Welcome to the 2010 report page where I will try to keep up a running report of what I find during my fishing trips and what I see in the fishing world that affects all of us. If you have questions, comments and general observations or Private messages can be sent by E-Mail and I will try to answer. Please indicate if you would like them posted here.

December 17, 2010, It looks like we are in it for the long icy cold haul and here in the office in front of the computer seems like the best place to be, however I've got to get out again and get to work on the winterizing. Yesterday I was still hauling and had to bust ice to get the railroad car down the ramp and to get a couple of the boats in my docks out. If you are still in I will be glad to assist you in any way and I do still have storage room in the yard. Now for the second year in a row I have to wait for snow to melt to fishing shrink wrapping.

One thing I am looking forward to is to get into a warm radio studio tomorrow with Tom P. down at ESPN to spend time with him talking about fishing down in Guatemala. When it's cold here there is nothing better to think about than warm blue water and big hungry fish and where the only ice to be found is floating in a glass surrounded by Guatemalan Rum and fruit juices. He's giving me a whole half hour so be sure to tune in at 9 am If you do miss it I should have the audio file posted shortly so you can still here what's going on, but even better give me a call any time and I'll be glad to discuss everything in detail and hopefully get you down there.

I just got done talking with Capt. Dennis to make sure everything is ready and it does sound good. He made sure that I remember to comment that the Marlin fishing in Guatemala has been improving every year and now even on the Panga boats they are raising at least one Marlin every day along with the regular abundant Sailfish. I also received a bunch of photos from Capt. Gerry and some reporting on their Caribbean trips and if you are really adventurous and ready to see something different you could enjoy a Tropical Jungle, Coral Reef fishing trip for Tarpon, Snook, Snappers, Grouper, Bonefish, Wahoo and many more species. Pricing is available now at www.parlama.com but I'll have many more details up on the www.fishguatemala.com site soon.

December 9, 2010, Ice on the water, Wind in the Sky and it's still officially Fall... I was hoping to be out on the water the last week, but the weather seems to have just dropped off the charts. I know I'm not the first one to ask, Where is Global Warming when you need it? I've been out in the yard hauling and winterizing boats the last few days and it is bitter. Actually I should be out there right now, but I am waiting for the sun to make some kind of an effort to knock down the cold. December 10, actually I got RUSHED to haul boats... and didn't get to sit down until I practically fell down last evening. At least the wind stopped and a few customers even stopped in to buy bait. But the temperature was cold and it took a long time for any ice to melt. Twin-V Dave took some green crabs, He slowed down at the bridge and only had 35 degrees on the thermometer so he headed east to an undisclosed wreck in 70 feet of water and limited out on tog with his buddy, I know that had to be a long ride.

On the boat hauling front, I have a full schedule today, but I am sure I can fit you in if you want to beat Sundays Rain and next weeks next cold blast bring your boat around. If you are going to stick it out I will be here for you as long as want. For Trailer boat winterizing and shrink wrap drop them off any time, but if you want to be sure of same day service please be sure to call ahead and make an appointment.

The 2010 Christmas Sale is officially underway so if you want the best deals on Christmas Presents stop by. I'll get a detailed sale list up shortly but you can figure that anything that isn't fair trade priced by the manufacture I'll take off 25% And I'll have some Great incentives for those items like 150 yards of Power Pro line installed for all price protected reels. For stocking stuffers I have piles of lures that will go for 50% off along with all fluke rigs still on the walls. Remember I have Gift Certificates available and I'll continue the sale thru the first of the year so that your recipients can still get the great prices.

I also picked up a great tip on line concerning the Federal Angler Registration for 2011, the State of New Jersey is currently screwing things up in the legislature and it is a good bet that the feds will be taking $15 out of your pocket to register in 2011. To avoid that hit you can register now during the end of December and your registration will be good for 365 days until the end of 2011. If for some reason NJ gets it's own registration or license you will be responsible to get that, but you will have saved federal money and possibly for 2012 the State of Insanity will get something together. Good Luck!

December 4, 2010, It's cold December, but will it be hot fishing ? The month started out very well with a good buying day on the 1st where I rounded out the tackle selection for spring then a couple good days out in front of the Brigantine Hotel. Thursday started out like a house on fire with at least ten fish on the first drift of which we put 4 in the box, had about the same number of shorts and put back two that I am 99% sure that would have broke 28" but not by much. However with the fast fishing and three 34"+ fish we had I was sure that we could fill up with a little meatier limit. The next drift started out with another "Fattie" which went in the box, but then it died. The wind had switched from WSW to WNW and maybe that was the reason, but through the next couple hours all we could come up with was a couple shorts.

Friday started out all most the same, three 34" + fish on the first fast drift on a stiff NW breeze. Then all we could find were shorts, and not too many, but the wind diminished and it got relatively nice on the shoal even if a bit on the chilly side. The Dave Morris, Jimmy Hare team kept up a slow pick and we had shorts for action and six good fish in the box for dinner. Probably their last trip of the year they would have liked to fill both bonus tags, but I did help one out at the Flagship that picked up my spot with the wind against the tide and a 36" fish tried to turn the little Shimano Tescata rod into knots.

This should have been a good weekend to get on the school fish, but the wind machine hasn't stopped blowing so I am sitting here writing this report. Personally I believe that the fishing is far from over, but it looks like we will have at least a couple more days of this NW blow before we can get a good handle on things. In the past there have been good signs of late season bait, which I haven't seen yet so I am not exactly sure what to make of. I did take the precaution of taking my remaining spot into the back building so they stay lively for you hard core late season fishermen. If you do take spot out at this time of year please do not shock them any more than necessary and since they are almost comatose they will not need any additional air. As a mater of fact you will want to keep them from cold outside air temperatures as much as possible and wait until you are in the inlets or open ocean before you run water into your live wells.

It is obvious that a lot of anglers will be calling it quits the next couple weeks so if you want the best deals and good service on winterizing and storage please look up my winter storage information. I've had a lot of requests for a Christmas Sale so everyone can stock up on presents for their fellow anglers or just stock pile some goodies for future use so I will definitely start that the weekend of December 17 . I'll be posting details shortly so keep an eye on my web page. I will also be back with Tom P. on the Rack and Fin Radio Show on97.3 FM, Saturday December 18th where I will be giving Tom and all you listeners the low down on fishing in Guatemala with my boat the "Tijereta" and the rest of the Parlama Fleet.

December 1, 2010, It's time to say Adios to my "Big Johnson", 175 hp outboard that is. It had served me well for almost three complete seasons since I bought the 20' Scout and it worked right to the end on November 23rd when Larry Cappel and crew searched hard for bass. Fishing was nothing like the day before, but Larry got a couple good ones.

At least we were on the way home when something major let go inside the motor and I got Ray to come out and tow us back to the marina. Luckily I had bought a 23' Robalo with a 200 hp Yamaha earlier in the summer, It was far from ready for the water, but the 24th was a windy blow out and Thursday was Thanksgiving so I spent my day giving thanks that I had a chance to finish out the season and and get the boat together. It was launched and tested on Thanksgiving day and checked out OK.

I was short electronics and some creature comforts, but I made the trip Friday with Jim Mickelson and we drifted the inlet finding some nice fish.

. Saturday was another one of those blowing days that we just can't get away from this year and I missed the only hit of the day. Sunday the 28th the electronics were working fine and that was an out front day and I had high hopes, but we only landed one good keeper and one short, though we did miss several chances.

The last couple days have been with similar results with three or four fish each day. I am still waiting for the school fish to move in and turn the fishing on fire, and even though this Robalo is a little tough drifting in the back it is a pleasure to fish out off the beach and when the inlet gets snotty from wind and tide or just the number of boats.

I have plenty of open days for the rest of the season so if you get a good report and see a weather opening give me a call and we probably can make the trip. I am still stocked with plenty of bait, eels, spot, clams and bunker and have been stocking up all the best striper stuff available so my walls are filled with everything you need so you don't have to look anywhere else. Today I'll be at a Distributor show so I will be finding even more new toys to help you catch the big one.

A quick note on Guatemala, I just got an email from my partner Capt. Dennis and fishing has moved into where it should , inside 20 miles and one of his outboard boats got these results,

If you are interested in a great fishing vacation Getaway at a great price we are ready to go give me a call direct or go dream a while at www.FishGuatemala.com

November 23, 2010, How do you qualify the personal best day of striper fishing ever? ... Well yesterday may have been mine... It started out with calm waters in the pre dawn dark and the crew were good customers and Great Friends, Dave Morris and Jimmy Hare and to make maters even better situated for the good luck of the Great Mother Striper, Jimmy brought his son, Jimmy Jr. We had just enough light to see when we hit the inlet. Not first, but nearly so we had a clean drift on the incoming tide down the Green can side. I thought I was a little to the south of the best spot, but that didn't matter when Jimmy Jr's rod doubled over and he started to fight his first. I had to start the motor to get around the anchor of a blow boater who are always too cheap to get a slip at the marina and we were still fighting when I had to avoid the bridge pilings. Dad did a great job on the net and after clearing the bridge we had the start to an amazing day.

Jimmy Jr. had a 22# striper for his first ever.

If that wasn't enough the next drift he did a repeat with one just a little bit smaller.

As a mater of face after dad missed a fish Jr. did it one more time on the rip by the bridge. We only missed catching a fish on one drift when I decided that a run to the Condo sounded good. There was no one there but there was one boat on the way. By the time we got there the other boat was already hooked up and even though I felt I missed the lump on my first pass the fish didn't miss the baits and from there it was wide open for the rest of the incoming tide. Dave, Jimmy and Jimmy were putting it to the fish so I hooked up the little Shimano Tescata Jigging rod and got a couple 15# class fish on this ultra lite, ultra power rod. I still am not quite sure how it works but the rod bends in a horrific U and puts a steady pressure on the fish and they seem to come to the net as quick as with a much stiffer rod.

We weren't the only ones on the bite, close to a dozen boats were on the little lump at the turn of the tide and I'm sure every rod doubled over at least once and for some drifting spot it was much more often.

The tide had just turned when we boat the last fish of our four man, plus 3 bonus limit of 11 fish the smallest still over 32" and four over 20#

It was only about 8:30 so I took everyone for a ride in front of Brigantine looking for bunker to fill the cast net, but it was a bit sloppy and none were to be found. When we got back we dropped the lines one more time and Dave M. and Big Jimmy hooked up one more time. These were release fish and Jimmy's showed 19# on the digital scale. That was enough for them and we headed for the barn to prepare the feast and head back to the city.

I have had plenty of days with more fish, I've had bigger fish to the boat, and I've had them blitzing on top eating anything that moved, but for numbers of fish and the average size and being with good friends this was probably an all time best.

Unfortunately I can't say the same for today. I hit the inlet and we found fish. Two in the early morning to be exact and there weren't many nets going overboard. I made the big loop thru the back and it was nearly noon when we found #3 back by the windmills. All 3 were over 15# and looked like they were out of the same mold, but I just don't understand why this inlet can't produce two days in a row.

The days previous were similar stories. the 18th was a blow out and the 19th I made my first good trip on the lumps of Brigantine.

Louis Carleo with Tito joined me for a limit of big bass and some chopper blues

Saturday was a windy day and a tough ride in the back that brought the Vern Becker crew 3 keepers including the lunker of the day by his wife.

Today was another bummer as my motor may have met its last trip, but I have backups and I will be definitely be back on the water once I get thru a Thanksgiving Dinner. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and the bite will be Hot until christmas.

