Zone Fishing Reports for Aug. 2 Written by John Oswald and Dan Radel Zone 1: Verrazano Bridge to Highlands Bridge Joe at Julian’s Bait and Tackle in Atlantic Highlands said the fishing for croakers, spots and kingfish is good in the Shrewsbury River and in the bay. The snappers are getting bigger and the crabbing is very good in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers. The big rays continue to provide anglers with big battles and Julian’s weighed in a 5.3-pound fluke for Matt Selko of Cream Ridge. Capt. Mike Russo of the Sea Hawk out of Perth Amboy said the fluking was great last week and even better this week. Wednesday’s trip produced five limits on the boat and Bill Vivona, of Staten Island, won the pool with a 7½-pound fluke. Capt. Rob on the Sea Hunter out of Atlantic Highlands reported good fluking, mostly on Flynn’s Knoll, with pool winners in the 6-pound range and lots of fish in the 2-to 3-pound range. Capt. Hal Hagaman on the Sea Tiger said the fluking has been good on morning and afternoon trips with everyone going home with fish. Wednesday’s pool winner was 7½ pounds. Capt. Scott Hilliard on the Prowler 5, Atlantic Highlands, said the good fluking just goes on and on. Capt. Stan on the Elaine B, Highlands, said the lack of a good drift the last two day put a crimp in the otherwise excellent fluking he’s been having lately. Still, the did find fluke and nearly everyone went home with fish. Capt. George Bachert on the Angler, Atlantic Highlands, said regular, Pat Kostka from Boonton took the lead in the big pool, now worth $2,230 with an 8-pound 2-ounce fluke. Capt. Bachert is now spending time in the channels where the big fish lurk. Zone 2: Sea Bright to Shark River Inlet Eric at Surf Side Bait and Tackle in Long Branch weighed in 4.4-pound fluke for Max Davidson of Allenhurst on Wednesday morning that hit an SP Minnow in the Deal surf. The day before, Donny Antonucci brought in two bass of 10 and 8½ pounds he also got in Deal on an SP Minnow and Nick Lund also came in with a 4-pound fluke he got on Gulp!. Eric said the bass bite is very early in the morning and once the sun gets up, they’re gone. Ray at Long Branch Bait and Tackle reported excellent crabbing in the Shrewsbury River right behind the shop. There are lots of croakers around on clams and kingfish on worms. Ernie Giglio at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle weighed in a 4.7-pound fluke for Chris Carrell of Aberdeen he got on the beach on Gulp!. Ernie said the croakers are all over the Shrewsbury River and the crabbing is very good. Dominick at the Bait Shop in Bradley Beach said fluking is the best game in town. The bass are biting early in the morning and finger mullet and peanut bunker are already in back of the Shark River. Jenny Lee Sportfishing out of Brielle took the Allen Charter out to the Wilmington Canyon where they hooked and released a blue marlin well over 700 pounds and boated a 160-pound bigeye tuna. Pete Pawlikowski at the Oceanic Marina in Rumson said the big crabs are jumping into the boats. They’re all big males and there are plenty of them. Steve Remaly over at Red Bank Boat rental said the same thing is happening there. Zone 3: Belmar to Manasquan Inlet The big news out of this zone was the 12-pound fluke caught by Jack Scialla, 8, of Montrose aboard the Big Mohawk out of Belmar. It was the first fluke he ever caught on his first fluke trip. He got it on a on a bucktail tipped with Gulp! and squid on Wednesday. There were a number of big fluke coming off the Mohawk on Wednesday. Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar reported lots of fluke in the river with a good mix of keepers. The outgoing tide being the best fishing. There’s plenty of mall blues and snapper are in the river as well. Capt. Bobby Quinn on the Ocean Explorer reported excellent fluking on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday produced fluke in the 2- to 7-pound range and fish up to 5 pounds on Wednesday. Capt. Rich Falcone of the Golden Eagle, Belmar reported excellent bluefishing for the last week with limit catches all around. Capt Howard Bogan of the Big Jamaica reported the same excellent bluefishing with everyone getting their limits an enjoying some catch and release fishing. Capt. Ryan Bogan of the Jamaica II reported good fishing most of the week with a lot of keeper fluke in the 3- to 5-pound range. Biggest fish this week was Pete Talevi Trenton with a 8-pound, 11-ounce flattie. Greg Bogan at Brielle Bait and Tackle reported giant fluke in the Manasquan River, with killies and squid doing the job. Walter Izmir of South River fished at the rail at Manasquan Inlet and caught an 8 pound fluke and Scott Maher, Neptune, got one at 8-pounds, 7 ounces. Zone 4: Point Pleasant to Seaside Heights Ronny Bala at Fisherman’s Supply in Point Pleasant Beach said the bluefin tuna bite is still solid in the area of the Atlantic Princess. Fish in the 40-pound class are being trolled with spreader bars, ballyhoo or jigged. Small bass are being caught on the beaches early with small plugs and teasers. Capt. Bob Bogan of the Gambler out of Point Pleasant Beach said they are catching more keepers than short fluke on drifts in 60 to 65 feet of water over rocky bottom. Capt. Matt Sosnowski on the Norma K III out of Point Pleasant Beach said they picked away at the bluefish on their night trips. The fish hit on jigs and teasers. Capt. Willy Egerter of the Dauntless out of Point Pleasant Beach is fishing the reefs, the Farms and the Klondike and reports a variety in the catch consisting of sea bass, ling, fluke, blackfish and codfish. John from the Dock Outfitters in Seaside Heights reports the crabbing in Barnegat Bay has been red hot, along with snapper blues, spot and blowfish. are also present. Zone 5: Seaside Park to Island Beach State Park Tom Hansen at Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle in Seaside Park reports fluke in the surf is the popular option with anglers. Ryan Lupo caught a 3-pound, 5-ounce fluke on Gulp! Hansen said small blues up to 3 pounds were also in the surf this week. At night, anglers are catching small brown sharks in the Seaside and Island Beach State Park surf. John Bushell at Betty and Nicks Bait and Tackle in Seaside Park reports Andrew Trollian weighed in three fluke up to five pounds fishing the inlet with Gulp! baits. Ann Bergstedt at Trixies Landing in Bayville said crabbers are getting three dozen to three-quarters of a bushel per outing. Capt. Bob DeSantis of the Skipjack II out of Waretown reported his Saturday charter was picking away at fluke and sea bass on the Barnegat Reef site when Josh Zitz hooked into something big. After a 20- minute fight, he landed a 62-pound, 3-ounce black drum. Zone 6: Barnegat Light to Brigantine Capt. Charlie Eble of the Doris Mae IV out of Barnegat Light reports his last four fluke trips have been the best fishing they’ve had all summer. Some of the pool winners have been Jeff Bauer of Manahawkin with a 5-pound fluke, Ray Slodowski, Toms River, with a 4-pound, 5-ounce fluke and Art Letterman of Voorhees with a 4 pounder. Capt. Steve Purul of the Reel Fantasea out of Barnegat reports Barnegat Bay continues to offer a light tackle blitz with fluke, weakfish, blues, and bass all landed this week on his charters. Capt. Frank Camarda on the Miss Beach Haven reports a nice catch of 3- to 5-pound fluke on ocean drifts. Some anglers had three to four keepers. Scott Albertson at Scott’s Bait and Tackle in Mystic Island reports there are good numbers of croakers in the bays. He says to anchor up with a chum pot and use clams to get them to bite. There’s also decent bite of fluke in the intercoastal waterway channel, the Great Bay Inlet and Little Egg Reef.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:01:09 +0000
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