<b>Staten Island</b>

With <b>Angler Sportfishing Charters</b> 11 striped bass, none big, but up to 20 pounds, good sport, and mixed-in blues were decked on a daytime trip on Saturday, Capt. Chuck said. Three stripers, but one a 31-pounder, and a ton of blues were fought aboard on a trip that night. So striper fishing was showing good improvement and should continue to amp up, and striper trips are being booked. The trips fished on the ocean off the Highlands, mostly with bunker chunks. The daytime trip was also able to snag a dozen bunker, livelining them at first, but they soon ran out.

The season’s third offshore, open-boat trip for bottom fish headed out, and less action was scored than on the previous outings, because of cross currents, said Capt. Anthony from <b>Barbara Anne Fishing Charters</b>. Conditions just weren’t right, but mostly sea bass to 2 ½ pounds, a handful of ling, two blackfish and no cod were boated. Blackfishing was off to good start, though, after New York’s blackfish season opened on the first of the month. A blackfish trip on Saturday bagged 35 of the fish to 10 pounds, releasing lots of shorts. Barbara Anne obtained a Research Set Aside Permit that will allow the vessel to keep sailing for sea bass while the season for the lumpheads closes on Tuesday, reopening on November 1. The open trips, reservations required, will keep fishing for sea bass and the other bottom species. The trips are slated for every Wednesday and Sunday, depending on demand, but the schedule is also flexible. When enough anglers want to go on another day, the trips will run, when no charter is booked. When blackfishing really kicks in, all attention will switch to the tog on trips.

Winds gusting to 30 knots blew, but a trip sailed on Thursday with <b>Outcast Charters</b>, first angling for blackfish, Capt. Joe said. The blackfishing was nothing great, a slow pick, and the anglers switched to sea bassing. A great catch of sea bass, good-sized ones, was boxed, and the switch turned out well. Another charter on Saturday targeted only sea bass in calm weather, and, again, a bunch of the humpheads were bagged, a good catch. A fair number of porgies were also hooked, though the anglers didn’t target them, and a couple of blackfish were mixed in during the day. A trip today was supposed to chase porgies. On a trip Sunday a catch was like a carbon copy: plenty of healthy sized sea bass. The weather was absolutely beautiful, probably the best weather so far this season. Sea bass season will close on Tuesday for a few weeks, and then Outcast will concentrate on blackfish. Fishing for the tog is a specialty on the boat. Joe actually looks forward to the reopening of sea bass season on November 1, because nobody will have pressured the fish during that time, and the angling should be terrific. Sea bass usually begin sliding farther offshore around the second week of November, but every year is different.

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

Bottom fishing was a disaster in 35-knot winds on Thursday, said Capt. Tom from the party boat <b>Atlantic Star</b>. But the weather was better starting on Friday, and the fishing from then through Sunday wasn’t as productive as before the storm, but the anglers aboard picked sea bass and porgies, and a few blackfish began to show. The porgies were good sized and mostly keepers, and the sea bass were a mix of keepers and shorts. Some of the blackfish were sizeable, and an angler who brought his own crabs for bait tackled a 6-1/2-pounder on Saturday afternoon’s trip. Clams but no crabs are supplied for bait on the trips, because the blackfish bag limit is one per angler until increasing later this season. But anglers can bring their own crabs if they’d like. The trips fished between the channels and began to fish toward Scotland. The fish began pushing farther from shore, so today would be the final day that two half-day trips sailed daily. One three-quarter-day trip will begin sailing daily on Tuesday, allowing extra traveling time to reach the fish. That’s the typical schedule on the vessel, or bottom trips usually begin fishing three quarters of a day after Columbus Day. The Atlantic Star, starting on Tuesday, will bottom fish 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily for porgies and blackfish, now that sea bass season will close on Tuesday, until reopening on November 1. <b>***Update:***</b> The boat’s twice-daily half-day trips finished up this afternoon with a good catch of porgies and a couple of blackfish, Tom said. Not too many sea bass were around, but sea bass season closes on Tuesday anyway for a few weeks. To reach the fish, the trip had to travel farther than Tom would like on a half-day outing, but that’s why the schedule will switch to sailing three-quarters of a day. The fishing looks like it’ll be good in the area. The porgies hooked included keepers, including big ones, and shorts. Tom reminded anglers they can bring crabs for blackfishing if they’d like.

