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Home > Local Sports Fishing > Jay's Weekly Fish Report > Report Archives > 2001 > Fall Fishing 2001

What A Season !!!

December 12, 2001

Water temperatures remain very high at around 53 degrees, and it could be that we haven't even seen the main fall striper migration as yet. Eeling remains a good bet in Ambrose and Sandy Hook channels, and lots of bass are being trolled on Flynn's Knoll and in the bay. The clam beds off Manasquan Inlet produced lots of bass this week, but the clammer isn't there every day and that fishery seemed to be a slow pick yesterday.

Kenny K-Kat Reports

12/5 - Gene Fabio and friends were aboard this morning. Found excellent bass trolling under birds in Sandy Hook bay, catching the boat limit plus 5 bonus fish in about an hour. Nice sized fish to 18 pounds, feeding on peanut bunker and large sea herring. Went togging and found a decent bite, fighting through lots of shorts to box 25 keepers to 4 pounds.

12/5 - Good togging today for the Jake Jakubik party. The bite was slow in the morning, and got better as the day went on. About 35 keepers went in the box, and shorts outnumbered keepers 3 to 1.

The Freddy C. from Leonardo is out of the shipyard and Capt. Jerry Ciriello has resumed nightly 6:30-11:30 eeling trips for stripers except for Sunday's 3:30-9:30 magic hours sailing. Daily blackfish trips are also being run through the end of the month.

At Highlands, Capt. Stan Zagleski reports good blackfishing from his Elaine B. Jack Tabor from New Brunswick had the best of the week at 9 pounds.

Capt. Pete Wagner of Hyper Striper reported scattered bird activity once again on Flynn's Knoll and in Sandy Hook Bay. The Rick Nunn party from Hillsborough trolled its limit quickly among those birds in the bay Wednesday morning and jigged a few slots and shorts before limiting on blackfish out in 60-foot depths. It was the same story with the bass yesterday morning for Ted Lytwyn's party from Short Hills as trolling produced quite a few stripers over 30 inches, though jigging was once again a tough proposition. Blackfishing was also off yesterday with only 20 being boated after striper limits were boxed.

At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Scott Vigar wrapped up his season Tuesday evening with his largest striper of the year as the Jake Jakubik party from Westfield enjoyed good eeling. Darryl Denman of Clark boated the bass which was only 411/2 inches long but had a 25-inch girth and weighed 40 pounds on three different hand scales.

Capt. Tom Buban reports more ling moving into Scotland where anglers on his Atlantic Star have been doing well with blackfish.

December 4th, 2001

When was the last time we had great weather like this?? The fishing is still great but do you remember back in the ealy 90's or late 80's when we had a December warm snap? I do although I can't quite pin point the year but I do remeber the vast shools of bunker inside The Hook between the Coast Guard Station and the Pound Nets. Everybody was snagging bunkers and live lining for huge bass. The weather lasted past the second week in December. I was fishing bunker spoons with George Sincox and John Byren on the "Sinner", we had a great day (only one per man limit), I reeled in a 44lber, a record for me! The picture of us is still on the wall in Bahrs' Bar. This year the bunker are not very thick but the stripers seem to be still abundant but more spead out.

Here are some nice stripers I caught right off the dock behind Moby's restaurant in Highlands, The fish Weighed 22.44 lbs@ 40" The second one was 19.22 lbs@39" and the third was 16.4lbs @ 36" Fresh clams from Bahrs bait and tackle were the bait of the day, good luck anglers

Rich Struble
Highlands N.J

Kenny K-Kat reports

12/2 - Inshore togging bounced back in excellent conditions for the Jack Dos Santos party today. A slow, steady pick resulted in a limit catch in 45 feet, topped by two 8 pounders, which were released.

12/1 - Had the Scott Paciello party from Staten Is. out this morning. We found the inshore tog fishing to be very slow in a large swell. Went out to 100 feet, and were surprised to find a pretty good sea bass bite. Around 50 keepers to 2 1/2 pounds were boated, and lots of spiny dogs to keep the crew busy.

