It seems as if every Raritan Bay charter boat is equipped with a Percy cast net with which to load a live well with bunkers which are often the key to successful striper fishing. For decades, Percy has been demonstrating how even a man in his eighties could open up his net. As of today he’s demonstrating how a 90-year-old can do so!

Percy also mates for Capt. Vinnie Vetere on his Katfish from Great Kills. Those trips start with netting bunkers, and Percy also performs all the other mate functions which end in filleting the legal-size catch. Percy is an inspiration to relative youngsters like me as well as to anglers of all ages.

Capt. Ron Santee Jr. said yesterday was far too windy for drifting fluke in deep waters with his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands, but he was pleased to see the water temperature get up as high as 65. Yet, the fluke coming up from the bottom still felt ice cold.

At Belmar, the Golden Eagle reported as follows:

There was a better showing of KEEPER FLUKE for us today. Fishermen were dialed in early this morning on great action on throwbacks with nice KEEPER FLUKE in the mix. It continued until late morning when the drift slowed up. We moved offshore and had nice JUMBO SEA BASS along with LING and KEEPER FLUKE “

Capt. Ralph Leyrer of Last Lady had a similar report of keeper fluke during an open boat charter.

The Big Mohawk had this 10-pound, 11-ounce doormat come aboard on June 25.

The forecast is for south winds at 5 knots before going southeast at 10-15 plus gusts to 20 in the afternoon. Patchy fog is possible in the morning.

The Viking Fleet at Montauk reports “ri June 28 – 3 Day Captain’s Choice – Viking Fivestar

Capt Steven Jr. reports a lively trip on the Viking Fivestar. Due to weather we did have to cut the trip short, but we still manged to get our fish with 20 Yellow Fin Tuna up to 80lbs and 6 Blue Fin Tunas. We also had a nice pile of Tiles! That warm water has seemed to move into our backyard and it brought plenty of life with it! For this trip, most fish were caught on the troll, however we did have some on jigs.” Check with them for the next special.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had great fluke action today, though there were only some keepers among the shorts. However, the season for a single sea bass a man opened July 1, and they did have a few of those in today’s catch.

The forecast is for north winds at 5-10 knots before going southeast in the afternoon.

FOUND THIS ON FACEBOOK TODAY

” A catch that remains shrouded in mystery and history, but no one denies the monster Pacific blue made it to the docks to be weighed. It’s the Hawaii state record, which outweighs the IGFA world-record of 1,376 pounds. The IGFA record was caught out of Kona, Hawaii in May of 1982 by Jay de Beaubien. For what it’s worth, there are marlin caught by commercial anglers that reportedly weighed more than 2,000 pounds.

This incredible fish became known as “Choy’s Monster” and hasn’t been broken for over 50 years.”

A small craft advisory is up in NY/NJ Bight to 7 p.m.

Monday starts with north winds at 10 to 15 knots plus gusts to 20.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had a few keeper fluke among many shorts, but the pool went to Steve Rawls with an unusual white hake.

Mike Monte reports from Nantucket that island remains surrounded by striped bass which normally would have moved on during their migration, but are being held there by an unusual volume and variety of forage. Mackerel, squid, bunkers and sand eels are all abundant at the same time. Mike says most of the bass are 40 inches or more and hitting everything.

There was also good news from Capt. Mark DeBlasio of Blue Runner from Point Pleasant:

“Snuck out with Jeff Kapralick and crew .. took a bit to find them but once we did it was game on. Caught a 6 man limit of Yellowfin, a limit of under Bluefins, released another half dozen Bluefins and went 3 for 4 on Bigeyes. First thing this morning hooked a pair of Giant Bluefins, pulling the hook on one quickly. The other one we fought for 1.5 hours on standup gear before we pulled the hook at color. Great to see fishing like this after a slower start to the season ..”

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Capt. Ron Santee Jr. reported starting out with his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands to an “area we found shorts, tried a little deeper and found not much life. No current or drift all day so we had to power drift. Took a ride to a new area and found some nice keepers but the lack of drift hurt us once again.

Mustacio Rich is on a roll with his 3rd pool in a row in the ninth inning, todays fish went 5 pounds 3 ounces and is the new Monthly pool leader. Couple 3-4 pound fish in the mix also. A load of Big Sea Bass that had to go back!!! Bunch of crap that is.

Water temp was up to 61 today, found some bait so i’m expecting the bite to get better. Back at it in the AM.“

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported fast action with short fluke along with some keepers.

The forecast is for southeast winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20.

I haven’t heard from the canyon Runner out of Point Pleasant in some time, but it turns out they’ve almost completely booked their canyon trips for this year. Adam LaRosa reports:”

This email is more of a heads-up and warning to you folks that haven’t booked anything with us yet for the 2024 canyon season. I don’t want anyone upset with us when you call and there are no dates left so this is your warning to please grab your date now. This is usually the busiest month of the year with folks finally nailing down their dates – but as of right now there just aren’t many good ones left.  “ They are holding a few trips on an open basis to take care of customers that no longer can put together a full charter. Vinny D’Anton once again found a pick of stripers in the Monmouth County surf with his Chug Bug popper. However, the larger of the two stripers he released was an ugly striper full of rashes. Though it looked terrible, that bass fought well and swam off without a problem. Vinny also caught a 5-pound bluefish. Friday’s forecast is for northeast winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20 before going to southeast 5-10 in the afternoon.

