NJ Fish On - Fishing in New Jersey » Manasquan

Stripers hitting jigs to the east

Al Ristori — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:36:56 +0000

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.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial – The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Stripers jigged north of Manasquan Inlet

pokerchi — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:27:26 +0000

As noted in Friday’s column, there was hope that the northwest wind might result in some of the long-awaited blitz jigging we should have along the northern Shore during late fall. Capt. Bobby Bogan provided the hot report of the day as his fares on the Gambler from Point Pleasant limited on stripers under birds from Manasquan Inlet to Shrewsbury Rocks. Bogan said one angler caught his limit from among 20 bass — and added 10 blues. Bogan also heard fishing was good to the south.

Capt. Scotty Hilliard of Prowler V from Atlantic Highlands has been enjoying good blackfishing in 50-to-70-foot depths including Sandy Hook Reef, Scotland and the Apple Pie Grounds. Pool winners are in the 8-to-9-pound class, but his nate, Brian, caught a 12-pound trophy that was weighed and released at the fuel dock.

Speaking of big blackfish, Capt. Nick Savene of No Time Charters at Oceaside, N.Y. brought in a tautog today that weighed 21.70 pounds at Bay Park Fishing Station.

Allen Riley of South Plainfield tried the Sandy Hook surf along with his brother Ed, of Edison, and Lou Vargas of Fanwood, but they did nothing on lures. Bait wasn’t obvious, but cormorants were diving. There also wasn’t anything happening in the Bay Head surf during early morning, but Joe Melillo of Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant did manage a small bass at Mantoloking.

Joe Blaze of Brielle and I joined Tom Fote of Toms River to fish the Island Beach State Park surf during late afternoon. We saw an angler in boat boots catch a legal striper in a hole filling in with the incoming tide, but nothing else was caught there. An angler taking a beating on the bar at A-15 did manage a couple of bass – and another caster told me he’d caught some shorts earlier.

View the original article here

65-lb. bluefin boated Sunday on Sheri Berri

pokerchi — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:14:26 +0000

Tom Morford Jr. of Northern Marine Electronics in Red Bank made the right cast at the right time on Sunday from Sheri Berri out of Baker’s Marina on the Bay in Highlands as a bluefin tuna hit a pink popper. Capt. Hans Kaspersetz said he was at the Rattlesnake when the hook-up occured from what turned out to be a 65-pound bluefin.

Capt. Arthur Stokes was successful trolling for bluefins the Friday before last when he hooked a 160-170-pound tuna from his Fintastic out of Clarks Landing in Point Pleasant.

Both the Sea Hunter and the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands did well jigging stripers and blues under birds to the north today, but the Gambler from Point Pleasant turned south to get a shot of stripers off Lavallette.

Allen Riley of South Plainfield gave the Sandy Hook surf another try this morning and released both a 26-inch striper and a very late 25-inch bluefish that hit his Mann’s Super Stretch 1-Minus plug.

Surf pro D.J. Muller of Manasquan has been doing very well in the Island Beach State Park surf, but reports the last two mornings haven’t been productive.

View the original article here

Stripers & blues for boaters

pokerchi — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:56:12 +0000

Boaters continued to do well with stripers and blues today. Most encouraging was a report from Capt. Ron Santee of the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands. He’s been frustrated by the small bass feeding on rainfish between the channels, as those fish rarely hit a lure. Today he took a ride and found bigger bass feeding on sand eels. Those bass up to 18 pounds hit — and there were also big blues. Santee noted that the northeast wind never became as strong as predicted

Capt. Dave Riback of the Queen Mary from Point Pleasant got into lots of blues to the south along with some stripers.

Striper surf reports from Island Beach State Park remained very good. D.J. Muller of Manasquan called it “world class fishing.” Seaside Park had also been hot on Sunday, but I carried the “black cloud” down there this morning and saw only one small bass caught before checking to the north without seeing a thing all the way to Bay Head.

The Jamaica from Brielle has been doing well with stripers and blues off the park. Saturday’s offshore trip was slow, though about 30 cod up to 25 pounds and a few pollock to 35 pounds were boated Sunday was better, with over 100 keeper cod to 31 pounds plus some sea bass limits. The next offshore trips will be at 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday plus a 13-hour trip at 5 a.m. Friday. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.

View the original article here

Stripers & blues for boaters

pokerchi — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:41:12 +0000

Capt. Dave Riback of the Queen Mary from Point Pleasant got into lots of blues to the south along with some stripers.

