May 12, 2025 - 10:11:09
After a couple of weeks with good water and weather conditions, you just knew something was bound to happen. That something came in the form of 4-plus inches of rain in the Lehigh Valley and upper Delaware, and some more rain on Thursday night and Friday. This caused the Delaware to come up some 7 feet and shut down the shad and striper fishing. It remains to be seen if either fishery will rebound once the waters settle down. There is no doubt that we needed the rain but not all that in a few days! In general water temps improved and put the bass on the beds and giving anglers some good catch and release fishing. Likewise the crappies are on the spawn in most waters. Pickerel fishing is red hot in the lower state cedar waters. Walleyes are coming off the spawn and some good hybrid fishing is being seen in several waters. Trout fishing, while winding down is still very good and the higher water levels should extend the fishing into early June. Lastly carp are going on the spawn and bow fishermen are hitting some big fish in the Delaware and other places. Let’s hope the weather and winds settle down and conditions become more stable for the rest of May.
May 12, 2025 - 10:11:00
It was a decent week of fishing along the northern coast for several species this past week. Striped bass fishing continued to be very productive with bass ranging from shorts to overs topping the 40-pound mark in Raritan Bay and surrounding waters into the Hudson River. While weather was moderate this past week a few storms and some windy days did keeps the number of fishermen fishing down. Mixed size bluefish were also in good numbers throughout the bay and into the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers. A few weakfish also started showing up mixed in with the bass and blues. The first week of fluke fishing also produced some interesting results. As per normal catches of fluke were seen towards the mouth of Raritan Bay from Sandy Hook into the lower side of the bay around the Coast Guards Station, the Bug light and shallow water areas where the outgoing tide produced the warmest water. Some flatties were also taken in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers and Shark River. Overall it was a decent week of fishing despite the ominous weekend weather predictions that fizzled and were replaced by 30-plus MPH winds Saturday morning. Let’s hope this week’s rainy forecast does the same disappearing act.
May 05, 2025 - 07:53:23
It was an interesting week of fishing on the freshwater scene this past week. No complaints about the weather, and water conditions were also good in most waters. The fishing was also good in most places but up and down in others. Take for instance the shad fishing on the Delaware River. The fish came up river in pods and you simply had to be in the right place at the right time, It was the same with the striped bass fishing which was very good from Burlington south, however so far the linesiders have not come up into the Trenton area in any strong numbers and while herring are as far north as Bulls Island, very few reports of any stripers being caught are being heard as of this writing. When it comes to the largemouth they are on the beds in some places and nowhere to be seen in other waters. One thing is for sure the crappies are on the spawn just about everywhere. Overall numbers in freshwater are up and more and more fish of all types are being caught as the water temps come up.
May 05, 2025 - 07:53:15
It was a good week of striped bass fishing in Raritan Bay and surrounding waters this past week. Most reports told of a solid mix of fish ranging up to 40 inches. Most of the better fishing was on live bunker, mojos and swimming plugs. Good size blues also made their way into northern waters and smashed into lower side beaches on Friday evening and into the bay over the weekend. In addition some black drum to 75 pounds were also caught just inside the bay and from Sandy Hook down through Sea Bright. In all a good week of fishing along with some decent weather, however winds did make conditions tough on several days. Some rainy conditions greeted the opening of fluke season on Sunday and reports were scarce, however some flatties were caught. Some party boats will be switching over to daytime fluke fishing this week while others will stay with the stripers. Speaking of stripers finding bass in the ocean continues to be tough. We were told some party bats will also switch to sea bass fishing as of May 17 when the season opens.
