Had the Anthony Stankovich Charter on Monday and boy was it windy! This group included anglers from Montreal who were only here a day, so they fished. They tried to stick to the back of the bay to escape the winds, and they jigged seven blues and trolled five short bass. Other anglers found that fishing with bunker for bass failed to pan out in the winds, so we went on the troll, dragging chartreuse shad rigs, and stripers started to get picked up right away! Bunker were a little scarce lately but we are definitely looking forward to the opening of fluke season Saturday, and heard about large ones caught by mistake on bunker that anglers dunked for stripers so we hope that is a good sign! Fluke charters will be available, and striper trips will also continue, probably through June until early July.

Had the Charlie Rahner charter today and headed out to the bay for some liveline and chunk bunker. Charlie boated a striped bass, lost several others, including about a 20-pounder that got off near the boat, and tackled 17 blues, mostly 8 or 10 pounders, and a few smaller ones. A couple of the bunker were reeled back with scales stripped off but without missing parts like tails, apparently mauled by the toothless stripers. Another charter was slated for today, though forecasts for strong winds looked questionable. Striped bass fishing lately was hit or miss on the bay, and the fish were scattered.

Had the John Counterman’s charter today and put lots of blues in the box. The trip started early in the morning and trolled 2 and 4 pounders till those fish disappeared. Then the boat headed to Reach Channel, where blues were jigged, and afterwards we drifted for peanut bunkers for bait. We picked away at more blues little by little. Toward the end of the day the speedsters started busting on the top and we nailed them on both jigs and peanuts! It was a good day! The largest blues were 6 to 8 pounds. The water was very warm and 72 to 73 degrees and was even 77 at the slip.

Weakfish finally started biting up and down the entire Reach Channel. Quite a few 14 to 22 inchers were landed. We usually like using liveline peanut bunker on light tackle for the trout which is a very effective and fun way to catch them, but the peanuts that were netted recently were too big for the weaks, so our charter instead fished with Berkeley Power Worms on jigheads. Blues from 2 to 5 pounds were also picked along with the weaks. For future charters, when smaller peanuts are found, they’ll be livelined for the fish, and sandworms will also be used, and so will squid strips soaked in shedder crab oil, another good method.

Evening Tide Charters took its last shot at fluke yesterday before the season closes tomorrow, and the fishing went fairly well, Capt. Kyle said. He found a honey hole near the 16 buoy that he kept drifting across, and 13 keepers from 18 to 24 inches were bagged, not bad, he said. No weakfish really turned on yet, except a few large ones that a friend said bit along Reach Channel. But Kyle will now take a serious look for weakfish and see for himself. If the trout do arrive, Evening Tide will probably swim livelined peanut bunker to catch them on light tackle, a great way to reel them in. Amazing amounts of peanuts were schooling at places such as the marina, and peanuts were scarcer the past two years. Otherwise trips on the boat will bottom fish, and Kyle was also hearing about striped bass that were jigged in the evenings, so that’s a possibility. He thanks everyone who fished for fluke with him this year, and it was a good season, and he hopes for an even better one next year.

A spot in the back of the bay that had been giving up great fishing for big, thick fluke dried up on our trip Sunday but we found them a little farther out in the bay. The fish weren’t quite as large as before, and lots of shorts bit, but quality keepers were coming up. Evening Tide is usually fishing for the flatfish with livelined peanut bunker, a great bait, especially for larger fish, and we were finding plenty of peanuts to cast net on. The bay was 77.6 degrees on the trip, and bluefish from 2 to 4 pounds were also around, if anyone wants to take a trip for blues. We still aren’t seeing any major population of weakfish in the bay. But if the weaks show up, we love targeting them with light tackle, also usually livelining peanut bunker for them. Less than a week is left before fluke season ends next Tuesday, and openings are available for charters for anyone who wants to take a last shot. Open-boat trips are sailing every Saturday and Sunday when no charter is booked, and call to reserve.

