NJ fishing reports for Nov 2017 www.stripersandanglers.com

[buckethead]

Same old story for the past week for me. Lots of bait, small Snappers, and a few Albie's here in there. No stripes for me despite enticing fall conditions.

[finchaser]

This morning 4 to 6:30 am 4 bass 14 to 20" all on white GT 360 and lead head

[J Barbosa]

Some up and down fishing over the weekend as to be expected with a beautiful weekend in mid-October. Didn't want to bass fish knowing too many people would be out to put the fish down...definitely made the right call looking back on the reports.



Ran into the best Albie action I have seen this year on Saturday for a brief 30 minutes with fish busting the surface on rain bait, mullet and peanuts as far as I could see. The crowds got out of control and put the fish down as expected for a weekend...



We had great porgy fishing keeping roughly 100 between five guys and released another 100+ keepers. Found a slow tog bite and I stupidly released most of the boat's smaller keepers expecting to get better roasters as the day went on which never happened *dumb move*. "A bird in the hand..."



Ran into some bass right in the surf but had to get right in the surf zone on the beach - luckily nobody was there surfcasting. lol
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[finchaser]

This morning 4 to 6:30 am 3 bass 16 to 20" all on Fin-s fish Arkansas shiner

[storminsteve]

FC you have been pretty good, I have gotten a few skunks lately myself. Went out in moco last night. The surf in the front was dirty and big, got skunked again. After that I went to the back and threw a swim shad around for an hour. Was rewarded with a 22 incher striped bass. Nothing else. Seems like the bigger fish are all getting caught by the boats. Very frustrating fall for me so far.

[plugcrazy]

Fishing report, multiple nights. Got blanked last 2 times in a row. This is supposed to be prime season, what gives?

[fishinmission78]

Wife's away visiting the fam so I had a little time to myself. Fished the park in the dark, dropping tide. Picked up a few runts on the sp. Lots of small bait in close every time I brought one in.

[finchaser]

FC you have been pretty good, I have gotten a few skunks lately myself. Went out in moco last night. The surf in the front was dirty and big, got skunked again. After that I went to the back and threw a swim shad around for an hour. Was rewarded with a 22 incher striped bass. Nothing else. Seems like the bigger fish are all getting caught by the boats. Very frustrating fall for me so far.

Been in the back too

[J Barbosa]

Fished all over Raritan Bay yesterday in t-shirts, I'll take it for November http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.gif

We landed north of 125 bass with the majority being shorts ranging from 12" to 24". We had 8 keepers on the day to 34"

We started the day off trolling around and went 0/4 on mojos and a few other missed hits. Felt like smaller fish that probably never got a good shot at the 9" shad so we switched over to casting smaller 6" shads & bucktails and that worked out well.

I don't usually fish a teaser from the boat but had one on my 8' avid so I went with it. Glad I did because I had 8 doubleheaders on the day myself including some of the keepers.

EliasV shads on a jig head or used as a trailer on a bucktail worked best overall.

And sometimes the teaser catches the bigger fish http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.gif
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Not sure what caused this top fish to bleed like crazy, it was hooked cleanly in the top of the mouth with a bucktail.
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[ledhead36]

Nice haul dude. Yeah a lot of stripes finally showed up in the bay. Good pics thanks for sharing.

[ledhead36]

Forgot to post my report lol. Been getting into stripes last 2 nights in the rb. High tide has been best. Clams and bunker, got one 34 incher on a bunker head last night. Most of them were smaller. My crew and I picked up and released quite a few. Good to have the action.

[VSdreams]

Awesome to hear that guys! I fished moco surf 7-9pm yesterday, got the skunk. Conditions seemed awesome, no fish.

[cowherder]

Finally! Fantastic news fellas. Tryed the ocean for a few yesterday skunk followed me home. Will start trying the back thanks for the heads up.

[jigfreak]

behind an inlet in OC Thu pm with the full moon blazing. 2 runts on a jig.

[storminsteve]

The tides are great with this moon....the fishing not so much. Moco 6-8am. Me and about 30 other guys. Tough NE winds could only throw bucktails. Got one 24" at 6:30. Only saw 2 others caught up until I left.

