<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

On the party boat <b>Fishermen</b> anglers on Wednesday’s trip ran into a shot of striped bass on clams in the morning, including the 23-pound pool-winner, a very nice fish, Capt. Ron said in an e-mail. Some of the stripers were on the larger size, mixed with 28- to 30-inchers and throwbacks. When that action slowed, the trip started fishing pieces on the bottom, catching a few stripers here and there. At slack tide, the fishing amped up again. Once the tide ran hard, “that was it, time to go home,” he said. The high hook pummeled five stripers, some jabbed two, a bunch netted one, and some got none. “Back to normal striper fishing for this time of year,” Ron said. Trips will keep fishing for stripers as long as they’re catching them, and afterward they’ll run for fluke like every year. The Fishermen is striped bass fishing 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily and 3:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. However, this Friday afternoon’s trip is chartered, and all the Saturday morning trips are unavailable this month. Check out a <a href=" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wXlLNhpUD0
" target="_blank">video of Wednesday’s trip</a>.

Tons of bunker schooled the bay on a trip today, but striped bass fishing with the livelined baitfish was slow on the waters, said Capt. Mike from the <b>Katie H</b>. But bluefish were trolled on the bay on the outing. Then the anglers fluke fished on the ocean, landing a bunch of throwbacks and five keepers, none big, but 18 ½ or 19 inches. The drift was fast at 2 knots, and waters were cool at 62 degrees, difficult conditions, and south winds that cool the ocean didn’t help. So the trip ended up with a handful of blues and a handful of fluke, but the anglers had a good day, was a good day to get out, Mike said. More trips will fish Saturday and Sunday. Shark fishing will begin soon on the vessel, and the season’s first trip for tuna is set for July 10. Tuna fishing is a main event on the boat.

Striped bass and blues were dusted, and quite a few of the bass were clammed at places like Flynn’s Knoll and Romer Shoal, said Jimmy from <b>Julian’s Bait & Tackle</b>. They were also clammed and bunker chunked at certain places in the ocean, and bunker chunked in the back of the bay. Bass and blues were also slugged from the surf, and the bass were dredged up on the same baits and maybe sandworms. Lures or artificials worked when the fish were really biting in the suds. Fluke, decent catches, were heaved in during this past opening weekend of the season for them. “(But) I don’t know how much,” he said. But he heard about the flatfish to 10 pounds waffled in the bay, and the fish also chomped in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers. Good bottom-fishing came on for sea bass and a few ling and cod.

Fluke fishing was a bit of an improvement on Monday’s trips, said Capt. Tom from the party boat <b>Atlantic Star</b>. On Tuesday morning’s trip, action was great, non-stop, and everyone caught, fun, and a handful of the fish were keepers. On the afternoon’s trip, the fishing wasn’t as good. On the next morning’s outing on Wednesday, the flatties were caught, but not as many as during the better fishing on the previous day. But Wednesday afternoon’s trip was the best so far this season, a steady pick the whole time, one of the more enjoyable trips. So everyone reeled in fluke on the trips, and the keeper ratio wasn’t as high as Tom would like. No exceptional-sized keepers came up. One angler bagged three on Tuesday morning’s trip, and a couple bagged two and three on Wednesday afternoon’s. Some anglers landed no keepers on trips, but everyone at least pumped in throwbacks. The anglers had a good time, even if later in the season they could want more keepers to be around. The trips fished from the bay to the deep off Sandy Hook Point, and the bay gave up the best fluking. Spearing and squid are supplied for bait, and some anglers bring their own killies. Killies on these days might’ve produced a few more bites, and anglers who worked bucktails or Spro jigs might’ve connected more. But whether one bait or rig worked better than another wasn’t completely possible to tell, and the angler could’ve made the difference. If customers like to fish with killies, Tom recommends bringing a small amount like a half-pint, plenty on a half-day trip. Anglers might want to pick up the killies at a tackle shop on the way to the boat, in case the store at the marina runs out or is crowded or something. Some anglers bring a bucket with an aerator to keep the killies in. Killies can also be kept on a wet tell in an iced cooler. The crew can tell anglers how to keep the minnows alive. The Atlantic Star is fishing for fluke on two trips daily 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

<b>Highlands</b>

The Nelson crew kicked off trips around the weekend on a charter during the daytime Friday, landing some striped bass before the bite shut down, said Capt. Bob from <b>Sandy Hook Fishing Adventures</b> in an e-mail. On a trip that evening, a father and daughter reeled up stripers to 31 inches. On Saturday during a daytime trip, the Joy charter battled blues to 14 pounds, because stripers refused to feed. But a trip that evening was a whole different story for the Shepelsky group. Striper fishing was on fire, and the anglers limited out, including on bonus-tag bass, playing catch and release afterward, until they were tired. Most of the linesiders were 32 to 39 inches. One of the anglers hooked an out-of-season, 23-1/2-inch tog, his first-ever blackfish, releasing the slippery. Bob took a crew trip Sunday evening that boated stripers to 31 inches until a storm chased them off the waters. Full-day and half-day charters are fishing. So are evening trips for stripers from 5 to 10, either charters or open-boat trips. Open-boat trips are also running whenever no charter is booked.

