NJ fishing reports for september 2017 www.stripersandanglers.com

[J Barbosa]

Rough weekend for me, got to the boat Saturday morning only to discover on the ride out that the Port side motor wouldn't shift in/out of gear.


Decided to give it a shot locally in the bay w/just the other motor where we had good action past trip (only a few miles from the marina).


The action was slow, water was filthy, peanut bunker was everywhere.

Wind vs Tide....drift sucked and didn't want to make a run elsewhere on just the one motor.



Put some keepers on deck and back at the dock before noon.



I'll get my revenge on the flat ones this weekend...http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21129&stc=1

[VSdreams]

"only" 4 keepers, some ppl would love to have that for a days catch. Good going.

[baitstealer]

Nice work dude! I fished sandy hook from 5-7. Couple short fluke and some sea robins, all she wrote.

[seamonkey]

Got some more kingfish yesterday after work. I am done with fishing till after labor day!

[baitstealer]

Well I figured it would give it an honest try in moco today because I thought the rain would keep the fishermen off the beach. I was right there were only a few surfers. Gave it my best. Rough surf and water still a little dirty but fishable. Got 2 flukes, both short. Sad the season is closing soon. I bet thats when we will start to see the big ones. Tight lines guys and girls.

[Blazin420]

Great reports as always guys! Braved the elements yesterday to get my fall run started...I gave up on fluke since I didn't get out much and the season sucked IMHO..So I'm on a strictly bass hunt now!!
Hit a spot in Moco that has been good to me wind was hard E about 20.. water was big and a little stained which got worse as the morning went on and a nice period of pouring rain!!!..Poked around the wash by some structure and was finally rewarded for my efforts managed to pull 3 bass out of the wash 16-20in SP and mag got them missed/dropped a few others and snagged a short fluke lol...lets hope the fall is better than the fluke season was...

[ledhead36]

Nice going gents. Have not posted for a while, work and overtime. Blazin just a heads up that you might want to expand your range and include the back. There are more peanuts in the back than there have been in years. The fluke are feeding on them like crazy. Should be some decent blues and stripers as well. Will start fishing later on in the week. Full moon tides should be good.

[captnemo]

Thanks for the heads up. Some buddies of mine had got into them late last week, and we got some nice keepers on Friday. I heard it is a zoo over there today. Peanut bunker worked the best for us

[captnemo]

heard they got a few keepers from shore as well.

[J Barbosa]

Had a great time on Waterproof Saturday.


5 Yellowfin tuna, 3 biggest all weighting between 68-69# each and 16 longfins. A big hammerhead took a chunk out of a YFT as we were reeling it in.

http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/1.jpg.b495056479573ed44d5e47aea845e96a.jpg

All lit up!
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/2.jpg.3e260951800a94b73c510a0bda04bad8.jpg

Boats going to need a good scrubbing...
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/3.jpg.1b487e545f254f1de7489322f5636f1d.jpg

They were feeding on bigger squid...this is the stomach contents from just the three bigger YFT alone.
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/4.jpg.f0aee1b7f7df76bdd20cbc6cf6918f5c.jpg

[voyager35]

Outstanding job. Heard about the insane bite but have not been able to make it out. Well done

[lostatsea]

Thank you sir, congrats on the catch.

[surferman]

That tuna in the 2nd pic has beautiful color. Must of taken it right after you reeled it in, thanks for sharing.

[lostatsea]

Thank you sir, congrats on the catch.

[J Barbosa]

Wrapped up the 2017 fluke season on a positive note with a 4 man limit.




Fishing 5-10' of water within sight of my dock isn't my favorite kind of fishing but I'll take them anyway I can get them when I'm still down a motor...




Yep, still stuck on just one motor...holiday weekends suck for getting people to work, can't say I blame them. lol




No rush at this point, I don't think anyone is in a hurry to see more porgy dock shots.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21132&stc=1http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21133&stc=1

[cowherder]

Man you are living the life! Beaufiful tuna, can I ask how far out your were? Canyons or closer?

[fishinmission78]

Nice going on the tuna JB. Sorry I haven't reported much. Been catching some fluke here and there. And a lot of small snappers. Biggest fluke came with live lining snappers and peanuts. Once in a while some bigger ones. Usually dawn or dusk, from the sand or a dock in back bay. It's a shame fluke is over, because there is a s*** ton of bait still around.

[hookedonbass]

Good job jbarbosa thanks for the reports!

[hookedonbass]

Wanted to try to find some fish on my own yesterday without report chasing. Went to the front in moco, most beaches were empty except the long branch area still seems to have a lot of tourists bc of the shops. Didn't like the swell in the ocean and had no luck after an hour, so went to the back. Saw a bunch of fish busting and birds. They were way too far out. Tossed a popper, few hits by snappers. Then downsized to small oo7 and started catching them. They were all small nothing bigger than 10".Hope some albies or big blues come in soon. I would really like to know what the fish busting farther out were.

[ledhead36]

They were probably small blues. Been seeing them all over, but nothing that big yet. Keep at it, things should turn on soon.

