Scott's Daily Fishing Report

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9/2/10 Tropical Storm Warning in effect

Marine Forecast: http://www.wunderground.com/
Additional Info: http://www.footsforecast.org/

Today: S winds 5 to 10 kt. Seas around 3 ft...building to 5 to 7 ft this afternoon.

Forecast (subject to change, check marine forecast) for Friday 9/3: Tropical storm conditions expected. NE winds 30 to 40 kt with gusts up to 55 kt. Seas 8 to 12 ft...building to 12 to 16 ft. Showers likely with vsby 1 to 3 nm.

Thursday, September 2, 2010 /\/\/\ 9:43am
In the Fish News section (under Popular Topics) there is a park closure update due to the hurricane for those of you that fish from land. ~MizMo

Regular report will be posted later this evening.
Sea Ya

Wednesday, September 1, 2010 /\/\/\ 5:23pm
Plenty of bad news on the fluke fishing scene. Anglers have covered all the bottom from here to Garden State North and could not come up with any fluke activity. Where did they go?
With a little looking, there are croakers to catch. They aren't hitting the record books for big fish, but it's still a tug on the line and a possible dinner on the table.
News of the day...Gigantic BLUEFISH. Grandfather and Grandson Joseph Filappello found blues around the Rutgers Buoys this afternoon. The two big fish they weighed in were 14.6 and 13.3 both 35" in length. Chartreuse stretch 25+ trolling lures where the hot ticket. Good Job Capt. Sullivan putting them on the fish. I am curious to see if we will still have bluefish activity here after Hurricane Earl moves through or if they are just on the move inshore due to the storm.
Sea Ya

Name: Jim Hutchinson Sr.
Email: jamesghutch1@aol.com
Phone: 609-290-5942
Website: http://www.fishbeachhaven.com
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Report Details
Date of Trip: 8/23-8/29
Location of Trip: Inshore reefs
Species Sought: Fluke and black sea bass
Time of Day Fished: Morning After Sunrise
Tide Fished: Low Tide (Incoming water)
Weather Conditions: Partly Sunny/Partly Cloudy
Wind Conditions: less than 10 kts. SE
Sea Conditions: less than 2 ft.
Primary Bait: Clams, Fresh
Secondary Bait: Squid
Lure Used: No Lures Used (Rig or Hook Only)
Fishing Report:
The boats of the Beach Haven Charter fishing Association have been sneaking out on successful fishing trips in between northeasters and tropical storms.

Captain Carl Sheppard on the "Star Fish" reports he had some great trips. The spawning season for the black sea bass is just about over and he sees improvement in the catches of sea bass. He says there are occasional keeper fluke in the back bay, but the best action is in the ocean. Both the Little Egg and Garden State South Reefs provided im with some keeper fluke. He is also picking up a dozen bluefish each day around the inlet on his way out to the reefs. Captain Fran Verdi reports his parties are coming home with a mixed bag of fluke and sea bass. He has also gotten some good reports of croakers and small weakfish along the beach the last couple of days. He plans to target sea bass when the fluke season closes on September 6 and work on them until the stripers arrive.

Captain Lindsay Fuller of the "June Bug" had a fluke trip for the Jeff Lawrence party recently. Although the keeper fluke did not cooperate, some nice keeper sea bass did. Captain Lindsay praised mate Pat Zazaky for his work in the cockpit and getting tangles straightened out.
~Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Name: Andy Hladek
Email: andrewhladek@aol.com
Boat Name: reel lucky
Website: http://www.billandandyshow.com
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Report Details
Date of Trip: 08/30/10
Location of Trip: behind stink house
Species Sought: pan fish
Time of Day Fished: Early Afternoon
Tide Fished: High (Incoming water)
Weather Conditions: Sunny
Wind Conditions: 10-20 kts. Do not know info
Sea Conditions: less than 2 ft.
Primary Bait: Clams, Frozen
Secondary Bait: Chum, Clam
Lure Used: No Lures Used (Rig or Hook Only)
Fishing Report:
After having very good Kingfish action last week, I went back to the same spot today with my wife but found it a bit hard to hold anchor and the inconsiderate occasional boaters that had to blast past us were not helping. We started with only short porgies, but after slipping from 13'to 10' hit some nice blowfish (about 10" - 12"). The trick is chum!!! Jerk the pot, give them a reason to come to your boat. Scott - thanks for the clam logs, they made the difference between dinner and just a sun tan.
~Andy Hladek

Monday, August 30, 2010 /\/\/\ 5:42pm
Plenty of anglers enjoyed a good day of fishing, but not a whole lot of catching going on anywhere. Good news is scarce, so just focus on a few good days ahead.
Live eels have arrived! A handful of anglers have been checking weekly. I think some folks know something about some local bass. I have heard the occasional sixteen inch bass caught while fishing for some other species and one real good visual report of busting water bass down along Brigantine Beach. Who knows? Just maybe there is an excuse to drag an eel. Some anglers seem to think so.
Sea Ya

Sunday, August 29, 2010 /\/\/\ 1:26pm
I did get the kingfish blowfish report today from several anglers and it wasn't what I had hoped for. There was plenty of activity: sea bass, spots, a couple of little blowfish, small sharks and searobins, but no cooler quality fish. I also had similar reports from the other areas of the Great Bay that have produced good kingfish and blowfish in years past.