The weather was great, but striped bass fishing was no good on trips Saturday and Sunday, Capt. Ron from the party boat <b>Fishermen</b> said in a report on the boat’s Web site. Only a few blues and striped bass were hooked on jigs and clams, and the trips covered lots of miles. “Guess the fish we had last week took a break for now,” he said. Loads of bait schooled. “Just got to wait it out,” he said. He hoped for better fishing on the vessel today. The Fishermen is sailing for striped bass 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. However, the boat is chartered this Friday and Saturday. <b>***Update:***</b> “Finally some big bass!” Ron said in an e-mail this evening. Anglers on today’s trip whaled stripers to 31 pounds, all on jigs, mostly on a bite that took off during the end of the outing. “Anchor Joe” tied for the pool with a 31-pounder, and bagged two more. “Billy Billfish” was high hook, landing four bass. The day’s catches began when the trip caught the last of a morning bite, after trying two unproductive spots. Then fish were marked in stacks, coming under the boat, but they stopped eating. There was nothing to do but wait. The boat was anchored, and the anglers clammed for stripers, but none bit. The trip gave the fishing one last shot where the bass were boated in the morning, and the action was on! The fish were whaled. Great day on the waters! Ron said.  Check out a <a href=" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWELUJglGNU&feature=player_embedded" target="_blank">video of the trip</a>.

<b>Highlands</b>

Running down the ocean beach, anglers with <b>Jersey Devil Charters</b> trolled and jigged striped bass, bluefish and weakfish, Capt. Brian said. Anglers on board also drifted decent catches of stripers in Raritan Bay in the channels and along the edges of the channels. Some good dates remain for striper charters, and tuna trips are on tap.

<b>Neptune</b>

Cod fishing went well on an open-boat trip that fished the offshore wrecks today with <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b>, Capt. Ralph said. Thirty cod, maybe a dozen ling and a white hake were pancaked. No especially big cod were hung, but the day was good, and another one of the trips will sail in November. Last Lady also scored well on three or four striped bass trips on the ocean lately. Only a trip Sunday churned out poor striper fishing, and boat traffic was heavy, and lots of stripers 25 to 27 inches, smaller than the 28-inch size limit, bit.

<b>Belmar</b>

<b>On a Mission Fishing Charters</b> ran trips Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, Capt. Eric said. The trip on Wednesday was supposed to fish for smallmouth bass on the Delaware River, and Eric guides those trips in addition to charters along the coast. But the river was flooded, a washout, from the storm, so the anglers took a bottom-fishing trip on the ocean instead. They bucketed 28 sea bass and 16 big, dinner-plate-sized porgies, tossing back lots of short sea bass and any porgies under 14 inches. A couple of bluefish were also landed, if Eric remembered. Friday’s trip headed out for bottom fishing, but ran into big, chopper blues, fighting 10-pounders to probably 18-pounders, in the morning. The anglers probably could’ve battled them all day. They switched to bottom fishing, boxing a whole bunch of sea bass and porgies. A couple of blowfish were surprisingly caught among them, and birds worked the waters on the way home, and the anglers jigged 8- to 10-inch weakfish underneath, releasing the fish. Loads of weaks were now schooling near the shore. Saturday’s trip was similar: The anglers nailed big, chopper blues, fish that gorged on sand eels, first thing in the morning. Then the trip anchored, bailing a bunch of sea bass and porgies. Eric also guides surf-fishing trips, and stripers bit in the suds at night, but the angling was sporadic, giving up catches like for an hour around high tides. He actually scored no bites on two trips at night. Waters were too warm, up to 68 degrees, and needed to drop to 55 to 60 to launch surf fishing. But the ocean was loaded with bait, so fall fishing was about to explode like a powder keg during the coming migration of stripers and blues. The population of sand eels was mind boggling at the Shrewsbury Rocks.

