New Jersey/NY Bight

Belmar, NJ
Golden Eagle (732-681-6144)

: Capt. Greg reports when we sailed in between not so nice weather, the blues remained cooperative and bit well on jigs and bait during the day. A few albies and a bass or two popped up in the mix, however a strong run of stripers does not seem to have begun yet. Weekend night blues produced really nice catches by the end of the nights with large blues taking bait out to the east. The NE storms over the last several days or so and this weekend has taken us and everyone else out of the fishing till Monday or Tuesday. Still room on the Oct 26th Iron Man Canyon Tuna Run, www.goldeneaglefishing.com check the new fall / winter schedule! Sailing daily 7:30 AM -2:30 PM, night blues 7:30 PM – 2:30 AM Friday & Saturday nights! Spots available for the balance of our tuna trips, watch for additional dates in November! www.goldeneaglefishing.com

Still room on the next Canyon Tuna Trip. Reserve your spots today, don’t miss out. Other available dates available as well. Visit the Tuna Reservations page at www.goldeneaglefishing.com for details or call Capt Greg (732) 681-6144. Visit www.goldeneaglefishing.com for up to date info and No Bull fishing reports, coupon specials, special fares trips & Canyon Tuna. Schedule & Reservations too. Pick up a copy of the August issue of NJ Monthly Magazine and check out the article about the Golden Eagle Galley! Bluefish do taste good! Sailing 7:30 Am Daily - Night blues 7:30 PM every night! Visit www.goldeneaglefishing.com for updates, specials, great recipes and more. Reserve a spot on our Canyon Tuna Trips this fall call Capt Greg (732) 681-6144

Family owned by Capt Greg Markert and operated for over 55 years and three generations, the Golden Eagle tradition continues with the same fishing know-how and customer service that our fishermen have become accustomed to. Capt Greg Markert, trained by former owner and NJ fishing icon Capt Hank Leonard brings you over 25 years of fishing experience with one of the most talented and successful crews in the business. The Golden Eagle is a 100ft custom built “Lydia” party/charter fishing vessel maintained in top condition and powered by twin Detroit 12V71 diesel engines with combined 1300 HP. She features state of the art navigation and fish finding electronics, extra wide fishing spaces at the rail with individual rod holders and bench seating around the entire vessel allowing plenty of room to rest between fish.

Northern Jersey
Overview: Believe it or not a few reports of weakfish in the Raritan Bay, by Chapel Hill Channel, came in this week. Stripers seem to be doing well over at North Beach by Sandy Hook as they start to gorge on clams for the fall run. Offshore the Sandy Hook Reef has been hot for porgies in 40 to 60-feet of water. Even further offshore The Farms have been holding lots of bluefish schools in 90 to 105-feet of water.

Keyport: One good aspect for this week has been the return of peanut bunker in the bay, just off the Keyport area. Along with bunker came a strong showing of black drum as a few lucky anglers took drum over 100 pounds near Union Beach. The Keansburg Fishing Pier has been yielding small bluefish in the cocktail size range. Sea Bright is also an active place for keeper bass with wooden plugs being the dominant bait. Outside at the Chapel Hill Channel anglers are picking through weakfish and finding quite a few keepers in the wash.

Atlantic Highlands: Short bass are lined up all over the beach with a high concentration near Route 36. Party boats are still focusing on larger bluefish by the Highlands Bridge. All has been quiet on the bluefish front. This last blow really knocked them out of the area for now. Eels are working best at night out at the Candle Sticks. For the dayshift, beachfronts and Flynn’s Knoll are using primarily clams. AVA 27’s and 47’s are still working well for any patrolling bluefish schools.

Long Branch: Monmouth Beach is a great place to start plugging up keeper bass. Friday night a huge bluefish blitz took off near this area and should stick around for the nice weather this weekend. The beach at # 12 is loaded with small bass who are taking all colors of pencil poppers. Bass to 25 pounds were taken from this area with a good accumulation of schoolies in the area. Bluefish are starting to hit the area again. Tins and pencil poppers are taking tons of larger blues. Blackfish and sea bass action close to shore has been so-so. No sign of bonito, false albacore, bunker schools for the week.

