June 12, 2011:

[jaymann]

June 12, 2011:

Weather has been real decent for fishing, providing you keep track of Doppler radar. 

I got in some ocean plugging time and had three small bass on selection of vintage plugs, mainly Red Fins. Went to small jigs and had some fluke hits and landed one. Had cocktail blue swallow jig. Kept it. 

Small blues also scattered bay, inlet and ocean front. Per usual, jigs and plastic surest way to find them. 

Snag-and-drop begins at first light until sun (or brighter skies) turns things off. 

Kingfish in the surf and along Double Creek. These are spawners and should be allowed to get into the back bay to do their thing. We'll get them on the flip-flop, i.e. summer (backbay) and fall (oceanfront).  

Emails: 

Cleared BL inlet at 5:45 AM on Friday. Filled up my live well with bunker and worked my way north. Boats strung out along the beach all the way up to the bathing beach. The bunker were also along the whole beach front. We fished form the CG station on down and had three run offs but nothing taking the hook. Only saw three bass boated. It sure looked like there were way too many bunker to make any bass get excited or even have a hunger pang to swallow up our offerings. Tried the bunker at the north jetty and only managed to feed som hungry blues.  WP"

"Jay,

Worked Middle Grounds and had very good fishing, despite lots of boats. I changed to larger spros and bunker strips. Cooked our keepers whole and got far more meat."

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Still spending most of my time in the back bay cashing in on the dividends it has to offer this time of year.  Light tackle bluefish, we got it.  Light tackle fluke, we got it.  Bass, under the right conditions we got it.  Once again water temperatures play a vital role in picking where, when and what species I target.  The lack of strong south winds during the recent heat spell, which is odd for around here, let the ocean move up to 67 degrees off LBI.  With the bay warming to 83 degrees on Friday, most of the small blues that where on the west side have retreated east either hanging near the inlet or moving out.  I had decent numbers of bluefish up to 4 pounds this week.  Fluke fishing is a steady pick right now and will be improving.  On Saturday's trip I watched the water temp increase 7 degrees in 1 hour while fishing the same flat.  Most fluke are shorts but if you work hard enough you can take some keepers home for a dinner or two.  Crabbing is get better and should be even better after the next shed during Wednesday's full moon.  My summer vacation starts Friday so I will be running trips all week long.  Give me a call if you want in on Barnegat Bay's light tackle fun.

  

Screaming drags,

  

Capt. Alex

LightHouseSportfishing.com

Barnegat, NJ

609-548-2511

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Hello All, Back bay waters have really started to warm considerably in the heat this past week, but while striper fishing in the bay has slowed there seem to be plenty of fluke and bluefish available to bend rods. Bill Hoey and son John were out with me on Monday, finding cooperative blues and fluke on the east side flats despite dead calm conditions that limited drifts. Things seem to be shaping up to be a repeat of the last two years which saw incredible numbers of fluke in the back but a limited number of keepers. We'll be using true ultralight tackle on our fluke jaunts again this year, putting some serious fun into what's becoming primarily a catch-and-release fishery. They're not bonefish, but fluke make some incredible screaming runs when caught on 4 pound test line. Out front, the amazing 2011 striped bass run along the beach continues. On Thursday the "pizza guys", Bill Morris with buddies Tom and Dave, were aboard working bunker pods from the inlet along the southern beachfront. While the bass seemed to be taking a break from the feeding frenzy they've been on, the morning still ended up with a full box of bass up to 32 pounds to send everyone (including the captain) home with big bags of fresh filets. Returning to the same area the next day with Dave Kruge, his son Kevin and buddy Brian Murray found the bunker and bass waiting for us with 12 year old Kevin bagging his first ever striper, a beautiful 36 pounder, before the rest of the team had even started fishing. How's that for a way to start your striper fishing career! All the fish caught were in the same 35-40 pound range, making for a fun day in some of the most beautiful weather we've had in a while. Hopefully this incredible run will continue for another week or two. Until next week. Capt. Jack Shea "Rambunctious" Barnegat Bay Fishing Charters www.BarnegatBayFishing.com   (((((((((((((((((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))))))))))   Local weigh-ins JCAA Fluke Tourney    5. Barnegat Bay           Name Hometown Entry Number Weight Length 1st Roger Stanwood Toms River, NJ 246 6.30 26.00 2nd Don Hillegass Jr Barnegat, NJ 208 5.40 24.00 3rd Lorenzo Hillman Forked River, NJ 57 5.30 23.50 4th Grag Apai Trenton, NJ 234 4.27 23.50 5th Ronald Juzefyk Colonia, NJ 403 4.05 22.00 6th John Kostick Jr. Lakewood, NJ 158 3.90 21.75 7th John Howell Forked River, NJ 375 3.40 21.00 8th Richard Greger Waretown, NJ 361 2.80 20.50 9th Walter Pilipiak Manahawkin, NJ 118 2.80 19.00 10th Raymond Rolak Forked River, NJ 406 2.60 19.75 11th Fred Stowman Forked River, NJ 204 2.57 20.50 12th Phil Celmer Flemington, NJ 1 2.42 19.00         45.81 260.50   6. Long Beach Island           Name Hometown Entry Number Weight Length 1st Mike Murdza Waretown, NJ 326 4.86 23.75 2nd Antony Scholl Philadelphia, PA 210 4.40 23.00 3rd Ed Cherry Waretown, NJ 437 4.24 22.50 4th Ranger Rand Secaucus, NJ 228 4.24 22.25 5th Paul Schell Barnegat, NJ 127 3.88 21.75 6th Ron Rand Secaucus, NJ 242 3.70 21.00 7th Mark Luker Browns Mills, NJ 389 3.66 22.25 8th Brian Cognigni Burlington, NJ 209 3.40 21.00 9th Brian Czarnik Philadelphia, PA 135 3.28 21.25 10th John Maffia Mystic Island, NJ 282 2.94 20.25 11th Bill Haluska Forked River, NJ 172 2.92 20.00 12th Jamie Gallagher Tuckerton, NJ 46 2.64 20.00         44.16 259.00   7. Great Bay           Name Hometown Entry Number Weight Length 1st David Brown Crosswicks, NJ 280 7.18 26.50 2nd John Daunoras Hammonton, NJ 2601 6.03 24.25 3rd D. Messerschmid Little Egg Harbor, NJ 435 5.05 23.00 4th T. Spezzavour Beverly, NJ 312 4.75 22.50 5th Craig Hurless Smithville, NJ 394 4.64 23.25 6th Joseph Daunoras Shamong, NJ 123 4.30 21.75 7th David Roesch Egg Harbor City, NJ 342 4.26 22.00 8th Bob Pharo Tuckerton, NJ 413 4.26 21.50 9th Stephan Pinkos Port Republic, NJ 277 4.25 21.75 10th Craig Nelson Chesterfield, NJ 289 4.20 23.00 11th Brian Seitz Tamaqua, PA 213 4.18 22.00 12th Sam Haines Burlington, NJ 161 3.70 21.75         56.80 273.25