<b>Staten Island</b>

The first open-boat, bottom-fishing trip this season sailed, piling up plenty of sea bass, 20 cod to 10 pounds, and lots of big, baseball-bat ling 30 miles from shore with <b>Barbara Anne Fishing Charters</b>, Capt. Anthony said. Sea bass fishing currently was a grind inshore, but the lumpheads were boated, and the angling usually picks up with the cooler days that are happening. The next open trips for this fishing are slated for the next two Mondays, and most spaces are full, so call quickly to go. Barbara Anne received a Sea Bass Research Set Aside Permit, allowing the vessel to fish for them when the sea bass season closes October 12 to 31. Barbara Anne also obtained a Fluke Research Set Aside Permit, allowing the boat to fish for the flatties during the currently closed season for the summer flounder. Trips on the vessel also fished for blues lately, and the angling was phenomenal, outstanding.

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

After tougher fishing for fluke a moment, the fishing turned around on Friday and Saturday, and some of the better catches in a while were swung aboard the party boat <b>Atlantic Star</b>, Capt. Tom said. The vessel obtained a Fluke Research Set Aside Permit that is allowing fluke trips to sail during the currently closed season for the flatfish. A 7-pounder was hauled up on Saturday, and a 6-pounder was belted on Friday. Some 5-pounders were also knocked down on the boat. Action was good with shorts, and some of the anglers bagged two or three keepers. The trips fished down the ocean beaches, and sometimes the drift was fast, but the anglers adjusted. Sometimes there was no drift. The ocean became rolly on Sunday morning’s trip, hampering the angling. But some of the fish, including a 6-pounder if Tom remembered, were booted aboard from down the ocean beaches. A drift was made on the bay at the end of the day, and a few more keepers were bagged. Tom was surprised, and no trips had fished on the bay in a while. The seas forced the afternoon’s trip to fish on the bay near the Navy Pier, Bug Light and the Coast Guard Station, and shorts and a few keepers, less action than during the previous two days, were caught. 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. How long the boat will keep fishing for them depends on how long the fish remain inshore and how long the fishing takes to reach the 1,500-pound limit that the permit bought. Different poundage could be purchased. Afterward the boat will begin bottom fishing on one trip daily. On November 16, when the blackfish bag limit increases to six fish from the current limit of one, trips will start blackfishing once daily. <b>***Update, Tuesday, 9/14:***</b> Fluking was good on this morning’s trip and was starting off well on this afternoon’s trip when Tom gave this report over the phone on the trip then. The trips fished on the ocean front, and 5- to 6-pound fluke won the pools the past couple of days, and Tom hopes the angling holds up, and anglers should come down and enjoy the catches. The success of the trips depends on conditions or whether winds and currents create the right drifts, and whether the trips can fish in the productive areas also depends on conditions. On this afternoon’s trip the drift was fast, and the anglers had to use 8-ounce weights, but they caught. Anglers can bring two rods, including a heavier one for the weights if the drift is fast.

<b>Highlands</b>

Bottom fishing shoveled up sea bass to 3 pounds, a good catch, a mess of porgies and lots of blackfish on a trip Saturday with <b>Fisher Price Charters</b>, Capt. Derek said. The anglers kept their limits of one blackfish apiece, releasing the rest, lots of action to play with. Trips will probably begin striped bass fishing next week in the evenings with worms. Eventually striper fishing will take over much of Fisher Price’s schedule, when the migration begins. Anglers on deck then will fish for them with worms, eels, jigs, clams and on the troll, whatever the fishing takes. Fall striper trips and bottom-fishing trips, including for blackfish, are being booked. Blackfish charters will kick off on November 16, when the bag limit is hiked up to six of the tog from the current limit of one. A few bluefin tuna were boated the last couple of days, anywhere from the HA buoy to the Virginia wreck and offshore from there. The fishing seemed hit or miss, and some anglers caught, and others did not. Fisher Price is sailing for bluefins on charters and open-boat trips. Charters and open trips are also bottom fishing, and anglers can call to be kept informed about the open schedule.

