NJ Saltwater Fishing Articles

Deep Diving Plugs for Spring Stripers

Details: Category: Fishing Articles; Published: Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:05; Written by Capt. Brian Rice; Hits: 22941

Saltwater Fishin’ Vol 4, No. 4

Pro Recommends Deep Diving Plugs for Spring Stripers

Capt. Brian Rice uses light tackle to troll for early season striped bass - Here’s how he does it

Captain Brian Rice ran the Jersey Devil, a 29’ Yamaha-powered Contender®, from its slip in the Nevasink River down into Raritan Bay, a large embayment nestled between the tip of Sandy Hook, New Jersey and Staten Island, New York. He was headed toward the mouth of the Raritan River to an area of flats surrounding the main shipping channels. Upon reaching his destination, he slowed the boat, and the depth finder lit up with pods of striped bass hugging the bottom in 20-to-30-feet of water. This area is part of the larger estuary complex that is home to the Hudson River stock of striped bass, which also includes places such as Jamaica Bay and Western Long Island Sound. It is similar to other estuary complexes associated with the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay stocks of stripers, and they are all great places to fish for linesiders in the spring months.

Mate Jim “Peaches” Massimino, Jr. shows off a particularly large spring bass that could resist a Stretch plug.

The overwhelming majority of the East Coast striped bass population is comprised of cohorts from those three major spawning stocks. READ MORE HERE

Fluke Fishing: Does Color Matter?

Details: Category: Fishing Articles; Published: Saturday, 18 June 2011 16:38; Written by Bob Maehrlein; Hits: 47862

If you've fished for any amount of time, you've probably heard someone use phrases like, "You can use any color, as long as it's white." Or, "If it ain't chartreuse, it ain't no use!" I know I've used expressions like that from time to time.

For these expressions to be so widely used, there must be a great deal of truth to them. Right? Of course, they can't be true all the time. Can they? Or does color even matter at all? Is it just a confidence thing?

For a long time now my favorite colors for fluke (and some other saltwater fish) have been chartreuse, white and pink. I do try to match a color to what I think will work best for the current conditions, e.g. stained water, clear water, cloudy skies, rough water, etc. Having said that, I admittedly, at times, use them somewhat randomly as well, e.g. "This color looks cool! I think I'll try this one."

Does it matter?

Fishing on the Irish Ayes the other day, we had a pretty hot fluke bite going. And when the bite is hot that's the time to experiment. What I learned that day is that color definitely matters (at least sometimes). Let me share my experience.

My rig was set up as follows:
A white 3 oz. Spro bucktail with a white bucktail teaser hook placed about 12" above the Spro. I also had a stinger hook attached to the Spro (see Rigging the Bucktail Stinger: 101).
For bait on the Spro I had two Chartreuse 4" Gulp! Swimming Mullets (one on the main hook and one on the stinger). On the teaser hook above I had a Pearl White 4" Gulp! Swimming Mullet.

Using the rig like this, every bite came on the Spro or the stinger attached to the Spro. After a while I swapped out the white Gulp! on the teaser with a natural color 3" Gulp! Shrimp. Still, every bite was on the Spro or the stinger.

NJ Fluke / Summer Flounder Fishing

Details: Category: Fishing Articles; Published: Saturday, 03 July 2010 19:29; Written by Chris Gatley | ESPNOutdoors.com; Hits: 81544

Back Bay areas yield nice Summer Flounder (Fluke)

while New England states struggle

Courtesy: Chris GatleyBill Vasaturo of Morgantown, PA caught this
9.41 pound Flounder while fishing behind Wildwood on Bob Kenig's
"Saint Sandy" on opening day.

When the New York season opened a couple weeks ago, plenty of boats and anglers targeted these flatfish despite the two fish limit at 21 inches per fish. "Fluke fishing out of Shinnecock Inlet was slow for most" said Horst Klein. "After days of tough fishing, we opted to target the plentiful striped bass."

