Tight Lines

The Golden Eagle from Belmar will be making a trip far offshore on Wednesday to seek big bluefish  at 7:30 a.m. in good conditions with a northwest wind of 5 knots. However, it was Joe Massa, of My Three Sons at Morgan Marina who  had the best fish reports today both here and overseas. He returned Saturday night from a cruise to St. Martin in the Caribbean Sea where he caught tarpon — and was right back out Sunday to seek fluke with a couple of friends.

The tarpon were hooked at a fish cleaning station with scraps. The Sunday  trip also worked out well as he jigged a 27-inch, 8-pound fluke over on the NY side as they also added a few other large fluke.

Capt Capt. John Contello’s father asked his son to take him out for fluke on July 5, and ended up netting the fluke of a lifetime for that young skipper who lured a 14–pound doormat to eat his bucktail worked from his charter boat Just Sayin’ out of Keyport.

There wasn’t anything like that on the Sea Hunter out of Atlantic Highlands today, but Capt. Rob Semkewyc left short action to seek out keepers and was pleased to find a 7.1-pounder for Pat Lasson of Cranbury. There was also a 4.89-pounder boated.

There wasn’t much action on surface lures in Shark River this morning, but I cast the Band of Anglers Dart Spin to release five blues of 3 and 4 pounds plus two stripers to 23 inches. Vinny D’Anton did get one bass on a Chug Bug plus two blues — and Tommy Cox plugged a bass. Frank Manzi didn’t have any luck casting, but rescued a horseshoe crab that was stranded in the rocks. A couple of years ago he found a tagged horseshoe crab in the river which turned out to have come all the way from Delaware Bay.

Bob Correll reported another dead morning in the Bay Head surf, but today’s northeast wind may have stirred things up for the better in the ocean. The forecast for Monday is east winds at 5-10 knots.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had a hot bite of sea bass today for the two per man presently allowed. Bluefish didn’t show, but there are lots of them bothering tuna trollers offshore.

In the photo below, Tommy Freda, son of Capt. Jim Freda and his mate on Shore Catch from Point Pleasant, bills the estimated 400-pound blue marlin recently released by young anglers from a center console while they were trolling a Chatter lure for yellowfin tuna.

 

 

 

 

 

It took a long time to find a fish today. but persistence finally paid off while shore fishing.

I started at the Manasquan surf which was as shallow as I’ve ever seen it. When I took a look at Bay Head, I ran into the regulars coming off after catching nothing. Then, Vinny D’Anton called to say he went to Shark River late and had plugged two school stripers. Though I was sure I’d be too late for that flurry, I made the run and waded out just in time to see Vinny’s Chug Bug get hit by a 5 1/2-pound blue after he’d added two more bass. . That was it for the surface plugging under the sun, but Jim Louro arrived and caught two bass on the Band of Anglers Dart Spin before that also stopped working.

I headed in to make a few casts, as I always do, on the way off the river. To my surprise, I got a hit on the glow Dart Spin  — and on the next cast caught a 5-6-pound blue. Vinny then released two stripers, and so did I. Those were my first bass of the year in Shark River where I’d never been at the right place at the right time. There must have been a lot of unseen fish there when I arrived as there were hits on every cast until it just as suddenly went to “not a bump”.

Persistence also paid off Friday night in Point Pleasant Canan for John Westerdale as he cast swimshads for a 20-inch striper at 6 p.m., a big bluefish at night, and two more 20-inch bass at 1:30 a.m. He had also caught a houndfish in the Bay Head surf the previous morning.

 

Louro was fishing backwaters from his boat earlier in the week and catching lots of stripers up to a 32-incher on the Band of Anglers Flying Pencil popper.

Capt. Chris Di Stefano was into a good trolling bite of “football” yellowfins from Frank Criscola’s Crisdel from Brielle Yacht Club during the week, but he heard that the hot bite in South Toms had died out Friday.

Don Marantz fished today on the Barb-Gail from Point Pleasant as they had limits of sea bass and winter flounder plus 162 ling.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported good fishing for sea bass plus ling and bluefish.

Capt. Ron Santee said the weather forecast scared off many anglers, but they had no rain on the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands while drifting conditions were good for a pick of shorts and keeper fluke up to a 5-pounder.