We have been hearing mixed reports from ocean going anglers. Once out the rough inlet, the ocean conditions were reported as gorgeous, calm with intermittent low swells. One report found fluke in fifty-ish feet of water in front of the red tower. Another report confirmed activity up on the Garden State South reef, with back to back days of six keepers.
Sea Ya

Saturday, August 28, 2010 /\/\/\ 6:11pm
"Long period swell from Hurricane Danielle will affect the coastal waters of Delaware and New Jersey into Monday." Quoted right off of Wunderground.com. What does that mean for us? Good chance the Little Egg Inlet will be unfriendly. West winds tomorrow five to ten, which is good news. I thought a North East blow was going to build seas and make the ocean a no-go tomorrow.
We received scattered reports of fluke catches today. No big numbers, just a couple of keepers here and there, but nice to see the bite back on again. The swell may set back the bite though. Some of the catches came from the GSS reef and the LE reef, while other catches were reported within reasonable distance of the Rutgers Buoys.
There was a big gang of folks doing the Kingfish fishing thing off of Graveling Point today. Unfortunately, no one came back though with details about their catches.
George Plate found four twenty six to thirty two inch Mahi-Mahi today. You can bet his grill is cooking right now! (George's comment was that he should be taking them out to dinner...they cost that much to catch due to the distance he went to get them. ~ MizMo)
Sea Ya

Friday, August 27, 2010 /\/\/\ 6:00pm
With swell building up from Hurricane Danielle as she passes way offshore, bay fishing is probably the best bet for the next couple of days until things settle down a bit on the ocean. Morning conditions should be fine, with swell building into the day. Time will tell though.

Only weigh-ins today were three nice fluke; three to five pounders caught up at the Black Flag on the Garden State South Reef site. I was hoping from some good news closer, but I have nothing to pass along this evening.
Sea Ya

Name: Andy Hladek
Email: andrewhladek@aol.com
Boat Name: reel lucky
Phone:
Website: http://www.billandandyshow.com
----------------------
Report Details
Date of Trip: 08/23/10
Location of Trip: Clam stake side of the stink house
Species Sought: kingfish-blowfish-porgy
Time of Day Fished: Early Afternoon
Tide Fished: High (Outgoing water)
Weather Conditions: Partly Sunny/Partly Cloudy
Wind Conditions: 20-30 kts. Do not know info
Sea Conditions: 2-4 ft.
Primary Bait: Clams, Frozen
Secondary Bait: Chum, Clam
Lure Used: No Lures Used (Rig or Hook Only)
Fishing Report:
Sorry for the late report, but I had a good afternoon Monday off the main channel in 12' of water behind the stink house. Tried the inlet for fluke but NOAA was right and the wind started kicking up so I bailed the inlet. Anchored up behind the SH and put two 12" and one 17" king in the cooler. Thanks to the guys behind me for keeping an eye on me while I pulled up anchor - the chop was erratic and the tide was real fast. No blowfish, but also had sea bass, sea robins, oyster crackers, and dogfish. Fun stuff out there - chum and they will come
~Andy Hladek

Thursday, August 26, 2010 /\/\/\ 5:50pm
High hopes of big fluke catches were shot down today. The fluke activity was off to say the least. Sea conditions were favorable, but the fish must have not recovered from the little swell over the past few days and best guess is the that the bottom must be stirred up.
Croakers that are usually found in the shallower water along the beach were caught in the Little Egg Reef today. As the ocean bottom settles, look for the croakers along the beach again.
Kingfish, blowfish and spots have been the focus of interest for many this week. There isn't a lot going in the coolers, but there are some spots ending up in the bait pens for later on striper baits.
A little further offshore, word is that the sea bass fishing and the tog fishing is pretty good. Fresh and salted clam and green crabs are moving a little bit more then I thought they would with the fluke fishing picking up and the fluke season coming to an end. As one angler put it, "sure I can only keep one eight pounder (tog); I still end up with more fillet then if I fluke fished all day. It's a lot of fun too!"
Sea Ya

