<b>Staten Island</b>

Trips fished for fluke every day from Staten Island on the <b>Vitamin Sea</b> since New Jersey’s fluke season closed Wednesday, Capt. Frank wrote in an email. Trips fluked from Keyport, N.J., until then aboard. Strong wind was tough on fluking in past days, but the trips from Staten Island found pockets of mixed-sized fluke. The boat will target that angling through Sept. 21, New York’s final day of fluke season. Afterward, the boat will be returned to Keyport. Trips from Keyport will bottom fish at first and begin striped bass fishing in October. That’s not long from now, and book striper charters while dates are available. “Get your dose of Vitamin Sea!”

<b>Keyport</b>

Porgy fishing locked into fantastic catches with the <b>Down Deep Fleet</b>, Capt. Mario said. Lots of the fish were jumbos to 3 ½ pounds, and open-boat trips are sailing for them and blackfish daily, and charters are available. Sign up for the Short Notice List on <a href="http://downdeepsportfishing.com" target="_blank">Down Deep’s website</a> to be kept informed about special trips. Look for the link underneath “Contact.” Book fall striped bass, sea bass and blackfish charters and open trips.

<b>Leonardo</b>

Capt. Joe from <b>Sour Kraut Sportfishing</b> just got a report about schoolie striped bass trolled on shad umbrella rigs, he wrote in an email this morning. Blackfish began to snap at Sandy Hook Reef and Shrewsbury Rocks. Sour Kraut will keep fishing for porgies that bit well for trips aboard, and mix in catching limits of one blackfish per angler. That will be between tuna fishing that improved at offshore canyons. The tuna were trolled and began to be chunked.

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

Another excellent day of porgy fishing, a report said about Sunday on the <b>Fishermen</b> on the party boat’s website. Catches included double-headers and good-sized, and all anglers left with plenty of meat. The boat began fishing for porgies daily on Friday, and Friday’s and Saturday’s trips fished similar. The vessel previously fished for fluke daily, until fluke season closed Wednesday. On the porgy trips, blowfish, blues, jacks and out-of-season fluke and sea bass were mixed in. Trips are fishing for porgies 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.

All anglers bagged porgies on the party boat <b>Atlantic Star</b>, Capt. Tom said. The fishing went pretty darn well, he said, and everybody had a good time. A couple of triggerfish were mixed in, and some out-of-season sea bass were released. Bring a rod that can handle a heavy sinker, because trips fished between the channels in strong current. Sometimes 10-ounce sinkers were fished. Bring a bucket or cooler to keep the fish, too. A few buckets are available aboard, and trips are fishing for porgies 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 to 6 p.m. daily. <b>***Update, Monday, 9/11:***</b> Porgy fishing continued to be very good on today’s trips, Tom said. All customers bagged them, weather’s been great and now’s the time. <b>***Update, Tuesday, 9/12:***</b> Fishing for porgies remained as good as you want, Tom said after today’s trips. Each trip fished only one drop, and each angler landed more porgies than they wanted. <a href="http://www.atlanticstarfishing.com/index.php/photo-gallery/2017" target="_blank">See photos</a> of some of the catches lately.

<b>Neptune</b>

A great catch of porgies and triggerfish was pounded with the Resone Electric charter Friday on the ocean with <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b>, Capt. Ralph wrote in an email. Individual-reservation trips will fish for porgies Sept. 20 and sea bass Oct. 24.

<b>Belmar</b>

<b>***Update, Monday, 9/11:***</b> Conditions were tough, and no fish would bite in mornings this weekend, an email said from the party boat <b>Miss Belmar Princess</b>. The boat this morning was sailed well offshore, and bluefish, paving bottom, turned out excellent catches on every drift on jigs. Ava 27 jigs worked well, with tails or without. Two to eight of the fish were hooked at a time during most of the angling. Some drifts produced catches for an hour. Trips are fishing 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. daily.  

