<b>South Amboy</b>

A combo striped bass/fluke trip motored out Sunday with the Mitchell party aboard, Capt. James from <b>Reel World Charters</b> said. The trip began trolling at Reach Channel, and all the bluefish anyone could want were hooked. A few keeper stripers were mixed in. After three hours, the anglers switched to fluke fishing, reeling up a slow, steady pick of the summer flounder, one in five a keeper. All the anglers departed with a bag of fillets.  Active and retired military, first responders and law enforcement get a $50 discount on charters. To receive the discount, call ahead and let Reel World know.

<b>Keyport</b>

On Raritan Bay 30 blues to 11 pounds and four keeper striped bass to 30 inches were clobbered on a trip aboard Saturday from 4 to 9 p.m., Capt. Joe from <b>Papa’s Angels Charters</b> said. The anglers, Michael DeSantis and wife Carissa and Michael Rodriguez and sons Joseph and Steven, fished with clams and bunker. Michael and Carissa bagged the bass. Today on the bay 20 blues and one keeper striper 29 inches were clocked aboard. The trip, fishing 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., with Brandon Hicks Sr. and Jr., mother Sandy, and Flo, also fished with clams and bunker. Open-boat trips are available 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 4 to 9 p.m. daily when no charter is booked. Call to reserve.

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

The first weekend of fluke fishing aboard was okay, Capt. Tom from the <b>Atlantic Star</b> said. Fluke season opened Saturday, and twice-daily trips began sailing for them then on Raritan Bay. Considering the cloudy weather and cool, 56- to 57-degree waters, the fishing was pretty good, a decent start. Jack McMillan on Sunday morning’s trip bagged four fluke. Donato Lombardi bagged three on that trip, and returned on the afternoon’s trip, limiting out between the two trips. Plenty of shorts, plenty more shorts than keepers, of course, bit. Pool-winning fluke weren’t big, weighed up to 3 ½ pounds. The fish were hooked in warmer, shallower waters closer to land toward Bug Light, but also out farther in the bay. Anglers with rental rods caught fluke on spearing provided on the boat. Anglers who fished with bucktails or Spros also caught. So did anglers who brought their own killies. So a mix of baits and tackle worked, and any advantage was difficult to tell. The Atlantic Star is fishing for fluke twice daily 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 to 6 p.m.

“Finally, a bite on bass,” Capt. Ron from the party boat <b>Fishermen</b> said about Sunday afernoon’s striped bass trip aboard. The fishing was tough the previous several days, and bluefish “bailed us out … but the lack of stripers had been a disappointment,” Ron said. On Sunday afternoon’s trip, with a small crowd, fish were hooked right away. A good mix of stripers and blues were socked.  The Fishermen is sailing for striped bass 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily and will begin fishing for fluke 3:30 to 9 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays this weekend.

<b>Highlands</b>

With <b>Raritan Bay Charters</b> a 4-hour charter on Saturday targeted striped bass, trolling Reach Channel and the back of Raritan Bay, and only lots of bluefish to 10 or 12 pounds were caught, Capt. Dave said. Canel, Bulent and Ugur were the anglers. A fluke trip fished aboard the bay Sunday, landing 20, including six keepers. The fluking shut down after noon. So Dave asked the anglers – Bob, Al and Jamal – if they wanted to troll for blues, and they did, catching and releasing the fish. Charters are fishing, and open-boat trips are available this weekend for stripers and blues.

Weeding through bluefish was difficult, and only a few striped bass were landed among them, on the last couple of trips aboard Raritan Bay through the end of the week, said Capt. Derek from <b>Fisher Price Charters</b>. The trips chunked and livelined bunker. But fishing for stripers was better on the ocean aboard Sunday, and the anglers went 7 for 20 on the fish to 31 pounds on livelined bunker. Only one bluefish was hooked during the trip. Charters are fishing, and open-boat trips are booked this week. Anglers can call to be kept informed about future open trips. 