The forecast for Sunday is north winds at just 5-10 knots becoming east at 10-15 with gusts to 20 and possible thunderstorms in the afternoon. Many surfcasters are hoping for northeast winds to shake up the ocean a bit.

Some blog followers have not been receiving the blogs I’ve done every night — while others report no trouble. I’ll try to check that out.

 

 

 

 

 

It only took one fish to make the first Mid-Atlantic Blue Marlin Cup a success and one was boated in that July 4 event.

There’s been no press release so far, but I got some info over the phone from South Jersey Marina in Cape May that should be taken as preliminary.

The winner-take-all event drew 14 boats fishing out of ports from Brielle to Virginia, and Wish You Were Here from Canyon Club Marina in Cape May  won $22,400 for a 108-inch, 489-pound blue marlin. Ed Ketzinnor had his son in the chair. Seven of the boats in the contest were also entered in the World Cup being fished the same day. It appears that was won by a boat fishing at Madeira with a 541.2-pounder.

Ironically, there was another blue marlin caught that day — but by some young guys looking for yellowfin tuna from a center console. Capt. Jim Freda of Shore Catch Charters in Point Pleasant said his son and mate Tommy, was among that group which had started trolling relatively small yellowfins when the marlin hit the Chatter side-tracking bar. They all fought it for two hours before Tommy got the bill for the release of an extimated 400-pounder.

Bob Correll reported another dead morning in the Bay Head surf, but there had been some excitement on the Fourth when John Westerdale snagged something he couldn’t identify. That turned out to be an easy one when I got the shot this morning — a houndfish. Those long, needle-nosed fish have become a regular visitor to Barnegat Bay and usually do a lot of jumping when hooked though they don’t get as large as the Pacific version.

 

 

I tried Shark River this morning, and that river still doesn’t like me. Conditions were perfect, but I didn’t raise a thing. Tommy Cox raised one fish, but had to move to the surf to catch a schoolie on an SP Minnow. Vinnie D’Anton went right to the surf for a small bass on his Chug Bug. He also saw another angler casting that lure and holding the rod as his son turned the hanle. The lure was just being dragged in instead of being popped — but a 26-inch bass hit it.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had primarily sea bass and ling during today’s trip.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for southwest winds at 5-10 knots before increasing to south at 10-15 with gusts to 20 in the afternoon — plus a possibility of showers and thunderstorms.

I WASN’T ABLE TO GET PHOTOS IN, BUT WILL TRY AGAIN TOMORROW

 

July is fluke tournament month, and some big ones are coming up.

The 35th annual Sandy Hook Bay Anglers Fluke Tournament maintains the two-day format on July 13-14. The captains meeting is 7 p.m. July 12 in the Senior Citizen’s Building at Atlantic Highlands Harbor. For info visit sandyhookbayanglers.com –or call 732 787-4008.

The Raritan Bay Anglers hold their 29th annual Fluke Tournament on one day, July 13. The captains meeting is on July 11 at Perth Amboy Moose Lodge. For info visit raritanbayanglersclub.org.

The Staten Island Tuna Club has two fluke tournaments. The Richie Addeo is coming up July 6. Call 917 440-6959. The Grandapa Savino Memorial on July 20 includes a $25,000 prize for the heaviest fluke over 13 pounds. Call Walter Fisher at 917 375-7607. The e-mail site for both contests is situnaclub.com.

The big money event later in the month is the Point Pleasant Elks Fluke Tournament that ran into bad luck with weather warnings last year and had to be cancelled. They’re set for July 27, following the July 26 captains meeting at the lodge. Visit pointpleasantelks.org. A kayak division is included.

The first Mid-Atlantic Blue Marlin Tournament was contested today. I’ll have any results during a beautiful day in tomorrow’s blog.

I got to Shark River a bit late today, as Vinny D’Anton and Tommy Cox had already released several school stripers and 5-6-pound blues on poppers, but found the last of those blues on my Chug Bug to break a season-long drought in that river. Tommy later plugged a bigger blue, and Vinny added a bass on a Tsunami Sand Eel.

Bob Correll fished Bay Head at dawn, but reported a dead surf. Joe Melillo, at Castaway’s Tackle in Point Pleasant heard of only one small blue caught in the surf early this morning.

Jerry Lasko reports that Maren Toleno fished for sharks last night in the Bay Head surf and landed both a small sand tiger and a whiptail ray too big to get it up on the sand.