Lots of bunker schooled the bay on a trip today, but striped bass fishing with the livelined baitfish was slow on the waters, said Capt. Mike from the <b>Katie H</b>. But bluefish were trolled on the bay on the outing. Then the anglers fluke fished on the ocean, landing a bunch of throwbacks and five keepers, none big, but 18 ½ or 19 inches. The drift was fast at 2 knots, and waters were cool at 62 degrees, difficult conditions, and south winds that cool the ocean didn’t help. So the trip ended up with a handful of blues and a handful of fluke, but the anglers had a good day, was a good day to get out, Mike said. More trips will fish Saturday and Sunday. Shark fishing will begin soon on the vessel, and the season’s first trip for tuna is set for July 10. Tuna fishing is a main event on the boat.

The Hi-Mar Striper Club Charity Tournament, an American Striper Association contest, will take place at <b>Twin Lights Marina</b> Saturday and Sunday, and anglers could still enter, Wayne said. One of the charter boats from the marina clammed limits of stripers every day. Steven Haefek checked in a 34-1/2-pound 42-inch striper he boated on a live bunker in the ocean off Asbury Park on the Kingfisher. Steve Lorenzo, his brother and another angler weighed in drum 65, 52 and 51 pounds they muscled in from a school in the ocean. Fluke were caught from the bay to the rivers, and no sizeable ones were weighed in, but the fishing was livening up as waters warmed. Bluefish schooled the bay and pushed up the rivers. The marina will host the first annual Wind and Sea Contender Shark Tournament, a mako shark contest only, on July 10 and 11. Live bunker, bushels of clams, killies, Peruvian smelts, spearing, the different types of squid including whole squid, Pro Cut squid and trolling squid, and other baits, including frozen bunker and clams, are stocked.

<b>Neptune</b>

Al Lang’s party, a group of veterans, met thick fog on a trip today on the ocean, and seas were too choppy for striped bass fishing, so they fished for sea bass, said Capt. Ralph from <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b>. They angled up a load to 4 pounds in 6 hours. A two-man charter on Monday limited out on the lumpheads by 10 a.m. They tried a little fluke fishing, finding good action on shorts, and the fluke season looks like it’ll be good, Ralph said. An individual-reservation trip for striped bass will fish Wednesday, June 16. Combo fluke/sea bass individual-reservation trips will begin to sail every Wednesday on June 23. One of the trips will fish for cod offshore on Thursday, June 24, and three spaces are left. Forty keepers were iced on an offshore cod trip in May with Last Lady, and Ralph expects much bigger cod on this trip. An individual-reservation mako shark trip will run Tuesday, June 29. Mako charters will begin June 15, and combo shark/wreck fishing or shark/tuna fishing trips will be offered.

<b>Belmar</b>

Anglers aboard jigged a few striped bass and some blues Wednesday on the ocean on the <b>Miss Belmar Princess</b>, and later in the day clammed drum to 85 pounds at the clam beds off Sandy Hook, Capt. Lenny said in a telephone call at 11 a.m. on today’s trip. By then, blues were jigged on the ocean so far, and the weather was foggy, so the trip fished bottom instead of looking for top-water action.  The Miss Belmar Princess is fishing for striped bass and blues daily 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. The night trips started running every day during Memorial Day weekend, after sailing on Fridays and Saturdays previously. The owner’s other boat, the <b>Tropical Adventure</b>, the vessel that replaced the Royal Miss Belmar, on Friday will begin fishing for fluke on two trips daily, and call for the hours.

Southerly winds that cooled waters held striped bass in the local ocean, though probably kept fluke from feeding in the ocean, said Bob from <b>Fisherman’s Den</b>. Still, a 10-1/2-pound fluke was the biggest weighed in and was nailed on the ocean when an angler fished for stripers with bait. Boaters, including on party boats, caught the stripers, but surf angling for stripers or any fish became slow. Tremendous schools of drum swam the ocean right off Belmar, and they seemed to be spawning, refusing to eat. They were seen from the party boats, but patrons had to snag them. They were big, and an 85-pounder was weighed in from the Miss Belmar Princess on Wednesday. Shark River gave up lots of fluke, and maybe 2 in 10 were keepers. So, many were undersized, but some were healthy-sized like 20 and 22 inches. A couple of anglers on one of the shop’s rental boats could probably expect to bag 3 to 5 keepers. Sea bass fishing was good on the ocean.

<b>Brielle</b>

Another fine day of bottom-fishing on a charter Wednesday, with a six-man limit of sea bass, and lots of action, said Capt. Jerry from <b>Fish Monger Charters</b> in an e-mail. A keeper cod was taken, and short cod and a bunch of out-of-season blackfish were tossed back. The sea bass, weighing up to 3 ¼ pounds, were sometimes found in areas that held none last week. The keepers were bigger-sized. Catches began fast and furious, seeming like the boat would be filled quickly. The bite slowed a bit from currents that began, but the anglers still picked away. The boat was then power-drifted over a bunch of small pieces, would be anchored, and the anglers would get a blast of fish, and then the boat would be moved. “Picking the cream biscuits from the top,” Jerry said. A few spots put out 25 to 35 fish, and others turned out just a few. The charter, hopping on the boat for the first time, had a blast, and looked forward to the next trip, Jerry said.

