<b>Highlands</b>

Capt. Derek from <b>Fisher Price Charters</b> hopes to splash the boat Wednesday, and begin fishing Friday, he said. He found a dock to fish from, after Highlands was destroyed in the hurricane. Power remained off, so getting fuel for a boat was a challenge. No fuel docks worked. At worst, fuel in cans would need to be brought in. Trips will fish for striped bass and blackfish, and the blackfish bag limit will be increased to six on Friday from the current limit of one. Blackfish bit, Derek heard. He heard about a few catches of stripers and blues. Charters and open-boat trips will sail, and Fisher Price will fish as long as possible into this winter.

<b>Neptune</b>

Openings remain for a striped bass trip Tuesday with <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b>, Capt. Ralph said in an e-mail. That will be the first trip aboard since the hurricane. Charters will fish, and individual-reservation trips will include those for: cod offshore, November 26; blackfish and stripers, November 13, 20, 21, 27 and 30 and December 2, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29 and 30, and every Saturday and Sunday in January.  If interested in another date for an individual-reservation trip, call Ralph, and he’ll set it up, if possible. Six will be the blackfish bag limit from this Friday through December 31, he reminded. Four will be the limit afterward, and one is currently the limit. All bait and tackle is supplied on trips.

<b>Belmar</b>

Power was yet to be restored, so no fuel docks were available, said Capt. Mike from the <b>Katie H</b>. A few boat owners brought in fuel trucks, and Mike will probably do that to resume chartering. A few boats from Belmar began to fish Saturday.

At <b>Fisherman’s Den</b> the crew served anglers in mornings then switched to cleaning, Bob said in an e-mail. The shop must to be emptied so the town can treat the walls for mold, after flooding from the hurricane. Power was yet to be back, but a generator was used for electric, and the store was “still a mess,” Bob said. But the good news is that Belmar’s party boats resumed fishing for striped bass, blackfish, ling and cod.

<b>Brielle</b>

Striped bass, a mess, were bailed on the ocean to the south Sunday on the <b>Big Kid</b> on Tony Maja bunker spoons in size 4 in chrome and white, Capt. Ken said. The fishing turned on during early morning, lulled afterward, then took off again in late afternoon. A charter Saturday ran north on the ocean, tackling six stripers and some bluefish. In the near future, mid-week dates remain for charters, and the boat will fish year-round. Trips will sail for stripers as long as the fish remain. If the angling this weekend is any indication, striper fishing is on. Trips will begin blackfishing Friday, when the bag limit is increased to six from the current limit of one. Charters this winter will continue blackfishing and will sail for cod and other catches at deep wrecks on the ocean. 

Wreck fishing on the party boat <b>Jamaica II</b> on the ocean Saturday was pretty good, an e-mail from the vessel said. Mostly big ling bit. But other bottom fish came in, and bluefish “showed no mercy,” the e-mail said.  “Too many,” the e-mail said, blues were landed, and blues kept biting other fish reeled in. Jimmy Riccardo, Quakertown, won the pool with a 6-1/4-pound ling, totaling 30. John Ferguson, Paterson, totaled 32 ling, and Mike Harwick, Flemington, clubbed 29. On Sunday’s trip, currents ran very strong, but the outing managed okay fishing for big ling. Large porgies chewed at one drop. “But couldn’t get a steady bite,” the e-mail said. Gary Pastore, Scotch Plains, won the pool with a 22-pound cod and cracked 17 ling. Mack Dubois, Bristol, shoveled in 23 ling, and Dale Isaacs, Manchester, scooped up 22. The Dillon group from Atlantic Highlands piled up a good catch of large ling and some other ground fish.

The store was flooded in the hurricane, “but we’re okay,” said Dave from <b>The Reel Seat</b>. The doors are back open, and power came back on Tuesday. Freezers and refrigerators were ruined in the flooding, so no bait is stocked. But everything else is stocked, and new gear has resumed arriving for fall. A little fishing news was heard. One trip on a boat trolled 12 striped bass 2 miles off Mantoloking on bunker spoons. A 17.4-pounder was weighed in from the outing. Another trip fished closer to shore, in 40 feet, landing a couple of stripers and a bunch of blues. The blues weighed up to 13 ½ pounds. One surf angler hooked a fish at Sea Girt, and the fish got off, but at least the angler was able to access the surf, after the hurricane. Keep an eye on The Reel Seat’s Web site for a bunch of holiday tackle packages at special prices that will be posted probably sometime this week. The Reel Seat’s hours are changed to the following because of the storm: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays.

<b>Point Pleasant Beach</b>

For <b>Mushin Sportfishing</b>, the boat was motored to the ocean Saturday, for the first time after the storm, Alan, the vessel’s owner, said in an e-mail. The trip targeted striped bass and blackfish, first running north for stripers. No bird life was seen, and not much bait was found. So the trip began to troll, and only a couple of throwback stripers were caught and released, on rubber-shad rigs. Waters were 52 degrees, and winds blew lightly from northwest, good conditions for the fishing. The trip switched to blackfishing in 30 to 65 feet. In the shallower waters, the angling was “pretty quiet,” Alan said, and in the deeper, gave up a slow pick. Striper and blackfish charters are being booked for this month and December.

<b>***Update, Tuesday, 11/13:***</b> The party boat <b>Norma-K III</b> will begin fishing Thursday for striped bass 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily, a post on the vessel’s Facebook page said. The fishing will be the vessel’s first since the hurricane. Magic Hour Ling and Cod Trips will begin to fish 3 to 9 p.m. every Saturday this week. The crew expects to announce this week the schedule for blackfish trips that will also sail.