The Tackle Box Team Report

Capt. Phillip Sciortino was very pleased with weekend eeling in the channels as the 19.28-pounder boated on his Tackle Box Sportfishing from Highlands was enough to win the two-day American Striper Association (ASA) contest held out of Clarks Landing in Point Pleasant from 11 other boats. Felipe Benedit of Monmouth Beach and John Lowe of Atlantic Highlands joined him Saturday as they eeled a dozen bass including six of 15 pounds or more. Sciortino, Benedit and Todd Januzzi of Bedminster eeled 20 stripers Sunday, though a pair of 17-pounders were their largest.

Capt. Rob Semkewyc, Sea Hunter, Atlantic Highlands, reported good fishing for bass in Raritan Bay over the weekend. He found bass in Ambrose Channel, Sandy Hook Channel and on Flynn's Knoll. The action was on eels, and the heaviest bass Saturday was an 18-pounder caught by Cliff Roberts of Bloomfield.

Prospects Look Dim For Fluke Season 2002... :

Local Fishing makes ESPN.com...:

November 20th, 2001

Put Some Bass on the Holiday Table!!

Captain Gary Dunzelman from Monmouth Beach report in:

Jay:
Bass fishing has been great. I took my boat out of the water last Sunday
wrapping up another great fall season under the Highlands bridge! The
toughest part of fishing that spot (for me) is having to withstand the smell
of food cooking from your restaurant.

I've been running the "Crack A Dawn II" quite a bit. I had her out last night
and limited out for 8 anglers and the crew trolling until dark and then
eeling there after.

I'm going trolling again this morning and anticipate a great day and good
fishing.

I was out with Pete Wagner a week ago this past Friday and we had excellent
blackfishing.

K-Kat Reports:

11/18 am - Jack Dos Santos and crew from Lyndhurst were aboard this morning for a blackfish slaughterhouse. Fishing two drops, we caught the boat limit, topped by 10 fish in the 4-5 pound class. Our best tog bite of the season, so far.

11/18 pm- Brian Feldman and friends were aboard this afternoon. We found the eeling to be a slow pick, boating five over 28" fish. Quite a few were swung on and missed.

11/17 - Chris Murphy and crew from Summit were aboard this morning.We found fast action on the troll, but with mostly slot fish. Two fish over 28" we boated.

11/15 pm - Sean Moore and friends were aboard this afternoon. Finding the eeling to be slow, we trolled under working birds and had furious action until sundown, limited out and returned early.

11/15 am - Tommy McCrink and friends were aboard this morning. We found the blackfish bite to be very finicky, and this proved frustrating to these mostly first-time toggers. A switch to eeling for bass was slow.

November 14, 2001

Striped Bass and Blackfishing are now at the seasonal peak. I have seen some nice catches of bass under the Highlands Bridge using live eels at the change of the tides. Also many reports of fish breaking water all over the bay.

Kenny on the K-Kat Reports:

11/12 am - Had Joe Kelly party from the Kearny post office aboard this morning. We found the eeling to be excellent, quickly filling the over 28" limit, then releasing another 6 big fish. Going on the troll, we had to pick through keepers and shorts to fill our limit of normally abundant slots.

11/12 pm - Chuck Deeney and crew from the Irvington fire department were aboard tonight. Opted to troll in lousy wind-against-tide conditions, and found it to be unusually slow. Went on the drift and scratched out five keepers in tough conditions.

11/11 pm - Carl Brunell and friends from Clinton were aboard this afternoon. Trolling produced a slot limit, and we found the eeling and worming to be excellent after dark, filling our over 28" limit, and releasing several keepers.

11/11 am - Tony Tom and crew were aboard this morning for some togging in very rough 35 knot wind conditions. We boated 15 keepers plus numerous shorts before heading in early to catch the slack tide around Sandy Hook. Definitely a Viking adventure we won't be looking to repeat again soon.

