North Jersey Fishing Report
It may not have been a great Memorial Day weekend for sunbathers, but the fishing was terrific.
Big stripers, keeper fluke, limits of black sea bass and bluefish in a multitude of sizes kept anglers busy and happy.
Capt. Phil Sciortino at The Tackle Box in Hazlet reported that the big bass just keep on coming. Boats trolling Mojos and bunker spoons continue to catch stripers up to 50 pounds.
A few lucky boaters found the bass on top and picked up fish on poppers and live bunker.
Fluke season got off to a good start as well in Raritan Bay and local rivers. Mike Nolan of Holmdel landed an 8 pounder in the Shrewsbury River and weighed it in at the Tackle Box. Sciortino said the usual offerings of bucktails with Gulp! along with killies and squid are getting the bites.
Capt. George Bachert on The Angler out of Atlantic Highlands said the fluking has been good right from opening day.
Tuesday’s trip was no exception with a number of limit catches. Jay Slomovitz from Springfield had his limit to 5½-pounds and took the pool. Capt. Bachert said bait outfished the bucktails.
Capt. Stan Zagleski on the Elaine B II out of Highlands also reported good fluking since opening day with some trips in the very young season better than others.
Tuesday’s trip saw a few limits, nice keepers in the box and a surprise 41-pound striper that hit a Spro jig belonging to Bob Evans of Waldwick.
Mel Martens at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright reported that fluke anglers are doing very well in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers. The bass and blues remain in those rivers as well.
He added that the blues are in the surf in Sea Bright with fish from 3 to 13 pounds. Bunker chunks are getting the attention, along with plugs. The bass are in the suds, too, hitting clams. There aren’t a whole lot of keepers just yet.
Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said it’s been a very good year for the boat anglers on big bass. Mojos and bunker spoons have been responsible for multiple stripers in excess of 40 pounds after a day’s fishing.
The shop weighed in a 48 pounder for Ray Soyka and a 50-pound striper for John Reilly of the Hooked Café in Belmar.
Capt. Pete Sykes on Parker Pete’s Sportfishing out of Belmar is taking full advantage of the excellent fishing. He reported multiple catches of bass up to 48 pounds almost every day since last Thursday.
The only bad days were Sunday when he didn’t sail due to the torrential rains and Wednesday when the fish proved elusive.
The monster bass have been caught mainly on the troll with Mojos and bunker spoons. Livelining is working when he can find the bunker on top.
He still has some open striper dates and is running magic hour bass trips from 3 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Capt. Sykes expects to start fluking around July 1.
Matthews said the fluke fishing in the Shark River got off to a good start but ground to a halt with all the runoff from Sunday’s rain. I fished the river on Monday and the water was thick and brown. We caught some fish, but it was far from good.
The fluking, he said, has been getting better as the water clears.
The surf fishing for bass on clams has been good, but most are shorts. There was one 18-pounder landed from the sand.
Capt. Bobby Quinn on The Ocean Explorer out of Belmar has been devoting his time to black sea bass and has been well rewarded.
He reported Wednesday was another good day with keepers coming over the rail right from the start. The sea bass have been favoring a diamond jig with a sand eel teaser and Capt. Quinn said the fish on Wednesday were going for just plain metal.
Tuesday’s trip was just as productive with double and triple headers with the jigs getting the bigger fish.
Capt. Steve Spinelli on The Skylarker also out of Belmar, said he’s been sea bass fishing with a striper trip mixed in here and there. The sea bass fishing has been very good and when he gets into the bass, the stripers have been 30 to 40 pounds.
Capt. Rich Falcone on the Golden Eagle out of Belmar has been mixing up his catches with blues, sea bass and ling. Most of the bluefish have been in the 3-pound range and caught at the beginning of the day on jigs.
He switches to bottom fishing toward the end of the day and fills out the catch with sea bass and ling.
Alex Kondas at the Reel Seat in Brielle the bass fishing from Sandy Hook down to Asbury Park has been very good. He was fortunate to find them breaking on top over the weekend and got fish up to 50 inches on topwater plugs.
He reported guys are doing very well on sea bass at the Axel Carlson and Sea Girt reefs. Limits have been pretty easy to come by.
The blues continue to bite in the Manasquan River, from the inlet back to the Route 70 Bridge with fish from 2 to 12 pounds. The fluke are also biting in the Manasquan but the bluefish are probably making them a bit nervous.
John Bogan at Brielle Bait and Tackle said the sea bass fishing has been really good lately for the boats out of Bogan’s Basin. There have been some nice fluke taken in the Manasquan River and keeper bass are being caught at night around the bridges on the incoming tide with bait.
The big fish of the week was a 40-pound bass caught in the Manasquan surf by Lee Karosen who was fishing with clams.
Rick at Jigging World in Rochelle Park said his customers have been traveling down to Raritan Bay and have been rewarded with bass and some bluefish.
On the freshwater side, he said the lack of fishing pressure in the rivers and streams has left them full of trout. The waters are well stocked, he said, but no one has been going.
He fished the Wanaque River over the weekend and had all the action he wanted. Pink salmon eggs, Power Bait and small lures are all catching fish.
Joe at Newark Sinker Company in Pine Brook said the weekend rain left the Passaic River running high, which has hurt the fishing. The trout bite is falling off, but the bass and pickerel bite is perking up.
Ryan at Tackle & Field in Wanaque said the bass fishing is picking up as the fish move off their beds and the water warms up.
The walleye fishing is also improving with topwater baits at Monksville Reservoir at night. The musky fishing has been good there with a 42-inch fish caught over the weekend.
Dino at Garden State Bow & Reel in Stockholm also reported an improvement in the bass fishing, with the action picking up in most of the area’s ponds, lakes and reservoirs.
He, too, mentioned the good musky fishing at Monksville, and said it’s been good at Greenwood Lake and Echo Lake as well. He expects it will only get better in June.
Northern New Jersey Fishing Forecast
The fluke season got off to a great start in the rivers and bays, and as long as the rain holds off, the fishing should hold up. Raritan Bay is giving up some nice fish on bait and bucktails.
The sea bass have also come on strong with plenty of limit catches on big fish, especially for those using jigs.
You can also try the beaches for blues and stripers, with the bass bite on clams getting better over the last week. There’s not a lot of keepers, but the fish are around and you just never know.
Plus, the plentiful trout continue to bite in stocked rivers and streams and the large and smallmouth bass are getting much more active as the fish move off the beds.