Tight Lines

The N.J. fluke season opens in the morning with the same regulations as last year.

For most areas, that means two between 17 ad 18 inches plus one 18 inches and over. In the Delaware River and its tributaries the limit is three at 17 inches, and for shore fishermen in Island Beach State Park it’s two fluke at just 16 inches.

The spring tautog season ended with April. but bottom fishermen can still target ling and cod before sea bass opens on May 17 with 10 fish at a 13-inch minimum.

The Atlantic Highlands fluke fleet will be out in force tomorrow, except for the Fishermen as Capt. Ron Santee will start striper fishing on Friday for the rest of the spring.

Bluefish are just getting started with small choppers showing in Raritan Bay while there are only a few reports of the jumbos that come through the inlets some years. Fisherman’s Headquarters sent this photo of one caught Sunday at Long Beach Island.

Raritan Bay striper fishing was tougher in all the recent windy weather, but still productive as shown in this shot before release from Eric Kerber aboard On A Mission out of Belmar.

A small craft warning is up through Tuesday afternoon, but the morning forecast is down to southwest at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20 plus showers — which should be fishable for fluke in Sandy Hook Bay.

The Mi-Jo from Point Pleasant will be running some limited cod and ling trips this month. including Wednesday and Friday. Call 732 370-8019 for info.

While yesterday’s huge ocean swell will impact bottom fishing there, it probably won’t put much of a crimp in the Raritan Bay striper fishery.

Unfortunately, fishing conditions don’t look good until Wednesday. The morning forecast is for southwest winds at 15-20 knots with gusts to 25 — and 5-8-foot seas. Evening showers are possible.

Yesterday’s description of Tyman’s Friday trip was wrong about the large stripers as Chuck Many said they got out of the wind to fish worms and topwaters in the Hudson for plenty of schoolies plus the weakfish and a fluke that were all released.

Chris Buchta sent a note about his April striper fishing which illustrates just how good it has been:

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“From April 1 to the 27 we caught all our bass on artificials , 2 days we used live bait , most trips 15-25 fish and many over that , only 3 trips where we saw slower fishing and had at least 8 bass , biggest went 42# many in the 30# class with 2 just under 40#s , may should be amazing with big fish coming up the beach and in the bays , still have a few weekday spots available.”

The Ocean Explorer from Belmar summed it up with those words before canceling Sunday’s trip.

A small craft advisory continues through Monday evening, and conditions remain poor until Wednesday.

Sunday starts a bit better at southeast 10-15 knots with gusts to 20 -plus 5-7-foot seas and rain. Then it gets worse in the afternoon building to 20-25 knots with gusts to 30.

Alex Katyan fished yesterday with Chuck Many on Tyman as they not only caught the usual large stripers but also a weakfish and a fluke.

The fourth generation of Sciortinos is keeping the Tackle Box family tradition of fishing expertise going as Phillip’s son Paddy spiced up a night of catching stripers on worms in Raritan Bay by hooking into the biggest weakfish I’ve heard of this season.

Paddy didn’t weigh that beautiful spawner, before releasing her, but it’s probably over 10 pounds.

Weather prospects are poor as a small craft advisory is up before going to a gale watch in the morning with east winds at 20-25 knots plus gusts to 30 and a chance of rain.

The Big Mohawk from Belmar reported a 12-pound male tautog which wasn’t in the pool was caught yesterday. The pool winner was half that size, but part of a limit as shorts continued to dominate.

Capt. Frank Massaria said it was blowing hard in the bay, but he got on bass hitting shads and stayed with them on his Vitamin Sea from Keyport for hours.

Raritan Bay spring striper fishing is as good as it was last year, and with easterly weather in the forecast may be easier to fish than more exposed areas.

Friday’s forecast is for east winds at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20, but that sounds a lot better then Saturday’s east at 20-25 knots plus gusts to 30.

Live bunkers have been the best bet for stripers, but they’ve been hard to come by some days. If the birds provide some help, you may be able to get on bass willing to hit shads and flutter spoons — and there are times when stripers come up and are targets for poppers and other surface lures. Be prepared for all of those situations and you should be successful.