Wednesday, August 25, 2010 /\/\/\ 5:18pm
Not many folks through the store today. Wind and threatening storms had most anglers spooked. Wave heights of four to six didn't encourage any fluke ocean going anglers. Forecast for Thursday is looking good at this point. First anglers out the Inlet tomorrow morning will sure tell if the seas are fishable.
Great Bay anglers continue to focus on the Kingfish off of Graveling Point. There were a couple of anglers who were going to give the kingfishing an honest try with the chum, worms and fresh clams in Marshelder Channel on the Tuckerton Bay side. I hope to hear good news from them soon.
Sea Ya

Monday, August 23, 2010 /\/\/\ 6:01pm
Most of the fisher people through the store today bought stuff related to kingfish fishing. With the threatening weather, they could get a days entertainment in and not get to far from protected waters should the weather turn real ugly fast.
How can you tell the fishing activity has really started on the ocean? A North East weather system settles in and you can get out on the ocean to fish for them.
Sea Ya

Sunday, August 22, 2010 /\/\/\ 1:01pm
Wind and threatening rain kept most anglers at the dock and didn't provide us with any news to pass along.
Mr. Bill mentions a very entertaining fishing trip on the Tuckerton Bay side over near the six marker, where the fluke catching was exceptional with numbers of flatties, but none for the fish box. Fishing for fun? What a concept!
Sea Ya

Name: John Pfeiffer
----------------------
Report Details
Date of Trip: 8/21/2010
Location of Trip:
Species Sought:
Time of Day Fished: Morning After Sunrise
Tide Fished: Low Tide (Outgoing water)
Weather Conditions: Sunny
Wind Conditions: less than 10 kts. E
Sea Conditions: less than 2 ft.
Primary Bait: Clams, Fresh
Secondary Bait: Squid
Lure Used: No Lures Used (Rig or Hook Only)
Fishing Report:
Maybe there could have been a catch in the clam stakes, in back of the fish factory, but boats were continually running through the chum slick. Did manage to catch two (2) spots.
~John Pfeiffer

Saturday, August 21, 2010 /\/\/\ 5:34pm
Anglers found better kingfish activity off the end of Radio Road this afternoon than the folks fishing in the Clam Stakes on the Mystic Island side of the Fish Factory. There were no reported blowfish at Graveling Point or Pebble Beach. It was a mix of small fish including sea robbins, sea bass and sandsharks, which keeps things interesting.

Ocean anglers had mixed results. Twelve keepers is the big number of the day. Other skilled anglers who know all the spots had trouble locating fish. It's a matter of covering bottom and once you find a pod of keeper fluke, then pound it over and over again with short drifts. Little Egg Reef is a good starting point with some fish coming from deeper water just outside the reef.

Atlantic croaker activity is on. It's more than an isolated catch. Anglers found pods of fish in forty-ish feet of water up off the southernmost two water towers on LBI. The croakers can be on the move and might not be found there tomorrow. A little looking might be necessary. Years past, some of the best Croaker action has come from depths of eighteen to twenty five feet of water out in front of Little Beach and South to the Brigantine Inlet. Break out the clams and top n' bottom rigs. Sea bass type rigs also work great to catch them up. There are no size or bag limits on Croaker in New Jersey waters for 2010.
Sea Ya

Name: Jeff Hill
Email: pavepronj@aol.com
Boat Name: Black Gold
Phone: 609-892-8416
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Report Details
Date of Trip: 08/21/2010
Location of Trip: Southeast of Rutgers
Species Sought: Fluke
Time of Day Fished: Morning After Sunrise
Tide Fished: High (Outgoing water)
Weather Conditions: Partly Sunny/Partly Cloudy
Wind Conditions: 10-20 kts. E
Sea Conditions: 4-6 ft.
Primary Bait: Minnows/Killies/Shiners
Secondary Bait: Squid
Lure Used: No Lures Used (Rig or Hook Only)
Fishing Report:
Black Gold on em again running numbers from our trip 3 weeks ago . The fish moved a little but have gotten to be a better pick on keepers. I believe they have started their journey offshore. We pulled 36 fish over the gunnels in a shorter amount of time with 9 in the box from 18" - 24 " and 1 pan fry blue maybe a 1 1/2 or 2 lb. today was a good day with all the chatter so till we meet again it was a hell of day !!!!
~Jeff Hill

Friday, August 20, 2010 /\/\/\ 6:11pm
Wow! Something new, fluke weigh-ins. Ed Pritsch weighed in a whopper 7.55 26" flatty caught off the GSS reef site. Bobby Herodes found a 4.47 pounder near the Rutgers Buoys. Fluke are happening on the ocean. Biggest complaint today was ZERO drift. Several anglers I spoke to today felt they could have had more fish in the box if there was a better drift.

