<b>Keyport</b>

Striped bass began to bite “during the daytime,” Capt. Frank from the <b>Vitamin Sea</b> wrote in an email. “Eels have been producing as well as jigs and trolling.” Bring a bonus tag on striper trips to bag an extra one. False albacore and bluefish schooled under birds. Fall is here, and fish are here that anglers waited for. Let’s fish! he said. Also, porgy fishing is still excellent. Two spots are available for an open-boat trip Wednesday. Friday is available for an open trip or charter. One space is left for an open trip Saturday. Next week, Monday and Tuesday are available for an open trip or charter, and one space is left for an open trip Thursday. Telephone to reserve, and spaces book quickly, so don’t wait.

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

Twice-daily porgy trips fished every day until being weathered out Sunday on the <b>Atlantic Star</b>, Capt. Tom said. Remnants of Hurricane Matthew arrived that day that had been forecast to push offshore before reaching this far north. Porgies were still pitched aboard the trips, not as well as earlier this season, but all anglers left with dinner. Anglers who brought crabs for bait clocked a couple of blackfish, and a couple of triggerfish began to be landed lately. Some places held blackfish, and all places held porgies. Trips had to move around to put together catches of porgies, but the fishing was good enough for all anglers to bag some. Good-sized, out-of-season sea bass were released. Fishing dealt with easterly weather a week. Anglers now would see whether Sunday’s weather affected fishing.  The Atlantic Star is fishing for porgies and blackfish 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 to 6 p.m. daily.

<b>Highlands</b>

Want blackfish? <b>Lady M Charters</b> for now began fishing for the tautog from Brooklyn, N.Y., where blackfish season opened Wednesday, with a bag limit of four of the fish 16 inches or larger. The fish chewed very well, Capt. Steve said, on jigs and rigs with green crabs. Lots of good-sized were plastered, and charters and open-boat trips are fishing. New Jersey’s blackfish limit is one currently.

<b>Neptune</b>

Capt. Ralph from <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b> and Capt. Nick had a trip for cod offshore Saturday, Ralph wrote in an email. Only one cod was bagged, but dinner-plate-sized porgies came in, and giant, out-of-season sea bass were released at every spot fished. “So many fish we could not even get to the ling or cod,” he wrote. The sea bass looked great for the opening of sea bass season beginning October 22, and one space is available apiece for individual-reservation trips for sea bass that day and October 23 and 28. Fifteen sea bass 13 inches or larger will be the bag limit. More of the trips will be added for November, and individual-reservation trips for striped bass will also sail. Charters are available, and Ralph is now running trips on Nick’s boat, because the Last Lady blew an engine. The trips are for up to six passengers, and Nick’s boat, the Lock and Load, sails from Sea View Marina, from the middle dock, at 120 Sea Spray Lane in Neptune. <b>***Update, Tuesday, 10/11:***</b> An individual-reservation trip will fish Sunday at inshore wrecks for giant porgies, cod, ling and blackfish, Ralph wrote in an email. Individual-reservation trips for sea bass have been added for October 26 and 29. All other individual-reservation trips are full in October. An individual-reservation trip will blackfish November 19, the day the bag limit is increased to six of the tautog, from the current limit of one. More of the blackfish trips will be added, and Ralph plans to blackfish until the tog stop biting. His trips fished for them into February this past year. Only a few dates remain for striped bass charters, and November is the month, he said.

<b>Belmar</b>

A trip on a Belmar charter boat trolled striped bass including 15-pounders and a 31-pounder Saturday, Bob from <b>Fisherman’s Den</b> wrote in an email. “Looks like it’s starting,” he said, and surf fishing for stripers was improving. The fish were mostly plugged on Daiwa SP Minnows and poppers, and some were clammed and sandwormed. Party boats docked big bluefish and some false albacore. Jonathan Schulenberger nailed a 12-pound 4-ounce bonito on the party boat Golden Eagle from Belmar. That’s a big one. Blackfishing at inlets served up the best action. Thirty, mostly throwbacks, could be landed in a couple of hours. “(But) we have seen some keepers to 5 pounds,” he said. Winter flounder were yet to migrate to Shark River. But one was reeled from Shark River Inlet. “So it won’t be long,” he said. <b>***Update, Monday, 10/10:***</b> Winter flounder and kingfish, kings that were on the large size, were lifted from the river today, Bob wrote in an email. Sandworms and bloodworms caught best. Ramon Iglesias from Tinton Falls brought in a 5-pound 10-ounce blackfish, the largest seen from the river today at the store. Some good-sized were angled from the river today.