At Seaside Park, Grumpy’s Tackle reports small blues up to 3 pounds are hitting bunker or mullet in the surf.  Voitek Moduszewski beached a 34-inch 13.45-pound striper on clam.

Betty & Nick’s noted that Gillikin’s is finally open for IBSP beach buggies.

At Belmar, the Golden Eagle didn’t find any bluefish today, but they had some whiting on bottom along with sea bass and ling. The Big Mohawk had a tough fluking trip Wednesday due to lack of drift. They will be sailing at 6 a.m. Friday, and 5:30 over the weekend.

Though bluefish are hard to come by inshore, mid-range tuna trollers are having a hard time getting through them.  Not all of the blues are large, but they all love balao. The little tunny that had been interfering with tuna trolling earlier seem to have moved.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands had slow fluking Wednesday, but a few larger fish that included a 4.7-pounder and a 5.15 that took the lead in the monthly pool — plus a 6-pound pool winner.

Friday’s marine forecast is for southeast winds at just 5-10 knots with patchy fog in the morning. That direction should keep flies off the beaches.

 

 

Early summer canyon trolling has generally been very good so far, and we can only hope there won’t be the usual mid-summer slump that often occurs during the tournaments.  Last week’s score for the Canyon Runner fleet from Point Pleasant was 119 yellowfins kept out of 219 trolled by the two boats — along with giant tuna releases of 300 and 400 pounds, nine bigeyes to 170 pounds, five white marlin and a swordfish. Though there are few charters left, they do have room on some open trips. Call 732 272-4445.

Capt. Dave De Gennaro has room on an open boat July 4 canyon trip aboard Hi Flier from Barnegat. The price is $350 for the 50-90-mile trip which departs at 2 a.m. and returns at 4 p.m. Last Thursday’s trip produced a 40+-pound yellowfin for Dave Flood of Mantua, NJ, plus another similar yellowfin and two dolphin caught casting at a buoy with light tackle. Call 732 330-5674.

On Friday, Hi Flier will run a scouting trip to Barnegat Ridge to seek school tuna, bonito, little tunny, Spanish mackerel  or whatever else may have moved in there. The cost is $175 per person.\

Most party boats will be making their usual trips on July 4, but afternoon trips may be affected by the fireworks viewing. Check before coming down.

The Big Mohawk from Belmar has moved the sailing time to 5 a.m. tomorrow. They had a 9 3/4-pound pool-winning fluke on Tuesday when there were some limits and several 4-5-pounders.

Also at Belmar, the Golden Eagle didn’t get the blues and chub mackerel up inn the slick, but did very well with sea bass and ling.

The Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands had a 5-pound fluke to take today’s pool, but there was no drift when the tide reached the point when large fluke were encountered the last few trips.

At Seaside Park, Grumpy’s Tackle reported lots of small blues biting mullet baits in the surf — and Joe Varrato caught a small cobia in the surf. Betty & Nick’s reports the bay is loaded with peanut bunkers. Blowfish are also plentiful, even at the docks.

The good Spanish mackerel bite at Bay Head wasn’t repeated today, though a few were picked eventually. I switched to Mantoloking, and soon had a double of small blues on a Tactical Anglers Crossover popper and a fly teaser — but never raised a thing after that. A move back to Bay Head only produced my first two hickory shads of the year on the teaser.

Joe Melillo at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant had a good Spanish mackerel bite in the surf Sunday evening, and recommends the 1.5-ounce Run-Off Swimming Sand Eel jig.

While casting at Bay Head Tuesday evening, I caught a Spanish mackerel, but the only other fish I caught was a spike weakfish that hit a Crippled Herring. Another one was reported there this morning. After my weak was released, Lou Morales asked me for identification of a fish he caught on metal. Being a lure fisherman, he didn’t recognize a kingfish. What that small king was going to do with a metal lure is a mystery as it was far larger than its mouth.

Vinny D’Anton stuck it out in Shark River and ended up releasing four school stripers on his Chug Bug and a Tsunami Sand Eel.

The July 4 forecast is for southeast winds at 5-10 knots.

The big NJ shark tournaments have completed their extended runs, and John Marotta’s Seaquester took both Mako Mania and Mako Fever without any controversy this year. It looked like it was all over but the shouting when he got started with a trophy mako that weighed 397 pounds in Mako Mania and 402 pounds in Mako Fever — and that was exactly the case.