November 16, 2010, Finally the Absecon Inlet lit up this morning like somebody turned on the fish switch! Carole and Tom Smarsh were lucky this morning even if they weren't so much at their stay at the Tropicana last night. The first drift as the casinos still shed most of the light on the inlet brought the first hit and fish for Tom

. It then took a couple drifts to get things situated, but I saw a few fish start to be caught on the Red Can Drift

and we settled into the middle of a wide open bite from about 7 to 8 o'clock. There were about a dozen boats involved at the peak and just about everyone boated at least one fish each drift. Carole, Tom and myself culled a limit of six fish out of eight legal keepers and we had almost as many shorts.

Despite the mayhem everyone kept their composure and made good drifts thru the rips and returned well outside so that there was very little interference, even as the number of boats swelled as the morning went on.

The best bite occurred at the peak of the ebbing tide and when the tide slowed so did the interest of the stripers. On my boat Spot were the food of choice though I saw eels accounting for a some good catches, probably because the fish I cleaned were full of sand eels and to a striper an eel is an eel. I only got one bass on the GULP, but I was too busy netting and unhooking fish to catch much of my own. The Jig bite should really turn on if they push the sand eels inside.

Tomorrow looks like a blow out, but the wind will be from the west so if you are hard core there will probably be fish to be caught. Thursday with light west wind should really turn on and if the weatherman is correct with his weekend forecast this should be the big one especially if you want to get out front and find schooling fish. If you are ready to get in on the action I currently have an open day Thursday and a questionable Friday so I may be able to squeeze you in.

The last week were some ups and downs, but I have stories with the pictures so go take a look (Pictures)

November 10, 2010, The wind just can't forget to blow, but I have been able to find a few. In the last report I stated the\at tomorrow (11/7/10) might be great, that was blown out, but it was GOOD, Rich Coffin brought a couple buddies from El Salvador who never tangled with stripers before. Rich braved the wind and put the first fish in the boat . Miguel caught his first striper ever. Chino had some problems hooking up but finally got a short for practice and one for the box. Miguel got the big one of the day with a 19 pound beauty. All the fish were caught on spot right around the top of the tide way in the back.

Monday Dave Morris had to give his day to Jimmy Hare and crew and the Gale force wind really made it tough. Sam put a short on the deck, but Larry Cappel lost a keeper at the side of the boat a little to excited after a long wait for the bite. Yesterday the wind gave us a slight break as the tide peaked at high and we did finally start picking up some nice Bass. Carole missed last years trip so she made sure to catch the first one this year, a 34" fish that is bound to test her cooking skills. Her husband Gene managed the big fish of the day at 17 pounds at the regular haunt of Meadow Cut which tends to make me think that the waterway may be holding more fish. Their partner Brian never got one for the box but did boat a fat 26" short for a release. Gene , Carol and Brian made a great trip on another windy day. Carole put the first two fish in the boat and was holding them up for the picture no mater what.

Today the wind swung around a little more to the north and it looks like I may be able to fish the incoming at the inlet which I know that is due to turn on, but it will be blowing so it's bundle up and make sure the trolling motor is fully charged. It should be another SPOT day for sure. My local netter is going to try and get out to his nets today so I should have some super fresh fatties for tomorrow and there is supposed to be a little bit of a wind change so get ready for the beach to turn on.

November 6, 2010, Half time weekend report, it's been a busy week, but the BASS ARE BACK ! (Hint tomorrow may be GREAT !), Maybe it's not a full scale blitz yet, but today was a great one with Chris Keiker, Dave and son Todd, we hunted up the bass and filled the cooler.

It was a tough start since we started early and I hoped the inlet would light up, but it was another blow out on the incoming. It was windy , but with the trolling motor I could do some looking. Finally as the tide began to switch way in the back of the Broad Creek area we connected and Chris scored first with a nice one. Then it was just a mater of finding the right bank and getting the bait in the holes and we kept them coming until the final total of seven keepers up to the big one by Todd which just missed 19 pounds on the scale. They were all caught on my new spot supply which are back to normal price at $3.00 each, but are really good sized baits. The clams are working in the back as well and Mike Mangan came back into the same area and fished the bottom of the tide and landed these two,

Mike had the big one that went almost 24 pounds and Vincent had the 11 pounder to make a pair.

I just got in some real nice bunker landed by a local gill netter and he said that there were blues with the bunker and he believes that if the weatherman is correct all hell will break loose with the forecast west wind. I am dropping the price of the bunker to $2.00 each or $20 a dozen and if you are headed to the beach or want to anchor up they should be the ticket to your next cow.

Yesterday was a good start that put me into the area of today's fish when Mike Barnet and crew put up with a windy day to put a pair of fat keepers in the boat and several shorts released to keep the rods bent. All in all these are just shadows of what is to come!

November 1, 2010, Surprised to see two reports in two days, well this will be a short one, but a good one... Yesterday I was getting reports that there had been a weekend bite up the Mullica River and even though that is a little out of my regular stomping grounds I have been getting a little itchy for the fishies and I knew the Dave Morris Crew wouldn't mind the cold if it got them some fish. that it did! Jimmy Hare was hot hand on this day that we braved a cold NW wind to beat across Great bay to the Mullica River.

He managed to hand two fatties that weighed in at almost exactly 25 and 20 pounds and both ate spot . Larry got a workout on one short in that area. At the bottom of the tide we crossed the bay once again and started poking around the Absecon inlet area, nothing directly in the inlet but Larry added a nice keeper from inside the Brigantine bridge. We also found some shorts and a final keeper farther in the back.

The Usual Suspects Larry, Capt. Dave, Dave and Jimmy, lined up for a mug shot with a good days catch. Also released 4 that didn't quite measure up. If it hadn't been such a long day I would have liked to see what the top of the tide and tonights outgoing produce, because I think we're right at the beginning of the best of the season. Tomorrow I'm on for an afternoon top of the tide trip and I'm expecting that to break wide open.

Wednesday I am headed into AC by land to check out one of my biggest and best tackle distributor shows so I'll be gathering up all the goodies that you will need or want for the rest of this year and the season to come in the spring. I'll be especially on the lookout for new striper gear and remember I'll be stocking up thru the season so you don't have to worry that I'll be out of stock on your favorite lures or rigs as the season wears on. I am expecting a load of spot later this week. I've been promised that they will be bigger, but they will also be back to regular price.

October 31, 2010, It's been a slow week in the Absecon area and I'm not sad to see October at an end... Because the weather seems to finally be making a change and yesterday did show some signs of better things to come. For me I put in three loo__ong days this week fighting wind and no fish at every spot I ever caught one and lots of promising new ones. Yesterday wasn't much better, but...

Denis came out with Larry Cappel and finally broke it with this cutie, I mean the fish. A little short of a keeper, but a sign of better things to come.

Stripers aren't the only thing out there that grows big. This Sheepshead Jim DeAngel pulled out of the AC Inlet weighed in at 15.15 pounds and was a great fight as well as a great future dinner.

It only takes one bite to turn a slow day into a great one. This 32.4 pounder by Mike Fontas shows that Eels are still a favorite food of the big mamas. The Brigantine Bridge was her home. I kept the store open a little late to weigh in another one bite fish.

Scott Newhall was the Captain on a snotty day in the Delaware Bay, but he managed the good bite for ex-student Rob Jiacopello. With no scale or ruler on board they were hoping this fish went the big five-0, but it pulled the scale about two pounds short. Still it was one beautiful fishand proof that we're in the season and if you want to get the big ones you have to be out there and put up with some punishment.

Scott's Delaware Bay fish was caught on Fresh Bunker as are most of the upper bay fish and that has been very scarce with this miserable south wind that has been blowing and the disappeared bait is probably the reason for the disappeared bass. Just before Scott showed up the Bunker Man did bring me three totes just off the boat so right now I do have plenty of extremely fresh bunker which still won't last too long, so if you want to get some to catch the striped lunkers I suggest you come NOW. It looks like Tuesday will be the next shipment if the boats can get out. The good part is that the weather forecast for the next few days looks like just what we are looking for to turn on the stripers. I've heard nothing but great reports to the north and finally it looks like the wind will be coming from that direction to send them on the way.

October 25, 2010, Wind From the South is not a good sign, and I just can't remember how the old fisherman's saying goes. and for me yesterday it was a bad omen. Chris Kieker came down and a beautiful warm day completely let me down. It was the old "You should have been here yesterday" story in the worst way, because the day before, Sunday, Brian Lay and his dad had a great pick all day long and we put a three person limit in the box.

We were all over the map and it was one fish here one fish there all day long. I thought it was a little strange that we only had two shorts and one borderline 28" fish that came after the limit was boxed. The day before we were almost swarmed with fish of all sizes with Joe Wooton and his birthday Boy "Striper" Johnny. Saturday was Johnny's 6th birthday and he wanted to catch a striper. HE DID! We were on the first drift in a narrow cut in Absecon when the first big one pinned him to the rail. He got the bite with the rod in his hand and won the fight all by himself. The next drift it happened again and he doubled up with his dad, but Johnny had his second keeper. Dad had a short. After two stripers and a big party the night before wore him out and he spent the next couple hours napping in the passengers seat. He did get up in time to bring in the last fish of the day.

At least everyone didn't have a dead day yesterday. Ceary Shreaves was fishing with his son, Scott, yesterday and it was a slow day without even a bite over all the spots they could think of and between them they have more experience and more spots than just about any other two anglers in South Jersey. Finally Ceary got the one big bite and it paid off big time with this 44 pound beauty. If you can only get one that is the one to get.

Bait wise I got in a load of Spot from down south yesterday, smaller than the local ones, but I got them at a great price that I will pass along. These fish are going out at $2.00 each or $20 a dozen. There will be absolutely no hand picking or netting yourself. Everyone will get the same stuff. There will be no price break beyond the $20 a dozen. If you are really into big game I do have some giants that I have been feeding since spring and they will be $4.00 each. I should have another load from a different supplier coming in shortly and we'll see what they look like. T do still have some great big finger mullet that are bigger than some of the spot and they will be going out at $20 a dozen as well.

I have been finally getting a steady supply of fresh bunker and should be getting new stuff every couple days. It's a boat yard day for me today and a family day tomorrow. After that I'll be on the water every day for the next three weeks. If you want to get on board get set up now. I will be keeping a list of last minute anglers in case I do get a cancellation. I just hope I don't repeat the Skunk performance of yesterday.

October 20,2010, If it's not getting better it is at least staying pretty damn GOOD. Yesterday was a boat moving day, but Chris Gaines came in and proved that the combination of eels and night time are deadly as he was out the night before and found a pair of beauties in the back along the ICW. They pushed the scale to 28.5# and 27.5#. Not quite the 30# mark but with a pair to be proud of none the less, and they weren't the only fish that were brought to his boat. Lots of other late reports as well so maybe we are back to night time being the right time.

Tog are day time fish and Capt. Tony put together a motley crew and brought home another quick limit yesterday, but all were in the 5# range so they still made plenty of good eating.

Dave Morris, Jimmy Hare, and Larry Cappell joined me today for charter #2 of the season and we had a really nice pick of decent fish all around the area. Dave broke the ice before dawn at the bridge with what turned out to be the biggest fish of the day

at 13.5#. Then it was make the rounds of spots since I couldn't find a real concentration, but by covering the map we put together a great catch. Meadow Cut,

I even managed to get one on my new Shimano Tescata Rod, a strange but effective light action flexible power rod.

When it was all over we put together 6 keepers and 8 more fighters that just didn't measure up to the 28" mark.

Family business will keep me occupied tomorrow, but I really can't wait to get out on Friday and every day beyond. It looks like we are looking at a great weekend and my bait guys are promising that I'll be stocked up. Fresh Bunker will be in sometime tomorrow and I've already tried to get another delivery for Saturday. The clam man will literally be filling my walk in so you definitely don't have to order your bushels ahead. My SPOT supply is great, but I still talked to the main South Jersey Spot Head to bring me another load so I can be sure the tanks are full and keep my prices down as much as possible. If you are looking for bulk spot no one can beat my prices, and the same goes for eels. Things are pretty busy for deliveries, but my prices make it worth the drive. Also two of today's keepers were caught on live mullet and I still have a good supply of live ones if that is your bait of choice.

