The countdown has begun. Living in the southern side of the state, I sometimes get jealous seeing the reports of nice stripers being caught in the northern reaches early in the fall run. But for the past week, I have been seeing small pods of mullet in the wash of the beaches where I throw my plugs. And yesterday, I caught my first striped bass of the fall. Granted it was a short and I took it on a teaser which mimicked a rain fish but it was a bass. And with fluke still going strong for another a 12 days, there is plenty of action left. The canyons seem to be on fire and the water temps are holding up across the board. On the freshwater scene, this can be some of the best fishing of the year. The waters are cooling off and the fish are foraging. Let’s see what our advance team has to say about current and upcoming conditions.

Pete Sykes, Captain and owner of Parker Pete’s Sportsfishing in Belmar has dialed in on the fish and has no intentions of losing the frequency. With the fluke season coming to a close, he is currently gearing up for striper and other options.

The Miss Belmar Princess of Belmar fame has moved to its Fall Schedule. They will be sailing daily for blues (7:30am – 2:30pm) and adding night trips on Friday and Saturday (7:30pm – 2:30am). Lately, they have been on the monster “Gorilla” blues, with recent pool winners in the 19 lb. range. If you are aching for a fight, bluefish and the Miss Belmar Princess will give you all you can handle.

Captain Rich Wilkowski of the Jersey Hooker in Brick has no intention a running up the flag on the fluke season until the final gun sounds. If you are looking for a spot on a fine fishing boat, the hooker has some open boat seats left for the upcoming weekend. First come, first serve. Contact Captain Rich at (732) 903-6904 or check out their website.

I spoke with Dom at The Bait Shop in Bradley Beach to see how the catch has been in the North. Dom tells me that they are taking fluke off the beach still with Gulp and diamond jigs working best. They have rain fish in the area which is probably why the diamond jigs are working. Several fluke cleaned at the shop this week had small ling in them which tells me the fish are moving back and forth. Small stripers are also being caugt at first and last light. Anglers are using metal and or Daiwa SP Minnows in their efforts. I also asked if they have had any false albacore or bonito in the area but Dom hadn’t heard of any yet. I would still pack some AVA jigs in case they show up, which they are prone to do this time of year.

Its not specific to the northern part of the State but Tackle Direct has an event at their Brick and Mortar Store on Tilton Road in Egg Harbor Township. Larry Dahlberg is coming Sept 21 & 22 for the grand opening of the Shimano Tech Center and G Loomis Performance Center in the showroom… 2000 sq ft of brand gear with the Shimano Tech Squad doing demos and give away’s galore. No fair limiting this to those of us in the south. Check out their site for more info.

In Atlantic Highlands, Jersey Key Sportsfishing and their 31’ Ocean Master with twin Cummins Diesels is the king of the waters lately. You name the species and chances are they have been slamming them. Recently, their charters have been for fluke, where they have had fish up to 10 pounds. They have also had some offshore success with yellow, blue and long fin tuna as well as some wahoo and marlin. Right now Captain Mike Sisto tells me they will chase fluke through the end of the season and then gear up for striper (they are one of the few charter boats that offers evening eeling and chunking trips) plus blackfish, sea bass and porgy. I have to say it again; these guys do it all and do it well.

The reports I have been getting from the Ocean Explorer and Captain Bobby Quinn tell me that they have been fishing deep water and finding the big fluke that hide out there. The bite seems to be better on days when there is a light SE blow but all things being equal, they are catching fish in all conditions. They will be chasing fluke for the next twelve days and then retool for sea bass and finally black fish. The OE sails daily from its port in Belmar for ¾ day trips. No reservations required.

Switching to the fresh water action for a minute, I contacted Joe Loretti at Harry’s Army and Navy in Robbinsville. With air temperatures cooling down, I suspect that the fresh water anglers are having some luck. Fall trout stocking by the state is still several weeks off so action has been limited to the large and small mouth bass in the local lakes. The canal has been good of late. Some nice cats and carp have been reported in the upper Delaware River.

If you’re an early riser like me, then you have to appreciate a shop that has the same work ethics. The Reel Life in Point Pleasant is one of those shops. They open early and close late. When I reached out to Rich this week for a fishing report, he told me that the fluking was still running strong on the inshore lumps like the Klondike. The key is to look for deeper water. Seventy feet and up has been the most productive. Squid strips, spearing and cut baits along with big Gulps like the 6” Grubbs will get the most attention. In other news, the beaches are still having fluke, same baits apply. There are also decent sized blue fish in the area. Casting metal lures like Hopkins, Kastmaster or Crocodiles will get you some results. In the Canal, there have been some blackfish, but most have been on the smaller side of the limit. Anglers are using both clam and crab to catch them. At night in the canal, some nice striped bass have been taken on eels and in the light, anglers are using swimming plastics to catch smaller bass.