11/10 - Decent bass trolling for the Tom Gardner crew from Belford. Picking our slot limit plus 3 over 28" in heavy weekend traffic, we headed for the tog grounds at 9 am, and found that fishing to be a good pick. 25 keepers plus many shorts were boated.

11/8 - The Dunham Construction crew from Woodbridge were aboard today. We found the trolling and jigging to be outstanding, with a boat limit boxed before 8 a.m., topped by a 20 pounder jigged on a shad body. A run south to the blackfish grounds found the togs snapping, with 38 keepers going in the box, plus countless shorts released.

11/7 - Jack Dos Santos and crew from Lyndhurst were aboard tonight for some relatively slow eeling. Five keepers went in the box, with many fish missed and dropped.

Atlantic Highlands
Capt. George Bachert said blackfishing was very good Saturday on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands and some ling were also caught as Anthony Puzzo of Middlesex won the pool with an 8-pound tautog. Sunday was very difficult with current against a wind that Bachert said gusted to over 40 mph. Those in the bow managed decent blackfish catches topped by an 8-pounder for Don Busby of Linden.

Matteucci Wins Striper Tourney

November 11/06/01

MBCT fishing club held it�s annual Striped Bass Open at Bahrs Landing this past weekend.

John Matteucci of Middletown and his son, John, got into three hours of hot big bass action Friday night in the back of Raritan Bay near Keyport and returned to Bahr's Landing in Highlands the next morning to weigh in an unbeatable 113.9 pounds which ran away with the Monmouth Beach Cartopper's $4,000 Fall Striped Bass Tournament.

Matteucci had stripers of 34.8, 28.2, 26.4 and 24.5 pounds on his Tooch to take both the four-fish combination weight prize and individual big-bass honors. Alex Dudas of Monroe, who won the recent Hi-Mar Striper Tournament from his Al's Copout, also used eels to take second with 94.4 pounds as all four of his fish ranged from 22.6 to 24.8 pounds.

Capt. Lou Grazioso of Hazlet tried chunking Saturday morning near the Verrazano Bridge and boated a big bass on his Striper Mania from Highlands though he and Greg Lospinoso of Atlantic Highlands couldn't come up with any other large linesiders to add to that 30.8-pounder. I joined Grazioso at 11 p.m. along with Paul Licata of Mystic, Ct. for a night attempt at eeling and chunking. Both methods produced, with more than 30 bass plus a few bluefish caught, but there wasn't anything over 17 pounds in the lot and our top three entries combined with the 30.8-pounder only brought Striper Mania up to a third place 75 pounds in the 20-boat field.

Elaine B says Big Blackfish are Backi!!!

"Couldn't send a report earlier had problems getting on line. But better late
then not. The weekend Black fishing was very good Sat. Al Orduna Perth
Amboy for the second week in a row 8lb Blackfish and a limit. Sun.
conditions changed and we had a lot more throwbacks then we have seen in a
while, but we still had a very good catch. Tom Hollywood Staten Island had a
limit catch plus the pool with a 7lb Blackfish. Then the winds came."

Capt. Kenny on the KKat Reports in :

11/4 pm - Had the Felix Marusic party from Washington, NJ out tonight. We trolled our slot limit, plus one 20 pound bass and lots of bluefish under working birds. Going on the eels after dark, we finished out the limits with all nice fish to 17 pounds. The eeling was a slow pick.

11/4 - Congratulations to our good friend and dock neighbor John Mattuecci of North Middletown, NJ for winning first place in the Monmouth Beach Cartoppers Striped Bass tournament. John smoked the competition with a combined weight of 113.6 pounds (four bass). All the fish came on eels after dark, topped by a 32 pounder. Way to go!

11/4 am- We had the Steve Ha party from Hoboken aboard this morning. Trolling was good until the weekend traffic became unbearable. Stopping one 28" fish shy of our limit, we headed to the rough bottom off Sea Bright, where perfect condtions had the togs chewing. Once again, first-time tog fishermen got the hang of it quickly, kept 15 keepers and released the rest, plus loads of shorts.

