By Al Ristori

May 04, 2010, 7:22PM

Dave Lilly of Hazlet didn’t find Raritan Bay striper trolling up to his recent standard of quick limits, but there was a rare highlight to the morning troll with Stretch plugs when Al Tumolo reeled in a doormat fluke that jumped on the Mann’s plug. The 28 1/4-inch fluke looked to be right around the 10-pound mark, and it broke Tumolo’s heart to have to relrease it — but the summer flounder season doesn’t open until Memorial Day weekend. That was his second doormat in a year, as Lilly put him into his first ever, a 13 1/2-pounder, late last summer. Four legal stripers up to my 23-pounder, were caught on baitcasting rods — along with a short and three blues.  Bob Croker of Old Bridge was in on the action. 

Ocean striper fishing has been tough since Sunday, but Capt. Scotty Hilliard reported limit catches up to a 25-pounder by Mike Nagle of Atlantic Highlands, on his Prowler from Atlantic Highlands. Those bass were jigged under working birds to the east. Capt. Bud McArthur ran north of Manasquan Inlet with his Splinter from Brick, but found no sign of fish for jigging, and did nothing trolling. He said the water temperature was only 49 degrees at Manasquan Inlet, but jumped up to 56 degrees by the time he reached the Spring Lake Hotel.

Capt. Russ Binns found nothing from Manasquan Inlet south with his Mar-Lin from Toms River, but for the second week in a row he bailed out throwing poppers to bluefish in Barnegat Bay.

Binns has added Coast Boating School classes leading to the required state boating certificate as follows:

May 11 & 12 — Green Pond Country Club 7-!0:30 p.m.

May 12 & 13 — Lake Hopatcong Elks Club, Mt. Arlington – 7-10:30 p.m.

May 17 & 18 – West Marine, Lodi – 7-10:30 p.m.

May 19 & 20 – West Marine, Atlantic Highlands – 7-10:30 p.m.

                      Flemington Elks Club – 7-10:30 p.m.

                      Middlesex Elks Club — 7-10:30 p.m.

May 18 & 20- Wayne Fire Co. # 1 — 6:30-10 p.m.

Call 1-877-BOAT SAFE (262-8723) for information and reservations.

By Al Ristori

May 02, 2010, 10:08PM

Due to some technical problem, paragraphs from Sunday’s blog were stripped in transmission.

Dave Lilly of Hazlet quickly limited his crew by trolling Stretch plugs from his center console out of Angler’s Marine at Sea Bright in Raritan Bay. Hank Fister, who’ll be celebrating his 83rd birthday during the week, was aboard along with Al Tumolo and Keith Bielfin.

Capt. Jack Shea trolled the small Maja spoon off Island Beach State Park on Friday to boat a striper just over 40 pounds and another just under 30 pounds from his Rambunctious. Shea reports that Barnegat Bay stripers are starting to hit clams, and that the bay is full of 3-to-5-pound blues plus some much larger choppers, such as those up to 15 pounds that went through Double Creek Channel last week.

Allen Riley of South Plainfield had no hits Friday morning in the Sandy Hook surf before leaving his clams with Lou Vargas of Fanwood when he went home. Vargas then used that bait to land a 34-inch bass.

Capt. Jeff Gutman of the Voyager from Point Pleasant said Friday’s cod trip was very successful as about 50 cod were boated, and anglers averaged three to six  plus shorts. Bob Brinton of Oceanport won the pool with a 25-pounder, which was also his first cod. Gutman will sail for cod the first three Fridays in May.

By Al Ristori

May 02, 2010, 7:58PM

While Sunday’s ocean striper fishing generally left much to be desired, Raritan Bay continued to produce plenty of bass. Capt. Sal Cursi of Cathy Sea at Sewaren said he didn’t have to go far in order to catch all the stripers his party from Canada could handle on both live bunkers and by trolling Stretch plugs. Most of the bass are the same teen-size stripers that dominate in the ocean, but they ranged up to 20 pounds today.

Fleets of boats were running all along the Shore seeking signs of bass in a choppy sea. but results weren’t generally good. There was a report about a better bite off Asbury Park, but I haven’t been able to confirm that.

