Pier fishermen are having a great week according to Joe at Joey’s Bait Shack in Keyport. Keeper fluke are being taken at the Keyport Pier, and croakers are being caught at the Keansburg Pier. During the first two hours of the outgoing tide, bluefish are making a good showing at the Keyport Pier as well. Boat fishermen are doing well with fluke around Mount Loretta and the Verrazano Bridge.
Brent at Efingers in Bound Brook said that the Delaware and Raritan Canal is producing walleye and bass, but other than that, he hadn’t heard much.
Fluke fishing is picking up according to the report from The Bait Shop in Bradley Beach. The current ratio of throwbacks to keepers is about 8 to 1. The Bait Shop weighed in one surprise catch this week—a 64.1-pound black drum that hit a Stretch 25 being trolled for striped bass. The Bait Shop also weighed a pair of big stripers taken on pencil poppers off the beach in Sea Bright. The bass weighed 37 and 31 pounds. Clams have taken stripers to 10 pounds off the beach in recent days as well.
Croakers and spot are keeping things interesting for pier anglers in Raritan Bay reported Phil at the Tackle Box in Hazlet. Big stripers hit the beaches this week in Sandy Hook and Sea Bright. Pencil poppers and snagged bunker did the trick on bass to 40 pounds. The Tackle Box also weighed in a few trophy fish this week including an 8-pound fluke, a 19-pound bluefish and a 37-pound striper that hit a piece of Berkley Gulp intended for fluke!
The crew at Tackle US in Laurence Harbor reported big bass in the bay. Charter boats have been finding limits of fluke for their fares, up to 6.5 pounds. Tackle US reported big stripers for boat fishermen and big blues for the surf crowd.
There are big numbers of 3- to 6-pound bluefish in the Navesink River according to Max at Pride Fishing Tackle in Red Bank. Fluke fishing in the rivers is also good, Max said, with limits to 6 pounds being caught. An 8-pound fluke was caught off the tip of the Hook this week as well. Big stripers have been feeding in the bunker schools from Sandy Hook to Shrewsbury Rocks. Live bunker is the best tactic, but some fishermen are even catching these cows on flies. Bass have been moving into the surf as well, often in the afternoons and evenings. Max also mentioned that he is hosting a kids fishing trip for fluke aboard the Bingo on July 8th. There is limited space, so if you’d like to introduce your young one to fishing, give Max a call at Pride Fishing Tackle.
Freshwater bass fishing is good at Assunpink and Mercer lakes according to Matt at Harry’s Army Navy in Robbinsville. Soft-plastics are working during the day, and topwaters are catching at dawn and dusk. Matt heard of a good beach bite in Monmouth County on Monday with stripers between 30 and 40 pounds. The bunker were still moving close to the beach as of Thursday, but the bass had not returned. Fluke fishing off the beach is very good. The fish are mostly shorts, but anglers who give it a good effort with small bucktails and pieces of Gulp have been rewarded with the occasional surf-caught keeper. Fluke and inshore sea bass fishing has also been good for boat anglers.
Shark fishing is very good reported Dave at the Reel Seat in Brielle. Makos, threshers, hammerheads, tigers and even white sharks were caught this week. A 319-pound mako was enough to top both big shark tournaments over the weekend. Fluke fishing is going strong as some bigger fish start to show up. John from the Reel Seat won the pool on the Big Mohawk earlier this week with an 8.4-pounder. He was also in contention for the biggest fish of the month until a 9.2-pounder knocked him out of the top spot the following day. Stripers are very inconsistent according to Dave. He mentioned the big fish hitting the beach in Sea Bright, but said farther south, the fishing from the surf has been slow. In the Hudson Canyon, the fishing is picking up. Tilefish, yellowfin and even bigeye and wahoo have been taken, along with a load of mahi. Bluefishing is pretty good during the day, but the nighttime trips have been on the slow side. As the waters continue to warm, look for more big bluefish to show up on the nighttime trips.
Best Bet for the Weekend
It’s tough to say if the bass will hit the surf again, but you won’t know if you don’t go. Finding the bunker is priority number one, then just keeper your fingers cross that the big bass happen to find the bunker too. The afternoons and evenings have been best.
It sounds like right now is the time to get shark fishing. With a large variety of sharks around, and some big makos and threshers, you never know what might show up in your slick. If you hook one of the pup white sharks, be sure to carefully unhook it and send it on its way. Great whites are a protected species.
I was fishing the Merrimack River on Plum Island Beach and caught a Black Drum never knew what it was big about 70 to 90 lbs ugly had like scares on the head and little fish following it
How I caught it I had a striper hock and sea clams left as bait and put big mass on the hock as a last cast for the day , after a 15 minutes I brought the line in it had a drag like seaweed and then there it was almost to shore about 15 feet no fight so ugly I cut the line never knowing what the fish was it looked old and beaten I felt sorry for it and let it go.