REPORTS
REPORTS
MARCH 2010 | APRIL 2010 | MAY 2010 | JUNE 2010
May 30 -- Decent start for the fluke season yesterday with a few of boats catching their limit of flatties. Bob Larth had 5 fluke up to 22inches around Grassy channel, he caught them on minnows and squid strips. Chris powers and his cousin had 4 keepers and some throwbacks in Barnegat bay and around the dike in Barnegat Light; they were using spearing and minnows. Sea bass fishing on the wrecks is doing pretty well, fresh surf clams and squid has been producing some nice size fish, they've also had a few nice cod mixed in too. Striped bass fishing on the surf has still been consistent with a few guys catching some nice fish. (05:56 pb) Late day fluke reports from Great Bay, mainly behind the Fish Factory. A good fluke bite, but seems to be about an 8:1 ratio on throwbacks to keepers. Fish are hitting best in three to five feet of water on minnows, spearing & Gulp baits. To effectively fish this shallow depth, try using a light bucktail or shad dart ( 1/8 to 1/4 oz.) with bait & a bobber to keep it off the bottom. Also some one to two pound blues scattered in Great Bay & Little Egg Harbor. Ed Brown (photo) boated a 60 lb Black Drum in the Beach Haven Inlet area on clam. Striper bite along LBI from the boats again was bad, although the surf has been producing some bass from in the teens to up in the thirties (pounds). Bunker, clam & shedder crab your baits of choice. Have a great Memorial Day ! (19:00 at)
><))))))'>
May 29 -- A good south breeze and overcast to start the day off. Should make for a good fluke drift for opening day. A couple of surf reports from yesterday ... Steve Fortunak (photo) beached a 37 pound striper off the Brant Beach surf & Joel Cunningham (photo) took a 15 pound bass out of the Harvey Cedars suds on clam. There are still quite a few small one to two pound blues still in the bays & inlets, not necessarily with birds working over top of them. Also some nice size blowfish have been caught in the bay, nothing real concentrated, but if you chum a bit with some clam chum I'm sure you can hook a few for supper. Any holes just off the ICW from Beach Haven to Harvey Cedars should produce some ... best baits are clam or shedder crab. You may even pick up your one weakfish. A couple spike weakfish have been caught, but no sign of any of the larger weakies. NJ law on weakfish this year: one fish per person - 13 inches or bigger. As far as the boat striper bite, it has been pretty much non-existent since last Sunday off LBI. Sea Bass fishing has been OK on some of the wrecks in seventy to eighty feet and still a few cod being caught on surf clams. The best fishery this week has been for Drum in the Little Egg Inlet area & Great Bay. Anchor up, throw some surf clam chunks over along with some clam chum and shells for chum & put a big ole glob of clam on a 9/0 or 10/0 hook and put it on the bottom ... and hold on, some have been up to eighty pounds. Crabbing out in the bay is bad, but people are telling me they are doing great in the lagoons behind their homes, so you may want to throw the commercial trap in off the dock if you haven't already. (05:15 at)
><))))))'>
May 27 -- Winds out of the NE at 10 to 15 to start us off. The southeast ground swell on the ocean has come down a bit, but very choppy out there today. This should help the surf anglers who had trouble holding with ten ounces yesterday. Late yesterday Rob Muerdler, Bob Opperman & Pat McHugh had a great drum bite near Little Egg Inlet on clam. The trio had six drum with Rob taking the pool winner with a 57 pounder. (photo) A lot of people gearing up for the Fluke opener on Saturday. Remember 6 fish at 18 inches per person is New Jersey's law. (06:00 at) Wind just picked up still out of the NE and fog came over LBI & half the bay. (09:00 at)
><))))))'>
May 26 -- Nice calm morning so far, some 1-3lb blues being caught in the surf around Ship Bottom right now. Also some Stripers up to 30inches being caught on clams. Bay fishing has slowed down a little bit but there's still bluefish and a couple small to keep size bass closer to the inlets. A few seabass are being caught out on the wrecks using clams, squid and some on jigs. (06:07 pb)
><))))))'>