I'm trying hard not to be repetitive, but if you want a day with me on the bass give me a call because days are filling up. But please don't let that stop you from asking. and if you are lucky enough to be able to go at a moments notice get on my cancellation list so can give you a call.

October 19, 2010, Last Friday and Saturday were pretty much blow outs... But Sunday was definitely the break loose day! The first report I got from Sean Fox who had an early bite at the Brigantine Bridge and continued to chase bass around the back of the inlet and finished with a hot bite with several boats on the outgoing tide back at the bridge. Here is a picture of the one he brought in for dinner.

The Fishical Therapy was in full force with Bob, Vicky, and son Mike and Mike kept them in the game with this beauty.

Lots of other reports cams in, but we've got to see them to get your pictures up. The Tog also started a major showing after the wind and the Terrible Trio of Capt. Tony, Tog Man Ray, and misplaced Perch fisherman Kurt made quick work of their one fish limit all right around the 5 pound mark. Obviously I was very excited for my first official trip.

That trip was yesterday Monday and we definitely did find the fish. I was hosting Steve Groshardt who has come several times in the past with a big crew of his employees from the Outback Steakhouse he manages. This time he was just with his buddy Mike Vegis. I elected to take them to the Out Back of South Jersey, the winding thorofares behind Little Beach Island. The tide was just starting to ebb and it was a slow drift. I think the bass were hunting shallow in the dark because when light was just breaking we didn't get hit until we drifted over a shallow stretch when Mike got hammered and fought a fish about 34" to the boat that definitely didn't need a tape to go in the box.

A trip out Wreck Inlet was uneventful, but with the calm water I had to give it a try. I also wanted to make sure I had the current channel marked off and I would advise anyone thinking of using that inlet to be extremely careful and make sure you have plenty of tide. The bar seems to be almost completely around and I was there about 1/2 tide and the best I could find was 5' and that was a channel less than 100 feet wide. Back into the back we released a couple shorts from the deeper holes.

Following a hunch I moved inland and fished around the drains of Little Bay, good choice since we banged another nice keeper on the first drift and continued to catch some feisty shorts to keep up the action. Before we had to bail out with the low tide two more keepers found our spot including Steve's Lunker which just missed the 17# mark. Total for the day was a limit for Steve and Mike and 7 released shorts. All the big fish ate the spot as did most of the little guys. I did catch a couple of them on Live Mullet, but I could never interest the bigger fish on the smaller bait.

So it is definitely on and if you want to catch a striped bass you don't have to be quite as obsessive as the guy in this link (I want to catch a BIG Striped Bass) Just give me a call and I'm sure I can still find you an open date. As a mater of fact this weekend is still open and the weather man is giving us a great forecast. For trip details go to the safari pages and take a look.

Breaking Report, I just got a call from Bill Lake, He took 4 spot in the Back Absecon Area and caught 3 on spot and 2 on rubber one made the dinner box. Only 1 spot left, I'll bet that doesn't last long. BTW I haven't seen a bluefish in a LONG time so it looks like a season when you shouldn't be afraid to drop the SPOT.

October 14, 2010, No doubt about it the big Mamas are here and rain or shine, windy or calm it's time to go fishing! It started with Bill Ellis' fish on Tuesday, yesterday afternoon Carl Wilson brought in a pair of nice 20# class fish with several more releases and this morning Bob Dunn and Frank Mahoney Limited out with a 25.5 and a 22 pounder leading the pack. Like most serious striper fishermen this entire group is kind of closed mouthed, but all the fish came from somewhere out of the Great Bay, Mullica River, Little Egg Inlet area and surely aren't the only ones.

I've had reports of fish caught on eels, SPOT, clams and bunker and plenty of Tog on the Green Crabs. Right now I'm set with everything except the bunker and I'm waiting on calls for confirmation from at least two suppliers. If you need bait, with the exception of fresh bunker just stop by (please do check on the bunker. I'll post if it comes in) , no need to reserve in fact I don't It is all first come first serve because I believe that you being here at the store makes you the most important angler on earth and I can't imagine you asking for bait and seeing it sit here and I tell you that you can't have it.

October 13, 2010, No doubt about it, the 2010 Fall Striped Bass Season has started! The last weekend weather couldn't have been any better and it did keep my busy around here. Obviously there were boats everywhere and with the warm water and perfect conditions I think most of the bass were hunkered down waiting for the cover of darkness to go on the feed. HOWEVER there were enough reports of fish caught that it was definitely worth being out there. I had to meet Bill Lake at the boat on Sunday to get him to hold this 30" spot eating striper for the camera

It wasn't the only keeper, but everyone seems to be in a hurry to get home and doesn't take time to stop by and show off their catches. Shorts still seem to be dominating, but there really isn't one spot or method that is the sure bet. The beach with clams has continued to produce and there have been some clam caught fish inside. Most of the live bait fish have been coming from the holes in the back,

Let me help you out with one more detail. When I say holes, unless it is an extremely small hole the best fishing isn't in the deep middle, but on the edges and drop offs surrounding the hole. If the spot is adjacent to a sharp undercut sod bank in 99% of the cases you will find the fish almost touching the sod. Ten feet off may let you drift by without a bite and believing that the stripers don't exist. That is why I fish with the trolling motor and full electronics all the time.

Especially on these super nice early fall days when you have to be on the water, but can't find a great day time bass bite , you should remember that the Tog are around in force and that even though you are allowed only one 14" fish, that fish will make a nice meal and give you some real fun in the capture. Mike Mangan is a tog specialist and fishes the local structures for fish like this one.

This one was just shy of six pounds and that is one hell of a fight.

I did my part to find the fish Monday morning and made a Columbus Day exploration and pounded the banks again with the GULP and found another load of willing shorts. Still they are a load of fun so consider sneaking around with an accurate casting rod and find those ambush bass that are looking for the wayward baits all over the banks.

The best for last. Yesterday, Bill Ellis ran in just before closing time to put this big girl on the scale. A die hard clam chunker who spent a beautiful afternoon at Little Egg inlet and managed his limit of great fish. If you can't read the scale the big one weighed 28.5#. He'll be back today to try and break the 30# mark.

If that doesn't make you want to get out and throw the anchor and break out the slimy snot balls, I don't know what will.

Unfortunately the clam supply here in the store has dried up temporarily since the bite and anglers picked up fast. The good news is that I will be getting a double load in tomorrow to make sure I don't run out. Obviously with the big fish moving in fresh bunker will be in great demand and I should be getting the freshest of fresh Thursday or Friday and If they make a move to the beach or into the back, I'll make a run out myself to bail them with the big cast net. Any time you are on a charter with me and we get a chance to load up with the bunker I will always break out the net so we have them live or oozing fresh blood and slime to be sure the big girls get the scent.

Speaking of charters I do still have a very limited number of October days available so if you want to get an early trip together I suggest you call now. I will also be keeping a cancellation list so if you are able to go at a moments notice and want a chance to fish give me a call and if I don't have your favorite day available I might be able to get you in anyway.

October 8, 2010, GULP to the Rescue, or what to do when you can't find the bait. I really started out on a baiting expedition, but unless a major changes comes along we may be at the end of catching your own. I followed the banks thru Absecon Bay, Cross Tides, Mankiller and into the Trump Marina area and found nothing. Of course I had a fishing rod with me and I figured to make one blind throw where I have always had results to get some bait for myself. I ended up with a 20" striper in the net. I guess that was a sign of what was to come.

I made the loop thru the cove and on back thru the back channels thru Meadow Cut where I sat Bill Lake who said he had a good fish on that came unstuck. I went a little farther back and still couldn't find the elusive bait, but some diving terns gave me a clue and I pulled out the old standby, Chartreuse 6" Gulp . That soon did the trick and I had my first hook and line bass of the season along side of the boat.

My buddies Truffle and Angel had made the trip with me and the big boy really gets excited when he sees the fish.

This went on until I totaled 14 fish on the same GULP. The final fish looked a little bigger and crossed the 27" line but didn't make 28" so that one went back as well. No fish dinner for Truffle tonight, but things look great for the upcoming season and I am like a kid waiting to get my clients on the fish. I'm hoping that this spot may be an ace in the hole so I will be a little cryptic as to the location, but I'm sure there are plenty of fish around and I know we'll find them.

October 7, 2010, Finally a real fish report! Yesterday morning the wind was out of the west and not too strong so Bill Lake decide to make a serious voyage and at the top of the tide at one of the regular ICW holes a 30" bass inhaled his spot and became the first striper dinner of the season out of this marina. I know it was dinner because before we could get out the camera it was reduced to filets and packed in the ice chest. He fought another 27" fish for fun and release and Plastic Fantastic Capt. John Fish fooled several bass including a keeper in the same general areas. This morning a customer brought in a cell phone picture of a 28# 41" fish he caught of the Brigantine beach yesterday and Finally Robert Switzer brought in a weigh in for the Atlantic County Surf Derby at 13.5 pounds. That one did pose

With the wind out of the west today and decreasing thru the weekend I believe that we can declare this the first major Striper Weekend of the fall season. The morning temperatures make it feel like it and I've got all the bases covered when it comes to bait. Eely Dan the original eel man is due with the first BIG load of the season this afternoon so if you want to stock up by the hundred NOW is the time. Prices will be the same as last year $1.50 each, $15 a dozen or $80 a hundred. The spot tanks are full of fat local SPOT. I never managed the big hit so prices will remain the same as last year. $3.00 each, $30 a dozen and $200 per hundred. I have been feeding these guys well so they are fat and sassy baits ready to show off their stuff. The clam boats were blown out yesterday and it looked like I might be short on the surf clams, but I got the word that they are fishing today and I'll have a full load. That seems to be the bait of choice for the surf fishermen, but I've got live and fresh frozen mullet if you think that that is the answer.

So if you're ready to go stop on by for the right stuff it's here or, if you want to do it the easy way and jump on board with me give me a call. I am running my first trip on Sunday and will be posting a report soon after. If you want to be sure to book a day I suggest you do so soon because the days are filling up fast. Depending on Sundays results next week may be a little on the early side, but you won't know what you miss if you don't go. I do have open dates the week of the 17th and there are good morning tides that week so I expect some great fishing.

October 5, 2010, After a HOT September, a Nor'Easter ushers in the real fall, Striper fishing should not be far behind. The water temperature last Saturday was still 73 degrees and the water was rough from the previous south east blow. Finally we have a change and something is definitely going to happen soon. The weather is still very unsettled and it will take a couple more days for things to really clean up, but even though the rain is still falling, it is blowing out of the west right now so I will have to take a look in the bay or on the beach to see if any bait is still available. The changing weather and rough ocean may have pushed the mullet offshore, but the Spot are still in the bay and surrounding areas. Ean brought a livewell full from Nacote Creek late yesterday and they were caught just about everywhere in the back bay. I'm still hoping some west wind will flatten out the ocean while they are heading south and I get a shot at putting the big net on them. But for all those anglers who haven't had a chance to store away a supply I have contacted my southern fishermen and I will have plenty to sell throughout the season. The same goes for Eels, Surf Clams and Fresh Bunker All the suppliers are ready, all we need are the bass.

I'm hoping that a few will be hungry this weekend since I have an early charter on Sunday. I'll be hitting all the holes and sod banks I can think of to put some fish in the boat. I'm thinking live spot and mullet for the striped ones. I would be more comfortable a week later, but this is a one chance trip and I'm always ready to give it a shot. It will be a good exploratory trip and if it turns out that the fish are here and hungry I'll be ready to take advantage of the situation. Last year things seemed to break loose right about October 15th and this fish caught by Joe Fitchetola was a big turn on.

