Into the Backstretch…
We are not quite making the final turn yet, but it is hard to believe that Labor Day is just a couple of weeks away. So far this season, with the exception of last weekend, we have had plenty of great weather for those restricted by the inconvenience of a full time job (employment is such an imposition!). Being able to pick your days is a true advantage of actually living at the Jersey Shore, but with a season like this one, everyone has been able to get in on the action.
Even better for those living with the handicap of actually working, this good run of calm seas and sunny skies has left plenty of vacation and sick days for the upcoming couple of months. If you play your cards right, and get to work on that “to do” list your spouse has hanging on the fridge, the best home stretch yet could be just ahead.
With the exception of a few really freaky thunderstorms this week, the fleet has been out and the boys and been beating the beach. Here is the latest from our Northern NJ network of shops and charter captains so you can make the very most of the couple days ahead of us.
Laurie up at Lake Hoptacong has had things humming at Dow’s Boat Rentals. Lots of hybrid stripers up to 8 lbs. off the points and off Bertrand Island by the Yacht Club. Early and late seems to be best. The smallie action has been very good too with Nolan’s Point being a hotspot. The Knee Deeps Catfish contest saw a whisker over 20 lbs., scoring a $528 grand prize for Jeremy Bryant of Mine Hill.
Brandon up at 46 Bait & Tackle in Palisades Park has a great view of the river, but there is not much going on upstream right now. He figures it will be about 2 weeks before it starts kicking again. A little south of him down by the Verrazano, there is a real good bite on porgies and everyone is filling buckets. A couple good fluke are still hitting as well.
The water is super warm up in the back by Keyport Marine Basin, but Mike still has his guys connecting to nice sized fluke. They are running down outside Chapel Hill Channel to do it, but it’s still worth the trip. The bay is loaded with bait and sharpies are brining along a live well full of peanut bunker to bait up their flatties with.
Ron at Efingers in Bound Brook is on vacation this week so his guys are sneaking out with their flyrods to the Raritan. Lightweight rods (like 3-weights) and some topwater poppers has been a blast with little schoolie stripers banging them hard on top. Not to be outdone, Joe Patullo weighed in a 7lb, 12oz rainbow from the Musconetcong River, also on the fly, that fell for that old faithful woolie bugger. That’s a big trout.
Zubecks in Morgan has had a busy boat ramp this past week with guys putting in for crabs. Roger says there is still good ocean fluking from the Ambrose Channel to the Shrewsbury Rocks and rumblings of night stripers up at Sandy Hook are starting to spread. Word is the clams and eels in the dark are just beginning to produce. There is tons of bait in the back and plenty of cocktail blues in the inlet.
Crabby’s in Keyport has guys filling baskets of blue claws over in the Tom’s River and Red Bank creeks. Fluking is still good off the reach and bending a rod on snappers is getting almost too easy. Great time to take the kids!
Kevin at Bait Your Hook in Atlantic Highlands reports the deepwater fluking continues to make news. The Mudhole is still producing ling and wreck fishing for sea bass is totally worth the effort. There has even been a report of a couple of stripers being taken on bunker spoons relatively close to the Shrewsbury Rocks.
Max at Pride Bait & Tackle in Red Bank was out fishing so I got the word from Mike this week. If you want to stay in the river, there are plenty of small bluefish to play with and the crabbing continues to be excellent. Sandy Hook & Raritan Bays gave up some very nice fluke this past week, with guys using GULP! and bait that they grabbed in the bay. Deepwater fluking is strong and a few threshers were sighted banging the bunker pods off the beach. Being prepared for a whiptail when you are going inshore fluking is always a good idea.
Surf Side Bait & Tackle in Long Branch has some of their speedier anglers chasing false albacore off the beach. Jack has guys throwing deadly dicks and crippled herring at the speedsters. There are still kingfish in the surf, but you have to pick through the spot to get them. Bloodworms, sand worms, and Fish-Bytes will do it. There are too many happy bunker off the beach and plenty of their little cousins in the back.
Much more than “honorable mention”, Dominick at The Bait Shop in Bradley Beach weighed in a 30 ½ -inch fluke this week, caught by Matt Ruding of Neptune City. The 11lb, 8oz monster’s former address was the Sea Girt Reef, the current location (thankfully) is unknown. A hot news flash from this morning (Thursday) is of a moderate sized pod of 12-15lb bluefish that are tearing up gear over by the Bradley Beach pier. Dominick believes that some of those big corncob mullet may be flushing out of the back bringing the choppers in.
Bob down at Better Bait & Ice Shop in Tom’s River has a mixed bag to report. In the river itself, it is pretty much a small bite of lots of snappers, perch and spot. Blowfish over by the power plant and a little further south over by the BB & BI kingfish are on the hook. Bigger fluke and blues are in the inlet and in deeper water in the ocean. There are also reports of some nice sized blues off Sea Girt and Deal.
I did not get a lot of offshore reports from the shops this week, but the bite has been moving closer with mid-range boats connecting on smaller class bluefin, some within 15 miles of the beach. Yellowfin have also been moving inside following the squid wherever they go. In South Jersey last week, two yellowfin in the 30lb range were taken by fluke fishermen on the Ocean City Reef, which is only 4 miles off the beach. The squid were there, the water temperature is the same as it has been offshore, and the tuna showed up. Both fish were taken on live spot that was floated out on top in case a marauding cobia showed up.
Best bet for this week is to be prepared! I would not leave the dock to go fluking or sea bassing in the ocean without having a heavier set-up handy. With reports of tuna showing up in unexpected places, threshers taking a run at inshore bunker schools, and sightings of numerous cobia, being ready for everything is the only way to run. Taking live bait with you is a must with spot topping the list in the live well closely followed by a net full of peanut bunker. You can use them for literally everything. A cobia will not pass up a live eel, but if you don’t want to deal with them, rig a 9-inch Slug-go or a big bucktail with a long curlytail plastic to throw.
Stay Tuna-ed!