<b>Brielle</b>

A mixed-bag of bottom fishing for porgies and blackfish and jigging for striped bass and blues will begin this week with <b>Fish Monger Charters</b>, and space is available on an open-boat trip on Wednesday, Capt. Jerry said in an e-mail. Trips bottom fished for sea bass on Thursday through Saturday, before the sea bass season will close on Tuesday for a few weeks. Thursday’s trip met cranking winds and seas that were confused in the currents, so the anglers didn’t sail far from shore at first. They picked and plucked at sea bass at the reef, and some spots gave up better life, but others held a death pick. Winds finally backed off a little, and the trip moved deeper, and the bite became better. The anglers made the most out of a tough day, putting together a catch of sea bass and one blackfish. Friday’s trip began fishing for sea bass where the better catches were made the previous day, but the fishing was slow through the morning. A phone call came in about good fishing for striped bass farther north, and the trip headed there. But when the boat arrived, birds were sitting on the waters, and the bite was finished. The anglers tried jigging for striped bass with no luck. “Looked like we were going to have one of those days,” Jerry said.  Only a few sea bass were in the boat by 1 p.m. The anglers returned to sea bassing at a couple of small rock piles, and the pieces were loaded with the fish! Way too many of the sea bass were shorts, but the anglers managed to put together a good cooler of the humpbacks, despite the tough morning. Saturday’s trip returned to the same place, and the sea bass catches continued like before. Sea bass jumped on the hooks as soon as baits hit the bottom, drop-and-reel fishing all day. Many double-headers and a few triple-headers were slammed. Tons of shorts chewed, but plenty of healthy-sized keepers also did, and the anglers limited out by noon, and also bagged a few porgies. “One-stop shopping today!” Jerry said, and the angling doesn’t get much better. The crew offered a blackfish drop to the anglers, “but with sore arms and a long ride home, they opted to head back, since we had a lot of filleting to do!” Jerry said. Great day on the waters! he added.

Sea bass, lots of the fish, snapped for bottom anglers on the ocean, though sea bass season closes Tuesday for a few weeks, said Dave from <b>The Reel Seat</b>. Blackfishing was tough for the bottom dunkers, for unknown reasons, maybe because waters warmed a bit. But good blackfishing was clocked at the Point Pleasant Canal. Striped bass angling at the canal, usually done at night with bucktails or live bait, was on and off. An occasional striper was landed at Manasquan Inlet. Stripers were boated occasionally on the ocean, but catches weren’t yet good. Ocean boaters ran across false albacore breaking the surface, but couldn’t really get them to bite. Bluefishing was solid on the ocean the past few days. The blues showed up off Manasquan Inlet and sometimes as close to shore as a quarter-mile at various places. Surf fishing was hit or miss locally and sounded slow farther south toward Seaside. Surf anglers locally might bank a couple of blues or maybe a striped bass, and fluke hugged the surf. Maybe the colder nights will begin to pick up the fishing from shore. The party boats were able to sail offshore for tuna during the week, picking away at mostly yellowfins and a few longfins. A 250-pound bigeye tuna was creamed on one of the head boats from Point Pleasant Beach. Anglers on smaller boats sailed for bluefin tuna on the inshore ocean on Sunday, and results were yet to be heard. But bluefins should be around, probably including closer to shore than before. This was the time of year when bluefin are usually boated at the Mudhole. New tackle arrived at the shop. The Reel Seat was the first in the nation to stock Shimano’s new Terez rods, Dave said. The rods come in many models for a variety of saltwater uses and five colors. Some of the Terez rods are built to use with Shimano’s new Waxwing jigs. Several new styles of Shimano’s butterfly jigs are stocked. So are the new Tony Maja’s Custom Bunker Spoon Rods. Dave is now building new sand eel umbrella rigs that are a close imitation of the old red-gilled sand eel rigs that are no longer available. Stop by and see.