Boaters began to troll striped bass on the ocean to the north, said Capt. Mike from the <b>Katie H</b>. Weather’s becoming chillier and rough, and maybe fishing for stripers, fish that prefer those conditions, will begin early this season. The boat is supposed to fish for tuna this weekend at the offshore canyons. If slow fishing for tuna is reported, maybe the anglers will want to fish for stripers or bottom-fish like ling instead.  Tuna season’s been one of the toughest Mike’s seen. Either weather prevented the fishing or the fish held 140 miles away. But good catches were made in weather windows recently. Big bluefish were caught. Sea bass season will open beginning October 22, and trips will jump on them, too, aboard.

<b>Parker Pete’s Fishing Charters</b> will soon look for striped bass that began to be trolled on the ocean, Capt. Pete said. Large bluefish schooled the ocean. Porgies bit in the ocean like before, and trips are available, including some in October and plenty in November and December. Striper fishing is a focus aboard during the fall striper migration, and blackfish are hunted later in the season on the boat.  Don’t have enough anglers for a charter? Contact Parker Pete’s anyway about individual spaces available on charters. Sign up for the email blast on <a href=" http://www.parkerpetefishing.com/" target="_blank">Parker Pete’s website</a> to be kept informed about the spaces.

Monster bluefish to 19 pounds were smashed until the trips were weathered out Sunday and today on the <b>Miss Belmar Princess</b>, an email from the party boat said. Excellent fishing, including on Saturday, on the most recent trip. The trip, fishing at hills offshore of Belmar, marked tremendous readings. The trip held 10- to 18-pound blues the whole time, and up to seven and eight of the fish were hooked at once in shots. Bait held an advantage over jigs to catch them, and the Miss Belmar Princess is fishing for blues 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.

Jumbo bluefish, first-rate catches, were pounded Thursday through Saturday on the <b>Golden Eagle</b>, a report said on the party boat’s website. A couple of bonito were mixed in Friday, including a 12-1/2-pound whopper. On a trip Saturday night, jumbo blues to 20 pounds began biting as soon as the anchor was dropped, and never stopped on the trip, “in some very wet conditions,” the report said. Rain fell the whole time, but the ocean wasn’t rough. Bluefishing trips are usually fishing during daytime, from 7:30 to 2:30, but another will fish at night this coming Saturday. A tuna trip was weathered out that was supposed to fish Sunday to today.  See about <a href=" https://www.goldeneaglefishing.com/tunafish" target="_blank">tuna trips</a> on the boat’s website.

<b>Brielle</b>

Striped bass 30 to 35 inches began to bite at Shrewsbury Rocks, nothing spectacular, but some were boated, said Eric from <b>The Reel Seat</b>. They were trolled on umbrella rigs in white or chartreuse. Porgy fishing was good at usual spots including rocks and rough bottom in the ocean off Raritan Bay and at Sandy Hook Reef. Although one is the blackfish bag limit, catch-and-release fishing was phenomenal for the tautog on the ocean. Many bit, and some were sizable. False albacore showed up sometimes at Sandy Hook still. Boating for them was best, and sometimes surf anglers ran across them. Boaters banged away at albies at the Mudhole, and mahi mahi departed the Mudhole for the year, pretty much. In the local surf, striped bass fishing wasn’t great but worth doing. A couple of the bass were picked from the water. At night? Eric was asked. First thing in the mornings and late in the afternoons, he said. Daiwa SP Minnows, rubber shads, bucktails and popper lures, “kind of standard early-season fare,” hooked them. Some bluefish tumbled the surf. Manasquan River gave up small stripers, a couple of keepers, on bucktails and small plugs. Eels picked away at them. In Point Pleasant Canal, blackfishing was very good, not giving up lots of keepers, but a few. For offshore boaters, Hudson Canyon seemed to turn out a small handful of longfin tuna and yellowfin tuna. Lots of good water was moving into the area, so anglers hoped the fishing would become better and better. The Hudson’s boaters banged away at mahi mahi.

