New York Metro &
New Jersey

November 10th, 2003

Are We Headed in the Right Direction?

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I just got finished reading yet another inaccurate and personally annoying editorial in a local fishing magazine. Man I’m getting tired of hearing about how recreational fishermen are being over-regulated while commercial interests are not being regulated at all. Yes, the second part of that sentence has some truth to it. There’s no doubt that the commercial fishing industry is responsible for 80% of the problems we’re facing out there and should face restrictions accordingly, but to make a claim that anglers as a group are innocent and should therefore not be subject to increasingly tighter regulations as stock assessments dictate is silly, and to deny that anglers have a responsibility to pay for management and law enforcement through a licensing program is selfish and unreasonable. Anyone with even a cursory understanding of fisheries management knows that anglers do have substantial impact. In states where data is available, recreational anglers harvest approximately 30% of popular food fish and in some states (e.g. Florida, Louisiana, Texas etc) they harvest 85 to 100% of popular sport fish. Based on this, one can see that anglers do indeed have a significant effect. To think otherwise is pure denial.

Many angling advocacy groups, which used to focus on conservation, now seem to focus only on access rights. Some even spend an incredible amount of time and energy fighting saltwater license proposals that would in the long run improve angler’s situation by providing more data, more law enforcement, more habitat enhancement programs, and more importantly, more clout. But that’s a whole can of worms I don’t have the space to get into here.

So are we headed in the right direction? From where I sit it doesn’t look that way. Some recreational advocacy groups who seem to have corralled the public into blind submission, are sending out the wrong message and are pushing us in the wrong direction… Too much finger pointing, too much focus on access, and not enough on conservation and habitat protection. It takes a good independent head to see that… I like to think that most flyfishermen have that insight. With that being said, don’t fall prey to the rhetoric out there… Don’t be part of the pack. If you put the fish first you’ll always sleep with clear conscious.

Now that I’ve gotten that out, let’s get on to the reports:

It’s happening friends… And in a big way! We finally got a string of good weather and the western portions of Long Island and all the way down the Garden state exploded with solid bass action. Whoever heard of mid-70 weather in November! You won’t hear any complaints from me. The black cloud (both figuratively and literally) has lifted. A cold front is on the way but I expect it to make things even more insane! But wait… It gets better. Captain Gene Quigley and the folks at Shore Catch have been nailing school blue fin on the fly on every trip out the ledges and wrecks. The inshore action in New Jersey is extraordinary as well with big blues and bass blitzing peanut bunker right on the beach. Out east, still no word of a second run of bass, but there have been plenty of big bluefish to keep anglers happy.

A cold weekend is headed our way and some wind to boot. But those fish are there and despite what the weather is I’ll be out there chasing them… Go fish!

And don’t forget to email me your own reports. Tight lines all.

Tight Lines!

John McMurray

New Jersey

From Southern New Jersey Captain Bryan DiLeo from Iowa Fortune checks in with this report:

Ocean City Report/Atlantic City

This week offered up some very good Striper fishing with the Bass on the
move. Early in the week with the cooler air and water temps the Bass were chasing
bait on the shallowest of flats and tracking very predictably allowing us to
get consistent good shots at on coming schools. Most of these schools ranged
in size from 20" to 28" with the larger Bass working the deeper edges. Heavy
ran mid week along with heavy winds and very warm air changed the recipe a bit
giving us murky warmer water making sight fishing very difficult. Despite the
challenging conditions later in the week the Bass were still there just a bit
deeper and going back into a summer time pattern of first light, late after
noon, last night and of coarse night time. The biggest Bass of the week was taken
by Keith Zimmerman on the fly when he hit a 16lb 36" Bass plucked out of 3
feet of water that when hook took a great 100yrd bull dog first run that made
the reel sing and as always photographed and released unharmed. Summer time
patterns will prevail until the air temps drop and when the do the water will
clear up the Bass will be on the move offering up some prime fall sight fishing
conditions.

