The tuna have returned, fluking is heating up and the sea bass just keep on chewing. All in all, the fishing is good.
Just one reminder: Sea bass season closes next Tuesday so this weekend might be your last chance to get in on the excellent fishing. The weather forecast looks good so spots on party and charter boats will be at a premium.
If you prefer land-based fishing, the beach bite is getting better for fluke, blues and striped bass.
Northern New Jersey Fishing Report
Rick Hebert at Tackle World in Rochelle Park said the chunk bite for stripers in the back of Raritan Bay was hot over the weekend. After getting their limit by 7:30 in the morning, Hebert’s brother and his crew caught and released close to 80 stripers. On the freshwater side, he said the small mouth bite has been good at Greenwood Lake.
Laurie Murphy at Dow’s Boat Rental at Lake Hopatcong said bass season opened up on June 16 and largemouth are being caught fishing the weed beds with live bait or lures. Smallmouth can be found off the rocky points.
Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet said more fluke are showing up on the bay side of Sandy Hook and in the surf. He also reported blues in the 3- to 5-pound range off the beach as well. Anglers are also chunking blues and bass in Raritan Bay. He said the chunk bite for bass has been good back by South Amboy and trophy bass continue to be caught in the ocean on the troll.
Mike Pinto at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright said more fluke are being caught in the surf. It’s no great shakes yet, but there’s a pick of shorts with a few keepers mixed in. Gulp and bucktails are doing the trick. He also reported small bluefish scattered along the beaches with short bass in the surf as well.
The fluking has been decent in the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers but shorts out number keepers by a wide margin.
Mike Gleason at Tak Waterman in Long Branch said a new body of bluefin tuna moved in with fish in the 30- to 40-pound range being taken on the troll, on jigs and popping plugs. Gleason was out on Tuesday and said they saw a lot more tuna than they were catching. He said the fish were feeding on a mix of sand eels and squid and the 60-to 80-gram streaker jigs were working well. There’s still a good striper bite to the north on spooks and other top water plugs with fish in the 20-pound range. The fluking is picking up in both the rivers and the surf, he added. The surf bite on stripers keeps getting better in the Ocean Grove/ Bradley Beach surf on sand crabs, small plugs and epoxy lures.
Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said the fishing has been good this past week. The offshore sea bass bite has been great, he reported, while the fluke fishing has been very good in the rivers. Shorts far exceed keepers but there are some nice fluke being landed. The ocean fluking remains slow but is picking up. He said the surf bite for bass has been good on clams and sand bugs. He and his pals have been doing well with bass at night in the rivers on shads and live eels. Matthews added that the blues are still in the rivers, too, just not the giants that were there a few weeks ago. Finally, he said, the offshore folks are enjoying the renewed tuna bite.
Capt. Jay Richardella of Side Job Charters out of Belmar has been getting into the bluefin in a big way. He and his crew took second place overall in the Manasquan River Marlin and Tuna Club Bluefin Open that ran last Thursday through Sunday. He fished Thursday and weighed in a 47 pounder. He was back out on Sunday and went 12 for 13 on bluefin. Capt. Jay has also been doing some sea bass and striper fishing and said both have been good. He’s got some dates available and can be contacted through his website.
Capt. Pete Sykes of Parker Pete’s Fishing Charters out of Belmar said the sea bass fishing aboard the Express is insane with boat limits every day. His anglers have also picked up some keeper fluke up to 5 pounds. Capt. Sykes will be starting his bucktail extravaganzas for fluke on July 1. When there’s no charter, he’ll be running open boat trips fishing hard bottom for jumbo fluke. Parker Pete’s smaller boat continues to catch trophy bass out in the ocean. Most of the jumbos have been caught on the troll but Capt. Sykes hopes to start livelining bunker soon. Check the calendar on the Parker Pete website for availability.
Capt. Steve Spinelli on Skylarker Charters out of Belmar said his fares have been catching big winter flounder along with plenty of sea bass. The winter flounder have been up to 3 pounds and he said the sea bass have all been big fish.
Max Kristiansen at the Reel Seat in Brielle reported good shark fishing lately, especially for threshers. The return of the bluefin has folks catching fish up to 40 pounds. The Manasquan River has been giving up some keeper fluke, he said, and there are small blues in there as well along with schoolie stripers.
Jason Szabo at Fishermens Supply Co in Point Pleasant Beach reported good fluke fishing in the Manasquan River with a half-ounce jig head tipped with Gulp working just fine for the flatties. He said the striper bite has been good in the Manasquan River at first light and into the dark. Plastics, plugs and even clams have been getting bass up to 40 inches, he reported. Sea bassing is still going strong on bait and jigs and he said there’s been good fishing for threshers. Offshore anglers were doing well with bluefin east of the Rezor Wreck, he added, and there were some false albacore in the mix.
Capt. Mat Sosnowski on the Norma-K III out of Point Pleasant reported good fishing over the past several days with good catches of sea bass and ling. Wednesday’s trip was the best of the lot with most anglers getting their limit of sea bass on both jigs and bait.
Capt. Kenny Namowitz on the MIMI VI out of Point Pleasant Beach reported the fishing is the same as it’s been, meaning very good. He said they’ve been catching big sea bass and ling in water from 45 to 120 feet deep. He also reported the bluefish are starting to show up offshore.
John Miller at Capt. Bill’s Landing in Point Pleasant Beach said he’s been getting fair reports of fluking in the Manasquan River on bucktails tipped with white and orange Gulp. Tuna anglers stopping at the dock have been doing well with bluefin.
Frank Giacalone at Gabriel Tackle Co. in Brick reported that the offshore bite is picking up with excellent reports of shark fishing on the reefs. He also said the bluefin bite is improving daily. The surf is giving up more stripers and blues on bait and there are plenty of both in the Manasquan River.
Bill at Charlie’s Bait & Tackle in Normandy Beach said stripers and blues are being caught in Barnegat Bay by the Mantoloking Bridge on plastics, plugs and metal. On the beach, he said, Kettle Creeks and small plugs are working for stripers and bluefish right at the lip in the wash. Teasers improve your chances.
Ray Kerico at Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle in Seaside Park said they’ve been seeing a lot of black drum lately with fish close to 40 pounds hitting clams on the beach. Both salted and fresh are working. The surf is also giving up some bigger bass, on bait and artificials. Kerico said there have been recent reports about better fluking from the beach. Go with Gulp and bucktails. And the crabbing in the bay just keeps getting better and better, he said.
Fishing Forecast for Northern New Jersey
As it may be the last chance to catch sea bass for a while, and the catching is very good right now, you might want to put them at the top of your list. The surf bite is also getting better for stripers, blues and even black drum. Sand crabs floated close to the beach along with plugs and plastics are working well for striped bass.