Traveled to the back of the bay near Staten Island, started banging fluke on every drift, and never left during the trip. The clarity was beautiful, and the water was 76 degrees, and the fish were generally big, and only the fluke 20 inches or larger were kept, and eight of them were bagged! Light, 10-pound spinning tackle did the trick with livelined peanut bunker, and peanuts were still abundant. We looked around for weakfish, but none seemed to turn on yet.

Bay fluking was good, and we were picking up lots, including decent-sized ones going 5 and 6 lbs, along the channel edges and holes. Peanut bunkers were doing the trick for larger ones, and plenty of peanuts could be found. We are still keeping a lookout for weakfish, and we know a few anglers who landed some, but there were no large concentrations. We then ran to Hudson Canyon and lots of blue water was found while the vessel trolled for tuna, but not much was going on. But one boater reported catching a blue marlin, and another said he caught three yellowfin tuna.

Had a good fluke trip today with Barry and, his grandson, Logan. We ran to the TC buoy, and shorts and flatties that were almost keepers bit, and then they sailed to Chapel Hill Channel, and 10 fluke including six keepers were boated. By the end they had reeled in 21 of the summer flounder from 16 ¼ inches to 18 ¼ inches, including six keepers, a dozen sea robins and three sandsharks, a very nice day with a good drift and light winds. The 10-year-old grandson loves to freshwater fish, and this was his first saltwater trip, and he was hooked and wants to come back for weakfish and striper bass fishing when those fish turn on.

Anglers fluke fished, and the action was pretty quiet in the ocean off Sandy Hook. So the boat started working around the point of the Hook, and a couple of sea robins. Then the vessel pushed behind Sandy Hook to a number of spots in the bay, gradually making its way home, and fluke began to be picked up, and as usual shorts had to be weed out ending the day with 16 shorts and 5 keepers. A friend got into some weakfish action not great but the start, news that I have been waiting for, because can't wait ready to target weaks along with fluke. I will let you all know when action is hot still have openings but do not wait. Running trips castnet peanut bunker and livelining them in the morning for weaks, because weaks can become finicky once boat traffic starts, and then swim the peanuts for fluke, which always produce bigger fluke.

Fluke were hitting along the ocean beaches, with fewer keepers seemed to hold the bottom than before, and the legal-sized flatties seemed to be getting better in back bay, shorts still had to be picked through. Some especially good news was that more and more weakfish were appearing, and we have been waiting for them and love targeting them with light, 10-pound tackle and jigs, one of his favorite trips besides striper fishing. charters will target the weaks as well as fluke when enough weaks turn on. Peanut bunker were starting to show up, loves using them for fluke and weakfish bait, castnetting and keeping them in live well on hand for charters when possible.

Some good-sized fluke were reeled aboard Evening Tide Charters, Monday in the bay. we found them around Chapel Hill Channel and the Terminal Channel .The catch included 5- and 6-pounders, and eight keepers were bagged, and of course lots of shorts, probably 40 shorts. Lots of blues from 4 to 8 pounds were mixed in, and 1- to 2-pound, cocktail blues swam the back of the bay. Still seeing bunker pods in the bay, and we are seeing no weakfish yet. A few spike weaks usually start showing up by the Fourth of July, and a larger push of weaks normally begins toward the end of June or beginning of August. When the trout show up, Evening Tide will go after them.

Finding lots of fluke in the bay inside Sandy Hook this past week, and alot were shorts, but keepers were mixed in. Trips picked up flatties to 4 and 5 pounds, no humongous ones, but a decent size. Squid and spearing were the baits, and chartreuse squid worked well, and so did chartreuse Mister Twister tails. Blues from 4 to 12 pounds were also hooked, and bunker were schooling. We have been looking for weakfish at Chapel Hill Channel and Reach Channel but was finding none so far. But when they show up, Evening Tide will go after them. And we started finding a few weaks last year by July 4, so the trout are due. But charters will also keep sailing for fluke until the season ends.