One striped bass was boated on a livelined bunker so far when Capt. Ken from the <b>Big Kid</b> gave this report over the phone at 7 p.m. on a trip Wednesday. The anglers had the rest of the night left on the trip, and they were fishing on the ocean to the north. Charters will continue to fish for striped bass, and trips also bottom fished, wrangling up hot catches of sea bass around 2, 2 ½ and 3 pounds. The Jersey Coast Shark Anglers Striper Tournament is available for charter on June 12 and 13. Offshore tournaments that are already booked include Mako Mania, the Brett T. Bailey Memorial Mako Tournament, the Beach Haven White Marlin Invitational and the Mid Atlantic $500,000. Offshore tournaments available for charters include the Jersey Coast Shark Anglers High Rollers Tournament, a winner-take-all event, on July 10, the Mid Atlantic Tuna Tournament on July 15 to 17, the Tuna Stakes Invitational on August 21 to 29, and the Manasquan River Marlin and Tuna Club Tournament on August 28 to September 5, open to the public for the first time.

“We had a pretty good day on the striper grounds today,” an e-mail from the party boat <b>Jamaica</b> said on Wednesday. No large numbers of the fish were booted-up, but fishing for them, blues and even big drum gave up action much of the day. The first stop jigged a few small blues right outside Manasquan Inlet. The trip ran north, at first finding only a few small blues on a few bunker pods. But soon the trip found schools of stripers and blues, and the anglers jigged stripers to 20 pounds and blues 6 to 8 pounds. When that dissipated, the boat was headed south, and the anglers ran into big schools of large drum. A number of drum and stripers were caught. Jim Shabrach, Boyerstown, Pennsylvania, won the pool with a 23-pound striper, limited out on the fish and hauled up a 70-pound drum. Plenty of stripers were around, and no more bluefish seemed to be moving in, and hooking into a jumbo drum was possible, and the outlook was good for fishing this week, the e-mail said. The Jamaica is fishing for striped bass 7:30 a.m. daily and for blues 7:30 p.m. daily.

<b>Point Pleasant</b>

A pick of striped bass, but a limit of 10, was socked on the ocean Monday evening with <b>High Hook Sport Fishing</b>, and a 47-pounder, the biggest striper on the boat so far this year, was ransacked, Capt. Scott said. Most of fish were 15 to 20 pounds, and a couple were larger, and all were hooked on livelined bunker in 50 feet off Belmar. A striper trip Wednesday evening put a couple in the boat a mile south of Belmar, before heavy fog caused the trip to return to the Manasquan River, and the anglers fluke fished there, coming up with four keepers, if Scott remembered, and a couple of shorts. Charters will keep striper fishing and will now sail for fluke and sea bass. The season’s first shark charter is supposed to fish Saturday, and more shark fishing, one of the crew’s favorite types of angling, will sail next week.

With <b>Andrea’s Toy Charters</b> trips began fishing for a combo of striped bass and sea bass, Capt. Fred said. They were already fishing for stripers on the ocean with livelined bunker, but sea bass season opened, and good catches were socked, and Andrea’s Toy often does mixed-bag fishing for greater fun, better chances of hooking up and more variety for dinner. If stripers refuse to feed for a moment on a charter, the anglers will switch to sea bassing until stripers turn on again, flipping back to striper fishing, and so on. A charter Wednesday planned to split the trip between sea bass and stripers, and first sea bassed, the report on the boat’s Web site said. The anglers loaded up on keeper sea bass, just as many shorts that kept them busy, ling and cod. They had so much fun that the crew had to force the charter to striper fish. Two stripers to 30 pounds were nailed on the first drift, and the 30-pounder was the angler’s first-ever linesider. Then a fog bank moved in, chasing them off the waters. A charter Tuesday started bottom fishing, grabbing a decent pick of 25 keeper sea bass, some throwbacks and a keeper cod. They had planned to striper fish afterward, but thunderstorms they saw, and a small one the trip got caught in, changed their minds, and they headed in. On Sunday a charter jumped on deck for stripers to be on the fish in the late afternoon. Bunker swam deep and were skittish, couldn’t be netted and had to be snagged for bait. But nothing was doing with striper fishing, so the anglers ran to a sea bass spot. The fishing was game on, and sizeable humpies were hung. Twenty-four keepers were landed quickly. Then the anglers got back to chasing stripers, their main target. The trip ran all over the ocean, and stripers came up for a moment at 8 p.m., and a good-sized one was boated, and another was lost. A tough day for striper fishing. The combo striper/sea bass trips will continue until the end of June. Then annual, mixed-bag, offshore trips will launch. The unique trips begin with tuna trolling in the afternoon. They then fish for sharks at night. On the next day, they usually troll for tuna and cast for mahi mahi. Then they deep drop for tilefish, and sometimes jig for cod and pollock on the way home. Charters will do that fishing, and so will open-boat trips, and call now to get on the open list for the popular outings. 

