A beautiful black sea bass caught on last Sunday’s offshore trip aboard the Big Jamiaca.Stripers have some new menu items to choose from as schools of herring have joined the peanut and adult bunker swimming off the beaches.
There were also reports of sand eels in the bellies of bass taken from the surf in Spring Lake and Sea Girt, which is definitely a good sign for an extended striper bite.
The weather, however, wasn’t helping as a storm at the beginning of the week has kept some boats at the dock and caused others to call it a season.
The fish on the other hand are far from throwing in the towel as the bass continue to bite and the blackfishing is holding up nicely.
Capt. Phil Sciortino at Tackle Box in Hazlet reported bass blitzing the beach in Long Branch on Sunday hitting shads and poppers. He reported the fish caught were smaller than the ones that had been showing up in the previous weeks.
Sciortino said adult bunker have arrived on the scene along with bay anchovies and sand eels.
The blackfishing, Sciortino said, has been very good when the weather cooperates.
Joe Julian at Julian’s Bait and Tackle agreed, calling the blackfishing excellent. He also added the surf at Sandy Hook continues to produce stripers.
Capt. George Bachert on the Angler out of Atlantic Highlands had a productive tog trip on Sunday with a 7 pounder taking the pool. The action on the first two drops was good, just not a lot of keepers.
After a move to the north, Capt. Bachert found better fishing with a number of fish just shy of the pool winner. Green crabs did the job, but some fish were taken on white leggers.
The Angler sailed again Wednesday, but Capt. Bachert said the roll made anchoring difficult and the fishing wasn’t very good.
Capt. Tom Buban on the Atlantic Star sailed in the rain on Tuesday and reported finding tog on every drop. There was one limit taken and some anglers had up to three keepers.
Capt. Stan Zagleski on the Elaine B II out of Highlands also fished on Tuesday and said it only took two drops to get the job done.
He reported steady fishing all day long with the usual mix of keepers and shorts. Mike Stefanowicz, Keansburg, got his limit along with the pool winner. Green and white leggers both caught fish and Capt. Zagleski said everyone went home with tog for the table.
Things were a little tougher for the boats fishing for stripers out of Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Rob Semkewyc on the Sea Hunter out of Atlantic Highlands sailed on Sunday with a small group on what he called a do or die trip as he was considering calling it a season.
After a slow start, he found a big school of fish and while the bass didn’t exceed 27 inches, his fares did catch a lot of them.
However, after looking at the forecast for the rest of the week, Semkewyc decided to call it for the year until the bass return in the spring. Capt. Ron Santee on the Fishermen is also done for the year as well.
Mel Martens at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright reported the bass are still biting on the beaches. They were on the sand in Asbury Park, Ocean Grove, Bradley Beach, Sea Girt and Manasquan on Saturday feeding on peanut bunker.
They were hitting shads, poppers and swimming plugs. I picked up a few on a yellow popper in Ocean Grove and the fish were just under the limit but very fat. The bait was right on the sand.
On Monday, Martens said he followed schools of adult bunker from Monmouth Beach down to Long Branch but there didn’t appear to be any stripers giving chase.
He also heard of herring and mackerel in the Manasquan Inlet and guys using Sabiki rigs were catching loads of them. While he was fishing in Long Branch, Martens said an angler caught a 20-inch fluke on a shad. The water is still relatively warm
Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar reported that the bass fishing is still very good on the beaches and for the boat guys.
He said there were blitzes on the beaches in Monmouth and Ocean counties over the weekend and the bass hit poppers, shads and metal-lipped swimmers with the average size around 30 inches.
The big fish of the week a 26 pounder caught by Jerry Taylor of Belmar.
The boat anglers did best south of the Manasquan Inlet with fish on shads and plugs and some on snag and drop.
The blackfishing for the boats out of the marina, Matthews said, has been good with tog jigs gaining in popularity.
Capt. Steve Spinelli on the Skylarker out of the Belmar reported the blackfishing continues to hold up with decent fishing over the last week.
A couple of nice pool fish came over the rail with one at 10.2 pounds on Saturday and another at 9 pounds. Capt. Spinelli said he’s planning on giving the bass another shot before heading offshore on sea bass trip later this week.
Capt. Pete Sykes on Parker Pete’s Sportfishing has been splitting his time between blackfish and stripers and having good luck with both. He fished for bass in the rain on Tuesday off Seaside and got them on shads to start off then went to trolling Mojos later in the day.
Capt. Sykes said there were plenty of keeper bass along with slot fish. The fish were feeding on herring, he said.
As for blackfish, Capt. Sykes said they aren’t always chewing, but when they are, they’re chewing good. He had the gang from Fisherman’s Den out Monday when they were hungry and the boat had a few limits and a couple of tog over 7 pounds.
Capt. Rich Falcone on the Golden Eagle continues to find bass and bluefish with very good fishing on Saturday and Sunday with stripers up to 34 inches, plenty of slot fish and some jumbo blues, all close to the beach. Most of the fish were caught on Krocs.
The Golden Eagle found the fish again on Tuesday with similar results.
The report out of the Reel Seat in Brielle is all about the bass. Bob C. said the sand eels have arrived and there’s also lots of herring and mackerel around. Poppers, shads and swimmers are all catching fish.
The tog, he said, are still biting at the Manasquan Inlet and a few have been caught in the Point Pleasant Canal.
Greg Bogan at Brielle Bait and Tackle said he’s also getting reports of bass on the beach from his customers.
He said when the boats out of Bogan’s Basin, the Big Jamaica, Jamaica II and Paramount, are able to sail, the offshore sea bass and porgy fishing has been very good.
Fishing Forecast for Northern New Jersey
Weather is becoming a factor so if you want to get into the striper fishing, don’t delay. With the arrival of the herring and sand eels, make sure you have some metal-lipped swimming plugs and metal such as Avas, Deadly Dicks or Crippled Herring along with your shads. Frigid air is on the way so there’s no telling what impact that will have on the fishing, except to say it will get uncomfortable.