NJ Fishing Reports for the week of 9-7 to 9-14-08

[bunkerjoe4]

Please post fishing reports here.......as little or as much detail as you want to give.

Please note: NO SPOT BURNING! Posts burning spots will be Edited or DELETED!
Some veteran fishermen have put in years developing and learning about certain spots.Some of these spots can only handle a few guys at a time. We are losing enough access as it is, due to the unfortunate behavior of a few selfish people. No sense in making it worse.

For some areas, it would be wiser to say:
OutFront (Ocean) OR -- OutBack (Bay) -- if you feel too many people will figure out what you are talking about. "Spot burning" also could involve mentioning something specific only to that area. If you do this, your post may be edited, or deleted. Remember that thousands of people could potentially read these posts. You don't want to be fishing next to ALL of them at the same time!

IF you are fishing an area that is NOT residential, being vague is less critical. For example, it's acceptable to say (Any)Park, or (Any)Bay, or mention a specific state park that has loads of parking and can handle the crowds.


If you are unclear on this concept, ask yourself:


If I name this place on the internet, will it be too crowded for me to enjoy tomorrow when people hear I got 30 fish here today?


If the answer is "Yes", then you should probably not be so specific.


We post these reports so our community will have a sense of what is working, what is not. We want to show people how to catch fish, rather than where.Even if you struck out or got skunked, it would be helpful to hear that as well.

If you have any additional details you would like to share - weather conditions, tide (incoming, outgoing, ebb, flood) water temps, bait present, or other mention of techniques or plugs used - feel free, as long as you are not overly specific about location.

Some acronyms -

SH - Sandy Hook
NoMoCo - Northern Monmouth County (below the hook to Shark River Inlet SRI)
SoMoCo - Southern Monmouth County (below SRI to Manasquan Inlet)

OC - Ocean County
IBSP - Island Beach State Park
LBI - Long Beach Island

AC - Atlantic County
AI - Absecon Inlet
CISP - Corson's Inlet State Park
CMC - Cape May County
CMR - Cape May Rips
GEI - Great Egg Inlet
TI - Townsend's Inlet

RB - Raritan Bay
BB - Barnegat Bay
CB - Chesapeake Bay
CBBT - Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel
DB - Delaware Bay

[bunkerjoe4]

NJ WIR 9-8-08

The first week of the NJ fall striper run has been spotty, but schoolie sized fish are being caught, along with some decent keepers, at night in rough water and moving current.

Fluke fishing is legally shut down, but anglers will still find themselves pulling up a fluke or so when bottom fishing. Remember to be diligent about putting these back. Now is the time when F&G officers tend to make appearances.

The bluefish bite is still spotty, but there are loads of snapper blues around for the kids to catch.

The weakfish bite in the Raritan Bay has been very disappointing this year. At this point, it's probably safe to say we will not have much of a fall fishery, though some of our members have privately reported weakfish catches here and there in the past week.

As of this posting, the false albacore run has not yet begun. The first reports you may hear of these fish could be anyone's guess, but it's a good bet to start looking for them to show up in the Sandy Hook and Breezy point areas. When they do start feeding, they could be anywhere within 15 miles of those locations. It all depends on the presence and quantity of small bait.

The most positive news I can report is that the mullet run has begun, and mullet are pouring out of the bays and inlets for their southern migration.

Look for the action to heat up as more of these fish stage in the front surf.

NY WIR

NY has some of the same conditions as NJ, except the LI Sound is so full of bait it's ready to explode. Guys who put in their time have been connecting with some nice bass, and of course bluefish. The blitzes have already started in the LI surf and back bay areas. Locations change from one day to the next.

The most promising news was the early fall day action at Montauk in the past week, which sometimes doesn't start till October. This could be the harbinger of an amazing fall run for the LI surfcasters. Time will tell.


Offshore reports have been a little less productive in the last week. Some more fish were caught by anglers concentrating in the southern canyons. The Hudson canyon is finally starting to turn on as well.

Some interesting news is that there is a decent yellowfin bite off of the Florida coast as those fish make their fall migration southward.

Many of the captains are again reporting more bait and sealife in the offshore areas than they have seen in years, and theoretically they should be doing very well due to this smorgasbord of food.

But they are not, and it can be frustrating sometimes. Again, good electronics, and following the temperature breaks recommmended by the charting services can mean all the difference in the world.

Good luck out there this week. folks.

We still have some tropical storms coming down the pike, so please be careful if fishing the surf out front. Think of the lives who will depend on you if something bad happens. Good luck, and tight lines! - bunkerjoe

[clamchucker]

somoco rock piles sunrise, one very small bass 22" on a white shad. Great deal of bait around, but it looked more fishy than it was.

[wish4fish]

stripahs be hungry (but small, lol):D 6 bass tonight sh on incoming, black bomber, only one 26", rest 20-24.

[fishinmission78]

ibsp jetty last night before dark. Mullet were there, decent pick of small bluefish up to 5 lbs. I threw metal, some guys using mullet, most guys hooking up, slow but steady.

[DarkSkies]

SH last nite, late shift. A friend was out there between 11-3am, he got 5 bass up to 27" on a swimmer. He called me and said it died as it reached flood.

Knowing this, I decided to fish another spot at the beginning of the ebb 4-6am. When I got there, the S wind was kicking up waves in an area that is normally calm. Decided to use a large rattletrap, got a small bass on the 5th cast. Bite shut down after that, not even a tap.

The clouds above me started to rumble and gather together. No rain forecast, but I felt what seemed like static electricity in the air. Decided that was a good signal to leave. :scared:

I then went and fished a spot further inside until 6am using fresh peanuts. Only small snappers nippping away, nothing of any size. I was so positive that the second place I went to would produce, seen guys pull nice fish out of there before, but sometimes it just doesn't come together. :don't know why:

Hey, thats fishin. Tomorrow's another day.

