<b>Staten Island</b>

<b>Angler Sportfishing Charters</b> bluefished at Reach Channel toward Sandy Hook, Capt. Joe said. Mostly cocktail blues were beaten, mostly on trolled bunker spoons, sometimes on cast spoons. One trip landed 20 or 22, and striped bass fishing might begin to pick up in a week or 10 days, in cooling water. A ton of bait, including bunker everywhere, filled the water. If that’s any indication of how striper fishing will be, the angling should be good. Striper charters are being booked.

<b>Keyport</b>

Been an excellent year for fluke fishing, Capt. Frank from the <b>Vitamin Sea</b> wrote in an email. “Many, many big fish,” he said, and fluke season will be closed starting Sunday. The year’s final open-boat trips for fluke are slated for Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Space available includes two spots on Tuesday. Weather looks good for the trips, and the outings should be able to fish the ocean, he said. The angling on the last few trips was picky, because of poor conditions. “Conditions are everything for fluke, or any fish, for that matter,” he said. When fluke season closes, trips will bottom-fish for porgies, blackfish and triggerfish, and will jig for bluefish. Soon, eels will be carried aboard, and each trip will make a few drifts for striped bass with them, to keep an eye on the fishing. Trips will jump all over stripers as soon as the run kicks in. Some stripers were currently around, but angling for them was a little hit and miss. Fall striper and blackfish charters are being booked. The blackfish bag limit will be raised to six starting November 16, from the current limit of one. “Get your dose of Vitamin Sea!”

Capt. Joe from <b>Papa’s Angels Charters</b> spoke with a friend Sunday morning who talked about striped bass, though small, that swam Raritan Bay, Joe said. The same friend reported a good number of fluke that remained in the bay. Some reports speculated that fluke departed for the season, but that seemed untrue. Striped bass charters are being booked for autumn, and open-boat trips for fluke are available daily during this final week of fluke season, when no charter is booked. Telephone to reserve. Trips with Papa’s fluked in either the ocean or bay recently.

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

West wind made Raritan Bay a little crummy to fish for fluke on this morning’s trip, so the trip ran down the ocean beach, said Capt. Tom from the party boat <b>Atlantic Star</b>. There was a little ground swell, and Tom thought that might make the fish reluctant to bite. But he was surprised, because fluking was better than he thought it would be, and a few keepers and throwbacks were already tugged in, he said in a phone call aboard at 9:30 a.m., when he gave this report. The fishing was better than at the channels, where the boat fished previously, the last couple of days. A few fluke, not enough, bit on those days aboard, but sizeable ones did. One customer bagged an 8-pounder and a 6-pounder on Sunday morning’s trip, for example. Fluking then was the same at the channels as on the bay. Most of the fish were throwbacks, but some were large. Tom hoped today’s fluking would hold up. The Atlantic Star is fishing for fluke on two trips daily from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 to 6 p.m. through Saturday, the final day of fluke season. Afterward, the trips will bottom-fish for porgies and blackfish.

After fluke season looked like it would be dismal in the first 1 ½ months, the fishing turned out productive in the past couple of months, Capt. Ron from the party boat <b>Fishermen</b> wrote in a report on the vessel’s website. Quality was the word, because once the fishing got going, a fluke had to be large to be a keeper. He remembered no other season when trips aboard decked so many 5- to 10-pounders “and limits to go along with it,” he said. Three fluke weighed more than 10 pounds this year on the boat, and a 9.4-pounder was currently in the lead in the season-long pool. Open-boat trips have been fishing for fluke once daily, each morning to afternoon, on the boat. Charters are booked this Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and daytime, open trips will no longer sail, until striped bass begin to show up. Then the trips will fish for stripers, and Ron hopes that’s by the third week of October. However, nighttime trips are currently sailing for stripers Mondays through Saturdays with Capt. Dan. Telephone him before coming down for a trip at 908-930-2335.

<b>Highlands</b>

Anglers bottom-fished and jigged bluefish throughout the past week on the <b>Hyper Striper</b>, Capt. Pete wrote in an email. J.R. Bristow’s party last Monday scored good porgy fishing and a bunch of sizable triggerfish. On Friday, John Polise’s crew jigged great bluefishing on Raritan Bay. On Saturday, Jack Schmidt’s gang jigged excellent bluefishing on the bay. The Marty Metz group on Sunday jigged some blues and then crushed a mess of jumbo porgies.

