NJ Fishing Reports for May 2015 - www.StripersAndAnglers.com

[DarkSkies]

Short and sweet......

1. Post your fishing reports here.....
2. Be as specific as ya want....but remember the limited access....If you don't enjoy fishing next to 40 friends at night in a 400 foot section of beach, think before ya post.....

3. Location -
Out front....
out back.....
or the county...

further details on the first page of any past S&A monthly fishing reports.

4. Moderation...
I rarely have time to moderate these threads.
If something needs to be addressed,and you are a contributing member.....please PM me or send an e-mail via the report post button.

** Thanks for your cooperation and for being such a great group!








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[DarkSkies]

Early Spring Recap
May is usually a great month for fishing for a lot of us.....some observations so far.....


1. For Northern NJ and the Raritan Bay bite....there was activity....but no consistent 2-4 weeks of activity of small to larger bass like there usually is...(the holdover bass that winter in the Arthur Kill and NY Harbor areas) before the Hudson bass showed up about 10 days ago.....

2. The bass that wintered over in the BBay seemed to spread out in April, and were available at a few early season locations....along with some drum and bluefish....

3. From the feedback I got from friends who were fishing on April 1...the fishing in the bays in the Southern Counties (Atlantic to Cape May) was a little better and more consistent....

4. As I have been explaining to the folks out there....the fish that showed up in Raritan Bay seemed to be very concentrated in certain areas....and feast or famine in others....
(this is a pattern that could indicate a shrinking biomass, explained in several threads here)

5. The fish that were supposed to spawn did not yet spawn in some of the usual places....Although the Delaware biomass and fishery is said to be strong...the fact that these fish....(with specific locations imprinted in their brains) did not spawn in certain areas....gives me great concern....

6. I'm also getting preliminary feedback that the 2015 Chesapeake spawning activity was not as great as anticipated...and was another very late spawn, relative to the other years.....




**It seems everything is off this year.....the cold Winter has been blamed....and that is likely true, to some extent....Spawning is very dependent on water temps...But is that the complete explanation?
I am not sure......

The above are not only my observations...but anecdotal reports from a few dozen veteran anglers that I regularly talk about some of this stuff with.....

Although I am not a scientist...I have been on this earth long enough to recognize patterns....or discern when they are changing.......

I will try to transfer some of these thoughts to the
StripersandAnglers yearly coastwide fish stock assessment, state of the fishery
thread...
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ock+assessment

when I get a chance....

















In the meantime, I have been urging some friends to get out there and fish hard...
The fish in the Raritan Bay could be leaving any day to move upriver as water temps rise....

Many areas up and down the Coast now have big blues to target....
Although some anglers curse them....I feel they are great fun...and a welcome target when the bass action slows down as we await the Southern migrators to come North.....
It seems that the 2015 early season larger blues are now available in more areas than they usually are....

In trying to keep the positivity here...
Make some time....
Get out there....
Try different things....
Take a kid fishing....
Or challenge yourselves to learn new places.....

And you just might have some fun.....
Good luck and health to all.....
And God Bless

[buckethead]

I walked and fished out front in moco today. Outgoing tide early morning. Picked up one small bass on a bucktail and rind. Rough surf and NE winds made it not that great. Even if that were not that windy the fish are not really there yet. Fished a few times in the past week, some small fish and misses. I would call it a slow pick at best.

[buckethead]

5. The fish that were supposed to spawn did not yet spawn in some of the usual places....Although the Delaware biomass and fishery is said to be strong...the fact that these fish....(with specific locations imprinted in their brains) did not spawn in certain areas....gives me great concern....

6. I'm also getting preliminary feedback that the 2015 Chesapeake spawning activity was not as great as anticipated...and was another very late spawn, relative to the other years.....




**It seems everything is off this year.....the cold Winter has been blamed....and that is likely true, to some extent....Spawning is very dependent on water temps...But is that the complete explanation?
I am not sure......


The fish in the Raritan Bay could be leaving any day to move upriver as water temps rise....

I agree 100% with your assessment. I think the Delaware fish are almost done spawning. We really needed some strong spawns this year. Only time will tell with the YOY survey next year. I don't think the numbers will be that good though.
As for the fish being on the move you are right there as well. May 4th is the full moon. If they do not move this weekend they should be moving around that time. Historical pattern.

[VSdreams]

buckethead you are a trouper! I went down to the ocean in moco before work today and didn't fish because it was so windy. I wanted to throw plugs but they would have got pushed back to the shore. I guess that makes sense to use bucktails. Thanks for the honest report always enjoy reading yours.

[plugcrazy]

We're already in May and the ocean temperature is only 48 degrees. brrrrrrrr!