Sea bass, pretty decent catches, an average of 10 to 20 per person, were clubbed on the party boat <b>Dauntless</b>, Capt. Butch said. Ling and cod were mixed in. Some of the sea bass were good-sized, like a 5-pound pool winner on Wednesday, and trips fished in 50 to 90 feet, staying close to shore, because waters farther out were unproductive so far. The water surface was 52 to 54 degrees, but the bottom was cold. Small bluefish ½ to 1 pound were hooked on Wednesday’s trip, unusual, because big blues usually swim around at this time of year. The boat was slated to begin nighttime bluefish trips last weekend, but too few anglers showed up at the port for the vessel to get out. That’ll change as the season goes on, and as schools let out. Nighttime bluefish trips are slated to fish every Friday and Saturday until the outings run every night starting in late June.  The Dauntless is fishing for sea bass 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily and for bluefish 7:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Bunker schooled just outside Manasquan Inlet, “and I mean just outside the inlet,” when Wednesday’s trip motored out on the <b>Cock Robin</b>, Capt. Jim said in an e-mail. But only snapper blues to cocktail blues, no striped bass, chased them. But the trip loaded up with the bunker for the livewells for striper bait. The vessel arrived at a spot to anchor to the north, and a striper was hooked as soon as the vessel came tight in the chum slick. The anglers copped a slow but steady pick of stripers, with bluefish bite-offs. A good population of bunker was seen from there back to port, giving the crew the confidence to say striper fishing wasn’t finished yet. The fishing was difficult for a few days earlier. On Monday, in beautiful weather, stripers were read on the fish finder, but refused to bite. But a school of blues arrived late and were jigged, saving the day. Good striper marks were also read on the trip Sunday, also in beautiful weather, but the fish failed to cooperate. Bunker that day were schooled tighter than they had been, but not tight enough, so they were difficult to snag for bait. The anglers fished with clams, bunker and jigs. On Saturday bunker were also difficult to catch, so the trip headed to the grounds to clam for stripers. Two stripers were scratched out, and reports said stripers were bunker chunked at the Shrewsbury Rocks, and the trip moved there. But winds, a ripping tide, difficult anchoring and the sticky bottom made for frustrating fishing conditions, and nothing was doing. The season’s first nighttime bluefishing trip sailed Friday, and the angling was slow, a few blues landed. But on Saturday night’s trip, conditions were better, and more blues were boated. The Cock Robin is fishing for striped bass 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily and for blues 7:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

<b>Bricktown</b>

One customer on Wednesday weighed in a 4-pound fluke, one of a limit of six of the flatties he angled from the Manasquan River, said Capt. Rich from the tackle shop <b>Jersey Hooker Outfitters</b>. He used killies and squid, and another customer also bagged a good catch of keepers on the river, using Gulps. Quality fluking was going down on the river.  Ocean boaters picked up stripers but trolled for the fish, dragging Tony Maja’s No. 2 and No. 4 spoons, because the bass became scattered. Waters at the Shrewsbury Rocks and in 60-foot depths off Asbury Park gave them up. Smaller stripers could be clocked on the river. That fishing is never as busy as the ocean can be, and a trip might turn out a catch, and another might not, but the fish were in there. High tides in the evenings, when boat traffic is light, was a time to get them. One youngster worked Gulp jerk shads and 6-inch Tsunami swim baits to tackle the fish along the Railroad Bridge. Boaters actually picked up the fish on Gulp sandworms and even clams. “Baiting and waiting,” Rich said.  Small, cocktail blues sometimes entered the surf, attacking metal like a Sportfish Products Tornado that was a hot seller. But customers said stripers failed to hit hard in the surf. A customer on the Club Deep took a sea bass trip by himself on the ocean Wednesday afternoon, limiting out on the fish. Fresh clams and other baits are stocked, and so are all the frozen baits, including the full selection for fluke, like spearing and squid.

<b>Toms River</b>

Fluke, a few, many of them shorts, were claimed from Barnegat Bay toward the BI marker and Double Creek and Oyster Creek channels, said Jeff from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b>. He heard about good-sized ones lifted aboard at Barnegat Bridge on the ocean at times. Bluefish were trolled on the bay on Pony Tails or Gator spoons. Sometimes weakfish came from the bay at Berkeley Island Park and farther north at the Mantoloking Bridge. Not a lot of anglers fished the surf, but ones who did beached a straggler striped bass, maybe a couple of blues, and skates. Boaters on the ocean fared alright on stripers, because they could go where the fish were, mostly traveling north, trolling the fish on bunker spoons or Stretch plugs. Crabbing was good, and some crabbers got covered up with small blueclaws, but others plucked good-sized keepers, depending on location. One customer piled up four dozen keepers in 2 ½ hours. Fresh clams, fresh bunker and minnows are stocked.

<b>Seaside Heights</b>

Most fishing – or angling for fluke, striped bass and blues – was slow at the moment, but sea bass fishing shoveled out hot catches on the ocean, said Scott from <b>The Dock Outfitters</b>. Surf anglers picked stripers and blues, the stripers on clams or bunker, and the blues on bunker. Not much was heard about fluke caught, but many tried. Customers trapped lots of crabs from the shop’s dock. Fresh clams, fresh bunker and all the baits are stocked. Clams are only $2 per dozen on Wacky Wednesdays each week. The rental boats are now in the waters for fishing and crabbing. The jet skis are also in the waters.

