New Jersey & Delaware Bay - Southern New Jersey Fishing Reports
NJ/DE Bay Video Fishing Forecast for Oct. 14-17
Got bait? Plenty of it around right now, in front of and behind the beaches at the Jersey Shore. With the right weather conditions and some cooling waters, things should get hot and heavy soon enough in terms of the 2021 fall striper run. We kick off the weekly forecast on location at the Reel Seat in Brielle with a look at weather conditions for the weekend ahead, with a rundown on the first week of sea bass action in the Garden State, a report on the freshwater action with George "The Pocono Outdoors Guy" followed by updates on blackfish and bluefin tuna with a quick look at the offshore forecast for the weekend ahead. When will the striped bass arrive? As reported over at The Fisherman’s Facebook page on Thursday morning, October 14, the first 40-inchers have shown up in a sharpie’s hands off Monmouth County. Could this be THE weekend?
Friday saw the most amazing day for the sea bass season reopening. Not only was the weather picture perfect with bright sunshine, mild temps and very little wind, but the fish were biting too! An all too uncommon grand-slam when all four factors line up perfectly. And then it was time to pay the piper. Saturday and Sunday saw winds out of the ENE gusting to 30 knots putting the breaks on an eagerly anticipated sea bass season. But the good news is that the upcoming week looks almost as good as last Friday. Anglers should be back at it in force this week.
Mike with Tuckerton Bait and Tackle tells us that the sea bass season got off to a good start with lots of limits reported from the Garden State South Reef and the Glory Wreck. Anglers fishing the sh...
Mike with Tuckerton Bait and Tackle tells us that the sea bass season got off to a good start with lots of limits reported from the Garden State South Reef and the Glory Wreck. Anglers fishing the shallower Little Egg Reef complained that there were way too many small fish around. The deeper reefs with 80 to 90 feet of water are just right for the bigger sea bass this time of year. Anything shallower will give you a frustrating day of catch and release fishing according to Mike. Along the inlet, there were 2-pound bluefish being caught under bird action during the incoming tides this week. Small metals and chunked mullet were taking these fish, but only on the incoming tide. In Great Bay, the blowfishing continues to be very good with lots of fish to be had, but more smaller ones in the mix. Small tog are being caught in the back bays and at the end of Seven Bridges Road. Although there are huge numbers of small fish, the persistent angler will eventually find their one keeper bag limit, but they may have to release as many as 30 undersized fish. Mike suggests bringing plenty of green crabs. Along with the tog, there have been both triggerfish and sheepshead hitting on green crabs as well. And lastly, the crabbing remains very good as the water temperature is still warm and the crabs are very active. More
Anglers are going blowfish crazy according to reports out of Dockside Cafe and Marina. There are tons of fish in the bay and they are taking bits of bloodworm, Fishbites and clam. As long as ang...
Anglers are going blowfish crazy according to reports out of Dockside Cafe and Marina. There are tons of fish in the bay and they are taking bits of bloodworm, Fishbites and clam. As long as anglers are willing to chum heavily, these fish are coming right to the boat. Mixed in with the blowfish are some nice sized kingfish, spot and croakers. More
Mitch with Chestnut Neck Boat Yard reports a spectacular striper bite with a decent percentage of keepers. These fish are in the lower river and are taking both live eels and live spot. The bigg...
Mitch with Chestnut Neck Boat Yard reports a spectacular striper bite with a decent percentage of keepers. These fish are in the lower river and are taking both live eels and live spot. The bigger ones to 33 inches are showing a preference for the live eels as Mitch has been selling them like hotcakes. Spot are taking a fair number of keepers while anglers who are trolling are seeing many more short fish jumping on their Stretch 25s and umbrella rigs. Up the river, Mitch tells us that perch fishing continues to be outrageous as many more anglers are inquiring about this fishery for the first time and are pleasantly surprised when the crew at Chestnut Neck provides the how-to and where-to for a successful perch outing. And speaking of new fishery opportunities, many anglers are discovering blowfish for the first time. And this week, they were thick from just past the mouth of the river all the way out to the inlet. In addition to the blowfish, there were plenty of large kingfish and some spot in the mix. More
The Great Bay Striper bite was on and off this week according to Capt. Dave with Absecon Bay Sportsmans Center. Tuesday saw some wind and chop in the bay and the bass were blitzing on bait tight to...
