The weather has finally cooled off with a good amount of rain and temperature change. The wait is on. Anglers from Montauk point to Barnegat Light have had enough of the big chopper blues invading the surf and corralling the peanut bunkers into an all you can eat buffet. Bass, Bass, Bass is the main focus. Striper action is slowly peeking its way into reports. What will the next few weeks bring? Keep your eyes out for birds along the shore lines and jetties for the invasion of trophy bass. With plenty of bait along the coast from Raritan bay to Barnegat Light we should expect a huge turn out.
Blue fishing has remained solid breaking lines and losing tackle on some big fish along the beaches from Sandy Hook Point south. Anglers are using poppers in hopes of making contact with bass instead of the relentless bluefish which have been as fat as 15lbs off the surf. Where there are monster blues there should be monster bass right behind them. To get a pulse on when, where and how to catch your trophy bass log onto
NJSaltwaterfisherman.com for the latest striped bass forecast.
My buddy Skolmann from Bayonne got a call from Capt. Frank from Fins on Feathers charter from Leonardo State Marina on Friday afternoon asking if he was available. When it comes to fishing this guy is always available. Jason and Skolmann were joined by Capt. Frank Saturday afternoon and collected a 1/2 a bucket of fiddler crabs and another 1/4 bucket of Asian crabs. Just in case they also netted several dozen peanut bunker and headed off.
They first trolled Clark spoons for a while in hopes of repeating the action Capt. Frank had Saturday morning with over a dozen false albacore in the 10-12lb. class, but no luck this time.
Moving out to some snags out between the channels they had action with blackfish from the start. Fiddlers were the hot bait early before half a green crab became the bait of choice. First 3 blackfish over the rail were all easy keepers and went in the box. Took a while for Jason to catch his but he eventually did and they had our 4 man limit to 6lbs... In addition Capt. Frank boxed one of the biggest inshore sea bass seen in a long time. Estimated to be easily between 5-6lbs. Tide changed and they went inshore and had a pick of 'toy' tog and short sea bass with the occasional porgy in the mix. Once the tide turned, they went back to the original spot and again had good action with tog. Green crabs, fiddlers and clam strips were all catching tog in the afternoon.
Captain Steve Purel from Barnegat Light on Reel Fantasea charters had regular Joe Franke, with Sean Castle and Jan Lambert for an open boat trip. With a building east wind and a deteriorating sea condition they hit the inlet early to slam the blues on a combination of poppers, and plugs. They also enjoyed quality weakfish on plastics. In a local fishing tournament with his brother in law Steve Amato and Jay Simmons, Captain Steve had 4 short bass and loads of blues. Losing a keeper bass was lost as the hook pulled as the fish darted across the inlets jetty; they still managed to have fun enjoying the action and the weather. John Repko was onboard with a slower day, the blues less than cooperative and with all the boat traffic any bass that may have been there were not responding, so off to a local wreck they went for some non stop action which included sea bass, porgies, blackfish, snappers, and grunts. Although the guys had some keepers they were throwing back faster than throwing them in the cooler.
Annual Fall 40 Hour Striped Bass TournamentThe Hi-Mar club conducts one of the premiere striped bass tournaments in North Jersey. This year's 40 hour event will run from 8 P.M. on Friday (10/19/07) to Noon on Sunday (10/21/07) at Atlantic Highlands Municipal Harbor. To find out more information about this event, just call the tournament director, Bob Kamienski at (732) 495-9210.
www.hi-mar.comAll Hands on Deck! Saturday, October 20, 2007
9AM-12:30PMClean Ocean Action welcomes the participation of people of all ages at the Sweeps. Volunteers interested in participating in the Beach Sweeps are instructed to bring gloves, dress for the weather (event is rain or shine), and wear sunscreen and closed, hard-soled shoes. Individuals, families, and groups are welcome. Clean Ocean Action requests that groups of 15 or more pre-register by calling 732-872-0111, emailing education@cleanoceanaction.org or using the online sign-up form on the Beach Sweeps page of our website.
For Hot News and Hot Catches from the IGFA (International Game Fish Association) for the month of October log onto IGFA.org for all world records and pending status
