New Jersey & Delaware Bay - Northern New Jersey Fishing Reports

Our first call for the June edition went out to Akira over at True World Tackle. On the up side Akira said June looks like a good month as long as the weather cooperates. May had some good striped bass fishing, along with bluefish and a good start to the fluke fishing, in between the weather. On the down side this was Akira’s last week at the store as the store will be changing hands soon. Akira was always a good source of information on the fishing in New York Harbor and the lower Hudson and a pleasant person to talk with. Myself and the staff at the Fisherman wish him the best of luck where ever he goes.

Over at Fairfield Fishing Tackle Joe had a somewhat more upbeat perspective on the fishing in June. While he agreed that the weather was more against us than for us he said the month of June traditionally starts the summer fishing and now that most of the boats along the coast are in the water and the kids will be getting out of school in June, more anglers will be fishing and that translates into more fish being caught. He said fluke are the main target of most summer fishermen, especially tourist and there seems to be a good amount of flatties moving into northern rivers and bays. By the end of June cocktail blues and snappers will be giving light tackle fishermen some good action as well.

Over at Ramsey Outdoors in Succasunna Don said May was a good month for tackle sales and a lot of anglers were looking forward to the fluke fishing in June as well as some bottom fishing for sea bass and ling. He added the economy to the list of things that will have an effect on the June fishing. If gas prices and the other things start dropping in price it would put more money in angler’s pockets to spend on fishing. Over at the Ramsey store Andrew echoed the economy as a significant factor on the June fishing. He added weather forecasting as another problem. Most people look at the weather predictions which are 70 to 90-percent wrong most of the time and cancel a fishing trip or simply stay home only to see nice weather. So many more fishing trips are lost to the weather predictions not the actual weather. May had its weather problems but the fishermen that did fish despite the weather found some good fishing.

Mid-May storms really wreaked havoc on the fishing in Raritan Bay, said sources over at Dockside Bait and Tackle. We had blues in the back bay, stripers all over and a good start to the fluke fishing, then came the mid-month deluge. In short June is setting up to be a good month of fishing as all those fish were still in our waters as the month came closer to June. So June should start off with plenty of fish, all we need is a lot better cooperation from the weather Gods, they said.

June is right around the corner and we will be able to put the weather disaster of May behind us said sources at the Keyport Marine Basin. May was a month of off and on gales force winds, heavy rains and just for good measure a couple to days with fog thick enough to cut it with a knife. Hopefully with all the fish we have around in northern waters the weather will moderate and allow anglers to get out a better number of days in June, we were told.

Capt. Victor Hartley of the Keyport Princess told us his new boat will be at the dock on May 21 and he will resume fishing on May 23 for the Memorial Day Weekend. For information on the new boat, give him a call at the number in his ad for info.

Well it might sound like a broken record, but Steve Haas over at Up Front Bait and Tackle was another person that did not have any kind words for the weather prognosticator. He said there were plenty of fish around and by mid-month we had stripers, blues and fluke, then sea bass opened and the porgies showed up. However most anglers will tell you that they did not get in as many days fishing in when compared to last season because of the weather. We are going into June with all five of those fish still in good supply and some bluefin have already been spotted in Ambrose Channel. Give us some good weather and we will have a real productive June, he said.

May started off with a spell of rough weather, however striped bass fishing was in full swing and fluke fishing opened with some nice fish starting the season off, said sources over at Wagner’s Marina. Weather is still a problem but May will go out with good catches of stripers, blues, fluke and sea bass to start June off. Warmer water temps in June should really stoke up the fishing and we look forward to a good start to the summer fishing, they said.

When I asked Phil over at the Tackle Box for a prediction on what the fishing in June will be he summed it up by saying: the first reports on the sea bass fishing were very good; porgies have started to show up, fluke fishing has been decent; bluefish were all over the bay and striped bass fishing is still going strong. Those were the positives. On the down side nobody knows what that fickle lady Mother Nature is going to do least of all the weatherman who is wrong 90-percent of the time and scares more people way than a lack of fish. I’d say that about sums it up!

May was a month of good striped bass and bluefishing and a nice start to the fluke and sea bass fishing, said Lou Fligor over at the Atlantic Highlands Municipal Harbor. It’s for sure that the numbers of anglers fishing in May this year were nowhere near the full parking lots we had last season. However those that did fish as a rule spoke of good fishing. So keep your fingers crossed for some better weather in June so more anglers will get on the water. A real upper for May was the Fins for Freedom event run by Jake Campi out of the harbor. The annual event which has been getting bigger each year gives veterans a chance to fish on private and charter boats free of charge as a thank you for their service to the country. A tip of the old anglers cap and big thank you to Jake and all those who participated this year.

We are very pleased with the new boat, said Capt. Bob Henn of Ebbtide Too. As to the fishing the weather has kept the fluke fishing picky, however our first sea bass trips now that the season is open are seeing good numbers of fish with 10 shorts for every keeper. Going into June the boat will be doing fluke-sea bass combo trips daily leaving the dock at 7:30 daily. Weather permitting of course.

A call to Steve over at Julian’s Bait & Tackle also got us some good reports on the fishing and no kind words for the weather. Steve said we got plenty of fish and a nice variety of them to keep rods bent for even novice anglers. On the positive side we expect a good month of June for fishermen, however the way the weather has been so far this year it’s useless to try and predict how good or bad the fishing will be. There is one thing for sure if you don’t put a line in the water you won’t catch anything no matter what the fishing or weather is!