<b>Point Pleasant Beach</b>

Carl Lamanna, owner of <b>Canyon River Club Marina</b>,  and crew fished overnight at Hudson Canyon from Friday to Saturday on his C-Annamal, he said. He and the anglers – John VanHorn from Bayville and Lou DeRosa and Chad Bennett from Toms River – went 3 for 6 on yellowfin tuna to 70 pounds at night on the drift on sardines. They released three blue sharks on the drift, and  porpoises swarmed all around the boat all night, an awesome sight. The trip also trolled on the first day upon arrival at 6 p.m. for 1 ½ hours and the next morning from 6 to 11:30, but trolling was dead – nothing bit. Seas were 3 to 5 feet, not bad, at night in northwest winds, and a sea anchor was used on the drift. Seas during the daytime were 2 to 4 feet and 3 to 5 feet in northwest winds. Many boaters from the marina were gearing up for the striped bass migration. Some of the boats were fishing today, probably for bottom fish or maybe even for stripers. Carl will move the C-Annamal to South Beach, Florida, probably during the third week of October, and he plans to keep giving reports about all the fishing he’ll do. Trips will fish from there to the Bahamas for wahoos and marlin and will also deep-drop for yelloweyes, groupers and amberjacks. The deep-dropping takes place in 600 to 1,300 feet, and the anglers fish with Diawa 3000 electric reels. A few slips might be available at the marina for next season, and renewal contracts were sent out. Located along Manasquan River, the marina is open the whole year, including winter. It features all the amenities, including a locker with electric to fit a freezer, rods and tackle. The docks are only a half-mile from Manasquan Inlet with no bridges.

Anglers with <b>Reel Class Charters</b> bounced around Axel Carlson Reef and south, east and west of there on an open-boat trip on Saturday, Capt. Allen said. The fishing was slow, and 40 to 45 sea bass and porgies, an equal mix of the fish, were coolered, and so were three blackfish. A bunch of short sea bass and porgies were tossed back. The trip also tried jigging for big blues and false albacore that popped up tight to the beach in the morning, but couldn’t get the fish to bite. But fishing was good with a charter who wanted to fish for porgies on Sunday. First the anglers wanted to try jigging, and birds and bait were found initially, but not much was happening. The trip ran north to the ocean off Deal, and small weakfish and small blues were jigged. Then the anglers squashed a pretty good pick of porgies and a few sea bass off Sea Bright. Trips that bottom fish will keep going after porgies and blackfish, once sea bass season closes on Tuesday. Anglers aboard will also jig for blues, albies and striped bass, if stripers are around yet. Many spaces are full on the boat for striper charters this fall, and not many are left. An open-boat trip might sail Sunday, and more open trips might fish this season. Keep an eye on <a href=" http://www.reelclassfishing.com/rates/open-boat-info
" target="_blank">Reel Class’s open-boat schedule</a> online for the dates.

<b>Barnegat Light</b>

After raw, rainy weather with east winds last week drove anglers off for a while, blue skies, but with brisk west winds, appeared on Wednesday, Bob Misak said in the report on <b>Barnegat Light Bait & Tackle</b>’s Web site. He jumped on the weather to fish at the condo docks, pouncing on a 15-inch, keeper tog on the first drop. He pulled in a couple of more, then a 21-pound striper grabbed his green crab bait! He had no net, though that was unlike him not to be prepared, he said, and nobody nearby had a net. So he walked the fish 3 ½ miles “to a safe beaching area, and did get the fish at my feet,” he said. He knew about two other keeper bass taken at the docks during the week on green crabs. When he told his brother-in-law about the early season striper catches, the brother-in-law boated Barnegat Inlet on Thursday, livelining spots, hooking five stripers, landing two 30-inch keepers. Bob figured east winds drove cool waters into the inlet, making the bass respond. Live spots are always a ticket to the early season striper catches, he said, and the shop is stocking plenty. Big blues sometimes bit off the spots at the inlet. Surf anglers said they beached big blues at Loveladies at the beginning of the storm, and the front end of a blow often seems to turn on catches. Stripers 30 inches were bucktailed from the south jetty at Barnegat Inlet, and northwest winds like on Friday is Bob’s favorite time to fish for them. Tog were piled up along the jetty. Surf anglers began to bank plenty of stripers at night on plugs or chunks of bait. Fish both the jetty and the surf on outgoing tides. In Barnegat Bay blowfishing will probably last another week or two before the fish depart.