[voyager35]

Out yesterday 5-8pm, some big bluefish off the tip of the hook and by the Navy pier up to 13lbs. We started out chunking bunker for bass, but those plans were quickly shredded. Pulled 3 small bass in up to 27", about 32 big blues.

[clamchucker]

Occo this morning around high tide, a few miles n of IBSP. There were nervous mullet in the surf, and bluefish came in for a while to feed. No bass, but decent blue action on poppers for about 45 minutes.

[wish4fish]

last night inside rb outgoing. big frikken bluefish, glad i had some beater plugs for 'em.:scared:

[fishinmission78]

Clamchucker, the mullet must be moving around. I was at IBSP at sunrise, not much bait, water a little dirty. Managed some bluefish, but it was quick, blink and you missed it.

[wish4fish]

rb last night, some fishy water, bait but no fish, like someone turned the switch off.

[LennyD]

rb last night, some fishy water, bait but no fish, like someone turned the switch off.

Yap, the same thing happened in SH.

[clamchucker]

A quick flurry of bluefish activity between 5-5:45 pm, few beaches s of the hook.

[DarkSkies]

RB with a friend last night. When I got there, he said the bite had died, so we checked out some other spots. Found small bait, fished hard, topwater, swimmers, and soft plastics. Concerntrated on some promising structure, couldn't get a tap.

Then we went back to where he originally was. Place was quiet as a church, everyone had gone home. But we wanted fish, so we started wading and casting, switching presentations every 10 casts.

Finally had success with Mann's megabait 4" swimmer, gold and silver. That might have been because there were mullet where we were, and also tons of very tiny bait. Got some nice angry bluefish 7-9lbs.


That plug has a rattle in it, so we guessed the fish were keying in on the noise. Started throwing magdarters and Tsunami talkin poppers. Got some hits and misses on those. I nailed a fat bass just shy of keeper size on the Tsunami.

Since it was the beginning of incoming, we had to wade pretty far out. maybe 1/2 mile. Soon after that, tide was rising, we figured we better get back to shore, and calledit a night. Was nice to finally have some fish that pulled a little drag. Don't mind bass, but getting a little bored with the small ones, would rather have an angry bluefish.

I'll take whatever I can get, I just might be a little addicted to that action. ;)

[DarkSkies]

LennyD, check your e-mail, you got your pms turned off, give me a shout as soon as you can.

[DarkSkies]

lenny, sent you aresponse, let me know if you didn't get it.(dude you need more posts, e-mails are a PITA,pms are easier, think you get pm with 25 posts.)

Easy way to get pm:

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=692&highlight=pm+priveleges

[LennyD]

lenny, sent you aresponse, let me know if you didn't get it.(dude you need more posts, e-mails are a PITA,pms are easier, think you get pm with 25 posts.)

Easy way to get pm:

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=692&highlight=pm+priveleges

Thanx man!

[fishinmission78]

Got blanked at IBSP tonight. :skunk: Very few mullet, not even one bluefish, ***.

[cowherder]

woo hoo! Slept all day, put in a marathon fishing RB in the rain last night. 27 bluefish, biggest 10lbs, 5 nice bass, biggest around 34", all released. Poppers and black magdarters.

thank you Dark and all the people here who gave me advice and helped me figure better technique. Wow, it's like the best buzz to catch all those fish and let them go.:wheeeee:

[voyager35]

Chunked for bluefish today, Shrewsbury rocks and the tip of the hook. Some big bluefish are out there, we got a few close to 15lbs.

[LennyD]

Last night MOCO, incoming and outgoing ... NADA:skunk:

[surferman]

Two Blues MOCO , also lost 2.

[DarkSkies]

Fished RB with a few sitemembers last night. It was promising before we got there, bass and big blues caught. Then the bite just died on the 2nd half of the outgoing. Some people left, and the rest were pluggin hard with no results.

I decided to make a move to deeper water. The tsunami popper that was great the other night was useless last night, so I went to the Manns megabait, silver and gold. Fought and lost a decent bluefish 10-12lb class on that one. Got 2 more bluefish in the next half hour, one on the manns, other on black magdarter. By the time we finished, we were about 3/4 mile out into the water.

Some other guys were pluggin hard, no results, so we invited them to move a little, and one guy got 3 bluefish.

Last night was one of those nights. Normally bluefish are so aggressive they hit every few casts, but last night's fishin was tough. I met a guy in the morning who killed them in the rain Fri night, they were spread across a wide spectrum of water. His story had me drooling. I'm not too proud to say I enjoy the drag screamin runs of big bluefish.:drool:

They're here, but not every night, and at different times of the tide. The only way to luck into them is to go fishin.

Slept in my car to catch the morning bite. A friend came by and said there was a blitz, people were catching them as they slashed peanuts. When I saw the crowd, and that the fishing had slowed down, I went back to the other spot to fish the first hour of the outgoing in solitude, but no hits.

Like it's been said before, night time is the right time.

[DarkSkies]

woo hoo! Slept all day, put in a marathon fishing RB in the rain last night. 27 bluefish, biggest 10lbs, 5 nice bass, biggest around 34", all released. Poppers and black magdarters.

thank you Dark and all the people here who gave me advice and helped me figure better technique. Wow, it's like the best buzz to catch all those fish and let them go.:wheeeee:


Glad you got into em, man.:clapping: I ran into a guy this morning who had the same luck as you. I planned to go out, but something came up. I'm kicking myself for not being out there.:beatin:


Light rain, end of the season, bay filled with bait, outgoing tide, all ingredients for a great bite.