<b>Seaside Park</b>

After limiting out on sea bass on a trip last week, an out-of-state angler returned for another trip Wednesday with his wife, said Capt. Rob “Birch” Birchmeier from <b>Fishguts Inshore Charters</b> in an e-mail. The former New Jersey residents sure missed the taste of fresh sea bass, he said, and they came back to put more in the freezer. A thick wall of fog greeted them over the 59-degree waters at Barnegat Inlet. After the trip made the way to the first drop in calm seas using radar, the first drift across the piece produced six keepers for the two anglers. But the wife became seasick, and had to return to shore. The husband shot back out to the ocean, fishing hard to make the most of angling before the trip was slated to return at 12:30 p.m. He was close to his limit, and hit one last spot on the way home. He creamed a 4-pound 20-incher and two 3-pounders, the biggest sea bass of the trip, limiting out. Capt. Birch even had a chance to nab a few sea bass for dinner on the trip. His trips have been catching very good numbers of quality sea bass, he said, but the fish were yet to spread out. A few areas held healthy populations of sand eels, and that should help move the sea bass in. Catching good numbers of quality sea bass close to shore through summer is a specialty for Fishguts. The wreck-fishing trips, running seven days a week, fish the inshore ocean straight through the warm months on both charters and 10-hour open-boat trips. Combo ocean-wreck and bay fluke trips are available. Special trips that target trophy blackfish will begin when the tog season opens July 16. Anglers can call or e-mail Capt. Birch for availability.

<b>Forked River</b>

Barnegat Bay at the BI and BB markers and Double Creek Channel spewed out plenty of fluke, lots of shorts, but some keepers, said Dave from <b>Grizz’s Forked River Bait & Tackle</b>. Baits like killies, spearing, squid and Gulp swim mullets got chomped. Blues swam all over the bay and Barnegat Inlet, were trolled on Pony Tails and spoons. Striped bass fishing faded off, but previously the linesiders were trolled on the ocean between the inlet and Lavallette on bunker spoons, Stretch plugs, Bombers and X-Raps. Sea bass were coolered on the ocean, but not a lot of details were heard about the fishing.

<b>Barnegat Light</b>

In the surf striped bass and blues were sometimes clammed or caught on bunker in the evenings, said Mike from <b>Barnegat Light Bait & Tackle</b>. Lots of short fluke carpeted Barnegat Bay, but good catches were heard about during the first couple of days of the flattie season Saturday and Sunday, though today’s fishing for them sounded slow, maybe because southerly winds cooled waters. Double Creek Channel especially held the summer flounder. Striped bass fishing became slow on the ocean, though a few bunker, not a lot, schooled around. Mike heard nothing about stripers clammed in the bay toward Barnegat Inlet, but that fishing should be good another two weeks. Anglers with live bait caught stripers along the inlet rocks. Fresh clams, fresh bunker and eels are stocked.

<b>Beach Haven</b>

June is here: Therefore so is the <b>June Bug</b>! After sailing from North Carolina since winter like every year, the boat will be back at home port in Beach Haven this weekend for the season. The year’s first charter from there is set for Monday, and will fish inshore, Capt. Lindsay said. In those waters, sea bass are on tap in the ocean, and sounds like smaller ones are close to shore, and bigger ones are in the deep or in 80 to 100 feet. Also in the ocean, occasional big striped bass are popping up tight to shore, and not many blues are around in that area. If the boat needs to fish in the bay that day, because of seas or angler preference, 2 to 4-pound blues, fun to catch, and a best size to eat, are swimming certain areas in Great Bay. Flounder can be found in the bay, and drum can be claimed at Grassy Channel and some of the deep spots along the sedge islands, for those who know where to look. Trips at this time of year often try for sea bass first to put fish in the boat. Then, if the anglers seem up for pushing farther offshore, a few bluefin tuna moved into range along a streak of warm waters 15 to 20 miles off the coast, from Atlantic City to the north. The boat’s fishing for yellowfin tuna farther from shore usually begins around the third week of June, and billfish could also arrive then. Lindsay’s seen good blue marlin fishing by then during some years.