Second place in Mako Mania went to a mako less than half the size — a 151-pounder on Chasin Tail. Third and fourth went to almost identical threshers since no other legal mako was caught. Hello Dolly had a 331-pound thresher to edge Tinknocker by just one pound.

 

Mako Fever has only posted a leaderboard, so those results aren’t official. Reel Shark weighed a 181-pound thresher for second, and third went to a 148-pound thresher by ACX-Cape II.

The Staten Island Tuna Club’s Monster Mako Shark Tournament was run in conjunction with Mako Fever, but they had no weigh-ins there. Chris Carlino said the Tuna Club decided to refund all the entries.

The first Mid-Atlantic Blue Marlin Tournament will be contested out of all ports on July 4. As noted in the recent release run in my blog, it costs $2,000 to enter the one day, winner take all contest which coincides with the worldwide  blue marlin contest. Weigh-ins can be made at Canyon Club Resort Marina in Cape May, Hoffman’s Marina in Brielle, and Sunset Marina in Ocean City, Md. Entries can be filed electronically up to 5 p.m. July 3. Lines go in from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on July 4.  Call 609 884-0177 for info.

An angler casting metal in Manasquan Inlet yesterday afternoon caught a good-sized Spanish mackerel just before my son Mike was married on the beach there to his beautiful Ally whose long blonde hair was blowing in the south wind which offset the temperature and made for a perfect beach wedding under the sun. Her son Aiden (11) looks ready to carry on the Ristori fishing tradition.

 

At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Ron Santee said he finally got perfect drifting conditions Monday, but shorts still dominated on his Fishermen though more bait was recorded. Capt. Rob Semkewyc didn’t have another foormat to talk about today, but fluke of 5.6 and 5 pounds plus a few threes were boated on his Sea Hunter.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported fishing for blues, chub mackerel and ling wasn’t as good today due to the wind — but sea bass fishing for the two presently allowed was excellent.

The Jamaica from Brielle will be fishing for fluke an bass at 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on July 4 before running a 5 p.m. fishing and fireworks trip at 5 p.m.

The marine forecast for tomorrow is northwest at 5-10 knots –becoming just 5 in the afternoon.

After the Bay Head surf went dead yesterday morning, Bob Correll of that town was surprised to catch 10 small blues and two Spanish mackerel this morning.

June turned out to be a memorable month in terms of semi-tropical species arriving in NY/NJ Bight waters very early. In addition to the Spanish mackerel, there were cobia caught even in the surf from South Jersey — and Kevin Kuriawa sent a report about a 38-inch cobia caught by Rich Bizarri on Rick Paglucco’s 25 Cobia boat while fluking Sunday off Sea Bright. To top it off, that was only one of the two cobia he caught! Both the 38-inch and the smaller one were released as the minimum length for cobia is 40 inches. They were caught on 6-inch Gulp. If cobia are spotted on the surface  they can be very aggressive. In Florida I’ve even caught them by casting very long Sekora striper tubes and reeling fast so they create a lot of surface commotion.

The adventure continued today for Aidan Moorby of Franklin, Tn. who’s up here for today’s Manasquan beach wedding of his mother Allie to my son Mike. The 11-year-old caught his first fish (school stripers and fluke) yesterday with Chuck Many on his Ty Man at Highlands, and this morning he got a taste of surf casting. Luis Gonzalez of Palm Beach Gardens, Fl., who’s engaged to my daughter Cyndi, coached Aidan and soon had him making respectable casts with my canal and river light tackle quickly enough to catch a very small bluefish at Bay Head where there had been good action up through yesterday. However, that seemed to be the only fish caught there this morning.

I decided to look for the fish to the south, but saw no signs before blind casting in Mantoloking. I was shocked to hook up on a Chug Bug even though the sun was up high, and landed a double with a blue on the popper and a Spanish mackerel on the fly teaser. Luis hooked up at the same time on metal, but that fish came right off — and there was no more action until Aidan caught a windowpane flounder on the smallest Run-Off Sand Eel jig.

The first party boat doormat fluke reported to me was boated today on the Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands by Dan D’Antonio. That 10 3/8-pounder was among the few keepers in a day dominated by shorts. Word Press landed that photo above instead of where it was intended.