<b>Neptune</b>

<b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b> on a trip Friday looked for striped bass on the ocean, trolling three keepers early in the day, until bluefish took over, Capt. Ralph said. Many big blues were wrestled, and the smallest were probably 10 pounds. A few blues were kept, and the rest were released. A bottom-fishing trip on Sunday socked a super catch of sea bass, double-headers most of the day. This week’s individual-reservation bottom-fishing trip, sailing the inshore ocean every Wednesday, was cancelled because of a scheduling conflict. But space is available on the trips the next two Wednesdays. One spot remains on an offshore wreck-fishing trip this coming Monday for cod, pollock and ling. An overnight tuna trip to the canyons is full this week from Tuesday to Wednesday.

<b>Belmar</b>

Big, monster blues 10 and 12 pounds were nailed at the Shrewsbury Rocks, mostly on bunker chunks but also on jigs, on Friday with <b>On a Mission Fishing Adventures</b>, Capt. Eric said. Then the anglers fished for sea bass, and sea bassing’s been awesome. Trips now are sailing for a mixed bag like that. A charter with two anglers on Saturday trolled false albacore at the Mudhole, lost a mahi mahi at the boat, then tore up sea bass, including 18 or 19 keepers, at a wreck. Albies, bonito and mahi are swimming the Mudhole relatively close to shore. Eric heard about bluefin tuna boated farther from shore, 50 or 60 miles from the coast. But he plans to look for the tuna closer to land this week or around 20 miles out, where his charters fish for them, to see if the angling is viable. Eric, who also guides surf-fishing trips, has been beaching 18- to 20-inch striped bass from the wash at night on teasers on lures like Bombers. One of his partners at On a Mission fought albies from the surf. Eric is also guiding smallmouth bass trips on the Delaware River, and the waters are low, but the fishing is going well during the evenings. His anglers often nabbed the bronzebacks at Frenchtown and Bull’s Island on popper lures. Fall striped bass and bluefish charters on the ocean are being booked. Charters will also sail for blackfish on the ocean starting November 16, when the bag limit is increased to six of the tog from the current limit of one.  Eric likes to concentrate on stripers when the run is on, but his trips will also go after blackfish.

<b>Brielle</b>

With <b>Fish Monger Charters</b> the six anglers on a bottom-fishing trip on the ocean Friday worked hard for sea bass, scratched away all day, “(but) a few here, a few there … adds up to a nice cooler,” Capt. Jerry said in an e-mail. They almost limited out on the lumpheads, including some sizeable ones to 3 pounds, adding two keeper blackfish to the catch. What’s more, an out-of-season, 9-1/2-pound fluke, the angler’s personal best, and the boat’s second biggest of the year, was promptly released. “Who needs a bucktail?” Jerry asked. The trip hit lots of drops, and all held life. Some gave up a few big sea bass, and others were covered with small ones. But the day ended up great. A bottom trip on Saturday on the ocean with five anglers came up with the same type of action, “but grinded away … for a nice cooler,” Jerry said. They came one fish shy of limiting out on sea bass, and also bagged a triggerfish. “Another great day on the water!” Jerry said. Lots of spots were fished, and all held life, “but not enough to sit on for any amount of time,” he said. Some drops put up good shots of big ones, and at others, the anglers weeded through shorts. “Decent action overall, with plenty of fish to go in the box,” he said. Fish Monger is focusing on sea bass more than porgies and blackfish while sea bass fishing is good or until all the fish are mixed together. A few spaces are left on open-boat trips. “Don’t miss out!” Jerry said. “Give a buzz; let’s go fishing!”

