<b>Staten Island</b>

The six anglers aboard limited out on sea bass Sunday with <b>Outcast Charters</b>, though the fishing took running around to do that, Capt. Joe said. Lots of 13- and 13-1/2-inch throwbacks were tossed back, but lots of good-sized keepers 3 pounds were sacked, and many sea bass hooked were larger than the 14-inch size limit. The trip fished in 40 to 70 feet on the ocean, and no other fish like cod or fluke were mixed in that were on some recent trips. Sea bass season is open in New York but closed in New Jersey. Outcast fishes from both Staten Island, N.Y., and Sewaren, N.J.

<b>Keyport</b>

Action with fluke was good, but the keeper ratio dropped considerably, after Thursday, Capt. Frank from the <b>Vitamin Sea</b> wrote in an email. A trip Thursday totaled 14 keepers among 75 fluke hooked. Just a handful of keepers were boated on trips Saturday and Sunday. “Very strange fluke season, for sure,” he said. A trip Friday was cancelled because of forecasts for rain, thunder and lightning that never happened. The water was warm, and fluke were warm to the touch. Tons of small fluke were around, and that should be good for years to come. Trips this week will work other areas to find better-sized fluke. Those places might not give up steady action with throwbacks, like previous places did, but should produce good-sized keepers, and a chance at real doormats, for anglers willing to work hard. No guarantees, Frank said, but the new places can’t produce worse sizes than the old. Open-boat trips are set for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, unless charters book any of the days. Frank might run a 12-hour, open trip on one of those days, if enough anglers are interested. Text or call him if interested.

Fluke fishing was tough this past week, up and down, giving up lots of throwbacks, and keepers mixed in, said Capt. Mario from the <b>Down Deep Fleet</b>. Ling and cod fishing was super, excellent. Charters are fishing, and the Down Deep will sail open-boat for ling and cod daily, and the Down Deep Bull will run open daily for fluke, this week. Those are the company’s two 40-foot boats. Join the <a href=" http://www.downdeepsportfishing.com/ddsf/76-2/" target="_blank">Short Notice List</a> on Down Deep’s website to be kept informed about special open trips. Also see the site’s open-trips page for available dates. Open trips include 12-hour marathons, both for fluke or ling and cod.

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

A 10.6-pound fluke, the biggest aboard this season, was plastered Friday on the fundraising trip for the Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund on the party boat <b>Fishermen</b>, Capt. Ron wrote in a report on the vessel’s website. Chris Wilson from Bloomsburg hauled in the fish, and a few anglers reeled up good-sized keepers. The trip picked away at throwbacks and some keepers in the morning. But northwest wind and incoming tide combined to eliminate any chance of the boat drifting afterward. The hot hand caught far too many 17-1/2-fluke, an inch under keeper-sized, and one keeper. Great group of anglers, and much respect to each for the support, and that won’t be forgotten, Ron said. He thanked Dave Daley for putting the trip together. “This day was a success, for sure!” Ron said. No reports were posted after Friday on the boat’s site at press time. The Fishermen is sailing for fluke 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. Trips are fishing for fluke, porgies, croakers or whatever bites 6:30 to 11:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 3:30 to 9 p.m. Sundays.

On the party boat <b>Atlantic Star</b>, fluke fishing was slower the past few days than Capt. Tom would like, he said. All trips fished, on Raritan Bay and at Flynn’s Knoll, and wind was sometimes tough on fishing, and the trips tried to fish places where the wind affected the angling less. Almost all anglers hooked throwbacks, at least, when conditions were right, and a few keepers per trip were picked up. Some anglers landed two, three, six or seven throwbacks apiece, not the high numbers like earlier this season. No especially large fluke were bagged, and a 5-3/4-pounder was on Saturday. The crew was making the best of it, trying to show customers a good time.  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.

<b>Neptune</b>

A trip was cancelled Saturday with <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b>, Capt. Ralph said. “Too nasty,” he said, but an inshore wreck-fishing trip smashed cod, pollock and ling Sunday aboard. That fishing remained great, and two spaces are available on an individual-reservation sea bass trip October 22, opening day of sea bass season. Individual-reservation trips are full for inshore wreck-fishing Sunday and offshore cod fishing September 2. More individual-reservation trips will be scheduled for dates that aren’t booked with charters, but many dates are full. Charters are available daily. Individual-reservation fluke trips are fishing every Tuesday, and kids under 12 sail free on those outings, limited to two per adult host. Anything to say about fluking? Ralph was asked. “We’ll see Tuesday,” he said!

