New Jersey & Delaware Bay - Southern New Jersey Fishing Reports

Small boaters are going to fish and crab regardless of how big the ocean swells were according to the folks at Dockside Cafe and Marina. Ducking into the quiet creeks, anglers managed a few keeper flounder and also found good crabbing opportunities. Farther up the rivers and creeks, the perch fishing was outstanding for both boater and shore-based anglers using bloodworms and grass shrimp.

Again this week the crew from Empire Fishing and Tackle tells us that their customers simply adapted to the conditions. Early in the week the wrecks and reefs were hot for flounder, but as the swells built up, anglers moved inshore and found protection in the back bays. Here, they found that the tog were putting on the feed bag ahead of the impending storm. Lots of small fish but several in the 16- to 18-inch class were also caught. Green crabs fished along the sod banks and bridges were most productive. The backwater is also loaded with spot and peanut bunker, a very good sign for when the stripers are ready to eat again after the storm passes.

Capt. Gary with Cape Horn Marina and Irish jig Charter Boats tells us he was hitting the flounder pretty good at the reefs prior to the storm hitting us over the September 23-24 weekend. He admits that, based on the wind forecast, the flounder season is about over for him. Luckily, there have been plenty of bluefish around and that action should pick up as the water settles and the bay cleans up later this week. There?s also plenty of baitfish in the area, so the striper fishing can kick off at any moment. Capt. Gary is really looking forward to the re-opening of sea bass season as the wrecks and reefs were stacked with fish for the last month.

Mike with Tuckerton Bait and Tackle was MIA on Sunday (probably trying to stay dry) but reports that we received from the Tuckerton area lined up with what happened this week along the rest of the coast. Early in the week the flounder action in the bay was good as was the blowfishing. Once the storm came through, just about everything was shut down. By the time the waters clean up and settle down, the flounder season will be over, but it?s not clear how the blowfish will react. Hopefully they will be around a bit longer as they were late to the party this season. Anglers hiding from the wind found that perch fishing in the Mullica River and feeder creeks was productive this week. There are so many perch around that anglers were catching them in the many lagoons surrounding Mystic Island as well.

Justin with Allen?s Dock reports that the flounder fishing was good right up until Wednesday when he had a 20-incher weighed in that was caught from the bay. He had a feeling that this might be the last flounder of the season, and so far, as of Sunday afternoon he?s right. The ocean and bay became unfishable later in the week. The river on the other hand offers some shelter from a NE wind and anglers did manage to fish late into the week. Stripers were starting to bite well, especially at night. Live eels were the top bait while other anglers managed some fish on hard plastic plugs. With water still covering the parking lot, Justin thinks it will be a couple of days before anglers can get out on the river and continue the hunt for fall stripers.

When the ocean and bay get rough, the Port Republic anglers move upriver according to this week?s reports from Chestnut Neck Boat Yard. Perch fishing has been very good, and for some the only option as this week?s storm took shape. Bloodworms, grass shrimp and shedder crab all took fish with the largest pushing the 1-pound mark this week. Anglers also came across some hungry stripers while perch fishing, with the stripers to 26 inches also taking bloodworms.

Live spot were taking stripers to 30 inches this past week in the bay and in Absecon Creek according to Capt. Dave with Absecon Bay Sportsman Center. He tells us the spot are everywhere and will probably be the number one bait for the fall run. So now is the time to pen them up at your dock. Plenty can be caught in the back bays, creeks and lagoons using simple sabiki rigs, bloodworms or Fishbites. The storm shut down the flounder action in the ocean, but anglers were still looking to sneak in one final shot in protected areas of the bay and creek. Capt. Dave?s Back Bay Battle is fast approaching and is set for Veteran?s Day Weekend and will award $10,000 to the angler catching the longest striper. Visit backbaybattle.com for all the details on this catch and release tournament.

The mullet made their move ahead of tropical storm Ophelia according to Capt. Andy with Riptide Bait and Tackle. Anglers were using fresh cut mullet to score small blues from the surf and jetty on Monday and Tuesday. There were also some flounder caught both in the surf and from the back bays before the weather deteriorated. Same story for the offshore action. Early in the week, the jig and chunk bite for yellowfin was hot and heavy at the Triple Wrecks. The mahi-mahi bite was equally spectacular near the 28 Mile Wreck.

The crew from Jersey Nutz Sportfishing Charters reported that the yellowfin bite went from ?as good as it gets? to just ?so-so?. The crew tried fishing up to the last possible second this week as the tropical storm approached with mixed success. While there was plenty of bait to be had, plus feeding whales, the yellowfin just weren?t in the eating mood. A few fish were landed, but compared to the two weeks prior, it was a bit of a disappointment. The good news is that the water temps are still in the right range and after things settle down after the storm passes, the bite should be on again. The crew anticipates that the chunk and jig bite will turn back on for the yellowfin, and limits of mahi should still be hanging out at the same areas as they last left them biting. October can be prime time for some offshore action. Open boat spots are still available.