[hookset]

Fished the back MC last night.Picked up a few, smallish to 29", released. Magdarters for some, BT for the 29". As said the moon tide was strong. Had to move around.

[baitstealer]

Great to hear some are around. I tried the ocean near a surfing beach yesterday. Big waves, dirty and brown water. The surfers were happy but none of the fishermen I talked to were. We ALL got the skunk. Can't wait for the baitfish to start the move in the surf line, maybe after this weekend.

[plugcrazy]

Yeah I been reading about these cows being caught but seen none near where I have been fishing. Checked out some different waters ocean county from 7 to 8:30 this AM. Top of the incoming tide. Zilch. Rough surf looked like the perfect fall run basswater. Someone forgot to tell the bass.

[buckethead]

We ALL got the skunk. Can't wait for the baitfish to start the move in the surf line, maybe after this weekend.

After this weekend the winds will be shifting to a more north. Will drop the temperatures a lot faster. This should spur some bait movement from the bay areas.

[buckethead]

I walked the surfline in monmouth for some cardio and a few casts today. Right around sunrise. The SE winds were pretty stiff. Was tossing heavier bucktail, nothing for me. Will be back again this week when the winds shift.

[finchaser]

3to 6 AM 3 bass all on fin-s

[fishinmission78]

Made a quick run to fish the front of the park at sunrise today before work. Water still a little dirty, S wind, but not terrible. Skunk. Did see some bait in the water and far out. It's prob going to go off when I'm working today, story of my life.

[finchaser]

3 to 6 AM 2 micro bass

[J Barbosa]

Out on Sunday, couple keeper bass around 30-32" nothing to write home about after the action we had the prior trip..didn't grab any pics.


Did a little clamming for a homemade seafood paella and some stuffed clams on the half shell.
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[lostatsea]

Verrrry nice! I was thinking about it getting a clam license, how much does one cost? Thank you

[lostatsea]

Ocean County surf this morning. I heard it was dirty, but it looked okay to me. Threw metal and bucktail for an hour 6 to 7 AM. Got two short stripers, one on metal, one on bucktail. These were tiny fish, biggest was 18 in

[fishinmission78]

Nice haul JB

[jigfreak]

Lots o boats crushing the bass and they are doing well in delaware too. My cousin texted me some pics of ones he caught in the last few days, nothing giant, but some nice keepers. Seems like the fall run is passing the surf guys by, really sucks.

[jigfreak]

Hit a few places in moco before dark. Water cleaned up a bit, pulled 2 shorties on a shad. Didn't see much else going on. this fall sucks for me so far with the exception of some good albie action.

[plugcrazy]

OC from 1 to 3a. Colder than a witches t*t and windy. Walked a nice beach with structure that has produced for me in the past. Skunk city for me.

[plugcrazy]

this fall sucks for me so far with the exception of some good albie action.

Thanks for the honesty, feel the same. Thought it would be on by Halloween, guess not. Have to be in a boat to catch a decent striper.

[storminsteve]

Didn't do much better in moco today. Got 2 small bass right around 6:30 AM and all life died out within 5 minutes of the sun coming up despite a good amount of small bait around. Got mine on small shads fwiw.

[surferman]

JF I think you are right. I got friends in DE who are catching them too. Our NJ fall striper run seems like a bust so far.

[surferman]

I thought I would do better travelling so the last time I fished I went to lbi. fished last weekend from before sunrise to 10am. Tried plugs and rubber shads in the dark. Nada. Got one 23 incher on a clam. I know they are catching some nice stripers. A pic of 47 or 48 pounder was posted in the tackle shop I stopped at. Still it appears like the bite is very inconsistent. One day they catch a few and the next day sucks. Not so good a fall for me so far.

[fishinmission78]

Cold as a witches t*t in the am. Spent 2 hours plugging, one striped one on yellow SP. Later on I took a ride up north and saw what looked like a normandy invasion of boats about 1/2-3 miles off the beach. Didnt see anyone in my area catch from the surf.

