ARCTEKJim

Landing a big blackfish


Thursday, November 23, 2006

A 13.6-pound blackfish was boated Monday by Joe Minehan of Linden while fishing Sandy Hook Reef with Capt. Fred Gamboa on Andrea's Toy from Keyport. The huge tog was weighed at Crabby's Tackle in Keyport after hitting at the last spot Gamboa fished.
Tony Picaro of Linden, former baseball coach at the high school, arranged the charter after seeing Gamboa's name in this column and remembering him as an opponent from Elizabeth on the diamond. Picaro's party limited with blackfish that ran up to 5 pounds plus the trophy tog.

Clamming has been the best bet for stripers lately, and bunker specialist Chuck Many of Annandale didn't hesitate to fish that way Monday when he had Tyler Duplaga, a youngster on the Little League team he coaches, and Tyler's grandmother, Sue Sabatini, aboard his Ty Man II from Highlands.
The Califon residents caught nine stripers on Romer Shoal, including a 30-incher, plus a couple of skates before getting a shot at small bass under birds near the Coast Guard Station in Sandy Hook Bay where 10 shorts were jigged. That surface action has been a rare event so far this fall, but there's hope for more after the present northeaster' blows through and, hopefully, brings in some of the stripers we've been hearing about off Montauk.
Capt. Randy Stamm had a good shot of stripers from his Dream Chaser while eeling with his son, Eric, Saturday morning in Ambrose Channel, but Sunday's reports were poor and it was the same story Monday when he joined me on Team Wellcraft as we hardly marked anything on the same drifts. Mike Augustyniak of Bayonne boated the only keeper as Bob Stasiulaitis of Bridgewater and I managed only a couple of shorts and a bluefish.
Gene Graman of Middletown made two trips that day with That's It, also from Twin Lights Marina in Highlands, and came up with just two shorts.
Ambrose pro Dave Lilly of Hazlet caught a 28-pounder on eels there Saturday along with a 30-incher and two shorts. He fished hard the next day for nothing in the same spots plus Sandy Hook Channel and the Rip before drifting through the clamming fleet on Romer to catch a few barely keeper bass.
Capt. Hans Kaspersetz of Weehawken released 16 sailfish in three days of fishing the Central American Presidential Tournament in Guatemala last week to lead his Team Priority to victory.
Jim Vaughn of Lake Whales, Fla., picked up a lot of points with two marlin releases in addition to 13 sails, and Jim McCord of Fort Myers, Fla., added nine sails. That victory boosted Team Priority to second in the yearly tournament that also has competitions in Costa Rica and Venezuela.
Boaters generally had slow striper fishing, but Capt. Bruce Miller trolled bunker spoons at Shrewsbury Rocks from Mirage out of Point Pleasant with the Ray Huffman charter from Hightstown for two short bass before a switch to shad rigs produced 36 more from 24 to 27 inches with only two keepers of 34 and 32 inches. Miller said all those throw-backs reminded him of the fluke season.
Boats clamming to the north had some good action with shorts plus some keepers. Capt. Ron Santee of the Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands drifted with clams down the beach and found lots of action with short bass plus good numbers of keepers over the weekend, though it was almost all shorts Monday. Spiny dogfish were a big problem Saturday, but not as bad the next day. Scott Hashizaki of Mahwah managed a 23-pound striper over the weekend, and 9-year-old Ryan Silverman boated a 14-pound linesider.
The Benchmark from Twin Lights clobbered stripers while clamming Friday and Saturday at Romer Shoal. Boat traffic slowed Sunday's bite, but it was back in shape Monday.
At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Rob Semkewyc of the Sea Hunter picked away at stripers on eels in Ambrose Channel, and had pool winners ranging from 17 to 26 pounds.
Capt. Art Hilliard of the Eagle clammed down the beach Saturday and found lots of short bass, including a new body of fish as small as 18 inches. They did find five keepers among them up to a 30-incher for Jim Henzler of East Hanover.
The night trip for Rohm-Hass started slowly at Flynn's Knoll with wind against tide, but there was better action at Romer. Joe Jacobsen from Levittown, Pa., topped the catch with a 30-inch striper. Sunday's trip was for blackfish on a very crowded Sandy Hook Reef where a dozen drops were required but most tog were keepers. Ted Zadohomski of Newtown, Pa., boated a 9.1-pounder, and Kevin Evans from Linden had a 7.5-pound black.
Capt. Willie Egerter Jr. was pleased with Tuesday's sea bass bite from his Dauntless. Some anglers bagged eight to 10 bass and as many ling. A dozen big porgies were caught, though the main body of those fish has departed.
Capt. Mike Copeman ran an open trip with Renegade, and went clamming due to the lack of jigging action. Bob and Chris Reynolds, Jay Baskin, Brian Vocke, Scott Moss and Al Gardano clammed about 25 short bass off Sandy Hook, but added a few keepers by trolling during late afternoon. There was no bird action. Open trips at $80 per person are scheduled for the next three days. Call (732) 718-8339 for reservations.
Capt. Russ Binns of Toms River ran up the beach Sunday and found those working birds at Shrewsbury Rocks where anglers on his Mar-lin jigged some small bass and blues (one of which had its tail bitten off) before heading up to Sandy Hook for more bass up to 26 inches on clams. A few more bass and blues were jigged under birds on the way back just south of Shark River Inlet.
Schuyler Tuna Fishing Club of Kearny had good sea bass fishing last weekend with Capt. Ken Namowitz on Mimi VI. Steve Kasinski won the pool with a 7 1/2-pound blackfish.
At Brielle, Capt. Howard Bogan Jr. reports his last two canyon trips with the Jamaica produced bluefin tuna action plus some albacore and one yellowfin. Schools of bluefins were 100 to 150 feet thick under the boat Friday night when two of about 150 pounds were boated and the rest released. A big swordfish was lost Sunday night, and another caught at 6 a.m. After that a yellowfin and an albacore were boated before bluefins moved in and a 135-pounder was taken. Mike Jung from Queens later fought a 70-inch bluefin for an hour to add to the 70-pound yellowfin he'd jigged earlier. The Jamaica has room on canyon trips sailing at 6 p.m. Sunday and Nov. 29 plus Dec. 3, 10 and 17. Call (732) 528-5014 for reservations. The same applies to special 14-hour wreck trips departing at 5 a.m. tomorrow and 4 a.m. Sunday plus Dec. 3.


Al Ristori may be reached at cristori@aol.com

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