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 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.

By Al Ristori

April 29, 2010, 8:32PM

Party boats running to the east from Atlantic Highlands had great striper jigging Thursday, with lots of large bass among them. Capt. Rob Semkewyc of the Sea Hunter and Capt. Scotty Hilliard of the Prowler reported finding lots of bird action and bass that hit jigs readily.

Capt. Bud McArthur didn’t have such good news further south as he fished from Spring Lake to Lavallette on his Splinter from Brick without any success while hardly marking any fish or bait.

A surfcaster spotted a massive school of dolphins off Manasquan blasting into a school of bunkers during the morning..

Shore fishing wasn’t as good as on Wednesday. There were no surf reports from northern Monmouth County, and I saw only one bluefish caught on a jig late in the afternoon at Manasquan Inlet — where it had been very good the previous evening. Nick Honachefsky of Normandy Beach only picked at blues in Island Beach State Park around noon — in contrast to Wednesday’s red hot surface plugging. He could see schools of blues crossing the outer bar in clear waters, but they didn’t want plugs. He did manage some on bunker chunks, and by working a Deadly Dick slowly over the bottom. John Green of Brick got there at the end of the bite, but reported blues were hitting in the inlet earlier in the morning. He later found out that both blues and bass hit lures in the park during early afternoon.

By Al Ristori

April 28, 2010, 8:26PM

Big bluefish have been working their way within range of shore fishermen the last couple of days. It was an all-out blitz Wednesday at Island Beach State Park. Nick Honachefsky of Normandy Beach and Mickey Melchiondo threw popping plugs in the afternoon for 53 blues, as choppers hit on almost every cast. In addition, they caught two stripers on clams — a keeper and a 26-incher that was tagged and released.

I stopped by at Manasquan Inlet during mid-afternoon, started casting an A.O.K. peanut bunker jig blind, and soon had a 10-pound bluefish hooked. With no net available, I had to try lifting it over the seawall — which didn’t work. After that I rerigged with a double line in the braid plus a long 60-pound leader that I could reach for lifting — and had no more problem making releases of the large blues. Quite a few anglers showed up and had good action for a short period in a very strong northwest wind blowing against an incoming tide in a rough inlet. Similar action was also reported at Shark River Inlet.

Allen Riley of South Plainfield didn’t see anything like that in the Sandy Hook surf. It was very cold there in the morning, with blowing sand that got into everything — and fishing was dead.

By Al Ristori

April 23, 2010, 8:56PM

Striped bass fishing hasn’t been quite as automatic as it was last weekend, but some anglers will almost surely do well this weekend.

The key to success may well be a willingness to look around, as there has been little consistency as to where te bass may be day to day — and bluefish create another problem.  The Jamaica from Brielle has had some very good trips, but Capt. Howard Bogan Jr.said Wednesday was slow. Friday started out the same way, though a large school of bass was located during the afternoon.

Unfortunately, they didn’t bite as well as usual — with lots of follows of hooked fish to prove they were there. Bogan said every angler had at least one keeper. The Jamaica sails for stripers at 7:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.
 
Capt. Hans Kaspersetz trolled and jigged a few bass very early at Shrewsbury Rocks from Sheri Berri out of Baker’s Marina on the Bay in Highlands.
 
Capt. Bruce Mickelson of Hi-Mar Striper Club hosted fellow club member Capt. Robbie Barradale with his friend Joe and daughter Gina in Raritan Bay on Wednesday. He said there was no sign of bass or bait in the far west end of the bay, but they ended up doing well on Sailordog from Morgan further to the east by casting plugs and shad jigs. Fly fishing wasn’t effective since the fish were close to the bottom.
 
Capt. Bobby Bogan of the Gambler from Point Pleasant has been catching big blackfish,but Thursday was a bit slow for that species — possibly due to a cold south current. In addition to the daily blackfish trips, the Gambler will run one more open cod trip on May 6 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.   

Allen Riley of South Plainfield didn’t score with stripers in the Sandy Hook surf, but he watched Duke Matero of Piscataway land a 30-inch striper on clam. Riley said it was cold in the morning northwester. Water temperatures remain right about 50 degrees. 

