Southern New Jersey Fishing Report - November 5, 2015

The Sea Bass and Blackfish fishing has been good, but everyone has been holding their breath for the arrival of the fall stripers.  Finally, we’re into bass!  This was the resounding sediment from a majority of the shops over this past week.  There have been schools of 20 to 40 pound bass making their way into our area over the past few days.  In fact, I had a chance to fish with my son and we ended boating a few bass up to 25-pounds and we also had a few heavy bluefish to 15-pounds.  The more exciting aspect of our trip was the amount of wildlife we saw: whales, gannets, bunker, rainfish, sand-eels, and several small sharks.  South Jersey should see its best Striped Bass fishing over the next several weeks, so now is the time.

The Brielle area has had some good Striper action over the past few days.  Brielle Bait & Tackle reports a good early morning bite on Stripers near the Manasquan Inlet, while the Blackfishing remains pretty solid in the Point Pleasant Canal.  The party boats have been into keeper Sea Bass and have seen very good fishing 7 to 10 miles out with some keeper cod and porgies mixed in.

Jason from Fisherman’s Supply recommends fishing the Manasquan River for solid bass action on 18 to 26 inch fish.  Most anglers are getting them on soft plastics and plugs.  The canal has seen some classy Bass up to 25-pounds on large soft baits and live eels.  Meanwhile, the surfcasters have been hitting Mantoloking to Island Beach State Park with needlefish and plugs at night.  The boats have had hit or miss action on large Stripers on Maja bunker spoons and umbrella rigs.  The Blackfishing has slowed by the Canal, but it’s more on the keeper side.

The MIMI VI has been into the fish both on Striped Bass pre-Halloween and later on Sea Bass.  The Striped Bass were caught on the jig in the Sea Bright area, and they had some 4 to 5 fish on at once.  Capt. Ken will be running some open Sea Bass trips this upcoming week on November 9th and 11th from 7am to 3pm.

The Gambler got in on the Striped Bass action over the last few days as a decent body of quality fish moved in.  The crew had anglers jigging with AVA’s and Spoons to boat quality fish over 40-pounds.  The boat will continue to sail every day for Striped Bass.

The Norma K III has fishing for Sea Bass in the recent awesome weather.  The boat has picked some Sea Bass on most spots along with a few Porgies. The past two days, anglers did have to deal with the Bergalls to be patient for some of the keeper Sea Bass.  There has been a few Cod in the mix as well.

Jersey Hooker Outfitters reported schoolie Bass from Bay Head to Mantoloking for 1st light surf casters.  Needlefish and plugs have been the lures of choice.  Boat fisherman has seen Striped Bass on Mojo’s and Bunker spoons from the entrance of the Sandy Hook channel to Asbury Park.  Sea Bassing has been pretty good on snags out to 15 miles.  Longfin and Yellowfin have been good at the Hudson Canyon when boats can get out due to narrow weather windows.  The Point Pleasant Canal is still showing keeper-sized Tog.

Betty and Nicks Bait & Tackle has been seeing some nice Stripers weighed in at the shop over the past few days.  Some anglers witnessed bass, birds, and whales working bait which was close to National Geographic as one could get.  The night bass bite continues to ramp up with most anglers getting into action with black bombers and needlefish.  A few big blues were weighed in from the surf, but it seems they have moved out to the 45-55 foot depth ranges where boaters have been getting them.

Dock Outfitters said there has been some fish in the back, especially around the Mantoloking Bridge and Point Pleasant Canal.  Most nightshift anglers have been using soft plastics and Daiwa SP Minnows to bag some Bass.  There were some 25 to 32-pound Bass trolled out of Shark River on bunker spoons and Mojo rigs.  The rocks along the Point Pleasant Canal have been giving up a pick on Blackfish.

The boats of Barnegat Light have been fishing hard over the past few nice weather days.  The Carolyn Ann III saw a pretty substantial increase in the Seabass fishing. There have been some better days with some anglers picking 6 or more fish.  Anglers had to keep their baits close to the bottom because of the severe dogfish population over the wrecks.  Some anglers have been bringing green crabs to target keeper blackfish, and some nice ones were iced for the cooler.

