It sure looks good a mile off the beach with schools of adult bunkers showing in many areas, but I'm not getting any reports of big bass in them. The daily bag limit for black sea bass is 15 fish, and limit catches are a distinct possibility.
I joined Capt. Joe Massa on his My Three Sons from Morgan Marina for a Saturday morning trip to the Hudson that produced a 33 1 2-pound striper for me right away before we added about 10 releases of bass over 28 inches plus a few big bluefish after going though two dozen eels The Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands had a good catch of bass and blues in the Hudson that day, but fishing there on Sunday produced only a few, and George Cullen boated the only striper on Wednesday. Chuck Many of Annandale ran his Ty Man from Gateway Marina in Highlands up there Wednesday with Nellie Greer of Bethlehem, Pa., Alex Katyan from Clinton Twp., and me as we ended up totaling 15 striper releases, including 11 keepers up to about 20 pounds on eels and sandworms, plus 15 weakfish up to 27 1 2 inches on sandworms, six blues, four porgies, a few little sea bass, and a hickory shad caught casting under birds in Raritan Bay.
and I joined Chuck Many of Annandale on his Ty Man from Gateway Marina in Highlands to fish the Hudson and East rivers where we ended up releasing 15 stripers (including 11 over 28 inches and up to about 20 pounds), 15 weakfish up to 27 1 2 inches, 6 blues in the 3-to-4-poind class, 3 porgies, several small sea bass,and a hickory shad that hit a lure in Raritan Bay, I'll have more about this in Friday's column. The Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands was also up in the Hudson, but didn't have a good bite as George Cullen boated the only striper.
The Golden Eagle from Belmar concluded their canyon fishing Sunday night with one large yellowfin tuna boated though others were lost along with a swordfish that got off at the boat. They had fine fishing for jumbo blues Sunday on both Run-Off Hammer jigs and bait -- and will return to that fishing.
The Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands reported that it seemed as if the tide would never start running, and when it did they only picked a few stripers and blues. As a result, that boat will be holding off on starting daily trips for the next couple of days as a strong west wind kicks in.
I joined Capt. Joe Massa om his My Three Sons from Morgan Marina as we fished live eels at the rough bottom spot where we had been doing well last week, but the bite was slow there. See you soon, Capt. Rob There was also good news from offshore as the Golden Eagle from Belmar got into lots of big blues to over 20 pounds.
With east winds still blowing up to 25 mph, there was a lack of boat reports today, but Capt. Jim Freda had a Facebook posting of him casting to llittle tunny, with Brian from Fisherman's Supply in Point Pleasant, that appeared to be off Manasquan Inlet. Tank Matraxia's party didn't see any tunny today while running over to the Hudson River with Capt. John Contello on Just Sayin from Keyport.
Yet, there's been some pretty good striper fishing on what are probably resident fish in the Hudson and East rivers despite 74 degree water temperatures. After five weakfish from 22 to 24 inches were released in the Hudson on sand worms and peanut bunkers, Many moved to the East River where school stripers hit the same baits along with a 36 1 2-incher that surprised me on my light conventional rig consisting off a Jigging World Black Demon 7'5 Blackfish rod with an Avet SX reel.
Due to a poor weather forecast, it's likely that most party boats will not sail on Thursday. The Golden Eagle from Belmar has cancelled for Thursday, though they had good fishing today for 2-to-8-pound blues along with some bonito, little tunny and porgies -- plus a Spanish mackerel.
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