It’s hard to believe. Labor Day is here already. But while the summer may be winding down, the fishing is not.
The fluke bite that’s been good since opening day continues. Shorts still far outnumber keepers and the bigger fish have moved into deeper water.
That’s the word from Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet. He said the rough stuff in water about 60 feet deep is holding some nice fish. Matt Calabria, Hazlet, got a 10 pounder and there have been some 7½- to 9-pound fish weighed in as well this week.
The porgies are also biting over on the New York side of the bay and on the local rock piles. The Sandy Hook surf, unfortunately, is still very quiet. The are some fluke being caught and stripers at night, but it’s far from good.
Joe Jr. at Julian’s echoed what Sciortino said about the fluke in deeper water. Aaron Ciccia weighed in an 11.64-pound doormat he got in the Reach Channel. He said the porgy fishing is good by the Navy Pier and kingfish are hanging around most of the structure in the bay.
Capt. John Connell on the Capt. John out of Keyport reported a good day on Monday with good drifting conditions helping Alicia Odom get her limit with fish up to 6 pounds.
The party boats out of Atlantic Highlands are all finding fish and weeding through the shorts to get some keepers in the boat.
Capt. George Bachert on the Angler has been fishing the sticky stuff for the last couple of days in deeper water.
On Monday, he said the fluke were waiting for breakfast as the best fishing of the day came on the first two drifts, with a 7 pounder coming up on the second. The Angler sails at 7 a.m. so it’s usually the first boat out.
He also got his customers some keepers over the weekend with a 7 pounder taking the pool on Saturday and a 9 pounder the big fish on Sunday. Capt. Bachert also reported a number of anglers caught big knucklehead sea bass.
Capt. Stan Zaglesky on the Elaine B II out of Highlands spent Monday on some rough bottom with a bunch of his regulars. Everyone got their limit of sea bass and Bill Merritt of Bound Brook had a banner day with two fluke of 9 pounds, 7 ounces and 7 pounds, 5 ounces to go with his sea bass.
Al at Schupp’s Landing in Highlands reported that despite the high ratio of shorts to keepers, the rental boats that normally fish the bay and rivers are coming back to the dock with four or five keepers apiece.
Tom Giglio at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright said the false albacore finally made an appearance this week, showing up off the beaches in Sea Bright, Monmouth Beach and Long Branch. He didn’t hear of any being caught but he did get reports of multiple sightings. It’s just a matter of time before someone hooks up.
Crabs are still clogging the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers and the Oceanic Marina reported a terrific year for the blue claws. They should be around until the water temperature starts to dip.
Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said the fishing is good out of the Shark River Inlet and in the river so come down and enjoy summer’s last hurrah.
Matthews also said the porgy, kingfish and spot bite is very good in the river right now. There are stripers in surf, mostly at night or early in the morning. Bill Massey of Wall picked up two on Monday morning on his fly rod.
Capt. Pete Sykes on Parker Pete’s Sportfishing out of Belmar said there have been good and not so good days over the last week depending on conditions.
A persistent southerly breeze dropped the water temperature just before the weekend, which slowed the bite. He still managed to put a fluke catch together for his customers, including some nice sea bass. The fishing improved as the water temperature slowly climbed back up.
Capt. Steve Spinelli on the Skylarker said he’s been experiencing some of the best fluke fishing of the season lately. Tim Briggs of Point Pleasant brought two 6 pounders aboard just before the weekend and the black sea bass action has been excellent as well.
His fares brought some sea bass aboard earlier this week that were over four pounds. The porgy and triggerfish action has been good as well. The bluefish, he said, are still tiny but he expects the bigger blues will show up soon. There’s just too much bait around for them to ignore.
John over at the Reel Seat in Brielle reported the offshore tuna bite picked up with one customer disclosing that he caught yellowfin on surface poppers in one of the canyons. The specific canyon was not mentioned.
He also said that the Canyon Runner out of the Manasquan Inlet took the early tuna lead in the annual Manasquan River Marlin & Tuna Club’s Offshore Open with a bigeye of 264½ pounds. A 201½ pound bigeye is in second place, also caught by the Canyon Runner.
John said mahi are being caught pot hopping offshore but the small ones that were in the Manasquan Inlet last week have disappeared. Bluefish have replaced them and are showing up in the morning and evening at the inlet.
Last Saturday, I jumped aboard the True Love, the restored 80-foot, whale- watching boat that captains Howard and Jackie Dubinett converted into weekend fishing boat for their friends and family to enjoy. We found pretty much non-stop action just north of the Red Church in Long Branch with fluke and sea bass.
Granted, the shorts ruled the day by a wide majority but we still managed to gather a nice number of keepers along with some beautiful big sea bass.
There are also some fluke in the Ocean Grove surf. I picked up a couple, including one keeper, on Gulp using a three-way rig with a bucktail. There are bluefish and snappers in the surf as well.
Greg Bogan at Brielle Bait and Tackle said the mahi bite around the lobster pots and at the Manasquan Ridge has been very good with customers catching fish up to 15 pounds.
The Manasquan River, he said, is holding lots of bait and small stripers have been on the feed. Smaller fish, from 15 to 20 inches are biting during the day on worms while the bigger ones, up to 30 inches, are hitting lures at night. And the fluke keep biting in the river, too.
Fishing Forecast for Northern New Jersey
The surf is yielding more fish as the bait gets thicker in the wash. Gulp and natural baits tossed from the beach and dragged slowly back to shore will likely produce some fluke. There are spot and kingfish in the suds as well. Have some metal on hand for the blues in case they show up. Unfortunately, sea bass season closed on Wednesday, and won’t open again until Oct. 22 so they’re off the table. There are, however, three weeks left for fluke so there’s still time to catch that doormat.