New Jersey & Delaware Bay - Northern New Jersey Fishing Reports

Chris from Bayonne Bait and Tackle said some mixed sized blues ranging from cocktails to slammers moved into the waters around Bayonne and were giving anglers some good action, On the fluke fishing front most of the better fishing has been on the New York side of the bay. Speaking for fluke fishing the shop is taking part in a tackle shop fluke contest called the “Battle of the Shops Fluke Contest” which started in June 1 and run until the fluke season closes in September. Besides Bayonne B &T, Bernie’s B &T in Brooklyn; Keyport Basin Tackle; Great Kills B &T and the Reel Seat will also be participating in the contest that allows fluke caught anywhere the coast to be entered. First prize at each shop is $200 and second place is $50 plus numerous other prizes.

Over at Fairfield Fishing Tackle Joe echoed some of our other reports when he said the winds over the weekend were no friend to fishermen along the northern coast this past week. Likewise the late week arrival of the 90-degree weather after some cool weather early in the week also was a switch. The reports he got on the striped bass told of some big bass still being caught in the ocean about a mile or more off the beaches just down from Sandy Hook. Cold waters from the ocean on the incoming tide made the fluke fishing a one tide sport in most areas. Lastly bottom fishing was dominated by short sea bass and a fair number of keepers and ling along with plenty of throwback tautog which are out of season. Joe did say he sold a lot of Avas and other bottom bouncing gear this past week.

It was a picky week of fishing in the backwaters according to Bob over at Dockside Bait and Tackle. Striped bass fishing was relegated to night fishing with eels and fluke fishing was mainly on the outgoing tide and dominated by short fish. Some spot and small blues were also caught by light tackle fishermen. He ended his report by saying angler participation was lower than normal for this time of the year.

The big news over at the dock of the Keyport Princess was the 48-inch striped bass that was caught on a bottom fishing trip this past week. Capt. Victor Hartley said the big bass was a pleasant surprise, however this last week saw a trio of trips find some better bottom fishing dominated by ling, sea bass and keeper and short fluke thanks to water temps that are slowly creeping up. The boat will continue to target fluke and other bottom dwellers on its daily trips and also be fishing magic hour trips on Tuesday and Thursdays.

Good weather and good fishing what more can you ask for, said Steve Haas over at Up Front Bait and Tackle. Steve said the fishing early in the week was picky but improved as the week progressed. He told us fluke have started to move into the bay but the best fishing remains in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers. Most of the better striped bass fishing was in the ocean off the Shrewsbury Rocks. Some croakers and pods of bluefish also were in the mix. Lastly some crabs have finally started to move into the bay along with croakers and spot in the backwater areas.

“We didn’t see a lot of boats go in the water until mid-week when things started picking up,” said Paulie over at Wagner’s Marina. Fluke fishing in the bay has been tough so some boats have been fishing for sea bass. Those that have been fishing for the knuckleheads have been reporting having to pick through a lot of shorts to get a limit of keepers. He said crabs have been around the pilings at the marina and when you catch them they are ice cold which tells you how cold the water still is this late in the spring.

“A 51-inch striped bass took the annual Manhattan Cup this past week and that proves there are still big striped bass being caught on eel-planer board combinations at the Shrewsbury Rocks,” said Phil over at the Tackle Box. Some nice bass are also being caught on shads and plugs after dark, as well. Phil mentioned a lot of squid in the water and anglers also reported that numbers of keepers and short fluke are starting to get better as the water warms especially in the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers and it’s a good bet the fluke are feeding on squid. Bottom fishing also got a bump with more sea bass, with a high short to keeper ratio. Also, ling and occasional winter flounder are in the mix. Lastly Phil said pods of bluefish continue to pop up in the bay and along inshore waters to spice things up.

“It was a better week of fishing, a better week of boats in the water and some better weather,” said Lou Fligor over at the Atlantic Highlands Municipal Harbor. Lou said a good amount of boats slid down the ramp every day and anglers coming back kept the fish cleaning station busy with mostly fluke. He did mention some big bass being caught at the Shrewsbury Rocks and released and also of anglers singing the blues along with some better sinker bouncing.

Echoes of a good week of fishing were also heard at Julian’s Bait & Tackle. Jay said good amounts of bunker moved into the bay and there were all kinds of squid in the water. Fluke fishing got the best reports with the keeper ratio looking better and a decent amount of short giving angler’s action. Bottom fishing was up and down depending on the boat with some good fishing one day and others days seeing a lot of short fish, he said. The shop even got word of some croakers being caught and pods of blues on the feed.

“Most trips this past week picked away at the sea bass and saw very few fluke,” said Capt. Mike Scardingo of the Mi Jo. So far fluke in Raritan Bay has been few and far in between. “We have been hearing of fluke to the south of us and to the north of us and it’s like the fluke in the bay are on strike,” he added. He also said the problem with the sea bass fishing is you have to pick through the shorts to get a few keepers with jig fishermen doing better than bait fishermen. “Hopefully with this next warm spell we will see the water temps in the bay come up into a better range,” Mike said.

