There is good cause to be optimistic about this weekend’s fishing.
The forecast is calling for warmer temperatures, there’s plenty of bait around, the striped bass bite keeps improving and trout anglers were rewarded with plenty of action on opening day.
Granted, it’s a spring that’s arrived in fits and starts, but things are starting to happen.
Mel Martens at Giglio’s in Sea Bright said gannets have been diving into the ocean from Sandy Hook down to Deal. The ocean is thick with bait, bunker and herring, and the big bass can’t be far behind.
Martens heard rumors of a few stripers in the ocean, but there haven’t been a lot of reports as yet. The bass continue to bite in Raritan Bay and he did hear of some small blues at the inlets.
Capt. Phil Sciortino at The Tackle Box in Hazlet said folks are catching stripers all around the bay, mostly on worms and clams.
He added that the bass blew up on bunker at Union Beach earlier in the week and the fish hit plugs and shads. The majority of the bass were short, but Sciortino said there were several from 30 to 32 inches.
The water temperature is about 47 degrees and a few days of sun should help break the fishing wide open, he said.
Capt. Ron Santee on the Fishermen and Capt. Rob Semkewyc of the Sea Hunter, both out of the Atlantic Highlands Marina, plan on starting their seasons this Saturday sailing for stripers.
It’s striper time for the Golden Eagle out of Belmar as well. Capt. Rich Falcone also reported birds and bait all along the coast with a few bass being caught. He’ll be striper fishing this weekend and predicts the soft baits will be the better choice.
Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said the fishing is finally showing signs of life.
The Ocean Explorer has been catching blackfish all week. Tuesday’s trip produced about 20 keepers and a nice cod.
Capt. Steve Spinelli has been running the Explorer while Capt. Bobby Quinn takes a well-deserved break. Capt. Spinelli plans to start sailing on his own boat, the Skylarker, sometime next week.
Matthews also reported an uptick in the striper fishing. He’s been hearing of some small bass in the surf along with bluefish in the rivers. Some of his customers have been having luck up in Raritan Bay on worms and clams.
He, too, reported loads of bait along the beaches, which should get the attention of the bigger bass.
Capt. Pete Sykes on Parker Pete’s Sportfishing out of Belmar said he’s been busy booking striper trips and the dates have been filling up fast. Remaining dates should disappear once the big fish appear, he said.
He’s been doing a lot of work on the boat, including a new engine, and expects to be in the water by next week.
Matthews did say that the winter flounder fishing has been a disappointment in the Shark River so far.
On the other hand, the trout fishing, especially at Spring Lake, has been outstanding. The stocking of state fish, and the more than 500 trout added by the Shark River Surf Anglers for the Annual Trout Contest for Kids, certainly helped.
The contest’s grand prize winner was Zack Pritsch, 13, of Little Egg Harbor, who landed a 7-pound, 6–ounce brown trout on Power Bait toward the end of the opening day event.
More than 120 trout came to the scales, many in the 2-to 5-pound range. Every youngster who caught a fish was awarded a rod and reel combination package.
The contest is held every opening day in Spring Lake and is a terrific way to introduce kids to the sport.
Greg Bogan at Brielle Bait and Tackle said he’s been hearing good things on freshwater fishing from his customers. Folks are fishing the stocked waters, including the Manasquan River, with success while the local ponds are giving up bass, pickerel and crappie.
On the saltwater side, they are catching striped bass from 18 to 25 inches on the Point Pleasant side of the Manasquan Inlet. Bogan said 4-inch white rubber shads have been getting the most attention.
He added that winter flounder are biting at the bay end of the Point Pleasant Canal on worms with bloods out fishing sands.
John Vafanidas at the Reel Seat in Brielle said he’s received good reports of winter flounder at the Mantoloking Bridge.
He’s also heard of a few stripers being caught on the beach.
He added that the party boats out of the inlet are also doing well with blackfish. If tog are on your hit list, remember that the season closes at the end of the month.
To the north, it looks like everyone enjoyed the opening of trout season.
Rich Hebert at Jigging World in Rochelle Park said he fished the Ramapo River with two of his friends and they caught and released 32 rainbow trout using golden spinners.
His saltwater customers, he said, were picking at stripers in Raritan Bay.
Ryan at Tackle and Field in Wanaque said his customers were catching trout in the Wanaque and Ramapo rivers, with a vast majority of the fish taken on bait.
The water is still a bit chilly, around 40 degrees he said, so the large and smallmouth bass fishing has yet to get going in the area.
Steve at Garden State Bow and Reel in Stockholm said the fishing has been good the last week. Lots of trout were caught in stocked waters on bait and spinners in brighter colors. Pink was the favorite and small phoebes were also doing the trick.
He’s expecting a good weekend of fishing now that the reservoirs are open and the forecast looks good.
Ron at Fins & Furs in Newfoundland said he had a great opening day on the Rockaway River with wooly buggers catching trout up to 18 inches. All of the stocked areas, he said, were producing fish.
Anglers also did well at Green Pond with shiners and nightcrawlers.
Larry at the Newark Sinker Company in Pine Brook said the streams were running pretty high and fast but it didn’t seem to hurt the trout fishing in stocked water.
Fishing Forecast for Northern New Jersey
With warmer weather in the forecast and plentiful bait around, this could be a breakout weekend for striper anglers. Bass have been caught in Raritan Bay for the past couple of weeks and conditions look about right for a big improvement, both in the bay and along the beaches.
I’ll be heading to the sand with clams and shads to see if anything is happening.
There have also been a few bluefish caught so the big spring choppers should show up soon to feast on all the bait
The blackfishing has been decent on the party boats heading out of the Shark River and Manasquan inlets. There’s only two weeks left in the 4-fish season, so now may be the time to go.
Plus, trout season opened with a bang and there are plenty of fish around. Get out in the nice weather and enjoy.
Back side of Raritan Bay is hot now and don’t forget sp minnows. Keeper bass with sea lice.
I was fishing the Raritan Bay the other day when a kyacker set out to do some fishing ,he only went about 80 yards off the beach when he had his first keeper .No less than 5 mins later he had his 2nd keeper.The fish stopped biting on clams so I started thowing storm shads and got my first keeper of the year.It was 34 1/2” and 15 1/2 lbs that fish made my day.
When does the striper season start?