NJ Fishing Reports for the Week of 6-16 to 6-22-08

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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
CISP - Corson's Inlet State Park
CMC - Cape May County
CMR - Cape May Rips


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

Week in Review 6-16-08

New Jersey

This has been another spectacular week for surfcasters in NJ, folks. The caveat to that is: "Right place, right time".

Some people are catching more and bigger fish than they ever dreamed possible, because they are right in the middle of the bunker blitzes. Others will be as close as a 1/2 mile away, and catch nothing, despite the same or greater efforts to land one of these huge striped bass, which are scooping up the bunker like vacuum cleaners.

This brings me to my theory that there are less bass. I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but am just asking that people consider this as a possibility, and educate yourselves. Comments are always welcome.

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...read.php?t=760

In any event, I am continuing to urge people to get out there and fish!

This may be the last week the large bass feed on the bunker.

As the schools move through and the ocean temps shoot up, the fish will gradually move our of our area, or may be gone overnight. You never know with this type of fishing.

If you are lucky enough to find this kind of fishing, please be very considerate of the homeowners who live there on those streets. This access can be lost very easily, and once lost, will not be re-gained.

And although it is everyone's right to keep 2 bass over 28", if you have enough to feed your family please consider letting some of these bass go, as many of the bigger ones are over 20 years old.
:thumbsup:

Catch 'em up!! -- bunkerjoe

New York Week in Review

Folks, the back bays have warmed up to provide some fine fishing. The best bass fishing is still at night or low-light times, but bass are being caught at other times now in areas of fast-moving water.

Bluefish are blitzing. There are still large bunker filtering in the back bays, and a tremendous amount of small bait, particularly spearing, in places. The shad are still migrating in the inlet areas, and will provide some fine light tackle fun if you want to take your kids fishing.

Bunker and clams are being used to catch bass, sea robins, bluefish, skates, etc. But plugging with wood, plastic, and rubber baits is now equally as effective at times.

The back bays will eventually heat up, pushing the bulk of the bigger fish into the oceans, but places like the Sound, and some of the bigger bays, should have them for a good part of the summer. Good luck out there!

Fished on Tuesday afternoon NoMoCo in the mddile of the chaos. Not even a hit. Friend had one on a popper but got tangled up and lost it.:embarassed:

I was there, brought the skunk with me. A friend from Brooklyn called, was working in NJ for the day, wanted some intel. He only had his pole, nothing else. He went to a tackle shop, bought some snag hooks, and went to the rocks. He started earlier than me, and by the time we met up later, he showed me the best catch of his life, 35 lbs snag & drop. :clapping:

Thing was so big almost didn't fit in his cooler. Congrats to Outlaw Rick for bringin it in, Brooklyn style!:clapping::thumbsup:

Later on after the hordes had left, I found a beach with about 40 surfcasters, blind casting. Some bass were being caught, total 3 in an hour period, blind casting 15-20lbs. Brought back memories, some people have forgotten what blind casting is.;)

I jumped on board, and managed to pull the only big bluefish caught in MoCo that day. In case anyone wants to learn how to catch only bluefish when the bass are around, I will be giving lessons over the weekend.http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ons/icon10.gif


Yesterday was truly one of the epic days that will be remembered for a long time. More on that when I get some time to post.

Well. I missed the fun you guys are having up north. Took the day off and fished IBSP, thought there would be a blitz. But everytime the bunker would start to boil with bass under, the boaters would come up right to the wash and put them down. Eff those damn boaters, whatever happened to courtesy! :burn:

Fishing marathon - Wed 5:30pm - 2:30am

Fished Moco toward the southern end first. Got some reports of guys catching fish. They did, but the bite was short-lived, no more than 1/2 hour at each location, bite died before I got there.

Decided to move south, and found a beach with a pod of bunker isolated against a jetty pocket. Bass were moving through, and one family was fishing for them. They had 3 fish 15lb class on the beach, snag n drop. Pod broke up by the time I got out there. I still could see scatterred bunker darting in the surf, water was very clear, and bass were shooting in the surf from deeper water for some quick meals.

