set up to chunk butterfish and within ten minutes we had our first bite. 20 minutes later we put a 67 inch bluefin in the boat. We then went up to do another drift and had another bite with 5 minutes. This fish we fought for about ahalf hour before the hook chafed off.
We continued to get bites on every drift and released the others before heading back to Belmar.

Jerry Lasko broke the ice on Ocean County stripers this morning when he landed a fat 33-incher on his MJ plug. That bass had sea lice on it proving that it was a migratory fish. There was small bait in the wash.

The forecast is for northwest winds at 15-20 knots before diminishing to 10-15 in the afternoon.

Capt. Joe Massa of My Three Sons at Morgan Marina reports blackfishing recently with Captain Pat Heaney of City By The Sea charters in Newport Rhode Island as follows:”
Had all hard-core blackfishermen on the trip which included Bobby Glynn, aka Bunker Bobby, his brother Tommy aka oh boy, Lou Critiano aka Staten Island Sharpie, and Scott and Bob Croker.
Fishing was amazing with non-stop fish to 11 lbs. True drop and reel fishing both on jigs and weight and bait. The first day I would guess we had over 150 keepers, keeping only 3 fish per man and releasing all females and big fish. Most of the fish were in the 5lb to 8lb class. The group broke off several big fish using 30lb to 40lb leader.
On day two, fishing was  a bit slower, but still amazing based on New Jersey standards. Several 10lb fish were released on day two fishing a deep-water wreck.”

A small craft advisory is up through Tuesday morning in NY/NJ Bight. Tomorrow’s forecast is for west winds at 15-20 knots plus gusts to 30.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported a boat limit of 3-pound blues today along with many large bonito in fine weather conditions.

A small craft advisory is up through late Monday.

The Forecast is for northwest winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20 in the morning before going south at 15-20 pus gusts to 30 in the aftrnoon.

The weather was just right (almost flat calm) for yesterday’s trip of the Golden Eagle from Belmar as bonito, small blues and sea bass all cooperated and many chopper limits were taken.

A small craft advisory is up to Sunday afternoon. Sunday starts off well with southeast winds at 5-10 knots plus gusts to 20 before going south at 15-20 and gusts to 30 in the afternoon.

N,Y.C, Capt. John Mc Murray reports “Man this fall does NOT disappoint (ahem, so far). Been doing this stuff for a couple decades now, and while yeah, I admittedly have a tendency to overexaggerate, when ya consider both quantity and quality, this may be the best bluefin run we’ve had, least that I can remember. I mean, the abundance of 60 to 70” fish is extraordinary, and just when ya think that maybe they left, well, ya find out that they just shifted a bit. And, for one reason or another, they are particularly fat. I mean, like, REALLY wide fish. Are there bigger and smaller fish around? Yeah, but trust me when I tell ya that ya don’t really wanna do the jig/pop thing with bigger ones. I mean, it might be fun for the first 30 minutes. After that tho? Well, you decide. Anyway we’re gonna keep go’n into the season till we can’t anymore. Knocking on wood, but these fish don’t seem to be going anywhere. I mean, stripers are fun but… ONE MORE CAST CHARTERS/ NYCTUNA.COM Fish Uvt

A small craft advisory is up from 10 p.m. to Saturday morning. The forecast for Saturday is for west winds at 15-20 knots and gusts to 25 before going northwest at 10 in the afternoon.

Vinny D’Anton says the northern N.J. surf has cleared up and settled down. He saw mullet his morning and there were blues up to 10 pounds in them that hit surface lures.