By Al Ristori

April 22, 2010, 8:28PM

The precedent-setting ocean striped bass run that has been hot for two weeks continues to attract boatloads of anglers in generally beautiful weather, but there have been some slower days, and the arrival of bluefish is making it more difficult to get through to the bass.

Veteran skippers have never seen such an ocean fishery, and most wouldn’t have been aware of the striper abundance if it weren’t for the diving gannets that gave them away.

Normally we’d be using clams to catch lots of undersized schoolies and a few keepers in Raritan Bay and at Romer Shoal this month before hoping to get into a few big bass on bunker toward the end of the month. Though clams are producing, there’s been much more exciting jig fishing (just as if it were November instead of April) available for two weeks, while trollers also score with bunker spoons, Stretch plugs, and shad rigs.

In addition to the time of year, the other unusual aspect has been the fact that most of the bass are keepers in the 30-to-34-inch range, rather than bass just a few inches short. Even party boats have been limiting out on many trips, though there have been some slower days this week. The only negative is that these are pre-spawning bass that should be heading up the Hudson to fuel the stocks within a few weeks.

Anglers should take account of this in terms of taking only what they have an immediate use for — and releasing fat-bellied females that are the future of our fishery.

Even with gusty northwest winds, last weekend’s fishing was unbelievable. That was especially the case considering how poor last year’s spring run played out. While most of the bass are in the teens, there have been shots of some bigger fish.

Chuck Many of Annandale ran his Tyman II down the coast from Highlands on Saturday with a load of live bunkers, and managed to release a bass that pushed the Boga Grip to 30 pounds. I had a 23-pound release that day among the large schoolies.

Capt. Bryan Pieros of Lebanon and Matt Calabria of Hazlet were also in on the action that produced 34 bass — all of which were released. There were lots of marks (mostly in mid-depths) as we made long drifts off Asbury Park.

There were fewer marks Sunday when I joined Capt. Sal Cursi of Cathy Sea from Sewaren with George Gabuzda of Wall and his son Colin, 8, but we had the same sort of jigging action with Tsunami shad jigs.

The 7-inch Tsunami shad has been the best bet, but we were also able to do well with smaller shad in the NW wind since the bass were suspended rather than tight to bottom. Colin was arm weary after reeling in bass we were hooking for him regularly.The first bluefish was caught by Gabuzda that day, and they’ve been increasing steadily s ever since.

It’s not only the ocean that’s producing. Tank Matraxia and Marty Gras of Lyndhurst, and I fished
with Capt. Lou Grazioso on Raritan Bay flats where the usually reliable Stretch plugs weren’t getting hit though fish were marking. Grazioso decided to drift among those marks in 10-to12-foot depths where Rapala Shad Rap shallow-diving plugs proved to be the key to success. Blind casting provided 16 stripers, almost all keepers, for Matraxia to place ALS tags in, while few bass were retained.

Jimmy Donofrio of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) testified before Congress today in opposition to the Obama Administration’s effort to create a Catch Shares program with millions of dollars that will provide selected commercial fishermen with shares of public fishery resources at no cost while leading to consolidation of commercial fisheries and possibly creating negative effects for recreational fishing in the process. Donofrio also represented a broad coalition of other recreational fishing groups.

The Fisherman’s Conservation Association (FCA) presented its Lifetime Achievment Award to ex-President George H.W. Bush this week at the Presidential Library in Texas. FCA Chairman Frank Crescitelli made the presentation in recognition of that avid angler’s concern for conservation and the outdoors.

Ocean striper fishing wasn’t generally up to par today though Tom Morford of Highlands managed to catch his limit while fishing with Capt. Hans Kaspersetz and I on Sheri Berri out of Baker’s Marina on the Bay in Highlands. We ran into a school of surfacing bass off Sandy Hook in the morning, but after hooking bass initially, bluefish quickly took over before boat traffic scattered the fish. Morford’s son, Tom, continued to pick away at hefty blues before we headed in at noon.
 
Capt. Stan Zagleski of Elaine B. at Highlands found blackfishing to be better than he had expected on Sunday, and is continuing daily fishing for them.

The Jamaica from Brielle had fine striper jigging last weekend, and Capt. Howard Bogan Jr. is now sailing daily for them.

Mike Brusca Jr. picked the right spot today as he ran Finitalia from Edison to Sandy Hook Channel where Stretch 25 plugs were trolled to catch 12 stripers up to 39 inches plus four blues.