A couple of anglers have shared exciting kingfish reports. It is building into a decent fishery. I still hear blowfish mentioned too, but not sure of they are of any decent size or not. Glad there is action for the bay anglers and that there will be something to fish for after Sept. 7th, which is only a couple of weeks away.
Sea Ya

Thursday, August 19, 2010 /\/\/\ 5:56pm
Better news from ocean going fluke anglers. It's worth a poke around on the ocean for sure this weekend. I have had a couple of reports on Monday and Tuesday that tout as many as eight keeper fluke just outside the LE reef site. Other fluke catches were reported in the approximate area of the Rutgers Markers as well.
Chris gave it a good shot this afternoon to attempt to catch a few spots in the Mystic Island lagoons and came up empty. Hopefully, the spots will pile in over the next couple of weeks.
Sea Ya

Wednesday, August 18, 2010 /\/\/\ 6:00pm
One report from Tuesday touted two keeper fluke from the Garden State South reef with roughly fifteen throwback fluke to keep it interesting.

A rainy day and did we complain? No!! Everyone was relieved to see a little bit of rain. I saw more people taking advantage of the breaks in the rain and they were out working in the yards. The light showers were so much better to work in the garden or yard than in the oppressive heat.
Sea Ya

Name: Jim Hutchinson Sr.
Email: jamesghutch1@aol.com
Boat Name:
Phone: 609-290-5942
Website: http://www.fishbeachhaven.com
----------------------
Report Details
Date of Trip: 8/13-8/16
Location of Trip: Inshore and offshore
Species Sought: Fluke, sea bass, tuna
Time of Day Fished: Morning After Sunrise
Tide Fished: Low Tide (Incoming water)
Weather Conditions: Sunny
Wind Conditions: 10-20 kts. NE
Sea Conditions: Do not know info
Primary Bait: Clams, Fresh
Secondary Bait: Squid
Lure Used: Trolling/Big Game Lure
Fishing Report:
The summer may be starting to draw to a close, but the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are still fishing and catching in high gear.

In the most unusual catch of the summer, Captain Tim Knorr of the charter boat "William Knorr" had the John Donegan party out for a night chumming trip at the Barnegat Ridge for bluefish. At some point during the night's fishing they hooked up with something that they knew was entirely too big to be a bluefish. When they finally got the fish to the boat and aboard, they discovered they had a 69-pound cobia. Very often cobia are caught very late in the summer around Little Egg Inlet but this is rare for the middle of the summer. Cobia are reputed to be one of the most delicious fish around.

Captain Fran Verdi of the "Drop Off" reports big swells and high winds have made fishing a bit difficult on the local artificial reefs. On Friday he fished a reef and found some short fluke and one keeper sea bass. He says the sea bass are still spawning and are actually piled high on the bottom but have little interest in feeding right now. Captain Fran will keep targeting fluke until the end of the season on September 6 and then turn his attention to sea bass which should be done spawning. He adds the keeper ratio is better in the ocean than the bay. Of all the baits he uses, he prefers the tradition squid and minnow sandwich over everything else.

Captain Carl Sheppard of the "Star Fish" reports the fishing was a bit slow due to the cooler water temperatures, but he was fortunate to find some fish. He located some keeper fluke in the Little Egg Inlet as well as some farther offshore. He has been using both Gulp and clam. On Sunday the McKay family from East Windsor had a solid day of fishing including some big black sea bass caught by eight year old Molly McKay. The "Hot Tuna" and its charter braved some strong east winds last Saturday mid-day to head offshore for a 24 hour canyon chunking trip. The party, organized by Mike Kellogg, found pleasant overnight chunking conditions but only caught one small mako. They did net over 100 squid attracted by the lights. The evening and morning trolling portions of the trip worked better as they produced 4 yellowfin tuna, a wahoo and bonito. Capt Bob Gerkens of the "Hot Tuna" was assisted on the charter by Captain Fran Verdi, who took a day off from his own charters to run the cockpit, with the assistance of Junior Mate Pat Zavacky.
~Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Monday, August 16, 2010 /\/\/\ 5:29pm
Quite a few anglers are switching gears that are content to fish for something other then fluke. Sales for bloodworms and fresh clams and clam chum have tripled this week to anglers content to keep busy and not burn a whole lot of gas. They are setting up a chum pot in the clams stakes on the Mystic Island side of the Fish Factory and just plain old are having fun. Don't expect to be at the cleaning station very long, as most of the fish are smaller then something you could make a meal out of.
Sea Ya

Sunday, August 15, 2010 /\/\/\ 1:11pm
Just maybe a little bit better fishing activity today, but it didn't take long into the afternoon for the wind to kick up again and turn the Great Bay frothy white. Nothing to report from the ocean going anglers that did get out and reported fishable conditions. The Little Egg Inlet turned up a couple of keepers as did the Intercoastal behind Long Beach Island. There just isn't any HOT SPOT to report from the reported angler activity this weekend.
Sea Ya

