Tight Lines

Offshore tuna results continue at a high level. and inshore fishing for big stripers remains very good, but take advantage of Saturday’s fine weather before northeast winds arrive at night.

The forecast is for light southwest winds early, but the witch to northeast with some rain by Sunday morning should build along with showers in the afternoon.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands reported another “awesome” day of striper action even though Capt. Ron Santee said they weren’t where he had stripers yesterday morning. Shads and spoons worked at first before the bass wanted live bunkers.

Vinny D’Anton has only been able t pick a small striper or two from the Monmouth County surf the last couple of days. He even had a big school of rainfish in the wash this morning, though there was nothing on them. A big fleet was on schools of bunkers further out.

Southwest Florida anglers may want to tune in ESPN Talk Radio at 6:30 a.m. as Capt. Debbie Hanson and Crazy Alberto Knie discuss fishing after the hurricane.

Party boat striper fishing in NY/NJ Bight should get better as waters cool and the migration to the south gets underway, though it’s hard to imagine it being more productive than it is right now.

Capt. Ron Santee said it actually got better as the day went along on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands. Bunkers were thick, and the bass were biting.

Johnathon caught nine bass yesterday, but was back today to double that score. There were some “keeepers” among the big bass which were topped by Dino Paul’s 44-pound release. A few bonus bass were taken as the day went on. The boat sails at 7:30 a.m. into a forecast of west winds at 5-10 knots before going southwest in the afternoon.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar got into some big stripers right away, and had some keepers before the south wind created rough conditions at mid-day. They are chartered Friday, but will be sailing open again at 7:30 a.m. Saturday.

Capt. Vinny Vetere has room on his Katfish from Great Kills for striper fishing Friday from 7-1, and is open for private charters over the weekend. Call 917 693-8908.

After only getting a brief shot of feeding stripers the day before, the Golden Eagle from Belmar left early this morning and got into a mix of keeper and jumbo stripers. Most of the action was on bunkers, and there was some life up to mid-day.

Getting out early seems to be vital, and they’ll be sailing tomorrow plus Saturday and Sunday at 6:30 a.m. The boat is chartered Friday.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands got its first fall striper trip in, and Capt. Ron Santee reported as follows:

FISHERMEN/Very good First Striper Trip!!

So nice to be back in the Game!!

Had a nice all day bite on some beautiful Striped Bass, nice clean fish and they were hungry.

Live bait was the ticket today as Joe and I were snagging our butts off. Several overs had to go back but everyone still had their keepers and then some.

Bill V and Johnathan S combined for over 20 big fish with Bill taking the pool on a 35 inch fish.

Things you have to have in your tackle Box: A snag for catching Bunkers, 4/0 or 5/0 Circle hooks with a dropper Rig, Large Shad and a Flutter spoon.A nice medium action spinning set up if you are not comfortable with a Conventional set up.

The jigs will work better when the smaller fish start to chew. Please come prepared!“

Get In the Catch

Captain Ron’s FISHERMEN © 2020 | Sailing from Municipal Harbor
Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716 | 732-872-1925

Small craft warnings are coming down tonight, and the morning forecast is for southwest winds at 15-20 knots.

Chuck Many mixed it up on his Tyman from Highlands as he released big stripers eeling Hudson River at night before eeling in the ocean after daylight. Bob Bowden, Michael Greene and Dave Glassberg were along for the action.

It just might be the best NJ/NY Bight tuna fishing year in memory.

That’s what Capt. Jim Freda of Shore Catch mentioned on Facebook. Freda said it’s been limits by any method you want to employ, including poppers.

Capt. John McMurray said this youngster was working a popper from NYTUNA this week when this yellowfin hit it near the boat. Though it weighed almost as much as the young angler, the kid fought it all the way unaided!

Striper fishing has held up this week. Joe Balsamo said he had to fight the waves heading south, but Chuck Many on Tyman from Highlands put him into 40-pounders.

Capt. Vinny Vetere put this youngster into a 40-pounder yesterday. Vetere’s Katfish from Great Kills is open for charters or individuals on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Call 917 693-8908.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for southwest winds at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20 and a chance of morning showers.

It’s early for the fall migratory run of striped bass, but the fishing that’s been going on seems to be up to the usual cold weather migration standards,

Capt. Fred Gamboa made an inshore trip with Andreas Toy from Perth Amboy to start off that season after lunch on Sunday and quickly found a pod of bunkers before getting into lots of 32-42-inch bass.

Chuck Many said he didn’t leave Raritan Bay that day for hot bass fishing. No “monsters”, but all from 28 to 44-pound releases for Alex Katyan and John Korn on Tyman from Highlands.

There are small craft advisories up to late tonight, but the morning forecast is for west at 10-15 knots with a chance of showers.

Capt. Ron Santee has made a switch to daily striper fishing on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands.

Santee said he had beautiful weather for his last day of bottom fishing, and slugged away at sea bass which have been “Tough to say the least while the porgies are done.” On the other hand, striper reports have been excellent, and he’ll be fishing for them daily starting tomorrow. Anglers are advised to bring a medium action spinning rod. snag hooks, shads, a topwater plug and flutter spoons.

