WEEK OF 6/10/15 - Some bluefish running up to five pounds are reported to be running on the west side of Barnegat Bay.

Southwest wind has held back the fluke fishing and just about any other fishing. Capt. Eric Kerber out of the Highlands reported no luck with stripers and switching to drop and reel sea bass for his charter today.

Tom Vassallo from FishinJersey.com headed out with his buddy Leon Gwyer to test the Barnegat Bay for fluke today but the wind was against the tide and had only one lost fish without another bite all day. Lots of grass and wind made the conditions less than ideal.

John Bushell of Betty & Nick's Bait and Tackle reported a mixed bag of light action to no action due to conditions on IBSP and Seaside. An occasional bluefish, striper or fluke have been caught but once again the conditions haven't been great in the surf either. The southwest blow continues to keep the water temps down and push cold water onto the beach and into the bays.

On June 5th, John Oswald and Dan Radel from the ASBURY PARK PRESS reported the following:

Zone 1:Verrazano Bridge to Highlands Bridge

First it was the south wind giving anglers fits, now its coming out of the east/northeast making things difficult. The one upside to the change in wind direction is that it is warming the water. Jimmy Morenz at Julian's Bait and Tackle in Atlantic Highlands said the weather has kept the boats at home and the ling and sea bass fishing hasn't been happening. There are fluke being caught in the bay and the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers and some small bass are on the beach. He also said livelining is catching bass near the Statue of Liberty. Capt. John Connell on the Capt. John out of Keyport reported the fluke fishing in the Rartian Bay picked up when the water warmed with the easterly wind. There were a few limits, a number of keepers and good short action. He said a lot of the fish were in the 171/2-inch range. Conditions should be settling down in the bay soon. Capt. George Bachert reported finding all sizes of fluke in the bay on Wednesday as a new batch of fish moved into the warmer water. He said there was action all day with some folks catching up to 30 fluke. Jigs and bait were both catching fish. Skip Reese from Bordentown is the new big fluke leader landing an 81/2 pounder. Capt. Hal Hagaman on the Sea Tiger II reported his biggest fish of the year so far earlier in the week when Johnathan Seminerio, Wayne, landed an 8 1/2-pound fluke to win the pool. Capt. Scott Hilliard on the Prowler 5, Atlantic Highlands was happy to report that the big blues moved back into the Raritan Bay and are providing plenty of action.

Zone 2: Sea Bright to Shark River Inlet

Things were a bit slow this week due to the weather, but Ernie Giglio at Giglio's Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright reported a a fluke of 101/2 pounds weighed in for Tracy Amaressa of Long Branch. The fish was caught in the ocean. The shop also weighed in a 251/2-pound bass for James Baum of Sea Bright taken in the the surf. He said the blues have quieted down and there are bass being caught in the Shrewsbury River. Ernie hasn't had any reports on crabs but said he's selling more traps, so something must be going on. James Laco at Long Branch Bait and Tackle said it was a quiet week there as well, with just a few reports of bass on the beach on clams, but no weigh-ins. Guys are also pulling some bass from the Shrewsbury River and the fluking is beginning to pick up in the river as well. Mike at the Oceanic Marina in Rumson said there haven't been a lot of boats out of there this week, but there have been some fluke caught in the Navesink River. He did say small blue claw crabs are beginning to show so hopefully we won't have to wait too much longer for them to appear in numbers. Dominick Francese at the Bait Shop in Bradley Beach said the action was off this week but he reported some bluefish at the Shark River Inlet. The water temperature in the ocean, he said , increased by about 10 degrees once the wind switched from the south. Steve Remaly at Red Bank Boat Rental said the bass and blues are still in the Navesink River and some fluke, which are mostly on the short side. Small blue claws are starting to show there as well.

Zone 3: Belmar to Manasquan Inlet

Bob Matthews at Fisherman's Den in Belmar is very grateful for the northeast wind and the warm water it brought in. He said the fluke fishing in the Shark River has been pretty good with fish up to 61/2 pounds showing up. Johnny Keating of Ocean Township brought in three keepers up to 6 pounds on Wednesday and there were several more keepers caught at the K Street pier. Capt. Bobby Quinn of the Ocean Explorer, Belmar, sailed on Wednesday and found lots of bites in much warmer water. He reported plenty of nice sea bass coming over the rail, along with ling and codfish. The fish were feeding on sand eels and jigs with teasers were working. Capt. Chris Hueth on the Big Mohawk waited the weather out for most of the week, but was planning on sailing today and the rest of the weekend. Capt. Pete Sykes of Parker Petes Belmar Fishing Charters has been doing well with big stripers, when the weather cooperates and he will be sailing this weekend. Capt. Howard Bogan on the Big Jamaica got into the blues over the weekend with fish 4 to 12 pounds all on jigs . The big surprise was a 56-pound black drum caught by Josh Taylor from Leighton, Pa. on an Ava 47 with a green tail. John at the Reel Seat in Brielle said they are picking some fluke at the Manasquan Inlet and in the river. Alex from the shop caught a 71/2 pounder in the Manasqauan River. The Reel Seat will be holding a shark seminar this Saturday at 11 a.m. with noted shark fisherman, Dave Schunke. John Bogan at Brielle Bait and Tackle said things were quiet this week but some anglers are having luck with stripers from 19 to 30 inches fishing sandworms near the bridges on the Manasquan River.

