The weather didn’t make things easy on fishermen in New Jersey this week, but the weekend forecast looks promising, and when the weather has been good, the fishing has been great.
Stripers
Last weekend, big stripers assaulted the bunker schools off Monmouth County. Fish up to 48 pounds were caught by anglers live-lining bunker and trolling bunker spoons or deep-diving plugs reported Dave at The Reel Seat in Brielle.
The Shrewsbury Rocks have been one of the hot spots, and Max at Pride Bait and Tackle weighed in a 40-pounder taken from there this week.
The bite has been best in the afternoons reported Bayden at Efingers Sporting Goods in Bound Brook. He’d heard of at least eight bass heavier than 40 pounds caught this week, including a few 48-pounders.
The striper bite from the beaches has been inconsistent, reported Dave from the Reel Seat. The fish have been staying offshore with the bunker.
Some smaller, keeper-sized bass have been taken off the beaches on clams reported Mark at The Bait Shop in Bradley Beach.
Striper fishing in the rivers and backwaters has been pretty good. Dave at the Reel Seat said fishermen using small bucktail jigs or Fin-S Fish on a jighead are catching 22- to 24-inch stripers. These fish, though too small to keep, are lots of fun to catch on light tackle. And there are some bigger stripers still feeding in the rivers. Max at Pride Bait and Tackle weighed in a 17-pounder taken from a dock in the Navesink this week.
Daryl at Efinger’s reported some clam worm activity in the Manasquan River this week, which has led to some surface action with small stripers. He was planning on checking it out with his fly rod.
Chunking in Raritan Bay is still producing fish said Brayden of Efingers. Bunker heads are tempting some of the bigger stripers that are still lurking in the bay.
Fluke
The backwater fluke bite is still excellent, but the ocean fishing is beginning to perk up as well reported Max at Pride Bait and Tackle. Max reported one angler limiting out on fluke to 8 pounds this week.
Hard-bottom areas in northern Monmouth County are producing the best action, reported Dave at the Reel Seat. Bucktails hopped along the bottom have produced fish up to 10 pounds.
Shore anglers are getting in on the fluke action as well. Mark at the Bait Shop weighed in a 6.4-pounder taken from the jetty at Shark River Inlet by Shirley Williams.
In Raritan Bay, fluke fishing with bucktails has been great when the water temperature spikes a few degrees says Brayden at Efinger’s. When the water is cooler, the bite becomes tougher and drifting strip baits on fluke rigs out-produces the bucktails.
Bluefish
A fresh wave of bluefish invaded the Navesink River this week said Max at Pride Bait and Tackle. The 3- to 6-pounders moved in and have been attacking jigs and plugs.
Dave at the Reel Seat reported 4- to 5-pound bluefish mixing in with the schoolie stripers in the rivers. The blues have been hitting the same soft-plastic baits as the bass, but as you know, bluefish and soft-plastics are usually a bad combination.
Mark at the Bait Shop said the big bluefish roaming the ocean beaches have scattered, but are still being caught occasionally.
The party boats out of Belmar, when they are sailing, have had no problem finding the big blues.
Sea Bass and Ling
Quality black sea bass to 4 pounds have been mixing in with the fluke over hard bottom, but they aren’t too abundant.
The ling seem to have moved to deeper water, and the fishing has gotten better.
Weakfish
The Bait Shop weighed in a 5.5-pound weakfish this week. The fish took a bucktail intended for striped bass.
Dave at the Reel Seat had heard some rumors of weakfish in the rivers, but nothing concrete. In years past, Dave said, this time of year was prime time to catch weakfish in North Jersey.
The largemouths appear to be in post-spawn reported Brayden at Efinger’s, as they have been very aggressive lately. One angler on Musconetcong caught a number of bass to 4 pounds using Jitterbugs in the middle of the day.
Nighttime action has been good on Lake Hopatcong with walleye outnumbering hybrid stripers.
Trout fishing on the Raritan River has been good, as a large number of trout were stocked there recently. Catfish have also been biting well on the Raritan River.
If the weather allows it, hunting down trophy stripers is a great option. Be sure to bring a camera to document the catch before releasing it. To put some meat in the cooler, hit the hard bottom with bucktails for fluke.
That pic looks photo chopped for sure! Look at his hand and the fishes mouth, it just doesn’t look normal!!!!