I’ll take the month of May any day over any other month to fish. Truly, it is the first real month of solid fishing on all fronts, from surf to inshore to offshore and what a start we’ve had. Stripers carpet-bombed the Raritan Bay and northern NJ rivers throughout April and that fishery should be all hands-on deck during May up and down the state. Fluke season reopens on May 4th with a 3 fish bag limit at 18-inch minimum size in all ocean waters, except for the Delaware Bay where the minimum size is at 17 inches and all signs point to a great start of the season. Bottom fishing will be ripe with activity as black sea bass season also reopens with a 10 fish bag and size at 12.5 inches from May 15 to June 21st. Tog fishing is unfortunately closed now, but bluefish should be exploding in the river systems and nearshore. Tuna fishing could be phenomenal, but no reports came in as of early April just yet. If history is a good gauge, which it always is, the bluefin should be thick this month. Let’s go!!!
RARITAN BAY
Big Bang Boom! Stripers came in full force the first week of April inside the Navesink and Shrewsbury River systems and began to spill out into the Raritan Bay. We could have an historic run of stripers this spring. Bass were whacking glidebaits, SP Minnows and shads non stop with catches of 50 to 60 for boaters and 20 to 30 for shore anglers hitting the backside of Sandy Hook and at the Amboys. Post spawn stripers will be in full feeding mode throughout the big bay at all spots from Port Monmouth to Great Kills and off Coney Island. They will be aggressive to hit all types of plastics, poppers and plugs, just choose your weapon of choice and follow the busting schools on the surface. If bluefish come in, it could be an all-out bass and blues festival up and down the bay from the Amboys to Romer Shoal. The fluke opener could be red hot inside the river systems with small ½ ounce bucktails tipped with Gulp or Fishbites bounced on the bottom. Bigger fluke will be inside the Bay, at spots off the Amoo Pier, Chapel Hill Channel and Ambrose Channel or off the Coast Guard shacks. You could easily catch a grand slam of bass, blues fluke and possibly even weakfish on any day out so be prepared with the appropriate arsenal to score big time.
NORTHERN COAST
As mentioned, the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers were on absolute fire for stripers and stragglers will still be inside the rivers to cast poppers or plugs in the shallows of 4 to 7 feet of water or dropping shads in the deeper 15-to-20-foot channels. Whatever lure you throw, stay with white or yellow color patterns for your best hookup rate, especially by the Oceanic Bridge area. Big time fluking will be in the Shrewsbury River system, way back inside the channels even to Gooseneck Point, bouncing bucktails tipped with mackerel or bluefish or squid strips. Shark River will also be a solid hot spot to target fluke, especially inside the inlet from the train bridge out to the jetties drifting shrimp rubber baits or bucktails. Don’t overlook the opportunity way back inside Shark River by the Tennis courts or Shark River Hills where they will stack back there on the shallows warming up on the flats. Fluke will also be pushing out near the end of the month to colonize the inshore lumps and humps in 25 to 50 feet of water off of Asbury, Elberon and Deal. Don’t overlook winter flounder opportunity in Shark River as most anglers forget about them when the bass come rumbling through but they are always there in May. Bring plenty of chum to stir up the flundies to feed and put as many people on the boat as you can with such a diminutive limit at a two fish bag at a 12-inch minimum size. Striped bass will be patrolling the Shrewsbury Rocks and hanging off the Ketty tips in Jetty Country from Manasquan up to Asbury Park with anglers trolling big bunker spoons, Mojo ball rigs or simply looking for bunker schools and blasting out poppers or dropping down rubber Storm or Tsunami shads bounced off the bottom.
CENTRAL COAST
Backwater fluke fishing will be at an all-time high when the season opens, especially inside of the Manasquan River and Barnegat Bay. In the Squan, fluke tend to stay in the shallower waters off of Treasure Island and Clark’s Landing, but will spill up toward Dog Beach and off the Big Jamaica mooring. In Barney Bay, Oyster Creek Channel is always top notch, drifting the channel edges with bucktails and spearing/squid combo baits with teaser rigs. Early morning risers will target stripers and bluefish off the soodbanks near the inlet area to toss poppers along the banks to pull fish. Bluefish tend to invade through Barnegat Inlet and colonize the channels and flats where topwaters get whacked with reckless abandon on outgoing tides. With all the bass, fluke and bluefish activity many people forgo the immense winter flounder opportunity off of the Mantoloking Bridge, Silver Bay and down by Pelican Island at Toms River. Bloodworms or sandworms, or mussels and clam bits tipped on the hook will get you connected. Another not so glamorous species is the black drum invasion during the full and new moons during May as they enter the Barnegat to spawn out. Two years ago, the drum came in thick and strong with fish up to 65 pounds sucking down fresh clams off the Seaside Park bayside docks and channels for boaters.
OFFSHORE
When the Bluefin tuna season is open, its usually bananas on the midshore grounds in May. True “horse mackerel” meaning bluefin of 400 to 600 pounds will be hanging around off of Long Island and the Mud Hole areas as properly outfitted anglers with heavy duty spinning gear can tackle the fish on poppers and sturdy glidebaits. If smaller medium class fish are around, they can span anywhere from 3 miles off out to the canyons, its just a matter of staying tuned each and every day to save gas and find the fish to cast lures or troll squid spreader bars around until you find the schools, then you can drop 180 to 200g metal jigs on top of them to bring them up. Always check the tuna regs as they literally can change day to day. Some BFT anglers will opt to chunk them up, dishing out butterfish or sardine slicks and whole baits drifted back into the slick for an adrenaline infused runoff.
It doesn’t get any better than May Spring fishing. All fronts from surf to inshore to offshore will be firing for most of the available species in New Jersey. DO NOT miss out! Get the boat in the water and get on the bite!