Capt. Hans Kaspersetz took his friend, Dave Marrazzo of Middletown with his sons David (12) abd Jake (9) out on Sheri Berri from Baker’s Marina on the Bay out to the ocean. Shrewsbury Rocks had been a productive area Saturday, but there was nothing doing there — and a call about a shot of action off the Red Church came too late to get into that brief shot. There were some marks off the Highlands Bridge, where the farther jigged a 33-inch striper that Jake reeled in. Trolling then produced a short just under 28 inches on a bunker spoon for David — but that was it despite many marks in the area.   

Tony Arcabascio of Bayville had heard of a striper bite off Seaside on Saturday, so he ran his Maja to the Ferris Wheel and trolled a 28-pound striper on his Maja bunker spoon. There wasn’t anything showing there, and with no more action in the fleet he ran to good reports off Island Beach State Park where a 31-pounder was trolled in increasingly rough seas.

By Al Ristori

March 24, 2010, 7:07PM

Some tickets remain available for the 13^th Annual IGFA New Jersey Representatives Fund Raising Banquet and Auction which will be held on Friday, March 26 at Doolan’s in Spring Lake Heights, New Jersey.  Hosted by New Jersey’s IGFA Representatives including Pete Barrett, Bill Feinberg, Jeff Merrill and Gene Nigro, the event starts at 7 PM with cocktails followed by a buffet dinner.  Proceeds from the evening go to IGFA’s Junior Angler and Conservation Programs. Last year’s event attracted nearly 200 fishing enthusiasts and raised $18,000 for these IGFA programs.  In 12 years this event has raised nearly $170,000 making it one of IGFA’s most successful fund raising events. 

The highlight of the evening is the Fishing Tackle Bonanza Auction, featuring over $20,000 worth of fishing tackle including rods, reels, line, lures and fly fishing tackle plus jewelry, marine artwork and other fishing related items and accessories. Several local fishing trips will be auctioned off, and a silent auction will also be held — featuring several high-value items available including a Shimano Tallus rod and Talica reel combo, hand carved fish by John Fish, bronze sculpture by Chris Bladen and a framed piece of Guy Harvey artwork.  A three-day bonefish vacation to IGFA Trustee Jack Willits private home on Chub Cay in the Berry Islands of the Bahamas will also be auctioned off.  Every attendee will also receive a commemorative gift from IGFA.     

Tickets are $75 per person and will be available at the door though anyone planning on attending should call ahead to reserve a spot.  For further information and to reserve tickets contact Jeff Merrill at 908-451-1110 or via e-mail at jeffmerrill2@verizon.net.

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By Al Ristori

May 01, 2010, 8:27PM

Despite heavy boat traffic, striped bass cooperated for most boaters during a beautiful day. That was as true in Ratitan Bay as in the ocean. Gary Caputi of Brick and I fished with Capt. Lou Grazioso on Striper Mania from Keyport, and were into action immediately after leaving the harbor as large bluefish were blasting into bait and hitting everything thrown at them. I raised 6-t0-8-pound blues on every cast with a pencil popper, and Caputi scored with a fly. We then moved out in the bay, where Grazioso marked bass — and we picked away on live bunkers despite a lack of drift. About 10 bass fron the mid-teens to about 20 pounds were released in a couple of hours. Chuck Many of Annandale was inshore of us with Canadian visitors on his Tyman from Highlands, and did even better. It was nothing like the red hot action of the previous evening for Grazioso and Many, but good steady sport. Joe Massa came out later with his My Three Sons from Morgan, and had similar action with both live and dead bunkers.Dave Lilly of Hazlet trolled a three-man limit in the bay early in the morning before releasing a few more from his center console out of Angler’s Marine in Sea Bright.

Capt. Sal Cursi ran down the beach with his Cathy Sea from Sewaren, and had a good catch of stripers by jigging Storm Shads. The Jamaica from Brielle had many bass limits, and a 25-pound pool winner. That boat will be fishing for stripers on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 a.m.

By Al Ristori

April 30, 2010, 8:08PM

Striped bass fishing Friday may have been the best of the season in terms of the many areas and techniques that produced fish, as limit catches were routine. The Rockaways were the hot spot in Thursday’s northwester, but there was no sign of fish off the Marine Parkway Bridge when Hans Kaspersetz of Weehawken and I arrived there on Dr. Ray Flagiello’s 25-foot Edgewater from Brielle Yacht Club. A call about bass being trolled at Shrewsbury Rocks sent us back there. We did troll a few bass there and off Long Branch, but jiggers were doing better in the large fleet. Before leaving, we came across stripers feeding on rainfish near the surface, but they wouldn’t hit the larger shad jigs we were using. Ray came up with a small Crippled Herring that worked. The bass we caught both trolling and jigging averaged about 33 inches, and there were only two shorts on jigs. Just two small blues interfered on the shad trolling rigs.