<b>Mystic Island</b>

Great Bay’s anglers either honked lots of summer flounder or none, difficult to figure, said Scott from <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b>. Tons of the flatties, tons of shorts, filled the bay, not a great fishery for keepers, but fun, entertaining for catching throwbacks. But one customer landed 67 on a trip before boxing a keeper, and another picked up four keepers in 2 hours. Another, a knowledgeable angler, fished all day Wednesday, totaling two of the fish. Maybe water temp was an issue, and he fished on incoming tide, maybe chilly waters. Bluefish 2 to 4 pounds swam Grassy Channel in the bay on high tides, but inconsistently, no guarantee to run across them. Drum fishing at Grassy was probably as good as ever, and anglers could potentially catch a drum there. One trip on Saturday reeled up three drum 40, 60 and 80 pounds from the waters, releasing them all. Chatter on the radio Wednesday morning said scattered pods of bunker held a few striped bass in the ocean off Absecon Inlet, aka Wreck Inlet. Good catches of sea bass began to be boated at Little Egg Reef, and the knotheads to 5 pounds were weighed in, but cool waters from southerly winds might push them farther off by the weekend. White perch fishing dropped off for bank anglers along the rivers at places like the Wading River Bridge, and sales of live grass shrimp, their favorite bait, tailed off. But that was simply because the fish now move toward the bays in the warmer weather, away from areas accessible to bank anglers. Surely boaters could find them, and bloodworms become the bait to use for boaters. The shop’s supply of live grass shrimp, minnows, fresh-shucked clams and other baits was all in good shape.

<b>Absecon</b>

Summer flounder fishing was okay on the bay, was hit or miss, but plenty paved the bottom, and sizeable ones were weighed in, and outgoing tides were better, said Joe from <b>Absecon Bay Sportsman Center</b>. Steelman Bay and the mouth of Broad Creek were a couple of places to find them. Striped bass were boated on the ocean early in the mornings. Anglers snagged bunker and dropped them back in the waters to liveline for bait for the stripers when bunker could be found. Sometimes bluefish and thresher sharks, some of the first threshers of the season, chased the bunker. Capt. Dave, the shop’s owner, saw a 9-foot thresher near the boat a half-mile from the beach. Surf anglers banged up stripers on clams at places including Brigantine’s north end. White perch were moving down the rivers toward the bays as the weather warmed. Fresh clams, fresh bunker, live spots, eels, minnows and shedder crabs are stocked. The shop raises softshell crabs, and they’re available.

<b>Brigantine</b>

A 16-pound striped bass was weighed in from the surf Wednesday, Capt. Andy from <b>Riptide Bait & Tackle</b> said in the report on the shop’s Web site, and he knew about a couple of others banked from the suds that day. Joe Connolly and sons weighed in several stripers to 27 ½ pounds from a couple of trips in the surf this week. Small blues 1 to 3 pounds began to move through the wash. In a phone call, Andy talked about funny stories from the surf. Bill Smith and brother Joe Smith were fishing from the beach when a fish grabbed Joe’s bait and snapped off the line. Then Bill’s rod got a hit, and he reeled in the line, finding a 16-1/2-pound striper with Joe’s leader attached. Three other anglers were fishing together when two lost their rods when fish pulled them in. But the other angler grabbed his rod when it got hit, reeled in the line and found one of the other’s rods hooked. That rod was picked up, the line reeled in and a 13-pound striper landed. Now the anglers were trying to decide whose  fish that was. Andy talked about big stripers boated around Brigantine. Allen LeDrew’s 45-pound 51-1/2-inch bass was the biggest, and was boated at the white water at Wreck Inlet on Paul Rainier’s Nine Mile. Carl Stock, his son and his grandson boated a 44-pound striper, a 33-pounder, two 26-pounders and a 22-pound drum on a trip. A few kingfish began to appear in the surf but were yet to school up. A buddy landed five on bloodworms, the bait to use. Summer flounder including a bunch of 4-pounders were weighed in on the opening day of flounder season on Saturday. A 9-pound 28-incher that Jim Jordan heaved from the bay was the biggest. He caught the fish on a long rubber worm, like a worm for freshwater, with no scent or anything. Fresh bunker were recently stocked, and more were coming. Fresh clams, bloodworms and eels are on hand.

<b>Atlantic City</b>

Anglers in the know could score well in the surf on striped bass, and the rest might not luck into a catch, but big stripers haunted the waters, were sometimes caught, said Curt from <b>Offshore Enterprises Bait & Tackle</b>. Fresh clams and fresh bunker were the baits. A few drum grabbed the baits, like at Brigantine. Many customers fished for smaller stripers in the back bay with lures like Fin-S Fish. Blues swam all over the bay, and bigger ones schooled far offshore. Summer flounder anglers on the bay probably hooked fifteen shorts for every three keepers, but the angling was relatively good, and quite a few respectable-sized ones were seen. The shop’s offshore charter boat, the <b>Carly A</b>, is sailing from Oregon Inlet, North Carolina, for tuna and big game. No trips ran in the past days, so John heard nothing about catches, but the owner was headed back down to the boat for fishing in the next days. The vessel will return to New Jersey to fish in July.