That fish was caught on live bunker that came in the inlet and you can best believe that I'll be on the lookout for them and my big bunker net will always be on board as well as a supply of bunker snaggers.

If you are interested in getting out with me I suggest that you call as soon as you possibly can because the days are filling up fast. Check out the details on the Striper Safari Pages and give me a call at 609-484-0409. I will be glad to answer e-mail questions, but I still can get things done better over the phone.

I closed out the summer pictures page with some E-mail pictures I received thru the season so you might want to take a look at some nice fish. (Summer Pictures) I do have the fall photos page ready to go but I need some fish to take pictures of so If you get that great catch you've been trying for stop by the store and we'll get it on line for the world to see.

September 28, 2010, Not exactly current fishing, but definitely interesting. I just received an email from Tim Glomb who stopped by last summer from the "World Fishing Network" . I reported the filming back on August 1st and finally there are a couple segments available on line. The My Town segment about Absecon, NJ is available here: Absecon, NJ, and a segment of Fish Facts: Southern New Jersey Crabs shows on this link : Southern New Jersey Crabs. There should be other segments showing up shortly and I am looking forward to working with Tim to do a Fall Backbay Striper complete show sometime in November
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September 27, 2010, I put a note in my last report that I have officially ended the annual Do It All Night Striper Tournament. It really was a tough decision, and I want to thank the body of regular entrants that kept it alive and a great tournament for so many years. There is no one reason for it to end, lots of little things just sort of wore me out and my energy level needed to put it all together just sort of moved to other directions. One of my biggest problems is that it seemed to take more and more effort to get fewer and fewer prize sponsors. One of the big things I wanted to do is get a lot of prizes in the hands of a lot of entrants. Cash for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd is great but for a few years I had probably twenty winners take away piles of prizes from sponsors from the boating and fishing industry. And on that note I do want to thank those that have helped in the past, and believe me I am still wracking my brain for tournament ideas for the future and especially if I come up with some major sponsor and assistance I think I can pull off something great.

I would like to do just a quick history of South Jersey Striped Bass fishing during the seven years that I have been running the tournament. In the beginning early November striper fishing was about 90% night fishing drifting eels. Hence the importance of the "Do It All Night" About the time I started the tournament Surf Clams busted on the scene and became almost the dominant bait. Even though the clams are amazing night time striper catchers, they will also entice a better day time bite than eels and the day time catch rate went up. The next big move was to live finned fish for bait, especially SPOT. Mr Striper just can't seem to resist a spot and they are more visible during the day light hours. Even though stripers will always be nocturnal if you fish the inlet or back bay rips with a live spot at the top of the tide from mid-October on you will probably be rewarded with a multiple fish day. As a result I have found that fewer and fewer anglers find the need to "Fish all Night" to bring home their bass.

As I mentioned, I'm not going to use the extra time for resting, but to continue to improve all aspects of the business. First order of business is to keep the store stocked to the gills with all the bait and tackle you need. Keeping Striper Goodies in stock as fast as they go out is a full time job which takes an amazing amount of time, especially this time of year when the manufactures and the distributors are running their shows and specials for the upcoming year and I want to take advantage of the new items and special deals they are offering so that I can offer you the right stuff at the best prices available. It is great to have a knowledgeable staff that love to fish to help fill out the selection. Ray and Kurt have different fishing styles, but are both experts and together we can make sure your equipment fits the type of fishing you do as well as take care of your wallet as well as possible.

The Tournament also always took up at least three or four of the seasons best fishing days away from my "Absecon Bay Fishing Safaris", which in a way frustrated me since what I like to do best is to be on the water. My boat is running great and I am putting some new tackle on board from some of my best suppliers so we get the very best advantage in landing the big ones. I have a trip scheduled for October 10th, which will be mostly an exploratory trip since it is just a little on the early side, but I expect my magic date of October 15th to hold true and I will be booking every day from then on thru mid-December. The interest has been high already this season and the days are filling up so if you are thinking of booking a trip I suggest you don't wait.

Finally I am working with Capt. Dennis Wheeler to put the finishing touches on the fishing trips on "La Tijereta" our flagship at Parlama Sportfishing at www.FishGuatemala.com. This is really coming together as a great experience so keep looking back at the web site to see the newest developments.

September 24, 2010, Fall has officially arrived and I actually caught my first striped bass yesterday afternoon... But it wasn't what I had actually planned on I was back on Brigantine looking for elusive bait fish and getting a little desperate I made a blind throw alongside a small jetty by the Brigantine Hotel and wound up with a nice 22" bass in the net.

A week before I found a good run of mullet and filled my live bait tanks and put away some nice sized dozens for later in the season. However since the big surf from the hurricane I haven't had any luck and yesterday there weren't any showing themselves at all. All I brought home were two spot I found hanging out in a deep gully, while back at the dock they continue to eat bloodworms as fast as you want to feed them.

The Spot continue to be almost everyone's target and during the recent sale I ran out of bait cages twice, but I did get another load in so if you want to give the spot hoarding a try I think you still have time to get into the game. Especially with the weather like the 90 degree day we are expecting later today. When we do get a solid cold front I expect the bait runs to really take off. With the September full moon past us any good northerly should get the Mullet, Spot, Peanut Bunker and the following predators in a migrating move. Right now with the water temperature still remaining in the 70's I think that everything is sitting fat and lazy.

If you are reading this remember that we are now into the Fall season and winter will not be too far behind. Here at Absecon Bay Sportsman Center we do specialize in boat storage and winterizing and if you take time to look at our prices we do it a lot more inexpensively than almost any other marina (Prices 2010) But more than our prices take a look at how long I've been here taking pride in the winterizing and getting the job done right.

One last note for today, for the last six years or so I have been running a Striper Fishermen Do It All Night Striped Bass Tournament every November. Over the years there has been a lot of fun and a lot of anglers won some money and great prizes. Every year there always seems to be a big fight with the weatherman and it has been occasionally rough even to the point of being dangerous. I have also noticed that in today's economy it has been harder and harder to get companies to support us with prizes. So rather than run an inferior tournament I have decided to discontinue the run and just hope everyone takes the weekend to go out and have a great day or night striper fishing and as always stop by here to pick up all your bait and tackle.

September 9th, 2010, Spot, Spot, Spot, Spot that's the word for the rest of the month. If your not catching them and filling a pen for striper season you'll be buying them from me in October, November and December. Every day brings reports of thicker schools and in more places. Bill Lake was looking for some back bay Kingfish yesterday and never did find any, but every stop was greeted by the swarming baitfish.

I picked up my Brigantine 4-Wheeler pass and was on the beach yesterday, but the south wind had the ocean so mixed up nothing showed. I have had reports that they are there thick if you find them, I expect to be there tomorrow at first light when this west wind should have it flattened out and the spot should show where I can put the cast net on them. But if you have time to kill and break out the ultra-lite freshwater rods you can have a ball catching them on hook and line. All you need is a little hook, a sinker and a piece of bloodworm, or even fishbites artificial worms and a dock to sit on. If you have a couple kids of your own they will have a great time filling your bait pen for you. If you don't have your own kids or grand kids you might actually consider borrowing a couple because you will have fish and all the fun you can handle.

I am not really one to be superstitious, but I am a little hesitant to announce some great Guatemala News too loudly. I will say that La "Tijereta" is making its maiden charter voyage today under the expert command of Captain Gerald Jordan and first mate Sergio Alfaro. Capt. Dennis is joining the crew on the promotion end and hopefully will get lots of pictures which will be up as soon as they show here. So keep checking back to see how the trip works out.

September 3rd, 2010, Trying to reason with Hurricane Season, Or should I say the Hurricane that wasn't. So far at 7 am I am looking at a cloudy sky extra warm temperature and sky high humidity. The wind at the present, or should I say Breeze is just about enough to luft the flags visible along the creek. The Weather Underground web site is giving us a maximum wind of 23 mph at 2 pm. When Earl is due to be offshore of South Jersey, after that it will die off and swing to the west. Tomorrow looks to be beautiful with wave killing west winds, but it might be best to stay in the bay, but Monday and Tuesday should be time to be ocean bound.

I hope everyone knows that if you want to hear me expound on the great fishing in Guatemala all you have to do is stop by the shop or call me on the phone, but along with some general early fall fishing observations and general banter I will be on the air with Tom P. , Rack and Fin Radio, tomorrow morning at 9 am. Turn on your FM radio to 97.3 or catch us on line at If this next link works you can hear the Guatemala Segment Here. (Tom P. & Capt. Dave on Guatemala)

September 1st, 2010, A new month and a new page of this years fishing. Especially you flounder fishermen, but then again everyone is a flounder fisherman when they are biting and we are looking for a great dinner. So it is all over but the shouting. We still have Labor Day weekend, but there is one small hurricane scheduled to arrive between now and then which may stir things up a bit. Right now it doesn't look serious except for a breezy day Friday and probably some heavy surf and big swells to make a mess of the near shore ocean waters. It does look like Saturday, Sunday and Monday will be great fishing days to try and put those last filets in the freezer.

As a break to all those last minute fluke fishermen that, I am running a super special on all flounder rigs in the store. I will take 50% off the price of any rig in the store that has flounder printed somewhere on the package. Even if you don't get to use them all this year you can be ready for the 2011 season which may be better since the Fish Gods have increased the quota. On the other hand we still have to wait until the High and Mighty Mystic Soothsayers who pull the numbers of flounder caught in 2010 out of their collective asses to see if they can claim that we over fished again this year.

From my personal experience, the weigh ins here at the store and general reports I get a feel that the number of keepers was way down this year, but the numbers of fat 16" to 17 7/8" was up substantially. Something that I believe is due to the fact that the male flounders just don't grow over 18" and we are building a society of mature male flounder that will probably die of old age unless they get to fill up the commercial nets that are allowed to keep 14" fish.

Just because the flounder season closes up next Monday, don't hang up the rods, It is a great pan fish season and I am running a Pan Fish Pandemonium tournament and giving prizes for the biggest White Perch, Kingfish and Croaker caught from September 7th to September 30th. The prizes are $50 and $25 gift certificates for each species and though I realize this isn't a giant prize you do have to consider that these aren't giant fish. I hope to have some pictures of these mini-lunkers here on the site which should be interesting. Here are all the details

If you haven't heard the SPOT have made a good showing across just about all of the area and even though they are small for a dinner plate they are the perfect striper size meal. Ean the resident Dock Rat has been catching between 50 and 100 right off the dock here every day and from reports there are much better areas. I plan on heading out to the beach right after the weekend and will be throwing out my shoulder again with the cast net. I plan on having plenty in stock so if you don't catch your own or run out before the Striper Season ends you'll find them here.

Remember we keep everything for collecting spot and keeping them alive here at the store from Bloodworms, FishBites, tiny hooks, sabiki rigs, Cast nets, Areators and Keep Alive Oxygen infusers, Livewells and even complete Oxygen Systems. The biggest sellers are the Blue Claw Live Bait Cages which are made from Riverdale Wire and are 100% otter proof and will hold up to some abuse at your dock and keep your valuable bait safe.

A last note I finally got the good news from Capt. Dennis Wheeler, My partner with the "Tijereta" our charter boat in Guatemala that everything is finally running at 100% and we are ready to fish. Check over to the other half of my web site at www.FishGuatemala.com for complete information and give me a call whenever you are ready to talk about a great fishing experience.

