This past week brought bigger bass, plenty of blues and a solid start to the sea bass season.
Throw in excellent porgy fishing along with winter flounder, blackfish and some false albacore and it was a good week of fishing.
And it might get even better.
A cold front is expected to come through by the weekend, dropping temperatures precipitously and hopefully adding some juice to the fall run.
Northern New Jersey Fishing Report
Capt. Phil Sciortino at The Tackle Box in Hazlet said the porgy bite shows no sign of slowing down on the rock piles and there have been blackfish and winter flounder caught by those fishing the bottom.
He said a stiff northeast wind made for a tough opening sea bass day but the action was good on Tuesday and Wednesday. Anglers fishing with eels are also catching bass close to 20 pounds near the Statue of Liberty, he added.
There were albies in the Rip at the tip of Sandy Hook as well.
The cooler weather may chase the albies but it will only help the bass fishing.
Capt. Rob Semkewyc on the Sea Hunter out of Atlantic Highlands made his first striper trip of the fall on Sunday and while the fishing wasn’t great, the boat managed a couple of keepers and some shorts.
Capt. Ron Santee on the Fishermen out of Atlantic Highlands said Tuesday’s trip provided the best mixed bag of fishing you could want for this time of year.
His customers caught jumbo porgies, sea bass, triggerfish, blues, blowfish and a few weakfish.
Mel Martens at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright said the boat guys were having most of the luck with false albacore as they were popping up from one to three miles off the beaches of Monmouth County.
He also said there were plenty of small blues and bass in the surf and in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers. The porgy fishing has been pretty good in the rivers as well as the porgies have gathered in a few of the deeper holes.
The crabbing is still good, too, he said.
Mike Gleason at Tak Waterman in Long Branch said he’s seeing more bass and bluefish coming out of the surf.
The bass are getting a little bigger, he said, and they’re now hitting top water plugs and SP Minnows as well as shads and bucktails.
There was a small school of bass crashing into bait in Bradley Beach on Wednesday evening and I picked up a couple of stripers on a jointed Red Fin and a white shad.
Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said the sea bass season opened with a bang for the boats sailing out of the marina.
The opening day weather wasn’t the best, but the fishing was good and stayed that way all week. Many limits have been reported and the fish have been big, Matthews said. Blackfish and porgies are being caught along with the sea bass.
He added that the bluefish boats have been doing pretty well with plenty of albies in the mix.
The Shark River offers a mix of blackfish, small bass, blues, blowfish and a few winter flounder. The blackfishing at the inlet, Matthews said, has been red hot on green crabs.
He said the night bite in the backwaters of the Shark River has been very good for bass and blues with loads of fish and plenty of action on shads and small plugs.
Capt. Bobby Quinn on the Ocean Explorer out of Belmar reported an excellent sea bass opener and good fishing every day since. Anglers using small diamond jigs or a sand eel teaser are getting the bulk of the action and the bigger fish.
Folks fishing bait up off the bottom were also getting some nice fish. Capt. Quinn said there were also porgies, triggerfish and a few small weakfish in the mix.
Capt. Ron Kish on the Capt. Cal II out of Belmar said the bottom fishing was off the charts on Wednesday’s trip with big sea bass and monster porgies.
Capt. Steve Spinelli on the Skylarker out of Belmar has been sea bass fishing as well, but made a tuna trip on Tuesday and Wednesday and found bluefin tuna, loads of mahi-mahi and some Almaco jacks.
He said he found a weed line about 60 miles out that was holding the mahi-mahi and bluefin tuna.
Capt. Rich Falcone on the Golden Eagle has been spending most of his time bluefishing with good results. Over the weekend, his fares got into fish in the 3- to 8-pound range with some jumbos up to 18 pounds.
He made an offshore trip at the beginning of the week and, while the tuna bite was slow, the boat found lots of mahi-mahi and a swordfish. He’s chartered for Saturday but will be sailing open boat on Sunday.
Capt. Pete Sykes on Parker Pete’s Sportfishing has been doing some maintenance on the boat but will be sailing this weekend for sea bass. He’ll be bottom fishing until the stripers show up.
He’s got plenty of open dates and can fill partial charters for the striped bass trips.
Alex Kondas at the Reel Seat in Brielle said the Manasquan River is loaded with tons of small bluefish. So many, in fact, that they are making things difficult for the bass fishermen who are trying to get down to the stripers.
The blues are destroying all the soft baits, he said, and getting to the plugs well ahead of the bass.
Bass fishermen are doing better by the inlet where there are fewer blues. Live eels are catching some of the better fish.
The reefs and rocks are holding a lot of sea bass and the boats that sailed for the opener did very well. The fishing has remained good, and the farther out you go, Kondas said, the better the fishing.
The tuna fishing has been a disappointment, he added, but there are still plenty of mahi-mahi offshore.
John Bogan at Brielle Bait and Tackle said he’s been getting good reports on the sea bass fishing from the boats out of the Manasquan Inlet. The Jamaica II reported a good trip on Tuesday with plenty of sea bass. The boat also managed to get its limit of bluefin tuna, which is pretty good on a sea bass outing.
Bogan said the stripers are still under the bridges in the Manasquan River at night and the Point Pleasant Canal is full of blackfish. You just have to go through the shorts to get a keeper.
Mark at Tackle World in Rochelle Park said the striped bass fishing has been good on eels at the Statue of Liberty. His customers are also getting into the good sea bass and porgy fishing.
He also said people are excited about fall trout stocking which began this week and will continue through the end of next week. Water levels in the rivers, ponds and lakes are excellent and the fishing should be good for a while.
He added that the walleye and smallmouth bass fishing has been good at Greenwood Lake and Lake Hopatcong. The water level has been lowered at Hopatcong which has helped to concentrate the fish.
Larry at Newark Sinker Company in Pine Brook said his customers have been gearing up for fall trout fishing but he hasn’t received any reports as yet.
Steve at Garden State Bow & Reel in Stockholm said the large and smallmouth bass fishing has been pretty good throughout the watershed. Guys bass fishing at Echo Lake, he said, are having a slight problem with the smaller muskies hitting their lures.
The crappie fishing, he said, has been decent as well in the local lakes and ponds.
Fishing Forecast for Northern New Jersey
Bottom fishing is excellent right now with black sea bass, porgies, triggerfish, blackfish, blowfish and winter flounder all on the menu. A weekend trip on a party boat will more than likely put meat on the table and in the freezer.
It will be a good time to fish the rivers and surf as well. There’s plenty of bait around and the cooler weather will probably have the bass and blues on the move.
The birds were working all along the beach in the Asbury Park area on Thursday morning, a scene likely repeated all along the coast, so the stage looks to be set for a good weekend. The rain just needs to stay away.