6kg doormat hits offshore - Bondiewithlove

Get your nets ready, a 13-pound squid was caught by a deep-sea fisherman on Tuesday.

The big flounder was the first to be reported to the Asbury Park press. It was weighed at the Tackle Box in Hazlet, which has hooked its share of big flounder over the years. The angler was Randy Ciprich of Sayreville. According to Phil Sciortino of the Tackle Box, Ciprich was fishing in 50 feet of water and bouncing a Spro bucktail on a teaser rig with a Gulp bait.

Creekside Outfitters in Waretown also weighed in its largest fish of the season so far on Tuesday. The plaice weighed 8.7 pounds and was caught by Mike Moscufo, who was drifting in the ocean off Barnegat Inlet. It wasn’t too far from the party boat that Miss Barnegat Light was drifting to catch the plaice.

The big fish are just one sign that flounder fishing is picking up. Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park hosted a few weigh-ins from surf anglers. Dominick Talarico stopped by early Wednesday morning with a 23-inch, 5.6-pound flounder for the store’s scale. The day before, Jerry Fabiano had caught eight flounder in 10 casts from the surf. Two of them were keeper-sized, the largest weighing 4.75 pounds.

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Several anglers managed to catch their maximum of three flounder during the Jamaica II’s all-day flounder fishing trip Monday. Capt. Ryan Bogan said they had a quick drift in the morning to work with, but basically caught fish all day.

Captain Cole Riback, aboard the Queen Mary, said the ocean was like glass Wednesday morning. He took his group bottom fishing and reported early catches of carp, whiting, ling and sea bass. Although the daily bag limit leaves more to be desired, sea bass are back in season, albeit with a one-fish limit.

Bluefish have been very hard to come by for over a week now. A few captains on the company payroll have seen surveys but no actual fish. Capt. Alan Shinn aboard the Miss Belmar caught one Tuesday on flounder drifts off the beach north of Shark River Inlet. The small bluefish weighed about a pound.

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The grunting triggerfish are back, but there haven’t been many, if any, caught on rod and reel. At least, none have been reported by tackle shops or boats that the press has looked at. Surf City Bait & Tackle on Long Beach Island reported a few divers spearing triggerfish in the cove late last month. Surf fishermen on LBI are also catching a bunch of jacks.

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel isn’t reporting the news, you can find him in a classroom at the university where he’s a history professor. Contact him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; [email protected].