April 2000

APRIL 25th Hello everyone! The Sandy Hook region is full of striped bass! It is an incredible fishery, that has not been seen in over 30 years. Has anyone caught the cable t.v. fishing show on comcast 73 TNN channel? It was filmed last year by a crew from Florida off the Highlands Beach to the Shrewsbury Rocks. They mostly chase the working seagulls and cast rubber shads. They were amazed and said "There is nothing like striper fishing off the Jersey Shore!". I have seen many re-runs including last Sunday night.

The easterly weather has kept the Elaine B at the dock. he hopes that the blackfish stay when the wind dies. (see last weeks report). Sean Furman of Rumson trolled up a bunch of bass last Wednesday when the weather was clear for a couple of hours. He had 2 nice keepers on his new blue Regulator center console. A great way to christen his new vessel! John Mateucci had success fishing with Captain Steve on the "Better Deal" on Easter Sunday chunking fresh bunker up by Keyport. He said that it very important to be on the right spot for chunking. Everyone on board had keepers. John Hayes of Atlantic Highlands had some good action trolling Early Easter Sunday. He and his son got the season off to a great start with 3 keepers and many throw backs.

Dave Carrerro fishing with Vinnie Mallessio had some fun catching shorts up in the Navesink by the Oyster Point Hotel using plugs and worms last Friday.

Fluke Season begins may 6th. The Monmouth Beach Car Toppers Annual One Day Striper tournament for boats will be held on Saturday May 6th.

April 18, 2000

Sorry that I delayed the report for this week. We were in Puerto Rico and the modem on my laptop crapped out. I wish I could say that it happened of the Puerto Rican Reef but it was just a short family vacation w/ no fishing. :< . This Wednesday's report will be much better.

Captain Stan from the Elaine B wrote in: Hi Jay, hope you had a good trip. We did our first Blackfish trip Sat the
15th the fishing was excellent. The best start to spring Blackfish in 3
years.We only had to fish 1 wreck most of the day,we had 5 people with limit
catches the rest with between 7 and 9 keepers high hook was Tom Hollywood
from Staten Island he had 27 fish to pick his 10 keepers he also won the
pool with a 8lb. Black. The easterly weather started Mon, Tues. Wed. Fished
Thurs. big ground swell had 1 stop that produced 58 Blackfish for the day. Fri
the east weather returned.

The Hyper Striper Reports: Jay,
Thursday thru Sunday saw excellent bass action with limit catches on each trip.Parties led
by,Andrew Beko,Chris Ozempco,Mark Hudson,and Jeff Schwietzer all limited on the bass,with fish up
to 29lbs caught.Thursday was the best with lots of bass over 20lbs.The following trips had good
numbers of fish but not the size we had on Thurs.Things should only get better with the passing of
the nor'easter accompanied with the full moon.We'll let you know.

April 12, 2000

Another report from captain Pete on the Hyper Striper.... "Jay,
Friday was better than Thursday as a party of four anglers totalled 13 keeper stripers with 2 fish
going 20.5lbs.The bay was warming up nicely before the snow, but I don't think it will bother the
fishing.We will be fishing Thursday thru Sunday and will let you know the report."

Jamie Gibbons of Red Bank has been tagging some big bass in the bay. He had a 36" the other night and the people who saw him were "freaking out". They couldn't believe that he would let such a nice keeper go back. Jamie says that he has been tagging big bass for years and especially in the spring during their spawning season. He has tagged bass up to 42" and had them recaptured as far away as Maine!

4-6-00 Captain Pete Wagner "Hyper Striper" reports Just got in from our first bass trip today.My mate Brian and I went looking to see what was
up.Fishing in the bay was good as we boated 6 keepers to 18lbs in 4 hours fishing along with 2
shorts.Things are looking good and should only get better.

Wednesday 4-4-00

Here is what captain Stan on the Elaine B reported "Today Sunday best flounder fishing this spring . We caught 114 keeper flounder for 13 people. The fish are moving out of the river, and fishing for the next week should be very good."

Pete Wagner on the "Hyper Striper" also reported in. He had a trip that wanted to try offshore bottom fishing for sea Bass. Pete said that the water is still too cold and they had to come back to the river empty handed. The trip was not totally skunked because before docking at Bahrs Pier 8 they tried for some flounder and boated enough for a couple of nice sandwiches. Dennis Nalepa and his son D.J. fished on Saturday and out fished there partner for the day, John Matteucci, 5 to 0 .

The Annual Cleanocea Action Tourney took place last Sunday. They had over 50 fished weighed in for their free entry tournament. First Prize $500.00 went to Guy Bohlan of East Brunswick. He caught the 2.54 lb in the Shrewsbury at thge end of the day. He also took home a hand crafted flounder plaque for his wall. The 425.00 prize for 12 year old and under was Eddie Makin of Boonten, N.J. . His fish weighed in at 1.93 lbs. Congratulations guys, it seems that this tournament format is a real success for Clean Ocean Action. The prize money, door prizes and t-shirts are provided by donations from local businesses such as Bahrs Landing and others. Look for other local tournament information here on my site. I have a whole bunch of fun tournaments to list for 2000! I you know of any please email me or drop off a flyer at Bahrs Landing.

Jay Cosgrove
Bahrs Landing
732-872-1245

May the fish be with you.

Jay

April 2000

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