<b>Tuckerton</b>

Trips limited out on sea bass, including sizeable ones, on Friday and Saturday on the ocean with <b>Legal Limit Charters</b>, Capt. T.J. said. A good number of tog to 9 pounds, a bunch of triggerfish, and big porgies were mixed in on the outings. Seas were 3 to 5  feet on Friday and were less than 2 feet on Saturday. One of T.J.’s boats will relocate to Cape May for annual striped bass trips starting on October 23, and the other boat will stay in Tuckerton for striper fishing and tog fishing. Charters will run for stripers from Cape May, and so will open-boat trips/shared charters, and the dates will be posted on the <a href=" http://www.legallimitcharters.com/c-11-open-boat.aspx" target="_blank">Open-Boat/Shared Charter Schedule</a> online. Speaking of tog, the blackfish were already biting at the wrecks. Probably 30 were landed on one of the trips, and the anglers kept their limits of one apiece, 5- to 9-pounders, releasing the rest, using the livewell to cull them, keeping the larger ones. Though the bag limit is one, anglers could take a trip to catch and release tog. The limit will be increased to six on November 16. Offshore charters for tuna are still possible, if anglers want to squeeze in a trip in the late season.

<b>Mystic Island</b>

The fall’s first reported striped bass caught from shore at Graveling Point, at the confluence of Great Bay and the Mullica River, were weighed in today, said the report on <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b>’s Web site. They were sizeable, too: a 21.4-pounder and a 9.2-pounder. Striper action was just getting started, but each day gave up more of the fish from the back waters. No stripers were reported found on the ocean or at Little Egg Inlet. A 21-pound 39-inch striper was weighed in from Deep Point at the mouth of the Mullica today, and the fish was crisp silver and black, suggesting the linesider moved in from the ocean to munch on the plentiful blueback herring. A bigger striper, a 29.1-pound 44-incher, was checked in on Friday from the mouth of the Mullica. A 13.7-pounder and an 11.9-pounder were brought to the shop Saturday. The first was plowed off Deep Point, and the second from off the banks at the end of Great Bay Boulevard. One angler checked in a 15-inch 2.1-pound tog he hooked along the banks across from the Fish Factory. Scott from the shop in recent reports here said tog could surely be located along the banks of the bay like that and from the banks of Little Sheepshead Creek. Spots were difficult to find around Graveling Point today, but the fish swam plentiful off Mystic Beach. An angler caught spots steadily at the lagoon behind the shop on Sunday, and a chum log helped kick start the fishing and kept the spots going.

<b>Atlantic City</b>

Kingfish and spots were tugged from the surf, said Noel from <b>One Stop Bait & Tackle</b>. Dunk bloodworms for them, and tons of blackfish, great fishing for them, were drilled in the surf. That was even an understatement, he said, and anglers could pick the blackfish they wanted to keep, letting go the others, and they fished with green crabs. Striped bass were only beginning to chew in the wash, and waters were warm. But the linesiders were sometimes plugged in the mornings or evenings, or were baited with bunker or clam then and other times. Live bait like eels wasn’t yet the way to go. No blues really entered the surf, but a few blues and a few weakfish swam the bay. All the baits mentioned and more, the full supply, are stocked. 

<b>Longport</b>

On the <b>Stray Cat</b> sea bass were swung aboard non-stop from the ocean, Capt. Mike said. Bluefish seemed to return to the waters, because quite a few big blues bit off the sea bass. Trips will troll for the blues. Croakers were pelted on the vessel, and anglers will see whether the hardheads remain after the storm that’s forecast for Thursday.  Mike hopes migrating striped bass and blues start to arrive along the beach front this weekend and next week. An open-boat trip is sold out on Saturday, and space is available on an open trip on Sunday. Open trips are sometimes running, and call for the schedule. The first of the annual Cast and Blast Trips, charters that fish for striped bass, blues and blackfish and gun for ducks in the same trip, might sail Thursday, if the trip can beat the storm. Lots of sea ducks migrated down the coast.

