Tight Lines

Striper reports were good today, and if you can handle northeast winds at 5 knots that should be a good bet for Sunday before showers start in the evening.

Capt. Ron Santee got off to a slow start with only one short despite good readings until the tide turned and fishing exploded. Bass up to 30 inches were all caught on shads aboard the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported a hot start with bass blasting bunkers on the surface — and fishing held up during the day. The Jamaica from Brielle was also into fine striper action. Those planning to fish in the morning better get to the boats early.

It seems too early to be fluke fishing, but this is when it’s best in South Jersey. They got their wish for an early opening on May 2. Keepers will be easier to come by with two slot fluke of 17 to 17.99 inches allowed plus just one over 18 inches. Anglers who are interested only in big fluke are upset about being restricted only to a single fluke.

Calm, mild weather should prevail this weekend.

The forecast for Saturday is northwest at 5-10 knots plus a few gusts to 20 before dropping to northeast at 5 knots on Sunday.

The best bet should be the Raritan Bay stripers, though blackfish seem to be feeding well before the NJ season ends after tomorrow. Joe Tomaszewski and friends had a four-man limit today despite the wind. Nothing big, but lots of action.

The NJ fluke season opens on May 2 with new controversial slot regulations. More about that tomorrow.

After one more day of hard northwest winds they will be dropping down to provide anglers with calm seas and fine fishing conditions.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar is cancelling the Friday trip, but everything looks fine from Saturday to Monday for striper fishing. The blackfish boats from Belmar can fish in northwest winds, and they will be working hard to catch tog before the N.J. season closes at the end of Saturday afternoon.

The marine forecast is for NW winds at 15-20 knots with gusts to 25 on Friday before dropping down during the night.

Capt. Jim Freda reported great surface striper action in Raritan Bay as large stripers were blasting bunkers despite the chilly 47 to 52 degree water temperatures.

Phil Sciortino Jr. at the Tackle Box in Hazlet says no bait is needed in the bay if you cast this lure after soaking it in Tackle Box Bunker Oil.

Northwest winds gusting to 30 knots continue through late Thursday night, but they will start settling Friday night and Saturday is looking good,

Chuck Many picked a good time to return to his Hilton Head salt pond redfish

Capt. Ron Santee is cancelling the next two days on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands due to forecasts of northwest gusts to 30 knots which will make Raritan Bay striper fishing tough. Santee tried it today and only had a brief morning bite. In fact it was a one customer bite as Leif caught five of the 8 bass taken all day. The afternoon tide change didn’t produce.

The Ocean Explorer from Belmar has a Coast Guard inspection tomorrow.

They had action Monday with short blackfish plus some keepers and cod. Sea bass are already showing.

There were no reports today, and the marine forecast for tomorrow is for very strong winds and almost a 100% chance of rain,

I’m back with a new computer and will try to catch up this week.

Raritan Bay striper fishing is off to the expected fast start, but even with abundant bass there must be reasonable conditions for a good bite.

After enjoying a bite Saturday on the change of the tide, Capt. Ron Santee was looking for the same thing this morning with his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands only to see that plan defeated as the wind came up hard against the current and it quickly got ugly. He’s taking Monday off, but will be back at Tuesday.

Dave Lilly reported that all he had to earlier in the week for steady releases was to troll Tony Maja mp-jos off Keyport. He was delighted with the Tony Maja MoJo rod which has a light tip that signals when the trolling speed is just right.

Chuck Many had great fishing slow trolling live eels down the beach from his Tyman out of Highlands last summer, but decided to try that technique in the bay this week. That produced a released 47-pound striper plus several others when he made the mistake of fishing too many lines by himself.

At Belmar, the Golden Eagle had close to a boat limit of stripers Saturday during an all-day bite. The Big Mohawk had a pick of blackfish up to 5 1/2 pounds Saturday along with some keeper cod and ling.

The marine forecast is for east winds at 10 knots.

The captain will be back in action starting Thursday. Keep sending those reports until then.

The Captain’s Daughter

Capt. Joe Massa reports most bunkers seem to have left Raritan Bay during the recent cold snap, but he managed to net enough for chunking today. John Andrea managed one bass on a live bait before they did much better chunking bass up to 36 inches in the back of the bay on his My Three Sons from Morgan Marina.

I still don’t have a computer, but was able to get this info out on another unit.

The Captain is out of commission due to computer failure. Once he is back up and running, all the fishing reports will be coming in.

The Captain’s Daughter