[finchaser]

Even though boat fish don't count we had a 18 ,21 ,40 all weighed on boga and released never brought into boat to avoid stress

[buckethead]

Nice going fin chaser. Glad to see you are still around and fishing. Tight lines to you sir.

[buckethead]

Have not reported in a while. I've been fishing regularly, eight times in the past 2 weeks. Usually around sunrise or first light. A handful of small schoolies on bucktail and grub. I am striking out equally as much as I am catching. Not a lot of fish around unless you were on a boat chasing the bunker pods. My. 0.02.

[finchaser]

Nice going fin chaser. Glad to see you are still around and fishing. Tight lines to you sir.

Thank you

[cowherder]

Nice going guys. Fished moco yesterday from 6 to 8pm. Must have missed the epic activity. Few guys on the beach told me about it. Seems like every boat in the world was there, beach loaded with surfcasters from the cell phone calls. Some big stripers caught. Not by me though lol. Managed 2 shorts on a mag-Darter. Nice evening out there.

[jigfreak]

After driving up and down the nj coast from island beach to sandy hook yesterday, got a few stripers to 22 pounds. They came in for a half hour and it was mayhem. All on rubber shads, released. There were 5 of us originally and after the cell phone dooshes were done calling in there buddies it was like opening day of trout season. No one wants to work for there fish anymore. Just waiting on the couch for the call from there hershey highway buddies.

[basshunter]

I see your reports a lot and wanted to thank you for sharing. Congrats on the hard work looks like it paid off.

[lostatsea]

Ran around occo with everyone else yesterday. Stopped at a few beaches, lots of casts. Did hear of a few big stripers landed in the suds, but not many. Skunkola for me.

[lostatsea]

Nice going on the stripers JF. Well deserved.

[VSdreams]

Ocean county today 4-6pm. Right at high tide, Fished north of island beach, threw the bag. Fresh salt air was great, left smelling of skunk.

[hookedonbass]

Thanks for the reports gents. Have been seeing pics of big stripers posted by the boats. It has been killing me. The earliest I can probably get out is Thur or Fri. Save some for me till then! Nice going jig!

[porgy75]

Good job fellas thanks for the Intel.

[porgy75]

I finally got a few stripers yesterday. Had been going pretty regularly. Sorry, not much to report and it's depressing when you go and get blanked. I went to mon County and got 2 to 20 in on a storm shad. It was white, but don't know if it made any difference because it was dark out. Glad to catch those two fish, hoping for some more this weekend. Tight lines

[surferman]

CMC 7-9 pm weds. Outgoing tide and big waves. I tossed a couple of offerings, not even a bump.

[finchaser]

to day did the boat thing we had 5 bass 22 to 39# live lining with circle hooks not sang and drop all released unharmed

[SharkHart]

Ive been out last two days like 10 hours a day into night many miles etc boy its miserable worked hard for small fish, some were reallll small its hilarious guys still argue stocks are strong its basically big fish and rats left this will be the worst surf season in many years without a hail mary miracle

[finchaser]

Ive been out last two days like 10 hours a day into night many miles etc boy its miserable worked hard for small fish, some were reallll small its hilarious guys still argue stocks are strong its basically big fish and rats left this will be the worst surf season in many years without a hail mary miracle

What he said^^^^^

[hookset]

Well allow me to join the disappointed surf fishing reports. Fished 6-10, best of the outgoing tide, 1 runt for the effort. Hit a shad, no other hits or misses. Totally agree with sharkheart and finchaser. Got friends who have been more successful than me, they fish every day tho. My Novembers in the past have been much better. Hoping for a Hail Mary push of fish.

[seamonkey]

Yeah from what I'm seeing the best bites have been in the afternoon, from 12 on. Don't understand how guys can be on the beach crowding it up or past the breakers in boats every weekday. Don't these dudes have jobs?

[SharkHart]

The friday weigh ins and pics were misleading, i ran from the hook to ortley and back to squan with all the stops in between saw 1 caught only for 200 guys or so and just when i mentally quit to i spied a school on an empty beach tighter then the other miles of happy bunker then it sprayed and i ran and locked position, went 2/4 in 4 casts. I was all alone when I hooked up, then 20 guys came walking out of no where. They must have had binoculars on and yes These fish have zero interest in sun up and sun down.