Capt. Bud Mc Arthur was also there on his Splinter from Brick, and enjoyed the jigging as well as casting shad jigs to surfacing bass after having been shut out the previous day.

Don and Al Marantz limited on bass while jigging from Miss Belmar Princess. Surprisingly, Al said there were no bluefish caught. 

Tom Fote of Toms River led a party on Capt. Lou Grazioso’s Striper Mania from Keyport, as he, Jose Fernandez of Marlton, former Bergen County Republican Assemblyman John Rooney, and marine biologist Eleanor Bohanchek of Cape May managed four keeper stripers plus shorts while clamming. The feature of that trip was Bohanchek’s surprising blackfish that hit on the last day of the season — and weighed 10 pounds at Crabby’s Tackle in Keyport. Grazioso went out again later in the afternoon with Matt Calabria of Hazlet and Art Berkman. Using bunkers, they got into a great bite of large stripers, topped by Berkman’s 31-pound release. Poppers and shad jigs also worked.

Capt. Sal Cursi ran his Cathy Sea from Sewaren east of the Rockaways before hitting a mass of surfacing bass. There were no blues in them yesterday, but today they dominated while trolling. Cursi’s anglers did better with bass as they limited while jigging.

Chuck Many of Annandale had live bunkers in the morning, and fished both in the ocean south of Sandy Hook and in the bay later in the afternoon as his crew caught about 50 bass on Tyman II from Highlands.

John Green of Brick didn’t find anything in the southern Monmouth County surf, as even the bluefish didn’t hit well in Island Beach State Park. However, he did hear of a bass blitz late in the morning at Long Branch.

Capt. Russ Binns of Coast Boating School said one of his instructors clobbered bluefish in Great Bay, near the old fish factory, but those blues wouldn’t hit poppers. Metal lures produced all the fish.

By Colin Stephenson/The Star-Ledger

April 30, 2010, 4:59AM

While the unprecedented April ocean run of striped bass isn’t as consistent as it had been, anglers are finding large quantities of big bluefish that often make it difficult to get through to the bass — and shore fishermen are now joining in the bluefish bonanza.
 
Barnegat, Manasquan and Shark River inlets have all produced plenty of blues for those casting from sea walls and jetties, while surfcasters and those casting from Raritan Bay shorelines have also enjoyed blitz fishing at times.
 
The blackfish season closes after today, and doesn’t reopen until July 16, when the limit is only one per man before the six-fish bag commences on Nov. 16.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has set a July 30 date for a New Jersey shark moratorium unless the state completes shark regulation changes before then.

Former Gov. Jon Corzine never signed off on the required changes to bring New Jersey into compliance with federal shark regulations, thus endangering the June shark tournaments.
The new administration did come into compliance with protection of spawning sandbar (brown) sharks in state waters by administrative change on March 25, and obtained an extension. All necessary changes should be in place by July 19.
 
Capt. Jack Bogan Sr. passed away at 92 on April 24 in Stuart, Fla. The former skipper of the Columbia, the American, and the Shamrock, was born in Jersey City, but moved to Point Pleasant Beach before retiring to Stuart in 1982. His grandson, Capt. Bobby Bogan, said there were actually three different Shamrocks. Surviving sons are Capt. John F. Bogan Jr., and Capt. Bob Bogan Sr. The funeral mass is this morning at 11 in St. Peter’s Church, Point Pleasant Beach.

TOP CATCHES
Bluefish up to a 15-pounder were caught from the Manasquan Inlet sea walls late Tuesday afternoon, so I decided to make a few blind casts Wednesday afternoon, and got things started with a blue of about 10 pounds that hit an A.O.K. PB-40 P-Nut metal. Nick Kolodiy of Brick, who had hooked blues the previous afternoon in the Brick surf, quickly joined me after finding nothing from the local beaches.
 
Just as was the case in the surf Tuesday, these blues weren’t showing at all.  The northwest wind was howling against incoming tide, creating a rough inlet — but that didn’t bother the choppers. I was impressed with the fact that so many blues were released by the sea wall crowd, instead of just being piled up behind them to probably go to waste. It was a different story Thursday afternoon under the same conditions, as I saw only one blue caught.