<b>Neptune</b>

Striped bass fishing was excellent Friday evening, slow Saturday morning, excellent that afternoon, and slow Sunday, said Capt. Ralph from <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b>. So a trip aboard Sunday switched to bottom fishing, piling up a good catch of ling. A trip today might take the season’s first shot at fluke aboard, since fluke season opened Saturday. Annual individual-reservation trips for fluke every Wednesday will start soon. Space is available on individual-reservation trips for sea bass on Sunday, May 20, and Saturday, May 26. Space remains for an individual-reservation trip for cod on Sunday, May 27.

<b>Belmar</b>

The full moon seemed to affect striped bass in the past days, making them bite tentatively, not aggressively, in the ocean, said Capt. Pete from <b>Parker Pete’s Fishing Charters</b>. Fishing with live bunker became key, and boaters who could locate bunker to catch for bait seemed to score a little better on stripers than trips that jigged for the fish. Parker Pete’s is livelining when enough bunker are around, and the population of the menhaden should keep building like usual this season. Otherwise trips are jigging for stripers. Trips can troll for them if necessary. Fluke season opened Saturday, and anglers on Shark River, like rental boaters, seemed to do a job on the summer flounder. Parker Pete’s sails for all fish available. Charters and open-boat trips are running. For availability on the open trips, see <a href="http://parkerpetefishing.com/belmar-fishing-trips/open-boat-trips
" target="_blank">Parker Pete’s open-boat page</a> online, and sign up for the e-mailed newsletter on the site. Dates are announced in both places.

<b>Brielle</b>

Excellent ling fishing was walloped Friday on the party boat <b>Jamaica II</b>, Capt. Joe said in an e-mail. High hooks looted 60, and anglers and their catches included: Brad Thurman, Philadelphia, 64 ling; and Ray Bryant, South Orange, 62 ling. This Friday the boat will switch to fluke fishing on two half-day trips leaving at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily except Mondays. The trips will start to fish for fluke and sea bass on May 19, opening day of sea bass season. All-day fluke and sea bass trips will sail at 7:30 a.m. every Monday starting May 21. 

Five keeper striped bass to 32 pounds, weighed on the Boga grip, were trolled on the ocean Saturday on the <b>Big Kid</b>, Capt. Ken said. Tony Maja’s No. 4 spoons nailed them, and no bluefish showed up. Striper fishing was slow on the ocean Thursday and Friday but seemed to pick up Saturday and Sunday. Trips for ling and all species available, like usual, are also on tap on the boat. The ocean was cold for fluke fishing, but fluking was probably good on Manasquan River.

Ocean striped bass fishing, early last week, was okay, said Dave from <b>The Reel Seat</b>. By late in the week, the fishing picked up in afternoons, and, during the rest of the day, “was kind of slow,” Dave said. When the fish were caught in the afternoons, most were taken on livelined bunker. But a few were trolled, and a customer on Friday trolled a 45-pounder and two more on bunker spoons. Plenty of bunker schooled, and bluefish swam the waters. Blues could be a bother to anglers, when blues kept beating stripers to the hook. Stripers held in Point Pleasant Canal, but must’ve fed on a worm hatch, because the bass refused everything anglers tossed to them. Though bluefish previously popped in and out of Manasquan Inlet, nothing was heard about them in past days. They seemed gone. Nothing was heard about fluke fishing on Manasquan River during this opening weekend of fluke season. But fluke were heard about that were dredged in from Shark River. Ling fishing was good on the ocean, and out-of-season sea bass were released there. Sea bass season will open May 19. One of the Point Pleasant Beach party boats steamed for cod Friday on the ocean. Only a handful of cod and a few pollock were managed, but lots of ling were crushed. A couple of reports rolled in about bluefin tuna trolled at Manasquan Ridge on ballyhoos. A couple of striped bass trips were also heard about that hooked large fish, fighting them a long time, losing them. They had to be bluefins. Wahoo Baitfish Bucktails and Stingo jigs are on sale at 30 percent off, and the shop’s been holding 30-percent sales on different items to celebrate 30 years in business. A few of the Stingo’s remain and will be on sale until the supply runs out. The Reel Seat is open Wednesday through Sundays and will be open seven days a week starting next week.