Tautog anglers have had to fish through lots of shorts. Lou Castellano and five others from the Salt Water Anglers of Bergen County fished aboard the Sea Owl from Point Pleasant today and also had to release plenty of sea bass. Lou managed a keeper tog, but that was the only one out of about 25. He also noted that some cod were hooked.

You just might come across a 50-inch cow full of roe at this time just before the Hudson River spawning, though this one was posted on my Facebook by Kayack fishing in Chesapeake Bay.

After catching lots of redfish and cobia at Hilton Head, Chuck Many is back at his first love releasing big bass in NY/NJ Bight — and doing it in his favorite way with live eels. Bob and David Mangone were aboard for the usual results!

Reports from boaters using live bunkers were also very good today, with lots of “overs” being released.

The forecast is for southeast winds at a mere 5-10 knots with a chance of showers.

At Belmar, the Big Mohawk reported lots of out-of-season sea bass were hitting blackfish baits Tuesday, but a tog of about 6 pounds took the pool. The Ocean Explorer had a nice bite all day with some keepers among all the hits.

Ginger Tatum enjoyed her blackfishing yesterday with Gary Caputi.

There isn’t much information about it so far, but one of the oddest fish species has been caught off N.C. in world record size.

There’s only two ways for people to turn when a fish photo is shot, and it usually seems to be away from the sun. Yet, in this case there shouldn’t be any problem identifying the unusual pomfret. This one was weighed in at Chasin Tails Bait & Tackle in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. It weighed 26.7 pounds — well above the present record of 20 pounds, 10 ounces from Florida. I assume that was a canyon catch from great depths.

Andreas Toy from Perth Amboy reported a slow start on Raritan Bay stripers this morning before everything changed as live bunkers did the job.

The forecast is for just 5 knots east before going southeast in the afternoon.

There are great variations from day-to-day, but blackfish populations seem to be in relatively good shape despite all the pressure on them. Best of all, it’s good to see so many females being released during the current spawning season.

Capt. Mark DeBlasio of Water Proof at Point Pleasant reported yesterday’s big swell limited the Michael Kefalas party to 21 keepers. De Blasio noted “Today we saw better conditions and a better bite with Nick Tennaro and crew catching 40 keeper sized fish .. kept our limit and released the rest including two DD that went back safely. Big one was 14 lbs on the scale.”

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

All reactions:

The best Raritan Bay reports lately seem to be coming from boaters fishing with live bunkers. However, obtaining those bunkers hasn’t been as easy as it usually is in April.

Capt. Joe Massa reported plenty of striper action in the bay on Friday from his My Three Sons out of Morgan Marina, and also checked the Hudson River to find it full of striper marks. However, he had to work hard for the bunkers which produced bass.

Chris Buchta had a similar report today, with more effort going into catching the bait than the bass.

Capt. Frank Masseria said Saturday morning was a struggle because his customers were having a hard time hooking stripers on live bunkers with circle hooks. He switched to trolling with Vitamin Sea from Keyport only to find the bass finicky despite lots of marks. Everything was back to normal with limit catches this morning.

A small craft warning is up until 2 a.m. when the northwest wind drops to 10-15 knots before switching to southwest at 5-10 knots in the afternoon.

.Yesterday evening I received a call froma concerned friend who had heard from a friend who had heard from another friend, etc, that I had passed away. In case that rumor is floating around, I am happy to report that it is greatly exaggerated!

Though I have to be very careful getting on and off boats these days, and can no longer walk miles to the best ponds in my Ft. Myers development, I’m still ready to fish anytime I might get an invitation I can get to without having a car. Old age has its drawbacks, but I’m rolling with it — and have no lack of great memories which I’m compiling into a book.

Spring weakfishing in NJ. has been poor for years. but I finally got a report today from Fisherman’s Headquarters of a Long Beach Island weakfish.

There was also news from Betty & Nick’s Fishing Club of striper action in Seaside Park where Annabelle Long released this 32-incher.

Fish Bound from Ocean City, Maryland reported as follows on their trips for tautog over 10 pounds as follows:

Some Super nice weather for April, and some beautiful fish. Our largest this week out of 5 trips was Jimmy Lee’s beautiful 18 pound fish that was safely released. Groups were able to release 25 DD out of 5 trips run.

A small craft advisory is up from 6 p.m. to late tonight, but by the morning it drops to south at 5-10 knots before going west in the afternoon. Morning showers are likely.