Trophy stripers take live eels and metal lips for boat anglers out front, fluke fishing improves in the surf, and racer bluefish mix in with gator blues and schoolie stripers.
by OTW Staff
Northern New Jersey Fishing Report
Big bass, racer bluefish, keeper fluke, and come Friday, black sea bass, are all fair game this week. The hordes of gator blues have thinned out as smaller co*cktail and racer blues file into the inlets, rivers and bays, often mixing in with schoolie and slot-class stripers.
Meanwhile, fluke fishing continues to give up quality keepers despite colder-than-usual water temps in places like the ocean surf. The best fluke fishing is in the rivers, while there are plenty of shorts to weed through in places like Barnegat Bay. And while some anglers are chomping at the bit to catch a doormat, others are eager to tangle with trophy stripers, which are being caught on live eels and metal lips off the beaches of northern and central Jersey.
Patrick Sciortino from the Tackle Box in Hazlet said there are lots of big blues crushing topwater plugs in the surf, some of which are up to 17 or 18 pounds. He added that there are also a lot of people doing well with keeper size bass on clams in the surf, but bunker still almost impossible to get; they haven’t had fresh bunker in 5 days, which is very uncharacteristic for this time of year. However, big bass from the Chesapeake are still being caught out front by the boat guys, so they’ve been selling eels like crazy. There are fish from 40 to 50 pounds, Sciortino said, but many of those 50-inch class stripers are looking very skinny due to the lack of bunker. In the bay there are still plenty of smaller, picky stripers, which is why many anglers are shifting focus toward fluke. There has been good fluke action in the ocean surf, and in the river for kayak anglers. From the surf, smaller bucktail jigs and Gulp are putting keeper fluke on the beach, as well as squid and spearing, so swing by the shop to pick up some bait or swimming mullets, grubs, and bucktails.
Joe Julian at Julian’s Bait and Tackle in Atlantic Highlands said there are tons of gator bluefish in the surf from Sandy Hook to Long Branch, as well as in the rivers. He said the bunker they did have recently moved out into the ocean, so fresh bunker has been tough to get, but there are lots of 40 and 50 pound bass being caught out on the reefs on everything from large, deep-diving metal lips to live eels. Joe also added that there are lots of people getting their fluke limits, but the fishing is day to day. Some of the boats are going out one day with limits all around, other days, only half the boat gets their limit. Right now, he said, it seems like the younger crowd wants to catch big bass, and the older crowd wants to catch their keeper fluke. Most of the successful fluke fishing is happening with Gulp and bucktails, but salmon strips are the new craze thanks to the guys who come down from Pennsylvania in search of flatfish. Joe said the forecast for the weekend doesn’t look great, but they said the same thing last Saturday and the weather ended up nice enough to bring out the crowds, which was refreshing to see.
Mike at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright reported that they’ve got some big bluefish and bass showing up off the beaches. The surf-caught bass have been almost exclusively on clams, and there are quite a few keeper-class fish being landed. The blues are hitting almost exclusively on topwater in the surf, and some of them are 12 to 13 pounds. He mentioned that the river still has some bass too, and they’re being caught mostly on bucktails and SP minnows. But back out front, fluke fishing has also really picked up in the surf for those throwing Gulp and bucktail jigs, meanwhile, just off the beaches, guys who are trolling or dropping live eels are hammering some 50-pound class stripers.
Mike Gleason at TAK Waterman in Long Branch said they’re seeing better ocean fishing for stripers this week as those Chesapeake fish continue to ride up the coast. He noted that there’s quite a bit of bunker around, finally, so that should hopefully keep some of these bass around for a bit longer on the northward journey. Mike said the eel bite has been dominant for trophy stripers out front, but there’s been a good plug bite as well on deep-divers; just make sure you can get them down around 8 to 10 feet, as that’s the money zone. Bluefishing, on the other hand, has been decent, but not like it was last week, and fluke fishing has yielded steady results even with the colder water temperatures. The fluke bite is slower in surf, he said, with almost all the keepers coming from the river and and the bay. However, there is a good pick for smaller stripers in the ocean surf on clams, shads and bucktail jigs.
Jesse at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar reported there were bluefish up in the inlet this morning as well as out front, where guys jigging heavy swim shads for bass wound up getting their plastics mutilated by gator blues that were hugging bottom. Up until recently, they had bluefish all the way in the backwaters as far up as the boat launches. He said fluke are being caught with some regularity in the rivers, and the guys out there in rowboats and kayaks are getting at least one or two keepers each day on bucktails and Gulp. Jesse mentioned that there are some small bass near the bridges, where bait is corralled and bass can take shelter, and they’re being caught on swim shads and bunker chunks early in the morning. The bluefish, he said, are hitting just about anything you throw at them, from paddletails and minnow plugs to tins and topwaters, as they move toward the ocean front.
The Skylarker out of Belmar reported that they were out earlier last week for some bottom fishing and they caught a good mix of ling, throw-back sea bass, cod and throw-back blackfish. It was a good way to scout for the sea bass opener on Friday, which they are all geared up for. The skipper mentioned he is currently waiting on an order of fresh clams to be delivered for their Friday sea bass trip. Other than bottom fishing, they’ve run a couple slow striper trips recently, but the sea bass season is their bread and butter, so give them a shout to get in on the opening day action.