Shark River Inlet: South of the Shark River Inlet has been active with a ton of schoolie bass. They are moving south from Spring Lake to the Manasquan Inlet. Yozuri, Bombers and any kind of wooden plug have been great at night. Eels are also doing well at night. Blackfish offshore has been limited, due to the bag limits and the weather. Snapper angling is just about dead inside the Shark River Inlet. Sea bass inshore has been a merry-go-round for most fishermen.

Central Jersey
Overview: A good idea for the week has been to wait out the rain and just see what come into the area. Reports of weakfish and even 100-pound drum from the north suggest a big change for the fishing we will get down here. The lack of big bass for the area has a lot of anglers wondering where the fish are. Rain water bait and other prey are still in the area, but an abundance of sand eels are still on the menu. Offshore has been silent, mainly due to lack of boats in the rain and wind.

Manasquan and Point Pleasant: Short bass under the Mantoloking Bridge has been a solid fishery as of late. Using clams on the ocean side seems to be the best bait on the week. The overall size of bass has been limited, but anglers are still struggling to hold bottom with all this wind! Live eels in the Point Pleasant Canal have made for nice fishing lately. One shop reported a hell of a bite on Vision Sand Eel lures. They coast along the bottom and are a dead on replica of a real sand eel. Shops are running out as soon as they get them! Bluefish are also being taken with mullet from most beach fronts in Point Pleasant. Blackfish numbers at the Shrewsbury Rocks has been very good with plenty of keeper fish on green crabs. Fishing inside the Barnegat Bay has been dead for most of the week. AVA jigs and Deadly Dicks were taking plenty of bluefish at the inlet this week.

Toms River: Boat anglers are still doing just a little bit better then shore guys when it comes to bass. Although they are getting torn up with all the wind, the action is good for this time of year. Anglers are using any kind of metal with a teaser for medium sized bass. Clams are also working well for bass at Ortley Beach with many blues being taken further north near Lavallette and Ortley Beach. Most bluefish are topping out at 10 pounds. Jetty fishing at the Barnegat Lighthouse has been good along the LBI side. Inside the bay angling is pretty much done for the season.

Island Beach State Park: Bass to 30 pounds are taking fresh bunker and clams towards the end of the island. The incoming afternoon tide has been the most productive. Clams, rubber eels and fresh mullet have been on the menu all week for both bass and blues. Bluefish are getting larger as the big schools head south from the Raritan Bay. Big blues have been spotted at The Pocket down to the end of the Island. Anglers need 8 to 10-ounces to hold bottom for Island Beach State Park!

Waretown: Only a few bluefish schools traveled in and out of the Barnegat Inlet. Double Creek Channel is also loaded with croakers and legal kingfish and occasional blowfish. The BB and BI Buoys in the Oyster Creek Channel are seeing increased blowfish bites as well. Action at the Barnegat Light Reef is piling up with monster sea bass and medium sized porgy.

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J. R. Warnet: JR has been been living in New Jersey over 25 years and fishing for 15 years. JR concentrates on central fishing areas like Barnegat Inlet, Manasquan Inlet, Island Beach State Park (IBSP) but travels up and down the coast to get some other fishing in when he can. You can usually find his 07' Silverado on the sand in Island Beach from Friday until Sunday morning during the summer. JR targets the big four fish in Jersey, but loves offshore tuna trips in September and November. Light spinning tackle and bait are his top favorites, but wants to get into saltwater fly and spear fishing this summer. JR enjoys freshwater fishing but hasn't found too many good bass spots in central NJ as of yet. One thing JR adds to his fishing articles and reports is a science background, having a vocational degree in Marine and Environmental Science and that helps when JR write. Other than that, I guess you can say JR fishes most of the year but his schedule holds him back from fishing as much as he and all of us want to...like the rest of us!

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