The prime spot for season-opening fluking along the northern Shore is off the Coast Guard Station just inside Sandy Hook. Fluke migrating into bays and rivers pass by that area which is also protected from northeast winds,
It got off to a great start when the Sea Tiger II from Atlantic Highlands boated a 6-pounder on its first drift, and some decent catches were made on other boats. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long. Fluke pro Dave Lilly joined a huge fleet there this morning as his crew managed a couple of keepers while seeing only a few more come up on packed party boats. Lilly tried his many spots in Sandy Hook and Raritan bays without success. He was most surprised at not getting a single hit during a perfect drift in Shrewsbury River. The water temperature is still under 60 degrees, and water color is poor from the very rainy spring.
Capt. Ron Santee Jr, reported as follows on striper fishing from his Fishermen out of Atlantic Highlands:
Headed out with just a handfull of guys this morning. Got a little ugly for a while but we hung in there waiting for the change of tide.
Read bait and finally had fish on top, all four about 5 minutes!!! Caught a few and never found them again. Fished several area’s with no more luck. Will see what the AM brings tomorrow.
The forecast is for north winds at 5-10 knots before going east at 10-15 plus gusts to 20 in the afternoon.
The Viking Fleet at Montauk reports as follows on their two-day trip for tilefish and cod:
Fri May 3 to Sun May 5 – 2 Day Tile/Cod Wrecks
Capt Steven Jr reports a good trip on the Viking Starship. We had tough fishing with the Tiles on the first day. With a fast drift and some dog fish in the area we had to do some looking around and it wasn’t until the later part of the day that we found some fish to work on. There were some nice size Tiles with Hake mixed in, but fishing was not what we are used to seeing in the deep. The second day on the Cod Wrecks were the total opposite. We had excellent fishing like we have not seen in years. Lots of double header healthy quality Cod and some big Pollock as well. It was the same great fishing on every wreck we went to, which sent everyone home with a load of fish.
+.
The forecast is for south winds at just 5-10 knots with a chance of showers.
Yet, the Golden Eagle from Belmar will not be fishing Wednesday due to the weather.
Capt. Ron Santee Jr. ended with a good striper day on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands as follows:
Beautiful day out there today and the Bass were Hungry!
Found bait right away but had to wait out the change of tide for the bite to turn on.
Took about an hour but the switch was turned on with the ebb. Top Water worked best as the fish were on top most of the morning. Still caught a bunch on the shads also. Some bigger fish going back with a bunch of keepers in the mix as well.
Back at it in the Morning. Sailing at 7:00AM. Open Boat, No Reservations just come on down. Fare is $90, Spinning Rod Rental $20.
NYC Capt. John McMurray Supplied his assessment of striper fishing so far “”
“So here’s your honest report from the last two weeks. Yeah, we’ve been catching a few, on some days considerably more than a few, but if ya compare this early spring with the last three years? Well, it hasn’t been near as good…yet. The truth is this was a more typical April, when ya look at it on a 10 maybe 20 year time scale. In other words, cold and wet. That sorta of thing really does affect the early spring stuff in my neck. Warm and sunny gets’em going sooner, and that just didn’t happen in April this time. All that said though, such conditions in April generally create good conditions for young of the year survival in the Chesapeake, so hopping for a good/better juvenile abundance index this go around, which means better fishing in the long run. Regardless, we’ve got some warmer/drier weather on the way. Today was the first real warm day in a while and we did pretty well. So, for sure, I’m expecting things to get better, and maybe start to go off, well, this week! Fingers crossed man. P.S. I just had my Wednesday bail on me, which is a huge bummer as the weather looks perfect. Please reach out if ya wanna go!
Chuck Many is back to releasing lots of large stripers from his Tyman out of Highlands with live eels as the deadly bait — as noted in yesterday’s report.:
Left the dock just after 11 in a gusty east wind with Chris, Joe, Alex, & Cesar. Had a steady bite, but conditions made it tough to land em. Ended up 18 for 33 and left them biting (I did take a little bit of beating for doing that). Fish were from around 30 pounds to low 40s. Just remember, the Log never lies!!!
