Tight Lines

The ocean was fine today, but the bluefish weren’t turned on. Fortunately, chub mackerel responded to chum and party boat anglers went home with dinner.

At Belmar, the Golden Eagle reported just a pick of blues on jigs early before heading off to chum successfuly for chub mackerel. Miss Belmar Princess had a similar report and noted that some blues up to 4 pounds eventually found the chum.

Capt. Jimmy Freda was coming in from tuna fishing this week with Shore Catch when he saw a surf rescue operation in progress and was able to to ensure that it was successful. That was a real great catch!

The Sea Girt surf was shallow this morning, but Frank Manzi still managed to catch a small striper on a popper — though that appeared to be it for the beach early in the morning.

Chuck Many got another surprise while casting for redfish in the Hilton Head, S.C. salt ponds. It’s hard to tell the difference between a summer flounder (fluke) and a southern flounder.

Sunday looks good with northwest winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20 that should lower 3-5-foot seas.

The weather seems to be strightening out even though small craft warnings are up into tonight — and boaters should be out in force tomorrow when the forecast is for north winds at just 5 knots.

The tuna fleet will be gathering off the Rockaways and further east to troll live bunkers or bluefish that may be attacked by a large bluefin which is a very reasonable target in shallow waters — and the Golden Eagle from Belmar resumes daily bluefish jigging as well as a Satirday night bluefish trip which departs at 7 p.m.

Ken Zwirko was one of the successful inshore bluefin fishermen this week.

Vinny D’Anton tried the Monmouth County surf this afternoon and found clear waters plus a school of mullet. Unfortunately there weren’t any stripers on that bait, but Vinny switched to Gulp and started releasing small fluke just as had been the case before the season closed.. He couldn’t duplicate the stargazer he also caught at that time.

N.J. anglers could be catching these if the later season alternative had been adopted.

Please join Fred Golofaro’s family, friends and all who knew him as we share memories and celebrate the life of the man we all loved so dearly.  Saturday, October 2, 2021 from 1-4 pm, Robert Moses State Park, NY, Field 4.  Service to start at 2 p.m

Another day of southeast wind. The small craft advisory continues, but the wind shifts to west at 5-10 knots with 3-4-foot seas.

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Southeast winds are rarely good for along the Jersey Shore, and I wasn’t surprised at not receiving a single report. A small craft advisory remains up through late Thursday night.

The morning starts with SE winds at 15-20 knots with gusts to 25 plus a chance of showers. It is looking better for Friday and Saturday.

Capt. Ron Santee has switched to porgy fishing with his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands, but isn’t sailing again until Sunday due to the SE blow plus moon currents.

Though bluefish seem to be spotted pr read by party boats every day.thney don’t always bite during the usual early morning period.

That was the case today for the Golden Eagle from Belmar. so they went offshore and chummerd lots of chub mackerel plus some blues. After putting fish in the bags they retirned inshore for a slow bluefish bite before they finally turned on and many 4-8-pounders were jigged along with some porgies as the boat stayed out late.

Yesterday’s canyon mahi trip produced some big dolphin, but not the volume of the previous sailing. It was also rougher than predicted.

Small craft warnings are up from tomorrow morning to Thursday afternoon. Southeast winds of 10-15 knots gust to 25, and there’s a chance of showers.

Fall fishing seems to be starting, or at least that was what Vinny D’Anton found at Monmouth County beaches this morning as he relesded five shorts on his Chug Bug and added some mall blues. He didn’t didn’t see any mullet, though that forage fish is what usually attracts bass at this time of year.

Miss Belmar Princess reported slow bluefishing today with only the better anglers managing limits. However, there were lots of chub mackerel. Some out of season sea bass and fluke were released.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for east winds at just 10 knots.

Chuck Many continues to have a ball catching school redfish a short walk from his new townhouse in Hilton Head. S.C.

The fluke season ended in N.J. today, and Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina said it was generally a good one. Bluefish will take up the slack for some, and he noted that both the Golden Eagle and Miss Belmar Princess caught choppers up to 10 pounds today. The former also ended up with a good Saturday night bluefish trip after a slow start;

Matthews reports blackfish are hitting well in Shark River Inlet, though most are shorts. Mullet have been showing up in the surf from Belmar to Deal, and stripers are often on their tails.

The surf was rough today, but that worked out well for Vinny D’Anton as he fished sand fleas for stripers in the Spring Lake surf. Only one small bass was released, but he caught two fluke on the fleas — and one was a 22-incher That fluke had other fleas in its stomach along with half of what was probably a 6-inch snapper. Ironically, Vinny has been catching lots of short fluke in the surf with only a couple of 18-inchers among them while using Gulp before coming up with his biggest on the last day on sand fleas.

Monday’s forecast is for east winds at 5-10 knots.

The furniture recently removed from my basement is in good shape, and available to anyone interested at no charge. Included are two dressers and end tables plus an expensive natural wood bar with an opening in front for an aquarium. Contact me at 732 757-5531 or cristori@aol;com.

Last weekend’s garage sale went well, but there’s still plenty left that’s sorted into categories, Anyone wishing to to take a look can do so by appointment only.

The weather turned out better than expected, and the last day of N.J.fluking should be fishable with calming northwest winds at 10-15 knots before chifting to northeast at only 5-10 knots in the afternoon.

I’ve been having problems downloading and publishing photos. The huge albacor held by Mark Roy disappeared when I published yesterday. It was caught by Roger Stryker of Toms River trolling from Roy’s Kill Box in the 100 Square of Hudson Canyon on Tuesday. It was estimated over 80 pounds and might have been a state record. One other albacore and over 30 dolphin were caught by the crew which included Rahm Fenton and Kris Petercsak.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant picked at blues early before they came up later in the morning and hit freely along with the best showing of little tunny so far. The high hook caught five tunny on epoxy jigs.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported blues splashing, but not hitting well before they made a move to chum up lots of chub mackerel plus some blues. They ended up getting into the jigging blues.

Small craft warnings are up through Saturday afternoon. It’s northeast at 15 knots with gusts to 25 tonight, but shifts to north at 10-15 knots with gusts to 25 tomorrow. and Sunday.

There were no reports today as even the Big Mohawk and Golden Eagle took the day off rather than fighting the northeast breeze.

Mark Roy displays a huge albacore that was trolled from his Kill Box. a 35 Henriques out of Mannasquan on Tuesday at the 100 Square of Hudson Canyon. Details tomorrow.

Chuck Many just bought a townhouse in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and was delighted to find that he only had to walk outside in order to enjoy light tackle sport with redfish.

Fred Golofaro of the Fisherman magazine suffered a sudden heart attack yesterday and passed away in a Long Island hospital. Fred was a friendly, low key guy who was the last person I’d ever expect to have a heart attack at a relatively early age. It wasn’t long ago that we fished together in the Manhattan Cup -_ where I later presented him with the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award. I’m so upset by Fred’s passing that I’m having trouble putting out this blog — and will go into greater detail tomorrow.

The weather forecast is for northeast winds at 15-20 knots. Small craft warnings are up from this evening into Saturday afternoon. At Belmar, the Big Mohawk had goog fluking today in rough seas — but will not sail tomorrorw The Golden Eagle was into bluefish, but anglers had to work hard for every one. They too are taking tomorrow off. Check with skippers before coming down in the morning.