Summertime is here and the livin’ is easy as fishing is firing on all cylinders to keep anglers happy. Backwaters are loaded with fluke and beasties such as kingfish, blowfish and bluefish. Sea bassing was lit up on the nearshore wrecks where bigger fluke were also hanging about. Remember sea bass regulations are now with an open season from July 1st to August 31, minimum 12.5 inches and a 1 fish limit. Tuna fishing should be really popping by mid July but there haven’t been too many reports as of early June just yet. With the warming waters of summer, look for exotics to begin showing in the areas with the likes of cobia, bonito, Spanish mackerel, hammerhead and blacktip sharks and other unique species.
RARITAN BAY
A welcomed showing of big bluefish took up residence in the R-Bay during the early part of June as gators up to 20 pounds legit were hitting chunk baits off spots such as the Keansburg Pier, Belford Pier, Port Monmouth and even off the Hook. Whether they stick around for July is anyone’s guess. Fluke are taking top billing in the baywaters this month. Hot spots usually revolve around the Coast Guard Row flats, Chapel Hill Channel, the 9 and 10 buoys, Ammo Pier and sporadic ledges and channels throughout the eastern part of the bay. You can find flatfish anywhere between 15 and 50 feet of water, you just have to move around and partake in quick short drifts to find where the packs are hanging. Their water depths can change day to day, so be sure to explore and search around for that magic spot. You can drift with three-way swivel rigs baited with squid, spearing and sand eels, or choose to drop bucktails tipped with bait strips or Gulp! grubs. Of course, you can always find stripers in the bay if you put in time during the night hours, but the night time is also prime time to search around for larger weakfish that historically hang around the Raritan reach, Flynn’s Knoll and the Sandy Hook Rip. Sandworms drifted on bottom rigs usually get engulfed by any weakies in the area. Last year at this time some tiderunners up to 12 pounds were at those spots as well as around the Highlands Bridge area.
NORTHERN COAST
Loads and loads of black sea bass hit the decks of most recreational angling boats, as limits were fairly easy to score with numerous throwbacks. It was interesting to see some real quality fish inshore in the 7 to 12 mile range as some biscuits ranged up to 22 inches, putting them around a legit 5 to 6 pounds. Usual haunts like the Farms, Klondike, Sea Girt Reef and the Resor were productive, but some oddity spots where there were just ledges such as at Shark Ledge, the Slough and Humpty Dumpty also held great action. Fluke will be highlighting the main focus during July as the flatties are usually paved along the coast. Look to fish 40 to 65 feet of water and target ledges, humps and lumps, especially if they have rock structure or even low lying wrecks reef balls or army tank units as fluke tend to lay in the swash channels cut out by tides between the structures. This is the month exotics begin to show up in the nearshore waters. Keep a keen eye out for errant splashes and surface fins as they could betray the presence of cobia, Spanish mackerel, mahimahi, jacks and more. Any floating debris can hold mahimahi, so always have some bucktails on board to toss out and pick of any hanging dolphin or even cobia. Since there was a pretty good presence of bluefish during June, the schools may stick around and usually they will congregate out near the Mud Hole area and surrounding humps and lumps from 6 to 15 miles offshore. Nighttime trips usually revolve around sending out a chum slick and baiting up bunker or butterfish chunks on 6/0 metal wire hooks and leaders. Many times the slick will attract anything from dolphin to mako sharks to come in as well so always be prepared for the exciting and unusual. Daytime bluefish trips are run out to the same area but generally, diamond jigs are the best method to drop down and reel them up.
CENTRAL COAST
Fluke fishing took awhile to get rolling in the Manasquan river but by June the flatfish were chomping on baits throughout the day providing limit catches as they began to stack closer to the inlet area. Dog Beach, the train bridge and the 35 bridge areas should all be holding fluke throughout the month, but a good portion of fish will no doubt be spilling out of the Squan and Barnegat Inlets to take up residence at the shallow reef sites such as the Axel Carlson and Barnegat Light Reef. Fluke inside of Barnegat Bay will be holding along the channel edges of Oyster Creek Channel and out near the inlet off the Coast Guard station. Barnegat Bay is always a fun spot to take the kids to try their hands at fishing, as scores of species are available to bend the rod. Start with a clam log chum slick anchoring up on a ledge by the BB or BI buoys or 40 marker and you’ll get into a bunch of blowfish, kingfish, weakfish, striped bass, bluefish, fluke and other visitors as they take clam bits on size #4 hooks. Moving off the coast a bit, the lobster pot hi-flier flags dotting the reef sites are perfect indicators where mahi may be hanging around as the dolphin pick off the bait that hangs around the lines for protection and forage. Cast small bucktails tipped with Gulp to tangle with mahi that range anywhere from 1 pounds to 15 pounds.
OFFSHORE
Tuna fishing had yet to really get going by early June, but there should be yellowfin and bluefin all around the grounds by now. Since there was no real gauge on tuna so far, the tactics can vary to see what they are willing to hit. Usual initial gameplans revolve around searching for whales and other marine life feeding on bait schools, then to either drop back the spreader bars and daisy chains to troll around the pods, or see if any boomerangs mark underneath the boat to drop down jigs. If visually busting tuna are found, then the poppers, RonZ soft baits and slidebaits are tossed out and tricked back. While anglers were waiting for tuna, the tilefishing more than filled in the gaps. Golden and blueline tilefish were aplenty on the canyon flats anywhere from 300 to 500 feet of water. Some trips produced dozens of tiles for the re with some big fish up to and past the 40-pound mark though averaging between 10 and 25 pounds. The first showing of blue and white marlin will also make their presence known as warm water eddies begin to spin off and rotate at the canyon edges.
Its time to shine! Summer is in full swing, get some fresh fish fillets for the grill and enjoy!