There’s really no finer time to be in the Jersey saltwater than October. Cool, crisp breezes matched with the outpouring of baitfish schools combine for explosive fishing on all fronts. The first real wave of stripers should be pushing through like they did last year with 30 and 40-pounders running. False albacore, bonito, bluefish, tuna, porgy, blackfish and sea bass will be right on their heels in all waters to boot. Regulations to be aware of are black sea bass season which reopens from October 1 to October 31 with a 10 fish limit at a 12.5-inch minimum length, then reopens again from November 1st to December 31st with the same size limit but the bag limit jumps to 15 fish per angler. Porgy fishing is again reopened through December 31st with a 10-inch minimum size and bag of 30 per person. Let’s go!
RARITAN BAY
The big bay gets its second shot of annual life in October as bass and bluefish schools inundate the waters to hound dog bunker schools. It can happen at any time of day or tide as blitz conditions erupt off spots like Coney Island, West Bank, the Ammo Pier and even back by Great Kills Harbor. Topwater tactics are supreme here as you can whip out poppers to get crushed by hordes of trophy bass and gator bluefish. Many times the game fish will hold at the mouth of the bay out by Romer Shoal and off the Rip where swashing currents trap baitfish schools. Be on the lookout for battalions of little tunny as well off the Rip as they chase the rainbait schools up onto the beaches. Small metals or soft baits are best to trick up a bite from the tunny. Inside the bay, the Coast Guard rockpiles should still be harboring plenty of porgies to put in the ice box. There’s always a chance at scoring with large weakfish that can push 6 to 8 pounds this time of year. Drift with sandworm bait on bottom float rigs through Swash Channel and Flynn’s Knoll to get bit. Live eels at night through the Knoll will also score big with bass.
NORTHERN COAST
Before we get into bass, false albacore are high on the hit list here as the peak and end of the albie run is a run and gun affair all along the coast. Schools rainbow out of the water sucking up rainbait and sand eels where you can intercept them by casting small epoxy jigs and Deadly Dick slim metals, ripping them back at a super quick pace to get bit and hit for drag-ripping runs. The cooler waters should have also kept bonito around as we saw the finest bonito run in decades in September. Bonito will go after the same lures and presentation as albies. Now onto bass, look for the bait schools as mullet should still be in play as well as with peanut bunker and sand eels schools close to the beachfront. Jetty country is an all-out playground for bass as they hug the jetty tips. Cast large wooden metal-lipped swimming plugs to the jetty tips and work them back slowly to pull the fish off the structure piles. This is also the time when jigging with Ava 27 to 87-size jigs get whacked down below in the water column. Simply mark the fish and drop down like the Luftwaffe carpet bombing the seafloor and reeling them up slowly. If bluefish show, basically anything you throw out will get hit, but metals are preferred so you don’t ruin any of your tackle. Blackfishing is really entering its prime now inshore as the Shark River system and jetties have fish hunkering down in the semi-warm water to feed on crabs. If you fish the oceanside, bump off into the shallows of 30 to 50 feet at the Sandy Hook Reef and Elberon Rocks until later in the month when they push off into the 60 to 90-foot depths. A 1 to 2-ounce tog jig tipped with half a green or whitelegger crab is the top choice to target tog. Black sea bass will be staging a little deeper in depths of 75 to 120 feet of water off at the Shark River Reef, 17 Fathoms and the Farms. Hi-Lo three-dropper rigs baited with clam strips or squid are the best way to get hooked up. Be sure to tip the hook with Berkley Gulp! 5-inch grubtails too as they hold well on the hook and stand up to the many rat-tat hits of the sea biscuits.
CENTRAL COAST
A major wave of big bass moved through last year during the first and second week of October as surf anglers were in their glory with fish from 30 to 40 pounds hitting SP Minnows, Bomber plugs and bunker chunks. Boats were able to hook up with the same plugs as well as Yo-Zuri poppers and Storm shads cast around the blown-up bunker schools. Whale shows are commonplace when all the bait and bass are around and keep an eye on where the whales are as bass won’t be far behind. Scores of small bluefish of 2 to 5 pounds inundated this area last October and were an absolute blast on light tackle anywhere off the beachfront from Point Pleasant through Island Beach State Park as well as inside the backwaters of Barnegat Bay and the Manasquan River. Speed demons of false albies and bonito should still be zipping through during the early morning hours and you can drop back small feathers and Clark Spoons to troll around the Axel Carlson Reef or Sea Girt Reef sites to intercept them as they furiously speed around to harass bait schools. Tautog fishing will really be getting some steam behind it now as those same reef sites in 65 to 85 feet of water will be haunted by tog in the rocks and shipwreck crevasses with the usual green or whitelegger crab baits top choices. And though it’s considered “offshore” fishing, bluefin tuna schools have been sticking around areas like the Mohawk Wreck, Tolten Lump and Manasquan Ridge areas like mad the past few years. Always have a big gun rod with a big RonZ lure or butterfly jig to tangle with bluefin that can range between 35 and 100 pounds on any given day.
OFFSHORE
An incredible run of true giant bluefin tuna aka horse mackerel have been sporadically showing up since the springtime and these fish can range up to 800 pounds! As water temps cool down, the BFT can be found right off the beachfront but mainly are found in the 5 to 20-mile range funneling up the Mud Hole contours and up off of Long Island. Anglers will troll three ballyhoo baits on Ilander lures dropped WWWB in the spread to hook up with immense bluefin tuna of giant proportions. You usually get one tuna hooked and fight it for hours so be prepared for the long haul. True offshore fishing for bluefin can range well out into the Hudson, Toms and surrounding canyon areas where those “smaller” fish of 50 to 100 pounds can be jigged up with Shimano, Mustad or Stingo metal jigs or caught on Madd Mantis or YoZuri poppers if they are on an aggressive feed. Yellowfin tuna should be running super strong at the canyons, though that chew is usually a chunk bite with butterfish and sardines. Work 4 or 5 lines at different water column depths ballooning them out and down with a general rule being 30/60/90 feet out and down and one bait on the bottom. Always drop a live squid down deep to hang a possible swordfish on any overnighter trip out to the edge. Closer inshore at the Chicken Canyon, Atlantic Princess and Triple Wrecks you will find straggler yellowfin and bluefin on the prowl. With a cool summer that has passed, expect the offshore tuna fishing to really fire even closer to shore than normal.
An incredible month of fishing is upon us from the canyons to the wrecks and reefs to the inshore and the backwaters. Get ready to do some battle.