Northern New Jersey Fishing Report - June 23, 2016

The big bass remain.

The spring striper bite has usually faded into memory by this time but reports of 50-pounders reaching the scales continue to come in.

Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said the shop has weighed in nine bass of 50 pounds or better this season, the most ever. The latest goliath was a 53-pound bass caught by Ray Smith of Neptune earlier this week.

The bunker are still all over the place and the reason the fish don’t seem to be in any hurry to move. If they’re going anywhere, Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet, said it looks like they are heading east.

He’s had weigh-ins of bass up to 43 pounds in the last week with plenty of fish in the 30-pound range coming into the shop. They continue to be caught in Raritan Bay and from Sandy Hook down through Long Branch livelining, on poppers and trolling.

But the bass are not all that’s going on. The week’s catches contained doormat fluke, bluefish, thresher and mako sharks and even some weakfish. Summer fishing is upon us.

While the ocean fluking is slowly gathering momentum, its red hot in Raritan Bay. John over at the Keyport Marine Basin said the fluke fishing has been very good. One group came in with 15 keepers up to 10 pounds.

The Tackle Box put a 15-pound fluke on the scales that fell for a traditional squid/killie combo offered by Michael Nelson of Rockaway. He was fishing in the Sandy Hook Channel on Sunday.

Capt. George Bachert on the Angler out of Atlantic Highlands reported Wednesday was another good day in a long line of good fluking days of late. Another big doormat came over the rail making it the third 10-pound-plus fish in a week. The latest fish belonged to Dennis De Palma of West Caldwell and came in at 10 pounds, 4 ounces.

The Angler has been finding the big ones in the Raritan Reach and a number of fluke in the 4- to 8-pound range as well. Limit catches for the more experienced anglers have been fairly common this year.

Most of the party boats out of Atlantic Highlands – the Fishermen, Sea Hunter, Sea Tiger II, Dorothy B. and Atlantic Star – are also finding solid fluke fishing close to home.

Anxious to get in on that action, an old friend of mine, Ed Hennessey, and I took a boat out of Schupp’s Landing in Highlands and headed out into Raritan Bay.

Schupp’s has been operating under the Highlands Bridge since the mid-1950s. Rich Gardner and Robbie Schupp, the grandson of the founder Al Schupp, got us all set up in a 16-footer with a 15 hp electric-start outboard and we headed out toward the Coast Guard Station on Sandy Hook.

We fished the area with bucktail rigs tipped with Gulp!, killies, spearing and squid and caught dozens of fluke. Unfortunately, the keeper gods weren’t with us, but we did land a nice fat 20 incher for the table and a number of fish that just missed.

The bunker were also under assault all around us from big blues and what looked to be some stripers mixed in. Pinned against the beach, the bunker flew out of the water in futile attempts to escape.

Capt. Stan Zagleski on the Elaine B II out of Highlands reported finding excellent fluke fishing for the last two weeks with the only slow day being this past Monday. He was right back on track on Wednesday with limit catches and a 9-pound, 10-ounce fluke coming aboard.

Mel Martens at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright said the fluke, blues and bass are biting in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers. He, too, wanted to take advantage of the bay bite and fished the Raritan with his friend Dan Eppinger of Eatontown.

Mel said they tossed rubber shads and had loads of action on big blues and bass with Eppinger catching and releasing a 13-pound weakfish that hit a soft bait.

The current beach bite, however, isn’t all that great, said Martens, with bass staying offshore and skates being a pain.

The blue claws are starting to gather in greater numbers in the Shrewsbury River with Dick Bohnert over at Long Branch Bait and Tackle said folks there are putting together some nice catches.  Similar reports are coming out of the Oceanic Marina in Rumson on the Navesink.

Bohnert said that in addition to the fluke and crabs being caught, weakfish up to 9 pounds are being taken at night.

Jeff at Harry’s Adventure Outfittters in Robbinsville said his customers, who fish from Sandy Hook down to Island Beach State Park, are having a lot of fun with big bass on surface poppers north of the Shrewsbury Rocks.

He also said there are a lot of thresher sharks being caught within three miles as they are coming in to feed on the enormous schools of bunker.

Following a week’s delay due to bad weather, Mako Mania took place last weekend with Lockout taking first place with a 301-pound mako, followed by Tin Knocker with a 271 pounder and Black Gold at 251 pounds.  Mako Fever is set for this weekend.

In addition to the steady stream of big stripers coming into Fisherman’s Den in Belmar, Bob Matthews said the fluking in Shark River was good on Wednesday with Laird Smith of Neptune getting his limit up to 6 pounds.

Capt. Steve Spinelli of the Skylarker, also out of Belmar, said the sea bass season closed on a high note for his anglers on Sunday with some nice fish. He’ll be back at them when the season reopens on July 1. The only problem there is that the limit is two fish.

In the meantime, Capt. Spinelli said he’ll be targeting fluke and making trips for ling and winter flounder.

Capt. Pete Sykes on Parker Pete’s Fishing Charters out of Belmar said he continues to find the big stripers with the early morning and late afternoon trips being the most productive.

The middle of the day is when things get tough so he’s been targeting fluke. The ocean fishing is coming along, he said, but the water still needs to warm up just a bit more.

The Golden Eagle out of Belmar is having no trouble finding the blues in the ocean with Capt. Hank Leonard reporting wild action most days with some stripers mixed in. The fish have been 6 to 12 pounds and all of the excitement has been on jigs.

Out of the Manasquan River, John at the Reel Seat in Brielle reported guys are picking bass and blues at the inlet and the fluking has improved. He, too, reported threshers in close as the bunker are keeping them interested and the bass can be found in them as well. They’re being caught on poppers and snagged bunker.

Fishing Forecast for Northern New Jersey

The most consistent action appears to be the fluke bite in Raritan Bay. The rivers are also proving more productive as the water is a bit warmer.  The bass and bluefish are still a presence in the bay and small blues can be found all along the beaches.