Boaters, since fluke season closed last week, took advantage of lots of false albacore and bonito that could be trolled at the ocean ridges and humps on small feathers, squid spoons, jets or other small lures, said Dave from <b>The Reel Seat</b>. Sometimes the anglers found a school of albies, sometimes a school of bonito or sometimes a mix of both. Ones who fished a little farther offshore at the Mudhole also grabbed mahi mahi. Albies popped in and out of the surf, and Dave heard about the catches from Spring Lake to Bay Head. The fish might’ve showed up farther north and south, but those were the waters he heard about. Striped bass were sometimes dragged from the surf on teasers, not really on the metal or lures fished with the teasers. Bluefish blitzed the surf someplace or another every day or so. Blues and albies sometimes pushed up Manasquan Inlet, and out-of-season fluke kept biting in the inlet. Bottom fishing on the ocean turned up okay catches of sea bass. Porgies were hung on bottom trips if they fished to the north. Lots of blackfish seemed to chomp for bottom anglers. Good catches of bluefin tuna were clocked 50 miles from shore, and waters cleared up on the bluefin grounds that were previously green. Dave heard reports about tuna taken farther offshore at the canyons, but nothing solid to be sure about the fishing.

<b>Point Pleasant</b>

Anglers aboard a half-day trip drilled tog , a load of the fish, keeping their limit of one apiece, releasing the rest, on Saturday with <b>Reel Class Charters</b>, Capt. Allen said in a  report on the vessel’s Web site.  The fish, up to a 21-inch 6-pounder, were hooked at a spot on the ocean where a bottom-fishing trip the previous day found the blackfish. The high hook on Saturday’s trip landed at least 20 tog, and the anglers blew through seven dozen green crabs for bait. When the crabs ran out, the anglers fished for porgies and sea bass for 40 minutes, bagging 10 porgies, including a few jumbos, and five chunky sea bass, among shorts of both species tossed back. A good trip with lots of bites and action, Allen said. On the previous day, Friday, an open-boat bottom trip on the ocean, fishing only until 2 p.m., wiped up on lots of keeper porgies, half of them jumbos to 3 pounds. The anglers also landed 30 keeper tog, limiting out the boat and releasing the rest, and bagged six keeper sea bass to 2 pounds. A 12-pound, gator bluefish was also decked on one of the bottom rigs. A terrific day of bottom fishing! Allen said. A few out-of-season fluke were hooked and released on the trips. Charters are fishing, and so are open-boat trips, including open trips for false albacore, blues, skipjacks and bonito. Check <a href="http://www.reelclassfishing.com/rates/open-boat-info" target="_blank">Reel Class’s open-boat schedule</a> online. Allen some time ago said fall trips for striped bass and blackfish were booking up. Reserve now.

Bluefish, false albacore and skipjacks bit from beginning to end on Sunday’s trip on the party boat <b>Cock Robin</b>, an e-mail from the boat said. There was no lull, except when anglers re-rigged. Fishing on Saturday’s trip wasn’t stellar, dished up decent fishing for blues and okay angling for albies and skipjacks, and winds against the tide kept the chum slick from moving much, and the angling became slower in the middle of the day. The fish began to turn on again toward the end of the trip, and the captain kept the boat on the waters late “to make up for some catching,” the e-mail said. A few sharpies limited out on blues, and most of the anglers nabbed six to eight blues and had shots at albies and skipjacks. But anglers on Friday’s trip scored a banner day on blues and albies, and patrons on Thursday’s trip caught bluefish after bluefish and a few false albacore. The Cock Robin is fishing for blues 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily, and fish like albies were mixed in lately. The next special trip for false albacore and bonito is set for Wednesday, limited to 20 anglers. Reservations are required, and 13 anglers were signed up by Sunday. More of the trips will sail this season, and the last one, sailing last Wednesday, Mohawked albies, covered in the last report.