Zone 4: Point Pleasant to Seaside Heights

Capt. Jeff Gutman of the Voyager out of Point Beach said his recent cod and pollock trip was very good. "We saw many fish in the 20-pound class come over the rails. Joe Bingler won the pool with a 34-pound cod and Jack Decker took second place with a 31-pound cod," Gutman reported. Capt. Matt Sosnowski of the Norma K III out of Point Beach said fishing was tough for them the past few trips. The cold water from all the south wind made the fluke shut their mouths. "Hopefully with this northeast wind that we had yesterday, today and tomorrow some warmer water will move in and get these fish out of there non eating habit." he said. Capt. Willy Egerter of the Dauntless out of Point Beach said average catches of sea bass have been 5 to 10 fish a person. He said it should improve when the water temperatures climbs back up. Adam LaRossa of the Canyon Runner out of Point Pleasant said they had good tuna fishing last weekend. Capt. Deane Lambros with Capt. Kevin Muller and Capt. Evan Milas stopped inshore on the way out and immediately put a bluefin in the boat, then headed offshore. They got bites almost immediately and finished up with four yellowfin on the afternoon troll. The night bite was successful with a nice mako hitting the deck before midnight. The morning troll was the best of it all, though. By 6:30 a.m. they had over a dozen bites and by 9 a.m. over 20. Murphy's Hook House in Toms River reports the local beaches have been quiet with the weather keeping most fisherman away. The shop reports the switch to northeast winds could bring the fish into the surf. Over the weekend they had reports of bluefish in the back of Barnegat Bay and in Toms River The crabbing continues to improve off the local docks in Island Heights. The Dock Outfitters in Seaside Heights report the fishing is still slow on the beaches with a scattering of blues and fluke for some picking. The bass bite seems to have moved to a night bite. Crabbing remains slow in Barnegat Bay but bluefish are still holding their own.

Zone 5: Seaside Park to Island Beach State Park

Tom Hansen at Grumpy's Bait and Tackle in Seaside Park said the beaches were quiet due mostly to weather conditions but there were some blues scattered around and a few reports of fluke in the surf. He said Barnegat Bay behind Island Beach State Park has been producing various size blues with poppers as the number one choice. Some keeper fluke have been reported on bucktails tipped with a 4-inch Gulp swim mullet. The first reports of decent crabbing have come in but the keeper ratio is low. Bryan Kate weighed in a 9-pound bluefish. John Bushell at Betty and Nick's Bait and Tackle in Seaside Park said not many people were hitting the water with the colder, wet conditions this week but he said steady northeast winds were bringing the water temps back up by Thursday. Capt. Bob DeSantis of the Skipjack II out of Waretown had the Mike Higgins group out for a day of striper trolling. They left the slip at 6 a.m. and broke the inlet in the thick fog with 58 degree water temp and headed north. The further north the colder the temps went as when they got to Seaside it was down to 52 degrees. The stripers weren't biting so DeSantis trolled back down the beach to the Barnegat Inlet to where there has been a bluefish bite each day on the turn of the tide and it was a day saver move as it was non-stop Ava jigging that filled the box for the group with 5 to 8 pound blues. Liza Martin at Creekside Bait and Tackle in Waretown reported bluefish were caught in the surf on Long Beach Island at Beach Haven on fresh bunker and poppers. The big bluefish were also caught in Barnegat Inlet over the weekend. She said stripers were caught off IBSP on the troll. Fluke anglers caught some limits in Double Creek in Barnegat Bay on Gulp Mantis Shrimp and Gulp 4-inch swimming mullet. Blowfish are being caught in quantities on Sailboat wreck in the Bay, and by the BI and BB buoys, and in mouth of Oyster Creek all chumming with clams. She said a growing number of bluw claw crabs are being caught in Oyster Creek also.

Zone 6: Barnegat Light to Brigantine

Gina Lawrenson of the Carolyn Ann III out of Barnegat Light reported their first sea bass catches of the season. She said the fishing was a slow pick to good on the rough bottom. "We tossed a thermometer down to the bottom on three different times, and the warmest temp was 47 degrees and some areas it was 45 degrees. The fish are ice cold and the bite is slow on some wrecks. We would sit on a wreck for while with nothing going on, then all of a sudden we would catch three or four nice big ones. Also the sea bass were spitting up sand eels," Lawrenson reported. Some noteworthy catches were made by Mike Miller of Philadelphia with a 4-pound sea bass, and Dennis Haney of Lumberton with a nice 5-pound cod. The Miss Barnegat Light reported a great weekend of bluefishing. Each day was slow in the morning follwed by great fishing for 4 to 8 pounders in the afternoon. At times a few fish are hooked up and then the entire boat has a fish on. All the hits were mostly on jigs. Capt. Dave DeGennaro of the Hi Flier out of Barnegat reported an excellent morning of bluefishing last Saturday. He said both birds and blues were breaking water. "We threw poppers at 5- to 10-pound bluefish for two hours before changing things up," he said. They switched to stripers and after striking out on the clams for an hour they switched over to the drift with worms and clobbered them. "They were all 20 to 24 inch fish, but big enough to burn some drag on our 10 pound outfits. All in Oyster Creek." DeGennaro said. Margeret O'Brien at Jingles Bait and Tackle in Beach Haven said fluke fishing in the bay is improving but all this rain may set it back a day or so and wreck fisherman did well after finally being able to fish for sea bass. In the surf some kingfish have showed up but windy, damp conditions hampered fishing on the beach. Capt. Gary Dugan of Irish Jig Sportfishing in Beach Haven braved the winds a couple of days seeking fluke in Great Bay waters. He reports that they had steady action with plenty of throwbacks and a few nice flatties making it to the cooler for dinner. There was also a mix of bluefish and smooth dogfish to keep the rods bent most of the time.Zone 1:Verrazano Bridge to Highlands Bridge

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