Ristoris November 5th Report
Though there's far more of it predicted than we'd like to see, west winds forecast through tomorrow should set up more hot migratory fishing all along the Shore while quickly knocking down the seas built up by yesterday's east winds.
Though some surfcasters did well in raw conditions early yesterday morning, there wasn't the blitz fishing experienced the previous two days in many areas. It was literally a big bluefish hit on every cast with a popping plug Tuesday afternoon along much of the northern Ocean County surf. I never left the northern end of Mantoloking and stood in one spot to release most of my 26 from 6 to 12 pounds while casting without any sign of all those fish. Everyone else seemed to be doing the same thing. Nick Honachefsky fished with Guy Jackson of Brick from Mantoloking to Lavallette to catch 57 blues and 14 slot stripers between 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. while working Storm Shad and snagging peanut bunkers. Clammers had the upper hand with bass yesterday in the heavy surf.
Boat fishing for bass and blues was also tougher yesterday with much less bird action than had been the case, though there were hot reports offshore of both Sea Bright and Barnegat. When the west wind was blowing, there were birds working over many areas both inshore and well out from the beach.
Bottom fishing should also be productive in areas not too far offshore, with sea bass featured to the south and blackfish to the north. Unfortunately, New Jersey is still limited to one blackfish per person until Nov. 15, when the limit increases to eight until the end of the year. (NY its 10)
Bluefishing chumming remains excellent from the Mud Buoy to the Farms, but there's hardly any pressure on those large choppers any longer, with most party boats seeking stripers closer to shore.
TOP CATCHES
At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Rob Semkewyc of the Sea Hunter had very good clamming for stripers through the weekend, but got back into the jigging mode Tuesday. It was mostly slots, plus a few throwbacks in the 30-inch range, and a 35-incher by Frank Getler of Kearny. Clamming had produced lots of slots and many from 28 to 33 inches plus a few larger bass including a 21-pounder by Eric Johnson from Highland Park.
Capt. Scotty Hilliard has switched to bottom fishing with his Prowler 5, but since Semkewyc had other business to attend to yesterday, he took the Sea Hunter's customers for stripers. That fishing started slowly, as both clamming and eeling was poor until Capt. Mike Scardigno of Mi-Jo called Hilliard and Capt. Ron Santee of the Fishermen into a jigging blitz in 50-foot depths south of the Highlands Bridge. There was a 50/50 mix of blues and slot bass, and even those with rental rods were able to catch them. Ten-year-old Daniel Salvati of Riverdale boated a 16-pound blue. Hilliard will fish the Mud Hole for ling and sea bass over the weekend, while weekday trips will be for inshore bottom fishing.
Capt. George Bachert fished Scotland for the first time this fall with the Teal and had a showing of ling in addition to blackfish. Scott Kearney of Jackson reported a fine night of striper fishing Monday on the Teal as over 50 were caught on eels by 25 anglers despite wind against tide. Though half were 28- to 33.99-inchers that had to be released, five large bass up to 39 inches were included. Kearney managed a 37-incher plus a 27-inch slot.
Capt. Art Hilliard of the Eagle said a slow start last Friday at Romer produced only two 31-inchers and a 32-inch bass, which had to be released. A move to the east then resulted in a limit of slots plus a dozen more 31- to 33-inch releases, with Al Stone of Rutherford catching the largest. A pleasant surprise was a 10-pound black drum. Other recent pool winners were Mike Raiola of Old Bridge at 35 inches and Frank Sardano of Toms River with a 27 1/2-incher.
At Point Pleasant, Capt. Jim O'Grady went south Saturday for his first day of striper fishing with Cock Robin and had bass of 29, 36 and 38 inches caught on bait along with sea bass, porgies, blackfish, fluke and lots of blues which continue to dominate when jigging. There was some improvement in striper jigging results Wednesday.