From Central New Jersey Captain Gene Quigley from Shore Catch Sportfishing reports fall action on multiple fronts:

The past two weeks I have been experiencing incredible BLUEFIN TUNA action down here in Jersey on the inshore lumps and ridges. Five trips in a row with one rest day in between has yielded over thirty BLUEFIN in the boat  with over forty hookups. All of these fish are ranging 30 to 50 LBS!! On yesterday's trip with Dean Nelson we arrived at the grounds at 6:00 AM, we were doubled up within seconds, and had non stop action right under the boat until 11:00 AM with a total of 11 fish boated and 15 fish hooked. All the fish that we are getting on the fly are coming first thing in the morning, and long flashy flies that imitate Sardines and Sand eels are working best, after 9:00 it is all on jigs and bait with 20# light tackle conventional rods. This is probable the best inshore tuna fishing we have experience in many years. As long as we do not get any major weather systems they should remain here until the end of the month, and I will be running for them as long as they are.

Captain Jim has been working the inshore waters along the beach from Sandy Hook to Seaside and is still finding a good amount of peanut bunker in various locations. So far this year's run of these juvenile bunker has been excellent and should continue for another couple of weeks. Mostly blues were on these baits this week that provided his clients with plenty of action. This week Captain Jim had out Rob Kelterborn and his 15 yr old son Bobby and both had a blast with blues from three to ten pounds. Bobby's first ever on the flyrod went about eight pounds.

Our Striper run really has not even started yet down here along the Jersey Coast, although we have had many tremendous striper days, the best is STILL yet to come.

Talk to you all next week,

Capt. Gene Quigley
Shore Catch Charters

From Northern New Jersey Captain Paul Eidman from Reel Therapy checks in with this report:

Hi fly Guys/Gals-
Anglers from two environmentally minded chemical companies, Jeff Weiss of Target Coatings, and Mike Polek of Eastech Chemical (Boga shot), two enjoyed a fine day of fall bassin aboard Reel Therapy! Conditions this day did not allow us to get outside and out of the Bay, but the backwaters of the Shrewsbury River produced a dozen nice bass on the fly to 12 pounds! Fish were up shallow and eating big deceivers thrown on sinking lines in the current.
Note that this week, there were Gannets diving off of Sandy Hook beach...one of natures little hints that the coming weeks will be very interesting.
If you were thinking about playing hookey during the week, now would be the time to do it, call me and lets make it happen!
Catch em up!
Paul
Capt. Paul Eidman
www.reeltherapy.com
Discover Central NJ's Great Outdoors!
Saltwater Fly Fishing/Light Tackle Charters
Guided Kayak Ecotours

By far, November is the best bass month in the New York Metro area…  This year is no different.  Right now, Jamaica Bay is about as good as it gets with birds and peanut bunker everywhere…  Mostly fish in the 24 to 28-inch range but early in the morning and late afternoon we have been encountering some much bigger fish and they have been smashing top-water offerings in extraordinary displays.  Seems as if the same sort of thing is happening over on the other side.  Captain Dino Torino from Fin Chaser Charters called yesterday and said it was better than September in Montauk with dozens of fish falling to flies in just a few hours with most fish over the keeper size.  Talked to Dino’s partner Frank today and he said the same thing was happening. 

Captain Joe Mattioli from On The Bight Charters was hammering them as well this week…  Check it out:

Hi John
 
The bass fall run has been hot and cold depending on how warm the weather is . When we get a normal crisp cool fall day the bass become active with bass blitzing peanut bunker. Fish up to 15lbs are taking flies Clousers and bunker patterns also  Buck tails and rattle traps  for the spin fisherman. On warmer days the fishing becomes a pick . 
 