Logan at The Reel Seat in Brielle said the bluefish bite is pretty consistent this week, and that they’re seeing a little more volume but a smaller class of blues. Initially they were mostly in the 10- to 12-pound range, but now some co*cktail blues are mixed in with the gators. There are more bass moving into the river this week too, with the best fishing happening around dusk into the nighttime hours. The oceanfront bass bite is great for the boat crowd, with stripers up to 50 pounds being caught up near Manasquan. He added that fluke fishing has been very consistent in the river, with good size and quantity. Logan said he has been catching keepers predominantly on Gulp shrimps and bucktails worked very slowly along the bottom. He also mentioned that they haven’t received much word on the offshore front, but based on current water temperatures, it’s looking like a week or two from now should find some of those bluefin sliding up the coast and into slightly shallower environs. What they’re looking forward to in the more immediate future, is the sea bass season opener on Friday. Swing by to grab your black sea bass fishing needs!
Kyle Tanger at Fishermen’s Supply in Point Pleasant Beach reported that there has been an excellent bluefish bite in the river, through the inlet and Canal, and up into the bay. Topwater plugs, SP Minnows and Hydro Minnows seem to be the top producers, but bucktails and soft-plastics on jigheads are working in the Canal and the inlet too. They’re starting to see more blues varying in size from 5 pounds to 15 pounds this week, and there are even some bass mixed in with them around dusk, he mentioned; however, there’s no real rhyme or reason to finding them, the bass bite has been pretty sporadic. Kyle said they have also received good reports of weakfish by surprise while anglers are targeting blues by jigging the bottom. He said 7-inch finesse soft plastics are catching some larger specimens that have been mixed in with the blues, much like the bass have. Fluke fishing, he said, has been great, with multiple fish over 25 inches caught in the river over the weekend. He noted that the further back in the river, the better the fluke fishing seems to be. Most anglers are catching them on Gulp and BaitFuel grub tails, which is a new scented artificial bait they’re carrying to broaden the bait selection for fluke fishermen. Offshore, golden tilefishing is great in Hudson Canyon with most of the private boats and party boats getting limits, but they’re fishing shallower due to excessive amounts of dogfish on bottom in the deeper holes. Other than that, they’re geared up for sea bass season on Friday with bait, jigs, Z-Man teasers, and much more. Stop in to check out the selection and load up for sea bass!
Chris Parlow from Captain Bill’s Landing in Point Pleasant Beach reported that fishing for fluke and bluefish in Manasquan Inlet was excellent this week. The blues, he said, have been hitting topwater and plugs with reckless abandon. Fluke fishing along the sea wall at the inlet has been producing some very large fluke on killies and silversides. Meanwhile, the ocean striper bite picked up this week as fish from the Chesapeake continue to pull up along the coast for the boat fishing crowd.
Gabriel Tackle in Brick reported that the fluke bite remains good in the Manasquan River and in the north end of the Barnegat Bay. They had a 27.5-inch, 8-pound fluke weighed in at the shop earlier this week. There are still plenty of bluefish around, with anglers catching at the inlet, Canal, Barnegat Bay, and on the beaches. The striper bite, they said, remains good in the river and bay, and there’s plenty of action in the surf with stripers being landed on clams and reports of blues in the mix.
Charlie’s Bait and Tackle in Normandy Beach said last week they had a lot of bass around and blues in the back, but now the blues are in thick out front, and the bass are mixed in with them. Some of the blues in the surf have been up to 15 pounds, and some smaller ones are mixed in now, but guys have been catching the bluefish on mullet, SP Minnows and topwater plugs, while bass are taking clams. Fluke fishing has been good up in the bay, although there are not many keepers up in the north end. The better fluking for keeper-class fish has been concentrated in and around the Manasquan River where they’re taking Gulp and bucktail jigs.
Frankie Z. at Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle in Seaside Park said there have been tons of bluefish on the beach, and there are still a fair amount of bass with them. From the surf, bluefish have been taken on finger mullet, poppers, metals and SP Minnows, while in Barnegat Bay, blues from 6 to 14 pounds are hitting spooks and pencil poppers. Frankie mentioned that the blues are long and skinny in many cases due to the lack of bunker, and one customer filleted a bluefish that was actually full of cinder worms! Talk about a dire need for bait. On another note, he said the black drum bite from last week has slowed down in the bay, but there are still some big fish to be caught. Earlier this week, they even had a 33-pound black drum weighed in at the shop that was caught on clams in the surf. Stripers are also being taken on clams off the beaches, but they don’t seem nearly as interested in hitting lures as they do “the snot”. Lastly, Frankie said fluke fishing has been slow on the beach and better in the river. The bite has slowed down just a little with the wind and weather, but there are keepers to be caught on Gulp in the backwaters. The shop will have fresh shelled clams on Friday for the opening day of black sea bass season, so swing by for some bait if you plan to hit the sea bass grounds.
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Best Bets for the Weekend
In the surf, soak some clams or finger mullet to put some stripers or blues on the beach, and if bait isn’t doing it, cast around some poppers, tins, or swim shads to decipher the bite. If you find yourself fishing from the beach, keep a rod rigged with a bucktail jig and have some Gulp grubs or swimming mullets handy, because there are some keeper fluke roaming around out there. If the action is slow for fluke, bass, or bluefish out front, have a Plan B ready and shift focus to the rivers, the inlets, or your favorite corner of Barnegat Bay.
Big bass will continue to arrive off the coast of Jersey through this weekend, so if you are heading out for the sea bass opener after Friday, it’d be wise to bring a heavier setup rigged and ready with a deep-diving metal lip in the event you run into some trophy-class stripers pushing north.