Evening Tide Charters was boating fluke, plenty of shorts with keepers mixed in, on trips in the ocean along Sandy Hook, A mess of 10 to 15 lbs bluefish were also hitting. In the bay was 75.5 degrees, and Ambrose Channel was 70 degrees, so the ocean was probably around the low 70s. Squid, spearing, sand eels and killies were hooking the fluke, and no weakfish seemed to be around yet, but when the trout show up, Evening Tide will go right after them. Once the weakies show up, they should stick around into September. Evening Tide is probably finished striper fishing for the season, and the bay is certainly too warm for striper fishing to pick up again this season, but the ocean could still see surges of the fish. A load of stripers appeared off the southern Jersey Coast last week, and maybe those fish will migrate up to northern waters close to Sandy Hook.

Evening Tide Charters found fluke along sandy hook ocean beaches and anglers onboard had to wade through shorts to pick up keepers, but the fish were there, Then the boat moved to the back of the bay, and waves and waves of bunker were schooling, and the baitfish were caught and livelined, for huge bluefish were nailed. The water was 73 degrees in the back of the bay, and Evening Tide is now focusing on fluke and blues, and charters will chase weakfish when the trout arrive.

Fluke were hooked from mid-bay to the ocean, and quite a few bluefish turned on around the mouth of the bay, and striper fishing was poor because the water was warming. Bunker sometimes schooled the bay, and the Great Kills area seemed to hold them, but only blues and no stripers chased the menhaden. This trip was targeting fluke and blues but we are eagerly waiting for weakfish to arrive. Weaks should show up any time and should stick around until September or October. We usually land the weaks on white bucktails with a Berkeley Power worm.

A charter telephoned and wanted to catch his first-ever striped bass, so on Sunday we left the dock at 5 a.m. and hit a few spots to try to castnet bunker for live bait in the bay (an experience itself), and livelining bunker (one of our specialties). But no menhaden were balled up enough to catch, so the boat went on the troll at Chapel Hill Channel and the West Bank area, toward the back of the bay, where there was cool, 63-degree water, relatively good conditions for stripers. We found a honey hole and five stripers including two keepers were nailed. Mission accomplished! Seeing the smile on the angler’s face after catching his first stripers was worth a million bucks! A few blues were also boated, and a 20-inch fluke also hit a trolled shad rig, the first time Kyle ever saw a fluke that hit on the troll. Afterward the boat ran to the ocean off the Highlands Bridge, and clam baits were set out, but only skates and sharks bit. This trip ended up with stripers, blues and a fluke in the cooler, the first stripers that the angler ever caught, and it was a success!

The spring striper run seemed on the upswing for Evening Tide Charters, and stripers and blues were hooked on livelined bunker on a trip Sunday in the back of the bay, Capt. Kyle said. That area was loaded with bunker, and on slack tide the anglers switched to trolling and hooked stripers on shad rigs. A fluke rod was also put out while livelining for stripers, and a few nice-sized flatties were boated. Kyle thought the striper run was late, and good fishing was still ahead. Fluke charters are now available, because the season opened. The back of the bay was 66.4 degrees, and some spots were dirty, for some reason.

At least three fishing tournaments took place over the weekend, and boat traffic was heavy on the bay. Anthony Stankovich from Stankovich Auto Body in New Brunswick, his son Scott and friend Bruce Yeager were aboard and trolled the bay and then switched to clamming, but no stripers bit. They moved around to several different spots and then trolled shad rigs and landed stripers and blues. On the way back to port they ran across bluefish and had ball catching them on light rods and metal. But the fishing was generally slow, and the best bite took place along Reach Channel, and the back of the bay was dirty. The back of the bay was 65 degrees, and farther out in the bay along the Reach was 60, so I think striper fishing is running a little behind this year, and I was seeing no good bodies of bunker in the back of the bay yet, although there was a shot of bunker for a moment this season. This charter was a great bunch of guys!