Capt. Ted of Super Chic had the Merlin Zimmerman party out to get in on the good bluefishing. They filled the box with the 12 to 17-pound fish which were caught on jigs and cut bait.  The boat had the Lewis Allen party out to some of Ted’s favorite wrecks for quality Sea Bass fishing.  It was non-stop action as the boat filled their limit of Sea Bass up to 3-pounds.

Creekside Outfitters had some Striper weigh-ins from the Bathing Beach area with anglers connecting on trolled bunker spoons.  Most of the bass have been in the 25 to 35-pound range.  The real gem for the area has been the extremely good night bass bite on live eel.  It seems most success it from working the channel edges of Double Creek and Oyster Creek channels.  Sea Bassing remains solid from wrecks in the 5 to 10 mile range.

As we move southward to the sands of Long Beach Island, Tony’s Bait & Tackle reported smaller stripers being prevalent on both the north & south jetties in Barnegat Inlet.  Live bait is the key in catching these fish along the rocks!  The shop is fully stocked with Pinfish, which offers a great alternative to Spot.  Larger bass are being trolled along LBI and IBSP on bunker spoons and Stretch 30’s.  A few fish have been hitting the LBI surf on plugs and cut bunker.

Riptide Bait & Tackle had some nice fish being weighed in from the Brigantine area.  A nice 32.5-pound Striper was caught from Brigantine surf on cut bunker and a nice 36-pound Bass was weighed in from trolled Mojo’s.  The surf is starting to see some serious fish action on both clam and cut bunker.

Absecon Bay Sportsman reports good Striped Bass fishing in the back and some bigger bass are starting to be taken.  Joe Ricciardi was fishing somewhere west of the Brigantine Bridge in the afternoon around high tide and hooked up with a nice 30-pound bass on live eel.  So it is definitely starting as they are making their way into our area.

Nowell from One Stop Bait & Tackle reported nice tog fishing with about a 6 to 1 ratio on keepers.  It is still the best thing going on down in Atlantic City and the T-jetty, Caspian Ave., and Melrose Avenues are the places to be for fish.  “There have been increased reports of Striped Bass which is a good sign,” reports Nowell.

Fin-Atics reported Striped Bass around Mystic Islands and they should be on their way down.  It has been better off the surf as of late on cut bunker or soaked clam, and in the back has the best bite going for live spot or eel.  Most fish in the back are ranging from 18 to 27 inches with an occasional keeper.  On the Sea Bass front, most of the keepers have been found in wrecks around 95 to 120-ft deep, whereas the inshore wrecks seem to have only shorts.

Sea Isle Bait & Tackle reported some trolled Bass from the ocean side and live eels or spot for Bass in the back.  The surf zone has some nice “eating” bass in the 30 inch range on bunker or mullet.  Sea Bass have been pushing more offshore so anglers will have to hit those wrecks in the depths of 120 feet.  Mike reported some good Blackfish from the Avalon Bridge and 8th Street jetty.  The short to keeper ratio is about 6 to 1, and the shop is fully stocked with green crabs and other blackfish baits.

And to end this week’s reports is Jim’s Bait & Tackle out of Cape May.  The shop weighed in the first big Bass of the season.  The fish was caught on the troll on peacock shoal in the afternoon and weighed in at 55.7pounds.  Anglers are starting to pick up keeper bass from the rock piles on Cape May beach front. The majority of fish have been caught either on Plugs or Bucktails.  The shop hasn’t heard much from the Delaware Bay except from the rocks around the Lighthouses on mostly short fish.  The Sea bass fishing is good for the guys willing to run to the wrecks in the 30 mile range.  There are some Sea bass on the Cape May Reef but the big fish are scattered and must be worked for. The best strategy is to pick a couple fish and move to another spot and pick a few more and repeat until you get a catch together.

Best Bet for the Weekend

Based on the weather, if you can get out it is time for Striped Bass.  So get out early and try the snag-n-drop technique with trolling as Plan B.  I guess that means Plan C is the backwaters, which will give anglers good shots at feeding bass on live spot or live eel.  For anglers interested in Sea Bass, you will need to run quite a ways to target keepers as it seems most of them are deep.  Good Luck, Be Safe, and Tight Lines!