Over at Bahrs Landing Marina Tim told us anglers who knew how to play the tides, especially in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers were able to pull some keeper fluke off the bottom along with a fair number of shorts. Some of the boats at the marina got in on the big stripers in the ocean and a few also made a try for some inshore tuna which failed to find anything. He ended his report by saying that bottom fishermen were still complaining of colder than normal water temps along the bottom and windy conditions this past week.

“We are still doing some stripers trips and most of the bass we are catching are big trophy fish that are being released,” reported Capt. Pete Wagner of the charter boat Hyper Striper. Pete said the fishing has been good for the big fish but finding a keeper or slot fish has been rare of late. “The boat has also been scoring some nice catches to sea bass and fluke as both fish are now showing up in better numbers,” he said.

“We enjoyed nice weather and put a few more boats in the water but saw only a few anglers fishing out of the marina,” said Wayne over at the Twin Lights Marina. “While we dropped our gas prices which are still higher than last year, weekends are seeing a lot of boaters just relaxing on their boats at the dock,” Wayne said, adding “That’s been a sign of the times and let’s hope fuel prices come down to a more reasonable level soon so boats can leave the dock and go fishing and enjoy the water better.”

“It was a very good week of fishing and we caught some big stripers and some keeper fluke on all our trips this past week,” said Capt. Fletcher Chayes of Two Rivers Charters. Fletcher told me he had a very interesting trip with Garry Seldotti who is a craftsman who builds glide plugs. Garry gave Fletcher a lesson on how to fish his new rollover glide plug which hammered the big bass at the Shrewsbury Rocks. He said Garry’s glide plug was amazing and accounted for all the bass on the boat that day. Needless to say Fletcher is now carrying that lure on his boat for future use.

It was a great week of sea bass fishing for anglers fishing aboard the Big Mohawk III. Greg Hueth told me the boat maxed out on several trips this past week with good crowds aboard. Greg told me anglers fishing jigs and eels were outfishing the sinker bouncers as there are a lot of sand eels in the ocean off the northern coast. “We can only hope that nothing comes along and destroys the sea bass fishing which is build off our northern coast,” he said.

We got more good news on the fishing when we spoke with Tom over the Fisherman’s Den. He told us the fluke fishing in particular got better with most of his rental boats maxing out with keepers and also having some fun with short fish. There are also stripers still moving in and out of the inlet in the evening with the tides and some mixed size blues also making runs into the inlet with the tides. Tom also mentioned that party boats did well with the sea bass and ling this past week with some nice limit catches of knuckleheads coming over the rails.

Another boat that enjoyed a good week of bottom fishing was the Golden Eagle. Len told me anglers who knew how to fish jigs were taking the best numbers of the keeper sea bass. Hopefully the sea bass fishing is just starting to build and will only get better this coming week.

Bottom fishing on the Miss Belmar Princess and her sister ship the Miss Belmar also got into the sea bass. Capt. Al Shinn said the early week fishing was slow but the fishing got better as the week progressed. Al told me with all the squid around he will be fishing one of the boats on evening squid trips starting sometime this week. So if you want to fill your freezer with bait now is the time to do it. If you want to get more info on the squid trips and other trips for both boat give them a call.

It was a busy week of fishing for the crew of the charter boat Skylarker cited Capt. Steve Spinelli. A decent catch of sea bass and ling started off the week with the Gerry Blindberry party, followed by another nice pick of sea bass for the Kelly’s Tavern group. A mid-week trip with the Karen Bergey charter also hammered the sea bass and ling on their trip, while AWR Environmental group added some blues to their good pull of sea bass and ling. Friday’s trip with the Don O’Connor party scored a good pull of sea bass and ling. The crew finished up the week by putting the Mike Carelio into a good bite of sea bass.

It was an up and down week of sea bass fishing this past week according to Capt. Michael Doren of Lady K Fishing Charters. Mike said some trips hammered the knuckleheads while other trips you have to pick through the short fish and work hard for your keepers. He said the fishing is just starting to build along the northern coast and the boat has dates open for the summer fishing. So give him a call if you want to get in on the summer fishing.

I spoke with Nick over at Bullet Hole Annex over the weekend and he told us this past week was a week of spotty fishing along the northern coast thanks to the windy weather over the weekend and up and down temperatures that kept a lot of anglers off the water. Fluke fishing in particular was fair one day and slow the next; striped bass fishing was decent in the evening on eels and good in the ocean for big fish a mile or so off the beaches. Sea bass fishing was dominated by short fish along with fair catches of ling. Lastly a mid-week arrival of some mixed size blues into the back bay also kept some anglers busy.

Fluke fishing aboard the Misty Morn has been dominated by short fish with a few keepers on her, said Capt. Phil Bouchard. Saturday’s trip with the Lawrence Harbor Fire Department saw a pick of sea bass and a lone keeper fluke with 8-year-old Luca Woods winning the pool with that fluke.