It’s been a fall run for the ages with no end in sight.
Even fierce winds and roiled surf on Wednesday morning did little to keep the stripers off the beaches. There were blitzes reported in Long Branch and Island Beach State Park.
The insane bite has been going on for weeks and the fish have been everywhere and hitting on everything.
Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet said the bass are still thick in Raritan Bay from all the way in the back to out around Sandy Hook and down the beaches. Marinas are making things difficult of boaters, he said, by forcing them to haul out their craft while there are still fish around. Granted, it is December. Sciortino said the shop is holding a special fundraising raffle for Zaching Against Cancer with the winner receiving a spring striper trip, an NLBN Pro Kit and dinner at Bahr’s restaurant. Check the website for details.
Mike Pinto at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright said there’s been a blast of fish every day on nearby beaches. Fish are all sizes and hitting shads, poppers, metal-lipped swimmers and bucktails. Pinto said the lure business has been very good lately and he’s having a little trouble keeping everything in stock. He’s got plenty of Gibb’s lures in the shop and he’s expecting a new shipment of plugs by the end of the week.
Mike Gleason at TAK Waterman in Long Branch said it’s still going strong there with Saturday’s action particularly wild. Pencil poppers and bass assassins were doing the job. He was on the beach on Wednesday morning is some very sporty weather and still got bass on every cast with bottle plugs and bucktails. He said the night fishing for stripers has been pretty good as well. Gleason said he’s been getting mixed reports on togging and he is still hoping for the inshore bluefin to show.
Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said the bass fishing continues to amaze everybody. The schools of stripers are pushing massive amounts of peanut bunker right up onto the beaches. Matthews said he got out of the shop and into the fish in Spring Lake. The bass were between 30 to 38 inches and hitting anything thrown at them. After Wednesday’s foul weather, the wind is forecast to go west which should bring the stripers back on the beach.
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Capt. Jay Richardella of Side Job Charters out of Belmar said it’s been lights out bass fishing on every trip. He plans to keep sailing for stripers for at least the next two weeks. Check the website for availability.
Capt. Steve Spinelli on the Skylarker out of Belmar has been getting into the stripers as well, consistently catching boat limits. He fished off Seaside on Tuesday and had all the fish they wanted on shads. Party boats out of the marina targeting tog, like the Big Mohawk and Capt. Cal II, have been putting fish in the coolers but it hasn’t been a hot bite as yet. Cooler water temperatures should get the fish chewing.
Ken Morse at The Reel Seat in Brielle said the bass fishing is still on fire on the beaches, especially to the south since the weekend. It’s just been crazy, he said. He’s heard of decent togging on the local reefs and blackfishing is still good in the Point Pleasant Canal.
Capt. Kenny Namowitz on the Mimi VI out of Point Pleasant Beach said it’s been a slow pick for blackfish lately but he’s glad they’ve been able to pick up some stripers to add to the catch. The Mimi VI will be sailing open boat for blackfish through January.
Capt. Danny Gregory on the Norma K III out of Point Pleasant Beach said the togging was a little slow on Tuesday’s trip but they were able to put a decent catch together. He said they stopped on the way in to take advantage of the abundant stripers and had a boat limit in 15 minutes. The Norma K III is sailing daily for blackfish.
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Frank Giacalone at Gabriel Tackle in Brick said the local beaches have been producing stripers from Manasquan to Seaside with the majority of the fish in the slot range. Blackfishing in the Point Pleasant canal has slowed a bit with mostly shorts being landed. He recommends hitting the inlets for a better chance at keeper tog.
Pete Kupper of Charlie’s Bait n’ Tackle in Normandy Beach said the incredible number of bass on the beach made for a very successful 11th Annual Surf Turkey Tournament held over the Thanksgiving Weekend. Stripers were caught all weekend in the catch-and-release contest but the bite really went off on Sunday afternoon. Wes Darcy took first place with a 40-inch striper while Dylan Nolan took second with a 39½-inch bass. The five-fish stringer winner was Allen Gonzales with a total of 170 ¾ inches. Kupper said that 122 anglers participated in this year’s event and he wanted to thank all of his sponsors for their support.
Ray Kerico of Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle in Seaside Park reported good striper fishing for the past week but last Sunday was a day that will be remembered for a long, long time. Stripers of all sizes blitzed the local beaches for hours, he said, feeding on peanut and larger bunker. He even got a report of bass spitting up sand eels. It was absolutely nuts, he said. The stripers were on the beach again at Island Beach State Park on Wednesday morning in the wind and rain. Kerico and Jenni Ackerman from the shop were there getting them on bucktails. Kerico wanted to remind everyone that Grumpy’s Annual Santa event will be held on Dec. 10 and 11 and will celebrate the shop’s 20th Anniversary with special offers on the shop’s new line of clothing and other merchandise. The event will also raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
Best Bets for the Weekend
Only the fishing gods know how long this insanity will last but with all the bait in the surf and the return of the west wind on Thursday, it’s reasonable to assume the bass will still stick around. There is still an enormous number of stripers up in Raritan Bay.
Pick a favorite beach and go. The beaches of northern Monmouth County and mid-Ocean County were hot spots over the past week.