<b>Margate</b>

Daily trips for summer flounder kicked off on Saturday, the opening day of flounder season, on the party boat <b>Keeper</b>, mopping up lots of the flatties from the back bay, Capt. John said. A couple of 4-pounders and lots of other keepers were boxed through the week, and tons of throwbacks were let go. On each trip, shorts were abundant, but occasional keepers were bagged. Blues 1 ½ to 3 pounds were also fought. Trips had been fishing with mackerel, and the bait worked well, but both mackerel and minnows will be kept aboard starting today. Gulps of all different types also worked, but chartreuse was choice.  The Keeper is fishing for summer flounder twice daily 8 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

<b>Longport</b>

The first charter of the season to troll the blue waters fished 30 miles offshore today, got creamed by big, 10- to 15-pound bluefish, slammed a huge, 8-1/2-pound bonito, and had a mako shark attack one of the spreader bars, said Capt. Mike from the <b>Stray Cat</b>. No bluefin tuna showed up, but Mike was glad to see the mako, the first shark reported on this site this season that was seen first-hand off New Jersey. The bonito, the biggest Mike ever saw, was also the first member of the tuna family reported caught on this site this year off New Jersey. Waters were 63 degrees. One of the vessel’s daily, open-boat trips for sea bass whacked the lumpheads Wednesday from 12 to 14 miles from shore in 65- to 66-degree waters, and Mike Murray won the $100 pool with a 4-pound 6-ouncer. All the anglers loaded up on the fish. Sea bass still swam around the wrecks, were yet to move to the spawning grounds where the boat’s trips catch them, but the fish began to turn color. Space is available on the sea bass trips Saturday and Sunday, and the open trips will run until mid June, when only charters will sail. More of the bluefin tuna charters are slated for July 6 and 17. The 12-hour trips fish for bluefins on the inshore ocean along the 20-fathom line until after July sometime.

<b>Ocean City</b>

For the back bay’s summer flounder, the keeper-to-throwback ratio was 1 to 8, lots of shorts, but decent fishing, said John from <b>Fin-Atics</b>. Most of the fish swam the bay, and the inlets and ocean were probably too cold. The bay gave them up at places like the holes off 15th and 18th streets, near the airport and off Kennedy Park. Quite a few striped bass were yanked from the surf. Two customers today released a 43-inch striper that wasn’t weighed and a 44-1/2-inch 39-pounder from the surf on the island’s south end. One fished with a bunker head, and the other fished with a whole surf clam, and bunker and clam were the baits to chuck. Another customer released a 39-incher on the north end the other day. Four stripers 32 to 43 pounds were weighed in from the wash in the past days. Smaller stripers were plugged in the bay in the mornings and evenings along the sod banks, and blues ran the bay. Little was heard about sea bass fishing on the ocean, only because no party boat crews were heard from, and many anglers targeted flounder, stripers or blues. Fresh clams in the shell and shucked, fresh bunker, eels, minnows and all the frozen baits including spearing, mackerel and herring are stocked.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

The season’s first back-bay slam was rapped on a trip with Mike Spaeder and son Mike, 8, on Monday! said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Gibson’s Tackle</b>. Summer flounder, blues and striped bass were plowed, and if weakfish were around, “we could have had the grand slam!” Joe said. The two started the trip flounder fishing, nabbing four or five keepers among a bunch of throwbacks. A monster, 8-pound, true doormat of a flattie was lost at the boat. “What a heartbreaker!” Joe said. When the tide became high, it was time to work top-water popper lures or Rapala Skitter Pops. Four stripers to 26 inches pounded the poppers and were released, and so did a mess of blues. A blue that young Mike busted was his first-ever fish on a popper. Mike Sr. hooked a bull of a striper that ran off the drag and simply let go of the hook. The back-bay fishing’s been extraordinarily good, and this trip is an example. Joe also did some flounder and striped bass fishing on his own on the bay during the week. The bay’s flounder fishing’s been some of the better in the state, and the waters’ striper angling’s been exceptional on high tides, even during mid day. Plus the blues give up all kinds of action. Jersey Cape is also drum fishing on Delaware Bay, and is keeping a sharp eye on the tuna waters. Interesting, warm waters began to develop to the south toward Wilmington Canyon, and June has been a month when tuna fishing has developed rapidly into some of the year’s best fishing for them. If anglers want tuna, they should be in tune with Jersey Cape now. Keep up with Jersey Cape’s fishing and photos on <a href=" http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s blog</a>.

Catches of summer flounder rolled in steadily, said Wes from <b>Gibson’s Tackle</b>. The back bay was full of the fish, but some were already pulled from the inlets, and apparently also from the ocean reefs. Someone who works on a local party boat said the flatties were sometimes angled from the reefs on the boat’s trips, and a 25-inch pool-winner was nailed. In the bay, lots of flounder were throwbacks, but some were keepers. The striped bass migration was probably approaching an end in the surf, but a few were caught. Clams caught them, but anglers shouldn’t forget about lures including poppers and plugs like Bombers. Waters were certainly warm enough for the fish to crush a plug. Stripers, not a lot of keepers, but a fair number of the fish, swam the bay, and poppers worked well to land them. The bay’s population of bluefish was thinning out compared with before, but some remained, and they also smacked poppers. One of the crew from the shop popped up a half-dozen stripers, some misses and a few blues on the bay. In the ocean lots of small sea bass were around. Nobody talked about catching sharks or tuna from the ocean yet, but sometimes anglers bought chum to try. Crabbing produced the blueclaws in the back waters, and the crabs kept hitting minnows that Wes fished for flounder in the back. Tons of crabbing traps and supplies are stocked. Fresh clams are carried, and fresh bunker at the moment are difficult to obtain but are stocked when available. Minnows and a large selection of frozen baits, including for flounder, are on hand.

