TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008

Report by Capt. Jim Freda, Shore Catch Guide Service LLC

It was good fishing for three out of the four days over the Thanksgiving holiday as good weather was on tap from Thursday through Saturday. On Sunday however northeast winds and heavy rains shut everything down.

Striped bass, bluefish, blackfish, and sea bass all cooperated well and good catches were made. Striped bass were plentiful if you were willing to take a boat ride up to the Shrewsbury Rocks as birds were working heavily feeding on sandeels and pinpointing the action. The bass were mostly shorts but some recreational boaters had keepers. The party boats pulled a larger number of keepers due to many more lines in the water. Lots of small bluefish were also present at the Rocks and you could catch all you wanted if you stayed over the pods. The local action five miles north or south of either the Manasquan and Shark River inlets was not good as only a pick of fish were present.

In the surf the action was spotty in our area and again a drive either north or south was necessary to put together a catch of striped bass and bluefish. The results of the Monmouth-Ocean Interclub Striped Bass Surf Tournament showed this with poor results from this weekend’s tournament. In 1st place the Berkeley Striper Club had 81 points, 2cd Asbury Park Fishing Club 75 points, 3rd Bradley Beach Fishing Club 62 points, 4th Spring Lake Liver Liners 14 points, 5th Shark River Surf Anglers 10 points, and the Monmouth Beach Car Toppers failed to score. Largest striped bass weighed in for the tournament was 25 lbs caught by John Gillis of the Berkeley Striper Club

The Freehold Fishing Flea Market is a new show to our area and will be held this Sunday December 7th, from 9am to 3pm in the gym of the Park Ave Elementary School, 280 Park Ave, Freehold. There will be plenty of rods, reels, lures, boating, and nautical items for sale. There are also many tackle shops and vendors signed up for the show. Both freshwater and saltwater, ultra-lite to Big Game, boat fishing and surf fishing items will all be there. Food and refreshments will be available with door prizes every hour. Admission is $4, kids 12 and under admitted free. Call 609-660-7650 for more info or visit hiflier.com for directions.

Announcements of Interest: December 7, Freehold Fishing Flea Market, Park Ave Elementary School, Freehold, 9:00am-3:00pm, call 609-660-7650 for more info. December 9, HRFA Annual Fishing Auction, check out www.hrfanj.org. December 13-21, NY National Boat Show, Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 655 West 34th Street, New York, Main Entrance: Eleventh Avenue at 35th Street, call 212-216-2000.

Tip For a good sandeel imitations try using the D.O.A. 5.5 inch C.A.L. series jerk bait fished on a 1/2 to 3/4 ounce jighead in the # 420-Stark Naked color. Cast out from your boat and let the jig sink to the bottom. Work the jig close to the bottom by letting out more line as it drifts away from the boat.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2008

Report by Capt. Jim Freda, Shore Catch Guide Service LLC

The bass are on the move, south that is. Water temperatures have dropped from 56 degrees at this time last week to 49 degrees today. The icy cold air of this past week is having its effect and it looks like it might be accelerating our season this year. Usually we don’t have 49 degree surface readings until the first week of December, that's eight days away.

Today waves of sandeels kept coming by tight to the beach with mostly short striped bass in them moving south. However some teen size bass were caught north of the Shark River Inlet along with big bluefish. Surfcasters were easily able to reach the fish. Best action was from 7:00am-10:00am.

In the boats we had a very good day in spite of the hard 25+ icy northwest winds. Lots of bird action as the bass were driving the sandeels right to the surface. I would get out now.

If fish are in front of you, you will catch them. The end may come sooner this year than we are used to.

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2008

"A picture is worth a thousand words." GO FISHING NOW!

Where? Anywhere! Hot Tip: the Shark River has producing bass up to 15 pounds on the outgoing tide. Work the banks from inside the river.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2008

Good action Monday along some of the beaches just north of the Shark River Inlet up to Allenhurst as big bunker were again in close to the beach. One boat that I know of had 4 bass all in the teen to mid 20 lb range. Big bluefish were also there and made up most of the catch for those that were lucky enough to be there. The big blues are just nailing the bunker. If you toss chunks right now and put them on the bottom you have a good shot at getting a bass.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2008

Report by Capt. Jim Freda, Shore Catch Guide Service LLC

It was a good weekend for fishing if you like big bluefish as these brutes were just about everywhere in Monmouth and Ocean county waters. Fish were ranging in size from 5-12 lbs and were hitting jigs, topwater plugs, and soft baits. They also were wreaking havoc for anyone trolling shad rigs, bunker spoons, or tubes for striped bass.

