Boats slam bluefish, mullet run begins in the Jersey Shore surf

The air has cooled a bit and the word coming out of Seaside Park is the mullet are starting their run down the beaches.

Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle got its first delivery from its bait provider of ocean caught mullet on Friday morning. Surf fishermen used the bait to catch bluefish in less than ideal conditions because of the east wind that came on Friday. The wind churned up the surf quite a bit and it was not any better on Saturday when the wind changed to the south.

The conditions improved by Sunday when the breeze came around to the northwest and died down. Surf anglers found a lot of small fish in the surf. Grumpy’s had more reports of cocktail size blues hitting fresh mullet at Island Beach State Park. Fisherman’s Headquarters in Ship Bottom reported catches of kingfish on bloodworms on Long Beach Island.

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The west winds should stick around for a few days according to NOAA’s coastal marine forecast, so surf fishermen could have a good week ahead chasing the blues, bonito and fluke.

The party boats bailed the bluefish on Sunday. Capt. Cole Riback on the Queen Mary said it started slowly but built up as the day went on. Capt. Alan Shinn on the Miss Belmar Princess said the blues were running from 2 pounds up to 12 pounds. His high hook caught a five-fish limit and then caught and released nearly three dozen more. He said he finished the day with a full boat limit. Capt. Rich Falcone on the Golden Eagle said the blues were stacked up over the rocky bottom.

The captains didn’t report any bonito or false albacore in their reports however, those fish were caught Saturday in the big swell. Capt. Howard Bogan Jr. on the Jamaica said they caught a couple of bonito and a few bluefish just about everywhere they tried on Saturday, but the bite didn’t develop. Even at one spot where they found the bonito on top chasing bait they only caught a couple out of the bunch.

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Right before the weekend, Fisherman’s Headquarters also reported a false yellowfin tuna was caught off the Barnegat Inlet jetty. The angler was Tim Farrell and fish was in the neighborhood of four pounds. It was caught on a metal lure.

The Paramount party boat went bottom fishing on Saturday. The bite was slow but one fishermen did catch a nice dinner when his hook caught the claw of a two-pound lobster.

The ground swell did not make fluking easy on Friday and Saturday. The reports were slow. The captains were greeted with better conditions as they broke the inlet on Sunday but it sounded like the fluke still weren’t in a biting mood. The Big Mohawk did a lot of searching and did boat a 6-pound fluke, along with a few other keepers. Grumpy’s Tackle weighed in a 3.7-pound surf fluke caught from Brian Arlington on Sunday.

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ fishing: Bluefish blitz boats, mullet run begins in Jersey Shore surf