<b>Belmar</b>

Blues, false albacore and mackerel gave up good catches Thursday and decent ones Friday on the <b>Golden Eagle</b>, a report on the party boat’s website said. The ocean was “downright nasty” Saturday morning, but once the wind began calming, the trip picked at mackerel. Fishing aboard wasn’t as good Sunday as recently, probably because the ocean was “snippy,” the report said, from the northeast wind. But blues and mackerel were caught.  The Golden Eagle is fishing at 7:30 a.m. daily. Fishing and sunset cruises are sailing at 4:30 p.m. daily, and reservations are required for those outings.

Bluefish, all the mackerel anglers wanted and a 150-pound stingray were pulled in today, on the ocean east of Shark River Inlet, on the <b>Miss Belmar Princess</b>, an email from the party boat said. The ray was released, and on Saturday’s trip, fishing began slowly, but gradually became solid. Mackerel fishing was excellent at the end of the trip. On Saturday night’s trip, a few blues were landed, but fishing was tough. The Miss Belmar Princess is fishing for blues 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily and 7:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. every Saturday. Family Fun Days are sailing 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. every Friday and Sunday for fluke, sea bass, blues or whatever bites. The trips enjoy a sunset cruise on the way home. Those trips beat a few blues and some mackerel, and had good action on throwback fluke and throwback, out-of-season sea bass, this Friday and Sunday.

<b>Brielle</b>

<b>***Update, Tuesday, 8/25:***</b> Good fishing Monday, Capt. Ryan from the party boat <b>Jamaica II</b> wrote in an email. Fluke were batted aboard on every drop, at wrecks as far as 18 miles from shore. Hefty ling were whacked, and huge, out-of-season sea bass were let go. Sung Huang from New Brunswick limited out on fluke to a 7-pound 12-ouncer, and Effingham Smith from Princeton limited on fluke to 6 pounds. Gary Berger from Trenton limited on fluke to 5 pounds. Most trips aboard are fishing rough bottom in 55 to 85 feet.  Half-day trips are fishing for fluke 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. All-Day Fluke Marathons have been fishing 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every Monday, and that will continue through this Monday, the final Monday in August. Fluke Super Marathons will fish 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the Mondays of September 7, 14 and 21, before fluke season is closed starting September 27. Afterward, trips will include ones for: bluefin tuna, false albacore and bonito; 12-hour, deep-water wreck-fishing; and cod specials. Sea bass trips will begin when sea bass season is opened starting October 22.

A few bigeye tuna were boated at the 100 Square at Hudson Canyon and the tip of the canyon, said Eric from <b>The Reel Seat</b>. Trolling for them in evenings caught most, but a handful were chunked or  jigged at night. A few white marlin, blue marlin and sailfish were trolled in the area. Closer to shore, yellowfin tuna, a small handful of bluefin tuna, some wahoos and plenty of white marlin swam from the Bacardi wreck to the tip of the Hudson. The fish were trolled, but sometimes the tuna were jigged and chunked, when a pile of the fish could be found. Fishing for cod and pollock seemed to pick up last week, compared with the previous week, at wrecks in the Texas Tower area. Ling fishing was pretty good, and high hooks landed 20 to 50 apiece. The size of ling “wasn’t really there,” but plenty were caught. Fluke fishing was up and down on the ocean, like all summer. Some were taken off the Mantoloking pipe and Bay Head in 30 to 40 feet. Some were picked off the Red Church. Ocean fluking wasn’t great, but some of the fish were around. Boats fishing for bluefish knocked the socks off chub mackerel and a few Spanish mackerel. In Manasquan River, fluke fishing picked up. Quite a few keepers were hung from the wall at Manasquan Inlet at Point Pleasant Beach on Sunday morning. Gulps caught, but so did bait like Peruvian smelt. Striped bass were hooked off the tip of the jetty at night on clams. Stripers were fought at the river’s bridges at night on small plugs and jigs. The river was loaded with snapper blues, and spearing under floats hooked them best.