August 27th, 2010, Coming into the home stretch for all you flounder fishermen out there, and it looks like a nice weekend to do it. Unfortunately the back bay seems to have slowed down a little with the rough weather we had most of the last week. I did get out last Tuesday in the midst of the worst day and it was cold, windy and damp though not actually raining. I snuck under the lee of the Borgata in Clam Creek and Chris Kieker did manage one good flounder bite that he turned into a 4 pound flounder that fed him and crew.

Other than that it was mini sea bass, sand sharks, sea robins, a lone porgy and one short flounder. I really don't think it's over behind the bridges, but there isn't much time for it to build back again. On a better note, the offshore is starting to really turn on and with the good weather if you have enough boat underneath you and want to eat flounder filets you might consider heading east. I'm not much of an ocean bottom bouncer myself, but I've got good ears here and there doesn't seem to be any hot spot except you do want to get on the best structure you can find. Head on out to the reef areas for the best concentration of BIG fluke, but don't be surprised if you find a school of the same 16" to 17 1/2" fish that were eating in the back. Keep on moving until you can locate the keepers.

If you just want to have something pull on the line that you can put in the cooler and on the plate, the Croaker have finally made a good showing. These aggressive feeders are closer to the beach and there isn't much easier to catch. For the best concentrations you still have to find structure, but it is often much more subtle near the beach. Right now I've had a good report off Lucy the Elephant and there is usually a concentration near the AC Bell Buoy, and if you want to go north the Brigantine Shoal in front of the Hotel is a good starting point. Catching them can't get much simpler, just tie a top and bottom rig to your line with a couple 1/0 to 2/0 hooks, enough weight to hold bottom and just about any bait. Clams probably are #1 but there isn't much the croakers won't eat if they can get it in their mouth. Plain squid strips, 3" Gulp swimming mullet, and some swear by live minnows to catch the biggest croaker out of the school.

I just got a breaking news flash as I am writing this: Luke Robinson and Don Scull proved that trophy striper fishing is a year round sport here in the AC area with Don hooking up these 28# and 16# lunkers in front of a well known AC landmark on live eels last night 8/26/10. Luke couldn't beat Don's big fish but did have a 30" keeper and they did have additional shorts. Luke did make the early morning weigh in and got his face on the picture.

Back in the back it is definately panfish time and since this will probably be the #1 catch for the month of September I am declaring it PANFISH PANDEMONIUM time. Starting September 7th, the day after the close of flounder season I am running a Panfish Tournament. For the rest of September I will be looking for the biggest White Perch, Kingfish and Croaker Prizes will be a $50 gift certificate for the largest in each category and a $25 gift certificate for the second place fish. I guess I'll have to take some mini-pictures of these mini-fish, but catching them is fun and eating them is great. I also wrote a whole article on catching them which will show up in Septembers Jersey Sporting Life Magazine Look for this one. It's a Freebie but interesting read.

August 13, 2010, Bait Soup time is here! Get ready for the SPOT. Hopefully the super hot heat waves are over, right now we are in the midst of a dry nor'easter and possibly there could be a change in the seasons, but the fishing is here now. The flounder fishing has continued at a similar level as to the past couple months. There are plenty of fish still around, but there has been some mix up in the bite due to the extremes of water temperature that has been the result of the hot southwest winds and coldwater upwelling. What has turned on is the amount of baitfish and the amount of panfish that are available to those who don't need a giant fish to satisfy their urge to have something pull on the end of the line.

Of most interest to the Striped Bass fishermen out there is that there has been a good influx of SPOT into the back bays already. All the way back here in Absecon Creek there have been spot caught off my docks along with a constant stream of white perch. The perch are mixed sizes, but there are plenty that will cross a whole frying pan and make some great eating. The SPOT are a little small for the table, but just the right size to fit in a striped bass' mouth. I also have good reports out of Brigantine for SPOT since one of my best bait hunters brought over a tank full yesterday which means that they are spread out pretty well. I haven't heard much about SPOT on the beach front, but there are Kingfish in the suds and if you fish thru the dark on the beach a few Croakers are joining the mix. It would be good to see a big Croaker run for the month September since we are rapidly coming to the end of the flounder season.

Getting back to the bait, there are more mullet around of all sizes than I've seen in a long time. There are more and more reports of Bass busting these mullet on the sod banks in the back and reports of anglers getting bashed by them when they throw surface poppers into the melee. It is mostly an after dark thing, but when the conditions are right get ready for the fun to start whenever mullet are present. If you are tired of throwing back "short" flounder but want to stay on the water, consider filling a bait pen with SPOT. All you need is a size 10 hook and about an ounce of weight and a bloodworm or Fishbites artificial bait. You should find a willing supply of SPOT in any docking area around pilings holes ore banks. If you know that there are SPOT in the area and want to concentrate them even more a quart sized chum pot with clam chum will bring them around and keep you busy unhooking fish.

Even though you can make a bait pen on your own, you might find it easier to stop by and see the selection of cages I keep in stock from Blue Claw Mfg. They are made from Riverdale Wire and will last for years. I keep various sizes made with several sizes of mesh for keeping the SPOT, mullet peanut bunker or any other bait you might want. You can hook and line the SPOT and when they are scattered that may be the best method, but at times they school up, especially if they hit the beach and you can catch them with a quality cast net. For Mullet and Peanut Bunker or even Adult Bunker a cast net is usually the only option. I keep a complete assortment of FITEC cast nets in stock. I believe they give you the best bang for the buck and I personally use them so I can help you find the net you need and to throw it successfully.

August 1, 2010, Another month has started and only five weeks of flounder season remain for 2010. Incredibly the number of keepers in the back bay has stayed about the same level as the first couple months, but the number of fat eating sized "SHORTS" has continued to grow. This week I had a very interesting meeting and interviews with Tim Glomb of the World Fishing Network when we shot several short segments to run on the station in several slots. There will be "My Home Town" about Absecon and the Greater Atlantic City Area, "How To" segments on Flounder and Crabs. We even made a short trip thru the bay to get some shots of fishing under the shadows of the casinos with regular charter customer David Morris. We fished the deep water with most of the fleet for a short time and had some shorts, sea robins and a couple sand sharks which made some good footage for the family fishing day we are trying to attract. Then on the way home we made one last stop in Steelman's Thorofare almost out into Absecon Bay and Dave hooked into a beauty that weighed in at 6.1 pounds and will be made famous on the TV.

There have been more good catches and you can see them on the latest pictures page. And Speaking of Big fish there is a new Daily Tournament running on the internet. www.BigFishNJ.com is basically giving you a chance to enter a daily pool with all the other anglers. It all starts up later this month and you have to sign up to play. It will start out with a free tournament for Flounder and Bluefish. After the initial freebee there will be a fee to enter the species and day you wish to fish. It seems simple enough and very interesting so I did sign up as a weigh station. If you want to spice up your fishing day this may be a good thing and you may win some money. Jump over to the web site for complete details and if you do enter stop by the shop for a weigh in.

One last note on the "Tijereta" in Guatemala. Capt Dennis and the mechanic tore down the heat exchanger and it looks like they found the source of our overheating problem. There was corrosion and clogged tubes, but they are just waiting for a couple parts then Dennis hopes to have it back in the water by the 15th of this month and running like a rabbit. Everything is looking great for the start of the high fishing season. I'm sure I will be getting lots of interested anglers down on the Sailfish Grounds so if you are even thinking that this would be a good thing please contact me and we'll go over the details.

July 20, 2010, Another heat wave is upon us, but the fishing is great so get out on the water. It's a little cooler and you won't notice it when you are pulling in the fish. The weekend was some good fishing and there has definitely been an increase in the number of keepers and some really nice ones as well. The Absecon Saltwater Sportsman Club had their annual open tournament and even though there weren't on overload of boats in the tournament they did have some good catches including the winning catch of Scott Newhall and his dad who put together a 3 fish weigh in that just missed breaking the 20 pound mark. The lunker went 8,8 pounds and ate a live spot on some unnamed wreck in the ocean. It is definitely time to get out off the beach and the current heat wave should get the fishing cooking even more.

If you want to catch the big guys you should work the structure and find the individual doormats. Even off the beach you can find rafts of shorts that will only ad to the flounder frustration as noted on my previous report.

A note for all you fans of the unstoppable Tom P. I will be joining him on ESPN Radio

Next Saturday morning at 10 am. and we will be talking about family fishing and crabbing in the Atlantic City area for everyone that wants some outdoor fun that is readily available and wont break your piggy bank, and maybe even put some food on the table.

I spent a lot of today putting together an article for a new FREE publication for South Jersey. It is Jersey Sporting Life I had short piece in the premier edition last month and hope we will continue to get some kind of monthly article in print. It is a general sporting newspaper and has a little of everything. I hope you pick one up and enjoy my articles, but there are some very interesting graphics that everyone will appreciate.

I've also been working with my www.FishGuatemala.com partner Dennis Wheeler to research the final bugs we have found in our boat "Tijereta" , There is one last overheating problem that has shown up in the 90 degree tropical water of Guatemala's Pacific and with some intense internet searching we believe that it is something we will beat very soon and we will have a 100% sailfish boat ready to go. I hope to have more details up almost daily so check it out and give me a call to talk about a future trip.

July 15, 2010, I am having trouble understanding how the National Marine Fisheries Council can force these draconian rules on us when the biomass of flounders in the bays is better than I have ever seen it many times over. The only good part of the whole thing is that there are actually more keepers showing up as the summer progresses. However right now you can easily go out and catch fifty nice sized fluke, 15" to 17 7/8" and if you use big baits fished in the right place you may get two or three keepers. I got a three day report from a good local fisherman, Dale Fink, that kept record of the fish he caught over three different days fishing each day with a partner. All three days fishing ended before noon so we aren't talking about marathons by any means.

I've been here running Absecon Bay Sportsman Center for 25 years as of July 1st and even though I do remember way back when you could possibly put 100 flounder in the boat IF you kept them all that included just about anything over 10 inches. And if you did fish back then you will remember that most fishermen kept even those "Toaster" sized flounders, (you could cook them in a toaster), so there is not even a remote comparison to what is going on today.

I know Dale and that he is a very conscientious fisherman and I'm sure he did all he could to release those "short" fish alive, but every study on release survival has a death rate of well over the 2% that were legal taken home for dinner. How do we go about getting some sense to the current laws? We all have to get together and make someone understand how bad this is. I'm glad we have the SSFFF on our side working on the science and I know that the numbers above are just anecdotal collage as opposed to hard science. The Flounder are BACK and we have to get together and DEMAND some reasonable rules.

July 6, 2010, The Fourth of July weekend has passed and despite the heat the flounder fishing is taking center stage. I know it was quite a while between reports, but the last time it wasn't even my fault. I had some problems with the server and uploading, but it looks like that is all cleared out. Hopefully if everything keeps running smoothly I will get a little more consistent with the reports. Yesterday I even got the chance to load my wife and dogs in the boat and catch some flounder for dinner.

Judy kept them coming into the boat and Truffle was in charge of the inspections.

She got the first and the biggest with this 3.25# flattie.

One thing I noticed is that those "Shorts" sure can eat the bait so I've decided to give all my customers a break and lower the price of minnows to $5.00 a pint. Hopefully this will save everyone some money and sell help me sell more minnows. They are still the same fat minnows caught in the 1/2" mesh traps that I've had all spring, but just cheaper!

So come in to the store and stock up on plenty of minnows and everything else you need to get those Keepers hooked up and do be careful with the throw backs since they just might grow up enough to catch next year, but on the other hand they are probably males and have just about reached their maximum size and you will be forced to keep throwing them back into the future!