[jigfreak]

Yeah but that don't stop the blues from feeding. Got into a mess of them this morning on the outgoing in occo. Nothing visible on the surface but they were there. Just drop an ava and tail into the water, crank a few times on the bottom, and you were hooked up. 2 hours of solid action before work. Lots of fun. Might have been spitting up squid or something blobby looking. My arms are tired. up to 10lbs all released.

[Blazin420]

Got out last night and found some big blues also..Picked up 3 for the first of 2015!..Lots of bunker around got 1 blue on a head then 2 others hit yozuri mag minnow...The 1 that hit the head was the biggest was every bit of 10-12lbs! others a little smaller 7-8lb range..Was hoping some bigger bass were hiding below but no dice....

[cowherder]

Awesome blazing! I went fishing in the bay yesterday. Around 4:30 there were some nice bluefish caught. I got one at around 26 inches on a hopkins with white tail. It seemed they wanted metal rather than plugs though I did see a few caught by a guy using a white popper. I would rather catch one on a plug and stayed for 2 hours after that but it really did die down. Guess you were out later than I was and it started up again. Nice going that looks like a fattie!

[fishinmission78]

Great action again in the bb today for blues to 14lbs. Metal, poppers, bucktails you name it they are on a feeding frenzy. You can use plugs but they will destroy them. Better off with the bucktails or metal for quick release.

[seamonkey]

Wow awesome you guys are lucky thanks for the reports!

[basshunter]

Very nice fish! blazin nice blue. I got into some good bluefish yesterday on the incoming tide in the backbay. It was a lot of fishermen not much being caught. Mostly bait fishing but some throwing spin gear like me. I was tossing a krocodile with green tail for about a half hour with no luck. All of a sudden things got crazy. Just about everyone was hooked up as the blues just invaded the whole place. Great fishing for bluefish up to about 12 lbs for me. I had to get out another kroc because the tail on the first one got shredded to nothing. I saw a dude weigh one on his boga that he said was 15 lbs. Some of these were jumping out of the water. It was pretty cool. Thank you for the intel and reports. Might take my little cousins fishing if this lasts.

[surferman]

The monster blue invasion of 2015. there is some great monster blues in NJ right now. I drove all the way from cape may yesterday. I was standing on a dock in the barnegat bay with about 50 other guys. It was crowded but everyone was nice and polite and few tangles. Best blue fish catching from the shore that I have had in 15 years. Lost count after 20. Got blues up to 15 lbs woo hoo! I was using bucktail and pork rind. I did not think bluefish could shred pork rind but they did!
Thanks for all the reports and general info. Get out there while it lasts gents. You are def lucky to have action close where you don't have to drive 80 miles to get to the fish. I have never seen shore blues like that by us.

[CharlieTuna]

That does sound unusual. I lived in the Toms River area for awhile when I lived in Jersey. The blues would come in every year but there was nothing to keep them there. In and out in a week and all skinny. racers is what we used to call them.

[finchaser]

That does sound unusual. I lived in the Toms River area for awhile when I lived in Jersey. The blues would come in every year but there was nothing to keep them there. In and out in a week and all skinny. racers is what we used to call them.

There not racers this year they are all big and fat

[robmedina]

Wow just wow. Started the day off at 7am in barney. The water was as flat as glass. I heard alot of hooting and hollaring while i was getting ready. My buddy Mikey was late so i went ahead. I paddled out towards the hollering and notice hundreds upon hundreds if tails sticking out of the water. I was in 6 feet of water so that made it even stranger. I realized pretty quickly they were blues and it was on fir 2 hours straight. I even got 4 of em on my flyrod. Was great fun.
Paddled around to stay on them but lost them once the wind picked up. Caught some more trolling and called it a day.
Snallest fish was 6 or 7 lbs buggest had ti go 12lbs.
I cant upload pics from my phone will do later.

[plugcrazy]

Wow just wow. Started the day off at 7am in barney. The water was as flat as glass. I heard alot of hooting and hollaring while i was getting ready. My buddy Mikey was late so i went ahead. I paddled out towards the hollering and notice hundreds upon hundreds if tails sticking out of the water. I was in 6 feet of water so that made it even stranger.
Snallest fish was 6 or 7 lbs buggest had ti go 12lbs.
.

Awesome report for once the BB is kicking butt on the RB!

[porgy75]

Got some nice blues in rb today. My biggest was about 33" I don't know how much pounds it weighed but it was FAAAAAAT. Got at least 22 or 25 I can't remember exactly. I didn't keep any but some guys were hauling them away by the coolerful. When you guys on here said your arms were tired I was sometimes jealous. Now I know the feeling and it was awesome! Get out there and catch them while its hot. Great day today.

[baitstealer]

Wow thats great news thanks for the reports and updates fellas. Drooling from the mouth reading them.

[seamonkey]

x2 hopefully they will chop up some bait and the stripers will be following closely.