Before we get started I need to remind everyone that it is MANDATORY that you register with the State of NJ Saltwater Registry before you hit the beach, boat, or rocks. The website to do so (and that is the only way to do it) is up and running at www.nj.gov/dep/saltwaterregistry/index.html. It is free, but the fines are big if you don’t have a card on you.
I want you all to know that I have been diligently harassing the pre-season fluke stocks as hard as I possibly can. The FmTuna is in the water and in my little slice of the world, the fluke are where they are supposed to be, when they are supposed to be there, and doing what they are supposed to do – chewing like mad. The winter is over; it’s time to start killin’ and chillin’, and the starting gun goes off this Saturday. Hold my calls, sharpen the knives, and check out what your neighborhood shops know before you hit the water. Here we go, from the top of the Garden State to the Delaware Bay:
The folks up at Dow’s Boat rental on Lake Hopatcong are reporting that the trout fishing is just awesome with those tasty battlers taking trolled Phoebes and Rapalas in the main lake. Speaking of tasty, the walleye bite has turned on and there have been some good catches of hybrid stripers on live bait and floating Rapalas.
Dave up at the Reel Seat in Brielle sends the word that the striper jigging that had died off earlier in the week is back on in a big way. Slinging clam in the Raritan Bay has been paying off also. Numerous reports of bunker schools up river and near Staten Island have the guys starting to get all wound up but they are marking them down deep so there is no explosion of action yet. But if the bait is there, you know it can’t be far off. The Manasquan area is reporting lots of small bluefish, which are just a blast on light tackle and great to strip down for baits for the opening day of summer flounder season this Saturday.
Fisherman’s Supply in Point Pleasant is literally jumping with activity as Sandy Hook is firing up with both stripers and bluefish near the tip and on the back side. There was a several hour blitz of big runner blues on the back side that had anglers heaving plugs from the sand. The new Storm Mag Thundersticks sporting some big eyes and VMC trebles were pulling double duty on both the stripers and blues. Ron reports that young Kenny Bala was out fishing with his grandpa and trolled up a nice 15-pound striper to take home. You can’t help smiling when you hear that! The regulars that work the canal have been the shop saying that the pre-season fluking has been better than average.
There is so much going on at Harry’s Army navy that is it hard to figure out where to begin! It is 100% Game On!
In the freshwaters of Prospertown and Assunpink, not only the trout fishing has taken a big bump up with the warmer weather, but the largemouth are chewing both on and off the beds. Small finesse baits, your artificial worm of choice, or anything else that will annoy a nesting largemouth are the go-to.
If you hit the river, the Delaware is rocking. Big stripers are still taking live baits, but medium-sized topwater plugs are doing the trick as well. Similar reports coming in to Harry’s from the front beaches around Island Beach and the back of Raritan bay where those big-headed bluefish are tearing up tackle while marauding for something to fill their skinny bodies out.
And all this before we even get to opening day of summer flounder! By the way, Harry’s will give you 10% off any Berkley Gulp product if you mention On The Water when you pick it up.
The guys at Grumpy’s had a busy week with a fairly steady stream of 10- to 15-pound stripers marching through the store to the scales. A good mixed bag of decent numbers of both stripers and puppy drum have kept the clam-slingers extra busy. Seems like the smaller stripers are whacking smaller swimmers in the back bay as well.
As the water in the surf starts to warm up (54 to 55 degrees according to Greg) so are the results for all those guys that use Fisherman’s Headquarters as their home base. They got a fresh load of bunker in today and it took very little time for two of their regulars to whack a couple keeper stripers and 7 nice blues to 7 pounds off the mid-island beach. Clam has also been working double duty on stripers and a surprising number of small drum taken along the front beaches of LBI.
Capt Andy at Riptide in Brigantine has similar stories to tell with lots of puppy drum on clam. This past Saturday broke wide open with a parade of 30- to 32-inch stripers coming in from the Seawall all the way down to the South Jetty. Regular Joe Curinga has whacked 7 keeper stripers in the last 7 days, his longest streak ever, and today is his birthday so who knows what is going to happen! Capt. Andy’s 44-inch “Striper Bounty” is still up for grabs with about $250 in the bag from participating anglers.
The “other” Capt. Andy’s, in Margate saw a solid run of tog coming to their scales before the season slammed shut like submarine hatch, locking us out of the blackfish until mid-July. Although the front beach has been a little quiet, the back bay has medium-sized stripers being caught in the warmer backwaters and impressive catch-and-release summer flounder reports. There are some hungry bluefish marauding back there too. Capt. Andy’s has a full load of fresh baits waiting in the wings for Saturday’s opening day.
Team Tackle Direct from Somers Point was sneaking out after hours to skulk around in the back-bay areas to see what they could nail down before going back to work. I confirmed a rumor of a 28-inch weakfish when I stopped in to pick up my new six-tube rod rack for the front of my Sequoia. I really wanted to call the angler’s bluff, but he had a picture. Atta boy Doug! Good reports on both perch and stripers up the river from the rest of the crew and similar to other local check-ins, there have been a good number of 20-pound and under Black Drum caught on clam while waiting on a striper bite. There is lot of bait in the back and there are sporadic reports of bluefish on the prowl.
Bill over at Fin-atics in Ocean City had one of those great stories for us this week. Catches were good for striper, drum and pre-season fluke, but the winner of the week was 7-year-old Channon Styer of Estelle manor. Channon, armed with her trusty “little kid” combo with 8-pound-test monofilament whacked a beautiful 29-inch keeper bass. It just does not get any better than that. Fin-atics is loaded up with everything fresh that you need for this upcoming weekend from minnows to eels, and tells me they are saving some “secret spots” they are only sharing with customers in person.
Down the Cape a ways, Rusty down at Off The Hook in Cape May had solid striper activity mostly on bunker this week. The good news is that the action is both by boat and on land with most of the good catches coming from shallower, near shore areas. From Reeds beach all the way thru the Villas and over to Fortesque, the fishing jumped up several notches. The Ferry Jetty and some of the Wildwood beaches saw their share of action too for both stripers and drumfish.
Best Bets for the Weekend