21368

[lostatsea]

Nice going dude. You must of hit that striper righ on the head with the bunker, congrats! Saw many snagging and dropping yesterday, not much caught from the surf.

[lostatsea]

Got out of work early yesterday, started in moco at 1pm ended in occo at 4pm. Fished a little bit at each beach and moved on. I saw a total of 5 short stripers caught in random places during the whole time, It looked like some guys on boats were catchin, but not a lot. At the last place in occo figured it was "the spot" because there were literally 450 other guys shoulder to shoulder on the beach. I found a place to edge in, lol. I was so desperate for one striper. Out of that clusterf*ck of surf guys, right before dark one guy got a striper that was about a 40 incher or bigger, snag and drop. I got nothing, and at dark everyone left. Still waiting for the epic fishing I been hearing about.

[porgy75]

Congratulations to all who caught. I figured the afternoon wold be good. Only spent an hour fishing Monmouth County 4-5pm. From what other fishermen said the fish have been coming in and out. Well not by me. Guess you have to be right there at the exact moment with a snag hook. Well done anyway and I will try again.

[cowherder]

Nice going gents! Finally caught some stripers yesterday was at a mo co spot and no one was catching. At dusk they started hitting shads. 10 minutes of short striper activity I ended up with 3 to 22". some other fellas caught as well. woo hoo should I call it epic? Not! lol!:rolleyes:

[basshunter]

Well I broke down and chased the reports yesterday. Fished ocean county 8-3 near island beach. about a thousand other people as well. Never saw so many people on the beach in November in my entire life except for that one thanksgiving weekend when the sandeels were here. Absolute madness. About every 3rd guy was saying he heard about the great fishing on fb. Got skunked and saw 4 other fish caught the whole day. Hope some of you did better than I did.

[jigfreak]

Picked up a few shorties in an inlet before the rain last night. First part of the outgoing tide, rubber was all they would hit. One might have been just about 28". Released.

[cowherder]

Nice job in finding em! I didn't get out till the afternoon yesterday. Moco up and down. Fished a few places but struggled with the wind. Then the rain started and I gave up because I was getting no hits anyway. May try later. Hoping the northwest will smooth things down a bit.

[VSdreams]

Fished somoco 6-7a. Windy and wet, sucked. Wanted to wait and see if there was a better chance but have to help the wifey today. Water looked dirty, did not look fishy at all when I was casting. With my luck it will blow up this afternoon or tomorrow when I'm working.

[ledhead36]

RB temps dropped to 42 degrees last night, lowest in 2 weeks. Should push the last big stripers and bait out front. Been getting some small ones at night in the bay. Larger ones were in the hudson. Very slow pick, all on bunker.

[cowherder]

Thank you for the heads up. I think you are on the money. fished Moco last night and got bunch of activity from small stripers. I was throwing a black bomber, loaded. Got a lot of whacks. Landed about half of them. Aggressive, and fun to catch and release.

[hookedonbass]

I was probably in the same area last night, but I only got two. I did miss a few though thinking they were smaller stripers. Heard the tiny rats are around.

[fishinmission78]

Got into some small stripers yesterday right around dark. Short and fat up to 25 inches. Black mag darter and black sp got most of em. Ended up with bakers dozen. Went back at 7 this morning, only got two. They were all on the beach lip at night, little further out this morning. Above ibsp. Tight lines and hope everyone enjoys there Thanksgiving with family.

[seamonkey]

You too fnm and thanks everyone for your reports. Fished cm last night got skunked. Some fish starting to show up in lbi and casino area. May try that this weekend.

[cowherder]

Thanks everyone for some positivity. Sure they are small stripers but better to catch some than none right? i should have went last night, the winds convinced me otherwise. Got up late this morning. A few others in moco and I got the skunk. Seems like first light and late afternoon is the time. Out again over the holiday weekend, happy thanksgiving.

[VSdreams]

skunked in oc today. Big surf and waves. Good luck to everyone trying for that Thanksgiving striped bass.