 
Capt. Joe Mattioli
On The Bite Charters 

Reporting from Jamaica Bay is Captain David Azar from One More Cast Charters:

The Jamaica Bay Striper Marathon has begun!!!  I spoke to Capt. Robin Calitri at 1:00 o'clock today who told me that he braved wind, rain and fog to get out and he and his clients were rewarded with an exceptional day of fishing.  Robin reported catching at least 40 striped bass , that's right forty, and none were under keeper size (28", approx. 9 lbs.)and an 11 lb blue, and most were taken on poppers !  Now that's why we wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning in lousy weather!  I guess fishing conditions are like sex partners, sometimes VERY BAD can be VERY GOOD!  Way to go Robin.

Very true…  Speaking of Captain Robin Calitri…  He Checked in today with this report:

I showed and international crowd a great time on the ONE MORE CAST.  Phil and Lynn, from Wales had a ball with school size Bass as did Jeff and Eric and Guy Jennings of South Africa who fished the day after running the NYC marathon.  The best days were reserved for Yosute Kamioka and Masahito Sato, Japanese journalists doing a feature on fishing NYC.  Not only did they fish at the Statue of Liberty, Coney Island and Battery Park but they had the finest quality, nonstop, fall, Jamaica bay action with blues to 11 pounds and Bass to 17pounds with tons to  ten pounders on light or fly tackle.  Yosute is the managing editor of Rod and Reel in Japan and Masahito is a skilled photographer and fly-tyer living in Cambridge Mass.

Western Long Island

From the North Shore, Angelo Peluso checks in this week with this report:

Hi John,
Lots of bluefish, small bass and  still an occasional pod of bonito(believe it or not). That brief warm spell got some surface water temperatures back over 60 degrees in a few areas and small numbers of bonito resurfaced...enough to get a few shots and a few fish in the boat.  Actually, talking to a marine biologist, and ichthyologist and a lobsterman I learned that the bonito have a somewhat broader range of temperature tolerance than do the false albies.  They tend to hang around longer than the alberts.  Unfortunately, the mid-week wind and rain put a damper on that dwindling action. But I suspect the lesson is that at this time of year,"seek and perhaps ye shall still find...." at least until mid to late November that is.  A number of bait and bucktail anglers are getting into some decent sized bass off the deeper drops around where bait masses congregate, and wading the beaches has been productive as well.  Hit it right and the bass will be at your feet...a perfect fly rod scenario. By the way, to Stevie M, I am glad these Reel-Time reports have helped you find a few fish late season bonito too...I figured you couldn't resist! Tight lines and regards...Angelo

Interesting stuff Angleo…  Thanks for the report…

Eastern Long Island

Not much to report from Montauk this week, however, there have been plenty of unofficial reports of big bluefish and schoolie bass around.  Most expect the herring run to occur soon, and when that happens, you can be sure there will be a lot of big stripers on the prowl. 

Farther West, Captain Don Kaye from Shinnecock Guiding checks in with this report:

It's about time! The winds finally eased, a bit and the light tackle anglers had a 'shot' at the Bay! Small to medium sized Stripers, EVERYWHERE; pouncing on flies, jigs and all types of light lures & surface plugs.. Larger Bass falling to live baits drifted in the Shinnecock Inlet. Bluefish in the ocean, also taking flies and lures. If the warm weather trend continues and the winds stay reasonable, we'll have some GREAT late Fall sessions at Shinnecock! Capt. Don Kaye, Shinnecock Guiding, 631-7288175

Reporting from the shore this week is Joel Filner:

The weather was absolutely the best for casting, light clothing,
warmish water, light surf, and an overall great experience. Only one
thing missing was fish. Small bass (14 to 18 inches) and a few blues
were all that happened over the weekend from the beach. The only
positive reports were the early morning fishermen at the Sag pond
outlet on Saturday and even that died down by 10 AM as the tide
turned and the fish went away. Very little bait in the water, and
little activity from Montauk to Shinnecock. Fished the Mecox Cut on
Sunday morning along with 70 or so other surfcasters to the same tune
of one or two little fish and by 8 AM all turned off and away.  58
degree ocean, 59 degree bay, 66 degree day and a good time was had by
all.

That’s it for this week.  A bit of wind this weekend but certainly doable.  See you out on the water.