<b>Point Pleasant Beach</b>

<b>***Update, Tuesday, 8/25:***</b> A group climbed aboard for an annual offshore adventure, Capt. Alan from <b>Mushin Sportfishing</b> wrote in an email this morning. Though the anglers over the years had scored productive catches aboard, they had never caught a bigeye tuna on the boat. So the overnight trip was set up to fish for mahi mahi during daytime, bigeyes in the evening and whatever could be hooked at night. Mahi fishing’s been excellent, and the trip, after arriving in the afternoon at a “local canyon,” Alan said, got into great fishing for the dolphins to 8 pounds on light spinning rods. Then the trip headed for the bigeye fishing grounds. Before the trolling spread was completely set out, a white marlin was hooked briefly and spit the hook. Next, a 40-pound yellowfin tuna was landed. At 7:30 p.m., a bigeye tuna was hooked, and was landed, after a 40-minute fight. The bigeye was the biggest this season aboard, estimated to weigh 275 pounds. The crew was unsure what fish would show up that night. The boat was drifted into the deep, in the dark, and small yellowfin tuna appeared, corralling a pod of flying fish. The anglers broke out jigs and landed a bunch, though some of the yellowfins were released, because they were barely legal-sized. Up on the troll in the morning, the trip went 1 for 2 on longfin tuna, before a “long, bumpy ride in,” Alan said. Mushin means a relaxed state of readiness. The crew pride themselves on sharing the concept on outdoor adventures.

Fluke bit on some days, and on others, “we sit there and scratch our heads,” Capt. Matt from the party boat <b>Norma-K III</b> wrote in a report on the vessel’s website. A good bunch of the fish, throwbacks and keepers, bit on Friday afternoon. But the angling was slow on Saturday and Sunday. Carl Hart led the monthly pool with a 7-pound 8-ounce fluke. Big fluke were around, and anglers just needed to “catch the right day to get the right bite!” Matt wrote. On nighttime trips, bluefishing was good for 1- to 3-pounders, and a few mackerel were hooked, at first last week. The fishing was tough during the weekend, and only a few of the fish were hooked. Matt expected clams to be carried aboard the trips currently, in case the fishing needs to target ling and cod. Weather looks great this week. The Norma-K III is fishing for fluke 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2 to 6:30 p.m. daily and for blues 7:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. daily.

<b>Barnegat Light</b>

A tuna trip wasn’t too bad Tuesday aboard, trolling five small yellowfin tuna and some skipjacks, said Capt. Ted from the <b>Super Chic</b>. Mid-range? he was asked. Pretty far from shore, he said. “It wasn’t inshore, I’ll tell you that,” he said. Fluke fishing on the ocean aboard was pretty good during the week and slowed during the weekend, and conditions weren’t good. Wind blew fairly strong Saturday. The next offshore tuna fishing is slated for September on the boat. An inshore tuna trip is scheduled for later this week, but nothing was doing with the angling currently. Ted will speak with the anglers and see what they want to do, if the fish fail to show up before the trip. Some weekdays are available for striped bass charters in November and sea bass charters in late October and in November.

<b>Beach Haven</b>

The <b>June Bug</b> was supposed to fish for tuna offshore Sunday, but the trip was cancelled, because of forecasts for wind and seas, Capt. Lindsay said. He knew about four boats that attempted to make the trip from Beach Haven to Atlantic City, and they returned by 1 p.m., because of the conditions. “They all survived,” he said!

<b>Mystic Island</b>

Garden State Reef South and Little Egg Reef produced good summer flounder fishing, a report said Friday on the <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b>’s website. That was the most recent report at press time, and if anglers needed to lose $50 in tackle in the structure to bag the fish, sometimes that was necessary. Staying on the structure was key. Bring green crabs to bag a limit of one blackfish per angler at the structure. Garden State Reef South fished well for the tautog. Beautiful, out-of-season sea bass bit at structure like that. About 3 miles off the Red Tower, in 60 feet of water or deeper, was another great place for flounder this time of year. Snapper blues, baby sea bass and white perch chomped in lagoons. Perch fishing was wonderful along Mullica River. The fish had to be located in deeper holes, but once they were, they wouldn’t stop hitting. Sharks were caught and released in Great Bay and at Little Egg Inlet in evenings, and 4-gallon buckets of bunker chum and frozen mackerel were stocked that could be used for the angling.  Crabbing was awesome, and lots of the blueclaws were trapped in lagoons, along Seven Bridges Road and anywhere along the bay and back creeks.

