The water remains fairly warm but the cooler weather that arrived this week brought the season’s first real taste of fall.
The falling mercury got things moving with good catches reported of striped bass, bluefish, false albacore, and bonito. The albies made an especially good showing this week, at the tip of Sandy Hook and along the beaches of Monmouth County.
The bottom fishing also held up with coolers on boats filling up with porgies, sea bass, blowfish, blackfish, triggerfish and winter flounder.
Fishing Report For Northern New Jersey
Capt. Phil Sciortino at The Tackle Box in Hazlet reported blues up to 8 pounds blitzed the beaches in Sea Bright and Long Branch on Monday and Tuesday while the false albacore were at the tip of Sandy Hook on both days.
He also said some nice stripers have been caught in the Ambrose Channel on live eels at night.
Capt. Ron Santee on The Fishermen out of Atlantic Highlands reported an excellent day of bottom fishing on Sunday with loads of porgies and plenty of sea bass, plus some blowfish, bluefish and a couple of blackfish.
The wind turned out to be a bit of a problem for boaters later in the week but it looks to be backing off by the weekend.
Mel Martens at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle said there were loads of bigger blues and false albacore in the Sea Bright and Long Branch surf at the beginning of the week.
The bluefish were 6 to 8 pounds and he said there were dozens of dolphins feeding close the beach. The amount of bait around is phenomenal, he added.
Mike Gleason at Tak Waterman in Long Branch said it was a fun week of fishing the surf. The bass bite is definitely picking up with more fish caught on a wider variety of baits.
Gleason said top water plugs like metal-lipped swimmers, talking poppers and Zara spooks were getting more attention from the stripers. Shads are still catching bass as well.
He said the stripers were getting bigger and the albies and blues were in and out of the Long Branch surf all week. There’s still a lot of fluke in the wash, he said, although the season closed a while ago.
There was a big school of bunker under attack off Ocean Grove on Wednesday evening. While it was out of reach of my casts, you could see the bait flying as whatever it was kept crashing into the school.
Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar reported also reported big schools of bunker off the beach in Monmouth County. Whales and porpoises have been feeding on them all week. He said surfcasters got into the stripers in Spring Lake on Tuesday night and there were some keepers in the catch. Matthews also reported a few big bass were taken on the troll.
There are also blowfish in the Shark River and Barnegat Bay and winter flounder are around there as well but not many keepers yet.
The blackfish bite at the inlet remains hot, he said, and the tog are biting for the boats as well with Skip Rosati Morrisville, Pa., bringing a 12¼-pound tog to the scale at the Den.
The Shark River Inlet is producing a lot of bluefish, stripers and false albacore, Matthews reported.
He added that the party boats have also been doing well with porgies, sea bass, blues and albies.
Capt. Bobby Quinn’s Ocean Explorer was among the boats enjoying excellent fishing.
He reported an awesome day of fishing of Wednesday. The wind was howling out of the west but it didn’t seem to be a problem as he found plentiful sea bass and porgies.
The sea bass, he said, were stacked 30 feet off the bottom and those fishing up high had better luck with keepers. Closer to the bottom were the shorts and big porgies. He called the fishing spectacular.
Capt. Rich Falcone on The Golden Eagle out of Belmar reported excellent fishing on Tuesday night’s bluefish trip. The group aboard got all the bluefish they could handle, plus big porgies, sea bass and bonito.
Capt. Pete Sykes on Parker Pete’s Sportfishing out of Belmar took the boat out on a fall shakedown cruise on Tuesday afternoon and found loads of bait and whales feasting on it.
He’s heard of some monster bass caught and is all set for the fall striper bite. He’s got open dates and spots for shared charters.
Alex Kondas at the Reel Seat in Brielle said the Manasquan River remains full of striped bass from 20 inches to keeper size. The stripers are being caught from the bridges all the way out to the inlet on shads, bucktails and live eels.
The sea bass fishing has been good since the opening with the mid-range wrecks holding the bigger fish. Clams and jigs are both working and Kondas said Jigpara vertical slow pitch jigs are proving popular with the customers there.
Anglers are also getting big porgies and some nice winter flounder. The winter flounder have been up to 3 pounds.
The bluefin tuna continue to bite on the troll and big poppers around the Shark River Reef and Little Italy and Kondas said false albacore are popping up from there all the way to the beach. He also reported small bonito invading the inlet earlier in the week.
John Bogan at Brielle Bait reported that despite the high winds of the last few days, the fishing has been good. He, too, said the Manasquan River is full of bass and they’re showing up in better numbers along the beaches in Manasquan and Point Pleasant Beach.
Blackfishing is good in the Point Pleasant Canal and at the inlet and bonito and albies are in and out of the inlet as well.
The boats out of Bogan’s Basin are doing well with porgies, sea bass, triggerfish, bonito and bluefish.
Mark at Tackle World in Rochelle Park said the fishing has been great as his customers have been getting into the stripers, sea bass, albies, blackfish, bluefish and porgies. He said the Hackensack River has been giving up some stripers.
The smallmouth bass fishing has also been good in the Haledon Reservoir, he added, and the trout fishing picked up after the fall stocking.
This Saturday offers a great opportunity to get started freshwater fishing as it is a free fishing day in the state when no license or trout stamp is required.
Steve at Garden State Bow Reel in Stockholm said anglers that specialize in walleye are finding pockets of them in the watershed. He also said the cooler weather has the crappie biting on fatheads.
He said he hasn’t had much feedback on the trout fishing as yet but expects to hear more after the weekend.
Cheryl at Newark Tackle Company in Pine Brook said large and smallmouth bass are biting in the Passaic River for those that put in the effort. There are also some large pike hanging in the holes.
Larry at the shop said he had a customer pulling some very large striped bass, up to 30 pounds, under the Turnpike Bridge over the Hackensack River. He was using big Johnson Fin Bin lures.
Fishing Forecast for Northern New Jersey
It’s a good weekend to go fishing. The fall run is gathering steam with bass, blues and false albacore on the beaches and offshore. The bottom fishing is very good with sea bass, porgies, and blackfish on the wrecks and reefs.
And now that the fall stocking is concluded, the trout fishing should be pretty good in lakes, ponds and streams receiving the fish. Plus, Saturday is a free fishing day throughout the state where no license or trout stamp is required.