<b>Point Pleasant Beach</b>

<b>***Update, Tuesday, 10/11:***</b> Stormy weather and rough seas kept tuna trips from sailing lately on the <b>Gambler</b>, the party boat’s Facebook page said. But one of the trips fished Friday to Saturday, traveling far, fishing Hudson Canyon’s east wall. Good life was found in the 72-degree water. A 150-pound mako shark was decked at night. Squid swam the water in the dark, and were caught for bait. No tuna showed up until some bit from 6 to 7:30 a.m. Only one, a 60-pound yellowfin, was landed. Once no more bit, the anchor was picked up, and the boat took off for mahi mahi fishing. Those fish gave up terrific action. Don’t forget, the Facebook page said: when you’re in mahi water, you’re also in tuna and wahoo water. If you’d like, pump an 8-ounce jig deep, or “weigh up” with a whole sardine and fish. A 48-hour tuna trip is supposed to depart at 12 noon Wednesday aboard. “Hopefully the canyons will be good to customers and crew,” the page said. See the schedule of <a href="http://www.gamblerfishing.net/offshoretrips.php " target="_blank">tuna trips</a> and reservation info on the boat’s website.

Good porgy fishing was scooped from the ocean Thursday on the <b>Norma-K III</b>, a report said on the party boat’s website. Anglers who brought crabs for bait bagged a few blackfish on the trip. None of the bottom-fishing trips sailed Friday through Sunday, sometimes because weather canceled the fishing, other times because too few anglers showed up, apparently because of forecasts. Nighttime trips on Friday and Saturday hammered bluefish, 4- to 15-pounders the first night, 8- to 15-pounders the second, super catches. More and more blues should funnel in, and trips will keep after them as long as they remain. The boat fished for them until the end of November last year.  Trips are bottom-fishing 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily and are bluefishing 7:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

<b>Seaside Heights</b>

Small bluefish ran the surf, a report said on <b>The Dock Outfitters</b>’ website. Cut bunker or mullet will draw bites, but small popper lures, small metal and small swimming lures are a good bet, too.  The Dock Outfitters, located on Barnegat Bay, blocks from the ocean surf, features a bait and tackle shop, a café, a dock for fishing and crabbing and, in season, boat rentals and jet-ski rentals.

<b>Barnegat Light</b>

Six yellowfin tuna 60 to 80 pounds, a 70-pound swordfish and a bunch of mahi mahi to 20 pounds were boated on a trip Friday to Saturday on the <b>Super Chic</b>, Capt. Ted said. Not a bad catch, considering rough weather recently, he said. The fish were caught south of Wilmington Canyon, 92 miles from port. The tuna and swordfish were hooked at night, and the mahi were landed during daytime, while the trip “pot hopped,” fishing at lobster-pot buoys. Tuna might’ve been beginning to show up at Hudson Canyon, closer to port. A handful were bagged there, and anglers will see whether the number grows. Weather wasn’t bad on the trip. “I wouldn’t call it rough,” he said, and weather was calm on the sail back to port Saturday. Bluefish trips are slated for Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and fishing sounded good for big ones, 10 and 15 pounds, at the reef.

The year’s first tuna trip sailed Friday to Saturday on the <b>Miss Barnegat Light</b>, a report said on the party boat’s website. But the fishing, at Baltimore Canyon, was tough. Bait schooled the 76-degree water, and things looked “really good,” the boat’s Facebook page said. Then hundreds of dolphins showed up. The boat was moved, and dolphins showed up again. A few sharks bit at night, and mahi mahi were picked in the morning. Two more of the trips were weathered out that were supposed to depart Saturday and Sunday. The boat is fishing on <a href="http://www.missbarnegatlight.com/TunaFishing.html" target="_blank">tuna trips</a> exclusively throughout the month. Trips will jig for striped bass in November.

<b>Forked River</b>

<b>Tuna-Tic Sportfishing</b> is next supposed to fish for tuna Wednesday to Thursday in a weather window, Capt. Mike said. The last trip scored well on yellowfin tuna aboard, covered in the last report here, and also mahi mahi and a wahoo. Boaters seemed to still pick the tuna afterward, and nighttime fishing for the tuna might’ve slowed somewhat since the last trip. But anglers can’t always go by reports. Reports were similar before Tuna-Tic’s last trip, and the trip caught. Anglers just have to work at the fishing. Mike sailed the ocean a couple of hours on a trip in past days to see if any striped bass arrived. He didn’t look long for them, because he spoke with a couple of boaters during the trip who were on the water and found none.