The Great Bay Striper bite was on and off this week according to Capt. Dave with Absecon Bay Sportsmans Center. Tuesday saw some wind and chop in the bay and the bass were blitzing on bait tight to the sod banks. Daves crew put at least 50 fish in the boat but nothing larger than 23 inches or so. By Friday, the bite had slowed down and only six fish were caught even though there were plenty of fish around feasting on vast schools of peanut bunker. Then on Saturday and Sunday, the wind kicked up and again got the fish biting. These two days saw fish in the 20- to 27-inch range with a couple just over 30 inches. All fish this week were taken on Gulp Paddleshads fished on a jighead. At night, it was time for the bluefish to turn on and they are fish in the 1- to 2-pound range and are also being caught on soft plastics or small metals. More
A couple of weeks ago it was the back bays of Brigantine that were on fire, this week it was the ocean front according to Capt. Andy with RipTide Bait and Tackle. The surf is loaded with bluefish, sp...
A couple of weeks ago it was the back bays of Brigantine that were on fire, this week it was the ocean front according to Capt. Andy with RipTide Bait and Tackle. The surf is loaded with bluefish, spot and kingfish for anyone fishing bloodworms, Fishbites or even small pieces of fresh mullet. The kingfish are of the extra large variety and make for a nice fish fry. Capt. Andy had his first striper entered in for his Fall Derby. It was Chris Ciullo with his 8-pounder caught from the beach on an SP minnow, way to go Chris. More
Where to start with the reports this week was Noel with One Stop Bait & Tackles dilemma. The blowfishing for one was outstanding with one angler keeping over 50 fish while throwing the smaller on...
Where to start with the reports this week was Noel with One Stop Bait & Tackles dilemma. The blowfishing for one was outstanding with one angler keeping over 50 fish while throwing the smaller ones back. These fish are scattered along the beach and jetties of Atlantic City and are taking bloodworms. While fishing bloodworms and Fisbites, anglers are also scoring on some jumbo kingfish stretching the tape measure to 14-plus inches. And another bonus on bloodworms is the abundance of weakfish around. Most are on the small side, but Noel had a father and son come in with a stringer of jumbo kingfish and two 20-inch weakfish. Green crabs are flying off the shelf because the tog bite from the jetties and sea wall is insane. Every angler is reporting 20 to 30 fish per outing and culling through 29 fish to get that one keeper over 15 inches. Finally, the stripers are here and taking plugs at night. Most of these fish are in the schoolies size range, but a few are coming in between 24 and 28 inches, making them eligible to wear a bonus tag home. More
The tog fishing has been getting better every week behind Margate according to Eric with Ray Scotts Dock. Anglers are finding fish along the bridge pilings and along the deeper cuts in the sod bank...
The tog fishing has been getting better every week behind Margate according to Eric with Ray Scotts Dock. Anglers are finding fish along the bridge pilings and along the deeper cuts in the sod banks. Green crabs have been working well on fish to 4 pounds with a lot of throw-backs mixed in. At night, the bridges and sod banks come alive with small stripers. These fish are hitting 4-inch Gulp Mullets, pink Fin-S-Fish and Zooms fished on a half-ounce leadhead. More
As some boats are being pulled out of the water and shrink wrapped, others are hitting up the offshore wrecks and reefs and finding easy limits of sea bass according to reports from Waterfront Marine....
As some boats are being pulled out of the water and shrink wrapped, others are hitting up the offshore wrecks and reefs and finding easy limits of sea bass according to reports from Waterfront Marine. Although they are more than willing to pull your boat and start the winterizing process, they remind everyone that October can be spectacular not just at the wrecks and reefs, but also along the back bays and inlets. This week, bluefish in the 2-pound range were thick from the Ocean Drive Bridge to the Causeway Bridge. These fish were taking small metals, cut mullet, bunker chunks and spearing. More
Kingfish, spot, croaker and weakfish are available right from the Ocean City surf according to Billy with Fin-Atics. All of these fish are taking bloodworms and Fishbites on top and bottom rigs with ...
Kingfish, spot, croaker and weakfish are available right from the Ocean City surf according to Billy with Fin-Atics. All of these fish are taking bloodworms and Fishbites on top and bottom rigs with small hooks. The kingfish are in the jumbo range with most of these fish over 13 inches. Anglers fishing mullet from the beach, inlets or back bays will find all the micro bluefish you could possibly want. These fish are chasing peanut bunker and spearing schools day and night and anglers are also scoring with tiny metals. Another hot bite is the tog fishery in the back bays. Green crabs fished under the bridges are taking tog on almost every drop. Anglers report 40 plus short fish before they can find one that makes the 15-inch minimum size limit. At night, the short stripers come out to play and are being caught from the bridges and lighted docks on pink Zooms or Fin-S-Fish. More
The tog, triggerfish and sheepshead bite continues to be strong behind the barrier islands from Beach Haven down to Cape May according to reports from Bait N Hook Sportsmans Center. The amount of t...