Saturday, August 14, 2010 /\/\/\ 6:04pm
Ocean going anglers were very few in number. The six foot seas were not a fun place to be. One angler reported three keepers at the Rutgers Buoys; I say he sure earned them. Many fluke boats worked the Little Egg Inlet and all the other hot spots mentioned this week to come up with very few flatties at all and no keepers amongst the low numbers.
Better news on the small fish fishery. Several anglers starting to report some kingfish, blowfish, porgies and even spot. There haven't been any big numbers of fish, but enough action entertain and possibly a few fish to clean. Clam chum is a must as it's necessary to pull the few fish into feeding mode.
Sea Ya

Friday, August 13, 2010 /\/\/\ 5:13pm
Early anglers didn't get out on the ocean due to a blustery East wind; anglers who fished the bay still got beat up. It didn't appear to be that windy inland, but on the water, it wasn't such a nice day. One twenty inch fluke is the flatty report of the day and they found that fish out in front of Little Sheepshead Creek.
Many anglers were in for bunker and chose to hide up a creek out of the wind and call it a crabbing day.
Sea Ya

Thursday, August 12, 2010 /\/\/\ 5:49pm
Bev Heimbach saves the day with a 6 pound 4 ounce 25 1/2" fluke! Bev was fishing the stretch between Long Beach Island and Little Sheepshead Creek. There was a good bunch of shorts before the keeper was raised.
Some of the guys fishing the mouth of the Mullica River area are using live peanut bunker while others are making sure they come up with shedders for the best chance at catching weakfish. No one is bragging, so up to date details are hard to come by.
The shop ran out of bloodworms today and no more are expected to possibly Monday. We did get another batch of fresh clams in, so anyone attempting to locate kingfish will still have a good bait choice. We still have only received the one good report from Jesse B.
Sea Ya

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 /\/\/\5:04pm
Most of the day I was pretty negative about the fishing. Anglers were coming through one right after another talking about the activity turning off with the water temperature dropping from the mid seventies to lower sixties. The fluke just weren't biting. As a matter of fact, even the junkfish gave it a rest.
Then, some good news! Jake Pysher comes though for a picture with a pair of flatties, one at three pounds and the other two pounds 6 ounces caught aboard the SonKat. They were fishing back up in the bay in the Intercoastal Waterway. Activity was good with shorts coming in plentiful until the wind switched against the tide. My best guess is that the cooler water temperatures pushed the fish back up into the warmer waters of the Great Bay.
Jesse B. gives us our first hope on some kingfish activity back in the Clam stakes in the Great Bay. One can only hope that this fishery will hang in there for folks for the next month or two. It's just the first report, so lets hope it's not a one hit wonder.
Sea Ya

Name: Jim Shaw AKA~The Duke of Fluke
Email: jsport001@comcast.net
Boat Name: Fish On
----------------------
Report Details
Date of Trip: 08/10/10
Location of Trip:
Species Sought:
Time of Day Fished: Early Afternoon
Tide Fished: High (Outgoing water)
Weather Conditions: Sunny
Wind Conditions: less than 10 kts. Do not know info
Sea Conditions: less than 2 ft.
Primary Bait: Squid
Secondary Bait: Minnows/Killies/Shiners
Lure Used: No Lures Used (Rig or Hook Only)
Fishing Report:
Caught 2 keeper Fluke 6 LB & 3 LB also 3 small blues and 1,000,000,000,000,000 skates!!!!!!!!
~Jim Shaw AKA~The Duke of Fluke

Name: Jesse
Email: jbigituna@yahoo.com
Boat Name: Lites out guide svc.
----------------------
Report Details
Date of Trip: 08/08/10
Location of Trip: stakes
Species Sought: kings
Time of Day Fished: Late Afternoon
Tide Fished: High (Incoming water)
Weather Conditions: Sunny
Wind Conditions: 10-20 kts. Do not know info
Sea Conditions: less than 2 ft.
Primary Bait: Clams, Fresh
Secondary Bait: (Other)
Lure Used: Poppers
Fishing Report:
Hey guys just saw you have had no reports regarding kings yet. I had a 3 man group out yesterday afternoon for a 4 hour trip. We caught a ton of small species 9 total inc. with about a dozen nice kings 12-15 inchers. clam chum is key with fresh clam strips. We rigged up w/ 1/2 oz drop shot with tiny single hooks and prefer 7' light spinning rods. This is drop and reel fishing once the chum starts. We had a perfect night for top waters as well but only managed 2 bass.
~Jesse

