Southern New Jersey Fishing Report - April 11, 2019

The fishing is starting to improve as we had some nice spring-summer like temperatures this past week. The back bay striped bass bite continues to get better especially around the falling tides with water temperatures reaching the low 60’s. Most of south Jersey has had schoolie action with the bigger bass coming from the Delaware River and the Raritan Bay. Tog fishing has been slow, but there have been quite a few quality fish caught up to 16 pounds. The better bite has been south from Wildwood to Cape May in wrecks 80 to 100 feet. The tog bite should get better as the ocean temperatures start to warm. White perch are still going strong in most of the back lagoons and small tidal creeks.

Fishing Report For Southern New Jersey

Capt. Bill’s Landing in Point Pleasant Beach reported a very good striped bass bite in the Raritan with many anglers stopping in the shop to purchase swimshads and plugs. Most of the striper action from the Point Pleasant area has been schoolie-sized fish caught on bloodworms, clam, and soft plastics. Tog fishing has been a pick on keepers with shorts and some cod mixed in for most of the headboats.
 
Norma K III in Point Pleasant Beach has been out the past few days and fishing has been improving each day with cod and more blackfish. There has been a good mix of shorts and keepers to keep anglers busy.

The Gambler out of Point Pleasant Beach has been blackfishing when the weather is good, but with some reports of striped bass moving up the beach, the boat has switched over to striped bass fishing. The Gambler is sailing Wednesday through Sunday from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The MIMI VI out of Point Pleasant has a few 12-man limit trips over the next few weeks as the skipper will be targeting tog and all bait is included (green crabs, white crabs, and clams). The tog bite has been a little slow, but a few nice keepers have been boxed. The skipper feels the bite should steadily improve over the next few weeks.

Jersey Hooker Outfitter in Brick had decent reports of a night striper bite with most of the fish in the 18 to 29 inch range. Some areas in the Toms River have been holding good numbers of schoolies along with white perch. Bridge structures along the Manasquan River and Mantaloking River have had stripers caught on soft plastics at night.

Charlie’s Bait & Tackle in Normandy Beach reported schoolies picking up soft plastics and bloodworms in the Point Pleasant Canal and along the Mantaloking bridges at night. The surf has been starting to get more action with more anglers starting to fish it. The best reports have come from the dusk to dawn hours with anglers fishing clam.

Grumpy’s Bait & Tackle in Seaside Park had reports of more striped bass being caught off the surf in Seaside this past week. Most of the fishing has been during the night hours and bass have ranged from 20 to 32 inches. There have been some adult bunker in the back which can be easily snagged, but no reports of bass on them.

Jersey Buoyz out of Forked River worked a few spots over the weekend to find some keeper tog and cod during one of their shakedown cruises. The skipper does have dates available over the next several weeks for tog and bluefish.

Lacey Marine in Forked River received good reports of striped bass and white perch picking up bloodworms in the Toms River and some of the lagoons on the west side of Barnegat Bay. Anglers fishing for tog have been targeting them in 70 to 90 foot, but the bite has been relatively slow with few keepers and cod mixed in.

Creekside Outfitters in Waretown had reports of keeper tog at the Barnegat Light Reef and Garden State North reef on clam and green crab. It was a very slow bite with only a few fished raised over a half day. Striped bass have been picking up both clam and worm baits in the bay and are hitting soft plastics and plugs at night.

Reel Reaction Charters out of Waretown and Barnegat Light got into some light tackle striped bass action around the outgoing on soft plastics and plugs. The skipper has been checking some of the usual early season bluefish spots, but nothing as of yet. There are limited tog dates available for the remainder of April.

Ocean City to Cape May saw some warmer temperatures this past week and the fish have started to respond. The tog fishing has been pretty good in terms of size with fish over 16 pounds being caught from some of the Cape May party boats. There aren’t a huge number of fish being caught, but the quality has been great. Striped bass continue to be landed from the tidal creeks and rivers (Tuckahoe, Mullica, etc) along with plenty of white perch. Most of the striped bass have been in the 20-inch range. In a few more weeks, the drum should start to arrive in the Delaware Bay.

Fishing Forecast For Southern New Jersey

The best bet for the weekend will be to target blackfish as we only have a few weeks left to put some meat in the freezer. The bite has been slow so you will need to be prepared to stay through the slow periods as there have been some quality fish over the 10-pound mark. The Raritan is the place to be right now in terms of keeper striped bass, but there are plenty of schoolies along most of our tidal creeks, rivers, and mud flats to keep anglers busy. Bluefish should start to arrive once the bay water temperatures hit the mid-50’s consistently so it should only improve as we move closer to May. Good luck, be safe, and tight lines!