Capt. John Brackett of the Queen Mary said bluefishing was fabulous Sunday for 6-to-16-pounders on the west side of the Mud Hole, but he switched to stripers Monday. The first decent shot of stripers among the blues occurred Wednesday as over 20 slots were boated just a few miles to the south. The shift to easterly wind hurt that fishery yesterday, but Brackett expects a big improvement with the west winds expected through tomorrow.
Capt. Willie Egerter Jr. has been doing pretty well with sea bass from his Dauntless out of Point Pleasant. Porgies are generally small, but a dozen or more blackfish are caught each day along with a triggerfish or two and croakers.
Capt. John Hawryluk of the Norma K III says bottom fishing has been excellent for sea bass and porgies on wrecks 7 to 10 miles northeast of the inlet. Monday's blackfish special was very good even though only one per angler could be kept. The winter bottom fishing schedule is 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily except Monday when the blackfish trip is all day. Striped bass trips are run from 3 to 9 p.m. on weekends.
At Belmar, Capt. Chris Hueth had good sea bass fishing yesterday on his Big Mohawk along with some blackfish and porgies.
Capt. Hank Leonard says big blues continue to cooperate on his Golden Eagle from Belmar. The only night trips now are on Saturdays.
At Brielle, Capt. Russ Binns fished a couple of wrecks to the south last Friday with Escapade. Though the second wreck, in 80 feet, produced a good catch of sea bass along with quite a few small porgies, the bad news was that spiny dogfish have moved in already.
The Mary Lou Crew from Hoffman's boated 70 sea bass Saturday for the Mike Holmes party from Allentown, Pa., and added their limit of five tautog plus two blues and lots of porgies.
George Lewis of Wall weighed a 50-pound tilefish at Brielle Tackle after catching it last weekend in Hudson Canyon on a butterfish sent down with a 20-ounce sinker. Gene Kanzler of Jackson caught his first striper, a 9-pounder, Sunday on clams at Bay Head.
Capt. Dave DeGennaro had his brother Tony and nephew Chris of Wall aboard Saturday for the afternoon tide in Oyster Creek Channel for a good bite on clams, which produced eight bass, including 13- and 20-pounders. A return Tuesday was good for only two bass, though one weighed 17 pounds.
Allen Riley of South Plainfield caught medium blues and short bass Monday and Tuesday at the first parking lot in Sandy Hook, and was prepared for a blitz Wednesday morning with the predicted northwest wind. Unfortunately, in that relatively exposed area there was too much north in that wind, which made it very difficult to cast. As a result, Riley didn't catch a thing from 5 to 7:45 and there were none of the peanut bunkers that had been in the surf the previous two mornings.
John Luchka of Cranbury didn't see anything doing Saturday morning in the Lavallette surf, but ended up at the Manasquan jetty where he caught blues up to 4 pounds on metal.
Tom Paglioroli of Ocean City reported solid 1 1/2- to 4-pound blues Tuesday under gulls and gannets along his beachfront from 5th to 54th Streets.
Walter Martin of Morris Plains caught two slot bass plus blues Tuesday morning from the Sea Bright surf. The fat bass he kept had eight clams in its belly.
Capt. Tim Doolan of Bayonne hosted Matt and Sean Buente and their dad, Steve, of Hamilton as they fished clams behind a clammer off the Rockaways for seven stripers of 32 to 33 inches plus a 25-incher -- but none legal in both New York (where there's a 28-inch minimum) or New Jersey, where 28- to less than 34-inchers must be released.
Capt. Jim Freda fished the Mud Buoy last weekend and chummed up loads of 5- to 10-pound blues, which his fly rod customers caught one after another on yellow and white jiggies.
Capt. Larry Rhodes anchored his Pop-Pops-Toy on Saturday at Romer Shoal, where Bob Blackman from Mountainside and Jeff Gould of Roselle Park had good action with slots and 28- to 34-inch stripers plus several larger bass up to 36 inches, which they released.
Al Ristori appears regularly in The Star-Ledger. E-mail him at
cristori@aol.com