View the original article here

Stripers closer to Manasquan Inlet

pokerchi — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:29:12 +0000

Skippers sailing out of Manasquan Inlet today got a pleasant surprise as they didn’t have to run all the way to Island Beach, where there were some reports of slower striper jigging for boaters. Capt. Dave Riback of the Queen Mary from Point Pleasant reported getting into bass and some blues just 25 minutes from the dock. The bite was hot at first, and then a pick until 10:30 — though it died after that. Over 40 stripers were jigged, half of which were keepers. I was watching that fleet from the Axel Carlsen Reef, where Capt. Ken Gallop was anchored with his Big Kid from Brielle Yacht Club for a blackfish trip with a crew including John De Bona, advertising manager of The Fisherman, Tony Arcabascio of Tony Maja fishing products, and outdoor writer Gary Caputi of Brick. The blackfish never turned on for us there or at Sea Girt Reef, and we just scratched out some keepers and shorts, plus a few short sea bass, and some spiny dogfish. Gallop had limited with stripers off Island Beach the day before and added good blackfishing to the south, but today he was also getting poor reports from that direction. There was such a blowout tide in Manasquan River when we returned that Gallop had to drop us off at the main Brielle Yacht Club dock to wait for enough water to get the 44-foot Topaz into his slip.

Blackfishing was a lot better at Sandy Hook Reef, at least for Charlie Parker. Dave Lilly of Hazlet sailed with Parker on his Triton as they found only snall blues and bass under birds at Shrewsbury Rocks before switching to tog for a limit catch up to 8 pounds plus many releases of other keepers.

Gene Graman of Middletown found a few stripers on eels in Sandy Hook Channel, including a 35-pounder for Freddy Fessel of Middletown on That’s It from Twin Lights Marina in Highlands.

Capt. Rob Semkewyc, of the Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands, reported a few stripers and blues by jigging.

Surfcasters continued to score with stripers at Island Beach State Park. Betty & Nick’s Tackle in Seaside Park reported the hot bite was later in the morning at the south end of the park. Over 100 stripers were weighed in.

Joe Blaze of Brielle walked in at the park to try fly rodding, but could’t reach the fish that were being caught by anglers able to cast over the outer bar with long rods.

Allen Riley of South Plainfield took advantage of the fine weather to fish the Sandy Hook surf, where he used a Deadly Dick to release a very fat 24-inch striper plus a much smaller bass. Lou Vargas of Fanwood had a most unusual catch — a short fluke on a needlefish plug.

View the original article here

School stripers thick off Highlands Bridge

Al Ristori — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:35:28 +0000

By Al Ristori

December 12, 2009, 7:33PM

Dave Lilly of Hazlet concluded the season at Anglers Marina in Sea Bright by running into clouds of gannets diving off the Highlands Bridge while fishing with Ric Martel on his Grady White. Rigs were filled with school stripers up to 27 inches as soon as they were deployed. There were no bluefish, but there were also no keepers. With the northwest wind still blowing, it was too rough between the channels. Lilly finished up with eels in Sandy Hook Channel, but the current there was so strong he couldn’t hold with 10 ounces.

Capt. Gene Quigley of Shore Catch started out watching surfcasters catching bass from the surf at Manasquan, but couldn’t catch those fish feeding on adult bunkers before heading north.

The bite was over at Manasquan by the time John Green of Brick got up to the surf there. He followed the birds up to Sea Girt, where he said there were hundreds of gannets diving in a spectaculer display — but there were no fish present.

Jay Russell of Brick fished Sea Girt at dawn, but reported there was no action in the surf.

After getting to Deal a bit late in the morning, Leif Pettersen returned in the evening and enjoyed a flurry of action in the wash with 20-inch stripers on a Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow plus a teaser just as it was getting dark.

I checked out Bay Head in the morning, and saw only one short caught. Joe Melillo of Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant was trying to duplicate the 11 1/2-pound bass he fooled with a Tsunami sand eel in brutal conditions on Friday. John Green saw lots of sand eels and birds along the beach at Brick, though no fish on them, before heading up to Manasquan.

The Sunday forecast is for rain and gusty south winds, but warmer weather. Hopefully, it will be fishable early in the day.

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

66-inch bluefin tuna trolled at The Rocks

Al Ristori — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:35:50 +0000

By Al Ristori

December 03, 2009, 7:54PM

Anglers frustrated by watching large bluefin tuna jumping in waters not far from shore while they refuse all offerings will be happy to hear that one Long Island angler may have found the secret to hooking those fish.

