It’s been the kind of fishing beach guys dream of.
For the past week, stripers have been blitzing the beaches from Sandy Hook to Long Beach Island, gorging on epic schools of peanut bunker.
The stripers haven’t been in the same place every day, but Jeff Nuel at Harry’s Adventure Outfitters in Robbinsville said if you can find the bait, you’ll find fish. The bass vary in size from shorts to 30 pounds and are usually joined by some big, nasty bluefish.
The stripers are hitting shads, metal-lipped swimming plugs, bucktails and snagged peanut bunker.
Some days they get a little picky, so you don’t know what they want till you start fishing. Shads and snagging and dropping seem to be doing the best.
My first sight of them was last Thursday on the beach in Ocean Grove where I picked up four or five on snagged peanuts and Tsunami shads.
While the hard west wind that arrived on Sunday has kept most boats at the dock, it’s also keeping the bait close to the beach along with the bass.
Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet reported that the bass were all over Sandy Hook on Sunday and Monday and down the beach to Sea Bright. They were a mix of fish with most in the 28- to 32-inch range.
Bluefish up to 20 pounds were also hitting the baits.
Sciortino also said that Joe Tamburcito from Matawan weighed in a 50-pound bass he caught on a bunker chunk fishing from his boat in the Hudson River.
On the blackfish front, the big news was the 22½ pounder caught on Saturday by Dustin Strehl aboard the Fins on Feathers Charter out of the Leonardo Marina. The fish was weighed in at Fisherman’s Den North.
Capt. George Bachert on the Angler out of Atlantic Highlands last got out on Saturday and said the blackfishing was pretty good with Dan Pham from Dumont winning the pool with a 7-pound tog.
Saturday was also the last day the Elaine B II out of Highlands sailed and Capt. Stan Zagleski reported a couple of the tog veterans aboard got their limits while there were a number of nice fish landed. A keeper fluke came aboard as well, indicating that the water is still pretty warm.
Joe Julian Jr. at Julian’s Bait and Tackle in Highlands weighed in a 13-pound blackfish caught by John Carlon from Piscataway.
Julian also reported stripers all over the place. They blitzed the first beach on Sandy Hook on Tuesday morning and could be found along the sand down to Sea Bright. He also said the “jumongo” blues were mixed in with the bass.
Mel Martens at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright said the bass have been popping up there and through Monmouth Beach to Long Branch since Saturday.
The fish were in all day Monday and he said he lost count on how many he caught. The fish were hitting shads, bucktails and snag rigs.
He said the bluefish were scary big and must have weighed up to 22 pounds. He only hooked two of them and counted himself lucky.
Martens also mentioned that a friend of his trapped a bushel of crabs in the Navesink River last week, but he suspects this colder weather has finally brought the crabbing to an end.
Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said it’s been bass, bass and more bass for the last couple of days. He fished on Monday and finally had to quit when his shoulder gave out.
The fish ranged from shorts to 15 pounds and with some bigger fish being caught. The blues were upwards of 20 pounds, but he said nearly all of the fish caught were bass.
The stripers were back in Spring Lake on Tuesday morning, so I took a quick trip down there and the scene was something to behold. The wash was choked with bait and the bass kept slicing through peanuts right at our feet. Bait sprayed everywhere.
Shads and snagging and dropping seem to be getting most of the fish, but white and yellow swimming plugs were also hooking some. An angler next to me picked four stripers in rapid succession from a school parked a few feet in front of us. He was using a Tsunami shad
I moved back north later in the day and the fish were in Asbury Park, Ocean Grove and Bradley Beach.
Matthews said nearly all the guys he saw were letting the keepers go to fight another day.
His advice was to get to the beach before these peanuts disappear. It’s some of the best fishing you’ll ever have, he said.
Capt. Steve Spinelli on the Skylarker out of Belmar has been getting into some of these bass and blues, but he also headed offshore before the wind arrived for sea bass. He went out about 40- to 50 miles on a wreck trip and found some nice sea bass, big porgies and a 12-pound cod.
Capt. Pete Sykes on Parker Pete’s Sportfishing has been waiting out the weather until he can sail again. The tog fishing was good before he became dockbound and he was into the stripers as well, catching fish up to 38 inches.
With the way the bite has been, he plans on booking trips until January.
Nuel at Harry’s Adventure Outiftters reported the bass bite is dominating all the conversation there. His customers are finding the fish from the Manasquan Inlet down to Long Beach Island. They’ve popped up in Bay Head, Seaside and Island Beach State Park.
Some boats have been getting out, he said, and finding a good blackfish bite just a few miles offshore. He added more bluefin tuna have been spotted and guys should be fishing for them with big poppers and stick baits when the weather cooperates.
John Vafiadis at the Reel Seat in Brielle said it’s all bass down his way with fish on the beach in Bay Head, Mantoloking, Normandy Beach, Ortley Beach and Seaside.
Not everyone is striper fishing as he said the Voyager out of Point Pleasant Beach ran an offshore sea bass last week with lots of limits on jumbo sea bass and porgies. If you’re not fishing this weekend, John said the Reel Seat is having a holiday sale you might want to check out.
Greg Bogan at Brielle Bait and Tackle called the current bass bite awesome with fish on the beaches both north and south of his location. He said the bite hasn’t been like this in quite some time and the bass are all different sizes with new bodies of fish moving in.
He added the bottom fishing boats out of Bogan’s Basin will also be sailing offshore for sea bass and porgies now that the wind has backed off.
Fishing Forecast for Northern New Jersey
Hopefully, this insane beach bite will continue. No cataclysmic weather is in the forecast, so they should hang around. Bring some white and holographic shads along with snag rigs and swimming plugs. White looked to be the preferred color.
If bottom fishing is more to your liking, the blackfish bite was good before the blow and there’s no reason its shouldn’t pick right up where it left off. Green crabs and jigs have been working well, but you can spend the extra dough on white leggers if you want.