After a picky weekend, the big bass returned to center stage at the beginning of the week with plenty of fish well over 40 pounds being caught. The bite really picked up Monday and Tuesday with the afternoon providing the better action.
At the same time, the black sea bass bite has been off the charts. The only bad news on that front is that the season closes on Sunday.
Fluke and bluefish are filling out the saltwater picture and the better weather has brought out more freshwater anglers.
Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet said the stripers were about a mile off the Highlands Bridge on Monday afternoon and the boats were having a field day catching fish live-lining and throwing poppers.
Sciortino said his cousin, Capt. Nick LaViola, had the family out on Monday when they put four nice bass in the boat live-lining.
The sea bass fishing is lights out, said Sciortino, but the fluking has been a little slow. The water is still pretty cool, which may explain why the fluke aren’t biting but the bass are still around.
Capt. Rob Semkewyc on the Sea Hunter out of Atlantic Highlands got into them as well on Tuesday, reporting the big bass were busting on top in schools of bunker. George Cullen landed the 44-pound pool winner. There were also a number of fish in the 30-pound range.
Capt. George Bachert on The Angler, also out of Atlantic Highlands, has been sticking with fluke and after a lot of searching around on Tuesday, reported finding some nice fish, with angler Marvin Tyler taking the pool with a 27-inch fish.
Capt. Bachert said many of the fish caught were over 23 inches.
Mel Martens at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright said fluke up to 22 inches were caught in the surf at the beginning of the week on Gulp! The fluking in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers is a better bet.
Martens also reported small blues on the beach in Monmouth Beach and North Long Branch and they’re in the rivers as well. There are small bass in the rivers, too, hitting top water plugs early in the morning.
His customers have also been getting in on the great sea bass fishing and offshore bass.
Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar reported that they weighed in their first bass of the season over 50 pounds when Stephen Germann of Freehold brought in 51 pounder he caught on a Mojo.
Last spring, the Den weighed in 13 bass over 50 pounds, so Matthews doubts they’ll reach that number this year. The excellent sea bass fishing is some consolation for the slower bass bite and he added the fluke bite is lagging behind as well.
He believes the colder water might have something to do with the sluggish fluke action.
Capt. Pete Sykes of Parker Pete’s Sportfishing out of Belmar called the afternoon striped bass action this week excellent. His customers have been catching bass up to 48-pounds livelining and on poppers. Tuesday’s trip saw everyone join the 40-pound club.
Capt. Sykes said there are still a few openings left for upcoming trips.
Capt. Ron Kish on the Capt. Cal II also out of Belmar reported limit or close to limit catches for everyone on board on his sea bass trips. There are loads of fish around and many are just missing the size limit by a quarter inch.
He’s been catching some fluke along with the sea bass and will fish strictly for fluke starting Monday after the sea bass season closes.
Bob Caracozzo at the Reel Seat in Brielle called the black sea bass fishing out of the Manasquan Inlet off the charts. The party boats out of Brielle and Point Pleasant Beach will be targeting them on the final weekend of the season.
The fluking, he said, has been pretty good on the Axel Carlson and Sea Girt reefs and there are still some fluke and blues in the Manasquan River. The blues are in the ocean as well and they have been full of sand eels.
Shark fishermen are getting ready for this weekend’s Brett Bailey Mako Rodeo and the Mako Mania and Mako Fever tournaments are set for the following weekend.
Greg Bogan said the tremendous sea bass fishing is the main topic of conversation at Brielle Bait and Tackle and he said guys are now jigging them using small Avas and catching some bigger fish.
There are also a lot more bass being caught in the Manasquan River, he said, near the Route 70 Bridge and the Railroad Bridge on topwater lures. They’re not real big, he added, but there’s plenty of them.
The long-awaited return of the sun did get more freshwater anglers out on the water. More activity was reported on ponds, lakes and reservoirs throughout the state.
Ken at Tackle and Field in Wanaque said the fishing is improving with more small and largemouth bass being caught at Greenwood Lake and other area waters. The local tournament season will be getting underway this weekend, he said, and more fish are bound to be caught.
Folks are still catching plenty of walleye, he added, and Lake Wawayanda continues to give up landlocked salmon.
Jim at Behre’s Bait and Tackle in Lebanon said the hybrid striper fishing at night at Spruce Run Reservoir has been very good with anglers livelining herring and shiners. The hybrids are also hitting topwater plugs.
He added there are plenty of big channel catfish in there as well, between 4 and 8 pounds. The cats are falling for nightcrawlers and chicken livers.
At Round Valley, Behre reported the shore fishing for rainbow trout slowed up a bit, but they can be had at first light on Power bait and shiners. Guys trolling for rainbows will have luck with spoons between 15 and 30 feet but you’ll have to go deeper for lake trout at 70 to 100 feet. Any type of spoon is a good bet.
You won’t have to go as deep at Merrill Creek Reservoir where the lake trout are in the 40- to 50-foot range. Spoons will do the trick there as well. Rainbows will be shallower, in the 15- to 30-foot range.
Ryan at Fins and Furs in Newfoundland said he got out on Green Pond and did pretty well with smallmouth bass while catching a couple of largemouth as well.
Larry at Newark Sinker Company in Pine Brook reported there are more pike being caught in the Passaic River now that it’s slowed down some after all the rain.
He’s also had reports of hybrid stripers on topwater lures at Lake Hopatcong.
The folks at Garden State Bow and Reel in Stockholm said there’s been a lot of smallmouth bass been caught in the area lately and the walleye bite has been good at the Canistear Reservoir.
Fishing Forecast for Northern New Jersey
This is your last chance to get in on the great black sea bass bite as the season comes to a close on Sunday. Party boats out of the Amboys, Keyport, Atlantic Highlands, Highlands, Belmar and Brielle will get you to the action.
The warming water should help the fluke bite in the ocean and you can try for them in the suds with Gulp! and killies.
The big bass are still around, especially north of Asbury Park, but the boat guys are having all the fun. The beach bite for stripers has been tough this spring.