June 24, 2010, I almost can't believe it's been a whole month since I got out a report, and unfortunately this will be a short one. The fishing actually has been great. There have been stripers off the beach chasing bunker and though this great fishery has slowed down if you get up extra early or hit the sundown bite there are still fish to be caught. School sized fish seem to have finally hit the sod banks and bridges in the area. Unfortunately the water is a bit warm and it also is an early and late fishery, but picking up. I have finally come up with enough SPOT to keep most of the striper chasers in bait, but there has been a real shortage of SPOT in the Chesapeake Bay so at least for the present I don't have enough to sell with volume pricing.

As far as the flounder fishing is going, we are definitely seeing the results of the restrictive regulations, and that result is that the bays are just about paved with fish from 15" to 17 3/4" that just aren't big enough to be legal but are beautiful fat fish that would make great dinners. That being said almost everyone fishing is taking a couple keepers and an awful lot of flounder dinners are being eaten, but it is a frustrating effort to get those keepers. What I have found to be the best bait to get them on the hook is a GULP bait, just about any will do depending on your preference for shape and color and put a nice lively minnow on top.

The soft shell big shed is over and that is what took most of my time. Since then I've been getting enough shedders to keep the bait fishermen happy and some softshells so if you crave the soft crab dinner give me a call and they should be available.

I do have enough time to give you great attention if you want to get out on the water on these hot summer days and cool off. There is still a chance to hit a couple of stripers and we definately can get into the flounder action and hopefully get some big'uns to fillet for dinner. I do have new pictures up so give them a look. (Summer 2010 Pictures)

May 24, 2010, Who needs flounder season with a Bass and Drum Bite like we have now? But it starts in less than a week and everything looks great. Don't forget that the Customer Appreciation Sale is going on now and you can save big money on all your tackle needs for all the fantastic fishing going on. I can't believe how many anglers get hung up on a simple thing like a closed summer flounder season. NOW is probably the best time to hook into a true sea monster that I have ever heard of. The Black Drum are being caught in Great Bay, Great Egg Harbor Bay and off the beach and in the white water of all the inlets. It takes some patience but if you grab a bushel of clams and put a big gob on your hook and anchor up in one of these areas you have a good chance of hooking up. There are many different opinions of the fight of a drum, but when you are dealing with a fish over 50 pounds you will remember the fight for a long time. Check out the new pictures here.

The bass bite has been picking up almost every day. The bunker are scattered but here and moving off the beaches and occasionally pushing into the inlet . The stripers are definitely following them and the beach front has been almost on fire. Clams and bunker chunks are the baits of choice, but if you really want to score you want to have your baits in the water before the first crack of daylight and be there when the tide reaches the peak. They are also setting up ambushes in the structure of the Brigantine and other area bridges and can't wait to ambush a live bunker or other bait. There are probably some school sized bass around that have a tough time swallowing the full sized bunker and would just love to inhale a medium sized spot, but I'm still waiting for my first shipment from the Chesapeake which may arrive any day.

As to the flounder, I've had reports of nice fish almost everywhere which are supposed to go back in the water. I'm not really sure of how that is going especially with word of a few real doormats visually witnessed. The long range weather forecast looks good for the weekend so don't forget to stop by and sign up for the FREE Customer Appreciation Tournament Remember it is FREE chance to win gift certificates for Stripers, Bluefish, Black Drum and Weakfish, but a chance to win some real bucks with the flounder since that is a $10 per person entry fee with it split between between the winners and the SSFFF, the group that is trying to bring some sanity into the summer flounder debacle.

This week I plan on using the Great Fishing to shoot a new episode of Fishing The East, I figure we will be going for whatever bites, since right now it is all available. You can believe that I am one more angler that hopes the spot get here before that day.

May 17, 2010, A Northeaster Break in a great Drum season. I don't know how many drum I've weighed in and had reported since we put the one in my boat last week. My last trip was with Al and John last Friday and with the wind against the tide in Great Bay we did not catch a drum, but we did fine some nice bass in the Mankiller Bay area. Here is the big one John pulled in when we were anchored in the lee of the bank of the 178.

The weekend had me at the store prepping and launching boats and generally getting all the customers out the door with the bait and tackle they need. Unfortunately there was no live fish bait for the last weekend. The HERRING had left the building and the Northern Chesapeake still hasn't been giving up the Spot. But the Clam Man has been on the job and if you want to go for the big game that is the bait to use. There have been reports from just about everywhere. Great Bay and the beach front have been the hot spots.

11 year old Santino Nave was first on the rod pulling on this 70 Pound Drum that ate a clam behind Ocean City near Great Egg Inlet on Dad's Boat, "Hook em' Cook em'"It was a group effort before it was finally brought to the boat on a light flounder weight outfit on Sunday 5/16. Tyrone wanted to make sure and get a picture of his 55 pound Drum on the internet so he could prove that he caught it.

As far as the Stripers go it was a good, if not great weekend. The hottest fishing seems to be on the beach, so if you haven't already It is a good time to Break out the surf gear. If you don't have the right stuff remember my "Customer Appreciation Sale" starts this friday and I have a huge selection of surf tackle at 25% off the regular prices. Actually just about everything is on sale at 25% off. follow the link to find out more.

May 13, 2010, It's May the time for Drum fishing and we put the first one ever on my boat. I really wanted to get a full report here, but a quick report on the drum. Jim and crew came on board for my first all clam trip since the HERRING have all departed and the Spot haven't made their appearance. We tangled with sharks around Mankiller and then to Wreck Inlet for more of the same. On the Egg Island Flats there were Blues to break things up, both eating the clams and on lures. After the second shark in a few minutes I was just about ready to pull the anchor and concentrate on the Blues that were causing some commotion in the even shallower water. The next time the heavy rod went down it stayed that way with a swirl the size of a volkswagon in the 3 foot deep water where the bait was resting. Nothing fancy about a Drum fight, but it is a big fish and took some power to get it to the boat.

The real high and low point of the day came next. The drum fight was like hanging onto a Hurricane, but the next bite was more like a tornado. Even getting the rod out of the holder was tough and this fish was in control for a long while. Definitely a bass and the biggest I had ever had hooked up on my boat. After a long downtide run it fought the tide and ran upstream past the boat. At this point is was looking good. My angler had it coming to the stern of the boat and it looked as long as the boat is across. I don't like to guess but it was definitely the biggest Bass that has ever been hooked on my boat or anywhere I've been fishing. As it made a turn and I got ready to sink a gaff, the line came slack and the 9/0 Gamakatsu pulled loose.

After that excitement the bluefish did get more aggressive and we caught all we wanted, but there was nothing to match the lost bass.

May 9, 2010, Mothers Day is here and so is the big Mudder of a wind storm. so the fishing had come to a standstill. I guess I still have to work off last Wednesday and Thursday which I did a couple more charters that I didn't get time to list. I know the wind blows every spring, but this one seems to really take the prize. I guess I shouldn't be surprised how hard it is blowing today. Last Wednesday, was a real good one with only a nice breeze, just like the weatherman predicted and I managed to get Fred and his son Dave into those aggressive blues and a keeper bass for everyone on the boat.

We did sneak one of the keepers and a short out of the Little Beach area sneaking in thru Cabbage Thorofare with just enough water. The other two came from the ICW hotspot that so far has been this springs most productive. Again it is a top of the tide bite on the bass so you might as well make use of the lower tide period to bang those blues. We did anchor up off Egg Island while casting for blues and soaked some clams and a HERRING head and though that didn't bring us any results we watched a couple anglers who left their small boat and fished from the bank land a Bass over 20# and another familiar customer anchored outside of us and did the same.

Thursday was another fight the wind day. I didn't try anchoring in Great Bay, but just made the drifts and when we got the bluefish isolated they really came on strong. I did pull in a few on a Z-Mann's Grub to see if they are as bulletproof as they profess and I will say that there is some real good possibilities, But the Blues really wanted the poppers and with three hot shot anglers on the boat all I could do was land and unhook fish until we got our fill and we headed back to the Absecon Inlet area and looked for the bass. It really was a full strain on the electric motor kind of day and Dr. Foster got the one keeper we brought home.

I guess the moms that aren't big into fishing will be happy to se husbands and sons today, but Next week is a special day if you happen to have kids that like fishing. The Absecon Saltwater Sportsman Club presents the Nuncio Bruno Kids Fishing Tournament at the Chestnut Neck Boat Yard This is a great outing which I support and with the showing the Bluefish are making it should be quite the competition with lots of great action. So if you have kids of your own or access to some that would like to get into the sport sign them up and give this tournament a try.

I have gotten a start on this years tournament page and promise to give it my best to keep it up to date so let me know if your organization is running a tournament or there is a good one I should just hear about.

May, 7 2010, Getting Ready for Mothers Day and looking for Big Mother Bass. My second week of charters has ended up as a great one, but the monsters still aren't showing in the Absecon area at least for me. I started the week on Tuesday with Dave Morris and partner and it was so beautiful that we had to run the beachfront and look for the big girls. We found the bunker off Little Beach and a few Ganats were hunting them up, but there were no fish on the hunt underneath. I guess the spawning season has the bass up the rivers with something else on their minds. I made my first trip in Little Egg Inlet and drifted live baits around the inlet with no results. The next stop was the end of Grassy Channel on Egg Island Flats and there the Blues were in fine form.

There isn't a better heart starter than one of these beauties blowing up a surface popper in three feet of water and trying it's best to break whatever tackle you are using. Contrary to some opinions these mid sized blues make a great meal if you get them immediately on ice and filet them quick and eat them fresh. When we put enough in the cooler to take bach to PA, the land that isn't

May 2, 2010, May Day has come and gone and the fishing is heating up with the record breaking weather. Last week I got started with my charters and got into some solid fishing in spite of some howling winds. Tom Newman was on board on Wednesday and he braved winds in excess of 30 mph to get his share of a double limit for the boat. It took some hard running with the electric motor to keep us in the strike zone, but we found the fish holding along the Oasis by the 178 marker and Tom's big one ever tried to wrap around the pole, but some quick thinking and motor work put us on the right side of the pole and he landed this one.

I managed my first keeper of the season in the same area,

After we put the fourth keeper in the boat I made a loop around the area looking for some place that might hold fish and not be so affected by the wind, but it really wasn't possible. On Thursday I took Matt Grodziak and a partner out on an exploration run so he can learn the area. The wind had dropped the temperature and the best I read was 51 degrees, which wouldn't be bad if it was warming up, but the quick drop must and super low blow out tides must have caused the big ones to look for more comfortable quarters. We did , however find a couple fat fish just shy of the 28" mark that still inhaled the HERRING.

Little Panama held one and there were a few other interested shoppers in that area, but either they were small or really not hungry. The other was back at ole' #178 which has been consistent. Especially for Bill Lake who banged them on Monday and Tuesday in the rain and the flood. Then again yesterday with another fatty that was approaching 20#.

April 25, 2010, I'm sure you saw the picture of my Guatemalan Sportfisherman, "Tijereta" , If not jump on over to the Guatemala Pictures Page and see the latest. That is my big news , but on the local fishing front the news is blues, love 'em or hate 'em, THERE HERE ! and that means just about everywhere. There are solid reports from the ocean, beach, back bays and up in the rivers. I have to have mixed emotions about this. Last year the weather caused them to miss the area and I could drift HERRING and the Spot with little chance of having them chopped up by the toothy devils. As noted in my last report, my first experimental trip resulted in four decapitations. That was five days ago and the reports now are much more substantial. I had first hand reports of massive bird plays in Great Bay early Saturday morning and the local up and coming expert Ean Donato along with a group of friends have been walking out to the edge of Reeds Bay from Somers Landing Road and getting them up to 10 pounds back about as far as you can get. He has also been adding some nice stripers to the bag so maybe we should all be fishing shallower.

As far as the HERRING situation it does not look great. We are coming up on the full moon and if anything goes right I should get a good catch, unfortunately for the last week I haven't been able to keep up with sales so as of today there are no more volume prices, HERRING will be a straight $3.50 each. If nothing great happens the price will go up and possibly I will have to hold some for my charter clients since they have to come first.