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

It’s not unusual for party boats to postpone trips due to weather, but the Golden Eagle from Belmar is trying something unique in order to get fishable weather – moving a canyon trip forward. The sailing set for Monday night at has been changed to the same time Sunday night. Call 732 681-6144 to confirm or grab one of the open spots. The canyon tuna bite has been red hot.

Capt. Ron Santee had a charter on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands today and was surprised to encounter a large swell that’s never good for bottom fishing. Yet,he managed a decent catch of sea bass plus some porgies and a lone triggerfish. He’s sailing open for bottom fishing in the morning, and advises anglers interested in blackfish to bring a few crabs with them.

No one has been complaining about the Raritan Bay striper fishing. Capt. Frank Masseria of Vitamin Sea from Keyport had another boat limit today on live bunkers and flutter spoons plus jumbo releases. He has availability on the 6 a.m. trip next Saturday. Call 917 439-6448.

Small craft warnings are up through late tonight. but the Sunday’s forecast is for west winds at just 5-10 knots.

Jones Inlet was my first challenge as a young Long Island boater, and has continued to be a problem off and on many times over the years. Surfcasters were making use of the east side yesterday, and Capt. John McMurray says that side isn’t even usable at high tide — though it’s possible to sneak out then on the west side.

Jerry Lasko reported that upwelling from yesterday’s south wind had its effect this morning as the bunkers had disappeared from the Ocean County surf — and no stripers were caught.

Though a small craft advisory is up until late tonight, the weekend looks good. Saturday’s forecast is for east winds at 5-10 knots before going south in the afternoon at 10-15 with gusts to 20.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands is chartered tomorrow, but returns to open bottom fishing Sunday.

All reports on striper fishing in Raritan Bay remain very favorable.

A south wind is usually bad news for Jersey Shore surfcasters, but Jerry Lasko said it was just the opposite this morning in the Ocean County surf as the biggest striped bass of the fall were within reach and blasting live bunker baits. Jerry Lasko not only had a rare 5 to 4 edge in releases over Maren Toleno, but also the largest at 53 1/2 inches. Unfortunately, he didn’t take the girth of that trophy bass which had to be right around the 50-pound mark that striper pros aspire to. You can’t tell much about a striper’s weight without the all important girth for the formula as there can be as much as a 10-pound difference in bass of the same length.

Fifty-pound stripers are a rarity to begin with, as even surfcasters in such prime areas as Montauk and Block Island are fortunate enough to catch one in a lifetime — which is much more unusual on New Jersey’s sand beaches.

As big as Jerry’s bass was, he also reported that a 63-incher was released in the same area. That one had to be a “50”!

Vinny D’Anton didn’t see any bunkers or giant bass in the Monmouth Cunty surf this morning, but he was happy after his Redfin plug produced three smaller stripers up to a 28-incher.

Capt. Frank Masseria reported bass releases up to 49 inches from his Vitamin Sea out of Keyport while limiting on smaller linesiders with no competition in Raritan Bay.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar is planning to fish for stripers tomorrow. Small craft warnings are up through Friday afternoon, though winds are supposed to drop after midnight — and are forecast at just 10 knots west in the morning.

Matching the hatch can be vital even during striper abundance

Bunker spoon pro Dave Lilly ran right into an abundance of bunkers and big stripers in Raritan Bay this morning, but his usually reliable large Tony Maja bunker spoons weren’t getting hit. Then he noticed the bunkers weren’t very large. He switched to a fluke rod with braided line and added a leader with a smaller Tony Maja Lolipop spoon rigged above a mojo to get it down — and it was game on with stripers over 30 pounds after that. Lily thought he had a real monster on at one point, but it turned out to be a doubleheader. He finally boated one bass barely small enough to keep at 37.5 inches on the mojo before heading back arm weary after a couple of hours.

Allen Riley saw the massive bunker schools as he was driving over the Highlands Bridge to the Sandy Hook surf where they were composed of large peanuts and stayed mostly out of range in a big fleet. Surfcasters were able to snag a few bunkers, but none of the anglers hooked up, and dead baits were ignored.

There was a brief, but better showing in the Ocean County surf, where Jerry Lasko finally connected with a 44-incher on bunker this morning as Maren Toleno caught a 45-inch bass.

It was fortunate that Chris Carroll had a day off school as he was able to join his father Bill on Megan Beth from Point Pleasant as they sailed out of Manasquan Inlet right into schools of bunkers being chased by whales and even a big tuna as Chris released his first two jumbo stripers of 40 and 45 inches

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant had released a half-dozen jumbo stripers by 8 a.m.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar returned from Monday night’s tuna trip with all aboard catching at least one in the 60-80-pound class. They will be striper fishing in the morning when the forecast is for southwest winds at 5-10 knots before increasing to 10-15 with gusts to 20 in the afternoon.