Before we start, a quick reminder. If you recall, and I don’t know how you can forget, this weekend is the first anniversary of our visit from Hurricane Sandy. Truly hard to believe that 12 months have past since she blew up our lives. More amazing is the way the people of New Jersey fought back to rebuild, and, most did so before the Summer season that our financial lives depend on. Hate to use a Madison Ave slogan to illustrate anything but… Jersey Strong for sure.

You can pretty much drop the “Captain” from the masthead of this week’s report since I have been doing nothing but beating the sand with my truck since the last day of last week’s N’oreaster. For me, the surf fishing has just been awesome. For some others… not so good.

It’s funny, I can run the boat for friends or a charter, and if we all do not hammer the stripers and catch at least one or two real cows, the day really does not feel like much of a success. When you run the beach or the jetties, a single fish is all it takes to make your day. Same guy, same species, same ocean, totally different frame of mind. Year after year. Crazy, right?

From the furthest reaches or our northernmost coastline right down to the tip of the Cape, fishing the beach right now is all about the sand eels. In my neighborhood, we have not seen them in the wash like this in ten years. A flush out of resident stripers from the back combined with the beginning of the fall run of fish from the North has made for some truly decent surf fishing from the northern tip of Brigantine down to Longport. In Brigantine on Wednesday there were LOTS of bass to weigh in. A legit blitz hit the beach with one of our local lady anglers ripping 20 bass of keeper size out of the waves. Life’s a beach! Boat anglers working the shoals off of Brigantine whomped them as well.

Incidentally, the “small” bass fishing in the back bays has been nothing short of epic, with guys popping up 20 or 30 in two hour after work excursions. From the banks or from the boats hitting skinnier water, 18-24” stripers are all over the back. The bait back there is still totally thick, with rain bait clouds and 3.265 billion peanut bunker. Mike Shipton counted them yesterday after doing his Northern NJ report.

Brick Fishing Report

From Tom Wolfe up at Jersey Tackle in Brick, news of tons of short bass along the beaches. Be sure to tie a teaser on my friends. Some bigger bass are being caught to the north. A few bluefin have been caught on the troll and a few others on bait but the real Fall, tighter to land, run and gun assault has not started yet. The river is still stacked up with bass up to 28 pounds being taken on swim shads, eels and sand eel looking jigs like Avas. Tog in the canal with lots more throwbacks than keepers, a some prehistoric bluefish marauding around running from 11-15 pounds.

Another Tom, across town in Brick at Pell’s Fish and Sport says Ava 17’s in fluorescent green, Deadly Dicks, or any sand eel looking profile is the ticket for the beach, unless of course you want to crack some shells. Brick Beach and Mantoloking as pretty hot for action right now even though the numbers of smaller fish really outweigh the keepers. Boat anglers just off the beach are murdering big, chopper blues on Big Crocs and the beach is getting an occasional rush.

Tom’s River Fishing Report

Further South, Jeff at Murphy’s Hook House in Tom’s River has a few keeper bass being caught on the beaches mixed in with lots of shorts. Another strong recommendation for long, slim lures with sand eel colored teasers tied up the leader.

Atlantic City Fishing Report

Real BIG news from the Atlantic County Surf Fishing Derby (I co-chair this contest with local legend Don Brown from Capt. Andy’s in Margate). Noel from One Stop Bait & Tackle in Atlantic City got to really give his scale a workout on a 47-pound, 49.5” slob striper that was caught on a clam at night. Angler Joe Cook has been known to catch some bigguns, but this baby is a tourney winner for sure. Biggest weigh in fish before this big girl was 21 pounds. Going to be tough to beat.

Somers Point Fishing Report

Team Tackle Direct has been banging the beaches hard the last week or so and although most of the fish have been smaller, the numbers have been truly impressive in the back. “You really can almost catch as many as you want…” Pro Staffer Paul Wheaton chimed in, “it is a topwater blast”. Not all are small, as customer Danny D shows us all. This 34.5-pound, 43” beast was taken on a plug. A great catch for an angler that puts in the time and works it hard. Danny had a 21-pound fish the very next day.

Ocean City Fishing Report

In Ocean City the boys at Fin-Atics are recommending taking a shot at smaller stripers on the outgoing in the back near the bridges and major channel intersections. Soft plastics in a 1/2 to 3/8 oz jig head seem to be the best approach. Jetties on the North end of the Island seem to be firing up a little better in the evening this week, but the tides look better this weekend than mid week so it should be a considered spot. Togging in the back with green crabs is fun with lots of throwbacks, but a real challenge for any angler.

Interesting developments in two local tournaments over the last week. The first ever Ocean City 100th Anniversary Surf Fishing Tournament ran last weekend, an ASAC rule event. There were 46, 6 person teams that participated and cash prizes totaling $20,000 were shelled out. 275 anglers, many with pro-credentials that were longer than they could cast (500’ was the winning long toss in the contest) and not one single striper was caught. Biggest fish award went to a redfish, of all things. Go figure. Reviews from those that participated were still very positive so kudos to the organizers.

Sea Isle City Fishing Report

Mike at Sea Isle Bait & Tackle backs up all of what you have heard on back bay stripers but throws in the suggestion to work those bridge shadow lines after dark. During daylight bucktails with twister tails, Rattletrap and poppers, but after dark go plastic. Up the street at Two Chums Bait & Tackle, the crew is on the same page. If you work it hard you will get a keeper or two, but you are going o enjoy lots of action along the way. Who could ask for more than that?

As you push further South into the Bay the story really does not change much, so now that we have the scoop, let’s make the plan!

Best Bets for the Weekend

Hit both doors, the back and the front. With low tides a couple hours after sunrise the last of the outgoing should look good for inlet jetties and beaches near the inlets. A move to the back for some casting to deeper channel mouths with bucktails and rattletraps should time well with the bait moving back in and the peanuts are there; the bass should be too. Later in the afternoon you will get a good 3-4 hours of outgoing so back to the inlet rocks and nearby sand. Once the sun goes down, hop in the truck and do a little bridge running with your soft plastic in the shadow lines. It will be blowing SW Sat with the fans on Med-Hi so take that into consideration when you pick your spots. Better beach fishing on Sunday with NW 5-15.

I’m not going too far out on a limb by saying if you fish this weekend, and go about it smart, you are going to catch. Size is another thing all together but we all know size really does not matter… or does it?

Stay Tuna-ed!