By Mark Marquez II
Posted 1/25/08

The second article in a series about the 2007 saltwater fishing season, according to the fishing reports.

During the first days of May, big bluefish slammed the entire Jersey Coast, and lots of small striped bass, but few big migrators so far, were pulled from the surf from north to south in the state.

Winter flounder fishing was going strong, but the flatbacks were making their move to the ocean from the bays and rivers, on a trek toward the Continental Shelf to spend the summer.

The blues were arriving on schedule, but the sizes of the monsters—large fish like 6- to 10-pounders instead of smaller, 3- to 5-pounders typical of spring—was a surprise to everyone. And they were abundant.

Spring fishing was really kicking in.

Bunker were beginning to appear in the Raritan Bay area in early May, and sometimes the bay's boaters were bunker-chunking stripers, and sometimes clamming them. But other times boating for the stripers was still a bust, and the bite was just beginning.

But 20-pound stripers were landed there, and the water was 56 degrees.

A fair number of herring and a few shad were schooling up the Delaware River around Trenton, and a handful of large stripers were starting to arrive on the river’s spawning grounds.

The season’s first striped bass over 30 pounds was plopped down on the scales at a South Jersey tackle shop in the first few days of May, and lots of stripers were swimming areas such as the bays around Absecon.

Delaware Bay charters began targeting the big black drum that haunt the waters in spring, and sometimes good catches were reported, but drum fishing would kick in after a couple of weeks. But the bay’s striper fishing was holding up at places like Tussy’s Slough for boaters who dunked clam baits.

Ocean bottom-fishing trips were sometimes whacking big sea bass and occasional tog.

By mid May Raritan Bay’s striper fishing had picked up quite a bit, and the fish were also schooling up the Hudson River to spawn along with herring. The incredible bluefishing continued, almost a nuisance to striper anglers.

But winter flounder fishing was history along the coast by the middle of May.

Graveling Point on Great Bay was now in “bluefish limbo,” one tackle shop owner said, and the toothy predators chased away the stripers that appeared there earlier, but stripers took up residence at Little Egg Inlet, closer to the ocean.

Other South Jersey back bays, including waters behind Sea Isle and Wildwood, were also putting out lots of blues after striper fishing had turned on before.

Bluefish mayhem also kept Sandy Hook anglers on their toes, but big stripers were also possible to catch. Some captains there were dunking clam baits instead of bunker to attract bass but avoid the blues.

Anglers would normally be fishing for fluke at this point, but the state was opening fluke season late.

Some of the party boats bottom fished instead, putting customers into ling, sea bass and tog on the inshore grounds. Tog also hit along the surf jetties.

Fluke season opened on May 26, and the flatties were on a tear just about everywhere, from Raritan Bay to the back bay around Sea Isle to Delaware Bay.  Stripers were now more common in the ocean than in the bays, and blues still filled all the waters, but smaller ones than before were more common close to shore. The bigger slammers were heading offshore for the summer.

By June striper fishing was sometimes hit or miss, but some days produced for ocean boaters and surf casters. But smaller, resident stripers were reported to start smacking popper lures in the South Jersey back bays, where that action is most popular. Warmer water was getting them active.

The warmer water of June also meant the kick-off of big game fishing offshore. Sharks as usual were first at bat, and the monsters were migrating from down south.

Lots of anglers were talking about sharking at the beginning of June, but the first steady reports of catches popped up in mid June.

A few hardy souls started thinking about tuna fishing by then.

They watched the satellite charts, saw warm water moving into the southern canyons, and bam! Those who took the trip connected with bluefins on the troll at places like Baltimore Canyon, sometimes as soon as the lines hit the water.

The inshore lumps off South Jersey, such as the Hot Dog and Ham Bone ,were yet to turn on for bluefin tuna, but when they would turn on, the season would be incredible this year.

Shark fishing shaped up well during the second half of June, and no lack of makos, blue dogs and threshers hammered baits along the inshore spots.

In the meantime in mid June, fluke fishing was going full throttle anyplace from Raritan Bay to Shark River to Manasquan River. Barnegat Bay and the ocean nearby were sometimes giving up stripers. Weakfish, but no decent numbers, were beginning to trickle into the bay, and small blues kept up action there. Great Bay’s fluking had started with a bang, but at this point, the middle of June, most keepers seemed to be bagged, and shorts were mostly the catch. South Jersey’s back-bay fluking was somewhat tougher than earlier, but shorts and fair numbers of keepers were hugging bottom.

