Stripers! Stripers! Stripers! Striped bass are front and foremost on the minds of the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association. The bass are arriving from the north, and the action has been good and will get better. The only caveat is finding fish that fit the keeper size of 28-31 inches.
In addition, the tautog fishery is also strong with the captains looking forward to November 16 when the daily limit increases to 5-fish.
Captain Jonathan Kelly of “LBI Sportfishing” reports his striped bass fishing has been super-hot with many oversized bass with a few pushing over 50-pounds. He moved his boat to Barnegat Light for the rest of the season to be close to the action.
Brett Taylor of “Reel Reaction Sportfishing” recently ran a double trip. First up was Rob Crutchley of Bayville on a 5-hour charter with his kids. Despite wind and rough conditions, they boated a few striped bass over the 31-inch mark up to 37-inches. They switched over to tautog for drop and reel action with keepers to 17-inches. The second trip started with blackfish and boxed their limit with fish to 8-pounds. They moved to striped bass and had little trouble putting 4 keepers in the box to 31-inches. Young Luke Taylor handled the first mate duties.
Captain Gary Dugan of the “Irish Jig” has put out the call for striped bass anglers calling the current action “crazy.” Captain Gary has some open dates for this linesider action.
Captain Dave Wittenborn of the “Benita J” reports that Sunday, November 19th is his last open date remaining for the striped bass season. He invites anglers to fish in “comfortable down-east style with a heated cabin.” He is currently fishing out of Barnegat Inlet.