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 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.    

By Al Ristori

April 11, 2010, 8:49PM

Striped bass have arrived earlier than ever along the Shore and in Raritan Bay. Several years ago there were a couple of seasons that opened with large bass on bunker chunks off Staten Island during late April, but that only repeated one more year – and was later in the month than the present run. The last two springs have been poor in the bay, and the early clam fishing has been very inconsistent, but it now appears that a good body of larger bass has moved in.

Chuck Many of Annandale said bunkers have been hard to come by, but those he managed to castnet Friday and Saturday from his Tyman II out of Highlands produced lots of mostly teen-size stripers around Raritan Reach each of those evenings. His crew released over 40 bass Friday.

Dave Lilly of Hazlet trolled in the ocean off Sandy Hook on Sunday morning to catch a dozen bass from 33 to 37 inches on spoons, jigs and diving plugs. The smaller Maja herring spoon was best as he trolled in 21 feet.

Capt. Jimmy Elliott got into jigging bass Sunday from the tip of Sandy Hook down to Long Branch. There were 35 to 40 keepers plus many releases from Miss Belmar Princess.

By Al Ristori

April 01, 2010, 8:31PM

Capt. Bobby Bogan reported codfishing was a slow pick last Sunday on his Gambler from Point Pleasant. Some small cod and a few ling were taken in a strong current from wrecks in 175 feet, but fishing had been better during previous sailings. Gene Kosky of Secaucus won the pool with a 10-pound cod. The Gambler sails at 7 a.m. for cod from Thursdays through Sundays — and blackfish from Mondays to Wednesdays.

Capt. Rob Semkewyc starts his striper season with Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands Friday, and will sail daily from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Capt. Stan Zagleski begins flounder fishing Friday with his Elaine B. from Highlands. He’s sailing three-quarter day trips at 7:30 a.m., except for Easter Sunday, when it will be 7 to 11:30.

Capt. Jimmy Elliott starts daily at 7:30 a.m. for striped bass trips with Miss Belmar Princess this weekend. He expects to be clamming.

The Jamaica from Brielle is sailing offshore wreck trips for cod and pollock on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through April. Call (732) 528-5014 for reservations.

Capt. Jack Shea of Rambunctious says small stripers and blues are already being caught in Barnegat Bay, though he assumes they are holdovers from the Oyster Creek power plant outflow rather than the migrants that should be arriving this month.

Allen Riley of South Plainfield made his first beach trip of the season today after first buying his seasonal night fishing pass at Sandy Hook, where the rough surf looked virtually unfishable.

The permit costs $50, and new park hours are 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. from April 1 to Oct. 31 – and 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Nov. 1 to March 31.

Joe Julian and Jimmy Morenz at Julian’s Tackle in Atlantic Highlands told Riley that Union Beach had been the best bet for keeper stripers so far. He joined lots of anglers on hand for the 9:24 high tide during a gray morning with a cool northwest breeze, but there were no hits in discolored waters before Riley left. The best results along bay shorelines have been around high tides at night in a northeast wind.

Z-Man has a new web site (www.zmanfishing.com) featuring their tough soft jigs that are virtually bluefish-proof. Featured is the Z-Claw slow-sinking crab with buoyant claws.

Jetty fishermen will be seeing even more of noted surf angler Paul Haertel this year, as he retired this week after 32 years with the Clifton Police Department.

The ninth Brett T. Bailey Memorial Mako Tournament will start with a captains meeting on June 18, followed by fishing in the winner-take-all contest on June 19.

By Al Ristori

February 14, 2010, 2:00PM

Capt. Jimmy Elliott returned from his trip on Miss Belmar Princess with the hoped-for catch of cod after a Mararthon trip that started Friday night. After a slow start, Elliott got into a good bite that produced a high hook in the teens while most anglers caught around 10 cod. The largest cod was about 18 pounds. Friday night trips will continue this weekend, but there are only a few spots left on Miss Belmar Princess. Call Elliott at 732 284-9709.

Rob DeYoung of Lyndhurst had to go a lot further for a great fishing trip. He recently returned from Lsla Mujeres, Mexico where Pete Norcia joined him to release 121 Atlantic sailfish in four days. Most of those were caught while feeding on bait balls. They chartered the Qualifier, which fishes during the season out of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center in North Carolina.

Capt. Frank Dubis still has some spots open at his Boating Safety course to be held Feb. 15 and 16 at 7 p.m. in Hackensack Yacht Club. Call for reservations at 201 716-2883.   

By Al Ristori

February 25, 2010, 7:52PM

The Fishermen’s Rally in Washington on Wednesday was a big success as it attracted about 4,000 fishermen plus lots of congressmen on a nice day for an outdoor event surrounded by two terrible ones — with heavy rain on Tuesday and a snowstorm Thursday. See details about it in Friday’s column.

There was such a rush by fishermen to get down there that I was almost shut out. Buses were sold out at every port, but Warren Deshay invited me to jump on the bus chartered by Vinny Spadafora for his Long Key Marina customers in Waretown. We had plenty of company soon after arriving in Washington, where I ran into old friends from other states such as famed skipper Bob Rocchetta from Long Island, and Harry Aiken from Delaware.

Weather conditions make weekend fishing problematical. Capt. Jimmy Elliott cancelled his Friday night trip for Block Island cod on Miss Belmar Princess. He won’t be going next Friday night while celebrating his 40th birthday, but expects to schedule an overnight wreck trip shortly.

Capt. Howard Bogan Jr. hopes to get weekend wreck trips in with his Jamaica from Brielle, leaving at 11:30 the night before. Call 732 528-5014 for information.

The Salt Water Sportsman seminar will be held Saturday from 9 to 3 at Monmouth Regional H.S. in Tinton Falls. Call 800 448-7360 to determine if any of the $55 tickets are available.

Capt. John Cafiero provides a free striped bass seminar at 11 a.m. Saturday at Causeway Marine in Manahawkin. There’s also free refreshments and door prizes, but please call Causeway Marine for reservations.