11/3 pm - Spencer Reynolds and crew from Bethlehem, PA were aboard tonight. Trolling was red hot under acres of working birds, with lots of bluefish mixed in. Eeling after dark finished out our limit of over 28" fish, and we returned to the dock early. Super fishing and perfect weather.

11/3 am - Tom Rotondaro and party from Albany, NY were aboard this morning. Bass trolling was good, catching our slot limit and 3 over 28" by 8:30 am. A switch over to blackfishing saw fair fishing in very tough anchoring conditions. Boxed 18 keepers and released loads of shorts.

11/2 pm - The crew from Willard-Dunham construction were abord this afternoon. Trolling under working birds saw fast action, but small fish. A move to the east gave us a better keeper ratio, and eeling after dark finished out our limit.

11/2 am - Bill Seavy and crew from Sherman-Williams paint were aboard this morning. Trolling working birds and deep readings gave us a bass limit by 9 am. A run down the beach to the rough bottom found the tog bite to be excellent in a nasty roll on the anchor. Boxed 22 keepers and came in early due to some green complexions.

TUNA From New England

Hello Jay, Sorry it took so long to get these to you but here are some pictures of the Bluefin Tuna Myself, Tom Mansfield and Mike Deckert (all from Sea Bright I think)

caught off Cape Cod. We had several fish ranging between 415 to 720 pounds. Hope you like the pictures. Talk to you soon.

Marty Slaybaugh

More Photos click here

October 30, 2001

Monmouth Beach Car Topper's Striped Bass Tournament kicks off this weekend November 2nds-4th. HELD AT BAHRS LANDING IT IS A BOAT ONLY EVENT AND THE ENTRY FEE IS $60.00. The heaviest combined weight of 4 fish takes the prize. Call 291-9554 for info.

Bass fishing over the weekend was slowed by the winds I did get some good reports from those who ventured out. The newest ripple this week has been bass chasing peanut bunker in the bay! Casting lead-heads and plastic lures were all that was required.

Blackfishing is now in full swing when the winds cooperate. I heard some reports that WTC rubble was proposed to be added to the reef for a memorial. However the twisted iron has value in the recycled steel market, so it will more likely be put to other uses.

Capt. Stan Zagleski said blackfishing is back to pre-wind standards on his Elaine B. Al Orduna of Perth Amboy had a limit, including two 8-pounders Wednesday.

Kenny K-Kat reports:
Capt. Lou Grazioso put Joe Deombeley of Scotch Plains and his partner into a limit of bass to 17 pounds yesterday morning on Striper Mania by jigging, eeling and trolling

10/30 - Clint Brown and crew from Monmouth Fence were aboard today. We were one 28" bass short of a limit when we decided to go blackfishing. This fishing started out slowly, and built into a very good bite, topped by Clint's 6 pounder. First time togging for these guys, and they did well, boxing 25 keepers.

10/29 p.m. - The Rocco Catalano party from Brick were aboard this afternoon for a bass trip. This fishing was not great, with five fish going into the box on the troll before dark. Two more were added on eels.

10/29 a.m.- Bob Crawford and crew from Entenman's were aboard this morning. We found the trolling to be fair, boating a slot limit and 3 fish over 28". Several other slots were released.

October 24th, 2001

Hi-Mar Tounament a huge success!

The annual Hi-Mar Striper Tournament had great weather and many striped bass were caught in spite of two false reports small craft advisories posted by N.O.A.A.

The two largest fish caught resulted in the following winners:

1st Place - Alex Dudas, Al's Copout 53.8 lbs

Two fish were 23.7 & 30.1 lbs

2nd Place - John Hoffman, Smuttynose 44.2 lbs

3rd Place - David Fischer, Fischermen 43.5 lbs

4th Place - Gino Leonardis, Fortuna 39.9 lbs

5th Place - Gene Graman, That's It 39.3 lbs

The highlight of the tournament was a 35.4 lb. Striped bass caught by Will Hoffman, 17 years old, on an eel in Sandy Hook Channel during the day, on his father's boat Smuttynose.