 

The Jamaica from Brielle will resume 3/4-day fluke and sea bass trips at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The forecast for tomorrow is southwest winds at 10-15 knots.

 

Aiden Moorby lives a long way from saltwater in Franklin, Tennessee, but he broke into fishing in a big way this morning as Chuck Many put him into both striped bass and fluke aboard Ty Man from Gateway Marina in Highlands.

That was a big contrast from my first boat trip many decades ago in Freeport, Long Island when I was thrilled with a single blowfish. His mother, Ally, was aboard along with my son, Mike, who will be marrying her Monday afternoon on the Manasquan beach.

Chuck figured Shrewsbury River would be the ideal place for a young man’s first fish, and that was exactly the way it was. Aiden, who’s going into seventh grade, responded perfectly to instructions and was soon bent over the side by small, but hard fighting schoolies on sandworms. He then wanted to catch a fluke, and Chuck only had to shift the drift a few yards as Aiden quickly caught on to hooking fluke on a white 4-inch Gulp tipped with a sandworm. They were all shorts, though Aiden surprised us with an 18-19-incher that fell off as Chuck lifted it over. Before the short morning trip was over we had released 15 stripers up to 26 inches plus 10 fluke — and a new angler got his start in a sport which will fascinate him for many years to come. Fishing conditions were beautiful this morning, and tomorrow also looks fine with north winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20 before switching to southwest at just 5-10 knots in the afternoon.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported another fine day of variety fishing with all the chub mackerel desired along with blues and ling. Sea bass had to be released, but the summer by-catch limit of two at 12 1/2 inches starts July 1 and runs through Aug. 31.

Betty & Nick’s Tackle in Seaside Park reports lots of small blues in the wash, while small stripers are feeding in the trough on sand fleas. Fluke are also in close, and one angler caught 10 on brown Gulp. The inlet is producing small blues and bonito,

Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina notes the appearance in the surf of Spanish mackerel, while triggerfish are in the inlet. Small bass are in the surf, but in calm weather he says they don’t seem to hit anything.

Mimi VI from Point Pleasant is sailing open for bottom fishing at 7 a.m. from July 1-3 plus 9 and 11. Call 732 370-8019.

 

Strange things happen frequently in fishing, but the run of Spanish mackerel occuring along beaches in northern Ocean County right now may be one of the oddest ever. Those tropical visitors often visit us in August and September when waters are at their warmest, but I’ve never heard of them in our surf so early in the summer. They’ve been mixed in with very small blues, but I haven’t seen any of the srching leaps out of the water that they normally make. It’s been blind casting for the most part, but some anglers have seen seen birds working on them at times. Those who have kept blues say they’re full of spearing.

I stuck with a popper this morning rather than the small metals that others have been using. A very small teaser fly was rigged ahead of the Chug Bug, and that fly must have touched the water enough because I landed a 16 1/2-inch Spanish mackerel — the first I’ve ever caught from the Jersey surf. Later I released another of 14 inches that was part of a double with a fat 15-inch blue. That chopper was far bigger than the very small cocktails — and I was later surprised when a “huge” 19-incher blasted the popper and put a real bend in the rod. Though I didn’t see any other larger blues caught, another angler caught a 22-inch striper on an SP Minnow. Joe Melillo, at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant, was showing off an 18 1/2-inch Spanish mackerel, a real filleting size, that a customer brought in. Those fish are excellent eating. Hopefully, this evening’s storms with south winds won’t lower the surf water temperature and chase our tropical visitors offshore.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported a good day of variety fishing with blues, chub mackerel and ling.

Capt. Ron Santee saw the monthly pool leader change twice on Friday aboard his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands despite a lack of drift. It went from 4 7/16 to 4 5/8 pounds before a 6 5/16-pound fluke by Pat Kostka took the lead for $1500 that will be payed out after Sunday.  Today’s RFA charter was also hampered by a lack of drift and produced mostly shorts with a few keepers.

Vinny D’Anton got a late start in Shark River, but it turned out to be the right time for four small bass on his Chug Bug.

The forecast inshore for Sunday starts with west winds at 10 knots before going to 10-15 in the afternoon with gusts to 20 knots and a chance of showers or thunder storms.

Pictured below is the 22-inch fluke I jigged Friday with a Spro and Gulp Grub while fishing with Joe Massa on My Three Sons from Morgan Marina.