<b>Bricktown</b>
 
Customers fought false albacore to 10 and 12 pounds mixed in with blues in the surf, said Capt. Rich from <b>Jersey Hooker Outfitters Bait & Tackle</b>, located in Bricktown, and <b>Jersey Hooker Charters</b>, sailing from Point Pleasant’s Canyon River Club. The Point Pleasant Canal served up good fishing for  blackfish, and clams were best bait the past couple of days. Cocktail blues ran the canal during daytime, and striped bass began to bite in the canal at night on soft-plastic lures like Tsunami shads. In the ocean bottom-fishing dialed up plenty of sea bass and blackfish, including at Axel Carlson Reef, and ling in deeper waters. Bottom anglers ran north to Sandy Hook Reef for porgies. Some of the southern wrecks held croakers. Winds kept customers from sailing for bluefin tuna. They headed out for yellowfin tuna farther offshore on Saturday, but Rich was yet to hear results.

<b>Barnegat</b>

“Awesome fishing over the weekend,” Capt. Dave DeGennaro from the <b>Hi Flier</b> said in an e-mail. Winds blew on Friday, so an open-boat trip with Robert Warner and Dave’s friend Capt. Steve Purul fished close to shore that day. First they grass-shrimped for striped bass at the Barnegat Inlet jetty. The first striper bit after 10 minutes of chumming, and steady action with 22- to 26-inchers was burned the next few hours. A keeper blackfish was added to the cooler. The trip began motoring to Barnegat Bay, when Steve nudged Dave, saying the inlet jetty “looked right for some action on lures,” Dave said. “He was right!” Bluefish 2 to 3 pounds were fought on lures an hour. Then the trip moved to the back of the bay, finishing up with a good catch of blowfish with weakfish, sand sharks and burr fish or porcupine puffers mixed in. Shedder crabs were used for bait on all of Dave’s trips on the bay lately, fished on 6-pound ultra-light rods, so even catching the blowfish was a battle. That was the bait when a trip Saturday targeted the weakies in the back of the bay. The trout bit, and so did the same variety of other fish. The weakfish in the bay now were small, but most were legal-sized. On Sunday an open-boat trip sailed to Barnegat Ridge North on the ocean with Gene Linder, Rich Hall and Nick Tanzola. When they arrived at the grounds, the first false albacore slammed a line on the troll when only two rods of the eight-rod spread were able to be set out. “Oh, it’s going to be like that, I thought,” Dave said. So he changed plans, setting out two trolling rods, and giving each angler a rod to hold with a fresh spearing on a No. 1 hook on 20-pound fluorocarbon leader on the 10-pound line. The trolled rods pulled a cedar plug and a squid chain to draw the albies into the wash, so the anglers could hook them on the spearing. The anglers kept the spearing short, in the first and second wakes, “like you would troll (Japanese) feathers,” Dave said. One of the angler’s rods started bending to the reel seat. Fish on! So that didn’t take long to see if this would work. One to three albies were hooked continuously for 3 hours. The anglers tried fishing without the trolled lures, but that didn’t work. The lures were needed to draw the school of albies into the wash. Waters at the ridge were blue, “not even bluish-green, blue!” Dave said. He can’t wait to see what other fish show up in the mix, but for now the fish were all albies. The trip then ran to a nearby buoy, looking for mahi mahi, but only a school of small bar jacks showed up. On the way in the anglers stopped at the 5-mile buoy, trying for bonito, but a double-header of albies attacked on the troll. Tons of albies swam along the beach, “but typically they are not as cooperative when it comes to eating hooks, and it removes the element of surprise of what species will hit next (like in the blue waters),” Dave said. So his trips will keep fishing the ridge. He’s also ready to mix in efforts at bluefin tuna, skipjacks, mahi or bonito at the Mudhole on the ridge trips, and the weather looks good for the fishing Tuesday and Wednesday. He’ll run open trips those days and every day the weather allows. “Have there been many reports from the Mudhole?” Dave asked. “No,” he said. “But in the middle of September with blue water there, should we wait for a report or go make one?!” he asked. “At the very least we are going to go slam some albies on the ridge,” he said. Open trips are limited to three anglers, and only one angler is needed to sail. Call to reserve.
      
