An Atlantic coastal breakdown, county-by-county.
Northwest and westerly winds dominate the November surf, pushing baitfish like peanut bunker, rainfish, sand eels and herring into the cuts and sloughs, while also chilling down the water temps in the back bays for shore based anglers hopping the sod banks, inlets and canals.
Plenty of opportunity abounds for the shore bound angler whether it’s bank hopping or surf slinging. And it’s not just chasing bass blitzes this month either! So let’s also open up the playbook to see what other targets are on tap, county-by-county.
Monmouth County
Looking from Sandy Hook down through to the north side of the Manasquan Inlet, this area dictates the timing of the fall striper run. The Rip up at the Hook’s North Beach is always the first interception spot to find stripers working the disoriented baitfish schools swirling around. Shots at leftover false albacore also can run through the Rip all the way down through Sea Bright and into the mouth of the Manasquan Inlet area.
As bunker schools trickle down into Jetty Country, expect stripers to be hanging around the rock piles and pin peanut bunker into spots like Sea Bright, Spring Lake and Asbury Park. Shark River and Manasquan Inlets will have plenty of blackfish on the rocks. The action up here kind of sets the stage for points south as the migratory bass dictate their movements; if they are staging off Sea Girt one day, expect them to be a town or two south the next day.
Those looking for some fun light tackle action can cast ava jigs with teasers to get zipped by hickory shad as they vault out of the water once hooked.
Ocean County
Blitz city! From Point Pleasant on the south side of the Manasquan Inlet, down to Island Beach State Park and often hopping the inlet at Barnegat and all along to the southern tip of Long Beach Island, stripers go bananas blitzing during daytime hours, with a majority of anglers running and gunning chasing schools. Many towns, starting with Brick (which is sold out for the season) offer beach buggy permits for helping surfcasters chase fish all day long, as they search for bait schools and low tide sandbars to walk out upon to reach the outer schools. Hook House in Toms River, and Grumpys Tackle or Betty and Nick’s in Seaside Park are the centerpoint for Island Beach State Park where many anglers gravitate towards a ton of action; the North Jetty at Barnegat Inlet will have tons of tautog on the rocks along with a few leftover triggerfish still hanging about. Here too some scattered remnant little tunny schools could be patrolling the mouth of Barnegat inlet. Mixed in with bass in the early morning hours will be hickory shad, aka Jersey Tarpon, which are a blast on the fly rod.
In Southern Ocean County, across the Route 72 Causeway Bridge in Manahawkin and onto Long Beach Island, you’ll notice beach contours begin to change from the north country. From Barnegat Light to Beach Haven and Holgate, the surf flattens out and goes real shallow in close, which usually means surfside stripers follow the deeper water line too far to really push in close enough to cast to, but that by no means doesn’t mean LBI is quiet; in fact the LBI Surf Fishing Classic which runs through November 29, is now in its 72nd year with striped bass and bluefish, as well as tautog, leading the charge with tournament surfcasters this month. Greg Cudnik at Fisherman’s Headquarters steers anglers toward the north end at Barnegat Light where many large bass are caught as they seem to hang around the inlet area, there or on the very south end at Holgate where softer shifting sands and currents run through deeper waters. The south jetty of Barnegat Inlet all the way to the Coast Guard station bulkhead will be the hot spot for collecting plenty of blackfish and triggerfish.
Atlantic County
Andy Grossman of Riptide Bait and Tackle in Brigantine states the stripers can usually push in to Brigantine Beach from the north end down to Absecon Inlet and are caught on bunker chunks. Across Absecon Inlet there from The Rock, Noel Feliciano of One Stop Bait and Tackle in Atlantic City said his customers will be patrolling the T-Jetty and all surrounding jetties to pluck tautog from the rocks, but also launch out swimming plugs for passing stripers. Still in Atlantic County, the newly revamped Longport Pier pull blackfish to its pilings and you can fish the entire span of the pier to find packs of tog, where the Somers Point side of the 9th Street Bridge at the Beer Pier will also hold tog. Die-hard perch angler Dave Showell of the Absecon Bay Sportsman always recommends hitting Hay Road off the Mullica River to tug at white perch this month using bloodworms and grass shrimp.
Cape May County
Looking at the waters from Ocean City to Cape May, Will Cunnane of Hands Too Bait and Tackle in Cape May offers advice that there’s always stripers down around Cape May Point and off Poverty Beach. Blackfish are hot and heavy at Hereford Inlet, the Cape May Coast Guard jetty and at the 8th Street jetty in Avalon area. Corson’s Inlet may even have some weakfish prowling about on the inside side as well as along the sod banks of the backwaters by Ludlam’s Bay and surrounding areas.
Some secret talk always goes around this time of year in the Cape May Harbor and Stone Harbor area backwaters where speckled trout will pounce on soft baits like Zooms or rubber shrimp imitations. Redfish may rear up now too as cut mullet or bunker chunks work to attract fish off Reed’s Beach and up off Sea Isle City as last year some reds were reported from there. There’s also plenty of white perch chewing on grass shrimp in the Tuckahoe River and other creeks in Cape May County.
Hoofing it in November is the way to go along the coastline and inshore waters. So much opportunity abounds it’s hard to pinpoint an exact strategy as it all depends on what your whims are for the day. Chase bass blitzes? Tug on tautog? Pull on some perch? Or search out those exotics of specks and reds?
Why choose one when you can do ‘em all down the Jersey Shore all month long? Enjoy the November run.
