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 who told us there are decent numbers of stripers and blackfish being caught when you can get the green crabs and bunker. He said since the weeklong blow both baits have been hard to come by that’s why it’s important to call the store and make sure they have what you need before coming down to the shop. He said bait deliveries have been erratic and most times the bait sells as fast as it comes in.

The report we got from Joe over at Fairfield Fishing Tackle pretty much echoed our other reports. He too said local numbers of striped bass and blackfish are good and producing some decent fishing but the big numbers of traveling bass from up north are an anytime thing this coming week. It will be interesting to see if the nor’east blow delayed the bass or got them on the move, and so far it looks like it put them on the move, he said. The first reports on the tog fishing since the storm moved off have been of picky fishing, but that is what we usually see with a storm like we just had. He too said a lot will depend on the effects of the coming full moon and hopefully it will be positive.

This past week was the week that wasn’t according to Ken over at Dockside Bait and Tackle. He said fishing was looking up especially for stripers and blackfish until the nor-easter hit, and then everything came to a halt. “We couldn’t even get any bait as bunker boats stayed in port, as did the green crabbers,” he said, noting that it will be interesting to see how long it takes bait boats to get out and be able to get bunker and green crabs in the quantity that is needed for the northern area.

Another person that told me some anglers were fishing the back waters in places that were shielded from the wind and catching as few bass was Steve over at Up Front Bait and Tackle. However, he said most anglers did not start fishing again until late in the week when bass started moving into our northern waters on Thursday afternoon. He said by Friday the bass we spread out from the Hook to Asbury and Saturday saw most bass being caught in the bay not the ocean. Steve also mentioned that it looks like the storm pushed some of the bass into the Sound and are entering the bay via the East River which is just what the doctor ordered. He also mentioned that some anglers have also been finding some decent catches of blackfish in Raritan Bay and there is also some good tog fishing around the piers, bridges and bulkheads the back water areas. A few boats found some sea bass with tog, ling and other fish along the inshore waters as the storm started to quiet down later in the week.

We finally got Mike on the phone over at Wagner’s Marina and he told me the marina got flooded with every high tide all through the recent storm. At its highest 2 feet of water got into the building at the marina. Finally towards the end of the week the tides began to subside. He said they started getting reports to stripers in the bay on Thursday and some nice fish were caught. Paul got a 30-plus inch fish on Friday, we were told. The marina is back at full operation.

Over at the Tackle Box Phil said a few boats got out on Friday and found bass to the north of Sandy Hook in New York waters. A better number of boats took to the water on Saturday and found the bass feeding on eels from the Hook south to the Shrewsbury Rocks. He said there is no doubt that the bass were migratory bass and it looks they are the front running body of the fish from the north. Most of the bass were being caught on eels and metal lip swimmers he said. As to the tog fishing waters were still too roughed up to put them on the chew and the bottom was too turned up and full of dogfish for sinker bouncers. “Looks like the tog should go on the feed sometime this week barring any more weather and sea problems,” he said.

I asked Lou Fligor over at Atlantic Highlands Municipal Harbor how the mania faired during the nor’east blow and he said this past storm was not as bad as the ones earlier in the month. In fact Saturday saw parking lots full of vehicles and boat trailers with a lot of people trying to get back on the water more than likely due to the news that the bass had showed up as things began to calm down from the storm. “You can tell there was some bass caught as the cleaning station got a good work out,” he said.

A call to Capt. Bob Henn of the Ebbtide Too told us of another week in port due to the winds and weather. Bob said hopefully this coming week will see some better conditions and the full moon will be the spark plug that gets the fall striped bass run going.

“It was another weather interrupted week of fishing,” said Jay over at Julian’s Bait & Tackle. He said that makes three weeks in a row and hopefully the weather problems are over for a while. He said the bass fishing picked back up starting Thursday evening and got progressively better on Friday. He too said there is no question that the migratory fish are starting to move through our northern waters and let’s hope the bunker will soon show up to greet them. As of the weekend the bottom was still too roughed up for the tog fishing but he did get decent reports on the sea bass fishing with most anglers picking through a lot of shorts to get a few keepers if you could get by the dogfish, he said. He told us he expects the whitechins to start hitting by the middle of this week.

“Needless to say we did not fish most of this past week for our third week of lost trips,” said Capt. Mike Scardingo of the MiJo. “We finally got out on Saturday but failed to find a striper despite burning a lot of fuel running all over looking for the bass,” he said, saying too that it would be nice if Mother Nature is finally done throwing her weather tantrums so we can have a good November. “Hopefully the fishing will break open this coming week,” Mike said.