Capt. Ron Santee Jr, reported an unusual condition Saturday on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands as he found that striped bass were feeding on razor clams.
Santee’s report follows: “
Morning started out with no action, looked over all the local spots and didn’t see much going on……Decided to take a bit of a ride and glad we did! Found clean water, birds working with hungry bass under them!
Stopped the boat and had 10 fish on right away, nice mix of keepers and over’s with some smaller fish in the mix. Fish were feeding on small butterfish and Razor clams! I was surprised that the shads worked as well as they did in that.
There were some Bunker in the area but the Whale had them to himself. Reggie from Totawa took the pool with a nice 31 inch fish. “
Today was a different story as follows:
“Very nasty day today with horrible conditions. Just a handful of customers showed but after yesterdays bite I figured we had a small window to catch a few fish, so we sailed.
Sorry I did as we caught the first of the ebb with the SE wind on the way out. Got nasty fast but we made it to where we caught yesterday. Read plenty of bait and fish on the bottom. They never turned on and after a couple of hours we tossed in the towel.” Ron isn’t fishing tomorrow as few fares are likely to show up in a rain forecast.
Andrea’s Toy from South Amboy reported trip this week when they made a 2.5-mile drift with steady action from stripers before they ran out of bait!
The forecast is for south winds at 10-15 knots plus morning showers.
For the first time I can recall, a big fluke was boated in northern N.J. on opening day. It was taken during the during the first drift of the half-day Sea Tiger2 from Atlantic Highlands, and there were no details available. (see photo and correction below) after tuna report from this week)
Though I checked on the internet for the N.J. fluke regs yesterday, I got the wrong info on the bag limit. It is actually three at the 18-inch minimum. Fred Foederl picked up on that, and noted the exceptions remain the same with 3 at 17 inches in Delaware Bay — and 2 at 16 in the Sandy Hook surf.
Absecon Bay Sportsman Center reported a surf bluefish blitz early this morning that resulted in weigh-ins up to 9.9 pounds.
Southern New Jersey fluke anglers will be in their glory as they finally get an early start to the May 4- Sept. 25 season. Though northern waters are usually too cold for good fluking, May is prime time to the south. The minimum is 18 inches with a five fish limit.
Capt. Joe Massa wound up the N.J. tautog season on Monday with his My Three Sons out of Morgan Marina as he and Randy Ciprich of Sayreville caught well over 20 tog for a double limit while never leaving Raritan Bay. They only kept male tog, while releasing the females full of eggs.
The forecast is for east winds at 5-10 knots plus gusts to 20.
The Jamaica from Brielle has room on a Saturday 7-3 trip for ling and cod plus the Sat. night tilefish trip.
The 25th annual Berkeley Striper Club’s Fisherman’s Flea Market will run from 8:30-2 tomorrow at the Seaside Park Marina on J Street. Admission is $5.
Capt. Ron Santee Jr. of the Fishermen at Atlantic Highlands reported:
“Had to put the time in today to get it done…..only a few fish in the AM with some pretty crappy conditions.
After the tide change we took a ride and got lucky, found birds working with Bass busting on top.
After the tide change we took a ride and got lucky, found birds working with Bass busting on top.
Top water, Jigs & Shads all worked. Couple guys had three nice fish, some had two with keepers mixed in. George Laley took the pool with a 31 inch fish. Some easterly in the AM, hope it makes them hungry again!
After the tide change we took a ride and got lucky, found birds working with Bass busting on top.
Top water, Jigs & Shads all worked. Couple guys had three nice fish, some had two with keepers mixed in. George Laley took the pool with a 31 inch fish. Some easterly in the AM, hope it makes them hungry again!“
The forecast is for east winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20,
Had to put the time in today to get it done…..only a few fish in the AM with some pretty crappy conditions.
Had to put the time in today to get it done…..only a few fish in the AM with some pretty crappy conditions.