<b>Point Pleasant Beach</b>

Anglers with <b>Andrea’s Toy Charters</b> ran to the ocean Friday to liveline bunker for striped bass, a report on Andrea’s Toy’s Web site said. The trip made bait, steamed to the grounds to the north, and connected with a striper in the first 5 minutes. “Figured it would be an easy-limit trip,” the report said. “Not.” The stripers were picky, “(not) fully committing to the … baits,” the report said. But the charter went 4 for 10 on stripers to 30 pounds. Andrea’s Toy is also fishing on mixed-bag trips that sail for stripers and bottom fish in one outing.

<b>Barnegat</b>

<b>***Update, Tuesday, 5/8:***</b> From an edited e-mail from Capt. Dave DeGennaro from the <b>Hi Flier</b>: “The truth hurts, but here it is. I fished Thursday and Friday for stripers and caught none. Thursday I didn’t hear of any fish, but Friday I heard a few guys on the radio with one or two heavyweight bass.  On each of those trips, we finished up in the bay, with solid action on 2- to 6-pound bluefish.  Casting surface lures and trolling with light spinning tackle. Saturday I had a bay trip, so we stuck with the reliable bluefish action.  Sunday I cancelled because of the predicted sea condition, and from what I heard, the striper bite was back on. Monday I had more than a few phone calls telling me about the epic troll bite on 30- to 50-pound fish on bunker spoons. Lots of boats catching lots of big stripers! That’s as specific as I can get, because it’s not my report. I can’t share location and depth unless I was there. How lame is my fishing report for the weekend that I’m giving secondhand striper reports? As a rule, I usually only report what we catch, but I didn’t catch, and it wouldn’t make good business sense to keep the recent bite a secret. So that’s my excuse. The forecast for the end of the week is for a mix of northwest, north, and mild northeast winds, the best script for seas and bass fishing that you could ever write. Starting Thursday, which is forecasted to be NW winds, we will sail two open-boat trips 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday I have the afternoon trips available from12:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., so those will be open-boat trips, as well. Sunday is Mother’s Day, and I am already booked in the a.m., and I dare not book the afternoon. All trips are 3-person max. Call for reservations, don’t email me. I will probably be on the water. See you on board. We can go make some firsthand reports.”

<b>Mystic Island</b>

Good news, a report on <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b>’s Web site said. Lots of summer flounder paved Great Bay. “I didn’t say they were all keepers,” the report said. But the high-hook trip boated eight keepers on Sunday. Wasn’t much to report about striped bass and blues. “They seem to be all up north,” the report said. A scattering of drum were around. The big drum heard about today was a 30-pounder “off the beach in Absecon,” the report said. The biggest of the drum reportedly came from Great Bay, but better numbers came from off Tuckerton Bay’s sedge islands. Two big blowfish were reported caught off Graveling Point.

<b>Brigantine</b>

Surf fishing for striped bass hit the wall Thursday, and the fish swarmed all over the waters, a report on <b>Riptide Bait & Tackle</b>’s Web site said. That was covered here in the last report, and striper fishing also turned on Friday from the Brigantine Hotel to the sea wall at Absecon Inlet. Stripers checked in from the bite included a 37-pounder and a 31-pounder. The angling sounded slower during the weekend and today, according to the site, but a few bass, including a 17-1/2-pounder and a 17-pounder, were weighed in during the weekend. One customer landed four stripers, including one keeper, from the beach today.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