<b>Ocean City</b>

Weakfish, croakers and blues were reeled up from the ocean on a trip on Saturday, said Capt. Craig from <b>Fish Tale Charters</b>. The angling gave up lots of action, and the trip fished from 2 to 3 miles from shore or from 30 feet to no deeper than 50. The four anglers bagged their limit of one weakfish apiece, and a 17-1/2-incher was the biggest, and the others that were kept were 14 or 14 ½ inches, just larger than legal size. Some of the croakers were medium-sized, and a few were big. Some of the blues were small, and some were decent-sized, weighing up to 3 pounds. The bigger fish of all the species grabbed cut bait including squid and croaker strips, but the anglers also jigged for fun, landing some of the weaks and blues on metal. Seas were a little sloppy in the morning but calmed down, and the ocean was 65.2 degrees, cooling down compared with some weeks ago. Fish Tale will probably fish from Ocean City through the weekend, and has a trip slated for then from there. Afterward Fish Tale will make the annual move to Cape May for striped bass fishing, probably moving the boat on the weekend of October 23 to 24. The first striper charters from Cape May so far are booked for the first weekend of November. Most of the striper fishing will take place at the Cape May Rips. The anglers will fish with eels or bucktails that Fish Tale provides or spots that anglers provide themselves, though Craig can pick up the spots for the anglers. Sometimes the trips move to the ocean front to fish for stripers under working birds with jigs that Fish Tale provides, like when waiting for the right tide at the rips.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

Joe Cairone on a trip Saturday fly-rodded 1-1/2- to 2-pound blues on the ocean on Clouser Minnows on a sinking line, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Gibson’s Tackle</b>. Joe on Sunday saw false albacore busting on bay anchovies on the ocean and planned to chase them today. The migration of striped bass and blues in the ocean usually arrives during the second half of October, lasting through November, off Sea Isle City. Joe’s trips are currently fishing for stripers in the shallow flats of the back bay with popper lures and flies on high tides at dusk. His next trips to Montauk, weekend getaway charters offered each year, are slated to fish this weekend for the migration of bass and blues, and also albies, that already arrived there. Anglers aboard cleaned up on all of the fish on two weekends already this year, and the trips will probably be offered one last time this year in two weekends. Act quickly to experience the migration from the legendary port. See <a href="http://www.gibsonstackle.com/page6.html" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s Traveling Fisherman Web Page</a> for info about the trips to Montauk and other destinations. Keep up with Joe’s fishing, photos and videos on <a href=" http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s blog</a>.

<b>Cape May</b>

Sea bass, a good catch, were rounded up from the ocean on Saturday on the <b>Heavy Hitter</b> on a charter with Jack, Walt and crew, Capt. George said. The fish probably weighed up to 3 pounds, and most were 12 ½ to 14 inches, and 16-inchers came up now and then. The anglers at first fished at a wreck in 140 feet. But that was apparently too deep, because they next fished at a wreck in 95 feet, and that turned up drop-and-reel angling. A triggerfish was in the mix, and a few bluefish bit off lines. The trigger was surprising to see this late in the season, and waters were cooling down, were 67 degrees, probably a bit cooler along the beach. Lots of bait was seen at 5-Fathom Bank when the boat was cruising, and bluefish seemed to be there. Gannets, not a lot, but some here and there, worked the waters at the bank. George heard about sea bass trips on other boats sometimes being covered up with big blues. The gators swam around some of the wrecks, and a charter on Tuesday on the Heavy Hitter will probably fish for them. Croakers are around close to shore, if anglers want to fish for them. Striped bass trips are being booked, and a couple of weekend dates remain, and plenty of weekdays are available. Call if interested.

A couple of sea bass charters piled up lots of the fish in 100-foot depths on the ocean, “pretty much as hard as (they) could pull,” said Capt. Bob from the <b>Down Deep</b>. The Horn party landed the lumpheads to 4 pounds, and the McIntire crew pumped them in to 3 pounds. Lots of bluefish schooled, and countless sea bass were chomped in half by blues, so the blues were big. One 13-pound blue was reeled aboard. Tog probably held along the wrecks, and a 10-pounder was pumped in during one of the trips 20 miles from shore. Bob heard about no striped bass caught so far this season, and waters were 65 degrees. Stripers should begin to hit in Delaware Bay when waters drop to 60 degrees, maybe in another week or two. The fish are usually found in the Cape May Rips later in the season. Striper charters are being booked, and a few dates remain in October through December, and call if interested. The boat is finished with offshore fishing for tuna for the year.

Back to Top