The following report from the Ebb Tide at Montauk sums up the night fishery there:

“Black Fog=Big Bass. We departed at 7p last night bc we wanted more time for the Beasts after dark and Mother Nature provided the perfect blanket of light! We did a few jig drifts and it was meh with the exception of a few slots and one 40lb beast so we switched to the snakes early and Holy Cow! Every drift produced a wide variety of Striped Beauty. You’ll get the perspective from pic one with Alan Yees 48 and a tote full of slots. Kenny took the pool with the first slot landed.”

Capt. Ron Santee Jr/ reported from his Fishermen out of Atlantic Highlands “Much better with the keepers today but it was a grind to say the least!

Gail Bernard who ran my galley in the 80’s and has been a friend for 40 years celebrated her 60th birthday with me today. She was well rewarded with 3 nice keepers and a bunch of smaller fish.

First time Fluke fisher-woman Debbie from PA also had her three by days end and took the pool with a 6 pound beauty. Couple nice fish around the boat but like I said it wasn’t easy. Back at it in the AM.Much better with the keepers today but it was a grind to say the least!

Gail Bernard who ran my galley in the 80’s and has been a friend for 40 years celebrated her 60th birthday with me today. She was well rewarded with 3 nice keepers and a bunch of smaller fish.

First time Fluke fisher-woman Debbie from PA also had her three by days end and took the pool with a 6 pound beauty. Couple nice fish around the boat but like I said it wasn’t easy. Back at it in the AM.“

Vinny D’Anton got a call from an angler fishing further north in the Jersey surf this morning and got up there in time to release three stripers from 23-26 inches on his Chug Bug.

Vinny D’Anton hasn’t done much in the northern N.J. surf since returning from Florida, but finally found some plugging action in the Monmouth County surf this morning.

There was no sign of life as he worked his favorite popper, the Chug Bug, but when he switched to a MirrOlure that Florida standard produced four stripers including a 28-incher.

The Prowler 5 from Atlantic Highlands had a beautiful day at sea though keeper fluke weren’t hitting well and even shorts weren’t abundant. One angler managed a limit.

Paul Haertel reports the JCAA Heavy Hitters Fluke Tournament will be run from Aug. 1-4. Boaters can pick any one day to fish. You must register by 7/31 by visiting jcaa.org

A small craft advisory is up from 6 p.m. to tomorrow afternoon. Southwest winds at 15-20 knots plus gusts to 25 and showers are forecasted in the morning.

In going through Facebook today I was surprised to find the following entry on Bob Rocchetta’s world record striper.

“It was 1981 when Robert Rocchetta, of Long Island, New York, set both the All-Tackle and @theigfa Men’s 24-kg (50 lb) Line Class World Record with this incredible 34.47-kilogram (76-pound) striped bass. At the time of catch, this striper was the largest known to have been caught on rod and reel, and was taken off Montauk, New York a few hours before dawn.”

A classic!!

I happened to be at Montauk at that time, and took all the photos of Bob’s catch. Unfortunately, I had only a roll of very high speed film in my camera — and it was a very bright morning.

What wasn’t mentioned was the fact that the bass was caught on a live eel in the rips off Montauk Point during an eclipse of the moon.

A small craft advisory is up to through late tonight. Tuesday starts with northwest winds at 10-15 knots before going southwest in the afternoon.

Great striper fishing isn’t unusual on Nantucket. but Mike Monte says it’s never been better at this time of year all around the island. These bass all seem to be over 28 inches. and Monte speculates that these are bass that should still be in NY/NJ Bight where recent reports haven’t been that good.

Capt. Ron Santee Jr. had decent Saturday fluking on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands as a 4.9-pounder took the pool — and a 4.4-pound fluke leads the monthly pool. Today’s report follows: “Very nice group of customers today but I was a little leary with the wind report….

Headed to where we’ve been fishing hoping the wind would hold off. We slugged away pretty good at short Fluke the first couple of drifts, one nice fish got away before the net could reach him.

Started getting cranky as the current changed and wind came on so we left the area.

Ended up in the Sahara for the afternoon but that’s where we caught the handful of keepers and pool fish that we ended the day with.

Chico landed a nice 4 1/2 pound fish that earned him the money today. Finally going to get away from all the South wind tomorrow! Bite should improve as well as the conditions. See you in the AM.

Sailing Everyday 7:30am-2:30pm, Open Boat, No Reservations just come on down. Fare is $90, Rod Rentals $10.“

A diver reported on Facebook that Shark River is very cold at 54 degrees — but full of fluke.

A small craft advisory is up through late tonight. Monday starts with a hopeful shift to west at 10-20 knots plus gusts to 25. There’s a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning.