MAy June 2001

June 28th, 2001

The fluke are in. Many shorts around the tip of the Hook. The bigger guys are being pulled up from the deeper waters. They are taking killies and shedder crabs. The blues have moved far offshore but are soon to invade the inshore areas with the full moon. The Shrewsbury Rocks and The 17 Fathom areas. The army core is planning dredging the Ambrose Channel out by the old light tower thisa summer. Apparrently it has shoaled up and a freighter bounced off of the bottom. ( I think these Chinese mega ships are too big anyway. Efficiency is one thing but gee wiz if they get any bigger they will need wheels!!.) If the lobstermen don't stop this dredging usually attracts massive schools of bluefish.

Fluke Report

"The Fluke have finally moved into the river. The last 3 days have been the
best fishing of the year. A lot of fish in the 2 to 3lb. class, with some 5
to 7lb. fish. Had the boat limit 2 days this week. Today was very good with
the 7lb. pool fish caught right in front of Bahrs Landing dock. There are
also many shorts which adds to the action."

Capt. Stan 6/23/2001
Elaine B II

Stripers

Kenny of the K-Kat Charters reports: "

6/18- Kurt Framhien and family from Bethlehem, PA joined us today for a Bass/Fluke combo. We limited out on our second drop with some ferocious action, 3 on at a time. A switch to fluking in perfect conditions down the beach yielded a dozen keepers, plus many shorts and too many sea robins.

6/19- The Glenn Hataway party from Allentown, PA were aboard this morning for some very good bass fishing. Slot limit was filled, but we fell 2 shy on over 28" fish. A switch to fluking put 8 keepers in the box, plus a ton of shorts.

6/19 pm- Jack Dos Santos and friends from Newark were aboard tonight. Fishing was very slow early on, but came on strong at sunset for some frenzied action to limit the boat out in quickly.

6/21- The Chris Marra party from Wayne were aboard today for a fluke trip. Action was a steady pick all day, although we had to wade through a huge amount of shorts to put a catch together. We ended up with 18 keepers to 2.5 pounds.

6/21 pm- The Bill Seavy party from Sherwin-Willliams paints were aboard tonight for a beating in very rough conditions. The fishing was furious once we got them going, quickly filling the slot limit, but falling two shy with the over 28"s. Many slots were released, and dogfish were numerous and annoying.

6/22- Jeff Helman and family from Martinsville were aboard today. The morning was unusually slow for us on the incoming tide, making many drops and not doing well on any of them. On outgoing water, it was a different story as the bass came on strong, filling our slot limit plus numerous releases, and catching 4 over 28".

6/22 pm- Jeff Lyons and friends from Somerville were aboard tonight. Our first drop was a pick, catching 3 keepers and two slots, plus the ever present dogfish and fire chickens (sea robins). Our second drop was a full on slaughter, 3 on at a time till quitting time.

6/23 Regulars Chris Murphy and friends from Summit were aboard this morning. The bass fishing was a good steady pick on incoming water, filling our slot limit plus numerous releases, and two over 28". A switch to fluking was slow at first, then got better south of the Ammo pier in a good southerly breeze with the tide. 10 keepers went in the box, plus many shorts.

June 21, 2001

The red tide that we talked about last week is just about gone for now. It seems that the fishing last week was very changeable. Even the best fisherman had trouble while others had banner days.

Fluke

The flatties are in!! The bay in loaded with 14-15" fluke and they are hitting on everything, including killies, and spearing. Yesterday Rob Hensle had one right after the other off of the Atlantic Highlands Marina Ferry boat docks. Pete Sivo from Middletown fished with K-Kat on June 9th for the Jersey Coast Anglers fluke tournament. Fishing the rough bottom off Sea Bright, they were able to scratch out a 7.04 pound fluke that was good for second place in the Northern sector. Pete fished a jumbo sand eel with a spinner skirt and a stinger hook to catch the big fish, which were rare that day. His fluke was worth $500 in merchandise at Boater's World, and bragging rights at the awards banquet in Atlantic City.

Striper Bass

The Sea Bright Bridge is very productive on the beginning and end of the outgoing tides. Although once the heavy boat traffic begins on the weekends the fish seem to get distracted. John Hayes and his old pal Denny, have been limiting out every morning. They have been fishing clams at the knoll. it must be nice to be retired. They are usually back at the dock by 7:00 a.m..

The K-Kat Reports:

"Striped Bass fishing continues to be very good, although not a guaranteed slaughter on every trip. Some trips limit out, others are a pick where the bite is fussy and you work for every fish. Slot fish outnumber the "keeper keepers" (over 28") by 10 to 1 at times, but keep the rods bent.

Recent trips include the Jeff Lyons party from Belle Mead, Steve Koski from Brooklyn, Dave Murphy, Jay Staudt, Ed & Joyce Szymanski, Tom Reta, Don Detis, Bob Crawford & party from Entenman's, Greg Czaki from Wyckoff, Rick Scott from Little Silver, Joe Frenchick from Fair Haven, Tzvi Bar David from Riverdale, Charlie Badman from White Plains, Jay Tempe, John Stiegler, and Brian Wermers from Manchester."

The Hyper Striper Reports:"Clamming still has its moments, such as during Monday's trip on the Hyper Striper from Highlands when Capt. Pete Wagner reported the Al Petracco party from Nutley caught over 100 bass on Flynn's Knoll. A 26-pounder was included, though Wagner noted that was an aberration as other "keepers" were in the 28- to 30-inch class and the fishery now consists primarily of shorts and slots. The Ed Noack party from North Arlington had a 16-pounder among their Saturday night limit."


	Sharking Sharking should pick up, especially since the weekend contests didn't produce anything like the volume reported from the South Jersey Tournament at Cape May the previous weekend. Getting some better water inshore might help, especially in the case of school bluefins, which were spotted by a couple of sharkers well offshore. Bluefish plagued most of the shark fleet offshore, but boats fishing for them in local waters have had mixed results and were running all the way out to Monster Ledge over the weekend. Steve Fritts reports that the winning 358-pound mako, worth $7,000 in the Jersey Coast Shark Anglers Tournament, was a 981/2-inch male caught by Scott Forfar on Capt. John Pelligrino Jr.'s Tin Knocker. Stan Czekay did the gaffing and Greg Forfar, Bob Picton and Keith Kurek assisted in boating the lone mako caught Sunday by 11 tournament boats. Rod Brandt took second and $4,200 when he fought a 269-pound mako Friday from his Fish N Itis out of Keyport. Tommy Ferris of Keyport was the gaff man on the skinny 8-footer, which took one 8-foot leap and fought for an hour. Fighting the fog from the Highlands check-out point resulted in not getting to the Glory Hole until 9:30 a.m., but they still had time to release two blue sharks as well as catching the only mako taken by 26 contestants that day. There were four makos weighed Saturday by 42 boats, and Jerry Norkus ended up in third for $2,800 on Lil' Rascals with a 201-pounder aided by Jim Shingle, John Maotta and Steven Norkus. Capt. John Ciccone's Jersey Giant took fourth and $1,400 with a 187-pounder fought by Lonnie Larantei. Also weighing in were Frank Hubeo on Fishin Mission with a 157-pound mako, and Joe Hilaire on Jessica Lynn with a 155-pounder caught along with Tom Hilaire and Al Cruz, all from Fairfield, in the Glory Hole. There were 84 boats signed up with a total of 421 anglers, but only six makos of at least 66 inches were weighed.

June 13, 2001

The river water temprature has quickly risen from 62 to 72 degrees in a week. This kind of rapid rise, plus a big run off from last weekend's rain (pumping in nutrients mostly from lawn fertilyzers) , caused a brown algae bloom (brown tide). This bloom tends to use up oxygen and slow down the fishing. It certainly had an effect on striper catches this week. Although most people had good catches, it was not like it was before the rain and lower water temps. This brown tide is a yearly occurrence and things should clear up soon especially if we get any east winds.

Fluke on the other hand seemed to make their appearance in the midst of the brown tide.

The biggest Fluke weighed in at Bahrs Landing this week was by Captain Kenny Dubman on the KKat. it weighed 7.2lbs. He said that it was a slow pick but most were good fish. The jumbo was caught on a sand eel. It was caught in the rip. Kenny was in the big State wide Fluke Tournament and should have been in the money with this fish. I am having trouble getting all of the results and Kenny is always out fishing. I will let you know how his fish placed.

A field of 911 boats participated in Saturday's seventh annual Jersey Coast Fluke Tournament. The heaviest was a 9.05-pound fish taken by John Fawcett of Barnegat, who caught it in Barnegat Bay. Marc Sano, Southampton, won the top prize in the Long Beach Island area with a fish that weighed 8.28 pounds. Competition in the tournament was divided into 11 areas with the angler with the heaviest fluke in each area winning a $1,000 prize. All anglers who entered the tournament are eligible for the grand prize drawing -- a $28,000 boat-motor-trailer combination -- to be held at 8 p.m. Friday at the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City.

We also had a 5lber weighed in on Saturday caught near the Keansburg Pier on a Killie. fluke catches," he said. "Some anglers Monday caught limits. Others took home five or six nice fluke." Capt. Tom Buban, Atlantic Star, Atlantic Highlands, said he has found the best fishing on his afternoon runs, and, though small fish dominate the fishery, nice fluke are mixed in. Rich Sterling, Totowa, won Thursday's pool with a 5 1/2-pounder.

Weakfish

A few weakfish have been picked up but most of the big ones are gone according to Jamie Lindimen who fishes everyday. he had some nice weakies during the last few weeks and said that we should start to see some big pods of schoolies in the Bay as the water warms. Sam Boulmetis reported that he found a big "spike in the reach channel and did not have worms. he jigged a few. he went back a few days later with bait and couldn't find them.

Tuna

The angling category for bluefin tuna was opened June 1 with a limit of one per boat in any size from 27 to less than 73 inches -- about 15 to 225 pounds. However, that should change this week as there has been a big carryover of uncaught bluefins from the last two years, which makes this year's quota more than sportsmen were catching just before restrictions were first applied. Sportfishing leaders suggested new regulations to the National Marine Fisheries Service, and Brad McHale of NMFS told me that the basic concepts we sought will probably be adopted. This would include a three to four per boat limit with no closed season so anglers can justify making a long run whenever those migratory fish happen to pass through our waters. A federal permit costing $27 is required to fish for all tunas except little tunny. It can be obtained with a credit card by calling toll free 888-872-8862.

Shark

Mike Brocco, assistant dock manager at South Jersey Marina in Cape May, said 1,118 sharks were caught in the Friday-Saturday tournament, and all but 58 were released. "It was the best weather we've had for the tournament in eight years, and one of the best shark tournaments we've ever had," he said. The fleet spread out in all directions within the 60-mile tournament radius, and Brocco said he did not hear of a boat among the 206 participating boats not catching a shark. A total of 186 makos were caught of which 10 were landed. All of the participants in the tournament reported seeing acres of bluefish, and the radio revealed school bluefin tuna moving north just below Ocean City, Md., and yellowfin tuna being caught in the Baltimore and South Poorman's canyons. Art Colabella of Hoffman's Marina, Brielle, said three mako sharks were brought in there Friday. The heaviest was a 290-pounder caught south of the Resor wreck on Capt. Tom Canto's Tee Sea.

Corodemus' effort spearheads passage of key bill

Assemblyman Steve Corodemus (R-Monmouth County) not only introduced bill A.3512, which pushed menhaden reduction purse seiners out of New Jersey waters, but devoted a long day testifying for it at Thursday's Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee meeting which eventually approved the legislation. If you are a sportfisherman this is a huge win.Jimmy Donofrio of the RFA urges anglers to contact their assemblymen and state senator to urge posting of A.3512 and the companion S.2252 by Senator Andrew Ciesla (R-Ocean County) in time for a vote prior to the summer recess.

June 6, 2001

The weekend was a wash out except for those with rain jackets. Most limited out on bass using clams, bunkers fishing Flynn's Knoll. The bridges are still very productive as my friends iun the know are now using shedder crabs steadily. Fluking is a little slow since the rain but should pick up shortly.