The bluefish action should continue as water temperatures are 57 degrees. This isn’t cold enough to push them to the south especially with all the bait that is present. There is an abundance of sandeels, anchovies, some peanut bunker, and adult bunker all present at this time. The adult bunker have been along the beach and your spring time tactic of snag and drop has been working for these big blues as they have been plowing through them. Surfcasters too have been able to cast snag rigs and reach the bunker pods.

Some striped bass have also been present in bunker schools but not many. One good catch that I know of was Jason Lamb of the Wall PD who caught a 30 lb bass in the bunker schools off of Bay Head yesterday morning close to the beach.

As far as other striped bass action it is on par for this water temperature and in comparison to the past several years. There are many short bass present that are both in the surf and spread out to 65 feet of water. For boaters the northern end of Island Beach State Park in about 55 feet of water has had striped bass stacked up like chord wood under the boats. The majority of the fish have been from 24-26 inches but if you are lucky you can get a fish in the low teen pound range.

Surfcasters are finding the same casting along the beaches. Wading out to the bars at low tide has been very effective while casting a sandeel imitation that you can get some distance with. The 6-inch Vision surf eel, tin squids, or Ava’s when cast with braided line such as 30 lb Sufix braid can get you in the game. Running a teaser rig above your main lure has also been very effective. Stay with these sandeel patterns until some peanut bunker show up in the surf which have been sparse up to this point.

The results of the Monmouth-Ocean Interclub Striped Bass Tournament hosted by the Monmouth Beach Cartoppers Fishing Club from this past weekend are as follows. 1st place Asbury Park Fishing Club 113 points, 2cd place Shark River Surf Anglers 78 points, third place Bradley Beach Fishing Club 31 points, 4th place Spring Lake Live Liners 12 points. The Berkeley Striper Club and Monmouth Beach Car Toppers failed to score. Largest striped bass weighed in for the tournament was 27 lbs caught by Gene Amato of the Asbury Park Fishing Club.

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2008

Report by Capt. Jim Freda, Shore Catch Guide Service LLC

Here is a Stripersurf exclusive photo that I took this afternoon at Sea Girt Beach. Winds were gusting at 35+ knots, the air was icy, and an immense fog bank was on the ocean less than a ½ mile from the beach extending thick to the east. Cold air over much warmer water =f og. In the midst of all this appeared this tug pulling a barge for just a moment that I caught with my camera. These barges in tow always travel in the Ambrose to Barnegat shipping lane that is about 8 miles out from the beach. The fact that he is so close tells me it must be real rough out there but that doesn’t take me by surprise as waves heights increase very quickly with increased wind speed, duration, and fetch. With the way the wind was blowing west-northwest today 6-9 footers are likely that close offshore. What does surprise me however is the safety issue if there was another boat, mainly a recreational one, running in these same waters for some reason. No one expects to see these large vessels in this tight. So even with your radar on I don’t know if one would interpret the two blimps apart as a tug pulling a barge, most likely one might think they were just two boats. The real problem is the cable connecting the two which could be deadly if you were to go between them. Fortunately I don’t think there were any rec’s out there today as you would have to be nuts if you were.

The winds should subside enough by Thursday to get out and it might be real good inside. Yesterday some big bass were taken in the bunker schools up off of Deal and today fish were caught in the surf on metal.

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2008

Report by Capt. Jim Freda, Shore Catch Guide Service LLC

We have finally started to see some good fall fishing this week as both striped bass and bluefish have been caught in the surf in both Monmouth and Ocean county waters. Striped bass are ranging in size from shorts up to about 32 inches. The bass have been hitting clams, metal, swimming plugs, and teasers. Bluefish are hitting the same and have been up to 10 lbs. Even in today’s hard southeast blow there was good action this morning.