Gerry O’Donnell reported that schools of 8-pound blues flooded into Highlands Harbor at high tide on Monday, and quickly destroyed his Vision Sand Eel lures.

Capt. Gene Quigley had been catching blues on the Barnegat Bay flats, but bluefish have taken over so completely that’s impossible to get through them now.

Tom Paglioroli of Ocean City got into loads of blues inside Corson’s Inlet this morning. He also noted that blackfish are hitting crabs at ocean jetties, and two black drum have already been caught in Great Bay.

By Al Ristori

April 20, 2010, 8:07PM

It was too good to be true — unprecidented April striper fishing without any interference from bluefish. The bass may still be here, but anglers will be fighting ever more bluefish in order to get through to them. The most startling report came from Gerry O’Donnell, who was trying to catch a striper in Highlands Harbor when his Vision Sand Eel was attacked by blues in the 8-pound class at high tide. Look for those blues to spread quickly to the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers plus the Leonardo shoreline. Just as with the stripers, this will be the earliest bluefish invasion ever. They usually don’t pour in until the end of the month. As previously reported, I had one shad tail bitten off, and Dr. George Gabuzda of Wall caught a blue Sunday at Shrewsbury Rocks — but there was no other damage that day as we jigged lots of legal bass from Capt. Sal Cursi’s Cathy Sea from Sewaren..

That changed today when Capt. Russ Binns of Toms River ran his Mar-Lin up to the Rocks and jigged only one blue where there had been lots of bass through Monday. Capt. Bud McArthur had trolled 11 stripers outside of Manasquan Inlet with his Splinter from Brick on Sunday, but only found bluefish in every area trolled today. McArthur said he didn’t even mark any bait or bass.

I joined Chuck Many of Annandale on his Tyman II from Highlands, along with Capt. Lou Grazioso of Striper Mania at Keyport plus Matt Calabria of Hazlet as we fished Sandy Hook Channel where Grazioso had hot bass jigging for fish into the twenties yesterday. There were some bass there, but it was nothing like the previous day as the fish were smaller keepers and very scattered. There was lots of surface action with the live bunkers we had netted being pushed to the surface, but results were better with Tsunami shad jigs. At one point we saw stripers attacking a bunker school. Many went to the bow and spotted over 100 stripers under the bunkers, though we only managed to catch a few of the 30-to-34-inch bass. After everything quieted down, I switched to a pencil popper and cast blind for awhile,raising three bass, hooking two, and releasing one 33-incher. Bluefish weren’t much of a problem, even with the live bunkers, but that may be a different story by tomorrow. The only better ocean report we heard of was a shot of bass and blues off Seaside.

Capt. Ed Riveiro trolled east of Keansburg with Capt. Pete Ferraro of Fishin’ Inferno from Leonardo as they caught 20 bass, including five keepers up to a 38-incher — and there was no mention of bluefish!

Capt. Stan Zagleski was prepared for the worst when he made his first blackfish trip Sunday with Elaine B. from Highlands. Inshore blackfish reports had been terrible, but he had a good pick of shorts and keepers — and will stick with that fishing on a daily basis as he feels it will open up as bottom water temperatures rise just a bit.

By Al Ristori

April 16, 2010, 9:10PM

Has anyone noticed that with all the fishing action going on now, there hasn’t been a single mention of mackerel? From the time I started saltwater fishing on Long Island well over half a century ago, mackerel have been showing up in New York Bight during April before providing action into May. Yet, that hasn’t been happening the last few years, and I’ve yet to hear of a single mackerel so far this spring. There have been no reports south of us, where mackerel first show from Virginia north as they move steadily to the northeast to stay ahead of the bluefish. Even though this has been the case for several years, this is the first time I haven’t had a single call from a party indicating that they would even be looking for mackerel this spring. 

Capt. Jimmy Elliott of Miss Belmar Princess specializes in mackerel during the productive late-fall to winter run, but he says it’s been six or seven years since he last had a spring run to fish. Elliott has been striper fishing with success, but he says those fish moved out over the three-mile limit a couple of days ago. However, the Ocean Explorer from Belmar did get into bass outside of Shark River Inlet on the way in during early afternoon Friday.