I gave some of expert advice the other day to a reader a this is what his results were.

"Good Morning,

Thank you for the advice yesterday, I really appreciate it. My first stop
yesterday was at Phil's tackle box. He talked me out of Clams and into
Mackeral for Blues off the Pier. I used Mackeral and watched everyone
around me catch fish...It was a little frustrating..As the night went on,
I made a few friends and learned how to cast with distance from some
seasoned pros. The Blues were hitting like crazy but not near the
shoreline.

My new friends were anxious for me to catch a Bluefish, so they gave me
some Bunker chunks around 9:15pm. On my first cast, I had and missed a
huge strike...Then about 10 minutes later, I landed a 4 or 5 lb. Bluefish.
It was awesome...Then I had and missed a few more strikes....I left around
10:15 pm...

Determination is how I caught fish. In the past, I would just leave if was
not getting anything. The people were great last night and we had a
blast...

Do you offer any Charter trips for Blues/Stripers.?..I have a few friends
who would like to get together for a fishing trip.

Thanks again for your help!
Sincerely,

Lou"

>==>>>:>

May 29th, 2001

Memorial Day has past and most marinas are now full of boats. There is a real shortage of dockage this year as demand is outstripping supply. A sign of the times. The same cannot be said for the fishing. There seems to enough to go around for everyone, granted that they stay with in the daily bag limits set by the Fish & Game. This years N.J. Regs are out and they certainly are making fishing interesting to say the least. Here are the links for NJ DEP Marine fisheries Links. Bookmark them and print them out.

2001 Recreational Marine Regulations Summary

N.J. State Records

I just talked to Bob Norman of Manalapan who was Bass fishing today. He said that he limited out fishing on Flynn's Knoll. He was using an interesting bait for Sandy Hook... SHEDDER CRABS. Softshell crabs are very popular baits from South Jersey on down. For some reason local tackle shops did not carry them until now. They are a natural occurring bait, as opposed to sea clams or squid. Stripers as well as fluke and weakfish spend a good portion of their spring and summers gorging on these brackish water delicacies. They make great bait. Ask your local bait dealers or better yet head up river with your crab nets, I can almost guarantee results from what I have seen of the few who do use them regularly. However you may want to save a few for the frying pan.

FLUKE

This just in from Ron Motyka"
This weekend produced some nice fluke, with the foggy conditions I stayed local and drifted Spermacilli Cove.
15 Foot seemed to be the Magic depth, good ole squid and spearing was the ticket.
Yesterday the two of us had over 30 fluke all but 10 were shorts, out of the 10 we had 2 that were over lbs..
Regards, Ron"

I talked with Dave Carrara who headed up the river during last weeks nasty weather in search of weakies. He ended up with limits on fluke by the 36 buoy in the Navesink. He was using warms and then fluke bellies. Up to 3.5 lbs!!

StripersRobert Shaner & Friends

Fishing has picked up under the bridges and at Flynn's Knoll, Also some really great reports from a few fishing the Shrewsbury Rocks. Fresh clams as well as properly salted clams seem to be being used the most, however as I mentioned a few are starting to use the Shedder crabs. I spoke to some commercial fisherman who are getting a lot of stripers in their nets as they are fishing for other species. They are frustrated because their are so many and they can't take any to market. Most of the time they just die and go to waste.. They are lobbying Trenton to be able to take some like they can now in other states. It looks like there are going to be some good discussions concerning re-opening the stripers to the N.J. Market. I will keep you posted.

Captain Kenny on the KKat reports 5-30-01

5/23 pm- Had the Bill Seavy party out this evening. Could not get clams for bait, and simply could not get away from the bluefish using bunker, although they did provide constant action. Ended up with 2 bass.

5/25 am- Had the Jim McCarthy party out today. What was scheduled as a Blackfish trip ended up being a bass trip because of east winds. We found the fishing to be excellent, limiting out early and switching to fluking, which was terrible.

5/25 pm- Had Jonathan Blatt and kids out tonight. Setting up to bait fish in terrible wind-against-tide conditions, we found the bass to be suicidal, almost limiting out before the tide change made things more comfortable. Once the incoming water began, things straightened out and the fishing continued to be excellent.