<b>Neptune</b>

Tuesday might be the only day possible to fish for fluke, because of weather forecasts, Capt. Ralph from <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b> wrote in an email. An individual-reservation trip will sail for the fish that day, and space is available, and another is full on Thursday. If anglers booked for Thursday call first, Ralph will switch them to Tuesday’s trip. That trip will most likely fish a longer time than scheduled, if the trip finds the fish, and Ralph thinks it will. Fluke season will be closed starting Sunday. A trip this past Sunday was the only that sailed in past days, because of weather. The trip was supposed to fish for cod, but weather was too questionable. So the trip fished the Mudhole instead, cranking in probably 10 cod and 50 ling. On the way in, the trip tried to locate fluke, but that didn’t turn out so well. 

<b>Belmar</b>

<b>XTC Charters</b> has been weathered out, Capt. Scott said. Most trips were supposed to fish for tuna offshore, but were cancelled, because of weather. A trip Saturday tried to sail for bluefish, but turned back, because seas were too rough for the anglers. Tuna fishing was reportedly alright. Lots of yellowfin tuna were chunked at the Fish Tails at Block Canyon at night. That was too far to sail from Belmar, but Hudson Canyon gave up some yellowfin, longfin and bigeye tuna on the chunk.

A trip tried to reach Hudson Canyon to fish for tuna Sunday on the <b>Katie H</b>, but seas pounded the boat, so the trip fished the middle grounds instead, Capt. Mike said. No tuna showed up at the middle grounds, but 50 mahi mahi to 12 pounds were whaled. A friend had reported catching mahi, so the trip ran there. The lobster pot buoys were loaded with the dolphin, and the water was 74 degrees, clear, blue and good looking. Mike guessed that all the east wind lately pushed in the good water. Three overnight tuna trips were weathered out recently aboard. Mike asked the anglers for this trip whether they wanted to attempt to reach the canyon, but if that turned out impossible, did they want to fish the middle grounds? They said yes. Seas were every bit of 4 to 7 feet, and were up to 9 or 10 feet a couple of times, on the way out. Wind calmed later in the day, but too late to sail to the canyon. Mike heard nothing about the Hudson’s fishing, because during the short windows of weather possible to sail to the canyon, nobody he knows made the trip. But tuna surely remained at the Hudson. Forecasts kept calling for seas like 4 to 7 feet or 5 to 8. This week’s forecasts also look like a blowout. Tuna trips to the canyons are slated for Saturday and Sunday to Monday aboard, and Mike hopes the charters get the weather to sail. 

<b>***Update, Tuesday, 9/23:***</b> Seas were stiff on Monday’s trip, and bluefish 8 to 14 pounds were picked on the party boat <b>Miss Belmar Princess</b>, an email from the vessel said. But bluefishing was great on Saturday and Sunday’s trips. The 9- to 15-pounders gave up steady catches, including shots of six and seven fought at once. Those trips fished at the Mudhole, and Monday’s trip fished to the north of Shark River Inlet, the email said. That apparently meant that trip fished closer to shore in the seas and wind.  Bluefishing was also super on Saturday night’s trip for 8- to 15-pounders, and an 18-pounder won the pool. The Miss Belmar Princess is fishing 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily and 7:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. every Friday and Saturday.

Fishing picked at big blues 8 to 12 pounds Sunday on the party boat <b>Golden Eagle</b>, a report on the vessel’s website said. Saturday’s trip picked away at the same-sized blues, and sometimes the fishing was fast, and sometimes lulled. By the end, the trip put together a decent catch. Seas were rough on Friday’s trip in 20- to 25-knot winds, and the anglers picked at blues that were all different sizes, from 4 to 18 pounds. Thursday’s trip banged away at 8- to 12-pounders. The Golden Eagle is bluefishing 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily and 7:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.  Also see the <a href=" http://goldeneaglefishing.com/tuna-reservation.html" target="_blank">Golden Eagle’s tuna schedule</a>.

