If November is anything like last year, we are in for a real treat. Stripers were absolutely littered in the surf for the entire month, and it looks like it’s going to line up with similar conditions once again. Bluefish have stuck around as of early October, and we may get a long-awaited blues run through early November. Black sea bass opens on November 1st through December 31st with a nice 15-fish bag limit at a 12.5-inch minimum size. Blackfish also go to a more liberal limit at a 15-inch size limit from November 16th through December 31st, so all bottom bouncers are gonna be having a great time to finish out the year. Tuna fishing can be good for the bluefin as they have been milling around and there may be a residual canyon bite on yellowfin still sticking around. November is the primo month if you are a striper angler, so let’s get on with it!
RARITAN BAY
Bluefish have been hanging around inside Raritan Bay all summer long and into fall though they are mainly 2 to 3 pounders, but we can hope some true gators will enter the waters during early November. Striped bass should be stacked at all points near the delta of the bay. Hot spots usually are West Bank Light, Coney Island, and Romer Shoal, though they can also be found chasing bunker schools back by the Ammo Pier, off Keansburg and along the Great Kills flats. It’s all a matter of watching for birdplays and fish blowing up the bait schools to toss topwater spooks, plugs and poppers, or marking them on the fishfinder to drop shads or metal jigs down. Usually at the mouth of the bay off the rip and outward to the sticks, wild schools of stripers will be blitzing bait, and you can use the same tactics there. The main facet is to keep your eyes peeled for signs of feeding behavior throughout the bay.
NORTHERN COAST
Stripers were blasting bait from Sandy Hook through Sea Girt on any given day last year with a concentration of fish off Sea Bright and Monmouth Beach. That pattern could manifest itself again this year. Parking Lots A, B and C always had sunrise action for surfcasters and boaters hugging the coast as did Sea Bright where 30 to 40 pound bass were even in the mix among the usual 28 to 38-inch fish. Sunup and sundown hours usually see an hour’s worth of blitzing conditions with bites throughout the day. Peanut bunker will be the main forage with sand eels moving in as well. Ava jigs work well both from the surf and boat as they mimic the sand eel profile to a T. The reefs and shipwrecks should be loaded with blackfish as they colonize the 50 to 90-foot depths at spots like the Farms, 17 Fathoms and the Shark River Reef. Most tog are throwbacks to about 6 pounds, but you can always find some true whitechinners past the 10-pound mark on any day. Black sea bass will have pushed off a little bit further out to the Shark River Reef and depths of 80 to 130 feet. Simple hi-lo rigs baited with clams or squid will get them to strike hard. You’ll also find plenty of porgies amassing on the wrecks and reef structures. There could still be false albacore schools sticking around to feed on bay anchovies and if there’s a stiff northwest wind, that usually gets them riled up in a feeding frenzy. Cast out small slender metals and rip them back to the boat for a zipping run.
CENTRAL COAST
This stretch was absolutely wild with striper activity last November and into December. Bass schools seemed omnipresent from Bay Head down through IBSP giving both surfcasters and boaters plenty of opportunity as they stuck tight to the coastline. Running and gunning is the norm whether by boat or foot and you can chase the schools all day long whipping out poppers, plugs and rubber shads at them. Morning and evening hours offer the most opportunity, but any hour of the day you can find stripers popping up to feed on rainfish, peanut bunker and sand eel baits. Blackfish will be tops at the Axel Carlson Reef, Mohawk Wreck and Tolten Wreck as they stage on the structure piles. Green crabs are the norm for baits, but to target larger blackfish, go with a 1-ounce tog jig tipped with a white legger crab half or use a two-hook snafu rig to drop down a whole whitelegger crab, just be sure to crack open the shell to allow the juices to flow and get the tog into a feed frenzy. Black sea bass will be a bit further off in the 10 to 20-mile range at the Resor wreck where you can box a limit of fish pretty quickly and then go searching for any bluefin tuna that may be in the area.
OFFSHORE
Bluefin tuna were so close inshore last year that schools could be seen breaking just outside the surfline, though much action was found at the seaside lump and Tolten Wreck where huge amounts of squid schools were choking the waters. If you jigged up some squid and live-lined them, you were sure to get whacked by BFT from 50 to 200 pounds. Offshore, BFT can be anywhere from the Triple Wrecks at 65 miles off to the Chicken Canyon at 45 miles off all the way inshore along the 20-fathom line. True giant bluefin aka Horse Mackerel pushing 600 to 700 pounds also ran through last November and December, but you have to be prepared with the right sturdy heavy tackle to land them, and then only if the BFT season is open, which could change literally by the hour. In the canyons, there could be remnant yellowfin but mostly longfin albacore schools can whether the cooler high 50 degree water temps at this time. They will gobble down chunk baits like sardines and butterfish but will also strike hammered diamond jigs. Often overlooked, wreck fishing along the 30 to 80-mile wrecks can be insanely productive with giant sea bass, pollock up to 35 pounds and cod up to 40 pounds, but you have to scratch around to find the spots they are colonizing. Plan a trip with two to three wrecks in close vicinity around so you can hit a couple of different areas if one isn’t producing to maximize your time.
Without a doubt, November and December are when striper fishing shines the most brightly in NJ. If you want action to last you through the winter months, head out and target the linesiders by boat or by the surf, but whatever you do, do not miss the Fall Run!