<b>Tuckerton</b>

A couple of yellowfin tuna and a couple of mahi mahi were chunked offshore at night on a trip Saturday to Sunday with <b>Legal Limit Charters</b>, Capt. T.J. said. He heard about not much else caught that night, except a couple of swordfish and a couple of sharks. A bunch of mahi and a 75-pound wahoo were trolled on the trip the next day. Another offshore trip is slated for Sunday to Monday, and sea bass trips are on the books for Wednesday and the weekend. Open-boat/shared charters are fishing for sea bass when dates are available, and open tuna trips are scheduled for the end of the month. See the <a href=" http://www.legallimitcharters.com/c-11-open-boat.aspx" target="_blank">Open Boat/Shared Charter Schedule</a> on Legal Limit’s Web site.

<b>Mystic Island</b>

Sea bass anglers did a job on big numbers of healthy sized ones to 4 pounds on Saturday at wrecks in more than 70 feet, said the report on <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b>’s Web site. Not much else was available to report, and winds kept anglers from fishing before then, and forecasts for stormy weather kept them home on Sunday, though only light drizzle fell, and winds were calm. Customers headed back out to fish today, going off in all different directions, guessing what to fish for, and no feedback came back yet. The best advice was to search for the bites that happened previously, and that traditionally occur this time of year. Slammer blues previously chased pods of bunker around Little Egg Reef, before Hurricane Earl. Blowfish had fed in the bay on the Mystic Island side of the Fish Factory. Some of the snapper blues there had grown to a better size. Tog should chomp along the sod banks across from the Fish Factory, and green crabs are a choice bait.

<b>Longport</b>

The ocean turned over, becoming black and gin clear, between 20 and 40 miles from the coast, and fishing became gangbusters, said Capt. Mike from the <b>Stray Cat</b>. The angling had been slow during the middle of last week, then opened up. Bottom fishing on the boat creamed sea bass, including heavy ones 2 pounds, porgies and triggerfish. Out-of-season summer flounder were stacked up in the waters. False albacore filled the area and were trolled. Sometimes mahi mahi were picked up on the troll, and bluefish to 6 pounds and bonito schooled closer to shore between A.C. Ridge and Sea Isle Ridge, and were also trolled. The 72-degree ocean held somewhat of a swell on Friday but light seas on Saturday and Sunday. An open-boat, bottom-fishing trip is sold out this Wednesday, but eight spaces are left on one of the trips this Friday. A couple of more of the open trips will probably run next week and probably on Wednesdays the next couple of weeks. Looking ahead, Columbus Day and Black Friday are open for charters. Striped bass and blackfish are fish to target on Black Friday. Annual Cast and Blast Trips, charters that fish and gun for ducks in one outing on the ocean, will sail again this fall. The second and third weeks of November, when striped bass and blackfish should be on the feed, is an ideal time for the trips.

<b>Ocean City</b>

Blues and croakers, a good catch, were mopped up from the ocean 3 miles off Longport and Margate on a trip Saturday with <b>Fish Tale Charters</b>, Capt. Craig said.  The anglers kept a bunch of fish, and the blues that were kept weighed about 3 pounds. The smaller ones were released. The medium and large croakers were coolered, and the small ones were let go. The trip looked for marks on the fish finder to locate the fish, first stopping on readings in 35 feet. A few fish, smaller ones, bit there, and the bigger ones were found in 45 to 50 feet. The bigger croakers chomped on clams, and squid and bluefish, strips cut from some of the blues landed, were also fished. The blues attacked anything. Weakfishing was spotty in the area, and some of the trout, but small ones, were hooked on the boat several weeks ago on the ocean. The trip did no fishing for sea bass, but sea bass were bagged on the ocean when the knotheads were targeted on the boat a couple of weeks ago. Fish Tale will make the annual move to Cape May for striped bass fishing in late October or early November. The first trips from Cape May are currently booked for early November, but when the fish arrive depends on water temperatures. Waters need to drop well into the 60s for the fishing to begin. The charters fish with bucktails or eels, provided on the trips, or with spots that the anglers provide.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