New York and Long Island Sound fishermen should start to see good fishing any day now. In years past, the early season was always productive, especially for those that love to fish bucktail jigs tipped with mackerel strips, squid or Berkley Gulp!

Right now, shallow Back Bay areas of Absecon and Wildwood New Jersey is producing lots of fluke with plenty of four to six pounders thrown in for good measure. Water temperatures are at their warmest on shallow mud flats and at the slack tide. "That is when we are finding the best fluke fishing" according to Cathy Algard at Sterling Harbor Bait and Tackle in Wildwood. Cathy went on to say, "Shop customers are targeting drop offs and sod bank cuts, and fishing under sunny skies. Small bucktail jig heads or New Penny Shrimp made by Berkley Gulp! have been taking plenty of fish."

Fluke seek out eel grass and pilings for the protection they offer, making Back Bay regions key haunts during certain portions of the year. In the summer, small and medium sized adults situate themselves on sandy or muddy bottoms of bays, harbors and along the open coastline. Most of the larger fish are found in deeper water (50 to 60 feet). As fall arrives, fluke migrate to the offshore waters in depths from 150 to more than 500 feet.

Delaware River Stripers

Details: Category: Fishing Articles; Published: Friday, 26 March 2010 20:00; Written by Capt. Chris Gatley - Ardent Angler Guide Service; Hits: 69891

The Striped Bass fishery along the east coast has rebounded over the years. Pollution and commercial fishing once caused a dramatic decrease in the total number of spawning fish entering the fresh water river systems up and down the eastern seaboard. Conservation efforts have allowed this fishery to explode.

Our local Delaware River is listed as one of the largest spawning grounds on the east coast. Every spring, cow females must enter fresh water river systems to spawn. Stripers have been known to release eggs as far north as Easton, Pennsylvania. However, much of the spawning process occurs in the tidal sections of Trenton and Philadelphia. Female Stripers will release eggs into the current. As the eggs flow freely downriver, the males finish the process. It is essential for stripers to reproduce in a clean, freshwater environment. Pollution, high water and muddy water can decrease chances for a successful reproduction.

Delaware River Striper

The peak of the Striper run normally occurs during late April and early May. However, good numbers of large fish can be caught earlier as buck shad and herring run the river to spawn. These alternate fish runs provide the Striped Bass with an abundant food source. The Striper's aggressive nature drives them to constantly eat. Plus, they need nutrients, as they will expend energy during the spawning process..................

Fishing From The Beach | Reading The Sand

Details: Category: Fishing Articles; Published: Wednesday, 17 March 2010 04:41; Written by Paul Danielczyk; Hits: 47479

When I first started Surf Fishing, I had no one there to really teach me. It was like a secret society that was hard to break into. I was after all just a kid to most of these surf Fishing guys and this was serious business to them. I am talking about the Seaside Park area around the years from 1955 to the middle 60?s. I was given hints but nothing solid to go on. They kept telling me to learn to read the water; well as a kid I thought there was some mystical insight to the reading of the ocean.

I had a good idea but really was not sure. It was not till I went to college till I finally realized what these guys were talking about. I had to take science classes so I decided to take a couple of classes in Oceanography, at Richard Stockton College, in Pomona, NJ. It was Dr. Stuart C. Farrell PhD. and his description of beach morphology and physical processes affecting shoreline dynamics, that allowed me to finally understand what was going on.

You want to talk about a light going off well it was like the whole room lit up. After class I talked to the professor and had him go into detail as to what goes on. WOW, that was easier than I thought.

I hope I can relate what I learned here in as simple terms as possible. The ocean because of its never ending movement causes the sand to shift constantly there by morphing the shoreline constantly. This can be seen especially after a storm. The beach sand is scarped away by the waves and their constant pounding and loosening if the sand. Where does it go? In simple terms it sits just off shore waiting for redepositing back up onto the beach once more...