The fall run is going flat out. 

An epic striper bite is underway from Raritan Bay down to Island Beach State Park with boaters and surfcasters getting in on the action. The better beach bite has been from Sandy Hook down to Long Branch while the boats are catching and releasing trophy fish all along the coast.  
 
More keeper fish showed up in the mix this week as well. The bass are feeding on adult and peanut bunker and the massive amount of bait is attracting bluefin tuna and thresher sharks into near shore waters. 

While all this is going on, folks fishing the bottom are catching loads of sea bass, porgies, winter flounder, triggerfish, blackfish and blues. 

Rick Hebert at Tackle World in Rochelle Park said it’s stripers, stripers and more stripers. Raritan Bay has been on fire with keeper and jumbo bass. Shads, Mojos, livelining and topwater plugs are all catching fish. Swimming plugs, poppers and shads are working on the Sandy Hook beaches. Hebert also reported excellent trout fishing as recently stocked fish wait for anglers in well-fed rivers and streams.  

Danny Stolba at Fish Tail Bait and Tackle in Carteret said the striper fishing really picked up in the Arthur Kill with keepers and shorts hitting fresh bunker chunks. There have been a couple of bluefish taken as well. 

Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet called the current striper fishing absolute mayhem. He said the bass are all over Raritan Bay, around Sandy Hook and down the beaches. They’re hitting live bunker, Mojos, flutter spoons, spooks, NLBN shads and topwater plugs. 

Mike Pinto at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright said big bass crashed the beaches from Sandy Hook down to Monmouth Beach over the weekend and at the start of the week. The fish were up to 40 pounds and were hitting swimmers, shads and poppers. Sandy Hook was the hot spot. 

Mike Gleason at TAK Waterman said the striper fishing has been pretty crazy lately with a lot of big fish showing up in the surf. Bass up to 35 pounds have been hitting shads, bucktails and metal-lip swimmers. Gleason said bluefin tuna, from 50 to 90 inches, have been ripping through the schools of bait. He was fighting a fish from the end of a jetty in an undisclosed location when one busted out of the water in front of him.  There have also been reports of anglers getting spooled by bluefin grabbing live bunker intended for stripers. 

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Boats have been sitting in a line of bunker off Asbury Park, Ocean Grove and Bradley Beach for the last week. The bait was especially thick last Tuesday off Ocean Grove with bass blowing up in random spots when a thresher shark sent its long gray tail slashing through the bait about 75 yards off the beach.  There was also a school of very large mullet making its way south. 

Johnny O at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said striper fever is running rampant around there.  Boats out of the marina, including the Big Mohawk and Golden Eagle, have been getting in on the action, boating jumbo bass. He also said the blackfishing at the Shark River Inlet on green crabs has been very good. 

Capt. Pete Sykes of Parker Pete’s Sportfishing out of Belmar called the striper fishing right now insane.  He’s been getting monster stripers for the last week and said he fished to the north on Wednesday and found more keepers, catching a boat limit along with a bunch of bass that were too big. Capt. Sykes said there was still a few spots available for Saturday’s open boat and he’ll be sailing open boat trips next week when the weather permits. Check the website for details. 

Capt. Jay Richardella of Side Job Charters said it’s been an awesome week of striper fishing, putting his charters on trophy bass. He’s been getting them livelining and on the troll. There are still some open dates on his schedule and he can be contacted through his website. 

Capt. Steve Spinelli on the Skylarker out of Belmar has been sticking with bottom fishing and very happy with the results. The ocean is alive, he said, with every trip producing a nice mix of porgies and sea bass along with triggerfish, bluefish and pollack. 

Eric Bunz at The Reel Seat in Brielle said the most consistent bass fishing on the beaches is between Sandy Hook and Monmouth Beach. It’s a been a pick from the sand everywhere else. A vast majority of the stripers caught by the boaters are too big to keep, he said. He’s had a lot of reports on the inshore bluefin and said one customer, who was geared up for tuna, hooked one estimated at 400 pounds at the Sea Girt Reef. After getting the fish alongside the boat, it was released. Bigeye tuna fishing has been good in the east elbow of the Hudson Canyon, he said. Sea bass limits aren’t automatic but there are plenty of fish down about 100 feet along with porgies and triggerfish. Blackfishing has been very good at the Manasquan Inlet and in the Point Pleasant Canal, he added.  

Kyle Tangen at Fishermen’s Supply in Point Pleasant Beach said it’s all about striped bass right now.  There was a lot of the action taking place south of the Manasquan Inlet on Wednesday but the location of the bass changes daily. Tangen doesn’t believe there is a huge body of fish around as not all the bunker pods have stripers in them.  The boats are constantly on the move chasing bass. He did say surf fishing has been best to the north. There are bass in the Manasquan River hitting eels, he said, and based on his experience, the river fishing should get better for stripers in the next couple of weeks. Anglers heading offshore are finding good tilefishing, he said, along with bigeye tuna and swordfish in the Hudson Canyon. 

Chris Parlow from Captain Bill’s Landing in Point Pleasant Beach reported that the striper bite continues to be outstanding. Big fish have been feeding on bunker right outside the Manasquan Inlet each day. Some of those big fish have also come into the Manasquan Inlet and have been caught at places like the Railroad Bridge and in the Point Pleasant Canal. There have also been a number of bluefin tuna busting through the bunker schools as well and he has had reports of reels being spooled while livelining for stripers.  The sea bass and porgy fishing remain very good on the local reefs and tog are being caught at the inlet and in the canal. 

Capt. Kenny Namowitz on the Mimi VI out of Point Pleasant Beach said the porgy fishing is the best he’s seen in a long time. There have also been plenty of sea bass, winter flounder, blackfish and bluefish in the daily mix.  Capt. Kenny said they’ve still got some spots left for open boat trips scheduled for next Monday and Tuesday. 

Capt. Danny Gregory on the Norma K III out of Point Pleasant Beach said he’s been catching plenty of porgies and bigger sea bass on his daily bottom fishing trips. There have been numerous winter flounder in the mix as well. Capt. Gregory will be adding offshore sea bass trips to the schedule later in November. Check the Norma K III website for details. 

Frank Giacalone at Gabriel Tackle Co. in Brick said the striper bite has been good north and south of the Manasquan Inlet with bunker spoons and Mojos catching big bass. Blackfishing remains good in the canal and it has picked up at the inlet with a mix of shorts and keepers. 

Scott Thomas at Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park said the bass are there. They’ve been in tight to the beach at Island Beach State Park and other local beaches.  Boaters, kayakers and surf anglers are all getting a shot. Thomas said anglers there are starting to use a legal snag rig that has a No. 9 or 10 circle hook on a big dropper loop above a 3-ounce sinker. The set-up permits anglers to leave the bunker where it was snagged. Thomas also reported good togging at the inlet jetties and sea bassing on the reefs. 

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Best Bets for the Weekend

Striper fishing just keeps getting better. More bass are on the beaches, especially from Sandy Hook down to Long Branch. As usual, the bass are on the move, so they can pop anywhere along the coast. There are more keeper fish in the mix as well. Shads, bucktails, swimmers and poppers are all working from the sand. Boaters are livelining bunker, trolling spoons and Mojos and casting plugs and shads.