Name: Jim Hutchinson Sr.
Email: jamesghutch1@aol.com
Boat Name:
Phone: 609-978-0275
Website: http://www.fishbeachhaven.com
----------------------
Report Details
Date of Trip: 8/6-8/9
Location of Trip: Inlet, inshore ocean, offshore
Species Sought: Fluke, sea bass, tuna, mahi
Time of Day Fished: Morning After Sunrise
Tide Fished: Low Tide (Outgoing water)
Weather Conditions: Sunny
Wind Conditions: 10-20 kts. SE
Sea Conditions: 2-4 ft.
Primary Bait: Squid
Secondary Bait: Minnows/Killies/Shiners
Lure Used: Trolling/Big Game Lure
Fishing Report:
The captains of the Beach Haven Charter fishing Association have a variety of reports. Captain Carl Sheppard of the "Star Fish" reported the inshore ocean water is cold and the fish do not seem to want to bite. Most of the black sea bass he has been keeping have been males. Captain John Koegler took the "Star Fish" to the canyons and returned with a catch of tuna and mahi-mahi.

Captain Fran Verdi spent several days last week fishing on the "Hot Tuna" as a mate fishing the marlin and tuna tournament. He said they returned empty-handed after a couple days of hard work. It is now back to the inshore ocean fluke and sea bass trips for him now.

Captain George Finck of "Sparetime" Charters had an inshore tuna trolling trip where each of his five anglers caught yellowfin tuna in addition to some nice mahi. The tuna were in the 55-80 pound class. He has also been fishing the inlet for big numbers of small fluke. Enjoying the action in the inlet were the David Hunt party and Gerald Mick and his five grandchildren. Captain George took Todd Kutikoff and Frank Smith out in the ocean for a nice catch of fluke and sea bass, all on the drift.
~Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Monday, August 9, 2010 /\/\/\ 6:41pm
There hasn't been a lot of changes this week. Fluke are still the targets species. Drifting Foxboro Point and the trough between 114 and 114A is still producing a keeper now and then for back bay activity. Inlet anglers are still catching more numbers, but everyone is still working hard to find those keepers.
I have heard some chatter about some little Bluefish, but have nothing specific to pass along. Hopefully, someone can submit a bluefishing report with some specifics for anglers looking for a change of pace.
Sea Ya

Sunday, August 8, 2010 /\/\/\ 1:03pm
I think there is a vote going on someplace to rename the Little Egg Reef site to "The Skate Reef". If you were looking to escape the inlets and were just trying to entertain some company or children, the Little Egg Reef was the place to be for bending rods. There was a little bit better news coming from anglers fishing on the Garden State Reef, aka "The Tires". It's a long run to pick up a few keepers, but sometimes escaping the congestion of the bay is worth the effort all by itself.
Sea Ya

Name: Alex Lynn
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Report Details
Date of Trip: 08/08/3010
Location of Trip: LE inlet between the bars
Species Sought: FLUKE
Time of Day Fished: Morning After Sunrise
Tide Fished: Low Tide (Outgoing water)
Weather Conditions: Sunny
Wind Conditions: less than 10 kts. SW
Sea Conditions: 2-4 ft.
Primary Bait: Minnows/Killies/Shiners
Secondary Bait: Herring, Fillet
Lure Used: Bucktail
Fishing Report:
I dont know who fished the ocean early, but not without radar! Holgate and the ocean were not visible at 8:30 am due to the heavvy fog. Water temp in the inlet was in the sixties and exteme humidity caused the condition. Caught the usual shorts to sixteen inches and several skates. Caught one 20 in keeper. You would not believe the amount of meat from this sized fish! Even the sixteen and seventeen inch fish are very fat for that size fish! Hmmm. Drift was 2 mph. requiring 6-7 oz. of weight! 50-60 boats in the area.
~Alex Lynn

Saturday, August 7, 2010 /\/\/\ 5:53pm
The fluke catching and keeping was a little bit skinny today. MICA club anglers did find a few, but I didn't see a cooler that had more then three in it; three is still pretty good for most folks though. Ocean anglers had some swell, but no drift all day. Almost hard to believe with the late afternoon breeze we had inland. No drifts meant tough fluke fishing. One angler would have been very happy if he could have found a skate tournament to register in. Most said that the bite shut off around 7:30 am with next to nothing after that.
Crabbing is still pretty good. Maybe everywhere isn't HOT, but time and time again crabbers through the store are saying they are doing well and catching BIG crabs. Big crab of the day was seven and a half inches point to point captured off of one the side creeks down off of Great Bay Blvd, AKA seven bridges road.
Still no word on any kings or blowfish. Several anglers gave it a shot again today.
One little shot of weakfish in the mouth of the Mullica River this morning. If you weren't there for the right fifteen minutes, you saw no action at all. Word was that they were around 23 inches.
Sea Ya

