In 2003 A 46" Striper Weighed In At 57lbs. And Several Big Fluke

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Ristori: 2003 was a roller-coaster ride for anglers

BY RISTORI
Star-Ledger Staff

Every fisherman will have a different perspective on 2003, depending on whether his favorite fishery was up or down. As noted in Sunday's column, spring striped bass fishing was the best in memory -- especially in Raritan Bay. Yet, even in the case of that species, the fall run was a disappointment for the second year in a row.

The surface action experienced on Nov. 7 in Raritan Bay was the best I've ever seen there. Tom Fote of Toms River and Capt. Hans Kaspersetz joined me in running the Atlantic Yachts Aquasport 25 from Twin Lights Marina in Highlands across to West Bank where a fleet was already into solid surface action. That continued for two hours despite all the boat traffic, and we ran into more of the same on the Jersey side off the Navy Pier on the way back. I got up to 25 releases of mostly 30-to-32-inch bass on pencil poppers in five hours of fishing while Fote topped his fly rod catches with an 18-pounder.

At that point, I thought we were in for a fantastic fall, but the bay fishery died out to such an extent that there wasn't even any of the late afternoon bird play over feeding stripers that often continues into December. There were some good days of casting and jigging both stripers and blues in the ocean, but with one storm after another the fishery became very inconsistent -- and it all ended with a blast on Dec. 4. Surfcasters also experienced some great blitzes of bass and blues, though there would be very little in between and the fishery ended weeks earlier than normal.

Large stripers were also conspicuous by their absence once again in the fall. We were hoping for better after so many big bass were caught in June. The coveted 50-pound mark was broken three times, and each time from shore. The first was a surf-caught 46-inch bass, which would normally be well below the coveted mark but was weighed in at 57 pounds. Paul Haertel of Clifton cast an eel to a 50 -pounder from the end of Barnegat Inlet's south jetty, and Dave Statkus of Rahway used live bunker in Shrewsbury River for 49 3/4-incher which weighed 52 pounds at Crabby's Tackle in Keyport. While trophy bass missed us this fall, several "fifties" were taken by bunker chunkers in Delaware Bay.

Fluking was really a mixed bag. It started out with a blast when the season opened in May, but catching fluke at a 16 1/2-inch minimum was often difficult after that. Fluking improved during the summer and was quite good when the first hurricane blew past far offshore. There wasn't even much of a swell from that early-September storm, but fluking took a nose dive and never recovered.

Though the volume wasn't there, 2003 was certainly the year of the doormats as dozens of fluke exceeding 10 pounds were weighed in. That was especially true late in August when most fluke pros were using live snappers or peanut bunkers. Janet Zlata of Atlantic Highlands topped the north portion of the state with a 17-pounder boated Aug. 31 off Sandy Hook and weighed at The Tackle Box in Hazlet. Another 17-pounder was extracted from Cape May Harbor by Ray Gormley. Joe Fischler of Keyport may have caught the largest fluke tournament winner ever when he entered a 16.2-pounder that won the Sandy Hook Bay Anglers Tournament. Bob McBurnie of Middletown not only boated a 15 13/16-pound doormat in Sandy Hook Channel, but a few days later put his wife, Diane, into a 13.01-pounder on their Carolyn D. from Leonardo.

Susan Landin of Belford broke her own IGFA woman's line class record of 13.39 pounds, set last year, with a 14.35-pounder caught with Phil Lidlow from Belford. In each case Landin's doormat won the Middletown Elks Tournament. Lidlow had missed out on first in July at the Leonardo Fluke Tournament when his 11.63-and-11-pounders fell behind a 14.01-pound doormat by Edward Santiago of Sea Bright. Most anglers feel fortunate to catch even one doormat in a lifetime, but Edward Schaffeld of Califon boated three at the TC Buoy that weighed 10.54, 10.88 and 11.75 pounds at Julian's Tackle in Atlantic Highlands.

Barbara Melinck of Tinton Falls boated a 13.92-pound doormat from Capt. Hal Hagaman's Sea Tiger out of Atlantic Highlands, and Nick Cyprus of Scotch Plains did even better with a 14.4-pounder the next week. Capt. Ed Bunting Jr. set the early pace for Atlantic Highlands party boats when he put Jimmy MacLinden of Newark into a 13 1/2-pounder July 26, and the boat record on Prowler 5 kept getting booted up until Patrick Buzby of Union Township fooled a 13 7/16-pounder.