5/26 am- Chris Murphy and party from Summit were aboard this morning. A try at fluking was completely un-productive in a no-drift situation. The fish that were caught were very small. Bass fishing later in the day was a decent pick.

5/26 pm- The Kronfeld boys from Tenafly were aboard tonight for some excellent bass fishing. Quickly limiting out, they caught and released until they were whipped, and came in early.

5/27am- Bob Tanza and crew joined us today in the thickest fog of the season. A lack of clams today made catching more difficult, but our last drop found some nice bass willing to eat bunker, including a 32 pounder, which kind of made up for our lack of numbers today.

5/28 am- The Ray Linfante party from Belleville were aboard this morning. Excellent weather, (finally) and super fishing. The guys wore themselves out, and we were in early.

5/29 am- Paul Donelly and family from Washinton, NJ were aboard this morning. Bait fishing was super on both tides, limit was kept, and over 40 released.

5/29 pm- Len Zema and family were aboard tonight. Bass were not co-operative at all on our first 3 drops, even though I could read them right under the boat on the third drop. We finally hit them hard on our last drop, but were forced in early by thunderstorms

May 22nd, 2001

The newest thing to report on the water is weakfish. Some big tiderunners have been caught and weighed in this past week. They can be found in the upper reaches of the Shrewsbury as in the bay. I have heard of of some nice ones being caught on fly rods in the river near the Sea Bright Bridge. The striper action is STILL RED HOT, clam bellys and spoons seem to be working the best. The opening of the Fluke season has taken a back seat to the striper fishery as I have seen very few fluke fisherman at the dock. Also a 30lb bass was weighed in, caught Saturday night under the Highlands Bridge.

I have a few good emails from my reliable sources. One is from Jeff Shaner of Alpine (born & raised in Central Pennsylvania) If he can catch stripers, you know that the fishing must be good!!

Stripers

John Byren from Fair Haven Checks in w/ this: "Jay,

Here is the larger of the fish we got last Thursday. Bill Gieb was the
angler, and the fish measured out to be 37" and 19lbs. It was taken on a

.Bunker Spoon just off the Old Orchard light. "

Jeff Shaner Boasts "I have to report my big success fishing on Sunday.

I think I was fishing the Old Orchard Shoals, south of Staten Island in the
bay. Myself, Greg and Tony Limbardo out of Tenafly NJ were fishing on my
boat (no name yet, maybe Present Value). We were drifting with clams at the
bottom and caught 10 stripers. 1 36", 1 35", 1 27" and 7 smaller ones.

We fished the tide going out between 7 am and 10 am. Headed home at 10
after getting copped up in the strong winds and choopy seas. I was home by
11:30 to keep the wife happy.

I will send a picture of the 36 " when I get the film developed.
This is the first striper I caught and the first stripers on my boat.
Hope to see you soon.

Jeff"

Captain Kenny on the KKat reports.

5/18 am- The Steve Levinson party from Lake Hopatcong was aboard this morning. We found the bass to be picky and hard to locate this morning for the first time this month. Spent most of the morning trolling spoons, totaling five keepers. A switch to bait got us two more keepers, plus slots which were released in New York waters.

5/18 pm- The Jay Staudt party from Hillsborough was aboard this afternoon, and what a difference a tide makes. A run deep into Raritan Bay found large schools of bunker being pushed by bass and monster bluefish. Bunker spoons provided non-stop action with bass to 26 pounds, and bomber blues which were hard to get away from. Bait fishing on the outgoing tide saw very good action with bass only.

5/19 am- The Jim Kubis party was aboard this morning. Trolling around swirling bass, we had excellent action on spoons, and big bluefish were once again present and annoying. This action died out around 9am, when a switch to bait proved fruitless. Returning to trolling saw only bluefish.

5/19 pm- Bill Deats and friends joined us this evening. Trolling in the far reaches of the bay once again had giant blues demolishing our spoons. A switch to bait had fast action with both big bass to 20 pounds and bluefish. 6 bass between 17 and 20 pounds went into the box, and all slots released.

