It’s June and its time to get crackin! The summertime is now officially here, and with it comes an avalanche of fishing opportunity in the saltwater. No doubt, fluke fishing will take top billing as the start of the season has been on for a month now and flatfish should be all over the back bays and out front. Straggler stripers will be hanging around through the month both for boaters and surfcasters. Bluefish could be thick as thieves and weakfish are on the prowl. Black sea bass season is open until June 19th with a 10 fish bag at 12.5 inch minimum size and all signs point to an incredible fishery already here. Sprinkle in tuna on the midshore and offshore grounds and we’ve got a lot to do. Let’s get started.
RARITAN BAY
Striper fishing was firing inside Raritan Bay through the month of May and the schools will still be around in June, though mainly they will be localizing near the mouth of the bay at spots like west Bank, Coney Island Romer Shoal and the Sticks areas. Topwater popping is the most exciting way to score with the linesiders as you creep up on feeding schools attacking the bunker from below. You can also opt to drop down soft baits like RonZ or NLBN lures to trick them up from below. As per usual, to find schools you can troll and drop back Mojo Balls, bunker spoons and shad bar rigs dragged at a 2 to 3 knot pace. Bluefish can also be milling around the bay and if they moved in hard in May, they will be primed to stick around through June to attack any single hook metals or lures you want to toss at them. Generally they are in the 6 to 14 pound class so be prepared for a fight. Top on the list however will be fluke as the flatfish stick to the channel edges and shallow flats to pounce on bucktails, dragged squid and spearing combo baits as well as strip baits such as bluefish or mackerel. Regular haunts are off the Ammo Pier, Chapel Hill Channel, the Coast Guard Row, and Keansburg, you just have to keep bumping around to find where the packs are holding and when you do find them, don’t leave them until the bite slows down. There’s always a chance at finding weakfish in the Swash Channel and Flynn’s Knoll, with that fishery happening during the night hours and low light as sandworms drifted on bottom float rigs can tangle you into weakies that can even push 10 pounds.
NORTHERN COAST
Unlike last year, the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers had plenty of bass to go around as bunker schools invaded the rivers this spring and they should keep the bass there this month for another go at it. Yo-Zuri white mag Darters were top lures to toss as were white paddletail shads in the deeper channels. Stripers will have trickled out of the Raritan Bay by now and are readily available up along the shores of the Highlands, Shrewsbury Rocks and basically anywhere north of the Manasquan Inlet as you cruise around looking for marks. We could see an influx of big bluefish too mixed in with the bass so always have an assortment of beat up lures you don’t mind losing or getting damaged when casting for blues. Fluke are high on the hit list now and the flatties will be close to the inlet areas outside of Shark River and Manasquan mainly in 35 to 60 feet of water. Anglers usually like to work the hardscrabble structure of the Klondike, Sea Girt Reef and Elberon Rockpiles with Bucktail and strip baits to bounce over and between the rocks to hang some fluke. 1 to 2 ounce bucktails are best as you can easily dislodge them if they come tangled in the rocks. Always bring a couple tubs of Berkley Gulp swimming minnows in size 3 to 6 inches as fluke absolutely love the scent baits. Those Gulp baits will also be primo to target black sea bass all along the rockpiles with 1 to 5 pound sea biscuits jumping on the Gulp baits on hi-lo or three hook dropper rigs. The Sandy Hook reef, Farms and 17 Fathoms are all legit spots to drop down for sea bass, move around from rockpile to rockpile to find the haystack markings of fish gravitating above the structure piles.
CENTRAL COAST
Stripers took awhile to get moving along this stretch of coast out front as of May not many anglers were out trying, but the backwaters were lit with activity as stripers hung in the Squan River, Barnegat Bay and behind Seaside Heights for much of the month. That said, the shore off of Bay Head down through IBSP should be ripe with bass action for boaters trolling bunker spoons or dropping jigs on top of the schools. Trollers at this time of year also happen to inadvertently get hit by thresher sharks on the bunker spoons providing plenty of lifetime memories for those that hook into the thrashing splashing creatures. Barnegat Bay proper should be loaded with bluefish by now and any day out from sunup to sundown should have choppers on the bite hitting poppers and plugs anywhere and everywhere. Good spots are usually Dog Beach in the Squan river and back by the old Hospital. The big news on this stretch last year was the invasion of big black drum that came in to spawn. Clammers anchored up in the channels could have 6 fish nights on boomers to 50 pounds, but the dock walkers casting clams off the Seaside Piers were into equal amounts of drum catches. Those Cyldesdales will be filtering into the IBSP surf cuts and sloughs providing plenty of rod bending action for surfcasters. Often overlooked, weakfish are usually in their prime feeding month now as tiderunners up to 10 pounds were historically caught inside Barney Bay by Oyster Creek and in any channels as they are apt to pounce on pink soft baits reeled in super slow. As the month progresses, smaller spike weakfish will congregate near Myer’s Hole where they can be shrimped up on bobber rigs. Fluke fishing will take top billing here too as Oyster Creek Channel and Double Creek Channel usually house remnant breeding fish up to 8 or 10 pounds even, though most bay fluke will be shorts and fish up to 4 or 5 pounds making for a fine outing to supply the dinner table. If anyone is still interested in targeting winter flounder, this is also a prime month to clean up the rest of the fish that may be inside the bay, mainly off of the Mantoloking Pier and upper Silver Bay as well as on the north side of the Point Canal off of Clark’s Landing.
OFFSHORE
Will we have yet another monster season of giant bluefin tuna? Time will tell but true giants of 400 to 700 pounds were all around last year at this time off the northern and central parts of the coast anywhere from right off the beaches out to the Mud Hole, HA Buoy and Barnegat Ridge areas. Most anglers troll ballyhoo rigged on blue/white Ilander lures or by casting RonZ lures to the breaking fish. More experienced anglers will search for the tuna schools and cast topwater poppers and big slidebaits for bone-jarring strikes and long battles. We can hope that medium and small sized tuna of 27 to 73 inches will also be around to bring home to the dinner table, but you have to stay very cognizant of the tuna regulations as they can literally shut down or change by the hour. Further offshore in the canyons, the Hudson area at spot inshore of it at the Triple Wrecks and surrounding 60 to 80 mile wrecks usually have bluefin hanging around along with the usual whale pods and all sorts of mackerel, herring and bunker baits. The canyon season for yellowfin tuna usually starts up around now so long as water temps are above 65 degrees offshore. Chunking sorties overnight can be productive with 30 to 70 pound class YFT. Next month’s report should tell the tale if the tuna are going to show in full force or not this year, but now’s the time to get ahead of the fleet and hit it hard.
June is firing on all fronts! Let’s go fishing!