nj fishing reports march - april 2018

[surferman]

Nice! Fishing the big D. Stopped this week because of the rains and high water. The striped bass bite has to turn back on though. Lots of shad being caught.

[fishinmission78]

Got into a couple shorts last night in the front. Close to ibsp. Fished 2 hours before sunset. Downsized it bc of the small bait and fish. I was fishing a 7' rod, light to medium action. Tossing 1oz ava jigs with red tube teaser. Quite a few landed, quick release. One double header as well. The small schoolies are there fellas and moving in and out of the surf.

[buckethead]

Same for me yesterday. I decided to try the afternoons for awhile. Was on the water from 6-7:30pm. About an hour before sun went down there was a fairly good flurry of activity. All smaller fish. Mine usually hit a white curly tail grub on a 1/2 oz jig. Yesterday I was throwing 1 oz because of the wind.

[buckethead]

Apparently lightning rarely strikes twice for my walks on the beach. Went out yesterday afternoon from 7-8pm after the rain. Only one hit and short landed. May try again today.

[seamonkey]

FW report, been fishing the delaware for shad above the CBB from shore. Using shad darts. Its been hit and miss. The last few times I did ok. Got a bunch earlier today even thought the water was a little dirty. The boat guys are slaying them, lined up across the river for the weekend shad tourney. If you want to catch shad now is the time. Also a few short stripers, not many though. All about the shad for the next few weeks. Good luck guys.

[captnemo]

Heads up a lot of larger stripers have left the bay and swimming up the hudson already. Hope you don't mind a boat report. Was out twice in the last 2 weeks on a friend's boat. Mine not in the water yet. We found a lot of life under the bunker schools early in the morning. Often the good action was done by 7am when other boats started showing up. Fish to 27lbs, on shads and swimming plugs. Kept a few, loaded with sea lice. The trollers are still getting them. That's a tactic used when the fish are not that concentrated. Good luck out there guys.

[clamchucker]

I drove to the ocean this morning to see how bad things were with this weather system. The winds are at least 20mph out of the SE, pretty strong. The water didn't look that bad. Give it a tide or 2 and it should be very fishable.

[hookset]

Sorry for the late reports. Been trekking to moco out back. The popular spots that everyone is hooting about. Newsflash you cant just go there and catch fish the tides and winds are important too. Got a few to 22lbs, released 95% of them. 2 weeks ago it was great. Last week it has been tough, more spotty, caught a few skunks as well. Most on big swimmers, metal lips and darters.

[jigfreak]

Nice!

[ledhead36]

Fished 4 hrs last nite incoming tide. Fresh bunker. Only one keeper bass 29 incher. Good/ bad news is blues are here. Got some 28 - 34 inchers on our bait rigs.

[cowherder]

alright great to hear it!!!!!!!

[storminsteve]

alright great to hear it!!!!!!!

Love this clip!

[storminsteve]

Fished moco last night, seemed a little slow to me. 7 to 9. outgoing tide, waded out, the whole shebang, only one short on a bone SP. A few other bumps. Not much going on where I was, the other guys the same. Too lazy to move around. Will try more places next time. So glad to hear about the blues, thanks for the intel. Good times ahead.

[buckethead]

Went against my better judgement and decided to fish the sunrise at the beach today. Not the best choice. no one home. May try this or tomorrow at end of day when I have been doing better. Noticed some little bait around past the breakers, possibly rainfish.

[ledhead36]

Good looking out for the rainfish bh. Starting to see birds in the channels in the bay diving on small bait. I know it's small because you can't see what it is when they come out of the water. Definitely not herring or anything bigger. Think bucket was right, Prob rainfish.

[ledhead36]

Sat night not so great for us. Sun night much better, the blues disappeared for a night and it was pure stripers. Got them on bunker heads and also chunks. Stripers to 19lbs. All fresh with sea lice. Only kept limit released the rest.

[baitstealer]

Wow 19 pounds nice! Great dedication!

[baitstealer]

I fished 2 times this weekend in the back of mon county. Got short stripers each time. The first time it was windy and only got one 19 incher before I gave in to the wind. The 2nd time on sunday night it was a little better. Got 3, longest was 26 inches. Like you guys said I saw sea lice on them. Missed a couple of hits too. Thank you for the tips and info.

[hookset]

Mixed results this weekend as well. Sat in the rain started out good, casting big wood. One nice striper 40". releasedThen it died. Went back Sunday and did better, lots of smaller fish but nothing as big as saturday. Big wood and gliders.

[ledhead36]

Wow 19 pounds nice! Great dedication!

Thanks dude. It's not all fun and games. We are getting ready to go out now. Fishing in the rain. Sometimes it's tough. Gotta go when the fish are there. Good luck and try to fish the end of day if you can manage it.