I’ve told you before, if you are in the Sea Bright area and don’t have my report handy, then head over to Giglio’s Bait and Tackle and you will find all the information you need. And Gear. And Bait. I spoke with Tom Giglio this week and he told me that the fluke bite off the beach was still going strong. Mike and Igor had just left the shop after weighing in a 7 and 5 pounder along with a few smaller fish taken in the surf. All fish were caught using Gulp 6” baits. Tom tells me there is plenty of bait in the wash including some mullet and rain fish. There was a short two day run of blues up to 15 pounds but that has downshifted to smaller versions. Metal seems to be the best attractant. Tom asked me to pass along that they were now carrying all of the New Hogy Lures as well as a multitude of others for the upcoming fall run. If you’re a surf nut like me, that’s music to the ears.

Nick at Meltzer’s Sporting Goods in Garfield tells me the fishing has been a little slow of late in the fresh water. There has been some hybrid movement in Lake Hopatcong, you should use live herring if you can get them. Also, there have been reports of anglers taking pike on the northern portion of the Passaic River. Most anglers are using shiners as pike bait but I would try a nice swimming lure. Hopefully the bass bite in the area will pick up as the sudden cold spells seems to have the fish a little confused. Not to despair, fall trout stocking starts next month and the pan fish bite has remained consistent.

If you are looking for some battles with those toothy blue fish, then I recommend you set up a charter on Skylarker II and Captain Steve Spinelli to put you in the middle of the action. When I spoke to Steve this week, he was just coming in from a trip where they had blues up to 19 pound and non-stop action. That’s not to say he has given up on the fluke bite just that his charter wanted to target blues and that’s exactly what he gave them and then some. Captain Spinelli told me that on days when the fluke bite was weak, they supplemented the catch with blues, porgy or ling and has had success with all. Once fluke season ends, the Skylarker will be retooling and targeting black sea bass, blackfish and striper. Steve told me that they will be fishing through the end of the year to take advantage of the expanded blackfish season. If you like jigging up the big fish, the Skylarker should be high on your list of charter options.

Captain Chris Hueth of the Big Mohawk out of Belmar is still on the trail of fluke and will continue to do so until the season end and then will make the switch to other bottom fare. The big Mohawk will chase sea bass, blackfish and ling through the end of the year according to the captain. And if you have ever fished with him, you know that he has a knack for finding them. Lately, they have been fishing sandy bottoms with lighter tackle and big Berkely Gulps in Chartreuse, White and Pink and landing fluke up to 10 pounds. If you like to fish lighter tackle off of a party boat, then you need to jump on board the Mohawk because is their forte. The 75’ Big Mohawk departs daily from Belmar.

I had a nice chat with Ronnie at Fishermen’s Supply in Point Pleasant to get some scouting reports on false Albies in the area. He told me that they had a brief shot of them but that was when the water spiked down for a few days and they disappeared. Ron expects them back any day now and has loaded up on the new Hogy Epoxy Lure which he believes will work on any fish that targets low profile bait fish like sand eels and rain fish. I checked them out and it is a pretty lure, that’s for certain. Definitely a must have for the plug bag. In other news, Ron tells me that the big Eye Tuna bite is still going on in the southern canyons but all other species have been a little quiet. Jigging and chunking have raised a few fish but not anything special. Inshore, the fluking remains good on all the lumps. Gulp, spearing and cut baits remain the hot producers.

I haven’t been hearing much on the northern offshore bite so I thought I would give Dave Arbietman a shout out at the Reel Seat in Brielle. If anyone is hearing anything, it would be Dave. Anglers who get a window of weather and take it are being rewarded with long and yellow fin tuna and some wahoo that they are picking up on the troll in the Hudson and Southern Toms. Chunking and Jigging efforts have not be high return efforts as of yet. There have been some nice Swordfish recorded in the dark. There has been dolphin caught but nothing in the huge range, most in the 15-pound class. And there have been some white marlin on the books but the really hot action for marlin is still hovering in the southern canyons. Overall, Dave tells me it has been a slow but steady pick and that if you put the time in, you will be rewarded. By the way, Dave has been tile fishing almost weekly and absolutely killing them. If you are looking for any advice in that venue, I would recommend stopping in or calling the shop and speaking with Dave. If there is someone else with more expertise in that area I haven’t run across them.

Best Bets for the Weekend

After a brief shot of “Indian Summer” the forecast looks to cool down come the weekend. Now if the winds would lie down with it, we could be in for a treat. The freshwater bite may light up again. Hopefully. And a stretch of colder air temperatures will almost certainly get the bait to start thinking about a move. There will be ten days left in the fluke season, so that is where I would hang my hat. After that, it’s an open field. The blackfish limit remains at one but one is enough for my table. There have been some nice sheepshead in the south; I wouldn’t be surprised to find a few creeping north. If you have a spot pen, now is the time to start adding to your inventory. And there is always a blue claw expedition. You may not have too many weekends left on that horizon. Water temps have risen a bit so it’s almost prime fishing time. Unlike the spring where the water temperatures may be right but the fish aren’t here yet, fall presents us with the opportunity to target a wide spectrum of species. Whatever option you decide to go with, please be careful out there. You only get so many days in the game. Spend them wisely. See you on the incoming.