Jesse York reports that Jesse Rosner, a fellow member of the Atlantic Beach Rod and Gun Club, boated a 66-inch bluefin after a half-hour battle Wednesday in 70 feet near Shrewsbury Rocks. That made up for losing a tuna there on Monday. The technique involved relatively slow trolling a 9-inch Sluggo, with a tuna hook, rigged on an Islander behind a 40-ounce drail. York noted that another boat caught a 44-inch bluefin the same day.

Thursday’s Senate Environmental Committee hearing in Trenton on the bill to set up a free registry to comply with the federal angler registry requirement for states without a license brought out a good showing of recreational fishermen.

Unfortunately, nothing was accomplished. Only the Department of Environmental Protection was allowed to testify, and it emphasized there was no money with which to implement the free registry proposed by Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May). An amendment to charge $2 in order to offset the cost of the registry wasn’t accepted by Van Drew, and the bill was tabled.

The Save Our Summer Flounder Fishery Fund (SSFFF) meeting at the Manasquan Elks Club on Tuesday evening was well-attended by anglers who were updated on efforts to improve scientific research required in order to provide more realistic quotas for a species that’s approaching record abundance even as fishermen have a hard time finding a keeper due to high minimum sizes.

The southeast storm that arrived Wednesday night created a big swell, but the switch to west winds Thursday should flatten and clear the ocean.

Capt. Jim O’Grady of the Cock Robin at Point Pleasant said he had his best striper jigging last fall after a similar storm, and is looking forward to much better fishing than last weekend, when jiggers were inundated with spiny dogfish that even drove the bluefish off. Some boaters and surfcasters ran into schools of adult bunkers along the Shore over the weekend, getting a shot at both jumbo blues and some bass that were estimated to be over 40 pounds.

Joe Andreoli of Wyckoff had his children, Natalie (7) and Jeremy (9), plus Vinny Spera of Westfield, out with me for a couple of hours Saturday afternoon out of Manasquan Inlet as the northwest gale flattened the ocean. We saw blues attacking a small school of bunkers off Bay Head, where Andreoli managed to jig two 12-pound class blues on a Tsunami Deep Wave jig as each kid got a thrill fighting their first big fish.

While jigging off the sand bottom I hooked what felt like a small blue. When Natalie reeled in the fish it turned out to be a lost 14-inch blackfish with the single hook of a Grim Reefer jig firmly in its mouth.

Allen Riley enjoyed mini-blitzes of stripers Tuesday and Wednesday mornings in the Sandy Hook surf. Birds were working over bass chasing sand eels, and anglers did very well with metal lures. The only problem was that the daylight stripers were under 24 inches. Riley did release both a legal 28-incher and a 26-inch bass before dawn Wednesday while plugging with a Mann’s Super Stretch 1-Minus.

The Freehold Fishing Flea Market will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at Park Ave. Elementary School, 280 Park Avenue.

The Barnegat H.S. Fishing Club presents a fishing flea market on Dec. 12 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the school cafeteria.

TOP CATCHES

The Tackle Box in Hazlet weighed stripers of 16,18 and 22 pounds that Dennis Sampson caught Wednesday on eels in Sandy Hook Channel. Bobby Sullo of Hazlet clammed an 18-pound striper in the Sandy Hook surf.

Sandy Hook Reef has been producing good blackfishing. Capt. Hans Kaspersetz of Weehawken fished there Sunday with Dennis Naleta of Red Bank , his son D.J. ,and crew as 35 tog up to a 7 1/2-pounder were taken on Shak’in.

After the slow weekend, Capt. Jimmy Elliott of Miss Belmar Princess was delighted to find action Monday morning right outside Shark River Inlet. Before boat traffic put them down, three legal stripers plus shorts were jigged. Elliott ran south and ended up with seven keeper bass for the day. Jigging was better to the south the next day as 11 fares boated 12 bass while releasing 20 shorts as 30 bluefish were also caught.

Capt. John Luchka moved his 21cc Contender from Long Island Sound to Point Pleasant, and made the right choice Sunday by going south rather than into the mass of spiny dogfish off Asbury Park and Long Branch. The Brian Miller party from Ewing jigged nine bass up to 26 inches along with six blues.

Capt. John Brackett of the Queen Mary from Point Pleasant had a slow start Wednesday, but stripers turned on as some wind developed later in the day. A total of 59 bass and 20 blues were jigged.

