Northern New Jersey Fishing Report - September 8, 2016

 

Thankfully, Hurricane Hermine just brushed our coast and stayed far enough offshore to spare us any significant damage.

That glancing blow, however, kept the ocean roiled and every boat at the dock, so there wasn’t a whole lot of fishing going on.

The storm also spoiled the Labor Day plans for a lot of folks and kept cash registers quiet for businesses hoping for one last big payday before the season ended. So it goes when it comes to the weather.

Hopefully, there won’t be any lasting effects.

The first piece of encouraging news was received this morning, Thursday, when Capt. Steve Spinelli of the Skylarker out of Belmar told me that the ocean wasn’t too mangled by the storm and it was a beautiful day on the water.

By 10 a.m., he had a number of keeper fluke in the boat up to 4 pounds, some nice porgies and few sea bass, which had to go back.

Even in the immediate wake of the storm, fish continued to be caught

Phil Sciortino Sr. at the Tackle Box in Hazlet said the storm must have pushed the fluke inshore because a number of anglers were picking them up on the beaches in Leonardo and Laurence Harbor and at the Keyport Pier.

And they weren’t all shorts. Sciortino said there were a few keepers in the mix.

The report was pretty much the same from James at Julian’s who got similar word on the fluke from the local bay beaches. Other than that, he said, nothing was doing.

Most of the boats out of Atlantic Highlands will be returning from their forced vacation on Thursday. Whether the fluke will still be where the boats left them is the question.

Capt. George Bachert on the Angler is confident they will be. He was fishing on the New York side of the Raritan Bay and he’s pretty sure they haven’t moved offshore and should be in the vicinity of where he left them. They may have moved around a bit due to the blow, so it will be just a matter of finding them.

Capt. Ron Santee on the Fishermen is hoping the porgies, croakers and weakfish he was beginning to see before pulled the boat are still around. His plan was to return to the water on Thursday as well.

Capt. Stan Zagleski on the Elaine B II out of Highlands is going to give it another day to calm down and head out on Friday.

Ernie Giglio at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright said the dire forecast didn’t keep all of his customers home and a few fished the bay side of Sandy Hook from the beach and were rewarded with a nice catch of porgies.

He also said small bass are hitting worms fished from the bulkhead near the Sea Bright Bridge. Guys drifting worms near the bridge are also picking up some stripers.

And the weather didn’t seem to bother the crabs a bit as they’re still thick in the Shrewsbury River.

Dominick DiGirolomo at Long Branch Bait and Tackle said there are still plenty of crabs by the shop on Atlantic Avenue along with snappers.  A regular on the Big Mohawk, out of Belmar, he said a couple of tide cycles should have the water cleared up and he’ll be heading back out.

He believes the storm wasn’t bad enough to chase the fluke away, and the fishing should bounce back nicely.

The Navesink River crab bite didn’t suffer at all from the storm as Pete Pawlikowski at the Oceanic Marina in Rumson said his customers are coming back in the rental boats with bushel catches. Saturday was an especially good day for blue claws.

Prior to the bad weather, Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar wasn’t sure what the storm was going to do, but he was certain the forecast was going to keep people away, which it did.

Matthews said there are still some keeper fluke in the Shark River, but they seem to be making their way closer to the inlet.

On Thursday morning, Matthews reported that one angler on the Capt. Cal II out of Belmar caught a keeper fluke in the river while waiting for the boat to sail.

On his last day out before the hurricane arrived, Capt. Ron Kish on the Capt. Cal II said the fishing was very good. He fished deeper water and had more keepers than shorts coming over the rail on some drifts with the pool winner hitting 6 pounds.

Matthews said spot and porgies off the L Street Pier in Belmar are keeping the local anglers happy with worms being the best bait for them. He added there are plenty of snappers, peanut bunker, spot and porgies in the back waters of the Shark and Manasquan rivers.

The bait in the Manasquan River is attracting a lot of bluefish as Matthews reported Marty Westerfield of Wall had them on every cast at the mouth of the Point Pleasant Canal earlier this week.

Capt. Rich Falcone on the Golden Eagle out of Belmar had to put his bluefishing trips on hold but was planning on sailing Thursday. His last trip out saw bigger blues up to 4 pounds. He’s also taking reservations for upcoming tuna trips and they are filling up quickly.

Capt. Pete Sykes on Parker Pete’s Sportfishing is going give the water a few more days to clear up before returning to fluking. In the meantime, he’s accepting reservations for fall striper trips.

Jeff at Harry’s Adventure Outfitters in Robbinsville said it was a quiet week there with reports of back bay fluke in Barnegat Bay the only report he received.

Dave Arbeitman at the Reel Seat in Brielle said the river fishing in the Manasquan was the only option down there this week as offshore trips were off the table.  There are stripers and weakfish on worms and small plugs in the river along with blues and fluke.

John Bogan at Brielle Bait and Tackle said his customers focused on the Manasquan River fishing this past week as well with sandworms the ticket for short bass. He added there have a been a few legal fish among them.

There are also porgies and fluke in the river and the Point Pleasant Canal is producing blackfish as well. Currently, there’s a one-fish limit at 15 inches on those.

Fishing Forecast for Northern New Jersey

While the fluke may have moved around some, the storm didn’t seem to pack enough of a punch shut down the bite.  As of Thursday morning, the ocean had calmed down nicely and from the beach in Ocean Grove, I saw several party boats heading north from the Shark River Inlet. It’s a good bet they’ll find the fish waiting. Tossing clams from the beach for stripers is worth a try, too, as they can usually be found rooting around in the suds for a meal after a churning surf.

The bait should be moving along the shore as well soon, so look for some blues close to the beach. There were huge schools of peanut bunker moving south from Asbury Park along the shore just before the storm with some small blues terrorizing the bait.