Five keeper summer flounder to 3 ½ pounds were boated on a trip aboard the back bay on opening day of flounder season Saturday, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b>. Waters were exceptionally crowded with boats, and the day was cloudy, chilly and windy, from the northeast. The trip worked for the catches. A keeper might be bagged at one spot, then no other flounder might bite, so the trip would move. Ten shorts might be angled from another place, then the trip would move. Joe power-drifted the boat in and out of gear to deal with the winds. Other anglers who didn’t do that, like those who fished in a small boat, who got drifted fast across the channel, likely didn’t catch. The fishing was “technical,” Joe said. His two anglers fished with Gulps on a bucktail with a minnow on a plain hook on a trailer tied above. The bucktail and minnow caught equally, but all but one keeper bit the bucktail. Other anglers who fished with tackle like big spinners and all kinds of hardware like that likely didn’t catch. Surely many anglers caught no flounder that day. But Joe’s been finding loads of the flatfish in the bay. The trip at first fished for striped bass with popper plugs, tackling three, missing a bunch of bites, on the bay, good fishing. On that evening, Dustin Laricks aboard popper-plugged a striped bass and a dozen blues. Popper fishing turned on for the first time this season on a trip aboard Thursday evening with Joey Roberts. Waters were warm enough for stripers to attack a popper. On the trip, several shots at stripers were scored and missed on poppers. A bluefish was landed, and flounder were caught and released. On Friday evening John Martin aboard axed great popper fishing for stripers, landing four or five. The trips that popper-fished used Skitter Pop lures. Jersey Cape also fly-rods with poppers. Popper fishing, a specialty on the boat, is exciting, drawing explosive, visual attacks from the fish along the surface. The shallow waters of the back bay are a place to do that. Join an After Work Special Trip from 4:30 p.m. to dark, convenient, and a productive time to fish. Keep up with Joe’s fishing on <a href="http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s blog</a>.

<b>Cape May</b>

The season’s first drum trip fished aboard Delaware Bay on Saturday on the <b>Heavy Hitter</b>, and three drum 30 or 40 pounds were heaved in, Capt. George said. Another might’ve been lost, and the charter – Mary Brown’s trip with Lori, Melanie, Becky, Christy and Ted  – fished on the Delaware side of the bay, leaving the dock at 12 noon. The fish bit around 4 p.m., and most boats seemed to total 2 to 5 drum. One came up with 7, and two large drum showed up on one vessel. So the fishing was a start, George said, and the drum were heard booming all around, were noisy. George heard nothing about summer flounder on this opening weekend of the fluke season. Drum charters will continue, and flounder trips are available, and sea bass charters will become available when sea season opens May 19. Call if interested in any of this fishing.

Drum were pulled in from Delaware Bay on Saturday morning with <b>Legal Limit Charters</b>, Capt. T.J. said. The fish, landed on the Jersey side of the bay, weighed 15 or 20 pounds. “First-run fish,” T.J. said. Smaller drum often bite at first during the season. T.J. heard about drum boxed Saturday night on other boats, but didn’t know whether the fish came from the Jersey or Delaware side.

A couple of trips drum fished aboard Delaware Bay in the past week on the <b>Down Deep</b>, and the fishing turned on pretty well, Capt. Bob said. The Kapitza charter tugged in six drum, and the Shannon charter wrenched in “some nice drum to 40 or 50 pounds,” Bob said. Another trip aboard was out for drum Sunday evening with Capt. Greg at the helm, when Bob gave this report over the phone from land. Bob heard nothing about summer flounder on this opening weekend of the season for them. A charter on the boat was supposed to flounder fish during the weekend but decided to drum fish instead. An opening is available for a drum charter this Saturday because of a cancellation when the charter had to go overseas. Other dates are also available for drum and flounder, and will become available for sea bass when sea bass season opens May 19. Good-sized, beautiful sea bass were caught and released on blackfish trips on the Down Deep before blackfish season closed last week.

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