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N.Y. HARBOR TO RARITAN BAY Fluking is improving in the bay, with hot action Monday morning when wind and current were together west of the Navy Pier. Capt. Ed Bunting of the Sea Horse from Atlantic Highlands reported 55 keepers up to a 5-pounder by Tom Vogel of Waretown until a slight wind shift to the east shut the bite...
N.Y. HARBOR TO RARITAN BAY
Fluking is improving in the bay, with hot action Monday morning when wind and current were together west of the Navy Pier. Capt. Ed Bunting of the Sea Horse from Atlantic Highlands reported 55 keepers up to a 5-pounder by Tom Vogel of Waretown until a slight wind shift to the east shut the bite off. The Reach Channel was productive for Tom Licknack of Linden and Mike Wells of Point Pleasant. They put Orlando Arena of Newark (cousin to the late Capt. Victor Medina) into his first doormat, and the largest so far this season, with a 29¾-inch, 12-pounder weighed Sunday at The Tackle Box in Hazlet after being caught on a live freshwater herring from TnT out of Atlantic Highlands. Joe Julian reports from Julian’s Tackle in Atlantic Highlands that Shrewsbury River fluking has been hot. Tank Matraxia and Rob DeYoung from Lyndhurst plus Don Alonzo of Point Pleasant, proved that Tuesday as they boated 11 keepers and Matraxia placed ALS tags in 14 shorts while fishing bucktails tipped with a killie from Capt. Fletcher Chayes’ Riverman out of Bahrs in Highlands.
Striped bass fishing fell off in the bay, with bluefish taking their place in warm waters. Bunkers are still hard to come by in the harbors, but are often available in the ocean.
SANDY HOOK TO MANASQUAN INLET
There’s been some hot striper fishing down the beach, but not much of it occurred over the weekend. Big bass turned on again Tuesday, with good catches reported from many areas by both live baiting and trolling. That continued Wednesday. Capt. Sal Cursi of Cathy Sea from Sewaren said he trick was finding the bunkers. A week of afternoon south winds had driven water temperatures down by Monday, and bunkers were harder to locate until it all turned around Tuesday. Spiny dogfish moved in and are causing problems both for clammers and bunker fishermen. Dogfish are also making things difficult for anglers working wrecks and reefs for cod and sea bass. Codfishing has been surprisingly good on Shark River Reef for so late in the spring (when dogfish can be avoided), and ling remain abundant on deeper Mud Hole wrecks.
Fluking has been good off Sandy Hook when the drift isn’t too fast — or too slow. Capt. Stan Zagleski of Elaine B. from Highlands said the lack of drift hurt Saturday, and he had to return to the bay though Matt Spencer of Chatham ended up with four keepers to 5½ pounds, and John Talbott of Jersey City had a 5 3/16-pound fluke. He was back outside for good catches this week.
Some small bluefish have been hitting bunker baits in the Sandy Hook surf, but Allen Riley of South Plainfield reports lures have been ineffective so far. Bait fishermen also catch some short fluke and “legions” of sea robins.
Fluke in the ocean produced a couple of 100-fish drifts Sunday for Capt. Joe Bogan of the Jamaica II from Brielle, with some anglers bagging up to six keepers at sizes to 6½ pounds. Sea bass catches weren’t good, though those caught were big. Capt. Bobby Bogan said fluke up to 6 pounds were caught during his Wednesday morning trip with the Gambler from Point Pleasant until the drift got too fast. Some sea bass were added, and there were no dogfish in the 55- to 65-foot depths that have been producing fluke. Bogan hasn’t even been finding many shorts closer to shore. The Sunday night cod and ling trip was poor due to an abundance of very large dogfish. Joe Melillo, at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant, reports fluke are abundant in the Manasquan River, but few have been keepers so far. Blowfishing is best in the north end of Barnegat Bay. Some stripers are being taken from the surf on poppers and clams. Melillo notes crabbing has been very good in the bay, with most specimens being full of meat.
BAY HEAD TO BARNEGAT INLET
Though there was no repeat of the Memorial Day striper blitzes, some anglers have been picking up a few big bass under bunker schools or by trolling bunker spoons off Island Beach State Park. There were no shark reports, but it’s a good bet that there are lots of blue sharks in all the usual early areas, such as the Resor and the Fingers, along with a shot at the season’s first mako. I did get reports of good yellowfin tuna trolling in Spencer Canyon and of bluefins in Hudson Canyon. Small blues are still available for light tackle popping in Barnegat Bay, though much warmer waters there have turned off the striper clamming. Capt. Jack Shea of Rambunctious says stripers can be baited in the inlet — if you can get through the blues. Betty & Nick’s Tackle in Seaside Park has been weighing a few stripers from the Island Beach State Park surf, while anglers casting into Barnegat Inlet are catching bluefish. The first keeper fluke (a 4-pounder) was weighed this week, and John Bushell Jr said others have been caught in the park and at Bay Head.
SOUTH JERSEY
The hunt for legal flounder in Great Bay is centering on Grassy Channel and the islands around the Fish Factory. Mother lodes of 16-to-17-inch flatties, along with a fair amount of keepers to 22 inches, are whacking the Tuckerton Sandwich as well as fresh spearing and also the 4-inch chartreuse Gulp! Swimming Mullet on a ¼- to 3/8-oz. SPRO bucktails. The mouths of Oyster, Big and Motts creeks are being swarmed by ¾-pound blues that are pulverizing cut bait as well as small metals.
Oyster Creek is the scene of some decent first light and dusk into dark action with 16- to 20-inch weakfish. Shedder crab is best by far, although some are being caught on the chartreuse or “glow” 3/8-oz. jighead/ 3-inch Excite-A-Bite Loopy Legs in Nitro Chicken, and pink Fin-S.
There is a steady pick for keeper fluke to 23 inches in Man Killer Bay, Josh’s Slough and Broad Creek, and 1- to 3-pound blues are in and out of Absecon Creek. The flounder are on the chartreuse Gulp Swimming Mullet and new penny and natural Gulp Shrimp, and the blues are slashing anything. Stripers to 30 pounds were being caught on fresh clam along the beaches of Brigantine and in Atlantic City Inlet. Blues from 4 to 8 pounds were hammered on pony tails at the southwest corner of the Atlantic City Ridge.
Kingfish between 13 and 15 inches are swarming along the beaches from Margate to Sea Isle City, with the stretch from 23rd Street in Ocean City down to Corson’s Inlet is especially hot. The bite is on bloodworms and Fish Bites Bloodworm. Bass from 20 to 44 pounds are eating clam and also bunker chunks from Great Egg Harbor Inlet down the Ocean City sands to Whale Beach in Strathmere. Legal flounder are being caught on spearing and squid/minnow in the ICW at 15th Street and Tennessee Avenue, and also in the south side of Rainbow Channel.
Yellowfin to 40 pounds were trolled on ballyhoo at the southern end of the Wilmington Canyon.
South Jersey report by Tom Pagliaroli, Rack & Fin Radio, ESPN 97.3 FM
This Fishing Report was submitted on 6/3/2011 8:08:06 AM by Seamus and last updated on 6/3/2011 8:08:06 AM.
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