Dark Horse Charter Fishing

01/01/2025

Happy New Year's from all of us at Dark Horse! This past year has been full of amazing memories and some awesome catches. We are counting down the days until the spring season!

We will be in touch in the next couple of weeks to start the rebooking process. After the rebooking process is finished, we'll be opening our books to the public. Look forward to seeing everyone in the spring!

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas from all of us here at Dark Horse! Can't wait to see everyone again in the spring!

12/16/2024

Looks like we'll be able to bass fish next year! Our season and regulations will remain the same for 2025, while a full addendum will be drawn up for the 2026 season. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, but this is a short term win!

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and its Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board voted today to send the striped bass regulatory considerations through to the full ASMFC as an addendum. What this means is that in 2025 the ASMFC will be looking at ways to reduce mortality sometime in 2026, with public hearings and discussions to ensue during the winter of 2025 and on through to the annual ASMFC meeting next fall. More to come, but the key takeaway here is that there won't be any changes to the striped bass regulations in 2025.

12/11/2024

Well, she's out! That marks the end of another fantastic year of fishing! Cannot thank all of our customers enough for making this year our best yet. You guys are truly the best. Hope everyone has a great winter, and we will see you in the spring! As always, we have some projects in the works... Stay tuned!!

12/07/2024

Last night, the ASMFC released the possiblity of a November "no-target" closure of our Striped Bass fishery next year. This would prevent us from targeting stripers for the duration of the closure, which as many of you know, is by far our best fishing of the year. November is the busiest month for the party/charter boats in our area. A closure at this point in the season would be devastating for our industry.

If you fish with us, any other charter/ party boat, or shop at any of our local tackle shops please consider writing a quick "public comment" email to the ASMFC at [email protected] prior to 11:59pm on December 10th with the subject line of "Striped Bass Comment" stating that status quo is the only viable option. The in-person meeting where the decision will be made is on December 16th in Virginia.

12/01/2024

Cold, very windy and bouncy today. Had a shot at the fish when we first got out there, but it was short lived. Poked around where we've been seeing some life recently and just picked one here and there. Decided to take a ride and look around in our bay out of the wind and came up empty. Loads of bait, just nothing on it.

Taking a pass on tomorrow with the hard wind against the tide. Will keep an eye on this week coming up, but good chance we ran our last striped bass trip of the year today.

Will keep everyone updated with any upcoming openings, either for striped bass or blackfish.

Call or text 973-440-0335 for information and reservations

11/29/2024

Very good fishing today for Jeff and his crew. Went to work right away seeing great action on every drift. Loads of overs with our limit of keepers as well. Still very nice body of fish around!

Back at it in the am.

Just had 2 spots open up Sunday morning

Call or text 973-440-0335 for information and reservations

11/28/2024

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Dark Horse! Looking forward to some time with the family today, and to be back on this incredible fishery we're blessed with tomorrow!

11/28/2024

Great fishing today for Adam and crew. Constant action all day on the jigs with multiple fish on at a time. Ton of overs in the mix today as well as a bunch of keepers and shorts. Can't ask for much more, especially for the end of November!

Off tomorrow for the Holiday, back at it on Friday.

We have spots open Monday and Wednesday next week.

Call or text 973-440-0335 for information and reservations

11/26/2024

Fish definitely didn't mind the rain today! Great bite for Mike and his smaller crew after a few of his guys got scared thinking they were going to melt in the rain. Had action right away this morning with multiple fish on at a time every drift. Again a smaller class of fish but the guys got their keepers to bring home and released a few dozen for another day.

We have a couple spots each day Monday-Thursday next week. Likely our last week bass fishing, so come and get them before they're gone!

Call or text 973-440-0335 for information and reservations

11/25/2024

Fantastic striper fishing today! Finally back out after 4 days of cancellations with the high winds. Had fish flying over the rail from the start of our first drift until we went home. Long drifts with non stop action on the jigs all day. Boat limit of keepers and many released for another day.

Very limited time left for these fish. We had a couple spots open up during the week next week.

Call or text 973-440-0335 for information and reservations

11/20/2024

Good fishing today! Went a different direction trying to find something new to work with. Had a good shot of fish first thing with the shads, getting a couple of good drifts out of it before it dried up. Found some bait so we loaded the well and kept looking. Stumbled across a really nice area of fish with not a boat in sight and the guys went to work! Constant bites on the shads, and had the bass blowing our bunkers out of the water right next to the boat. Easy limit of keepers with many overs and shorts going back. Very good sign after yesterdays subpar bite.

Off tomorrow with this incoming weather, keeping an eye on Friday as well.

Had some dates open up the first week of December. The clock is ticking, get on em before they leave!

Call or text 973-440-0335 for information and reservations

11/19/2024

Pushed the leave time back to 9am today to try to catch the change of tide bite that we've been seeing everyday. Found some scattered life, very good readings but only a couple of bites. Everytime we thought it was going to come together it got mushed quickly. Checked a bunch of different areas, seeing some life everywhere, just nothing like it's been. Picked some here and some there but not what we were looking for. HH had 6. Everything was caught on shads today.

Tomorrow is a new day, we'll see what it brings!

Call or text 973-440-0335 for information and reservations

11/19/2024

Absolutely incredible fishing today! Pushed our leave time back a bit to take care of some things with the boat this morning (huge thanks to John and Matt at Giresi Marine for getting us situated quickly🙏) Left the dock at 11, and was greeted with a wide open bite about 15 minutes from the dock. Drop and stick type fishing from start to finish with bass blowing bunkers out of the water all around the boat for hours. Some truly incredible sights, watching thousands of bass feed around and under the boat. Caught them anyway you wanted today with a ton of fish coming up on top waters. Check out our most recent reel to see a quick video of a feed from today!

Thanks for working with us today guys, I'm glad everything worked out!!

Back at it tomorrow.

We have 4 spots open Monday 11/25

Call or text 973-440-0335 for information and reservations

11/18/2024

Good fishing again on both trips today! The morning started out slow, bouncing around on readings with only a few bites. Waited the tide out and got some really good shots of fish once we got the current. Check out our recent reel to see one of the blitzes. Boat traffic was BAD, but if you got away from them it was good fishing. Easy limit and many releases.
This afternoon we had Ralph and his smaller crew out, saw some incredible feeds around the boat and had a good top water bite. Definitely didn't catch what you saw, but still plenty of bites! Another limit and many releases for another day.

Back at it tomorrow.

Call or text 973-440-0335 for information and reservations

11/16/2024

All out massacre in the slop today! Insane fishing on the shads, with the HH in the mid 20s and a couple guys not far behind that. Fished a couple different areas seeing fantastic fishing everywhere we looked. At one point we had a 1.2 mile long drift holding 2-3 fish on the entire time. Bass absolutely love this NW wind, and I certainly love the lack of boat traffic!

Back at it tomorrow.

Have 11/21 available for charter or open boat

Call or text 973-440-0335 for information and reservations

11/15/2024

Very good fishing on the shads today for Jason and his crew. Took a little while to get the guys dialed in, but we got on some great feeds and had really good shots at them. Multiple fish on at a time for most the morning. Easy limit of keepers and many overs released. Kept it moving all day to stay away from the boat traffic the best we could.

Back at it in the breeze tomorrow!

Remaining Availability for the Season:

Wednesday 11/20 6AM - 2 spots open

Thursday 11/21 6AM - 6 spots/ available for charter

Monday 11/25 6AM - 6 spots/ available for charter

Sunday 12/1 6AM - 6 spots/ available for charter

Call or text 973-440-0335 for information and reservations