5/20 am- Greg Golasso and party from Albany were aboard today for a tough outing. Readings of any kind were hard to locate anywhere in the bay, which was rough in a stiff easterly breeze, wind against tide. Trolling spoons got us 3 bluefish, then even that died out. Switching over to bait in NY waters, I thought we would get something going as a pick of slot bass began to build even as lines ran toward the bow, but then died out as fast as it started.

>>--:>

May 15th 2001

Mothers Day weekend usually is a slow time at the docks. This year was an exception. Fluke season is now open, but most were concentrating on the unbelievable striper action. I finally got my digital camera to work and have posted a few of this week's good catches on my site. I have been asking all to email me photos of fish caught. Catch; Snap; And Release, if nobody has yet coined this phrase, well I that guess I just did! jay@bahrs.com

Stripers

This sent to me by Ronald Motyka of Alpine. "Hi Jay, The Report,
After battling for a launch spot at Atlantic Highlands, I was off across the bay to the Holy Grounds (Flyns' Knoll).
I found a nice 13ft patch of mussel bed and anchored-up, On Sundays throwing anchor seems to attract boaters to even buzz closer to you, Early on "Captain Joey" from Staten Island in his 30ft Scarab severed my anchor line, All I could do is give him a "One finger Salute" Joey was doing around 60 knots. After fearing for my life, I was surprisingly able to locate my spare and re-anchor, maybe all that commotion attracted fish. In a hour window, beginning of outgoing we boated at least 20 Striped Bass. The biggest was 44" and the small ones were all over 24", This was a nice group of fish. I could see other boats trolling were also hooking-up with quality Bass. Also of note were giant schools of Snappers some up to2 or 3 pounds, They for the most part remained on the surface w/ out hitting our bunker-backs on the bottom -As boats would troll by-the blues would head down-No bird activity was in sight. Well my first two bass were 30" and 26" we released all but 4. Nothing like fresh striper steaks on the grill, My Mother said it was almost as good as a Bahrs dinner!!

Regards and Thanks, Ron Motyka "

Thanks Ron for making this week's report an easy one for me!

Captain Kenny on the KKat reports "5/9 through 5/12- This past week was consistently excellent for bass both on the troll and on bait. Limits and catch-and-release fishing for Paul Silverstein from Albany, Ken Link and family from Tewksbury, Kurt Franhein and family from Bethlehem, PA, Eric Winnicki and friends from Neptune, Bill Seavy group from Cranford, Dave Kemp group from Clifton, and Gordon Quin and family. I did find the bass to be not quite as suicidal Saturday morning, due to very heavy boat traffic. This bounced right back on the evening trip."

Chris & Rob Hensle from Atlantic Highlands, fishing on their new Logic center console landed some nice stripers and blues on Thursday evening. Using his brother Jason's new rod, Robert weighed in a 29lber. (Jason had to work, too bad for him) They were using fresh bunker chunks near the #1 buoy in the Reach Channel.

Speaking of good catches check out my baby brother Dave Cosgrove's Striper netted by his fianc� Jenn Manzi. They were casting plugs into the Atlantic Highlands breakwall Friday Evening. Dave said that they left them biting.

Fluke
Fluke fishing started Sat. with very good results, had 2 people with limits, the rest with 3 to 6 fish per person with many throwbacks. Sun pretty much the same results. Mon the best so far but with more big fish. Some fish in bay and some down the beach.

May 8, 2001

The fish are here! Stripers, Blues, Blackfish and even Winter Flounder. The Monmouth Beach Car Topper Striper Tournament had great sea conditions and the fishing could not have been better. The only thing we wish could have been different was the variety of the size on the stripers weighed in. The difference between 1st place and 4th place was with in a pound! 2nd and 3rd was a dead tie broken by the first team back at the dock to weigh in. I am glad that we have an accurate scale but this is too much pressure for the Weigh Master Big Ed.

