NJ Fishing Reports for September 2013.....wwwStripersAndAnglers.com

[hookset]

^^Heard rumors of some caught off li from some guys I work with but no real confirmations.
They haven't even been caught off Montauk yet. This may turn out to be a sucky year for the albies from the surf. I feel like a goog, thought for sure they would be around by now. sharkheart great report congrats.

[cowherder]

Hey albies would be nice but beggars can't be choosers. I would be happy with some monster blues.

[ledhead36]

Great to hear you are getting weakfish like that shark hart. They are in the raritan bay but not schooled up like that yet. I hit the bay for the last 2 hours of the incoming tide tonight. Some deeper water looking for weakfish or stripers. Was getting a lot of spot and some giant sized croakers bigger than 1 1/2 lbs. Decided to throw out half a big spot letting the blood circulate in the water. Good thing I had my rod close to me ended up with a 12lb bluefish I was lucky I had 60 lb test for a leader and he got it in the corner of his mouth with a circle. Nice night out there although the water was a little dirty.

[captnemo]

No reports or sightings anywhere of inshore/surf albies yet?

Not from the surf but they finally found some at Barnegat Ridge-


Capt. Dave De Gennaro reports bonito and liittle tunny are finally abundant on Barnegat Ridge, and he'll be running open trips for them on his Hi-Flier from Barnegat.

[cowherder]

Nice going ledhead I would love to catch one of those blues hope some more come around!

[hookedonbass]

wtg gents!

[robmedina]

Fished the back bays of LBI last night. We changed things up a little bit and targeted puppy drum. We caught black sea bass, those little oyster toads, spots, dogfish, eels, a weakfish a 18" striper and finally a puppy drum. My buddy Mike caught the drum. He said it fought harder than any striper he ever caught. It was about 23-24" long. He weighed it at home and the scale said 7lbs but that fish felt heavier. We were using shredder crab. We fished the last 2 hours of outgoing and first 2 hours of incoming- The weakfish and the drum bit on incoming. After I got all my rigs slimmed with eels I was done.

[DarkSkies]

Glad to hear some of ya's are out and working the water. If you know structure and bait patterns, there have been some fish in the back bays all summer but fishing has been spotty. IMO the high water temps were not enough to spur the more aggressive action some of us live for. That is beginning to change. Good fishing is right around the corner. Catch em up.

[clamchucker]

Yes dark skies the mullet should be starting to leave the bays very soon. Either this moon cycle or the full moon whch is 2 weeks from todays new moon.

[hookset]

Nice going on the puppy drum rob they are good eating when they are small. As for the mullet I hope they hold out until october. Any of the mullet I have seen are still small. My bud was trying to net some yesterday in the back and he said the biggest ones were 5" and he was netting about half as much as last year. They need a little more time to fatten up. Love those corn cobs thats when I start throwing big plugs at night.

[wish4fish]

ya the mullet are smaller this year didn see any corn cobs yet i dont kno if its sandy or whatever its crazy upside down world like ledhead said me and him been catching mad croakers and spot the best year in the last 5 so if they are so thick where all the mullet last year there was zillions of them and so many corncobs

[wish4fish]

hey rob wanted to ask u a question u get the puppy drum down in south jerz we never get the small ones but get the monsters in the spring do u have those small ones all summer or do they just come in for the fall? thanks dude

[buckethead]

Fished nomoco from 5:30-8pm incoming tide. It was a little breezy but the fish didn't mind. Picked up a bakers dozen small blues and some hickories as well. Small ava and teaser did the trick.

[robmedina]

hey rob wanted to ask u a question u get the puppy drum down in south jerz we never get the small ones but get the monsters in the spring do u have those small ones all summer or do they just come in for the fall? thanks dude

hey wish4fish I wish I was qualified to answer your question but this is my first year in the salt. from what I am told the puppy drum come around in august. not sure how long they stay.

[wish4fish]

dude tks for the answer and tite lines to u. ledhead an i fished the bay last nite and the bigger blue dogs starting to hit it started with croakers and spot and we chunked em for the magic hour before hi tide and they were eating the chunks we got tons o the croaks n spots and kept em. and got 5 blues to 10lbs we didnt want em gave to some mexican dudes that was near us.

[baitstealer]

Oh man that is great news haven't seen a 10lb bluefish since May! Thanks for the report.

[voyager35]

Heads up for the shore guys. The adult bunker have been coming into the bay at the end of day. Have seen them out there around the tip of the hook the last 2 trips while out there fluke fishing. It is possible the bigger bluefish you are seeing are chasing them.

[jigfreak]

Fished ocean county this morning before work, hoping for some albies. Was a beautiful sunrise. Managed some small bluefish on metal but the tunoids didn't show. This was the third time looking for them. A few weeks ago I really thought it would happen sooner than this but the water has been too cold and the bait in the surf is different from last year - too scattered. I am jonesing for an albie. Wondering if we may not see them in the surf this year.

Nice work on the bigger bluefish fellas I would be happy with them as well.

[porgy75]

jigfreak at least you got some fish congrats. I fished in somoco from 6-7:30. I think it was incoming tide. I used bombers, the sp, a bucktail and a diamond jig kept trying different things. Would have loved to catch a bluefish but I only got 2 sea robins on the metal. Good job with the big blues. I am hoping when the mullet start moving they will be there along the beach waiting for them and us to catch them.

[seamonkey]

Love reading the reports about bluefish in the northern part of the state. I feel we get shortchanged in Cape May county except for a few weeks in the spring and the fall run. Snappers are around here but no real bruisers. Catch em up and congrats!