NJ Fishing Reports for July 2014.....www.StripersAndAnglers.com

[DarkSkies]

NJ Fishing Reports for July 2014.....www.StripersAndAnglers.com

**Important when registering on our site -- use an active email address so you can activate your account to be able to post.

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

** Since Sandy and the rebuilding/Beach replenishment, a substantial amount of Fishing Access has been lost. The ones who want to fish, are now crowded into less places, particularly the popular ones.
Please use common sense, when describing where you were fishing.

1. 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.

2. For some areas, it would be wiser to say:
Out Front (Ocean) OR -- Out Back (Bay) -- if you feel too many people will figure out what you are talking about. 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

3. 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 there today?
If the answer is "Yes", then you should probably not be so specific.
More discussion on this:
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ead.php?t=3763



**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.












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
CMC - Cape May County


RB - Raritan Bay
BB - Barnegat Bay
CB - Chesapeake Bay
DB - Delaware Bay

Mecca.....Montauk

[robmedina]

wow you are way ahead of schedule.

[DarkSkies]

Recap......(May)
D. "Spearing and rainfish have not shown up in many NNJ areas until recently....".
More about the forage here
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...shing-patterns

^Since I wrote that, things have changed a bit....there is now more small forage inshore.....
(It's still a lot less than we see seasonally at this time, as Finchaser has pointed out)

Recap...June...
Since that time.....
Friends fishing near Cape May have reported spearing, rainfish, and bunker...in the back bay and some other areas....and we now have greater varieties of forage fish in the bays, rivers, estuaries, and surf, coastwide.....
I know I've been pretty negative about the striped bass stocks lately.....because more folks I know Coastwide, are now echoing the same concerns..
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...of-the-fishery

July and August used to be months that I could at least catch a few legal bass without leaving NJ...and from land...not necessary to be in a kayak or boat.......I'm not optimistic I will find them like that this year.....

Beach bunker blitzes 2014.....some of our members here have landed fish in the surf to 44#,,,but those have been very small windows, predicated by optimal wind patterns and high bunker concentrations...even the dynamics of those blitzes have changed....I'll talk about that in another thread when I get a chance...post some of the pics as well........



















**So I'd like to move on, to what is positive out there....and for those summer months...
that will probably be the bluefish (once they are done spawning). the fluke as more of them move into the bays, which now have viable forage streams...sharks...and a healthy number of porgies, croaker, and kingfish which are now being caught off the most strategic piers, deep water bulkheads, and rocky areas. (Hint - if you're not finding them, look for signs of small bait, crabs and shrimp, they'll feed on....and change up your bait presentation to pieces of sandworms or real shrimp if you can find them cheap enough...all you need is little pieces....Some folks I know have been catching croakers in bays and harbor areas for over 2 weeks now)

My nightly fishing (and scouting) trips started to tell a tale of a lot of juvenile baitfish and a lot of very tiny grass shrimp....starting to gather up in the back bays....
Most of these fish that I'm running across now, are no more than 1/8 to 1/4 " long....only able to see at night by shining lights on them at close distance.....

Another friend and I were talking about all the bunker we have had along our Coast this Spring.....
and we think/hope there might be a tremendous amount of peanut bunker in our bays this fall....helping to attract predators....
There are already some good reports of small peanut bunker schools in the Barnegat Bay area.....
So we are cautiously optimistic about a decent fall....

In any event, things can't get much worse, for the inshore and surf fishermen, than they are now.....IMO...
And any active areas of replenishment are already affecting the fish in a negative way.....

Others I know will be making treks north to the known summer hotspots, to search for those bigger bass at night....but we have to realize the grass is not always greener on the other side....many fishermen I know in states N of us are having poor seasons when they should already be catching fish......the sad truth that some newer anglers don't understand is ....
that the fish are just not there, in numbers that they used to be....

All right, trying to keep it positive here.....so Good luck to all.....

[seamonkey]

Fished cape may before work today. Incoming tide, got 2 croakers on fishbites. they were right beyond the surf break.

[hookset]

Thanks for the croaker intel guys, Mignt take some of my little cousins out for croaker and crabs in the back. Big weekend coming up together with a tropical storm. Even if you wanted to fish all the beaches wll be packed to the street with touristas. I hate jersey summer fishing. Anyone else hate it?

[cowherder]

I hate summer fishing too. not really the fishing but the tourists and the traffic. Fishermen definitely rotate to the bottom of the priority for the summer towns. All about the dollars the vacationers are spending.

