The offshore style action in the New Jersey, Delaware Bay region only gets better in the second half of the summer season mahi find their way in along the nearer shore grounds amongst the flotsam and jetsam, while yellowfin and bluefin gorge upon squid and sand eels just a bit beyond the horizon.
One of the greatest things about fishing the salt is that you never know what you reel back once you’ve dropped a line in the water. Sure, we’re seeing our share of tuna action at the Jersey Shore so far this year, but some of our seasonal visitors have also made the 2023 summer season one to remember for many saltwater anglers.
With September bearing down, keep in mind that some of the best is still yet to come.
Charlie Parker with his son CJ (age 10) with a 50-pound cobia they caught off Sea Bright earlier this summer. Remember there’s a 37-inch size limit on cobia, one fish per angler or one per vessel.The Johnson and Towers crew of Tanner and Conner Johnson (and Tommy Huber) with a light tackle bluefin caught nearshore while chunking butterfish and sardines with live spot as hook bait.A large volume of squid popped up along the midrange grounds of the Jersey Shore this summer, just about the time that Kim Sorg scored this king mackerel on a Nomad Mad Mac while fishing at the Seaside Lump.“A very nice 83-pound bluefin tuna just weighed in,” reported the folks at Captain Bills Landing in Point back in July, as Capt. Niff on the Audrey Sue with mate Len livelined squid near the Tolton wreck for some sashimi.From the “not something you catch every day” department comes what looks like a cutlassfish and an Atlantic moonfish (lookdown?) for Willie Conner, V at Cape May Reef while fishing with Bill and Will Conner III & IV on August 5.Somewhere east of Barnegat Inlet, Matt Dlugosz battled this 45-inch, 30-pound cobia aboard Capt. Dave Degennaro’s Hi-Flier. “We jigged a livewell full of live bait and had some shark and king mackerel bite offs but at noon we hooked up on a bluefin,” Dave said.