Cast a chartreuse pencil from a great spot where water washed over both sides of the structure, incoming tide. Took about 10 waves over my head, and 100 casts, before I hooked up with a decent bass. Had it on for 2 secs, a tail slap, twist, and it was gone.:(

With my binocs I spied some action about 1 mile further south. Hiked down there, but saw many boats streaming towards there as well. By the time I got there, bite was over, another short-lived 1/2 hr bite. Guys caught about 5 fish at that location, fish mid teens.

Storms were coming in, grabbed some food, and made my way north to SH. Met up with a buddy, and we fished the hell out of that place for a few hours, bottom half of outgoing. We checked out this new spot, but could not fish it fully because of the extreme high moon tide. Then went to the old reliable spots, where we used everything we had, from plugs to bucktails. Not even one tap, or one bluefish.

Other than the great 2 hour session I had 2 weeks ago where I had bass non stop in the rain for 2 hours, and was the only one there, SH has been an extreme disappointment to me this year.

I have fished that place for years, and could always pull a bass or 2 from certain locations at night. But my friend and I fished like maniacs, not even one tap.:burn:

When bunker start to move around in those areas, it will turn on again. In the meantime, last night was the 11th time I have been there with no action. Really sucks. Hope today is better, west winds may put a bite on again, I hope.

On Wednesday afternoon fished NoMoCo no action on the beach. Late afternoon fished SoMoCo. There were short spurts of striper action along the beach, but always seemed to arrive just when the bunker moved out.:huh:

Don't feel so bad, yardville. I'm an older guy and cannot stomach the insanity that goes on in those blitzes. One of these days, someone is going to get seriously hurt. Hopping on the rocks with no shoes on, no Korkers, and casting over some guy's head. What happens if the bail clicks back mid-cast? You have just hooked the neck of a fellow fisherman. Ouch! I have been catching a few bass, but nothing like the 50 lbers some guys are getting. For that, you have to be in the middle of the action. No thanks.

somoco early before first light till 6. 3 bass on dannys and someother swimmers. kept 2 at 28", put back one around 34".

Island beach from first light for a few hours today. Bunker came in, snagged some, but no fish. Everytime you went to set up casting to a pod, it seems the boats came in between the bunker and the beach. Selfish ********. Maybe next time I should bring some 6 oz sinkers.:burn:

Took my nephew to Keansburg pier today for a relaxing day fishing. 2 fluke 20", lots of throwbacks, and the blues started hitting metals in late afternoon. He had a great time, and we didn't have to walk for miles on a crowded beach.

Thur pm late report

Scouted many areas from somoco to SH yesterday afternoon for bunker. Unfortunately by the time I got out there, the south wind turned the bite of and made it difficult to see any bunker. the surf bite really seemed to be off.

Later on, went on a charter boat trip out of Atlantic Highlands, Bingo, boat run by Capt Jack, took 24 of us out chunking for bass. Pics to follow as soon as I get them uploaded.

We made about 8 stops at different places with no success. He burned a lot of fuel. At times, we were closer to NY, fishing Ambrose, strong full moon current. Ended up near SH, shallower water, where we slowly started to catch bass as the tide ebbed.

2 kids on the boat caught 2 of the nicest fish, which were somewhere around 10 - 15 lbs, so that was cool. :thumbsup:Other fish were smaller. Total catch for 24 guys 7bass, a pretty poor catch, but the capn and mates tried their best.

We ended up catching all the bass on sandworms, they wouldn't touch the bunker. Don't know if any other people are catching bass in boats at night, but it doesn't seem like it has turned on yet like it has in the daytime.

Anyway, good times, and met a few new friends, good people.:thumbsup:

moco first light to sunrise. Good looking water, but no fish.:skunk: Wait for more bunker.:drool:

IBSP 2 hours early morning. Very slow, skates and dogs, bunker too far out.

SH sunrise to 8am, skates and red birds (robins)

Fished near the naval pier and SH today, landed 3 keeper fluke between 2 of us, about 35 shorts. Last year, we would have been very happy, this year it's too much like work. We're careful with the ones we throw back, but I imagine the mortality rate is still high.

IBSP first light this morning, was like the dead sea out there, couldn't even raise a bluefish. Full moon? :skunk: