THE RED CHURCH, NJ

The red church lump is listed in charts as 40 16.500 by 73 57.700, but don’t go steaming for that exact spot. Get to that area and just start looking at your sonar.

You don’t really need a GPS. Just look for the red church. If you are not familiar with the area, a red church actually does exist on land. Coming from Shark River inlet, you will pass the towns of Deal, then Elberon and at the southern end of Elberon right before Long Branch, there sits Saint Michaels Church. From the water, you will also see huge condos. They are the only condos on the water in the south end of Long Branch. The structure consists of some rock formations close to the beach and just offshore of those rocks are at least eight wrecks lying in 40 to 60 feet of water that are marked on navigational charts. You will see some structure on sonar, but overall the bottom is what’s called “bumpy” and long drifts are the norm when targeting the prevalent fluke and sea bass.

What you won’t see on the charts is what is best described as flat rock with crevices, nooks and crannies that harbor marine life and larger members of the food chain. Occasionally you will get hung up, but if you keep scope to a minimum and your line straight up and down, you will be in good shape to pick up a hanging fluke, or the rat-a-tat-tat of an aggressive sea bass.

Capt. Jim Hull goes to Red Church quite often seeking sea bass and fluke in the summer and blackfish in the fall with his 80-foot Suzie Girl out of Belmar. “It’s just a great area with a lot of structure, good wrecks and provides good fishing from tight to the beach to a mile and half offshore,” he said, adding that, “long drifts with spearing and squid have been working along with four- to six-ounce bucktails.” Capt. Jim went on to say that, “It is a very underestimated spot to catch blackfish in the fall since there are a lot of spots within the spot.” Even though everyone knows about it, the Red Church produces good results, especially early in the morning. Just be careful, there are fish traps in the vicinity that can foul lines and running gear. The Red Church is certainly a storied and spiritual place to fish along the Jersey Shore.