The hot and cold fishing this fall in New Jersey has been changing with the wind.
The tog fishing over the weekend was slow around Sandy Hook Reef and other spots off Monmouth County reported the crew at True World Bait and Tackle in Bayonne. Brayden at Efinger’s Sporting Goods in Bound Brook blames the wind, nothing that the tog have been off the bite whenever the wind is out of the south. When the wind goes north, however, the blackfish feed heavily. Despite the tough fishing, tog north of 12 pounds have been taken from Shrewsbury Rocks and off Allenhurst this past week.
John at The Reel Seat in Brielle also mentioned the hot and cold tog fishing, saying some days, the tog are just not feeding, but rather are scratching at the baits, not fully committing.
There are still blackfish being caught from shore, reported the crew at The Bait Shop in Bradley Beach. The Belmar side of Shark River Inlet is producing tog.
The striper bite seems to be in a lull right now. Jigging and trolling are producing in the ocean, while jigging has been working around Raritan Bay and New York Harbor, where the trolling bite has slowed. The fish are mostly shorts, but there are some 32- to 40-inch fish in the mix reported Brayden at Efingers. White swim shads and gold Ava jigs have been the hot lures this week.
There are still bunker around. In fact, Raritan Bay is loaded with the baitfish according to the report from True World. Unfortunately, despite all the bait, there hasn’t been much in the way of stripers around the Raritan. There are enough bunker in the ocean that boat fishermen are still snagging and dropping reported John from the Reel Seat. While a few stripers are being taken on snagged bunker, trolling is the most productive tactic at the moment.
The crew at True World did find bass to 20 pounds in Raritan Bay this week by using live eels.
The surf bite has been even tougher than the boat fishing. The beach bite has been picky, reported John at The Reel Seat. The few fish being taken from the beach have been coming on clams reported The Bait Shop. SP Minnows have also reportedly taken a few fish.
bass, porgies, cod and pollock.
Offshore, the black sea bass bite is on fire right now, reported John at the Reel Seat. Fishermen hopping aboard the party boats are returning with a mixed bag of up to 50 fish including sea bass, porgies, pollock, ling and cod. Brayden at Efingers reported that sea bass up to 6 pounds have been taken.
Bluefin tuna in the 100-pound range have been reported in the Mud Hole said John at the Reel Seat. The time is right for even larger bluefin to be showing up, but as far as John knew, no one has been giant hunting off NJ just yet.
Lastly, the winter flounder fishing inside Shark River Inlet has been good according to the report from the Bait Shop in Bradley Beach. Sea worms are working best.
Best Bets for the Weekend
Just because the striper fishing has been slow this week, doesn’t mean it can’t turn around by the weekend. Historically this is prime time for fall run fishing in New Jersey. The Wednesday storm may push some more bass down from up North. There is still plenty of bait around. Bait has been best on the beach, especially clams. From the boat, jigging or trolling is your best bet.
Tog fishing has been good at times, so that is another great option for the weekend. The inshore waters are still holding good numbers of big tog, and when they are biting, the fishing is excellent.