May 24 -- A foggy, damp start this morning. Light ENE wind, pretty much the forecast all day. After Friday, the bite on bass was downhill north of Barnegat Inlet. A few fish trolled up Saturday & Sunday, but nothing like Friday. You have to go whenever possible ... never know when it will explode again. A late day weigh-in from yesterday off the LBI surf, Beth Fortunak (photo) beached a 22 pound striper caught on bunker. (06:15 at) A report from the Beach Haven surf ... a few stripers being beached weighing in the teens on bunker & clam. Very foggy, can't see your line in the water. (07:10 at) Some more surf reports from Brant Beach down to Beach Haven ... some small one to two pound blues & a couple more bass in the teens. (08:25 at)
><))))))'>
May 22 -- A light SE breeze to start us out. Forecast is for stronger SE this afternoon. Kapt. Krankie called in from the Ship Bottom surf with a report of bluefish. Also said that the conditions are great, ocean is calm. (06:00 at) No reports from where the bite was yesterday, north of Barnegat Inlet, though did have reports of some bass trolled off Loveladies on bunker spoons. Late this afternoon a little bluefish bite in Beach Haven Inlet & just inside the bay. (19:00 at)
><))))))'>
May 21 -- A great bass bite north of Barnegat Inlet all the way up to Lavallette. Still fish being caught on the troll, white spoons, but the snag & drop with bunker has turned on. A lot of people calling in with some nice catches. Tony Cinkutis (photo) brought a 32 pounder to the scale & Justin Slafkovsky (photo) was right behind him with a chunky 29 pounder. Both fish caught on snagged bunker in Lavallette. From the surf, Kevin Mallia (photo) beached a 17 pound striper on clam fishing in Harvey Cedars.
><))))))'>
May 20 -- Bluefish around buoy 112 in Holgate right now, fish are 2-8lbs. Poppers and fresh bunker chunks are working best. (10:02 pb)
><))))))'>
May 18 -- NorthEast at 15 with rain to start today. Forecast is the same with higher gusts. Bluefish in Barnegat Inlet thick yesterday and heard of some bass again north of Barnegat Inlet, some in forty feet and also some in fifty to sixty. Most fish reported were on white bunker spoons, some also on green spoons and some on drone spoons. At these depths, to be effective with the spoons, you need to be using wire line and dump a lot of it, meaning 500 to 600 feet. That is what the people that are crushing these fish in the deeper water are doing. The LBI surf had a good bluefish bite all day ranging from two to twelve pounds. Also, a lot of small blowfish in Little Egg Harbor and I'm sure they will be migrating through all our bays in the next couple of days. (06:15 at)
><))))))'>
May 16 -- Cari Young (photo) boated a 33 lb - 44" striper while trolling bunker spoons with Tom Reno off Seaside in 55' of water. Also, Jim Megargel (photo) boated & released another 44" bass trolling off Seaside Heights.
><))))))'>
May 15 -- George Nelson just phoned in a great report of stripers fishing with Bill Wrede on "Lovin' Life". They trolled up six bass ranging from 25 to 30 pounds on white bunker spoons. They were trolling eight miles north of Barnegat Inlet in fifty to sixty feet of water. Kapt. Krankie just came off the Ship Bottom surf with nothing, but someone next to him beached a 42" bass caught on bunker. (09:45 at) Andy Kollmer (photo) boated a 31.5 pound - 44.5 inch striper while fishing with his brother Bill off Seaside Park in sixty feet of water. They had a couple other bass slightly smaller and caught all their fish on a blue/chartreuse stretch 30. (12:00 at) A couple more weigh-ins from the northern troll ... Ott Sanderlin (photo) with a 28.5 lb bass caught off IBSP in fifty feet of water on a blue/chrome stretch 25 & DJ Blondo (photo) boated a 35 lb striper trolling a white bunker spoon in thirty feet of water off IBSP. (15:30 at)
><))))))'>
May 14 -- A boat striper bite on right now at bathing beach on Island Beach. Some on troll & some on snagged bunker. (14:45 at) A great bite still going on ... fifty feet of water north of Barnegat Inlet, not all the way to the bathing beach. Troll doing the best ... white & green bunker spoons and also green stretches. (16:15 at) Kapt. Krankie just phoned in from the Ship Bottom surf with a 37" striper taken on bunker. (16:35 at) Just in from Steve Westburg down in Holgate ... bluefish up to ten pounds right out from Holgate Marina in the bay. This is the area between buoys 108 & 110. This is that same run of fish I had three days ago. This is a blast !! (19:00 at)
><))))))'>