Name: Jeff Hill
Email: pavepronj@aol.com
Boat Name: Black Gold
Phone: 609-892-8416
----------------------
Report Details
Date of Trip: 08/06/10
Location of Trip: L.E. Reef
Species Sought: Fluke, Sea Bass
Time of Day Fished: Morning After Sunrise
Tide Fished: High (Outgoing water)
Weather Conditions: Partly Sunny/Partly Cloudy
Wind Conditions: 10-20 kts. NW
Sea Conditions: 4-6 ft.
Primary Bait: Minnows/Killies/Shiners
Secondary Bait: Squid
Lure Used: No Lures Used (Rig or Hook Only)
Fishing Report:
What a morning started out 6 a.m. around the LEI within minutes the green heads were thick enough to carry us away. I looked at the other 3 guy's on the boat and got the nod to move off shore. We started out a little north of the L.E. reef with plenty of action 2nd fish 18.5" the bite was good for a couple hrs. put a 19" in the box and around 10:30 the bite slowed up moved south and found a great pocket of larger fish another 19" along with a 22" and 23" 42 flatties total, 1 keeper sea bass only downfall a lot of skates all in all a great trip fellas hats off Hilly, Bobby and Wesley!!!! Happy Fishing!
~Jeff Hill

Friday, August 6, 2010 /\/\/\ 5:52pm
Looks like Mother Nature is going to change a lot of plans for anglers who thought they were going to fish the ocean this weekend. Sea swell built to a good five plus this afternoon and with some North East wind on the way, the ocean is going to be downright snotty. I would suspect the Little Egg Inlet fishing is probably not going to be an option either.
Anglers have still found the occasional fluke back in the bays. Foxboro Point on the Tuckerton side is still producing an occasional keeper as well as the Intercoastal from 114 to the tip of Tuckers Island. I haven't heard much from angler activity in the Great Bay this week; everyone has been so fortunate in the Inlet and the sea conditions have allowed anglers to work it that they haven't worked the back bay.
Sea Ya

Thursday, August 5, 2010 /\/\/\ 5:55pm
As we told Tom at Fisherman's magazine this week, the kingfish/blowfish/porgie/seabass bite here in Great Bay has not started yet; Already had one irate phone call from someone who misread it. It's that time of year, since we usually see them by this first week of August, but the folks who have been trying haven't been able to turn any up yet. We'll let you know when we hear some decent reports.

The fluke fishing is still hanging in there. It's still nothing that I can call excited limit catches, but effort put in has put as many as six keepers in the box for several boats the past couple of days. One of the anglers was working just outside the bar straight out of Little Egg Inlet. Other anglers are picking fish off the open bottom anywhere from 35 to 55 feet of water out in front of the two Southern most waters towers on Long Beach Island.
Don't forget the MICA fluke tournament is this Saturday. You can still sign up at the captains meeting tomorrow night at the club. Everyone is welcome to join the tourney; it is not a members only event. The Captains meeting is at the MICA CLUB at 7:00pm Friday evening. If you have never been there, it's easy to find. The club is right behind the Mystic Island Fire Company Building. Even if you don't catch fish, the club always puts on a fun gathering afterwards to be a part of.
Sea Ya

Wednesday, August 4, 2010 /\/\/\ 6:02pm
Several anglers reported nice size keeper fluke in the Little Egg Inlet. The inlet still remains the best activity and a few quality fluke. There are a few anglers who are finding fluke on the ocean and they are doing quite well, but it's not easy to locate a pod of fish to work. Stick to the Inlet unless you have a magic log book of hot numbers created over the past few years.
Sea Ya

Name: Jim Hutchinson Sr.
Email: jamesghutch1@aol.com
Boat Name:
Phone: 609-290-5942
Website: http://www.fishbeachhaven.com
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Report Details
Date of Trip: July 30
Location of Trip: Inshore bay, Lindenkohl Canyon
Species Sought: Tuna, billfish, fluke
Time of Day Fished: Night
Tide Fished: High (Incoming water)
Weather Conditions: Sunny
Wind Conditions: less than 10 kts. SE
Sea Conditions: 2-4 ft.
Primary Bait: Spearing
Secondary Bait: Squid
Lure Used: Trolling/Big Game Lure
Fishing Report:
Some of the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been making the long trek to the canyons and returning with some great stories. They have been making some fine catches of tuna, billfish, and mahi-mahi.

Captain George Finck of "Sparetime Charters" took Dan Cronin and friends out to the canyon for tuna fishing. In addition to seeing plenty of whales and porpoises, they had five hits and boated a pair of yellowfin tuna to 65-pounds. On another trip he went to the canyon looking for tuna. He first boated two white marlin which he released. He then boated a pair of yellowfin tuna to 80-pounds, and finally five long fin tuna.

