Northern New Jersey Fishing Report

It was another week of incredible striper fishing over a wider area with better mix of big and small fish. If these reports are getting repetitive, no one is complaining. 

Stripers of various sizes stretch from South Amboy down to Island Beach State Park and beyond. Boaters are all over the fish but surfcasters had a better week as more bait and fish made it to the beach. 
 
Just about everything is working, shads, poppers, metal-lipped swimmers, bucktails, Mojos and livelineing.  

Bottom fishing remains solid and there are good tuna reports but not many people can get past the bass.  

Rick Hebert at Tackle World in Rochelle Park said the striper fishing is just nuts and he hasn’t heard much of anything else. He said everyone is content to beat up on the bass. He fished Raritan Bay last Saturday amid a lot of boat traffic and still caught bass all day livelining. There was word of lake and rainbow trout being caught at Round Valley and Merrill Creek reservoirs on the troll. 

Danny Stolba at Fish Tail Bait and Tackle in Carteret said that short and keeper stripers in the Arthur Kill have been joined by blackfish, sea bass and hickory shad. The blackfish are hitting green crabs while fresh bunker chunks are working for everything else. 

Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet said the striper fishing is the best he’s ever seen and that’s saying something. There are fish in the back of Raritan Bay, in the middle, down the beach and across to Rockaway. 

Mike Pinto at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright said the beach bite slowed a bit over the weekend but the bass were in and out. Dedicated surf anglers who put in the time were rewarded. The action picked up again at the start of the week with fish on the beach from Sandy Hook down to Long Branch. Poppers and metal-lipped swimmers were working and Pinto said OutCast Lures available at the shop are getting a lot of fish. 

Mike Gleason at TAK Waterman in Long Branch said the he waited for the incoming tide to push the bait over the bar on Tuesday and then it was game on. It was real deal, fall-run fishing, he said, with bass from schoolies to 30 pounds tight to the beach. There’s a wild Instagram video posted by TAK Waterman that shows the blitz. Gleason hasn’t heard of much beyond the bass fishing except that anyone interested in tuna will have to do some traveling. The bass were in an out of the Asbury Park, Ocean Grove and Bradley Beach surf this week hitting spooks, poppers and shads. The bait was thick just offshore on Wednesday and the schools of stripers were blowing up in the pods. I counted three whales chowing down on all the bunker.  

• Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain in New Jersey!

Johnny O. at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said it’s all about stripers for party and charter boats out of the marina.  The boats were clustered right outside the Shark River Inlet most of the day on Wednesday. Blackfishing has been good at the inlet and the shop is getting ready for the five-fish tog season opening up next Thursday, Nov. 16. 

Capt. Pete Sykes of Parker Pete’s Sportfishing called the bass bite insane. His charter and open boat trips have been into the bass for a couple of weeks now catching trophy and keeper bass. Live-lining and shads are what’s working for him. He’s got open boat striper trips scheduled for next Monday and Wednesday and an open boat tog trip set for Thursday. Check his Facebook page for details. 

Capt. Jay Richardella of Side Job Charters out of Belmar said the striper fishing has been phenomenal with fish up to 40 pounds. His charter was into the bass big time off the beach from the Highlands Bridge on Tuesday, but he said they’ve been catching them up and down the coast. 

Capt. Steve Spinelli on the Skylarker out of Belmar has been enjoying solid bottom fishing catching porgies, sea bass, blues and triggerfish.  But he made a switch this week to get in on the striper action. And he found plenty, putting his charters on keepers and jumbos all on shads. He’ll be sticking with stripers until blackfish opens next Thursday when he’ll be running tog and striper combination trips. Capt. Spinelli added that some very big sand eels, up to 12 inches, are mixed in with all the bait.

Logan at The Reel Seat in Brielle said there were stripers popping up from Bradley Beach down to Seaside on Wednesday. He’s had numerous reports of striper anglers accidentally hooking bluefin and thresher sharks not too far outside the Manasquan Inlet. While most folks are preoccupied with stripers, Logan said he had good reports of swordfish and bigeye tuna in the east elbow of the Hudson Canyon. 

Kyle Tangen at Fishermen’s Supply in Point Pleasant Beach reported better beach fishing with a lot of mixed size fish. Slot-sized bass are in with 46-inch fish, hitting Tsunami shads, metal-lipped swimmers and bucktails. You may have to work through your bag to see exactly what they will hit. He fished Raritan Bay over the weekend and did very well on his fly rod. Tangen said there are a lot of giant bluefin showing up in the bunker but if you want to target them, the Triple Wrecks is a good place to start. 

Capt. Kenny Namowitz on the Mimi VI out of Point Pleasant Beach reported excellent bottom fishing with tons of big porgies and some nice sea bass. He’s also been running into plenty of bluefish. Capt. Kenny has spots available on open boat dates until blackfishg opens. He’ll be open boat togging when there is no charter. He added there are plenty of available dates in December and January for charters. 

Chris Parlow from Captain Bill’s Landing reported that the striper bite was crazy yesterday from the Manasquan Inlet up to Shark River. Fish of all sizes were being caught on just about anything that was thrown at them. Fish were located from the beach all the way out to two miles. He also reported that the blackfish bite has picked up over the last week with some nice fish being caught at the inlet and the Point Pleasant Canal, as well as the inshore rough spots. There is also a good bluefin tuna bite being reported at the Triple Wreck area, he added.  

Frank Giacalone at Gabriel Tackle Co. in Brick reported that the Monmouth County beaches continue to outperform the local ones but there were good reports of bass from Bay Head down to Brick. Metal lips, gliders, and top water plugs are all working well but live lining is a good option when they are ignoring everything else. 

Pete Kupper at Charlie’s Bait and Tackle in Normandy Beach said the night bite has been best there with black and blurple plugs doing the job. He reported stripers up to 47 inches. He said there are smaller bass being caught in the surf in the morning. Kupper said things are shaping up nicely for the catch and release 12th Annual Surf Turkey Tournament taking place over the Thanksgiving Weekend. Check Charlie’s Facebook page for details.

Ray Kerico at Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle in Seaside also reported a solid night bite with black lures like SP Minnows catching some nice bass. The daytime bite is picking up and he expects the next week or so will see more fish make their way down from the north. Kerico also reported a good blackfish bite at the inlet jetties. 

• Want to get in on the bite? Find an OTW-approved Charter Fishing Captain in New Jersey!

Best Bets for the Weekend

Nothing is certain in fishing but the current striper bite is pretty close. Boat and beach anglers are both doing very well so pick your poison. Most any offering will do the trick but the bass can be picky so arm yourself with options including shads, bucktails, poppers, metal-lipped swimmers and whatever else you like to throw.