I had to ask Noel at One Stop Bait and Tackle to repeat himself twice, because I couldn?t believe I had the information correct for his ?Da Reel Deal? fishing tournament. I heard him correctly the first time when he told me he?s giving away a Van Staal Reel and $1,000 in cash for this free fishing tournament. All you have to do is show up at the shop, read the rules and sign up; again for free. Then catch a tog, striper, bluefish or flounder and weigh it in and that beautiful Van Staal reel valued at $1,000 could be yours. The tournament only goes through October 15, and already there have been fish entered in each category. An 8-pound striper leads that division as of September 24 which was caught on a plug at night from the jetties. The jetties are also giving up keeper size tog on green crabs and sand fleas. From the sea wall, anglers are using bloodworms to score tons of spot, croakers and the occasional keeper weakfish. Flounder action has been good from the jetty and sea wall for anglers using minnow and squid combos and there?s only a few days left to catch and enter a flounder. Visit the shop for details.

Ray Scott?s Dock tells us that the week started out slow on the flounder front, but as the storm approached, action improved on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the back bays. It seems as though the flounder went on the feed ahead of the storm, and more keeper fish were found. Fish to 20 inches were falling for minnow/squid combos and spearing. Many of the fish were being caught along the steepest of the sod bank drop offs, in 20-foot plus depths. The same areas were seeing stripers congregate at night as they hunt down pods of peanut bunker and mullet that seem to be on the move towards the inlet. The stripers have been in the 18- to 26-inch range and are aggressively hitting blurple or black Bombers, SP Minnows and soft plastic jerk baits.

Some of the crew from Waterfront Marine were in Lakewood for the Jersey Shore Boat Sale & Expo. They didn?t miss much as far as fishing goes as most anglers were hunkered down by Friday. Prior to that, they reported that the Ocean City Reef was producing good flounder action on Monday and Tuesday. Fish to 4 pounds were chewing on strip baits, fresh mullet filets and peanut bunker (both dead and alive). As the week progressed and the ocean became sloppy, efforts in the back bays on Wednesday and Thursday resulted in some keeper flounder in the 17- to 20-inch range. These fish were mostly caught in the deeper channels, with 20 feet of water being the prime target area. White Gulp Mullets in the 3- to 4-inch size took most of these fish as it was hard to keep any natural bait on the hook with all the small sea bass around.

The approaching storm got the mullet run underway according to reports from Fin-Atics in Ocean City. Both the mullet and some schools of peanut bunker were making their way to the inlet. Along the way, stripers were positioned at every back bay sod bank point waiting to intercept them. Most of the action centered around dawn and dusk as the baitfish pods moved through an area, and the fish simply exploded on them. Anglers used small poppers to entice these fish to make some spectacular top water bites. Other anglers used live peanut bunker on a circle hook with no weight at all. We were told that they were literally tossing the bunker up on the sod banks, then letting it gently slide into the water and most of the strikes happened as soon as that bunker hit the water. Many of the fish were in the 16- to 22-inch size range, but there were also some bonus tag size fish as well as a couple good ones to 29 inches.

Customers of Bait N? Hook report very good striper fishing along the back bay sod banks. Anglers report that stripers have been feeding heavily on spearing, peanut bunker and mullet in the back bays from Cape May to Absecon. Early morning, pre-sunrise trips were most productive for fish in the 15- to 30-inch range. This was light tackle fishing at its finest with quarter-ounce leadheads rigged with either a pink Zoom or gray Slugo in the 4-inch range being very productive. Anglers also scored using my favorite type of fishing, topwater fishing. Spook Jrs. and other floating poppers as small as 3 inches were what the bass wanted to explode on this week. Anything larger and the fish completely ignored the effort.

The Cape May Reef Site was hot before the winds made the ocean unfishable according to Pier 47 Marina. Anglers landed not only keeper flounder, but also some very nice triggerfish to 4 pounds. The rental boats also scored early in the week on flounder and snapper blues. Slip holders fishing the ICW and closer to Hereford?s Inlet tell us that the flounder action was very good with something like a 10-1 throwback to keeper ratio. Many of the fish were caught on live minnows or spearing while the larger keeper size fish fell for Gulp Mullets or live peanut bunker fished on a fishfinder rig. Crabbing in all the creeks was also very good this week ahead of the storm.

Customers of Hands Too Bait and Tackle report that there was good flounder action to be had early this week with both the Old Grounds and Reef Site #11 giving up the flatties. Anglers limited out on ?overs? while the slot fish were hard to come by. The opposite was true on the Cape May and Wildwood Reef Sites where the ?overs? were scarce but the slot fish were plentiful. Gulp worked great for most anglers while others took the added step of securing live peanut bunker before heading offshore. Some of the larger fish in the 22- to 24-inch size range fell for the live peanuts. Since the nor?east winds kicked up mid-week, anglers have been sticking to the back bays, where they report the flounder action was good on short fish but keepers were harder to find.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were not perfect days for fishing the bay, but they were way better than the rest of the week according to Higbee?s Bait and Tackle. Those that fished the EP tower had some 2- to 3-foot seas, but still managed good catches of weakfish, kingfish, spot, bluefish and croakers. Egg Island Point was also a good spot this week to find weakfish and spot on bloodworms. From Miah Maull Light, several nice sheepshead in the 4- to 7-pound range were caught on sand fleas. The #19 Buoy was the hot spot for flounder this week as anglers reported limit catches on Gulp and minnow/squid combos. As the storm approached the Fort, some anglers shifted their efforts inland and focused on the very good perch fishing in the creeks. Along with the perch, several nice stripers also fell for bloodworms on perch rigs.