“It was a week of closing up early every day, which is just what we did because of the winds all week,” said Tim at Bahrs Landing Marina. The marina had several transient boats that were headed for the Sunshine State but were stranded by the storm. He said this was a classic case of there are bass out there but no one even attempted to fish for them.

“Striper fishing after the blow was very good some days and a tough pick other days,” said Capt. Pete Wagner of the charter boat Hyper Striper. The better trips saw lots of overs to 48 inches which were recycled. “One tog trip during the week saw super fishing for both keepers and shorts,” Pete said.

“Well we got through another one of Mother Nature’s tantrums this past week,” cited sources over at Twin Lights Marina. Over the weekend there were a lot of baitfish in front of the marina but nothing feeding on them we were told. Most boats did not sail this past week and hopefully some better conditions will put some more boats on the water this week.

“We finally got back on the water on Friday and to our surprise we found some good striped bass fishing,” cited Fletcher Chayes of Two Rivers Charters. Fletcher said he found a good bite of bass in the bay with fish to 47 inches being caught and released on metal lip swimmers and eels. He said from what he saw the bass were migratory fish and hopefully we will have a good week this week so we can make up some of the trips we lost in the last three weeks.

The boat finally got back on the water late in the week for stripers and it wasn’t pretty. “We could not find baitfish or stripers,” reported Greg Hueth of the Big Mohawk III. He said while some years see an early run to the striped bass fishing in October this surely doesn’t like one of those years. The water temps are still in the 60s and the best of the fishing usually occurs with the water temps in the 50s. “November is the month that will tell the tale on this year’s fall fishing,” he said.

The bass fishing started to bounce back on Thursday and got better on Friday according to sources over at the Fisherman’s Den. They said by Saturday morning they heard rumors of bass being in the surf from Sandy Hook down to just north of the Shark River jetty, with 8th Street being the center of the fishing on Saturday morning. By Sunday the fishing had quieted down with only a few bass stopping by the inlet for breakfast. We were also told that the jetty at Shark Inlet was giving up some tog with a fair number of keepers being caught. Lastly we were told most the boats at Belmar had returned to the water by the weekend and were chasing the bass to the north of the inlet with very little success.

Another person that told us it seems like the stripers simply disappeared on Saturday in the ocean was Capt. Len of the Golden Eagle. “We found some pods of bunker and baitfish, but nothing was feeding on them,” he said, adding “We also spent a lot of time moving around and our efforts were for naught.” With the full moon early this week, Capt. Len said it will be interesting to see if the striped bass fishing finally comes to life.

“Since the storm the ocean has been a Double D, dogfish and dead,” said Capt. Al Shinn of the Miss Belmar Princess and Miss Belmar. Al said he switched the Princess over to bottom fishing for sea bass because the striped bass fishing was quiet in the ocean since the storm and they were reading sea bass on the sonar. The only problem was as soon as you would catch a few sea bass a swarm of dogfish would hit anything that moved. Al told us he will be switching back to striped bass this week and hopefully once the full moon passes the striped bass fishing will improve.

Capt. Nick Caruso of the charter boat Ol’ Salty II said his boat did not sail this past week because he was still on vacation. He said hopefully conditions will be favorable and once the full moon passes the fall fishing will finally break open.

“We got back to fishing on Friday with our first trip since the storm,” said Capt. Steve Spinelli of the charter boat Skylarker. He said he put the Alex Grant charter into mixed bag of sea bass and other groundfish. He told us the bottom was still tossed up from the nor-easter and said with the nice weather that is predicted for this coming week as well as the approaching full moon the fishing should get gradually get better as the week progresses.

Over at Bullet Hole Annex Nick said the storm started to quiet down by late Thursday an while it was still bumpy in the ocean over the weekend both striped bass and tog catches were on the upswing in some areas. Most of the bass are still local fish in the bay but rumors of good amounts of bass on the move are being seen to the north of our local waters. “With the approaching full moon it’s a good bet our northern waters will come to life with migrating stripers once the moon passes sometime this week, barring any further problems with the weather,” he said.

Over at the dock of the Misty Morn Capt. Phil Bouchard told us he only got in a couple trips this past week since the effects of the nor-easter subsided. I can’t print what Phil said about the striped bass fishing but it will suffice to say the boat has saw better days. Phil said hopefully the conditions will improve this week and Monday’s full moon will jumpstart the fall striped bass fishing.