<b>Brielle</b>

Party boats, large vessels, were almost the only to fish, because of weather, said Eric from <b>The Reel Seat</b>. Some of them steamed far north for tuna at the Fish Tails at Block Canyon, catching well. The trips chunked yellowfin tuna to 80 pounds and a handful of longfin tuna at night. A good population of bigeye tuna seemed mixed in. When smaller boats could sail in short windows of weather, they trolled a bunch of mahi mahi on feathers and jets. They also trolled bonito and a few false albacore on Clark spoons. Boating for fluke on the ocean was kind of picky, and the fish seemed scattered because of the weather. A few were decked, and not much was heard about bottom-fishing, because of weather, and because sea bass season was closed. But bottom-fishing for ling seemed fair. In Manasquan River, fluking remained good. Striped bass were hooked in the river at night along Route 35 Bridge. In the surf, fluke were also slid in, and if anglers put in the time, they landed keepers. The fluke were a by-catch while anglers surf-fished for stripers. Stripers were banked at Sea Girt and Spring Lake on Storm shads and metal-lipped swimmers, mostly at first light, sometimes at dusk. False albacore were fought from the surf here and there, on small tins. Shimano pro staffer Roy Leyva will give the shop’s next free seminar at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 2. He’ll cover both the Shimano Long Cast Surf System and fishing Cape Cod Canal.

A tough past week, mostly because of weather, Capt. Ryan from the party boat <b>Jamaica II</b> wrote in an email. When conditions were right, fluke fishing aboard was good. But when conditions drifted the boat too fast, or when the ocean swell was too much, the angling was tough. Fluke were sometimes even caught on anchor, though drifting is the usual way to fluke. Still, weather looks better for this week, and the crew expects good fluking during this final week of fluke season. The season will be closed starting Sunday. Customers and their catches this past week included: Carl Worthington, Paterson, an 8-pound fluke and three 4-pounders; Charley Hurley, Sea Bright, a limit of fluke including a 7-pounder; and Craig Wilson, Trenton, a limit of fluke to a 6-pounder. Ed Nolan from Manasquan currently led the monthly pool with a 9.2-pound fluke. The Jamaica II will fish for fluke 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 6:30 p.m. daily this Tuesday through Saturday. Mudhole wreck-fishing trips will sail 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Sunday and on October 4, 5, 11, 12 and 15, for ling, cod and winter flounder, and telephone to reserve. Trips will fish for tuna, bonito and false albacore on October 8 and 13, and space is limited, and reservations are also required, and telephone for them. That’s the schedule “as we patiently await the opening of sea bass season on October 8,” Ryan said.

<b>Point Pleasant Beach</b>

Five overnight trips to the offshore canyons were cancelled because of the tough stretch of weather with <b>Mushin Sportfishing</b>, Capt. Alan wrote in an email. The angling was great when boats could reach the water. An inshore trip trolled and jigged lots of bonito and false albacore on Sunday aboard. The trip attempted cod fishing, but abundant sea bass never gave cod a chance at the bait. Mushin means a relaxed state of readiness. The crew pride themselves on sharing the concept on outdoor adventures.

On the party boat <b>Norma-K III</b>, Saturday was another slow day of fluke fishing, Capt. Matt wrote in a report on the vessel’s website. A few keepers and some shorts were pitched aboard. An ocean swell didn’t help, and things were the same during the previous few days. There wasn’t much to report. But Saturday night’s bluefishing trip was decent, picking away at 8- to 15-pounders. That was slower than on the previous couple of nights, but still good fishing. Some anglers caught better than others, but all seemed to leave with fish. The Norma-K III is fishing for fluke on two trips daily from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2 to 6:30 p.m., and for bluefish from 7:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. daily.  When fluke season is closed starting Sunday, the daytime trips will sail for ling and cod 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.