[fishinmission78]

The stripes are getting smaller but there are a lot. Fished beginning of the incoming tide 4-5 am above the park. Couple very small runts on white shads. They were right at my feet. Got home in time to take the wife Black Friday sales hunting. The things we men do for our wives, so they can let us go fishing.

[porgy75]

Thats encouraging fishing mission. Tried this morning from 6-7:30. moco, not a lot of guys out, very UN crowded for a saturday. Maybe they were all somewhere else? 1 striper using a 3/4 oz bucktail. Hit right in close. It was 16 inches.

[finchaser]

7 micro bass this morning

[SharkHart]

I fished on the boat Saturday, mostly to hang with cousins who aren't always in town. On the tackle shop Facebook a lot of guys report the boats are crussssshing em. The reality was from squan to IBSP Everyone is trolling. Bunker is abundant but down deep. Most pods didnt have fish. Every 1.5 hrs a rod with a mojo would get hit, so we went 3 for 4. All big fish, erie lack of what i call a regular bass, 26 to 34". Saw maybe 5 or 6 others hooked up through out day out of about 100 + boats. The fish are scattered and thin, tried all depths all areas.

also I keep reading these shore caught hammered shorts to 25" Which i translate to a few 14-18" and one was 21" so what they hell i l just call it 25 n the report

[fishinmission78]

^^^^ Def agree with that. Most of the fish I have caught in the passed week are 12-20".

[fishinmission78]

Had an hour to fish above the park today around sunrise. Out on the bar, right around sunrise, fish were a short cast away, ava with green tail. Picked up a few shorts, had to leave for work. Maybe some sandeels starting to show up or they are feeding on the mole crabs. Saw a few others, nothing of size. Rat city.

[hookset]

Nice going guys. Seems like a bunch of schoolies are showing up in ocean county. Good news about the sandeels. The dredging might screw that up though, fingers crossed it doesn't. I got out twice on the weekend. Once in morning, other time for sunset. Seemed like more guys out at the end of day. The one morning I was out I only saw two other fishermen in a mile stretch. Managed a few small schoolies, rubber shads. Like sharkhart and fishingmission said very small fish.

[lostatsea]

Well at least the small fish are something! It's going to be a cold winter we should be grateful there is something to catch, no? I tried my luck in monmouth county yesterday. Heard of some fish caught, all small stripers. Nothing for me. What happened to the big blues?

[plugcrazy]

Heard about a lot of bunker so went down after work to oc. Casted like a madman for an hour, it was cold. The ocean wasn't that bad though. Got the skunk, waiting for more stripes to show up.

[jigfreak]

Yeah saw that too. The bunker were too far out. Drag a small bomber, metal, or sp over the bar at low tide. You will get lots of runts. Nothing of size in last week. at least not for me anyway. Twilight is a good time to be there, keep trying.

[surferman]

If anyone has a boat and near CM they have been doing pretty well in the rips. fyi

[hookset]

Tks, in moco and occo it is the march of the death rats.

[buckethead]

Death rats or death mice. Some of these fish are tiny, only in the 1st-2nd year class. Evidence of the good 2016 spawn. The problem is there are not a lot of other sizes in between those 1-5 year old fish and the 30 pound fish. fished in moco in the East wind Tues afternoon till dusk. Picked up a few very short ones on bucktail and small grub.

[porgy75]

Glad to see you got some stripers bucket head. I was in monmouth county at sundown and was tossing a shad. Got one bump, nothing else. Maybe it was a very small striper or hickory shad who couldn't get its small mouth open that big!

[VSdreams]

Fished the incoming tide in oc because I had an earlier meeting in lakewood. one stripe 23" on an ava. Some birds working but waaaaay far out.

[fishrich]

Three of us fished MoCo this afternoon. Was a slow pick of the small stripers most of the afternoon. Just before it got dark we had a good bite for the next 45 minutes. All fish caught on plugs. Mambo minnows and mega bites.

[cowherder]

Nice going guys. Saw a lot of rainfish in close my last few trips. Way to match the hatch.