[finchaser]

Fished this morning 5 to 7 AM released 2 bass to 27' and 3 blues in the 3 to 5 pound range all on bucktail and chartreuse gotcha tail

[hookedonbass]

Fished some rocks in moco today. 5 short fluke and one bluefish on the incoming tide. Gulp bucktail and chartreuse teaser. Most hit the teaser. Tropical storm arthur is def coming. You could def see a difference in the wave patterns. Forgot what its called but saw threads on it here.

[finchaser]

It's now a hurricane

Released 2 bass to 23" this am both on SP minnow

[buckethead]

Still catching bass finchaser seems you are pretty consistent at it. Way to go.

[cowherder]

hookedonbass I found something about swells maybe this is what you were talking about
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...nd-other-terms
finchaser and hooked nice going on the catches!

[fishinmission78]

Too hot and I haven't felt like posting so I'll combine a few trips. Been at the park at night, some up and down sharking results. There has been some weed with the s winds so that is a PIA. Also the sw is not that breat because it brings the bugs out in droves. Went to take a leak last week with a very light sw and the bugs were all over. One of those no see ums even bit me on my pecker. Nasty creatures I hate them. If you could figure out a way to kill them all you would be a billionaire just from the sales at B&N and Grumpys. The sharking is one and off. Bunker chunks and heads. Mostly sand sharks aka dogfish up to 5' long. Did get one brown but he was not pic worthy only 3' long. They are here if you want them. With the bugsand the weeds not a lot of guys are fishing and the water temps have dropped with all the se winds. Might give it a try tonight if the winds aren't too bad I sometimes do ok before a storm. Good luck out there gents and happy 4th of july.

[cowherder]

Nice going on the sharks fishenmission and the bass and blues finchaser! Guess you don't have to go down to lbi to get them. I think they prefer warm water hopefully this cold water gets a few degrees warmer and I may start trying for them.

I fished nomoco this morning. From 6-9. The tide was coming in and I got 3 short fluke in quick succession on the gulp and gulp teaser rig. Then the wind started up and it stayed steady. Nothing for the last 2 hours all fish in the first half. Took a ride when I was done all the way down to Point pleasant to see what was out there. They have really started to bury the jetty area. Most everything is covered except for Deal and Allenhurst. Very sad. Also very rainy. Not too many on the beach at all just joggers on the boards. Got home and we have no rain here. Guess the beach folks suffer the most with these noreasters or storms. Hope every body has a great 4th!

[finchaser]

Water down to 64 degrees from persistent south winds. Fished this morning released a bass missed one and got chopped. No you don't have to go to LBI as a matter of fact I haven't even fished the ocean this year.

Happy 4th to all

[J Barbosa]

Fished this morning off the kayaks - lots of rain, wind, seaweed, shorts...one keeper

[finchaser]

Nice going JB


Water in Manasquan inlet and ocean is 59 degrees just came back from boat ride in my friends boat and gave the inlet a quick drift completely void of life didn't even mark bait.

Beaches are opened to surfers only the 8 to 9 foots seas are and honest 3 to 5 if that they are sitting on boards waiting for a decent wave.

[cowherder]

Water in Manasquan inlet and ocean is 59 degrees just came back from boat ride in my friends boat and gave the inlet a quick drift completely void of life didn't even mark bait.

.

So where do you thiink the bait goes when the water is colder? Does it move out deeper or back into the bays and rivers. Thanks
Fished moco this morning. Pretty good for fluke. Fished 6-9:30 am . Got 9 fluke on chartreuse mullet and teaser. One bluefish and sea robin. One keeper at exactly 18". Nice morning out there and wind at your back but water not that bad. JB that is a nice fluke.

[seamonkey]

Thats not bad 8 shorts to one keeper nice going.

[finchaser]

So where do you thiink the bait goes when the water is colder? Does it move out deeper or back into the bays and rivers. Thanks

Bay and river where it was warmer to start and the shallows as it warms up faster. the deep I water bottom is colder. The south winds cause swells which cause up dwelling a condition which sends the cold bottom water of the deep to the surface where it mixes with the warmer water chilling it down

[cowherder]

Thanks seamonkey. I can't seem to figure it out the other day I got 3 shorts and that was it. Maybe when the bait is running through they come in thicker. Could also have something to do with the boat traffic? I dunno I just like catching something.