<b>Wildwood</b>

Trips to the ocean reefs pumped aboard consistent sea bass fishing, and anglers who knew what they were doing cashed in on a fair number of keepers, said Capt. Gary from the party boat <b>Adventurer</b>. A summer flounder was mixed in here and there, and a few big, out-of-season porgies were let go. If a group of anglers expresses interest in drum fishing on Delaware Bay, a trip will shoot down there. The boomers bit, and Gary took a trip on a private boat Wednesday evening that came up with three. People can lose interest in drum as the season winds down, focusing on other fish. But good drum fishing should continue at least until the next full moon, and sometimes catches stay hopping as the fish stage toward the southern bay, getting ready to depart. Trips are fishing for sea bass 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, and call to confirm at this time of year. Charters are also available.

At <b>Canal Side Boat Rentals</b> customers dialed up good summer flounder fishing on the bay during Memorial Day weekend, Josh said. Holiday boat traffic scared some off, but those who put in the time probably bagged four or five, none big, but some 20 inches, fair-sized, good for eating. A few 1- to 2 pound blues swam the bay, popped up randomly, weren’t specifically targeted. A few short stripers were hooked from the bay. Big stripers, 30 pounds and larger, were dragged from the surf at North Wildwood, usually on clams when anglers hit the beaches after the lifeguards left until dusk. Josh took a trip to Delaware Bay that rounded up four drum at Tussy’s Slough, and lots of boaters filled the waters, but they whacked the fish. Not many people crabbed from the shop’s rental boats yet, but interest in crabbing will take off in another couple of weeks. Canal Side rents canopy boats and kayaks for fishing, crabbing and sightseeing. Plenty of minnows are stocked, and so are mackerel fillets, whole squid, squid strips, spearing, salted clams and clam strips. Live crabs are sold for eating and are currently $9 per dozen for No. 2’s and $12 per dozen for No. 1’s.

<b>Cape May</b>

<b>Legal Limit Charters</b> fished for drum the past 12 days, walloping good catches of the boomers to 85 pounds, Capt. T.J. said. Trips averaged six to twelve apiece, all on the New Jersey side of the bay. The boat had to be moved two or three times per trip, and the fish just had to be found. The boat will sail for drum until next Thursday, and charters are fishing, and two open-boat trips are on the books for Saturday and Monday, and space is available.

Thirteen drum were hauled aboard from Delaware Bay on the Parker charter Sunday on the <b>Heavy Hitter</b>, Capt. George said.  On Monday Anthony Metea from Atlantic County Road Works’ crew totaled eight drum 50 to 60 pounds on the bay. A drum charter cancelled on Tuesday because of forecasts, though boaters who fished said only a brief storm pushed through. Another drum trip was sailing today. All the trips fished on the New Jersey side of the bay, and George hoped drum fishing lasts a moment longer. The bay was warming quickly, reaching the high 60s. Drum charters will continue, and charters for flounder and sea bass are available. George didn’t hear much about piles of flounder bagged yet this season on the bay, and anglers he knows fished for them toward Miah Maull. A sea bass trip already ran that cleaned up on a bunch on the opening day of sea bass season two Saturdays ago. The same charter was considering going back out for lumpheads on the boat this weekend.

Good striped bass fishing was banged out from the surf once again this week, like previous weeks, big fish like 40-inchers, not a lot each day, but a few daily, said Nick from <b>Hands Too Bait & Tackle</b>. A fat 46-incher, probably 48 pounds, looking like a drum before heaved from the cooler, was weighed in from the surf. The fish was one of the fattest Nick’s seen. Fresh surf clams were the bait to soak, and incoming tides were usually best. Catches of summer flounder were okay, a little slow, from the back bay during this opening week of the season for the flatties. The fishing could be tough picking, or good on one day, difficult on the next, and anglers hunted for the fish. A customer in the shop today, while Nick gave this report, said he clocked a couple under one of the Cape May Canal bridges. A 6-ound 4-ounce flounder was weighed in from Reef 11, and the angler also toggled up a few sea bass there. Sea bassing went all right, and Reef 11 seemed the best place for them. Nick heard nothing about fishing for flounder on Delaware Bay. If anglers wanted bluefish, they probably looked along the Intracoastal Waterway in the bay. A 25-inch 4-1/2-pound weakfish was weighed in that was banked at Higbee’s Beach on a bloodworm. That is actually the first confirmed report about a weakfish weigh-in on this site this year for the entire state of New Jersey. Goes to show weakfish seem truly less abundant than past years. Usually the first are reported caught in April someplace in the state. If anglers want to try for weaks locally now, they usually hang a bloodworm under a float along a jetty in the Cape May surf.  Speaking of floats, surf anglers often floated baits like that recently, because this is horseshoe crab season, and the crabs can be nuisance, messing with baits on the bottom. The horseshoe crab population began to thin out, but they were still abundant. Drum fishing was alive and thriving for boaters on the New Jersey side of the bay, after most of the fish had previously been caught off Delaware’s Slaughter Beach. Tussy’s Slough on the Jersey side now gave them up. Fresh clams, minnows, bloodworms and all the frozen baits are stocked.

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