The good news is that I have some of the best Spot hunters out to bring me the first of the year. Hopefully the first week in May will bring some up from the south and I will have the live bait covered. With the Blues and Bass invading I have started to get calls for fresh bunker and I have a couple crabbers that are going to put out nets to catch bait and if they score I will be able to get some super fresh baits into my cooler. Keep calling and I'll let you know when they get here. If the weather stays nice and this westerly wind keeps up we should see schools of bunker chaseed into the back and I will be cast netting them. I do have great bunker nets for sale if you want to give it a try yourself.

April 21, 2010, I got my 1st Bass of the season yesterday but... It was only 26" and had to go back. There was lots of activity going on but a lot of them were bluefish. I took 6 live HERRING and the dogs for a ride and started at Mankiller. Halfway thru the drift, I felt a rap, but not a slam and when I pulled back I did get my HERRING back and it looked like Zorro had slashed it with a saber in five rows on each side. I tried to hook up the second bite, but that HERRING went to bluefish never never land. I was out of there quick to the next stop at the Oasis. Here Charlie Sturgis was casting off the bank and indicated that he had released a short. Just passed Charlie my line went tight and started moving but again no slam, This time I think it was several shorts making a go at the big bait. It would move, come tight , and go again. But I couldn't get a hook into anything. When I pulled up the bait it looked as someone had gone to work with a combination scaler and baseball bat. I tried the mangled bait thru tie ICW and up at Meadow Cut where I ran into the Fishical Therapy and Bob, Vicki and guest Marty had all connected with Keepers

but the bass ignored the beat up baits. I wanted to give the beautiful afternoon a good chance so I moved on to Little Bay and one of my favorite access channels and the toothy devils made short work of two more of precious baits. I threw a Jerk Shad a good while there, but the fish wanted something real as is often the case in the early season.

With only two live baits left I took advantage of the high tide and crossed the bars of Reeds bay and came into the back of Broad Creek. I was still a was fifty yards from my hot spot when I got a hit, definitely a bass, but not of the size that could easily eat the HERRING and another miss. Now down to my last chance I got a little better hit, but I gave this guy a drop back to make sure I brought home something. I hooked up and as often with the first fish of the season I thought I might have had dinner, but the tale of the tape was different as it only stretched 26".

I halfheartedly dragged the dead bait thru another hole, but I got a call from Bill Granato and he reported that The Great Egg Harbor River was going off big time as he had caught 8 big fish in less than 2 hours chunking the HERRING. He said there were HERRING flipping in the glassy waters so hopefully everything is moving up river and those HERRING will reach my nets and I can stock up enough to keep the Bluefish at bay.

April 20, 2010, IT STARTS, at least for me... since I launched my boat www.abseconbay.com, here at the marina yesterday and everything checks out so I will be taking the seasons inaugural test ride today. From the reports I've been getting I probably should have made it a couple days earlier, but the weekend was extremely windy so it would have been tough to get a whole lot going. There was feedback on decent striper bite on school sized fish for those who hid from the wind and soaked clam or chunked HERRING and the Tog were biting at the bridge if you could manage to hang in one spot long enough for them to bite. With the wind down I will be going for the live HERRING and plan to take my Misses with me so I will be hitting the local spots. If you are ready to jump on board the weatherman is giving us a good wind report for the rest of the week and with an afternoon high tide you could even get a morning at work, while I am at the nets trying to fill my tanks with HERRING since my bait catching season ends on April 30th and from there on out what I've got is what I've got. So I'll be hoping for an early catch of Spot.

Next week starting with Monday the 26th leading up to the full moon I expect the fishing to absolutely take off since we will have an early morning high tide and we can leave the dock at the magic hour of first light and probably really light up the bass. Right now I still have most of the week open so if you want to get fishing give me a call NOW.

As I mentioned I am in the home stretch of my HERRING catching season and hopefully as we lead up to the full moon next week if the past records and the weatherman are in sync I should get a good catch right up until the end. If you want to put some in a cage for a guaranteed supply I suggest you do it now. Once we are into May I will have to save enough for my charters and I cannot guarantee availability or future prices.

If you still haven't gotten your boat ready for the season, and most of you haven't, Here at the marina we can get you going a lot quicker and almost as cheap as you can do it yourself. If you currently have your boat on a trailer and have to paint the bottom before it goes into the slip our prices are right. For a boat up to 20 feet we will pick it off your trailer, paint the entire bottom with Aqua Guard bottom paint in your choice of colors and put it back on the trailer ready to go. If you would rather the boat is launched directly from the marina we will keep it on the railway overnight and launch the boat for only an additional $10. check out additional Spring Make Ready Prices Here

April 13, 2010, The 30# mark is blown away... by Chris Stewart on the Great Egg Harbor River yesterday morning and he gladly collect the last prize of the annual striper season kick off. This weather continues to bring out the striper fishermen and likewise it is bringing out the stripers. Bill Lake doesn't miss many days out in his boat and yesterday he put his first striper dinner of the year on board. A fat 30" plus fish that ate a live HERRING along the Inland waterway. Even though the live HERRING are working as usual the Surf Clams were the hot seller yesterday in the store and Great Bay seems to be the hot spot even though the big fish have come out of the Great Egg Harbor area.

April 12, 2010, 1st 20 Pounder on the scale, Back Bays heating up and the bite is on. Len Kandoff was the lucky angler fishing on the Pipe Wrench with Capt. Mark Knapik when this beautiful 20.9# hit on the lightest rod on the boat.

This fish came from Mark's stomping grounds around Great Egg Inlet so we know there are fish heading up that river. There have been reports of plenty fof fish over 20 pounds in the area, but Len was the first to show one off at the store so he got the $100 gift certificate. Yesterday also produced a steady stream of keepers. A permanent fixture here at the marina, Tony Genovese took Curt for a morning clam dunk and both brought back keepers for a Sunday dinner. Don Shuller also used clams in the inlet to catch a 13 pounder.

Saturday was also a great day, a little cooler and a little less action but on the striper scene Jimmy Ruiz came up from Florida to fish with his brother and hooked up with a 15 pound beauty .With this great striper fishing we also tend to forget the fresh water action. But Saturday was the opening day of trout season here in New Jersey and there are some great local stocked ponds. Birch Grove Park is always a favorite and 15 year old Buster Paynter put a spinner to good work on this 5.20 pound Brown Trout which brought enough smiles to take away any doubts about the worthwhile of the trout stocking program.

Remember here in Absecon Heritage Park Pond gets stocked and it has remained a very quiet fishery so you can get on the water with very little competition, except for the cormorants which if they find the fish they won't abide by the legal limits and don't bother to buy licenses.

Late Breaking News, while I'm writing this Bruce Granger called from his Kayak on the Mullica and wanted to thank Ray for giving him some tips yesterday on what to do to catch a bigger fish. He said he has had dozens of shorts on the river so far this spring, one day over 20, but with some coaching by Ray he managed to put a keeper in the boat this morning.

April 10, 2010, Cooler Day, but will the fishing be HOT ? , This is the time of year that everything is just getting started and quite often it is hard to make the decision whether it is worthwhile going fishing or not. I have to say that it almost always is worthwhile fishing if the weather is even a little bit bearable. And once you make the decision to go fishing the next question is often when should I start, when is the bite, what tide should I fish? There is no simple answer but here is my opinion:

You can't catch fish in front of the computer, unless maybe you carry your lap top on the boat, then why bother. The fish are in the water somewhere and if you can put the right thing in front of them you might be able to bite. It is good to go out with a plan, but you should also always be ready for a plan B and be ready to take advantage of any opportunity that comes along. This time of year soaking chunks or clams is probably a real good bet, but don't depend on just one spot, or one bait. Figure why fish are at a given spot at a given time ant try to find spots that mirror that one at different times.

Fish aggressively, move if your spot isn't producing, use plenty of chum, and read the natural signs: Birds, rip lines, tide direction, even sun direction you might find the key to unlock a great day thru any little clue. So get out on the water as many hours as you can and if you aren't catching fish concentrate on that and learn something from a SKUNK so you are better next time.

As far as actual local fishing I haven't seen any weigh ins, but the stories on nice sized schooling and keeper sized fish is really picking up. The rivers seem to be the best shot I've had good reports all the way up to the bulkhead in Mays Landing, still, but Great Bay and the Surf seem to be picking up fast. With the approaching new moon the tides should be bringing bait into the bays and with them more and more bass. The ripping tides make it hard to hook up the tog and the rain yesterday seems to have muddied the water so I don't expect a great tog bite today, but if the sun comes out in force they might surprise you and jump on your green crab baits.

If you are fishing the rivers the white perch bite has been good in the brackish sections with some real nice size perch available. The big perch will hit the minnows as good as anything so you might want to put a rod out with a smaller hook and minnow to get some good eating action.

I pulled my boat out of the corner where it was stored and am going to get it cleaned up and back in the water where it belongs. I have a feeling that the back bay fishing will heat up real soon. I do have to keep up with the Fyke Nets to make sure I have the HERRING but if the tides cooperate I figure I could sneak out on a trip just about anytime. I am definitely planning to start on the last week of April and I know all the days will fill up fast so if you do want to book a trip I suggest that you plan ahead. I always like the early morning high tide days, you just can't beat that magic hour when the sun first comes up, especially when the tide is just about at it's peak. On the other hand early in the spring when the water is cool the bite can go on all day and I have some new tricks I want to experiment with as soon as the fish show up.

If you want to stock up with HERRING, I have a good supply right now and I hope that yesterdays slow catch was due to the rain that kept them from moving. I am selling 100's at $2.50 a fish for live and I can give you a 100 fresh for $1.00 each if you wand to take them to freeze for a supply of flounder baits. I have been vacum packing plenty so that when fluke season opens I will have these great baits available.

April, 6 2010, The weather is here the fishing is beautiful, My apologies to Mr. Buffet for using his line, but things are breaking out big time and I hope you are taking advantage of it. It looks like the good weather might be the driving force for a good HERRING run this spring. I've had better luck getting them in the nets this year so far and from what I am hearing it could be good. Even more important if we see a good HERRING run I think we will see a lot more bass following them into the bays and rivers. Bill Granato has been doing his chunking thing in the great Egg Harbor and he gave me a feedback yesterday that he boated three keepers and a couple shorts, but the big catfish are down the river pretty far and they love HERRING chunks as well, so make sure that you have plenty of bait. If you are looking to stockpile some HERRING for your own use I may be able to give you some quantity pricing at least for the short term. Pricing will change as I deal with supply, but I will have them in stock and most of all I will have them for charters which probably will start sooner than I expected.

Joe Jr. stopped by for some bait yesterday morning and he started the season. Here's his own story, "

Thanks for the herring this morning. I scoped out a few of my favorite spots on the incoming today. Had cleaner water, still a bit stained, but clearing up. Also found 54 degrees on the incoming in a few places. Fished 3.5 hours, had one bite and will be eating it tonight (31' 12lb). It was a very aggressive bass and it's definitely herring time. BTW if your going to get spot soon I'm in for about 150 (if you've got bulk pricing). Joe JR"

The tog have continued to bite at the bridge and you should be able to find them at all the regular spots now. Remember don't tie up at the bridge. Holding on seems to be OK, but if there are any ropes involved you will be ticketed and the State Police and Coast Guard really don't have much else to do this time of year.