Captain Lindsay Fuller had a busman's holiday on the "June Bug" and took out some of his mates and mechanics on a trip to the Lindenkohl Canyon. Art Barstow and Garrett Frey trolled on the "June Bug" before sunup with no luck and then at dawn moved into the deeper water. The first fish boated was a 75-pound yellowfin. During their trolling they picked up an 80-pound yellowfin and had a couple of white marlin which investigated the lines but did not bite. Then they found a 10-foot piece of barnacle encrusted wood that held a school of 10-pound mahi-mahi. Although the mahi would not bite on the trolled lines, they were able to catch as many mahi as they wanted using light spinning tackle with pieces of ballyhoo for bait. After catching all they wanted to eat, they spent time catching and releasing. Captain Lindsay says he feels this is the best year for tuna fishing in at least 20 years. The same two captains have had some inshore trips where they had to work hard through loads of small fluke to find some keepers.

Captain George Finck had Leslie Nugent and her 12 year old son Cooper in the bay for fluke with one topping the scale at 3.5 pounds. On another bay trip he had the Glen Linhoff family out for a nice catch of fluke on his mother-in-law's birthday. Captain George had the Ross family out in the bay for fluke before getting chased in by thunderstorms. Once again fluke ruled the day plus a nice kingfish. For Captain Lindsay Fuller his inshore docket was made up of family reunions. The Potter family of Montreal, Canada, were out for a day's catch of over 50 short fluke, but no keepers. Another family trip with three children had great action once again on short fluke but keepers were hard to come by.
~Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Name: James Auriemma
Boat Name: Wicked Witch
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Report Details
Date of Trip: 08/01/10
Location of Trip: L.E. Inlet
Species Sought: Fluke
Time of Day Fished: Morning After Sunrise
Tide Fished: Low Tide (Incoming water)
Weather Conditions: Partly Sunny/Partly Cloudy
Wind Conditions: less than 10 kts. SE
Sea Conditions: less than 2 ft.
Primary Bait: (Other)
Secondary Bait: No Second Bait Used
Lure Used: Gulp Bait by Berkley
Fishing Report:
Scott, We were plannning on heading to the red tower but stopped in the inlet for a quick try and stayed for 4 hrs. Ended up with 78 shorts and 3 keepers with the biggest being 24" 4lbs., also had 4 large sea robbins and 1 skate. We had a good day and at least we had some dinner to bring home.
~James Auriemma

Name: Walt Golas
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Report Details
Date of Trip: 07/31/10
Location of Trip: Barnegat Light, Double Creek channel
Species Sought: Flounder
Time of Day Fished: Early Afternoon
Tide Fished: Low Tide (Incoming water)
Weather Conditions: Sunny
Wind Conditions: less than 10 kts. NE
Sea Conditions: less than 2 ft.
Primary Bait: Bloodworms
Secondary Bait: Squid
Lure Used: No Lures Used (Rig or Hook Only)
Fishing Report:
On Saturday 7/31 we took our 18' pontoon out for a day of fishing from Waretown, NJ with 5 adults and our 13 year old to hit the bay at Barnegat Light, after 1 hours ran into motor trouble and had SEATOW bring us back to South Harbour Marine. THANK YOU CAPTAIN, THANK YOU employee at South Harbour, got us back on the water by 1pm. Went back out to the Double Creek Channel between markers 11 and 21, spent 6 hours on the water. Boated 110 flounder, YES 110 and had 5 keepers, largest caught by the 13 y.o., 5 lbs 22 1/2 inches, we also had a 21, 19 and 2 18 inch beauties. We tried the inlet from 19 to 24 but nothing there at 5pm. What a fun day we had.
~Walt Golas

Monday, August 2, 2010 /\/\/\ 7:10pm
Little Egg Inlet still produced plenty of action today and keepers for some but not all anglers working the bars. Other anglers have been working random bottom up off the towers from 35 to 65 feet of water coming up with some flatties and keepers outside too. No one is raving about any particular hot spots, just covering ground until they find some fluke.
Sea Ya

Sunday, August 1, 2010 /\/\/\ 1:07pm
There was a little bit more positive feedback from anglers fishing both the Little Egg Inlet and out in front of the Southern most towers on Long Beach Island. Please understand, I am not touting limit catches of any sort, but some good numbers of flatties with a high hook of seven keepers. The average happy anglers had one to three keepers in their coolers.
Crabbing reports are still coming in real good from many folks. One of our crabbers put a few SEVEN inchers in the bucket and he crabs the Great Bay Blvd. creeks. He was not specific to exactly where, so I suppose you have to poke around and try several of the smaller creeks until you find some activity.
Sea Ya