NJ Fishing Reports for the week of 7/29 to 8/3/08

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

NJ WIR 7-29-08

Folks, we are still continuing with the lazy hazy days of summer. It's hot and humid, punctuated by some severe thunderstorms and fantastic lightning displays.

Fishing has slowed down, and less people are fishing as a result. You can still pick through short fluke, and more keepers are being reported, but it's still a pick. Although the bluefish are done spawning, they have not turned on to the degree they had by this time last year, either for the surfcaster or the nearshore boaters.

I had wrongly predicted that they would have by now, based on notes in my log. We can't always be right, and conditions change from year to year. :embarassed:

There is an interesting trend to the water temperatures this year. The water from the Shark River area to the North has heated up, while the water to the South, particularly South of Absecon Inlet, is slightly colder at times. The South wind has helped to keep temperatures down, and sometimes this puts the fluke bite off. Nonetheless, some dedicated and experienced captains are still pulling in some nice fluke, one or 2 at a time.

Offshore, tuna are still a good bet, but the action there is spotty. One day is a bonanza, while another is a bust. Bigger tuna in the 250 lb class are finally being caught. The end of August and beginning of September should continue to bring in hotter tuna action. I remember the days when giant 500 lbers were caught in the Mud Hole, and look forward to hearing reports of at least a few larger ones each year.

Weakfish are still being caught in the back bays, but the action is spotty. Croakers are also continuing to put on a good show in our surf, with the hotter winds and water bringing in a few more tropical fish to the jetties.

On the plus side, the bait - peanuts, snappers, spearing is getting bigger, which should draw hungry predators into feed. Speaking of predators, there are a lot of sharks around, including a small great white caught off Monmouth County last week.

And -- There is encouraging news about small schoolies, which have been conspicuously absent from the MoCo and OcCo surf areas. A sprinkling are beng caught here and there at night, and in low-light.

NY WIR 7-29-08

NY is also in a slower summer fishing pattern, with much the same as I described above. The main body of bass has moved beyond NY. They are now catching them in New Hampshire and Maine, and the action in those areas should only get better.

Meanwhile there are some smaller bass around if you are out in the dark, and can find large schools of bait with few other people coming in to spook them. Many of the NY bay areas have been plagued with weeds during certain tides. This can be irritating, and aggravating because of the randomness.

Note for fishermen in all states:
Due in part to the hurricane season, and some of our summer weather patterns, we have had a greater degree of rip currents near area beaches, and quite a few people have lost their lives. This is common for his time of year, but seems more tragic than usual.

If you know anyone who is a new swimmer, or are near anyone like this, it's important not to show panic. Exercise care to stay away from areas with rip currents, just as you should try to stay inside during severe thunderstorms. Several people have been struck by lightning.

Please folks, be careful. If you know someone who is not sophisticated or savvy about the water, please try to educate them as to the dangers, if possible.

North jetty this morning sunrise bite, 4 short fluke using small snappers. Brought my tog rod, got one decent keeper using sandfleas.

somoco, throwing white shad and yellow teaser, 6 herring on the teaser, one giant robin on the shad.

Moco rocks last nite, 3 small bass to 26" yellow mambo minno and chickenscratch bomber, small bait in wash maybe spearing

More herring this morning on teaser, same place. Had small bucktail, gulp shrimp on bottom this time, got one flule 20", and 8 shorts.

tried for some weakfish and bluefish last night rb, skunkola, but peanuts were thick, only a matter of time before they get chopped up.

Fished the north jetty again early today. One legal tog, they were jumping against the rocks near sunrise. Maybe crashing small bait. 5 short fluke using chartreuse bucktail.