<b>Brigantine</b>

Brown sharks were back in the surf, and an angler and buddy beached six on Friday from the island’s north end, a report on <b>Riptide Bait & Tackle</b>’s website said. Browns must be released by law, and the fence was removed that had blocked beach-buggy access to the north end. Kingfish nibbled in the surf, and kingfish heads made great brown shark bait. The kings pounced on bloodworms, and the worms were stocked, including jumbos. The kings banked were smaller than usual the last couple of days, the shop’s Facebook page said.  Summer flounder could be hooked at the cove, if anglers fished early in the day, before foot and boat traffic picked up. The flounder included plenty of throwbacks and a keeper here and there. Pens arrived at the shop to keep spots live. Fishing for spots was hit and miss, but the ones anglers caught could be kept in the pens.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

A group aboard Sunday fought and released brown, spinner and dusky sharks to 130 pounds, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b>. Seas were somewhat bumpy at first, after days of northeast wind, but ended up not bad. No trip fished Saturday, because seas and wind were a little sloppy. An angler and sons aboard Friday fought and released sharks, a dozen, if Joe remembered, including a hammerhead, big duskies, browns and spinners to 100 pounds. On Thursday a family aboard landed rudderfish, amberjacks and blues on the ocean. That was fun, Joe said, and they wanted to try striped bass fishing with popper lures in the back bay, though the tide wasn’t right, in the middle of the day. No stripers bit, but the striper fishing’s been good when high tides have coincided with evenings, ideal conditions that come around every two weeks. Summer flounder fishing’s still okay on the ocean and bay. More keepers are biting in the ocean. Coming soon, annual traveling charters will begin on September 18 that fish from Montauk, N.Y., for striped bass, blues and false albacore. Annual traveling charters to the Florida Keys will fish from Christmas to Easter.  Visit <a href=" http://www.captainjoehughes.com/page3.html" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s traveling charters Web page</a>. Keep up with Joe’s fishing on <a href="http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s Blog</a>.

<b>Avalon</b>

A couple of keeper summer flounder and a couple of throwbacks were cranked from Wildwood, Ocean City and Atlantic City reefs on the ocean on trips last Monday and Tuesday with <b>Fins and Feathers Outfitters</b>, Capt. Jim said. Good-sized, out-of-season sea bass were released. Salmon usually enter the mouth of upstate New York’s Salmon River by Labor Day, and Jim’s season’s first guests are booked to fish for them in early October from his lodge nearby. The salmon migration usually fills the river then, and the angling is world-class. Jim can set up guides for the anglers, or anglers can fish on their own. Or he and crew can show anglers how to fish for the salmon, and the anglers can fish on their own the rest of the time. Fins and Feathers offers a variety of outdoor adventures, including saltwater fishing from Avalon from the ocean to the back bays and Delaware Bay. Guided hunts shoot ducks and geese on Delaware Bay and in nearby states during the waterfowl seasons. Those dates should be booked now for fall and winter. Anglers can even enjoy a combo of striped bass fishing and duck hunting on Delaware Bay in fall, over a series of days. Guests at the lodge fish for salmon in fall, go snowmobiling in winter, and fish for steelheads in spring. Fins also guides fly-fishing for trout on Pennsylvania’s streams like the Yellow Breeches.

<b>Wildwood</b>

All the bluefish that anglers could want were pounded all week with <b>Fins & Grins Sportfishing</b>, Capt. Jim said. Anglers aboard yanked on four and five at once at Cape May Channel on Sunday evening, when he gave this report in a phone call on the boat. Summer flounder fishing was no good on a couple of trips in past days. Weather didn’t cooperate recently, but surely a few keeper flounder swam ocean reefs. Inshore sharking is still an option aboard. Trips for sea bass, blackfish and striped bass are available this fall. They’re beginning to book up, and trips available include ones for large groups to 10 people. Fins fishes for any species available. Trips fish every day, and reservations aren’t required but suggested. Telephone for availability.

<b>Cape May</b>

Fishing for summer flounder was okay on the ocean Friday, bagging some to 24 or 25 inches, on the <b>Heavy Hitter</b>, Capt. George said. Seas and wind were rough, though forecasts didn’t call for that. Anglers who fished for them Sunday said catches were slow. The Heavy Hitter inshore shark fished Sunday, and that was good. A trip Saturday on the boat found plenty of kingfish to bag, small weakfish, some croakers and, late in the tide, 10- and 12-inch bluefish off Cape May Point. Blues also schooled 5-Fathom Bank in the ocean lately. George knew about anglers who competed in last week’s MidAtlantic $500,000 offshore tournament from Cape May, and mostly small white marlin were hooked during the event. Not a lot of tuna were around. Bigeye tuna were landed here and there at Washington and Wilmington canyons. Yellowfin tuna weren’t being heard about.

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