NJ Fishing » Fishing Reports

Beach Haven Captains Target Sea Bass And Fluke

Fishing Reports — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:21:06 +0000

The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been spending most of their time fishing for summer flounder along with some forays for black sea bass and tuna. Captain Dave Wittenborn of the “Compass Rose” reports the fluke are starting to leave the bays and make their annual migration out onto the ocean lumps. He has been putting together catches of fluke in the bay, however, knowing that with the water temps reaching close to 80 degrees, the fluke are in the deeper holes and channels. He is finding the keeper ratio at about 50 to 1. When a party cancelled its charter, he fished alone in 55-feet of water and found a small pocket of large fluke. Using short drifts he limited out in two hours on fish to 4-pounds along with releasing some 15 shorts. This was a much better ration than most other locations.

Captain John Koegler of the boat “Pop’s Pride” fished the ICW between Markers 109-113 but managed only one keeper among over 20 fish. He had a trip offshore for bluefin tuna at over 50 miles and found bluefish and bluefin mixed together. Unfortunately he was looking for tuna, and the bluefish were a nuisance. Captain Fran Verdi of the “Drop Off” reports the sea bass are thick on some of the wrecks, but the bite is erratic as they are currently spawning. He plans to focus on ocean fluke until the sea bass bite becomes consistent. Captain Fran has gotten good reports on tuna at the inshore lumps and plans to fish there as the weather permits.

Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com or by calling 1-877-LBI-BHCFA (1-877-524-2423).

This post was submitted by Jim Hutchinson Sr..

Beach Haven fishing Good Inshore and Offshore

Fishing Reports — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:38:33 +0000

The boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been catching fish both close to the beach and offshore in the canyons. There have been some nice reports of good offshore fishing at the canyons for both tuna and mahi-mahi. Captain Lindsay Fuller of the “June Bug” fished the waters of the Lindenkohl Canyon once again and did very well. He had Ralph Hibbs and his nephew Kevin along with NJ artificial reef architect Bill Figley and friend Tom, a retired state police officer. Captain Lindsay decided to fish away from the fleet and first picked up a 160-pound bigeye. Then came small yellowfin followed by larger yellowfin, all on the troll. The party filled the fish box and headed in early. All of the fish were raised and caught in 76.5-degree water in depths between 1,800 and 3,000 feet.

Captain Fran Verdi took the “Cousins” out looking for bluefin tuna. He trolled the waters around the 30 and 40-lines. He picked up several skipjack along with one nice bluefin tuna. He reports that the fluke fishing in the ocean is starting to come alive with several 4-pound fish coming to the dock. He is finding most of the fluke in the inlet but they are slowly starting to show up in the deeper water. He is fishing mostly with long squid strips and a live minnow. He has also fished some inshore wrecks for sea bass and scoring. Captain George Finck of “Sparetime” Charters had Ed Fitzpatrick and four nephews out for a nice catch of fluke in the inlet recently. Another day he took his son Steve and grandsons out for some reef fishing where they scored well on the sea bass.

Captain John Koegler had the “Starfish” out on Monday and first tried drifting the inlet for fluke. They caught several throwbacks quickly, but due to the fierce greenhead fly bite, decided to head out into the ocean. They fished the Little Egg Reef and boated quite a few sea bass. T he highlight of the trip was a 21.5-inch codfish. Captain John was astounded that they would actually catch a codfish in the middle of the summer in warm water.

Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be obtained at their website, www.fishbeachhaven.com

This post was submitted by Jim Hutchinson Sr..

Shark River (back bay)

Fishing Reports — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 02:28:52 +0000

Fishing with light gear (med rod and 6-8 pound braid) and jig/ 4″Gulp combos and bare small Circle hooks with a loely Killie produce the best action with a short to keeper ratio of 42:1 . Many fish 17-17.5 inches with keepers being 20″ plus.

Fish back bay deep water with tide socks to ensure you are actually fishing in the proper direction in case of poor wind direction.

This post was submitted by Gotboostedvr6.

Beach Haven fishing Takes Off

Fishing Reports — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:08:34 +0000