Some days of fluking were decent in Delaware Bay, and some days were tougher. Years past brought better fishing for the summer flounder in those waters, but then again the size limit was smaller, such as 14 inches. The state kept creeping up the size limit, but that was another issue and was stirring contention. Loads of flounder carpeted the bay, but finding a keeper wasn’t easy. Maybe the size limit, 17 inches, the biggest size limit so far, was too large for the bay.

Boaters were also beginning to bottom bounce baits for fluke in the ocean, and South Jersey captains were starting to make the run for bluefish at places like 5-Fathom Bank.  However, bluefishing from South Jersey was off compared with usual this season, although plenty schooled farther north like along the Mudhole. Bonito that loaded the ocean off Cape May the previous year alongside the blues were scarce this year, although plenty roamed a little farther north off Atlantic City, and they also became abundant even farther north at Barnegat Ridge and nearby areas in summer. But that’s jumping ahead a bit.

Stripers could still be found in the ocean but were disappearing along with the schools of bunker by the second half of June. Surf fishing now also dropped off. Fluke fishing was starting to decline in a lot of the back waters, but not entirely, and would soon become an ocean scene during the warmest days of summer. But flatties in the bay toward Absecon were hitting big-time, and the deeper waters of Raritan Bay and Delaware Bay gave up bites.

Sharks kept terrorizing the ocean, and trolling for tuna was sometimes exploding at the southern canyons, mostly for bluefins, but not at the inshore lumps off South Jersey yet. Tuna fishing farther north was yet to start in late June.

Sea bass and other bottom fish were plentiful.

Bluefish started spawning offshore in the first days of July, and they would stop biting for a period like always. But soon plenty would turn back on, especially off North Jersey. Ocean fluking kept turning on, as the flatties sought deeper water, but Raritan Bay and sometimes Delaware Bay, deeper, larger waters than the rest of the state’s bays, kept producing

A resurgence of striper fishing among schooling bunker hit the ocean from about Manasquan Inlet to Sandy Hook in a big way for a moment in early July. But fishing was beginning to slow down in some places, such as in Barnegat Bay, where anglers waited for weakfish to arrive.

South Jersey back-bay anglers kept playing with small striped bass on lures such as poppers in mid July, and the bite was a typical summer pattern, with most action on high tides at dawn and dusk.

At the same time, South Jersey offshore boaters were now tackling bluefin tuna at places like Massey’s Canyon and the inshore lumps off South Jersey, and daytime trolling for the fish was working, but nighttime chunking was also beginning

Grass shrimping for weakfish kicked off in Barnegat Bay three quarters of the way through July, when shark fishing in the ocean was diminishing. Warm waters were causing the beasts to migrate north.

A note about the weather. Bluebird days were the rule much of the summer, and many weekends were “stellar,” one tackle shop said. Anglers were spared any real streaks of bad weather through the warm months. But almost seems like nature is a balancing act that eventually greets fair weather stretches with equal rough weather, and looking ahead, autumn would be a different story, with lots and lots of winds ushering in cooler weather. But that’s getting ahead.

The warm, lazy days of summer slowed down inshore fishing--not all fishing, such as weakfishing in Barnegat Bay--but much of the action.

Speaking of weakfish, the trout that used to invade Delaware Bay were once again scarce in those waters for the most part so far.

Bluefin tuna fishing was on a roll at the inshore lumps such as the Hambone off South Jersey by the latter half of July. Bonito and such speedsters were now putting tackle to the test at Barnegat Ridge and such places.

Mid summer can be the best of times and the worst of times for Jersey saltwater fishing. Much of the fishing tight to the coast becomes difficult in the warmer water temps, but deeper waters from the inshore to the offshore ocean can hold everything from fluke to bonito and mahi mahi to plenty of tuna. What the fishing lacks close to shore, it gains in bluer water.

Tuna fishing at the northern canyons including the Hudson and the Toms kicked off in late July, and the bluefin bite at the inshore lumps was on a fairly steady cruise, with plenty of catches. Bay reports about fluke fishing were becoming dicey, except in deeper bays, and some action in the bays would only keep producing. Barnegat Bay weakfishing was on a roll, and popper fishing for small stripers in the South Jersey’s bays could be great on high tides at dusk and dawn.

And that was the state of affairs by the beginning of August.