With the exception of today’s warm front this past week was nice on the beach with typical crisp fall-like conditions. Knowing that when you go down to the surf and that you should catch a fish or two, or three, made it even better. The wind is supposed to turn west-northwest tonight and for the next 4-5 days so that should clean the water up quickly and put the bait and fish on the beach again. So get out there and enjoy!

As far as the boats we lost a record number of days this month not being able to get out due to wind producing rough seas. When we have gotten out we did find plenty of birds working over sandeels and anchovies with lots of striped bass and blues below

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2008

Report by Capt. Jim Freda, Shore Catch Guide Service LLC

Location was the key this past weekend as to whether or not you could put together a decent catch of striped bass and bluefish as fish are not concentrated everywhere. For instance if you fished outside the Manasquan Inlet Saturday or Sunday you would have thought that you were going to get into some major blitz action as there was massive amounts of bait with birds working hard like they do in late November and December but no fish.

However if you went north up by Sandy Hook you had good catches of striped baas, bluefish, and some false albacore present. If you went south towards Lavallette down to Island Beach you had big bluefish that were blitzing throughout the early part of the day. Up around Long Branch there was also decent action with bluefish and widely scattered schools of false albacore.

The bait that is present inshore has been massive concentrations of sardines that are up on the surface looking like schools of peanut bunker moving along. They are stretching from 40 feet of water out several miles to the east. There are also anchovies and big bunker around. We are not yet seeing big schools of peanut bunker but some pods are scattered here and there.

Water temperatures now are right around 65 degrees so the striped bass action has been limited to the first couple hours of the morning but the bluefish will bite through early afternoon if you can stay on them as they are moving around quickly. The false albacore bite has been a morning thing too but they have been very finicky. Look for bluefish to be the mainstay of the catch through this week as water temperatures are ideal for them to feed heavily.

If you are a bottom fisherman then there is good news for you. Bottom fishing on our inshore reefs, wrecks, and rockpiles is also good right now for sea bass, porgies, and blackfish. Anglers are catching between 15-25 sea bass on a trip. Fish are ranging in size with pool winners on board the party boats weighing in at about 4 lbs. Porgy catches are ranging from 20-30 a man and most anglers are getting one blackfish in the 4-8 lb range. The Sea Girt Reef, Alex Carlson Reef, the Elberon Rocks, and the Long Branch Rocks have all been producing good catches of bottom fish.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2008

When the Governor's Tournament is won a by flounder that's a sure sign that fishing any beach front during the day, frankly sucks. I don't know why the tournament is always held in early October the fishing is usally poor and the results show it. If they moved to the third weekend of the month the results would be a lot better.

Write it down, fishing will improve dramatically from Saturday October 25th right through Sunday November 2nd. The New Moon is on Tuesday Novemeber 28th! Be prepared to take off from work to go fishing during the week because we are bound to have those yearly bluefish and striped bass blitzes along the NJ central coastline. In past years the hottest areas are from Deal south to Island Beach State Park, Sandy Hook rarely gets this type action. Hot fishing will then move south to LBI during November.

Right now the only beachfront fishing that is worthwhile is in the evening. My old friend Pete has been doing very well late at night with clams, bunker or mullet chunks. Most nights, when the surf is fishable he's been getting at least one bass in the "teens." You must know your spot to do this type of fishing or you will be wasting your time. Also at night the backside of Sandy Hook is holding fish. For bass and bluefish in quantity you have your choice of fishing, again at night, in the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers. There are hundreds of access points to these estuaries, some right on the back side of Sea Bright south of the bridge. Haven't had any reports of substantial sized fish taken in the rivers but quantity, if you hear some claim of big bass or "Great fishing," take that with a "grain of salt." I should add that these are not ideal baitfishing areas, try using plastics, bucktails, dark wooden swimming plugs, etc. Try using a popper at first to determine if there are any fish present.

Pods of bunker are forming off the beaches right now but no reports of surfcasters scoring, not even boaters, the bass are not on them yet. Why that happens no one really knows, we can only speculate that the migrating bass remain offshore. Yes the bunker may run close inshore and bass and blues will get on them but no one can predict where and when. Check your stock of wire leaders!