Big striped bass hitting at the Jersey shore

With local schools now closed for the summer, it’s a time when families begin their vacations many of which are at New Jersey shore points. And with Father’s Day upcoming, a good treat for dad would be for him to do some saltwater fishing. And the timing couldn’t be better according to fishing reports from On the Water Magazine. 

The folks there report that big stripers are in the surf and hitting clams, sand bugs and poppers. At the same time, schools of blues are popping up off the beaches as are sea bass, ling and cod that are biting off the bottom. Slot to cow-size stripers are o taking plugs and sand fleas in the surf. Fluke fishing too is good in the  rivers with Gulp and live killies while sea bass are showing a preference for jigs over the reefs.

The really big bass, a few up to 50 pounds, continue to eat eels, bunker and metal-lip swimmers offshore, while fluke are in the rivers, bays and surf. The sand bug bite really caught fire as the shoreline is thick with the little crustaceans. Stripers cruising the trough are getting fat on them. There are also lots of small calico crabs in the wash as well. 

*Mark Fuduli, at Tackle World in Rochelle Park, said the striper bite is good on live bunker and eels while sea bass fishing is holding strong. Jigs are out fishing clam baits. 

*Danny Stolba at Fish Tail Bait and Tackle in Carteret, said the bass bite is on in the Arthur Kill and they’re joined by bluefish. Stripers, some up to 35 inches, are hitting frozen and fresh bunker.

*Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet, reports giant bass in the 50-inch range continue to hit eels on planer boards and metal-lip plugs. Blues are all over the place and the fluke bite is picking up in Raritan Bay and the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers. 

*Joe Julian Jr. at Julian’s Bait and Tackle in Atlantic Highlands, said there are loads bluefish up to 5 pounds in Raritan Bay. He also reported that some nice bass are coming out of the surf with customer John Murphy hooking a 50-pound striper on a plug. Murphy also landed a big drum. Julian added that hub-cap size porgies are being caught on local rock piles.

*Mike Pinto  at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright, said stripers are there are hitting pencil poppers in the surf. Loads of blues there are chasing topwater lures off the beach as well. He added that sand bugs are accounting for more bass in the wash. Fluking, however, has slowed down a little off the beach. 

*Mike Gleason at Tak Waterman in Long Branch, said everyone is catching bass on bugs in the Long Branch surf. Gleason has been diving close to jetties and saw loads of stripers there from schoolies to 20 pounders. The really big bass, up to 50 pounds, are biting offshore on metal-lips. Fluke are also biting in the surf on Gulp and bucktails with 4-inch grubs and 5 and 6-inch jerk shads being popular choices.  
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