Tournament results May 2001

1st Place Team Mark Callaghan Keansburg

Andy Robinson Red Bank

Chunking at Night

Total combined weight for two heaviest 21.13lbs & 19 lb. = 40.13lbs

2nd Place Team Team Hyper Striper

Trolling

Total combined weight for two heaviest 21.15lbs & 18.2lbs =40.1lbs

3rd Place John Matteucci "Tooch"

Trolling

Total combined weight for two heaviest 19.1lb & 20.7lb =40.1lbs **

**Tie goes to first back at the dock.

4th Place Joel Thompson Keansburg

Chunking

Total combined weight for two heaviest 21.13lb & 17.a3lbs = 39.1

Reports

Kenny KKAT came back to the dock late Sunday with this. "

The Sat. 5/5 charter for the Mike Yablonsky party from North Haledon found decent bass trolling on spoons in very crowded conditions early on. A switch to bait fishing was very good, finishing out the limits, and catching and releasing.

The Sunday, 5/6 trip for the Christian Gross party was a moderate steady pick of bass on bunker spoons, totaling 15 over 28", 9 kept, the largest going 18 pounds. No slot fish were caught on the troll, and we had a few bluefish.

The Sunday, 5/6 afternoon trip for the Ron Jakara party from Edgewater saw excellent bait fishing for bass in perfect conditions, incoming tide with a moderate easterly breeze. Fish on steadily for four hours, sizes ranging from 20 inch rats to the largest of 14 pounds."

The Elaine B

Started Black fishing Thurs. caught them well. Today the bite was very good
on the Blackfish With a couple of limits most people with 8 or 9.
The ling bite was also good later in the day. We will fish all this week for
the Blackfish and Ling and then switch to Fluke Sat. May 12

My Father, Ray caught his first keeper bass on early Monday fishing in the Raritan.

BLUEFISH

Here's a funny story from the always be prepared department. Last Thursday on one of those summer like spring days, when the beach traffic went from a trickle to roar, Mike Barber from Leonardo, found himself stuck in traffic on the Highlands Bridge. It was about 85 degrees and sunny as a crowd got out of their cars to wait for the sailboats to go by. Mike took out his trusty surf rod from the back of his work van and dropped his line about 40ft down to the river. He jigged it twice and immediately hooked up. by this time a crowd had gathered along the sidewalk to enjoy the view. Mike was now on stage as he reeled and his pole bent down over the rail. After a few suspenseful minutes Mike hurled onto the sidewalk a 5lb bluefish to the cheers and car horns of the interested onlookers. Mike unhooked the glistening bluefish, and did what most fishermen do in this situation, held it up for all to see then hurled it back over the side to swim again. Another round of cheers and horn blowing ensued. I guess Summer is here after all!

May 2, 2001

For all of you who procrastinated and did not have your boats in the water or your rod, reel 7 tackle ready, you missed out on one of the best April fishing weekends in years. Hot April conditions turned on the stripers like nothing I have ever seen. I have been getting reports of fish in all of the rivers, bays and surf. All this giving everybody a chance to practice for this week's Monmouth Beach Cartopper's Annual Spring Bass Tournament this weekend. http://bahrs.com/tour20.html

The flounder fishing was great too. According to my most reliable source Captain Stan on the Elaine B, The Cedars (off of the Hook) was tremendous on Friday and Saturday.

Stripers

Interstate Fishing Regs Are A Hassle

Anglers in Raritan Bay must be aware of the dividing line between New Jersey and New York waters, as the Empire State striper fishery is closed until May 8. Remember that possession is all that counts.Catch-and-release fishing on the New York side is legal, but if you put a bass in the box on our side of the bay and then head across, you'll be in violation, just as if you had caught it there.

Captain Ken on the KKAT Reports:

4/26 Went out solo today after finishing some boat work earlier than anticipated. Trolled one spoon and one plug, had 3 keepers to 18 pounds and 7 slots in two hours worth of fishing. Bunkers all over the bay. Looks good

John Hayes of Atlantic Highlands said that the striper fishing is so good that even his buddy Denny Mingo is catching keepers! John just hit the docks today with his limit up to 14lbs. He was using clams, and clam belly's up in the flats off of Keyport.

John Matteucci is still coming in w/ some big trolling as he is honing his skills for the tournament.

Captain Peter Wagner has been also having great success for his charters using clam bellies. So far just about every trip has had their limits aboard the Hyper Striper.

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