NJ fishing reports

I'm aiming for a Thursday trip. Will let you know how it goes.
 
I was out this morning Wednesday. 6 am to 9am Nothing happening in on the beach early.
I went out to 60-70 feet and found crazy stripers under birds. i was all by myself out there in a 20kt south wind for an hour and a half
NW corner of Axel Carlson.
Then the fleet came out there and I went in and went to work.

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Glad you got on the bite! Hopefully I wont need to go that far north. Will let you know how it goes.
 
Tough day on the water. Left BL inlet at 6:15 and headed north. Birds here and there, but no bunker pods to be found. ended up off Mantolokimg, and then headed east to deeper water. The Belmar party boats were out in 70 ft of water, but couldn't find any fish. The ocean was worked up this far out, a lot choppier than near shore, so headed back closer to shore. Finally found a bunker pod off Mantaloking, with mostly peanut bunker, and stripers were being caught by boats live lining. I finally hooked up with a nice size striper, but it broke off right next to boat. Also had bluefin tuna busting the bunker pods, with one almost bumping into my boat as it aired chasing bait, and it was huge! By noon the wind was so strong, my drift was so fast, that my live lined bunker were just being dragged across the surface. Called it a day and bounced my way back to BL, with the winshield wiper going the entire time. Hopefully the stripers will move south next week.
 
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Got out Friday early. Leap frogged bunker pods down the coast from Bay head to Lavalette. Missed afew run-offs on live bunker in front of Mantoloking. Saw a few fish caught.
Bumped out to the Axel reef and jigged a nice bass under birds

Saturday early, stopped at first bunker pod at Bay Head. We caught a 39" bass and missed three good bites. Had to be back in at 930am

A buddy of mine from Little Egg inlet went all the way North to Seaside Heights and caught 9 bass

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Got out Thursday morning before going to the ramp to be hauled. Got one keeper 29 inch and a couple of overs on jigs under birds in insane bite.
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That is a nice end to the season. Was out Wednesday but nobody (or very few) was catching. The bite turned back on on Friday. I'm trying to stretch it a bit further, next trip is Monday.
 
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20+ inches of snow and I'm looking at fishing threads in places I probably will never see. Simply some awesome pics you folks have here. When is Spring coming????
 
Last Saturday morning on the Shrewsbury river there were boats trolling right behind my brother's house. Ran up the Navasync, netted bunker, fished within site of the house all day, missed a bunch due to circles and caught 5 decent bass, 2 slots and the biggest at 36". Tomorrow I'm picking up my boat in OC MD and headed to the NC Outer Banks through the end of May. Screenshot_20260502_195953_Messages.jpg 20260503_073712.jpg
 
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Seafarer_Bob said:
Last Saturday morning on the Shrewsbury river there were boats trolling right behind my brother's house. Ran up the Navasync, netted bunker, fished within site of the house all day, missed a bunch due to circles and caught 5 decent bass, 2 slots and the biggest at 36". Tomorrow I'm picking up my boat in OC MD and headed to the NC Outer Banks through the end of May.
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Nice catch.
Don't blame the circle hooks. They work much better than J hooks when freespooling live bunker. Dont set the hook, just let it run a few seconds and then reel. I have best success hooking bunker in nose, not the back. In the back they get plucked off.
 
Launched Thursday. Friday opening day of seabass. Sucked. One keeper 4 tiny ones. Where are they ?

I did, however, have my best blackfishing day in years although they’re out of season. Five between 15 and18”.

And got to try out my new toy….. Kraken . Absolutely a game changer. I was by myself on a breezy choppy day and didn’t have to anchor and caught five blackfish

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A couple days of really good fishing at Klondike rocks.
8 gallons of squid (400+)
65 keeper Black Sea Bass
Some ling
Some Boston Mackeral.
one short lobster!

The KRAKEN anchor lock is AWESOME!!!!!! Complete game changer for bottom fishing.

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Seabass has been pretty good at Klondike rocks. If they are not biting you have to wait it out. When they do turn on it’s fast and furious. Got 42 nice keepers Thursday with 5 fishermen. Friday my sister and I got 20 on a wreck. 14 fish came between 11:45 and 12:15.

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Sunday,6/21, Finished out the 10/person limit seabass season with a wimper. 10 between 6 fishermen.... 40+ ling.
We stopped at south end of AxelReef for a few fluke drifts. 4 throwbacks and a 23" nice fish. So luckily the fluke bite has started just in time for the end of seabass.
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Mid range bluefin tuna blew open last week with 40-90 lbs fish south of Barnegat Ridge. That will be my next target..
 
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Wow, been a few months without NJ Fishing post.

July/August/Sept saw some poor and mediocre Fluking at Axel & Sea girt reefs. Lots of "Just short" fish.
Best day was mid Sept in the Manasquan river at the RR bridge on incoming tide. 7 keepers.
The KRAKEN is paying off. The trolling motor, not the Rum....

Tried for inshore bluefin (10-20 miles) a few times with no luck.

Caught a handfull of Mahi on pots. Very skittish. Lots of fish, catch one right away and then they shut down.

My buddy has had a few good nights at the dock with keeper fluke and dock stripers are steady at night and sometimes during the day.
I got a 29" keeper at 1pm on a chunk of salmon.
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Currently in a Nor'easter. No fishing for a week or more. This blow will change everything. Shift to fall run.
Fluke is closed now.
Black Sea Bass limit went up to 10pp That will be the focus.

Yellowfin tuna should explode in Hudson canyon when things calm down


Went to Alaska in August on a cruise. Got out on a charter in Sitka with my brother and our wives.
Excellent trip. Halibut/salmon/black cod. Checked off a bucket list trip.
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