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Barnegat Light Captain Catches 50# Striper


photo.jpg When Captain Mike Platti of Little Egg Harbor arrived at the dock on the morning of June 10th he had one thing on his mind - fluke. Because of his reputation as an excellent captain on his own boat ?Reel Time?, and also as a mate on some of the more popular fishing boats in the area, Mike had just been hired to pilot the newest party boat in Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island. Aptly named ?Islander? , Capt. Mike was anxious to take her out on the scheduled 8:00 am open boat trip and put his fares on some fat summer flounder. Unfortunately, the boat is so new to the area they didn?t even have a sign yet to announce that they were available to sail for fluke that morning. Hence, they didn?t get a large enough turnout to leave the dock.

Somewhat dejectedly, Mike and "Islander" first mate, Dennis, decided to get some breakfast. Not wanting the day to be a total loss, the crew chose to spend the day scouting some fluke holding spots. Captain Mike told me, ?We decided to take the boat and go north for some fluke, and see how strong life was tight to the beach.?

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Striper Fishing in Point Pleasant, NJ

Point Please StripersStriped bass are without a doubt the most sought after gamefish that frequent our waters of Northern Ocean County throughout the year. With seasonal restrictions with other popular species like fluke, winter flounder, tautog, and other species, stripers come to the forefront in our angling community from April to January.

The Point Pleasant Striper Season can be broken down into two completely separate seasons, spring and fall.

• The spring striper season runs from roughly the end of April through the first week of July. The spring season is more of a bait fishery, for typically bigger fish.

• The fall striper season runs from around October 1st through January 15th, give or take a few weeks on either end because of extreme weather (tropical or cold). The fall fishery features more fishing with artificials, but for smaller stripers.

In the Point Pleasant area, spring fishing kicks in gear by late April and can last into July. The early spring fishing (April into mid May) is typically a clam and worm fishery, taking place in areas where the waters will be the warmest – in tidal rivers and bays, as well as the shallows along the beaches on the ocean side. Typically, with this early fishery, we fish an area that is holding stripers by anchoring over readings or structure, cracking whole skimmer clams, sending a chum pot down full of clam bellies, and fishing whole clams on fish finder rigs......

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BlackFish Tog Fishing

Tog Fishing : Tips Tricks and Techniques

From what I can see both from deck Capt. and as avid tog fisherman, way too many people fish too light. If you think you could hold bottom with an 6 or 8oz. use 10 or 12oz. Use 40-80 lb main line and 60-100lb leader. Black fish are not line shy, so have the extra bit to land the big fish. Too many times I see people catch plenty of tog and always lose the hog on there 30 lb test. Your 30 lb test becomes a lot weaker once it frays or get's a nick in it.

Very very important, don’t move your sinker, hence the heavier weighted sinker. On most days the bergall will be the first to inspect the bait then Mr. black fish will approach. if you swing at the bergall you will, on most occasions scare the black fish away to another angler who has his crab and sinker sitting flat on the bottom. I see way to many people bouncing there sinkers all over the place while everyone next to them is catching fish.
once you find the bottom leave your sinker there...........

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Marathon Florida Keys Fishing Charters

Marathon Florida Keys Deep Sea Fishing Charters



Fishing Charters in The Marathon Florida Keys is as diverse as it’s geography.

Florida Keys Sail FishOffshore Deep Sea Fishing Ocean Side : We have options of trolling dead baits and lures, drifting live baits (kite fishing) and site fishing. Sailfish, Mahi Mahi, Tuna, Wahoo, Shark, Marlin, (swordfish-fishery of there own) and Triple Tail are your surface fishing fare. Deep ocean wrecks provide great light tackle action for Mutton and Mangrove snapper, Goliath, Gag, Red and Black Grouper, Cobia, Amberjack, King Mackerel and Shark Fishing.

Inshore Ocean Side : The reef drops to 100ft depth about 5 miles from land. We anchor and chum from 20ft -110ft depth and with conditions in our favor Yellowtail, Mutton, Mangrove Snapper and the Groupers are the targeted dinner fare with all the Jacks, Mackerel, Cobia, Sailfish and Sharks as the added bonus during their respective seasons.


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Chunking For Tuna

How to Chunk For Tuna

Tuna ChinkingFirst off you need to get the baits down deeper to where the fish are. Without lines set to the proper depths you are wasting your time on beginning the chunk. Looking at the fishfinder are you marking any fish down deep? Do you have the fishfinder set to show the depths of the targets? If not get out your manual if you don?t know how to turn that feature on and turn on target depths. If you are marking fish at a particular depth you want to get some lines down to that depth with 1 just above it and another just below it to give yourself a good spread of baits.

We typically on the overnight fish 5-6 lines at a maximum. One line we set up for swords and send down deep (like 150-200 feet). To determine how deep to send the swordfish line you need to find the thermocline on your fish finder and then send the bait a good 25-50 feet below that level.

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