The Gambler from Point Pleasant has an open cod trip departing Saturday at 6 a.m. The boat will be out of the water for about a week starting May 3.

Capt. Russ Binns found nothing in the ocean while running south from Manasquan Inlet to Barnegat Inlet with his Mar-Lin from Toms River on Tuesday, but after returning to Barnegat Bay he encountered unlimited numbers of large bluefish from the BB Buoy north as three anglers caught over 70 on popping plugs.

Dave Lilly of Hazlet put his crew into over 30 stripers while trolling in the ocean Saturday with his center console from Angler’s Marina in Sea Bright. A 29-pounder was weighed at The Tackle Box on Hazlet.
 
Tom O’Connor of South Amboy saw Big Joe Utter of Old Bridge catching large blues by casting a diamond jig as soon as he arrived at his local beach Wednesday evening. Tom Jones of Parlin used clams to beach two stripers, one over 28 inches, but only blues hit O’Connor’s clams.

At Brielle, Capt. Howard Bogan Jr. said Saturday’s striped bass fishing on his Jamaica was poor to the north, so he went south on Sunday to find better readings even if the bass didn’t bite as well as the quantity recorded indicated they would. Paul Sperco of East Hanover won the pool with a 14-pounder.

Capt. Joe Bogan is wrapping up his blackfishing today on Jamaica II, and then switches to 5 a.m. wreck trips for ling on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tautog up to 12½ pounds were boated last week. Ray Bryant of South Orange limited to 8 pounds and added three cod, while Pete La Cour of Spring Lake Heights had a tog limit to 6 pounds.

Hoffman’s Marina weighed a 29-pound striped bass on Monday for Greg Long.
At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Scotty Hilliard called in a report of excellent striper jigging Thursday on his Prowler as there were plenty of birds up, and many of the bass were looking large. Tankut Oksas of Elizabeth took the pool with a 25-pounder. Capt. George Bachert  did well clamming for stripers with his Angler on Saturday, but switched over to seeking the “elusive” ling  on Thursday. Check with him, as he’ll decide which species to pursue based on the last two days’ results. Bachert notes that night clamming has been producing two-to-three-dozen keeper bass per trip.

At Highlands, Capt. Pete Wagner of Hyper Striper from Twin Lights Marina reports consistent clamming for bass, with limit catches the norm. The Lee Childers party from Bay Head limited to 23 pounds Sunday afternoon; the Angus Fidullis group from Newark limited to 21 pounds Monday morning; and Artie Ascoli’s charter from Seaside Heights had a limit of 30-to-36-inchers Tuesday morning. He ran Wednesday’s trip for the Jets with Joe Occhipinti Jr. as there were nine people involved.  Assistant coach Dave Szott was aboard the Little Hawk along with Brandon Moore, Calvin Pace, Eric Smith, Brad Smith, and Ben Hartsock as a limit of bass up to 21 pounds was boated. Thursday’s trips were just as good, Ralph Delenardo of Franklin Lakes  had bass to 23 pounds in the morning, and Gary Schmitt  from Union ended up releasing 12-to-18-pound bass in the afternoon.  
Capt. Hans Kaspersetz of Sheri Berri from Baker’s Marina on the Bay has been trolling bass limits consistently by getting out along the northern Shore very early before boat traffic spooks the fish.

Phil Sciortino, at The Tackle Box in Hazlet, had weekend weigh-ins topped by a 27-pound bass caught on a bunker chunk at his local beach by Rich Swisstack of Cliffwood. Kevin Matheny of Keansburg clammed an 11 ½-pound striper at Union Beach. Sciortino noted that a group of kayakers gathered Monday morning at The Tackle Box before being guided to the Navesink River, where they had top water action with 8-to-10-pound blues plus a legal bass.
Nick Honachefsky of Normandy Beach was joined by Mickey Malchiondo of in catching 53 blues on popping plugs at Island Beach State Park at mid-day Wednesday. They also clammed two bass, a keeper and a 26-incher that was tagged. It was entirely different Thursday at the same time as schools of blues could be seen in the clear waters  moving over the outer bar, but they ignored poppers and swimmers. Honachefsky caught some by reeling a Deadly Dick slowly over the bottom, as well as on bunker chunks.
Ross Goldberg and David Sherman ran Lady J from Belmar to Shrewsbury Rocks on Saturday to troll Stretch 25 plugs for three bass up to 34 inches.