[lostatsea]

Tks for the heads up, good to know.

[lostatsea]

Quick report, fished somoco this am. Bigger water, thought it might have sparked some migration blitzes and such with the mullet around. Tried bucktail and metal, skunk followed me home. I think its going to happen any day now, just have to be out there to get some. Good luck everyone.

[finchaser]

Today 4 to 6AM 8 bass to 25" and a 24" fluke all on 4" white 360GT largo shad by storm and a 3/4 ounce shad head

[bababooey]

25" fluke nice work there! Must have been close to 5#.

[hookedonbass]

x2 on the fluke. Too bad the season is closed.

[hookedonbass]

Fished moco in the back last night. decent tide and good weather. More bait than fish tho. Finally managed a few blues to 4# and a small weakfish on light bucktail.

[voyager35]

We took a short afternoon cruise in raritan bay yesterday afternoon to iron out some steering issues. Cocktail blues all over the bay, hitting metal and small poppers. They appeared to be feeding on rainfish and peanut bunker.

[J Barbosa]

Out Saturday looking for stripers & albies but was only able to find stripers & blues; water quality seemed really poor to me.

6 stripers for me and a couple for my buddy. I had mine on 4 & 6" swim shads...could have had more with smaller offerings/teasers.
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/59b6ca23d1224_striper1.jpg.4b4b88af51e21e94f6e2b84 d689c7500.jpg (http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/59b6ca23d1224_striper1.jpg.4b4b88af51e21e94f6e2b84 d689c7500.jpg)
A ton of small snappers (never seen this many around) chasing bait which would have made for some good fluking if the season was still open.
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/snapper.jpg.ad749633eb6e37a0a78155c09eeb4d9e.jpg (http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/snapper.jpg.ad749633eb6e37a0a78155c09eeb4d9e.jpg)
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/birds.jpg.3d21e7b60161c14e2cc6e84a04f9ed7d.jpg (http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/birds.jpg.3d21e7b60161c14e2cc6e84a04f9ed7d.jpg)

Small stripers stacked on an edge as if they were porgies...
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/59b6cbf94da82_striperFF.jpg.7e9932a8f5d9869b77a036 f19417ee0c.jpg (http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/59b6cbf94da82_striperFF.jpg.7e9932a8f5d9869b77a036 f19417ee0c.jpg)
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Most of the blues were smaller but we did get two better ones, this one went 11#
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/bluefish.jpg.09ba0fdc4c019d92c19dd757ef710d1e.jpg (http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/bluefish.jpg.09ba0fdc4c019d92c19dd757ef710d1e.jpg)

[baitstealer]

Nice going! Good news about bigger blues, I thought there were only small ones around. Thanks for the report and pics.

[baitstealer]

I fished a popular spot in moco today from 6-7:30am. Small blues on metal right before sunrise. Once the sun came up I saw 2 small stripers caught. None by me though. Also saw one guy get an albie about 15 mins before I had to leave. He was throwing metal as well. There were a few guys there. Nothing for any of us after that until I left.

[lostatsea]

Tryed my luck at a back bay beach. Fished till the tide went all the way out. From dark on the small blues were hitting. Small poppers. They all seemed to be cookie cutter. Lots of bait around. Only a few dudes out.

[cowherder]

Had the same luck you did LAS. Hit the ocean tonight at 7pm nada. Prob bad because it was close to low tide. Went to the back, stopped at a few places. Got into a mess of small bluefish on light oo7 metal. Almost every cast for awhile as the tide came in. But then I had to wade back to shore and it slowed down a bit. sooooo much bait in the water!

[jigfreak]

Picked up a few weakies last night, until I got mugged by some drunk boaters. Small spikes, small rubber. Good to see them in the mix. In the back.

[surferman]

Nice! My buddy has been catching a few in CM since sept 1. I tried, but seems the best bite is in the middle of the night. Tough for me. Thanks for the heads up though.

[hookset]

moco backbay 9 to 12 P incoming tide. Blues blues and more blues. These are all cookie cutters, small taylor blues. Did manage two around 6 lb but the rest were a lot smaller. Bait was all over and I had trouble getting into a routine at first. Finally started throwing a rattletrap and hooking up more regularly.

[hookset]

Picked up a few weakies last night, until I got mugged by some drunk boaters. Small spikes, small rubber. Good to see them in the mix. In the back.

Nice report thanks for the heads up, and good luck to you out there.

[plugcrazy]

Fished occo yesterday right in the surf zone. Gave it a good effort for an hour before sunset. Lots of bait, was tossing metal bc heard there might be some albies. Nothing except a short fluke. Then went to a spot behind an inlet. Like everyone here is saying the back is loaded with bait everywhere and those pesky smaller blues. Picked up a few of them. Was hoping for a striper. May give it a go the next few nights. Too much bait not to try.

[basshunter]

Good going gents. will try to get out tonight or tomorrow. Switch is about to go off!

