New Jersey & Delaware Bay - Southern New Jersey Fishing Reports

We started off this week’s report with a call to Mike Hayes at Tuckerton Bait and Tackle. He said he has one more week to go before he closes up for the season on November 1. He told us the winds had calmed down and it was a beautiful weekend. Of course that was after three straight weeks of storms. He said he got reports of stripers being caught in the back bay and it looks like this week will be a great week for fishing if the good weather forecast holds true. In addition he told us he also got reports of some tog being caught around the bridge pilings and off some of the local rock piles on greens. The fishing for tog should also improve this week as well it the bottom finally settles down from the storm.

The word from Justin over at Allen’s Dock told us of the tides pushed by winds and some tough conditions for most of the week. He said the marina was flooded all week and even though people wanted to get their boat out of the water he could not get at the boats because of the flooding which is salt water. He told us that the perch and the stripers in the river were all the way up past the tide line because to the high water. Hopefully the tidal flooding will settle down this coming week and returned to normal levels, he said.

The news over at the Jersey Devil Marina was the winds from the recent nor-easter finally started to calm down at the end of the week. Dave Jobes told me anglers were catching bass in the back bays on plugs and shads and with the migratory bass moving down the coast and in North Jersey waters this week should see some really good fishing. In addition he said some fishermen were working the rock piles, bulkheads and back bay waters along the sod banks and pulling some nice blackfish up on green crabs and sand flees.

Over at the Chestnut Neck Boat Yard we got word of some decent perch fishing with some stripers still mixed in being caught from the Mullica River despite this past week’s weather problems, by the anglers who braved the winds. Violet Meyer said the back of the bay and the mouth of the Mullica are also giving up some mixed size stripers to plugs and bait.

“We got back on the water on Thursday with Collin and Anthony and got right into the stripers,” said Capt. Dave Showell from the Absecon Bay Sportsman’s Center. He said his Friday trip did just as good with another good catch of stripers. Dave told me with the good weather forecast we have for this week and the waters finally settling down it should be a good week of fishing for the first time in the last three weeks. Now is the time to get in on the striper fishing, so give him a call if you are looking for a trip.

I spoke with Bill over at Riptide Bait and Tackle and he told me as of the weekend some places were still dealing with abnormal high tides. He said the anglers that got out fishing found some tog on the local rock piles and inside the bay around the sod banks when they were fishable. In addition he said there were still some mixed size stripers being caught tin the back waters of the bay along with an occasional bluefish. He was another person that said the tides were slowly coming back to normal over the weekend and hopefully conditions will return to normal early this coming week.

Once things started to calm down from the nor’east blow we got a surprise said Noel Feliciano over at One Stop Bait and Tackle. That surprise came in the form of corn cob size mullet, herring and other baitfish. He said striped bass fishing was decent in the back bay waters and with the baitfish around the fishing should remain good. He also mentioned some good fishing for the tog on local rock piles, at the inlets and around the sod banks in the bay. With the conditions improving by the day and the full moon coming up the fall fishing should really kick in, especially if the migratory fish start moving through local waters off the beaches.

A call to Scott’s Dock got us a report of some stripers being caught the back bay on eels, shads and plugs. I told Scott about the bass that were moving through northern waters late last week and he said most time the bass move further off the coast by the time they reach his area. “Hopefully that won’t be the case this fall,” he said. He also mentioned that some tog were being pulled from around the bridge pilings and rock piles, but for the most part the bottom structures were still tossed up from the storm. He said it looks like the tog will go on the chew by mid-week once the bottom settles down.

Over at the Waterfront Marina Cody told us once the effects of the storm started to calm down t they started hearing about some blackfish being caught around the bridges and rock piles on green crabs. In addition he too mentioned some local stripers being caught in the back bay waters on plugs and bait. He said for the most part only a few boats are still docked at the marina and quite a few boats were pulled out after the first storm in October.

“It was a quiet week thanks to the windy conditions most of the week,” said Bill Wiggins over at Fin-Atics. He said three straight weeks with storms really took the life out of the Jersey coast and hopefully things will start to wake up this coming week. The only fishing he heard of since things started to subside were of some tog being caught off the brides and off the rocks at the inlets. He said rumors of a few stripers being caught in the back bays, especially in the evenings were also heard.

I spoke with Nick Dutton over at Hands Too Bait and Tackle and the said things were still rough on the ocean but were starting to calm down when I spoke with him. He told us anglers had started to fish the rock piles at the inlets and the pilings around the bridges for tog. So far only scattered reports of fish being caught were heard. However he too mentioned the back bay stripers and said a few anglers were picking up some bass on plugs, eels and bunker. Usually when we have a storm it pushes the local bass and other fish to the west side of the bay along the sod banks and they are usually one of the first places to wake up once the storm starts calming down. As of this report we have not seen any migratory bass along the ocean front and hopefully we will see that soon as the full moon approaches, he said.

Our last report of the week comes from Dave over at Dave over at Big Dave’s Tackle. He told us he began to get reports of tog being caught around the bridge pilings and off the rocks late in the week as the fishing started picking up on greens. Likewise eels and blood worm sales picked up late in the week as word of stripers being caught in the bays started being heard. Here too we were told there were plenty of eels and baitfish around and with the approaching full moon and the migratory bass headed our way things can pop open at any time this coming week.