<b>Brigantine</b>

Safe to say that bluefish are still swimming the surf, a report said on <b>Riptide Bait & Tackle</b>’s website. A couple of keeper striped bass were picked off in the surf, and surely were resident, non-migrating fish. The migration of stripers will arrive before long. The ocean cooled to 67 degrees. Now was a time to work the back bay’s sod banks or other structure for resident stripers with plugs or eels, and a good batch of eels was just stocked.

<b>Longport</b>

Fishing sailed Saturday on the <b>Stray Cat</b> on the ocean, Capt. Mike said. Conditions weren’t great but fishable, definitely. Trolling fish like false albacore or blues was mostly the goal, and slammer blues were trolled at Atlantic City Ridge on the trip. Croakers, spike weakfish, a few porgies and a kingfish were cranked in during bottom-fishing on the outing. Those were found in 80 feet of water, and fish were migrating. The ocean temperature dropped to 68 degrees. A trip was canceled Sunday, because the remnants of Hurricane Matthew arrived. The storm was supposed to head offshore before reaching locally. Out-of-season sea bass, lots, bit and were released during the bottom-fishing. Sea bass held in 80 to 100 feet, and the season will be opened beginning October 22. A few spaces are available for open-boat sea bass trips October 26 and 28, and a charter is available Saturday, October 29. Open sea bass trips are also available December 13, 22 and 28, before sea bass season is closed beginning January 1. Charters this fall will also fish for a combo of striped bass and blackfish. Like every year, a special open trip will blackfish 8 a.m. to 12 noon on Thanksgiving, and another will sail 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on New Year’s Eve Day. Cast and Blast Trips, a combo of fishing and duck hunting, will be available this fall, like every year. Telephone if interested.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

Trips to Montauk, N.Y., were weathered out Sunday and today aboard, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b>. But one of the trips fished Saturday, with Jim Campbell and friends. Lots of blues 3 to 8 pounds, three false albacore and a small, schoolie striped bass were jigged on metal. Weather was okay, and rain fell later in the day. Annual trips to the historic port are fishing the migrations of stripers, blues and albies through the weekend of October 22 to 23, before Joe turns all attention to fishing the migrations of stripers and blues off Sea Isle City. Annual traveling charters also fish the Florida Keys each winter, and see the <a href=" http://www.captainjoehughes.com/page3.html" target="_blank">traveling charters’ page</a> on Jersey Cape’s website. Keep up with Joe’s fishing on <a href="http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s Blog</a>.

<b>Avalon</b>

<b>Fins and Feathers Outfitters</b> was hosting anglers for salmon fishing on upstate New York’s Salmon River from Capt. Jim’s lodge, he said. This was about the peak of the river’s salmon migration, and one trip already fished for them in past days from the lodge, hooking two salmon that got off. The water was low, and not a lot of salmon fresh from Lake Ontario swam the river at the moment. Many anglers pressured the salmon that already arrived. More of the fishing would work the river in the next days from the lodge. Fins can book fishing guides for the lodge’s anglers, or the anglers can fish on their own, or Jim and crew can show the anglers how to fish for the salmon, and the anglers can fish on their own afterward. Steelhead fishing will be next on the river, later this fall through early spring. Guests also book the lodge for snowmobiling in winter. From New Jersey, Fins will fish for striped bass in Delaware Bay and the ocean this season, when the migration of them arrives. Trips will also hunt ducks and geese from the water and fields in New Jersey. Waterfowl trips are being booked including for sea ducks, brant and geese during the different seasons for the hunting. The next season is in November. Anglers can even enjoy a combo of striped bass fishing and duck hunting on Delaware Bay or the ocean over a series of days this season. The waterfowling also hunts in neighboring states, following the migrations. Fins offers a variety of outdoor adventures. That also includes fly-fishing for trout on Pennsylvania’s streams like the Yellow Breeches.

<b>Cape May</b>

Wind blew and rain fell, said Capt. George from the <b>Heavy Hitter</b>. None of the fleet fished in past days, he thought. He was at the boat Sunday and changed the oil. Rain fell pretty hard, and wind blew pretty strongly. A trip was canceled Tuesday on the Heavy Hitter. That was after a trip fished offshore aboard Monday, covered in the last report here. Tuna trips will fish offshore if the fish are around and anglers want to sail for them. Sea bass trips will begin October 22, opening day of sea bass season. Charters for striped bass and blackfish will sail later this season. Telephone if interested in any of this fishing.

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