Bluefish 2 to 5 pounds were picked Sunday at first on the <b>Golden Eagle</b> on jigs on the ocean, a report said on the party boat’s website. When that slowed, the trip moved and began chumming elsewhere on the ocean. Then bonito, false albacore and chub mackerel were hooked. “The fishing was a little disappointing” compared with previously, it said. “But we saw the fish swimming in the chum slick several times, so maybe (this) was just an off day.”  Trips are fishing 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily when no tuna trip is sailing. Trips are also fishing 7:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturdays. Spaces are available for 24- and 31-hour <a href=" https://www.goldeneaglefishing.com/tunafish" target="_blank">tuna trips</a> this month and in October. Reserve them.

Capt. Pete and crew from <b>Parker Pete’s Fishing Charters</b> might fish for fun currently, he said. Trips are available for bottom-fish including porgies and triggerfish, if anglers are interested. Bonito and false albacore are another option. Otherwise, Parker Pete’s will ride out this time since fluke season closed until chartering for sea bass, when sea bass season opens beginning Oct. 22, and striped bass, when the striper migration begins. The boat had been fluking, until fluke season closed Wednesday, earlier than usual. The vessel would usually still be fluking.

A bunch of tuna trips are set to fish offshore canyons beginning Friday on the <b>Katie H</b>, Capt. Mike said. Then the trips are slated for pretty much every weekend. He knew nobody who sailed for tuna in past days in rough seas.

No trips fished with <b>Celtic Stoirm Charters</b>, Capt. Mike said. Charters are booking for striped bass, sea bass and blackfish for fall.

Porgies and blackfish “filled in” somewhat since fluke and sea bass seasons closed early, Bob from <b>Fisherman’s Den</b> wrote in an email. “I said somewhat,” he said. “Still seeing some for-hire boats at the dock.”  Porgy fishing was off the charts, and a limit of one blackfish per angler was easy to catch. Boats that fished for bonito, bluefish and false albacore were kept full with anglers. Some of Belmar’s party boats are fishing for them. The number of anglers fishing Shark River and fishing on private boats decreased greatly since fluke and sea bass seasons closed. Crowds were gone, at least. The river’s snapper blues were growing bigger “and feeding at the delight of young and old anglers alike,” he wrote. Surf anglers began to fish, and small stripers sometimes bit for them. Bluefish and false albacore began to appear for surf casters. See you on the beach, Bob said. He’s a surf angler.

<b>Brielle</b>

Now that fluke and sea bass seasons closed, not a lot of fishing was available to report about, said Alex from <b>The Reel Seat</b>. Customers mostly waited for the striped bass migration. Boaters had no problem limiting out on one blackfish apiece at places like Sea Girt and Axel Carlson reefs, the rocks off Deal or other sticky bottom. Bonito and false albacore were landed at Manasquan Ridge, Sea Girt Reef and the Klondike wreck. They were trolled on Clark spoons and small jets. Or anglers sight-cast to them. Or anglers anchored the boat and chummed with spearing or peanut bunker and fished with spearing or other bait on 2/0 or 3/0 hooks. Nobody was known about who tuna fished in rough seas. Previously, a few yellowfin tuna 40 to 70 pounds and longfin tuna 25 to 40 pounds were trolled, not usually chunked, at the canyons offshore. On Manasquan River, small striped bass, a good number, were played at night along the bridges on soft-plastic lures. Small stripers just began to bite in Barnegat Bay along the sedges.

<b>Point Pleasant Beach</b>

Fishing for porgies and blackfish kicked off Friday and mugged porgies, good catches, on the <b>Norma-K III</b>, a report said on the party boat’s website. Lots of sizable were pasted, and a few good-sized blackfish were also plopped aboard. Lots of sizable sea bass were released that became out-of-season on the first of the month. Trips previously aboard fished daily for fluke until fluke season closed Wednesday and fluke and sea bass until that closure. On nighttime trips, bigger bluefish began to show up. Friday night’s trip picked away at shots of 2- to 10-pounders. A good number were read, though the fish were picked. But this seemed a good sign. Once they arrive, they usually stick around a while.  Trips are fishing for porgies and blackfish 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily and bluefish 7:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. daily.