May 13 -- Bluefish showed in the bay in Beach Haven this afternoon from buoy 109 down to buoy 110. Same five to ten pound fish as previously. Also a good surf bite this afternoon from Brant Beach down to Holgate. Both stripers and blues were hauled to the beach. Bunker & clam the baits of choice, although blues were hitting butterfish and herring also. Island Beach also had a good bluefish bite this afternoon. Anchoring & clamming in Little Egg Harbor and Great Bay is producing some drum and bass, but a load of smooth doggies. (19:40 at)
><))))))'>
May 11 -- 5-6lb bluefish right now around buoy 109 in Beach Haven, lots of bird play and plenty of fish breaking water.(07:07 pb) This bluefish action lasted over 3 hours and they were from 5 to 10 pounds. They started just south of buoy 109 and then were all around buoys 108 & 109 and eventually were all over the Barrel Island flats. They were crushing metal & poppers; you definitely needed the poppers when they were up on the flats, most of the water there is three feet. Some INSANE bay bluefishing. I thought I was on the ridge! (13:00 at)
><))))))'>
May 10 -- Some striper & bluefish action around the Causeway. Efrain Rodriquez (photo) just weighed in an 18 pound bass caught on bunker, and said some bluefish were caught around him. (12:45 at)
><))))))'>
May 9 -- Happy Mother's Day to all our moms out there. Would be nice to get mom that new Shimano bunker snagging combo or a nice new wire line bunker spoon trolling combo ... how 'bout it! A nice little bluefish bite yesterday afternoon by the old draw bridge (Hochstrasser's Marina bridge). Some up to six pounds. Nice place to try on this strong west wind today. Did not hear much from the surf. I did see some seagulls this week in the ocean foolin' with some blowfish. They should be hot & heavy in the bay very soon and if you are feeling little nibbles on the surf with the big baits, try a blowfish/kingfish rig with a small piece of clam, it's probably the puffers. (06:15 at)
><))))))'>
May 8 -- Very windy today. At the moment SW with gusts over 25. Late day reports from yesterday ... some short stripers on the Ship Bottom surf on clam along with two whales feeding about a quarter of a mile off. Bill Wrede from Manahawkin called in with bass up to thirty pounds trolling just south of the bathing beach off Island Beach. White bunker spoons were doing the best. Again, this was yesterday afternoon. It will be a little tasty today with the wind & fog and the forecast is for more wind. Play it smart! (06:00 at) Still some bluefish in the bays. They are spreading out a little, not as thick as they were, but still plenty around. In Barnegat bay anglers have been very successful trolling light ponytails and/or small Clark spoons for the blues. Also in Barnegat bay the striper bite on clams has started to pick up. Down in Great Bay bass & drum have been the catch ... along with some nice smooth doggies. Just in from the "What's New" category ... sunglasses by "i-Kam". Polarized plastic lens sunglasses that video whatever you are looking at. They can record three hours of video and then can be down loaded on your computer. Check them out when you come in! (06:45 at) Kapt. Krankie just called in from the Ship Bottom surf with a ten pound drum and a fellow next to him beached a 32 inch striper ... both on clam. (07:40 at)
><))))))'>
May 5 -- Bird plays right now in and just outside of Barnegat inlet, bluefish up to 12lbs are being caught, fresh bunker and metals have been best. (09:41 pb)
><))))))'>
May 4 -- A nice start this morning, light west wind. Looks good next couple of days. Some afternoon bluefish action yesterday on the Brant Beach & Surf City surf on bunker and metal. A couple bass mixed in. The striper troll is very consistent north of Barnegat Inlet. Again, white bunker spoons have been working well along with green, but white has been producing more at the moment, even more than the snag & drop of live bunker, but I'm sure that will change soon once the water temp comes up to the high 50's. Still some good blue fishing from West Creek to Tuckerton in the bay and also in Barnegat & Waretown. (07:00 at)
><))))))'>
May 3 -- A late afternoon weigh-in yesterday ... Wally Sook boated a 32.5 lb -- 46" striper trolling a white bunker spoon off Island Beach.
><))))))'>
May 2 -- Bluefish at Long point again this morning, fish are averaging 6-8lbs with a few 10-12lbers mixed in.(07:05 pb)
><))))))'>