April 3, 2010, Happy Easter Weekend and fishing has started! This has to be real quick since I have to get up to the nets and see if the HERRING are cooperating, because the weather and the bass are cooperating and I need more baits for my customers. OK I'm back and this warm sunny weather definitely has appeased the HERRING Gods and I got a load worth the ride this morning. I really wanted to get mentioned that the fishing started showing some great signs yesterday. Fred Bakley didn't quite break the 20# mark with this beauty, but It did pull the scale down to 17.10# a great out of Great Bay catch and he backed it up with a 30" keeper so there is a Good Friday fish dinner if I ever saw one. Capt. Tony had to try out his new Lowrance HDS-7000 GPS Fish Finder, and whether it was the electronics or just the right day he found the tog hungry for Green Crabs and brought in a quick limit. When he hit the dock Ray couldn't resist and he jumped on the boat with Tony who turned into Tog Guide and Don Scull joined them to ad a couple more limits. Ray was glad he didn't have to eat pizza for Good Friday.

On Thursday Bill Granato had picked up some fresh HERRING and caught a nice keeper in the mouth of the Great Egg Harbor River along with some catfish. If this weather holds we can expect an early start so I guess I better get my boat ready. I'll start running trips as soon as I get a good feeling about the live bait fishing in the back bay.

March 28, 2010, Back in the U.S.A. Back to work. I won't say it was a complete vacation in Guatemala with the work on the boat, but I don't think I can see any light at the end of the tunnel here. Number one priority has been to get my Fyke Nets in which has taken up almost the entire time since I woke up Tuesday morning. I got a good start on Wednesday and even had a few HERRING in the nets I had set yesterday so I do officially have some live ones in the tank. I got things pretty well straightened up yesterday so I am hoping that there are some good numbers. according to the signs of the weather and the moon and the catches that are being made in the nets in the Mullica I am hoping for a good run, and a good run of bass with them. I am starting on the same price schedule as last year $2.00 each fresh and $3.50 each alive. I realize that things will be strange with the recreational limit cut down to ten fish per man. The commercial regulations have not changed so I am making another stab at supplying those who want to use the HERRING for bait. Depending on the quantity I catch and the resulting demand the prices may vary from day to day. My first interest will be to have a stockpile for my charters, so if you fish with me we will have the best bait possible.

For now it's time to head out to the nets and see if my effort will have any results. At least I have my computer set up to continue reports and will try my best to keep everyone updated on fishing here and down in Guatemala.

March 7, 2010, Welcome From Guatemala... It's been quite busy for me and I haven't gotten a chance to get an actual report out in a while. As you can see by the pictures of the first three fish the striper season is off to a serious start this year. As a mater of fact I weighed in Ryan Harp's #3 fish as I was packing to come down here and finally got a chance to post the pictures. As tough as it has been to give away the prizes in the past and as worried as I was with the snow, ice and weather we've been having I am really happy that things seem to be breaking loose. Since I will be all the way down in Guatemala I will be only getting second hand reports, but I will be talking to Ray every day on the phone and I should have time to get to the computer.

As to Guatemala on this page I am just going to say that the Spirit Airlines flight down was great as far as timing goes. I really appreciate how they keep the prices down but they do squeeze the seats pretty tight and I'm only just over 6'tall. It is great that you can leave Atlantic City airport at 7 am. and get off the plane at 2pm Guatemala Time, (Central US). As noted the paperwork has kept me in the city, but as cities go it really is a nice place and besides it gives me the chance to do the family thing with my wife so she's happy about that. I'll go into more details on the Guatemala Report Page.

Back to local fishing, I have been reading the reports on other pages and trying to keep up. It seems that on at least one message board there seems to be a consensus that everyone should brag about their fishing prowess, but heaven forbid that anyone should ever say where they caught a fish or even more laughable where they didn't catch a fish. On this page and in the store it is always my policy to share any knowledge that I personally obtain or that is shared with me by customers. This basically means that if you want to keep a secret about a spot, you really shouldn't say much around the store. If you want to weigh in and show off a good catch and I know where it came from I will let the world know. I believe that there are plenty of spots out there and there are plenty of fish to go around. The more any fisherman knows and the quieter and more effectively he fishes, there will be new spots found and everyone will find places to have a great day.

February 24, 2010, 5 days until Striper Season... and another snow storm is on the way. I haven't got much written on this page, my effort has been on the Guatemala side. If you haven't read them jump over to the Guatemala Reports. I do want to let everyone know that I will be offering Striper bounties again this season. Last year George Bucci managed a 28 inch bass on opening day which was a good trick. I do know he will be out to repeat. I hope that there will be a hot bite on the 1st, but I think that Hot Bite will be a lot further South. That is one reason that I will be heading far south Next week. On Wednesday the 3rd I will be flying out of Atlantic City International on a Spirit flight to Guatemala. I finally got word that my boat has reached Guatemala and now I'm going to give a hand getting it rigged and ready for fishing in the Pacific Ocean. Right now Spirit has some great prices for Guatemala during the month of March, but as I found out the best prices are going fast. I will be there until March 22 so if you want to beat this cold I will help you hook up with my Partner Capt. Dennis and one of his boats at Parlama Sportfishing . Right now we are at prime season and the weather is always beautiful. If you want to check go the the www.fishguatemala.com page and look at the Weather Underground stickers. If that isn't enough to make you think about a trip I don't know what is.

Back to the Absecon scene, as I said there will be reward bounties for the first stripers brought in .

1st Keeper a $200 gift Certificate
2nd Keeper a $100 gift Certificate
3rd Keeper a $50 gift certificate
1st fish over 20# a $100 gift certificate
1st fish over 30# a $100 gift certificate

As always the winning fish must be legally caught in New Jersey waters and weighed in during regular store hours.

January 31, 2010, Again the weatherman lied, but I finally have a boat headed for Guatemala ... It is not what my report is about but I would like to mention that yesterday local sport fishing legend Butch Friez was laid to rest making it a sad day, and one more milestone crossed in all our fishing world. Besides that the "Dusting" of snow that was forecast for yesterday turned into a full scale blizzard and this morning I awoke to 6 to 8 inches of white powder on the ground. Luckily the passing of time and winter weather can't quell my optimism about my latest undertaking .

Most of you probably know of my relationship with Guatemala thru my wonderful wife Judy who is Guatemalan and I met while I served there in the Peace Corps from 1977 thru 1979. Thru many vacation trips down there I found out about the great fishing on the Pacific Coast and got many chances to experience it and back in the mid 90's I even got a good start promoting fishing vacations down there. However the pressures of running a marina in NJ didn't allow me sufficient time to make that operation the success I would have liked. As I get www.fishguatemala.com up and running I'll give everyone a glimpse into the past . but for now we look to the future.

As I announced on the front page, I have formed a partnership with Capt. Dennis Wheeler, Guatemalan Fishing promoter and owner of Parlama Sport fishing and we will be shipping this 25' Carver Diesel to the "Sailfish Capital of the World", Guatemala. It will join Parlama's fleet of economical boats to bring a reasonably priced alternative to the super battlewagons now available. It will be fishing out of The "Marina Pez Vela" . If everything goes right we should be fishing this boat before the end of this years high season. But in reality in Guatemala there is no "Season" for the best sail fishing, they are there all year and since Capt. Dennis lives in Guatemala year round we will be running great charters and full scale vacation packages. If you can't wait I can get you on one of Capt. Dennis' boats any time you wish. I'm buzy getting this operation off the ground but if you have any questions about fishing in Guatemala give me a call and I'll give you any information I can.

January 10, 2010, It ain't exactly fishing, but... It is important and I would like to give a quick report on the NJMFC (New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council) meeting last Thursday. I didn't really know the agenda that would be discussed, but since what goes on with the fishing here in New Jersey is important to me and with the freezing weather I am not exactly over run with urgent jobs, I listened in. As usual most of the meeting was mandatory reports, but it got interesting when they discussed the possibility of changing the striped bass size limits. They discussed a split size limit with one fish 24" and over and one fish 34" and over. In theory this would fall within the conservation equivalency as set up by the ASMFC . I believe this would be true and I feel that it would give a lot of anglers a chance to take home the best eating size striper and it would definitely make it a little more difficult to take home the second fish. This brought a lot of comments and almost everyone agreed that this is an excellent idea, but almost everyone who spoke actually would prefer the more stringent regulations of a true slot limit. This on the basis that we should be giving more protection to the big mamas that lay the eggs and provide great catch and release sport. I agree 100% and actually would like to go a lot farther with an all slot limit much like those in effect nation wide for Redfish.

January 5, 2010 Welcome to the new year on the frozen tundra, Or at least it looks and feels like it when I look or walk outside. I'm sitting here at the computer trying to get myself in an indoor working train of thought because there are an unlimited amount of jobs to do, but it is quite a change of venue for me. This morning I did the first thing and that was to sign up for the National Saltwater Angler Registry. This is a required registration for the majority of saltwater fishermen, but there are a lot of holes that I feel will allow too many fishermen to slip thru the system without being counted. I believe that since we are doing this registration we should do it right and that means count us all.

It is very simple and if you are reading this you obviously have a computer in front of you and you have no excuse for taking less than five minutes to fill out the form. Yesterday Mike Shepard from The Press gave me a call and he was asking what I knew about this registration, which was not much but it did get me to look up the link and fill the form. I also had the chance to speak with one of the Conservation Officers about this a week or so before it actually went into effect. It does seem like enforcement will be confusing. In a nutshell if you are a back bay fluke fisherman you will not need to register. However if you don't have your registration card and you hook a striped bass you better put it back in the water because you will be in violation. If you are targeting stripers you will need the card. If you jump on another boat that goes out past the three mile line for flounder fishing you also need the card. So avoid the confusion and get signed up. JUST DO IT!

December 30, 2009, Happy Holidays and welcome winter! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. Things at the Showell household were very good, Santa treated everyone well, but the weather that brought us a white Christmas was not what we needed to keep the fishing going. Here we are now looking at a new year and a chance to reflect on the one passed. I am planning on getting a whole 2009 summary done, but for now I'll just spend a few minutes on what is happening NOW.

The cold has slowed the winterization progress for those late season striper fishermen who dropped off their boats last week so I will still be working in the yard for the next couple weeks. If you have procrastinated I can take care of all your winterizing, shrink wrapping, and storage needs throughout the cold winter months. Just get your boat to the yard and I'll get right to it.

As far as bait goes I just got done dumping the last of the "rotten" "fresh" bunker and clams off the dock. My last load of green crabs came in bad shape and died quickly. It is now too cold to keep them so I'm just about done with any fresh or live tog bait. I have been getting some calls to that so I guess there are some hardy souls running to the offshore wrecks. But Friday the limit drops again and since Sea Bass are closed it will be slim pickings on the wrecks. For your best fishing it will probably be hunting for white perch in the rivers and if the weather report for the next week or so pans out we might even get a chance to fish thru the ice at Collins Cove.

However even that doesn't have as much attraction for me as it did when I was younger. Actually I have a tough time even thinking about being on the water on these cold winter days. I guess I do have too many days on the Guatemalan Pacific with no wind, hungry sailfish and cold Gallo beer. Every year my thoughts keep going back to that place and I always hope that this will be the year I get something going again.

But in the mean time I'll just be working on getting the store together for an even better 2010. I am ahead of the game this year and I already have almost all of my spring stock hung up and if you are doing some winter looking for tackle and supplies be sure to include a stop here in your search. It's true I am not advertising winter hours, but I am almost always available so if you give me a call you can take plenty of time to look around and we can discuss what your fishing needs really are and how we can come up with the best solution at the most reasonable price.

I will try to improve the web site and I do plan on bringing back an interactive message board so I can respond to questions and comments.

When March 1st rolls around I'll have all the live and fresh bait in stock and be ready to see the first striper of the season. I'm sure I'll be offering my rewards as I have the last few years, but we can go into that later.

In any case I will be getting more thoughts on here so keep coming back and looking. Once again Happy New Year.