Late summer fishing is in full swing with fluke, porgies, kingfish, snappers, and crabs keeping the bait shops busy and the people, for the most part, happy.
The fluke fishing in Raritan Bay remains solid with plenty of action and a fair number of keepers being caught. The main gripe is the unfavorable ratio of shorts to keepers. Anglers aboard the party boats are sending a lot of small fluke back over the side.
One that didn’t go back was the 10½-pound doormat Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet weighed in for Bob Madej of Iselin.
He caught the fish in the Terminal Channel on peanut bunker. There’s evidently loads of peanuts in the bay and they’re becoming a favorite bait for fluke.
Sciortino said the porgy fishing remains good with fish up to 14 inches being caught on the Tin Can Grounds, in the Ambrose Channel and on the local rock piles for those folks who know where to find them.
The blue crabs and snappers are pretty much everywhere in the rivers and bays, Sciortino said. Spearing and bobbers and snapper poppers are best for the small bluefish.
Joe Julian and Julian’s Bait and Tackle said he’s received encouraging news on porgies at the Sandy Hook Reef. His customers are also coming in with good fluke reports from Flynn’s Knoll and the Ambrose and Belford channels. He, too, mentioned the abundant snappers and crabs.
Capt. George Bachert on the Angler out of Atlantic Highlands fished the ocean since the beginning of the week and reported that Wednesday’s outing was the least successful with a stiff breeze from the south making things difficult.
Tuesday’s trip, however, saw some big fish come to the net with Steve Trabb of Somerset catching his limit with three fluke over 7 pounds and the biggest running 7 pounds, 15 ounces. Bachert also said there were a number of 5- and 6-pound fluke caught along with some nice sea bass.
Bachert said 8- to 10-ounce sinkers were needed to hold bottom. The drift wasn’t too fast but the underlying current was swift.
Capt. Stan Zalesky on the Elaine B II out of Highlands is fishing the ocean as well and found plenty of action with a good showing of keepers over the past several days.
He said he’s been fishing in his traditional August areas where there were no fish just a week ago, so the fish are moving around on schedule. Capt. Stan said there are some nice sea bass coming aboard adding to the day’s catches.
Mel Martens at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright said the fluking on the beach is finally starting to pick up. There’s way more shorts than keepers but the occasional one is being caught.
There’s a lot of peanut bunker in the surf, said Martens, and guys are searching the schools out and fishing for fluke underneath them. The kingfish are still in the surf as well. And he added, the crabbing in the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers is fantastic.
Barbara Pawlikowski at the Oceanic Marina said the boat rental customers there are coming back with bushel catches. The snappers finally showed up there as well.
Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said the fishing is good. The fluking remains strong in the Shark River and the boats out Belmar had a good week with fluke as well. Beatriz Soto of Newark had her limit of fluke, plus the pool fish, on Tuesday aboard the Ocean Explorer.
Capt. Steve Spinelli of the Skylarker boated his biggest fish of the season when Keith McCoy of Yardville brought a 9.8-pound fluke aboard. Capt. Spinelli said the fluking really turned around with a much better ratio of keepers to shorts.
There were also some nice sea bass brought aboard, up to 4 pounds, along with triggerfish and porgies. The Axel Carlson Reef has been good, he said, and he’s been fishing in about 70 feet of water.
Capt. Pete Sykes on Parker Pete’s Sportfishing said he’s been catching some big sea bass on his fluke trips when he’s fishing in deeper water. He’s been fishing both north and south of the Shark River Inlet and finding a good number of keeper fluke among the shorts. Parker Pete’s will be holding one of its on-the-water bucktail seminars on Tuesday, Aug. 16.
Capt. Hank Leonard of the Golden Eagle out of Belmar said the bluefish were little hard to find this week so they’ve turned to fishing for fluke and sea bass with good results. The Golden Eagle took a 30-mile ride on Wednesday looking for blues but found only mahi and tuna swimming around the boat and neither felt like biting.
Capt. Leonard said it’s been the third year in a row with tough summer bluefishing. There’s been no shortage of the big choppers in the spring.
Jeff at Harry’s Adventure Outfitters said fluking has returned to the top of everyone’s to-do list. He and his buddies fished the annual Jersey Coast Anglers Association Tournament last weekend and, while the group nearly limited out, none of the fish got too far over 3 pounds.
An angler in the boat next to him landed the first-place fish for the Manasquan River port, an 8.56 pounder, which was the third-largest fish overall. It was caught by Jerry Postorino of Jackson.
The largest overall fish was a 10.28 fluke caught by Harvey Karp of Kearney out of the Jersey City port. The second largest was caught by Tom Trimble out of the Barnegat port and it weighed 8.69 pounds.
The tourney is held out of nine ports along the New Jersey coast.
In addition to the good fluking, Jeff said anglers are finding mahi near the pots at the Mud Hole and Chicken Canyon. The report Jeff had from offshore was that there were some bigeye in the Hudson, but that was about it. He added that there are lots of brown sharks in the Long Beach Island surf.
Eric Bunz at the Reel Seat in Brielle reported that the fluking picked up at the Axel Carlson Reef in the last week.
Offshore, the word he’s getting is that it mostly mahi and white marlin with just an occasional yellowfin tuna in the canyons.
Catherine over at Brielle Bait and Tackle reported that the fluke fishing really heated up this week with the Jamaica II out of Bogan’s Basin reporting its best day of fishing so far this season on Monday.
Capt. Ryan Bogan said that there were at least 16 limit catches that day and a whole bunch over the weekend. The fishing was good at both the Sea Girt and Axel Carlson reefs. Bucktailing and dragging bait both worked.
Catherine also said the fluking in the Manasquan River has been good and at the mouth of the inlet for those willing to put the time in. The crabs and snappers are in the river as well. She also said blackfish are being caught in the Point Pleasant Canal and in the rocks by the Manasquan Inlet.
Fishing Forecast for Northern New Jersey
What can I say, it’s fluke again. The fishing picked up, especially in the ocean with the bigger fish found in the deeper water. The sea bass are right there with them. There’s also plenty of summer fun stuff around with the crabs and snappers crowding the marinas, rivers and bays.