The month of May saw a pick of fluke on most trips and a good start to the sea bass fishing stated Capt. Mike Scardingo of the charter boat Mi Jo. Mike said he was glad to see the sea bass fishing open up so anglers can augment their fluke catches with some sea bass for the coolers. June starts the summer season and hopefully we will have some better weather conditions and warmer water to really get the fishing going in June, he said.

Fluke fishing was very good once the season opened, said sources over at Bahr’s Landing Marina. Likewise on the striped bass fishing was good most of the month when boats were able to sail. It would be nice to see the weather do a flip and be pleasant most of June, we were told.

The month of May was a very busy and successful month for striped bass, cited Capt. Pete Wagner of the charter boat Hyper Striper. Pete said Capt. Sean used live bait and artificials to put anglers into a mix of shorts, keepers and overs to 40-plus pounds which were released. Pete said he has been putting one and two man charters on the Sea Craft into some excellent light tackle striper fishing and some good catches of fluke in the shallow waters of the rivers. The Hyper Striper will start adding some tuna trips into their schedule in June as things start heating up offshore. So give Pete a call at the number in his ad if you are looking to get in on the fishing.

We got a simple report from Wayne over at the Twin Lights Marina. He said fishing was good in May, weather was bad. Most boats sailing from the marina caught fish when they were able to get out. Wayne said the fishing should remain good in June however how many days’ anglers will be able to fish is the real question.

We had a good month of May when it comes to striped bass fishing, too bad we lost so many days to the weather, stated Capt. Fletcher Chayes of Two Rivers Charters. Fletcher said this month got better as it progressed and the boat had fish topping the 40-pound mark on a regular basis. These fish should still be here in June, but just like the month of May it will all depend on the weather, he said.

We resumed fishing on May 17 for sea bass and started off the fishing with a very good day of action and a crowded boat said Capt. Greg Hueth of the Big Mohawk III. May had so little fish in the ocean to fish for that we spend most of the month in hiatus until the sea bass action opened. We expect to see a good June barring any interference from the weatherman like we had in May. Greg ended his report by saying it will be interesting to see what kind of fluke fishing we will have as the summer progresses.

It was an interesting month of May for anglers fishing Shark River Inlet and river, said sources over at the Fisherman’s Den. Anglers started the month off with some leftover winter flounder and a few stripers and bluefish were caught in the river in the evening. The real fishing started with the opening of fluke season and this past May was a decent month for rental boat fishermen fishing for the flatties. As to June we should see some decent fishing unless weather problems cut into the conditions. The first reports on the sea bass fishing were of decent fishing and there were rumors of some porgies starting to show up, to the north. If ocean temps come up fluke fishing will improve and we should see some ocean stripers and blues to the catch, we were told.

Another boat captain that gave us a good report on the start of the sea bass season was Capt. Rich Falcone of the Golden Eagle. In general the month of May was a rough month. Between the closed seasons, weather and economy in was hard to find fish to put in coolers. Once the sea bass fishing opened back up angler participation got better and fish came over the rails in better numbers. Sea bass and fluke should be the main stay of the fishing in June along some blues and stripers, Rich said.

The long awaited sea bass opener served up some good fishing for anglers fishing on the Miss Belmar. Capt. Al Shinn told me it was drop and catch fishing with a decent amount of limits on the boat also with plenty of shorts and nice catches of ling. We expect the same type of fishing in June along with some good catches of fluke and bluefish once the water starts warming up.

We got the sea bass fishing off to a good start, said Capt. Nick Caruso of the Ol’ Salty. He said the first sea bass pool of the season was a 4-pound fish caught by John Reiber. Nick told us he will be targeting sea bass in June until the season closes and mixing in fluke once the numbers get good.

We lost a lot of trips to the weather in May said Capt. Steve Spinelli of the charter boat Skylarker. Steve said his most recent trips were a fluke trip that found a pick of flatties and a limit catch of knuckleheads and some big ling for the Blues Brothers charter on May 17 when the sea bass fishing opened. Hopefully the weather will be cooperative in June Steve said.

Our last bottom fishing trip without sea bass enjoyed a good pick of ling, said Capt Ralph Leyrer of Last Lady Fishing Charters. Ralph said his open boat trips for sea bass and ling will be May 27, June 3, 11 and 17, the boat will be available for 6-hours afternoon trips on weekend in June.

Another boat that started the sea bass fishing off on a good note was Smokin’ Reel Charters. Capt.Robbie Siciliano said he had no trouble finding knuckleheads but the keeper ratio was 10 to 15 shorts or every keeper. Robbie said he is looking forward to a good month of June barring any more weather problems.

Over at Bullet Hole Annex Nick was one of the first persons to say May was one heck of a mixed up month. From a drought to heavy rains and incessant winds, the weatherman was no friend to the angler. The fact that we had some very good striper fishing, some big bluefish and a good start to the fluke season was in spite of the weather, not because of it, he said. He finished up his report by saying needless to say the weather in June will have a lot to do with how good the fluke fishing will be and how long the striped bass will remain in our northern waters. Since the weather dictates the sea conditions it will also have a roll (no pun intended) in the bottom fishing as well.

Needless to say the weather had us tied to the dock more than we would have liked in May, said Capt. Phil Bouchard of the Misty Morn. When the boat has gotten out we found lots of shorts and a fair amount of keepers to 5-pounds. The season is early and we look forward to June as the fishing can only get better as more fluke move into the bay and they get more active with the warmer water.

I spoke to Capt. John Zema of Yankee Rose Fishing and he told me he has moved the boat down to Clark’s Landing Marina in Point Pleasant for the summer fishing. It was nice working with Capt. John this spring and we wish him a good season in Point Pleasant this summer.