<b>Toms River</b>

<b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> is open, Jeff said. Power came back a few days ago, and the phone is working again. Striped bass caught at Point Pleasant Canal was the only fishing heard about. Authorities only allowed people to cross the Route 37 Bridge for 2 hours to towns like Seaside Heights on the barrier island. Only residents and business owners from the island were allowed. No beaches were open to surf fishing that Jeff knew about. Mostly frozen bait is stocked, and baits including eels, fresh clams and shiners were lost in the hurricane. But live baits including killies, nightcrawlers and garden worms are carried, and the full supply of baits will be stocked as soon as possible.

<b>Barnegat Light</b>

Striped bass, great catches, were smoked Saturday and Sunday on the ocean on the <b>Super Chic</b> on livelined spots, Capt. Ted said. Limits were socked on both trips. The biggest bass were 34 or 35 inches, and throwbacks were mixed in. Those were the first trips to fish aboard since the hurricane, and they sailed from Waretown on the mainland. But the boat was moved back to Barnegat Light on Sunday evening, because Long Beach Island was opened back up. A blackfish charter will sail Friday, when the bag limit is increased to six from the current limit of one. Trips are booked for Thursday through Sunday. The 50-foot boat can accommodate up to 25 passengers on inshore trips and 10 on offshore, overnight trips. The vessel sleeps 10 passengers.

The party boat <b>Miss Barnegat Light</b> will resume fishing Friday, for striped bass, a report on the vessel’s Web site said. The trips will sail 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays through Mondays and 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

<b>Mystic Island</b>

Scott from <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b> might try to open for business on Saturdays starting this week, he said in a report on the shop’s Web site. “(But) looking around,” he said, “(that might be) a pipe dream, as this place is a hazard, to say the least.” The store was terribly damaged in the hurricane. More about that in a moment. First, one angler’s trip boated seven striped bass at Little Egg Inlet on Friday on frozen clams from the shop. Waters were cold, and the fish bit lightly. The store’s supply of frozen baits was limited for the moment, because most of the freezers were damaged in the storm. But plenty of salted, frozen clams were stocked. Eels, green crabs, bloodworms, grass shrimp, minnows and nightcrawlers were also stocked.  The fresh clam supplier had no power. The clam boats survived, but the docks were destroyed. Back to the damage at the store: “… the right thing to do … will be to gut it to the studs,” Scott said. “It’s going to take some time.” The store was flooded with 29 inches of water. “The lower sheetrock and pegboard is puffy and round,” he said. Kerosene commercial “torpedo” heaters were used to dry the inside. Much inventory was lost in the storm.  However, no inventory was lost for  <a href="http://www.pennparts.com" target="_blank">PennParts.com</a>, the store’s online business that features every Penn part available on the market, and many Penn parts that are no longer available elsewhere. PennParts.com was back up and running Saturday. Inventory from the rest of the store was put in rubber tubs up 18 inches for the storm. That turned out not high enough. Little of that inventory was saved. All the files from the file cabinets were piled high on a freezer. That ended up not a good idea, because the freezer floated off, dumping the files into the water.  “I believe my house is toast,” Scott said. Thirty-nine inches of water flooded the house, reaching over the window sills, “over everything, actually,” he said. His family has moved into his dad and mom’s house, and his dad and mom have moved into his brother’s house, until after the holidays. Then his dad and mom will retire to their Alabama home a year earlier than planned. The insurance company spent a lot of time going through the shop, but were yet to look at the house. Scott couldn’t be sure yet that the store will be open Saturdays.  But a surprising number of people were already calling for bait. He also couldn’t be sure when the store will be open full time. “I have the fantasy … to shut it down after Thanksgiving, for the complete renovation process, hoping that it all comes together by April …” he said. Scott appreciates the help so many people gave since the storm. “I think that has saved my sanity, as so much has been accomplished, in so little time,” he said. “… hugs to everyone affected, and if you haven’t been flooded, please be patient and understanding to those that have been flooded. It is a heart-wrenching experience.” 

<b>Brigantine</b>

Fishing was slow in the surf Sunday, but good striped bass catches were made from the beach the previous two days, a report on <b>Riptide Bait & Tackle</b>’s Web site said. A boater on Sunday weighed in a 17-pound striper from the back bay, fishing all day for the catch. Another checked in a 22-ound striper boated on the ocean off Brigantine that day. Though that was the angler’s only catch, “it was well worth it,” the angler said, the site reported. Brigantine’s surf was open for a week now, after the hurricane. “There is no problem getting on or off the island,” the report said. Fresh bunker and live spots and eels were stocked. Frozen, salted clams were on hand.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

Five striped bass 34 to 38 inches were trolled, and a couple were hooked but got off, on the ocean Saturday with three anglers aboard, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b>.  The fishing was a pick, but the bass were good-sized. Five or six bagged per trip was the most Joe heard about. Others bagged one or two. One friend reeled in a couple of bluefish, too. Jersey Cape’s trip at first tried jigging for stripers. When none was caught, the trip switched to trolling “to grind it out,” Joe said. The angling wasn’t “all-out,” like it can be in fall. That could happen any time, though. The ocean was 53 to 54 degrees, and the day was beautiful, after rough weather previously. Keep up with Joe’s fishing on <a href="http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s blog</a>.

<b>Cape May</b>

On Delaware Bay four striped bass to 25 pounds were bagged Saturday and seven stripers to 20 pounds were boxed Sunday on the <b>Heavy Hitter</b>, Capt. George said. The anglers – Kevin Driscoll’s charter on Saturday and Dave Bock’s on Sunday – fished with bunker chunks. The bass that bit Saturday were larger, and fishing seemed better that day. Lots of dogfish were hooked on Saturday’s trip, but none showed up on Sunday’s. The bay was dirty once incoming tide began Sunday, and seas became rough then. The Cape May Rips and the ocean were reportedly very dirty during the weekend.

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