The tog, triggerfish and sheepshead bite continues to be strong behind the barrier islands from Beach Haven down to Cape May according to reports from Bait N Hook Sportsmans Center. The amount of tog is simply ridiculous but finding that keeper is a challenge as most of the fish fall somewhere between 12 and 15 inches. Like the tog, the triggers were biting from the jetties and the back bay bridges, and one tipped the scales at almost 5 pounds behind Avalon. More
Friday was sea bass heaven according to reports from Avalon Hodge Podge. The opening day of the season did not disappoint as anglers found limits of fish from the TI and Wildwood Reef sites in short ...
Friday was sea bass heaven according to reports from Avalon Hodge Podge. The opening day of the season did not disappoint as anglers found limits of fish from the TI and Wildwood Reef sites in short order. The Miss Avalon reported over 350 keepers plus some huge porgies. In the back bays of Avalon, the stripers continue to feed on schools of peanut bunker and anglers are taking advantage. Small spook style topwater baits are taking fish at dawn and dusk tight to the sod banks. At night, its soft plastics fished from bridges, piers and lighted docks that are taking the fish. Most of these fish have been falling short of slot size at 16 to 22 inches. The surf, 8th Street Jetty and Townsend Inlet have been producing spot, croakers, sand perch and some jumbo kingfish for anglers fishing bloodworms. More
The back bays of Wildwood are full of peanut bunker and the stripers are feasting on them according to reports out of Grassy Sound Marina. During low light conditions, anglers are fishing the sod bank...
The back bays of Wildwood are full of peanut bunker and the stripers are feasting on them according to reports out of Grassy Sound Marina. During low light conditions, anglers are fishing the sod banks with poppers, bombers and Gulp Paddleshads and finding fish to 25 inches. During the day, these fish are deeper and can be found holding tight to the edges of the ICW and bridge pilings. Here, anglers are using 3/4-ounce bucktails or leadheads tipped with chartreuse Gulp Mullets to get these fish to bite. The bluefish in the area are mostly snappers and are being caught on small metals while chasing silversides on the surface. Closer to the inlets, there are a variety of fish such as spot, croakers, blowfish and weakfish taking bloodworms and FishBites. More
Tog, spot, kingfish and blowfish are making a strong showing in Herefords inlet according to reports from the crew at Pier 47 Marina. There are also a lot of small bluefish and flounder hanging ar...
Tog, spot, kingfish and blowfish are making a strong showing in Herefords inlet according to reports from the crew at Pier 47 Marina. There are also a lot of small bluefish and flounder hanging around. One angler caught and released a 9-pound, 8-ounce flattie while tog fishing. Peanut bunker and mullet are slowly trickling out the inlet, which is attracting some enormous sharks. I was personally locked into a 30-minute battle with a toothy critter before being almost spooled then breaking off. In the back bays, there are stripers being caught on poppers along the sod banks at night. Some of these fish are topping 30 inches while most are in the 16- to 22-inch range. More
The boats out of South Jersey Marina reported easy fishing and quick limits on Friday for the opening day of sea bass season. Not just keepers, but keepers to 18 inches were taken along with triggerf...
The boats out of South Jersey Marina reported easy fishing and quick limits on Friday for the opening day of sea bass season. Not just keepers, but keepers to 18 inches were taken along with triggerfish, blowfish, small blues and croakers. Lots of variety out on the wrecks and reefs this time of year. Yellowfin bite offshore was hot early in the week and mahi could be found at many of the buoys and pots lining the way to and from the tuna grounds. More
Joe with Hands Too Bait and Tackle checked in to tell us how phenomenal Friday's sea bass fishing was. Anglers fished the Wildwood and Cape May Reefs and found their limits of sea bass within a few h...
Joe with Hands Too Bait and Tackle checked in to tell us how phenomenal Friday's sea bass fishing was. Anglers fished the Wildwood and Cape May Reefs and found their limits of sea bass within a few hours, plus some nice triggerfish. Fishing was so good that one customer ignored Saturdays forecast, hit up the wrecks early in the morning, had a limit in an hour and was back in his slip before the NorEaster blow got out of control. Those fishing from the surf and jetties from Cape May Point up to Higbees Beach found croakers, kingfish and spot on bloodworms. Anglers also reported some unusual catches around the jetties; porgies. These were nice sized fish in the 10- to 12-inch range and were hitting bloodworms and Fishbites. More
Kingfish, spot, weakfish, bluefish and croakers are still being caught in the Delaware Bay according to the folks at Higbees Bait and Tackle. Find just one of these species and the rest are bound t...
Kingfish, spot, weakfish, bluefish and croakers are still being caught in the Delaware Bay according to the folks at Higbees Bait and Tackle. Find just one of these species and the rest are bound to be swimming around close by. Bloodworms were the number on bait this week as shedder crabs were hard to find. The wrecks in the bay are also giving up some sized tog for anglers fishing green crabs. Perch fishing remains very good for anglers fishing Fortescue and the Maurice Rivers with bloodworms or live grass shrimp. More