Capt. Ron Santee found some keeper bass and many more shorts Wednesday with his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands. He started between the channels, and worked down to Shrewsbury Rocks — where stripers were swirling, but didn’t hit well.

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Northwest wind should improve striper bite

Al Ristori — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:35:10 +0000

By Al Ristori

November 30, 2009, 6:18PM

Though striped bass fishing was generally slow over the weekend, the hard northwest wind predicted for tonight should knock down the south swell and provide fine conditions for surfcasters. Though water temperatures remain in the mid-fifties, it appears the bluefish may finally be moving out.

Capt. Jeff Gutman of the Voyager from Point Pleasant said striper jigging was off in a big fleet on Sunday, as only a few keepers and about 25 shorts were hooked. However, it was a good day for A.D. Mitchell of Trenton who had a 27-pound striper.

Capt. Ron Santee of the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands had a few keepers plus shorts early Sunday morning before the boat traffic on a calm day got too intense. He tried inshore and offshore, but it was the same story as even the bluefish he had been running away from were absent.

Capt. Lou Grazioso of Striper Mania from Highlands said he had a record day Sunday with the wrong species — spiny dogfish. They were just as thick off Sandy Hook as further south off Long Branch and Asbury Park. Some stripers were swirling off Sandy Hook, but wouldn’t hit.

Allen Riley of South Plainfield was pleased with this morning’s surfcasting at Sandy Hook as he caught shorts on both A.O.K. metal lures and a plug.

There have been some blasts of big blues and stripers on schools of large bunkers along the Shore. However, I didn’t see any sign of bunkers this morning during a short trip with Joe Blaze of Brielle and Dr. David Cheli of Manasquan as we ran into a south swell and light southwest wind. The only life we saw were a few picking birds and swirling fish off the Seaside Piers, but they disappeared before Blaze could get a fly to them. Capt. David Goldman of Shore Catch fished the same area for a couple of short bass.

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Bunker limit advances — Stripers move closer to Manasquan Inlet

pokerchi — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 06:11:53 +0000

There was somewhat good news from Boston today, as a reduction in menhaden exploitation advanced at the ASMFC meeting. Paul Eidman, of Menhadendefenders.org brought a bus filled with conservation-minded anglers to the meeting, and was pleased when a proposal to establish a 37% reduction in harvest was approved. New Jersey ASMFC Commissioner Tom Fote said the proposal will require a lot of administrative work to prepare it as an amendment rather than an addendum, but could go to public hearings by February. On the other hand, the ASMFC did nothing on striped bass.

The big run of striped bass on sand eels to the south has moved closer to Manasquan Inlet. At Point Pleasant, the Queen Mary reported it was only a 20-minute run to get started today as two dozen keeper stripers were boated on the first long drift along with blues up to16 pounds. Frank Strouse ended up catching six bass up to a 36-incher.

Capt. Bobby Bogan said he put in the day with his Gambler about 1 1/2 miles off Lavallette, where it was 90% keeper stripers along with some blues. Bob Kamienski, of the Hi-Mar Striper Club, won the pool with a 15-pound bass.

The Cock Robin also was into those bass and blues.

Gene Graman managed three stripers during a 15-minute bite in Ambrose Channel along with Freddy Fessel on his That’s it from Twin Lights Marina in Highlands, but had to fight off spiny dogfish that ate up a dozen eels.

Tank Matraxia of Lyndhurst fished with Capt.Fletcher Chayes on Riverman from Bahrs Landing in Highlands. They tried eels in Sandy Hook Channel, and at Shrewsbury Rocks, without success. Matraxia did manage to tag a few short stripers that hit Stretch plugs trolled at the Rocks, where other boats trolled bunker spoons for some 32-inch bass.

Capt. Erwin Heinrich of Scales n Tales from Atlantic Highlands said that after poor eeling for stripers last Thursday and Friday, he had a limit catch of stripers up to 32 inches in Saturday’s northeaster off Sandy Hook. A fine Election Day trip started with bass on clams before the Jim Shendorn party caught blackfish at Sandy Hook Reef.

The big swell made surfcasting difficult. The decent pick of schoolies at Bay Head the day before wasn’t repeated, and even the mid-day fishing from bars on low tide wasn’t very good in a wicked current running to the north.

Allen Riley said the Sandy Hook surf looked good today, but there was no bait, and no hits — though anglers to the south caught a couple of small bass on metal.

Capt. Dave DeGennaro is booked up on his morning open dates with Hi-Flier from Barnegat. However, he is seeking charters for afternoon trips from 12:30 to 5 p.m.

View the original article here