New Jersey & Delaware Bay - Northern New Jersey Fishing Reports

We started off this week’s report with a call to Chris over at Bayonne Bait and Tackle and he stared off by saying it looks like the storm pushed all kinds of fish into the back waters of the bay especially in the Bayonne-Perch Amboy area. Chris said there were big rays, dogfish, fluke, bluefish, stripers, croakers and other fish. He told us he fished on Thursday night and it was like being at a smorgasbord when it came to the fish that were caught. One thing he said about the back bay in his area is that it usually has a lot less wind. He said the number of anglers fishing even in the backwaters was well below average for this time of the year, but the few fishermen that fished got into plenty of fish. As to the rest of the bay even the bunker boats beat a hasty retreat when they tried to get out. “Hopefully the effects of the storm will subside early this week,” he said.

Another person that did not have any kind words for the weather this past week was Joe over at Fairfield Fishing Tackle. He said most of the week did produce the rain that was predicted, but the stiff winds made up for it. He told us while a few fishermen stopped in to pick up tackle for use at a later date, no one was in a hurry to get to the shore. A few anglers told him they were hoping the storm did not screw up the bottom fishing now that the bag limit on sea bass is going up to ten fish.

“The wind is blowing and nobody is going,” was the comment from Ken over at Dockside Bait and Tackle. He said the last week of fluke fishing was a real bust with only a few anglers even trying. The only report on any flatties being caught was from early in the week in the Arthur Kill. Some boat fishermen opted for fishing the piers and bulkheads where croakers, spot, small blues and short fluke were caught until the weather got really tough mid-week. Lastly Ken told us no one even ventured out into the ocean with the nor’easter coming up the coast after Friday of last week.

I spoke with Dave Rani over at Raritan Marina and he told us the marina weathered the nor’easter in good shape and hopefully some boats will get out fishing this week.

“This is one of the worst storms we have had in a long time,” said Steve Haas over at Up Front Bait and Tackle He told us he had not had a customer all week until Friday and closed the shop early six days in a row. Steve said while his shop was not flooded the surrounding area was flooded at high tide and one of boats sunk at local marina. He told me he heard about the fishing in the backwaters of the bay around Bayonne and he was told by a few fishermen that there were also stripers, blues and other fish all they up into the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers.

I spoke with the folks over at Wagner’s Marina and was told the nor’easter did not treat them kindly. Sources told us they had problems with flooding, but will be at the marina w putting things back in order this coming week and for anyone who needs to check up on their boat.

“I think someone made the mistake of saying after the last storm that it can’t get any worse and put the whammy on us,” said Lou Fligor at the Atlantic Highlands Municipal Harbor. “Needless to say it wasn’t a good week and weekend for launching a boat,” he said with sarcasm.

“After sitting in port all week we are hoping things will quiet down and be fishable as of this coming Tuesday,” said Capt. Bob Henn of the Ebbtide Too. When the boat resumes fishing again it will sail from the harbor at 7:30 a.m. and return at 2; 30 p.m. for sea bass.

Over at Julian’s Bait & Tackle Jay told me the only person fishing over the weekend was Tommy Tsunami who was catching stripers and blues in the backwaters of Raritan Bay. He said the last time he saw a nor’easter as bad as this one was the one that took out a good chunk of the Seaside Boardwalk in 1985. “More than likely the waters of the ocean won’t be fishable until the middle of this week,” he said.

Capt. Mike Scardingo of the charter boat MiJo had a good laugh when I called him to ask if he fished this past week. Mike said he lost the whole week and weekend and spent a lot of time putting extra ropes on the boat. He said he hopes to resume fishing for sea bass sometime around mid-week.

I checked with Capt. Pete Wagner of the charter boat Hyper Striper and he told me the boat came through the storm without any problems. Needless to say Pete didn’t have and kind words for the weather we have been having lately and said he will resume fishing this week as soon as conditions settle down.

I gave Wayne over at Twin Lights Marina and asked him how the marina was holding up in the non’east blow. He reported no damage as of Saturday morning but said the worst was yet to come with the evening tides and full moon. He said all the boats had double lashings and automatic bilges and hopefully all will come through the storm alright.

“We had to sit a vigil for a few hours at high tide and babysit the boat to make sure everything was okay on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” said Capt. Fletcher Chayes of Two Rivers Charters. So I can tell you first-hand that that was a nasty storm, some might even say evil. “We are hoping to be back on the water fishing by midweek,” he added.

“I can’t remember the last time I had to don waders to get to the boat,” said Greg Hueth of the Big Mohawk III. “We just got the boat back from the boat yard and then she had to sit at the dock all week,” Greg said, describing the water as so high that they had to loosen the stern lines to keep them from pulling on the stern of the boat. Greg said he hopes the boat will be able to resume fishing by mid-week.

To say it was a light week of fishing would be a colossal understatement, said sources at the Fisherman’s Den. A few die-hard fishermen tried their hand at fishing during the week just to say they fished, but came up empty we were told. The only fishing reports that came into the shop were of some tog being caught on green crabs at the Point Pleasant Canal and some bass and blues being taken on eels in the evening there. But they believe it’s a good bet that the tog fishing will pick up quickly on the jetty rocks when things calm down.

The Golden Eagle was another boat that remained tied to her dock all week. Capt. Rich Falcone said it has been a long time since he has seen flooding the likes of which they saw this past week. He too said he will resume fishing as soon as the sea conditions are fishable, but qualified that by saying it’s going to take several days for the seas to calm down. He told us he will resume inshore fishing and also his weekly tuna trips as soon as possible.

“We didn’t sail this past week due to the wicket nor’easter,” said sources at dock of the Miss Belmar and Miss Belmar. They told us both boats came through the storm in good shape and Capt. Al said they hope to resume fishing on Tuesday or Wednesday seas permitting.

A call to Capt. Nick Caruso of the Ol’ Salty II got us another, “we did not sail all week due to this crazy storm.” Nick said the water in Belmar was very high because of the storm and the full moon only added to the grief. The entire parking lot was flooded and at its heights it was flooded all the way to the Den. He jokingly said you could pull right up to the edge of the water and cast a line and catch fish in the parking lot. He expects water conditions to return to close to normal by Tuesday or Wednesday and intends to resume bottom fishing when it does this week.

I also spoke with Capt. Steve Spinelli of the charter boat Skylarker and he also told me this past week was a total bust. Steve had a piece of storm humor for us when he said this past year was a very good year for catching fluke, however the problem was it was not a good year keeping them. He told us the boat will resume fishing on Tuesday this week weather and seas permitting.

Very few reports on the fishing in the brine came into the shop this past week according to Nick over at Bullet Hole Annex. The weeklong storm really wreaked havoc on the fishing along the northern coast and it will be interesting to see what the effects on the fishing the storm had. The only report we got was of some fishing in the back water areas of Raritan Bay during the week. With all the baitfish that were holding there the nor-east winds seemed to have pushed a lot of fish into the back waters and into the lower Passaic and Hackensack rivers and up into the lower Raritan River. “We won’t know what kind of fishing this produced until things calm down this week,” Nick said.

“Needless to say this past week’s conditions were not what we hoped for to end the fluke fishing,” said Capt. Phil Bouchard of the Misty Morn. “We did some maintenance on the boat and intend to sail weekends and holidays for sea bass and tog until the stripers come in, then switch to the linesiders,” he said, noting the boat will be carrying green crabs while bottom fishing.