<b>Seaside Heights</b>

Plenty of baitfish schooled the surf, and days were cooler, and wind direction was favorable for fishing the water, John from <b>The Dock Outfitters</b> wrote in a report on the shop’s website. The fall run of fish could start any moment there. Small striped bass began to bite in the water, on metal, swimmers and clams. Surf fishing was good for plenty of small to medium-sized blues and fluke. Island Beach State Park was the best place to find a keeper fluke, because two fluke at 16 inches is the bag limit there, compared with 18 inches and five fluke in the rest of the state. Fluke season will be closed starting Sunday. Surf casters had a chance at “passing” false albacore, so be ready. Albies usually pop into the surf and depart by chance. From the dock, crabbing was a slow pick. Fewer and fewer keepers were nabbed. Baits stocked include eels, fresh mullet, fresh clams and sandworms.  The Dock Outfitters, located on Barnegat Bay, blocks from the ocean surf, features a bait and tackle shop, boat and jet ski rentals in season, a café and a dock for fishing and crabbing.

<b>Barnegat Light</b>

Bluefishing was awesome Sunday on the party boat <b>Miss Barnegat Light</b>, the vessel’s Facebook page said. The blues weighed 1 to 3 pounds, and some bonito were also pasted. A bunch of bonito and some blues were drilled on Saturday aboard. The Miss Barnegat Light is fishing for blues, bonito and false albacore 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday.

<b>Brigantine</b>

A ton of bluefish to 16 inches were banked from the surf, despite terrible conditions, during a surf-fishing tournament on Saturday in town, a report on <b>Riptide Bait & Tackle</b>’s website site. A summer flounder was also eased from the beach during the event. The surf was rough and weedy, and wind blew. One angler checked in a 30-inch striped bass from the back bay that he cracked on a plug while trying for blues.  Temple Fork Outfitters delivered its 11-foot Gary Loomis Tactical Series surf rods to the shop. Stop in to try the rod that “just might be the hottest rod of the fall,” the report said. The pole has a little more backbone than the 10-foot 6-incher, but is just as light. The shop thinks it’ll be a hit.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

Annual traveling charters met the migration of fish off Montauk, New York, this weekend aboard, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b>. The trips, the first of the season, targeting false albacore, striped bass and blues, fished Saturday and Sunday, catching well. “It’s Montauk,” he said. “An awesome place, and an awesome time.” The trips, with Dusty Laricks and John Marin, on Saturday landed a dozen false albacore, a dozen striped bass and probably 20 to 25 blues. The albies were fought mostly on Deadly Dicks, and the rest of the fish were mostly hooked on soft-plastic lures. Dinner-plate-sized porgies and jumbo sea bass were also reel in on the plastics. The blues weighed up to 10 or 12 pounds, and were mostly 5 to 10. The stripers were up to 27 inches, none large, but the angling was fun. On Sunday, the anglers whacked a bunch of albies and 3- to 5-pound blues, smaller than on the previous day. Joe also fly-rodded some of the albies. Lots of albies were around, and the trips will fish until the third week of October.  Saturday’s weather on the trip, fishing 12 hours, ranged from extremely rough to flat-calm seas, every type of condition. Sunday’s was windier, but the fish held at places relatively sheltered. See <a href="http://www.captainjoehughes.com/page3.html" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s traveling charters Web page</a>. Joe also offers traveling charters to the Florida Keys in winter, mostly on weekends. They can be a mini, fish-filled vacation. Joe will keep fishing from Sea Isle City between the Montauk trips, and striper fishing from Sea Isle is good on popper flies and lures on the back bay. A mess of 1- to 3-pound blues are schooling from the bay to the near-shore ocean, and the Sea Isle trips are focused on the bass and blues. Joe probably won’t fish for summer flounder during this final week of flounder season. Keep up with Joe’s fishing on <a href="http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s blog</a>.

<b>Cape May</b>

Most trips were weathered out with <b>Melanie Anne Sport Fishing Charters</b>, Capt. Frank said. But a trip fished for summer flounder Sunday aboard the ocean, bagging five at the Old Grounds and four at Cape May Reef. So that was pretty good, he said, and seas were okay, a little bouncy in the morning, calmer later in the day. A flounder trip is slated for Friday, and a tuna trip is set for Sunday. Take advantage of an end-of-season special on a flounder charter. Get a $100 discount, because flounder season will be closed starting Sunday.

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