<b>Seaside Heights</b>

Weather was cool in the morning, a report said on <b>The Dock Outfitters</b>’ website. The temperature gets surf anglers thinking about the fall run of striped bass. Currently, large bluefish were fought from the dock and the “end of our property.” Cut bunker hooked them, and lures just didn’t catch. The blues popped up in the surf, too. In the surf, the closer to Barnegat Inlet an angler fished, the blues were more abundant and bigger.  So that was in Island Beach State Park. Snapper blues also schooled along the dock and in the surf. The shop’s Fall Run Sale is kicked off, featuring 15 to 20 percent off rods and reels, and discounts on spooling reels with line. 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, boat rentals and jet-ski rentals. 

<b>Barnegat Light</b>

Anglers tied into 1- to 6-pound blues this weekend on the <b>Miss Barnegat Light</b>, a report said on the party boat’s website. The fishing was good on both Saturday’s and Sunday’s trips. Saturday’s trip picked at 1- to 4-pounders. Sunday’s trip ran into many more blues to 6 pounds that bit as soon as the anchor line came tight. Some of the trip’s anglers limited out, and some caught as many as they wanted until they had their fill. More of the trips might be scheduled between <a href="http://www.missbarnegatlight.com/TunaFishing.html" target="_blank">tuna trips</a> that will begin Friday and fish through October. Reserve the tuna trips. The boat fished daily for fluke and sea bass until those seasons closed recently. 

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

A trip tried for striped bass on the back bay aboard, but the angling was unsuccessful, said Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b>. The fishing’s usually good this time of year, and he thought the cooler weather would help the angling. But water clarity was terrible. Maybe the fishing will be better later this week, including because high tides will be late in the day. That can be ideal. This trip fished in the middle of the day on high tide. Annual traveling charters to Montauk will kick off this weekend that fish the migrations of stripers, false albacore and bluefish into October. The albie fishing is usually best in the beginning of that period. The striper fishing is usually best later, and the blues bite throughout the period. In recent years, albies have been the predominant catch.  See the <a href=" http://www.captainjoehughes.com/page3.html" target="_blank">traveling charters page</a> on Jersey Cape’s website. In November, Joe will concentrate on the migrations of stripers and blues off Sea Isle City on the ocean. If anglers want to fish for them, they should think about scheduling while dates are available. Keep up with Joe’s fishing on <a href="http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s Blog</a>.

<b>Avalon</b>

Salmon should migrate upstate New York’s Salmon River soon, said Capt. Jim from <b>Fins and Feathers Outfitters</b>. Guests at his nearby <a href="http://www.sjlodge.com/" target="_blank">lodge</a> fish for them. Rentals are available, and guests can hire guides or fish on their own. Or Jim can show guests how to fish for the salmon, and then the guests can fish on their own. The run lasts into October. Afterward, guests fish for steelheads on the river and snowmobile from the lodge in winter. Jim did no fishing from Avalon recently, and is mostly waiting for the migration of striped bass to fish for them from Avalon this fall. Trips fish for them from the ocean to Delaware Bay. Jim’s been guiding hunting for doves and Canada geese. Lots of doves were bagged, and the geese were elusive. Fins offers a variety of outdoor adventures including saltwater fishing, the salmon and steelhead fishing, hunting for ducks and geese and different activities at the New York lodge including the snowmobiling. All of this takes place mostly in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. Fly-fishing for trout is also offered on Pennsylvania’s streams like the Yellow Breeches.

<b>Cape May</b>

An offshore trip at first trolled and raised three white marlin that never became hooked Saturday with <b>Fishin’ Fever Sportfishing</b>, Capt. Tom said. Not much was happening with big game, so the trip switched to tilefishing. Fifty-four blueline tilefish to 15 pounds were cranked up. Tom will schedule open-boat trips and charters for tilefish to sail this week. Some openings remain for open trips and charters for sea bass that will begin when sea bass season opens Oct. 22. Only a couple of openings remain for striped bass fishing that will start afterward. Blackfishing is sold out that will be launched next.  

Capt. George did odds and ends maintenance on the <b>Heavy Hitter</b> this weekend, he said. He knew nobody locally who fished then. Bluefish are schooling 5-Fathom Bank that the Heavy Hitter last trolled two weekends ago along with Spanish mackerel. Whether the Spanish remained was unknown, and they depart once water cools. George hopes tuna fishing picks up within range of Cape May.

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