Other Reports This week

"Jay,

We hit the reef this Sunday- Wow!!!!!!! says it all. Over 20 keeper Blackfish in 2hrs.- most were only 15 or 16 inches, but had a couple of monsters -one was 24 inches and probably upwards of 15lbs. were home for Jets kick Off (should have stayed fishing!)Clam was a waste of time unless you were fishing for the little critters .
Green Crab was the magic. P.S. Friday night had 1 keeper 30inch bass chunking bunker on the knoll-allot of fish were caught by surrounding boats. See ya soon Ron Motyka "

K-KAT Reports

10/21 pm- The Ron Wright party from Ringwood were aboard this afternoon. We picked away on the troll, and ended up putting together a limit catch of bass before dark. Got roughed up quite a bit in some nasty conditions, with a hard south wind up into an outgoing tide. Made a quick attempt at eeling in the dark, to no avail, and returned to the dock early.

10/21 am- The Rich Wood party were aboard this morning. Trolling was a slow pick all day, nothing at all like yesterday's bonanza. Worked hard for 5 bass over 28", and four slot fish.

Elaine B 2 Reports

Black fishing remains very good pool fish usually 7 to 9lbs. Most days there
are a lot of Sea bass mixed in. Largest Blackfish this week was caught by
Archie Perdue from South Bound Brook 9 lbs.and his limit.

Atlantic Highlands & Leonardo

Capt. Jerry Ciriello saw an improvement in night striper action Friday as Bill Novack of Jackson boated a 20.4-pounder on Freddy C. from Leonardo. Dave Brink Jr. from Port Monmouth had a hot hand as he caught four bass from 15 to 18 pounds. Ciriello also ran the Friday day trip which produced decent blackfishing. Mark Chitwood of Forked River had a limit up to 5.9 pounds.

Capt. Freddy Coles was taking a busman's holiday Friday as part of a group of 18 Bay Shore area pros canyon fishing with Capt. Bob Pennington on the Sea Devil from Point Pleasant. Capt. Lou Grazioso of Striper Mania from Highlands said they caught about 20 tuna which were mostly albacore. There were a few big yellowfins, and one bigeye of about 175 pounds became a group project.

Steve Novak of Green Brook had a successful Friday evening bass trip as seven were caught around Flynn's Knoll on his S.T. Barb with six being over 28 inches. His son Tom (16) hooked two 21-pounders.

Ray Dodd trolled a 34-pound striper Saturday at Shrewsbury Rocks from his Optimist before returning the next day to put Surf Kings President Art Phillips into a 29-pounder -- his first big fish since undergoing open heart surgery July 27.

October 17, 2001

What A Day!! That's the phrase for most of the past week's fisherman. Striper's are hungry and can be picked up on worms, live eels, rubber shad rigs and bunker spoons among most other baits. Blackfishing is off to a great start while the tuna fishing is not bad either. Don't forget that the www.Hi-mar.com bass tournament is set for this weekend. Also the Monmouth Beach Car Topper's Striper Tourney is set for November 2nd-4th held at Bahrs Landing. Call Big Ed for details and application. (732-291-9554.

Sal Canazzarro of Colt's Neck had 8 bass in an hour on Tuesday trolling inside of the Hook. Steve Valinoti of Monmouth Beach drifted worms in the Rip on Saturday morning and pulled in a 36" bass. The Hyper striper limted out on both trips on Monday and Tuesday. Although a little rough , captain Pete found bass inside on the edge of Flynn's Knoll. John Matteucci Middletown, found his favorite piece of structure on Saturday and had a productive morning with sea bass and blackfish up to 5lbs.

Captain Kenny K-Kat repots:

10/13 - John Swanda and crew from Tinton Falls joined us this morning. Drifting eels at several locations produced nothing. A switch to trolling saw a decent pick of bass, totaling seven keepers to 15 pounds.