Had to put the time in today to get it done…..only a few fish in the AM with some pretty crappy conditions.
Had to put the time in today to get it done…..only a few fish in the AM with some pretty crappy conditions.
Had to put the time in today to get it done…..only a few fish in the AM with some pretty crappy conditions.
Had to put the time in today to get it done…..only a few fish in the AM with some pretty crappy conditions.
Had to put the time in today to get it done…..only a few fish in the AM with some pretty crappy conditions.
Had to put the time in today to get it done…..only a few fish in the AM with some pretty crappy conditions.
After the tide change we took a ride and got lucky, found birds working with Bass busting on top.
After the tide change we took a ride and got lucky, found birds working with Bass busting on top.
After the tide change we took a ride and got lucky, found birds working with Bass busting on top.
After the tide change we took a ride and got lucky, found birds working with Bass busting on top.
After the tide change we took a ride and got lucky, found birds working with Bass busting on top.
After the tide change we took a ride and got lucky, found birds working with Bass busting on top.
After the tide change we took a ride and got lucky, found birds working with Bass busting on top.
After the tide change we took a ride and got lucky, found birds working with Bass busting on top.
After the tide change we took a ride and got lucky, found birds working with Bass busting on top.
After the tide change we took a ride and got lucky, found birds working with Bass busting on top.
In addition to the giant noted in a previous blog, there was another caught Sunday a bit further south – and it was the largest ever brought into the Beach Haven marlin & Tuna Club dock!
It was boated on an 80W outfit after a three–hour fight by T.J. Johnson and measured 94 1/2 inches. Since the giant was fought by the son of the most acclaimed angler in that club’s history, I suspect it was a sportfishing catch fought in accordance with IGFA rules.
Capt. Frank Massaria of Vitamin Sea at Keyport reported “Absolute wreck job this morning. Approaching 60 fish all on Shad’s.
We have room tomorrow
917-439-6448.”
Frank noted that he was recently boated by the DEC whose officers checked the live bait hooks. They noted many fishermen are using illegal trebles rather than the required circle hooks..
Capt. John Contello’s Just Sayin had a similar report, but with live bunkers. They have a Friday opening.
New Jersey lost one of its great fishermen on April 23 when Bob Lake of Brick passed over the bar at 78. Best known as a striper and doormat fluke pro on his Kimberly Anne out of Manasquan Inlet, he was also a fine offshore skipper with giant tuna to over 700 pounds to his credit along with shark tournament wins.
Lake was a member of the Greater Point Pleasant Party & Charter Boat Association as well as the Manasquan River Marlin & Tuna Club. As Jeff Merrill noted, Lake was happy to pass on his fishing expertise to anyone seeking it.
The Ocean Explorer from Belmar reported on Sunday’s bottom fishing as follows “What a beautiful day out there,flat calm warm and just perfect…Fishing was good to us as well..Had good life on the bottom all day long..Blackfishing was good at times with lots of shorts coming up,,Blackfish Bobby actually had his limit…Some just had shorts but the fish were chewing..In between that we had a good pick at ling as well…Lot of nice sea bass came up as well..Looking forward to opening day in a few weeks….Any way,,as for now we are in stand by mode,,I have coast guard inspection on Thurs. Will keep you updated.”
Light east winds continue with a forecast of 5-10 knots tomorrow.
Vinny D’Anton is finishing up his winter in Sarasota, Snook have been missing from his wading spots, but a boat trip today with a local guide produced lots of them plus redfish on live baits.
The Hook House sent a shot of a 40-inch striper released on clam bait at IBSP by Kevin Wistuba.
Nick Di Napoli tried bloodworms in the Monmouth County surf Saturday morning and was pleased to find good action that resulted in five striper releases from 25 to 32 inches.
This is the 754-pound gutted giant tuna caught Sunday by Reel Time from Morgan Marina off Manasquan.
The forecast is for northeast winds at only 10-15 knots.
Reel
Photo/video
Poll
Tight Lines 