[J Barbosa]

Fun overnight canyon trip with a mixed bag of longfin & yellowfin tuna along with 18 mahi and 17 golden tilefish.

http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/1A.jpg.04fb66c48ce9850ca8bf31663a889ea9.jpg

http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/1.jpg.c214faa27e9f77d122dcfa62007c83a4.jpg

[finchaser]

5 bass this am all on rubbaaaaaaaaaaaaa biggest 24"

[seamonkey]

:bigeyes:Great job fc and jb thanks for sharing. jb all of those fish taken on chunks? see some nice mahi sandwiches there!

[surferman]

Nice going gents. Fished CM over the weekend. Surf is building, nada for me. Brought my board too, so caught some waves. Seems like the next week will be better for surfing than fishing. i got it covered either way.

[J Barbosa]

Not a NJ report but still an absolute blast. *Done by 10:30...my arms couldn't take it any more.
21148

[dogfish]

Nice one, Salmon River?

[buckethead]

Good job JB.

[buckethead]

Have not had much to report. Lots of walks along the wet line. Not seeing much in terms of large predators. Lots of snappers as mentioned. Lots of small bait and small fluke still feeding. I briefly saw albies break water one day last week. They surfaced and were far away the next time I saw them. Not many out fishing the front, just surfers. I like it that way, hopefully will have more to report soon.

[lostatsea]

Great efforts fellas. fished the back side of a place in moco last night. Shelter from the wind. Thought it would be epic. Only managed to raise a few snappers. Oh well at least it beat the skunk.

[lostatsea]

forgot to add, BEAUTIFUL salmon, dude. Thanks for sharing.

[surferman]

Yeah nice job on the salmon hunting. I'm thinking the mullet are really going to be moving after this weekend, hoping for some calmer seas and some good bites.

[seamonkey]

Fished the back of inlet area CM. Tons of small bait, only the small bluefish were biting and nipping. Found them hard to hook because they were so small. Caught the skunk. Frustrating.

[plugcrazy]

Nice job. Haven't been out much. My bud from down the street has been out religiously. He claims the mullet are not really on the move yet and a lot are holding in the back bays. methinks that bodes well for when the large stripers and blues start showing up. fwiw, cause mostly now its smaller cocktail blues and tiny stripers.

[finchaser]

this morning 4 bass to 23" and a 24" fluke all on Chartreuse AAT rubber and a 3/4 ounce head

[J Barbosa]

My 3rd weekend in a row up there; going to make it 4 in a row?



Fishing was hot on Saturday and slow on Sunday.



Bonus steelhead on this trip.



Crowds aren't an issue if you're willing to hike a mile or two through the woods!
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/IMG_20170924_093110.jpg.6bb37f2e7a8bbf4ca62a1d8cda 5a8e95.jpg (http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/IMG_20170924_093110.jpg.6bb37f2e7a8bbf4ca62a1d8cda 5a8e95.jpg)
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http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/PANO_20170923_160128.thumb.jpg.d41fe5a3ca146599a06 974ce2e3c3524.jpg (http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/monthly_2017_09/PANO_20170923_160128.jpg.5a88d9cb15af96ff22853fd1b 53a799b.jpg)

[plugcrazy]

Sounds like an awesome trip. have to agree with you, would have walked through the woods. I would have done anything to get away from those crowds.

[fishrich]

Two of us fished MoCo this afternoon in the back. Checked a few spots and saw peanut bunker in each spot. Last spot was loaded wth peanut bunker and we decided to fish there. It was hard to entice a hit with all the bait, but we each got a few two pound blues and one short bass. Fish were caught on swimming plugs and rubber shads.

[cowherder]

jb awesome share and pics. I agree with what pc said. Would not want to fish where it was that crowded. You have 2 lines of fishermen there. What happens if someone gets tangled up with 3 other guys? You have to have a warrior mentality to deal with that. BTW, nice fish!

[cowherder]

fishrich I had the same frustration last night. Fished moco in the back. There was so much bait around. Blues were periodically busting, far out. Could not get a hit for over an hour. Finally managed some action when the tide started coming in, and tossing a small rattletrap and jigging it while retrieving. For all the internet bravado guys saying how easy it is to catch bluefish, these were not easy fish for sure with all the bait. Felt lucky to be able to land 3, lost a few others.

[fishrich]

Three of us fished MoCo in the back from 2:30 pm till dark in a few different spots. A slow pick in all spots. Not as much peanut bunker or fish as earlier in the week, but we managed to catch a few blues up to 4 pounds, a couple short bass and a keeper fluke that we couldn't keep. Fish preferred rubber shads today.

[captnemo]

nice going gents. Heard some of you were looking for false albacore and bonito. They have been a few miles off, got into them yesterday.

[fishinmission78]

Thanks for the heads up capt. Lots of small bait in the surf, looks like rainfish and spearing. Been getting snapper blues for the last 2 days near the park. Ava 007s doing the trick. Heard some whispers of albies but haven't seen any in the surf zone yet. Strange year.

[seamonkey]

I was seeing that as well. Tons of small-ish baitfish. Thought they were silversides or bay anchovies. All that bait and just a few blues on em. Any day now I feel like it's going to blow up.