While trout fishing continues locally, stripers have moved into the NJ shore

This On the Water Magazine striper migration map shows a good run of bass along the Jersey shore. Map courtesy of On the Water Magazine

Despite the rainy weather we’ve been having, avid anglers are braving the wetness an continue to catch trout in local streams. On 4-29, the Little Lehigh and Swabia creeks were stocked and on 5-6, Coplay and Trout creeks were freshly stocked with trout. A friend fished Coplay Creek before the rains came and managed to catch and release three nice trout and one smaller one that he had to keep because it swallowed the hook. 

And while trout action continues, shad are still coming up the Delaware River. On Thursday, May 10, Steve Meserve of the Lewis Fishery, a commercial shad operation in the lower Delaware, put out 200 yards of netting and the result, he admitted, was a slow night as they only netted 7 buck and 5 roe shad. They also returned 11 shad, one smallmouth bass, one sucker, four gizzard shad, a carp and two quillbacks. 

But down at the New Jersey shore, jumbo stripers and black drum are hitting. On the Water Magazine reports large 40-inch bass are taking clams in the surf, while black drum up to 60 pounds are also hitting clams. Bluefish too are there and hitting minnow plugs in the surf and local rivers. Backwater fluke action remains steady after the season opener. 

Phil Sciortino from the Tackle Box in Hazlet reported big bass showed up on the ocean front and guys are crushing them by trolling eels with planer boards. One customer had 22 fish from 35-48 pounds from newly arriving stripers that are coming from either the Chesapeake or Delaware. He added that fluking started out good off Sandy Hook with fish up to 25 inches that are being taken on spearing, killies and bucktails tipped with Gulp bait. There is also a fair amount of bluefish around and being caught on almost anything be it chunks, metals, poppers and minnow plugs. 

Joe Julian at Julian’s Bait and Tackle in Atlantic Highlands, said the keeper fluke bite has been good around Bug Light on squid, spearing and live killies. Julian said there are some big stripers around so look to bays for keeper size fish. Blues are in the Manasquan Inlet and are falling for metals and topwaters. He expects more blues to come. 

Mike Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright, reported the plug bite for bass is good. There are more keeper size fish in the mix than in weeks past. The plug bite he reports seems to be more productive in the surf at night and over-slot fish are being caught on swimming plugs after dark. There are also a healthy mix of gator blues in the surf and rivers and they’re hitting mostly minnow plugs like SP Minnows and Mag Darters, so he recommends boosting your leader strength to avoid losing lures to the yellow-eyed demons. 
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If going to the shore, they recommend seeking out some sandy structure or keep an eye out for tailing bluefish, then start throwing pencils and minnow plugs. 

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