Troy Gilchrist and John Martin took a shot at fishing for striped bass on the back bay on a trip in the middle of the day on Saturday, missing two of the fish on popper lures, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Gibson’s Tackle</b>. Fishing for the linesiders is ideal on the bay at dusk on high tides, but an attempt was made during the daytime. Then the anglers sailed to the ocean, jigging a dozen blues to 3 pounds and two 5-pound amberjacks. Popper fishing for stripers on the bay, both with flies and lures, is a specialty for Jersey Cape, and the angling is expected to be great this month like the fishing usually is. Anglers on the trips cast to the fish while Joe poles his flats boat in the shallows. Special, after-work trips from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. are ideal for the fishing. Joe will begin to fish the fall migration of stripers and blues on the ocean during the last two weeks of October. A trip with Dustin Laricks on Friday evening on the ocean reeled in 30 blues to 3 pounds and amberjacks to 5 pounds. Joe is also fishing offshore, and lots of mahi mahi jammed the waters, and occasional yellowfin tuna swam the area. Marlin began to move south. Joe around the last week of September and first week of October will run annual charters to Montauk to fish for stripers, blues and false albacore, usually epic fishing. In winter he’ll offer annual weekend trips to the Florida Keys. See <a href="http://www.gibsonstackle.com/page6.html" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s Traveling Fisherman Web Page</a>. Keep up with Joe’s fishing, photos and videos on <a href=" http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s blog</a>.

<b>Avalon</b>

A charter arrived at first light at Wilmington Canyon on Saturday on a long day trip with <b>Over Under Adventures</b>, Capt. Trey said in an audio report on the boat’s Web site. Lots of bait filled the waters, but no tuna bit, so the anglers fished for mahi mahi at the lobster pots. The mahi fishing was on fire, and lots were caught, lots of fun on light tackle. The trip began trolling back inshore on the way home, and no tuna bit, but mahi fishing was again great at the pots. Another trip headed right back out at midnight on Sunday, running to the Wilmington, because no good tuna reports were heard, but a couple were trolled at the Wilmington, and the mahi fishing was on there. The trip fished overnight where the tuna had been trolled, and seas were like glass, and the boat drifted only a mile all night. The waters looked awesome, full of tinker mackerel and squid. One tuna bit at 5 a.m., and apparently a shark bit off the fish. The anglers trolled in the morning, looking for bigeye tuna, and the waters held a temperature break, a couple of whales, some porpoises and shallow bait. The crew couldn’t have hoped for more, except tuna. No tuna bit, and the anglers fished for mahi at the pots for 3 hours, landing lots, lots of fun again. The trip trolled inshore on the way home, and no tuna bit. The canyons were full of bait and life, but no tuna. Just a few marlin were around. “Oh boy,” Trey lamented. “Slow night, slow day … lots of dolphin action … Not sure what’s going on.” He hopes the fishing changes quickly. Charters and   <a href=" http://overundercharters.com/index.php?page=opendates" target="_blank">open-boat trips</a> are fishing offshore.

<b>Cape May</b>

The Rochetti party trolled a bunch of bluefish and some Spanish mackerel 13 or 14 miles from shore on the <b>Down Deep</b> this past week, Capt. Bob said. Rich Lennon’s group during the week overnighted offshore, landing a yellowfin tuna, a longfin tuna and some sizeable mahi mahi. Fall striped bass charters are being booked.

On the <b>Heavy Hitter</b> a charter with Mark Sr. and Jr. and Brian on Sunday trolled seven or eight false albacore, then wreck-fished, Capt. George said. The wreck fishing put up sea bass, including a 5-pounder and several others that were 4 ½ to 5 pounds, big ones. Croakers with weakfish mixed in are schooling the ocean front, if anglers want to sail for them. Some boats put six-person charters on their limits of weakfish. The Heavy Hitter is also fishing offshore, and a few yellowfin tuna, plenty of good-sized mahi mahi and sometimes wahoo are roaming the waters. Call if interested in any of this fishing, and anglers are starting to call to book fall striped bass trips. Telephone to lock in the dates.

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