The fishing remained off the charts this past weekend with great action from our nearshore areas in South Jersey on bluefin tuna. Unfortunately mother nature put the kibosh on fishing during most of the week with heavy NE/E winds, but hopefully that will begin to subside as we approach this upcoming weekend. Fluke fishing remains excellent for most of our backbays and I have been hearing of more 24+ inch fish being caught. Most of the fish continue to be hitting the backwaters in the 5 to 10 foot depths. Schoolie striped bass have been providing decent action with the few days of north-easterly winds and the night bridge and jetties are the places to be. Surf fisherman have been picking up more kingfish over the past week or two, and this should start bringing in some of the C&R brown shark action.
Fishing Report For Southern New Jersey
Creekside Outfitters in Waretown had a busy week as the storeowner Liza was celebrating her son’s college graduation from NJIT as well as prepping the store for in-store customers. Fishing has been excellent in the bays for fluke and inlet for striped bass. Sea bassing has been tougher due to lots of the wrecks being hit and the key has been to finding smaller wrecks. The big news of the weekend was the bluefin tuna bite occurring 10 to 15 miles out.
Reel Reaction Charters out of Waretown and Barnegat Light had another banner week in the backwaters as the skipper consistently put his charters on 9+ keeper fluke during each of the week’s 4hr trips. The crew has been running both vessels depending on the conditions and has been booking ocean fluke dates for August.
The Super Chic out of Barnegat Light had a few sea bass trips this past weekend and the skipper has started to book out his summer fluke trips. Capt. Ted has some prime dates remaining for July and August.
Fisherman’s Headquarters on Long Beach Island reported a solid weekend of bluefin tuna action from 12 to 20 miles out. Most of the fish were in the unders category, but a few boats did have fish bigger than 47 inches. Sea bass fishing remains solid, but anglers need to find smaller, less hit pieces. Bay fishing and crabbing remains good with land-based anglers able to catch around the mid-island bridges.
Absecon Bay Sportsman in Absecon had great reports from anglers fishing Great Bay and the Wreck inlet area as one group of anglers had their 4-man limit. The bay is loaded with bait and schoolie bass in the backwaters. The jetties of Atlantic City had some nice action on striped bass, weakfish, and fluke.
Offshore Bait & Tackle in Atlantic City reported the past weekend busy for anglers fishing for kingfish as lots were caught from jetties and beaches. The hot bait was bloodworms along with Fishbites. The offshore forecast was rough, but some bigger boats made the run to the canyons to report excellent action on yellowfin, bigeye, and bluefin tuna.
Fin-Atics in Ocean City reported good action on kingfish off the beaches along with a few schoolie stripers. Surf fishing has been very good over the last few weeks for kingfish and some small bluefish. The backwaters are producing a good number of keeper flounder in the 8 to 12-foot depths. The bridges and some of the secondary channels remain great spots to start. Weakfish and schoolie striped bass continue to be around the bridges during the night tides and it’s best to target with small bucktails or pink soft plastics.
Badfish Charters in Ocean City has been running trips in the bay and has reported excellent catches of schoolie striped bass and keeper flounder on Gulp baits. The captain continues to book dates for the summer.
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Sea Isle Bait & Tackle in Sea Isle was busy weighing in quite a few flounder this week with most in the 3 pound range. The backbay flounder fishing has been very good for anglers working Gulp baits and minnows. Beach fishing remains solid for kingfish, dogfish, and there have been a few sharks caught. The shop has been stocking up on ballyhoo and butterfish as the offshore bite has been borderline epic for yellowfin and bluefin. The weather was a damper for a better part of the week, but that should ease up by the weekend.
Avalon Hodge Podge in Avalon reported excellent yellowfin tuna action at the offshore canyons with some tunas weighing in the 130 pound class. Closer to home, it’s been very good fishing along the Inter-coastal Waterway (ICW) for flounder. Most of the keepers have been ranging from 19 to 22 inches. The bridges and inlet still have some weakfish around, especially during the evening tides.
Jersey Bait & Tackle in North Wildwood reported quality fluke fishing for most of the backbay channels from North Wildwood to Ocean City. There has been a few brown sharks caught off the beaches and kingfish heads are great baits to use. Kingfish, flounder, and small bluefish have been biting off the surf.
Peace Token Fishing Tackle in Cape May Court House had reports of bigeye tuna picking up trolled baits at the southern canyons. Flounder fishing remained productive in the inter-coastal channels and the reef sites have started to produce keepers. Weakfish action has been pretty consistent around the Cape May Point area for anglers with boats.
Jim’s Bait & Tackle in Cape May received word of some brown sharks being caught off the Cape May beaches along with striped bass and some weakfish. Some of the reef sites are starting to produce keeper fluke, especially on the Delaware Bay side. The jetties have been producing weakfish, schoolie striped bass, and kingfish on bloodworms. Sea bass fishing continues, but anglers need to be in the 125 to 150 depths to find limits.
Greenhorn Outdoors in Bridgeton reported some flounder being caught off Fortescue and there has still been striped bass and perch around the Cohansey River. The shop received a large shipment of shedder crabs and bloodworms for weakfish and stripers. There has been some reports of drum fish being caught around Tussey’s, but with the warmer bay temperatures the bites have been dwindling.
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South Jersey Fishing Forecast
The best bet for the weekend if the sea conditions hold up will be to jump to some of the nearshore ridges as the bluefin action was pretty consistent prior to the few days of the NE winds. Hopefully, the winds have helped and pushed in cleaner, even more productive water. Headboats and some charters will be headed to the sea bass grounds to find them as the season is set to close June 22nd. If you haven’t filled your freezer with some tasty “sea biscuits,” now is the time to get out there. Fluke or flounder are in play in the back, and most areas have been reporting decent action on bucktails-Gulp or bucktails-minnow combinations. The key has been finding the right temperature breaks when keepers are feeding. Good Luck, Be Safe, and Tight Lines!