Great Bay To Little Egg Reef Fishing Reports

[Hotrod]

Yea.  we were there also. Lots of boats not much action. I'll have to keep an eye out for yu next time.

[Whiskers]

Had some reports of nice fluke off the Rutgers Buoys, and further south off the AC reef. Some nice sea bass and croakers picked up off LER, mostly on Sand eels or Smelt. Nobody had any killer days, but they were boating fish. A lot of shorts, but remember, a 16 7/8 fish is a short.

[relentless J]

this is about the A.C. had a company sponsored trip on a party boat saturday, small craft warning, they were right. saw some as tall as 10' from the bottom of the trough out there and thats no fish tale. was about 8 miles off the coast on a few different ship wrecks. ton of sea bass, especially shorts, 1 throw back fluke, 1 throw back tog, and a bunch of porgy. made it back out sunday to the A.C. reef and had a good day. drift was strong had to use 10-12 ounce and a drift sock. caught fish on every drift, not much junk either, caught about 18 fluke with 10 of them being keepers up to 6 pounds and a couple sea bass here and there. now since i am somewhat new to the area who can help me out with some striper info in the great bay mullica area?

[Hotrod]

From Capt Mikes 09/09


This week’s fishing reports  has been with mixed results.   The first part of the week was a little slow with the ocean fishing being tough to handle with the rough waters.   Seems that when the drift is cooperating, some nice sized fish are being caught.   Most guys ventured out in the deeper waters 80-90 feet to see nice limit catches.  Just last week both David Brisco and Scott McDonald had some nice catches over on LE Reef.    Those fishing off the reefs such as LE weren’t as lucky this past weekend however.      A/C Reef and Garden State North showed some action with Fluke though.   Nice  Sea Bass are also being picked up around the reefs.   Larger Blues have been running the past week with several 9-15 pounders weighed in.   Some of the bait fish were even forcing these guys up onto the beaches.  Some guys are also bringing in some nice size croakers.   It’s a shame that now that the nice big Fluke are being caught that the party is over tomorrow.    It really has been a pretty decent year and with the nicer weather we’ve had compared to last, it’s a shame they cut our season short. 

 

Bay fishing continues to produce small sea bass, porgies, kingfish, and some blowfish and even heard of a few trigger fish being caught.   Lots of snappers still around also.   Try over by the orange ball or in the clam stakes for these fish.    Word is that the Weakies are showing more of a consistency on the incoming tides.    We have bloodworms in stock now.   Peanut bunker and mullet are around which also make good bait.   Call ahead to see if they are in stock.    Crabbing is a word in our vocabulary that hasn’t had a good reception.   Don’t know what’s up with these guys.   Maybe they’ll come in with a vengeance and we can have some fun before we miss the boat on this fishery.   Keep up to date on what’s happening by visiting our website for weather, fishing reports, photos etc. at Captmikesmarina.com

[Great Bay Junky]

We we out with a bang and not a wimper. Saturday we had 12 keepers to 22 inches and Sunday it was eveen better with 16 keepers to 22 inches again. We had to sift the hoards of shorts. We must have caught 200 fluke in 2 days. The fish were caught in deeper water a few miles past the reef. Last Wednesday we had a good day with closer to the beach. We 8 keepers to 27inches 6.6lbs.

[Hotrod]

 

[Luna Sea 5]

its a very tuff waterway.. I come out of round a bout creek also, depending on the tide, I work my way to the left side of the stink house then go around it to the inlets... Other times I head towards grassy channel and that that all the way to the inlet...  GPS helps great, but not last year.  Said I was in deep water, but I wound of in 1' of water.. had to be towed out...  they only had to move the boat about 5 feet, so I just missed it...  the only scratches on my lower unit are from that incident...  Its very tricky aroud there..

[jarhead]

Fished till my heart was content over the weekend, 5 flounder to 6 lbs in 80 ft. of water, past the LE Reef, Sunday trolled for blues at the BRN & South, had 3 false albies and some blues. Had to work Monday so my fluke season is over.

Now it's time to gear up for the stripers and tog.

[IrishAyes]

Six pound fluke, nice way to end the season.  Good job.   

[Hotrod]

www.captmikesmarina.com

Weather/winds prevented many fishermen from getting out this week.   Those who got out to the ocean saw some nice picks of Croakers, Sea Bass and Porgies out on the reefs.   Bay fishing has produces smaller porgies, sporadic kingfish, and lots of small sea bass.   Bluefish in the 2 lb. range are all over the bay and inlet areas.   Haven’t seen any big Blues brought in this week at all.   Weakies have been caught along the sod banks, Sheepshead, Marshelder and the Mullica. 

[ped579]

Thanks for the report.

Happy Catching

Paul

[Luna Sea 5]

 

[jarhead]

Fished the LE Reef Sunday, we had a ball 26 porgies, 2 Sea Bass and a Blue, never targeted the Porgies before and they are alot of fun.

Hope to get out there again this week.

[Hotrod]

www.captmikesmarina.com

Weakies are becoming a more consistent catch lately but still not phenomenal.   We had a few different anglers weigh in some nice trigger fish this week while out king fishing.   Still a lot of small sea bass and snappers around in the bay also.   One customer came into the store and said they had 2 drum fish (one at 9 lb and 6 lb) caught off the shallow waters of the 2nd bridge on Great Bay Blvd.   The ocean has been producing croakers out by the red tower in about 30 ft, and sea bass are being caught in decent quantities and size on the reefs. 

[ped579]

Thanks for the report.

Sounds like it might be a good day tomorrow for the Gov. Cup tourney.

They are calling for rain so maybe the crowds won't be as large as they usually are.

Happy Catching

Paul

[jarhead]

Fished the Red & White towers today off LBI, all the small blues you want.

Got my share, then tried trolling umbrella rigs for some stripers but no luck  water still to warm.

[IrishAyes]

That's a possibility Jarhead.  Not much action with the stripers anywhere that I have heard.

[Hotrod]

www.captmikesmarina.com

This past weekend’s Redmen’s tournament brought in only a handful of Stripers with the winner at about 20+ lbs.   Lots of small bluefish are all over with some bigger ones hanging under the bunker pods, especially out in front of the Red  Tower.  There are lots of pods out there but not a lot of bass under them.   The Mullica was the place to be as far as having any type of chance of catching a Striper.   Eels seem to be the bait of choice.   This is still very hit or miss and by no means a hot fish to be chasing yet.   The water is still pretty warm.  Spoke with several guys up in the Sandy Hook area and they still haven’t turned on with the Striper catch yet so it should be another few weeks to see better action down our way.

The bay for Kingfish and Porgies etc. has slowed down a bit especially since the weather and waters have been slowly starting to cool.   Still a lot of smaller fish out there.

 

Croakers, 2-4 lb. blues have been consistent out around Wreck Inlet.

[Hotrod]

With the weather predicting strong rains, winds and seas, the Mica Club postponed their Striper tournament until next weekend. It wasn’t too bad on Friday afternoon while Tim and John were anchored up and chummed with clam. They pulled in two cookie cutter Striper about 30-31”. A few other anglers got out on Saturday and caught some Weakies over in Sheepshead along with some sea bass. Also heard of a few Stripers brought in off the banks of Pebble Beach.
If you get out and brave the elements, you have to definitely put your time in to find something. Water temps are still around 66 degrees but with the cooler air coming in, maybe the postponement of the Mica will reap better benefits for those on the Striper hunt and we’ll start seeing more action in more areas.
 
www.captmikesmarina.com

[Great Bay Junky]

it won't be long now. bngh