10/14 - The Chris Murphy party from Summit were aboard today. The bass turned on with the east wind, and trolling was excellent. The boat limit was reached by 8 a.m., and all bonus tags were filled shortly thereafter. Back to the dock early.

Ron Motyka emailed me "What a day!!!!!!! The bite was on, the conditions perfect. Managed to take home two nice stripers on Sat. (32 inch and 29inch) .Outgoing tide on the edge of Sandy-hook channel. I had clams, and worms but noticed a couple of birds working (always see them there, eating that scum-garbage on the rip) so I casted a white jig head with white split-tale plastic. worked it extremely slow, every fish hit the jig on its way back down.All action happened within a hour, boat traffic picked-up fishing ceased. Spent the next couple of hours drifting the channel and the edge with out a hit. Regards, Ron Motyka"

Elain B II
"Bottom fishing very good all week with coolers full of Blackfish Sea Bass
and Porgies. Sunday the best so far with the following catches,
Al Orduna Perth Amboy 2- 8lb. Blackfish plus limit
Tom Hollywood Staten Island 7.5lb. plus limit
Ken Smith Jersey City 7.25lb plus limit
Dennis O'Brien Bound Brook NJ 7.75lb plus limit
7 other limits on boat and quite a few other Blackfish over 5lbs.
WHAT A DAY!!!!!!!!! Capt. Stan Elaine B 11 "

TUNA
Peter Cherasia reports to me: "Hey Jay,

Just got back from a few days fishing off Nantucket, 7 fish, the largest was
470lb's. Here's a couple of pictures..."

October 10, 2001

40 HOUR STRIPED BASS TOURNAMENT SET fOR SET Next WEEK:

The Hi-Mar club conducts one of the premier striped bass tournaments in North Jersey. This year's 40 hour event will run from 8 P.M. on Friday (10/19/01) to Noon on Sunday (10/21/01) at the Leonardo State Marina. To find out more information about the event, just call the tournament director, Bob Kamienski at (732) 495-9210.

One of the goals of the Hi-Mar striped bass tournament is to raise funds so that the club can help various local charities. For instance, Hi-Mar supports the Monmouth/Ocean County Children's Diabetes Association by providing a mid-summer fluke trip for local youngsters aboard Capt. Larry Snow's Jersey Girl charter boat. The club has also adopted Camp Happiness in Leonardo, which is a home for blind men. The club members provide a personal touch for these organizations by routinely dropping off fresh fish for the residents of the home.

To sign-up for the tournament follow the hyperlinks to either the printable entry form or register online

HyPER STRIPER CONTINUES CANYON SUCCESS
FISHING LAST TUESDAY NIGHT captain Pete and mate Jimmy Morenz, boated their limit for their six man charter. All yellowfins on the overnight chunk. They also picked up some mahi in the daylight hours. There was a wide range of sized yellowfin tuna up to 100lbs.
The weekend was pretty much of a blow out for bass fishing although he did manage to pick a few bass on Monday in the heavy breeze. They caught some trolling and a few on eels.

K-Kat Charters reports:

We got out bass fishing last night, Oct. 5, with the Jay Staudt party from Hillsborough. We found the eeling to be a pick, finding sporadic action everywhere we went. The fish were nice sized, up to 17 pounds. We ended up with with six, and lost at least that many again due to pulled hooks, break-offs, etc. A decent start to the fall run.

Atlantic Highlands Party Boats

The Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands has switched to 3/4-day striped bass fishing from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.

The Prowler V has also given up on weakfish and switched Friday to bottom fishing. Capt. Scotty Hilliard said Thursday night bluefishing was hot at 17 Fathoms with over 350 caught along with some little tunny. Anthony Bing of Richmond, Ca. won the pool with a 16-pounder. Monday's canyon trip was blown out so they went Tuesday and fished the Texas Tower for a steady pick of 60-to-100-pound bluefins that resulted in 14 being boated along with a 120-pound mako, three dolphin and five pollock up to 35 pounds.

What A Season !!!

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