The fishing for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association has opened up on several different fronts.
Last Saturday Captain Lindsay Fuller of the “June Bug” had Jon Kunzman and Adam Brown of Michigan out to the Lindenkohl Canyon for some trolling action. Originally looking for some bigeye tuna which had been reported in the area they began trolling a full setup. Despite the presence of plenty of bait there was no action other than whale sightings from 4 am until well after dawn. Some skipjacks provided some action and were released. Finally a 35-pound yellowfin hit and was boated followed by a 10-pound mahi and another yellowfin for the cooler. When Captain Lindsay went below for a nap, and mate Captain Nate Figley took the helm, a big fish hit. Kunzman fought the fish first and then handed the rod off to Brown. After some 45 minutes the fish showed itself, a blue marlin about 450-pounds. Finally after a struggle of almost 2 hours the fish was brought to the boat and released. The fish hit a Ballyhoo topped with a red and blue 1/4 ounce Mylar Billy Bait. The leader was Stren 300#. Captain Lindsay claims the day shows that fishing from mid to late June offshore is some of the best of the year.
Captain George Finck of “Sparetime Charters” reports that he has had several trips drifting the inlet area for fluke. He has been catching many fish but the ratio is about 20 -1 for keepers. He is hoping the bottom water on the reefs will warm up soon and fishing will pick up out there.
The report from mate Sal Rosa on the “Miss Beach Haven” indicates that the warm weather has helped their fishing. On Saturday it took a mere three minutes to boat a nice 3.5 pound fluke. In addition to many short fluke, they managed 16 keepers along with some nice keeper sea bass. The pool winner was Pete from Beach Haven with a 6-pounder.
Captain Fran Verdi took the “Cousins” out looking for some bluefin tuna last weekend. He started at the 20 Line and worked his way out to the 30 Line. They did not catch any bluefin, but did catch plenty of bluefish. On other trips he has been mugging the sea bass with good numbers coming from both 50-60 feet of water and also in 80-100 feet. Several of the trips had numbers in the 50-80 fish per day with keepers around 30 for the day. Several of the sea bass have been up to 4-pounds. He fished the Atlantic City Reef and one angler picked up a nice 4-pound fluke on a jig head.
Captain Carl Sheppard on the “Star Fish” hosted 10 members of the Brennan family at a fishing party last weekend. The group was made up of youngsters as young as 8, and some who had never fished before. They went to the reefs and found a good number of black sea bass which made all happy. Captain Carl said the larger fish seemed to prefer spearing and clam to more traditional baits. The party was treated to the sight of a number of feeding porpoises and one large thresher shark.
Captain John Koegler on “Pop’s Pride” reports good sea bass fishing on the artificial reefs near Little Egg Inlet. One day he tried fluke fishing in the fog near Little Beach and boated 47 fluke, but only 2 keepers.
Additional information on the Beach haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.fishbeachhaven.com

This post was submitted by Jim Hutchinson Sr..

Red Hot Seabass!!!

Fishing Reports — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:43:15 +0000

Seabass has been red hot… not a bad trip yet!!! Been out EVERY DAY andlatest trips ranged from limit catches of 150 Seabass with the slowest trips still seeing over 100 Keepers some real Big quality Knuckle heads!!! Fish from 14 in to 5lbs!!! Ed S. the big 5lber pic below!!!

Blackfish have mixing in with the seabass and we had some real beauties. they have to be released but still fun for a good fight!!! Bob Edison with an 11lber pic below

Starting to see more fluke now that we are mixing up the action and targeting them

Thanks

Capt Jerry

This post was submitted by Capt Jerry P.

Fish Monger Bucktailing Fluke!!!

Fishing Reports — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:42:29 +0000

After Catching our Limit of Seabass early we broke out the bucktails and gave Fluke a shot on the last couple hours of the Bruce C Charter trip. Had Good action Boating 10 Keepers but the Highlight was his 12 year old Son Brandons 30+in 9lb Doormat!!! Pic attached Congrat Brandon!!!

Sailed our first full day trip for Fluke With the Joe Brush Charter. Tough Condition to start but we managed picking away at some nice size keepers again with Bucktails!!! One here one there they slowly start to add up and By days end we had a Nice cooler of 21 Keeper Fluke to 6lbs and a few seabass!!!!

Fluking Off To a Nice Start!!!

Thanks

Capt Jerry

This post was submitted by Capt Jerry P.

Fluke to 21 inches off Sandy Hook

Fishing Reports — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 23:24:35 +0000

June 4. Went after the Fluke again today but with better results. Started inside along the Belford flats and hit short Fluke right away. a good showing of fish, but they were still small. Ran out to the knoll with the same results. I headed down the beach to see if there were some keepers there and managed to pull in some Fluke to about 21 inches. Tried a couple more spots both offshore and inshore but the bite was light. The fish are holding the baits in their mouth. I suspect the water is still a little cold for them to be aggressive. With this warm weather I suspect that the water will start warming soon.
Capt. Karl
PrimeTimeCharters

This post was submitted by Capt. Karl.

Stripers save the day during Fluke trip

Fishing Reports — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:35:49 +0000

June 3. Tried to drift for Fluke this morning inside the hook but the drift was not happening and the Fluke were just hanging on the baits. Landed some near keepers before making a move. Moved around to the outside and the wind was blowing hard out of the south. Scratched out a couple more shorts and moved out to the knoll for a even more short Fluke. Made a couple more moves inside the bay before we started to hit the Fluke more consistently, however the Fluke were still under sized. Saw some bunker schools coming around the hook and dropped jigs under them for Bass around 31inches. No keeper Fluke but managed some Stripers to save the trip.

Capt. Karl

PrimeTimeCharters

This post was submitted by Capt. Karl.

Bass action still hot off Sandy Hook

Fishing Reports — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:33:40 +0000

June 2. Another great day on the water with calm seas and lots of action. Anchored up off Sandy Hook and started to hit the Bass right away on clams. The birds started working near the boat and we hit another big Bass on a jig. Had several runoffs and a couple of double headers before it started to slow down. Made one move and we were back in the fish again. Had a couple of Blues crash the slick but mostly the Bass kept us busy all morning.
Capt. Karl
PrimeTimeCharters

This post was submitted by Capt. Karl.

Slow start to Fluke season in Raritan Bay

Fishing Reports — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 23:38:49 +0000

May 31. Got out late today for the first Fluke trip of the year. Lots of boat traffic because of the holiday weekend kept us off the usual early season Fluke spots. The drifting conditions were not very good until afternoon when the wind started to blow. We started hitting the Fluke steady but most of the Fluke caught were shorts in the 17 to 17 1/2 inch range. A slow start to the Fluke season, but there was action and the water is warming, so I think it will get better soon.
Capt. Karl
PrimeTimeCharters

This post was submitted by Capt. Karl.