Some of the large Chesapeake Bay stripers have arrived off Northern New Jersey this week, and the big bass season is off to a great start.
Pete of Parker Pete’s Sportfishing found a great bass on bunker bite Thursday morning, catching fish to 35 pounds on the large live baits.
Skylarker Sportfishing has been getting some stripers as well, mixed in with the bluefish they have been jigging up. Bottom fishing is also going strong with cod and ling still biting. Fluke and black sea bass open on May 22 and 27 respectively, which will give bottom fishermen a few more options over the course of the next week.
Braden at Efinger’s Sporting Goods in Bound Brookreported tons of blues still around. A few large out-of-season fluke have been caught and released lately, with some weighing more than 8 pounds. This bodes well for a great opening to the fluke fishing season on Friday.
Braden reported that bunker spoons are getting it done for boat fishermen. Stripers up to 44 pounds have been caught on the troll this week.
Fishermen are catching stripers to 15 pounds and blues to 12 pounds out of Monmouth County surf over the past few days reported Tom at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright. Striper fishing is particularly good in the Navesink River where fishermen are scoring with soft-plastics. In the surf, the SP Minnow is the hot bait.
In freshwater, largemouth bass are moving off their beds and the big ones are starting to bite reported Rob at Harry’s Army Navy in Robbinsville. Mercer, Assunpink and Rosedale have all been producing good fishing. In the Delaware River above Lambertville, smallmouth bass and walleye are biting well, with some especially night smallies being caught. Matt of Harry’s Army Navy caught a Delaware River slam of sorts, landing a striper, a walleye and a smallmouth bass on the same day this week.
Best Bets for the Weekend
It sounds like the bass-on-bunker bite is sporadic, so you’ll want to make sure you pack along some trolling gear as a back-up plan. Bunker spoons are working well, but deep-diving plugs like the Mann’s Stretch 25 and Stretch 30 can be killers as well.
As the water warms, these fish could move into the surf, creating exciting topwater action. Fishing these same beaches after dark with chunked bunker is another great way to score a big bass this time of year.
The blues are still around, with big ones showing up in the surf around Sandy Hook. Don’t forget about the backwaters either. The striper fishing in the Navesink is excellent right now.
And who could forget that fluke season is opening on Friday, May 22. There have been so many accidental fluke catches already this spring, it’s safe to assume the opening weekend of the season will bring many doormats to the docks.
I didn’t get a hit in Manasquan Inlet yesterday evening. Only saw2 blues caught. 3 fish in 3 trips is very slow fishing.
I know, it was terribly slow at Manny inlet/ Pt. Pleasant- no blues and only a couple short flatties on killies. Gulp was a bust. Last year the action was great this time of year. I noticed the water was very cold, and no spearing.