Gone are the beach badge checkers at every entrance, the lines of boats waiting to get through the train bridge and non-stop traffic to get to the marina – its September! Anglers are in their glory as the shift of the season gently moves on in with Local’s Summer bringing us cooler nights, bait migrations and intense fishing opportunity. The seasonal shift is kind of strange in that it keeps some fish here, provokes others to leave and ushers in new species. The first rumblings of a striper migration should start especially on the heels of hurricane swells. Bluefish could very well be back in the fold. Fluke fishing ends on September 25th leaving plenty of opportunity during the month to score your last doormats. Tuna fishing should be ultra primed with bluefin, yellowfin and bigeye tuna all on the menu, along with the white and blue marlin species. Bottom fishermen can still find blackfish, sea bass and even sheepshead. It’s go time!
RARITAN BAY
Savvy fluke anglers know the big bay coughs up some large and in charge fluke during the month of September as deeper channels attract big flatties to hunker down and feed out of the heated water temps above. Ambrose Channel is the huckleberry spot on the outskirts of the bay as the depths can reach near to 80 feet where the big tankers to ship glide through. Live spot on fishfinder slide rigs or bucktails bounced with 10- to 12-inch-long fluke bellies garner strikes from 10-pound plus fish. Near the mouth of the Raritan Bay, the swirling currents off the Rip and Romer Shoal sometimes have visiting cobia hanging around to hit a live eel or bucktail with soft bait. More standard fare of stripers and bluefish should start to push into the bay and can really be found by trolling Mojo balls or jigging spoons. Way back in the bay at the Keansburg and Belford piers you will find anglers on the planks dropping clam and squid baits on hi lo rigs to score with croakers, spot and small weakfish in the area. Its always worth mentioning the chance at finding true tide runner 10-pound plus class weakfish lurking in the dark at Flynn’s Knoll or Swash Channel where drifted sandworms historically found their mark with the spiketooths.
NORTHERN COAST
On the very tip of the beaches in Sandy Hook, the Rip is the spot to find false albacore ripping around as they ambush the schools of rainbait that spill out of the big bay. Albies are pretty easy to find as you will see terns diving on the bait they push up from below as well as their arching backs rainbowing out of the water. Cast thin metals or even Cripped Herrings their way and rip them back to you at a jackrabbit’s pace to get struck. There can also be oceanic bonito mixed in with the albies which will hit the same offerings. Perhaps interestingly, spike weakfish have been staging in the 30-to-40-foot depths off of Asbury Park and surrounding areas as they stack on the bottom part of the water column and will eagerly chase after metals like ava jigs dropped and reeled back up. Some weakfish can push the 20-inch mark in there too. Speed demons’ schools of bonito and albies can pop up at anytime, though tend to be more active in the pre-dawn and sunrise hours right outside of the Manasquan Inlet area and usually by 10 AM they sink down into the water column again. Striped bass will surely be moving back into the area again as eels livelined on planer boards in the 50-to-65-foot depths will usually find any migrating fish in the 30 to 40-pound bracket off the Shrewsbury Rocks. Last licks at fluke will have flukesters bouncing the bottom at the Long Branch lumps, outside the Shrewsbury Rocks and still scratching at the hardscrabble structure off of Elberon and Deal. If you want to make a little run, head out to the Shark River Reef where basically anything could be happening but mainly ling, porgies and blackfish on the bottom with albies, bonito and even bluefin tuna up top there.
CENTRAL COAST
Reef sites host fantastic options including the Axel Carlson, Barnegat Light and Sea Girt sites. Up above many tropical pelagic will be hanging around the sea bass hi-flier pots with chances at albies, bonito, Spanish mackerel and the prized jewel of mahimahi sticking close to the pot lines. Pot hop around the minefield and see who’s home, toss a small bucktail with curly grub tail and if you see mahi come off the pot, there should be hundreds with it. If you don’t get hit or bit in three to four casts, move onto the next pot. Down deep, fluke of larger stature of 4 to 8 pounds are always caught in the low-lying structure of the reef such as the army tanks, tire units and wooden wrecks. If you time your drift right, bounce or drift strip baits between the tanks and tires to find the fluke as they lay in between feeding with the funneling currents. A little bit further offshore at the Manasquan and Barnegat Ridges, all bets are off as big fluke will have migrated out there, but they blend with offshore pelagic that pushed in such as mahimahi, bonito, bluefin tuna and all sorts of sharks. In the backwaters, the Barnegat Bay is alive with activity as remnant fluke hang in the channels and Barney Inlet area, weakfish school up off of Myer’s Hole, and both bluefish and stripers will hit poppers tossed out on the flats during the early morning hours. The Manasquan River will be holding fluke as well more east past the 35 drawbridge and inside the inlet area. The Pocket on the south side of the inlet should amass plenty of Spanish, albies and bonito during the sunrise hours as they feed on spearing filtering out on the outgoing tides.
OFFSHORE
Small and medium bluefin tuna were populating the midshore and offshore grounds in August as spots like the Atlantic Princess, Mako Hotel, Glory Hole, Wind Farms Texas Tower and more saw tuna crushing poppers, stickbaits and jigs with fish averaging in the 40 to 80-pound class and some larger ones blended within. Mahi began to show up in force during late July as the offshore pots and debris fields had chicken and gaffer class dolphin hanging around to smack peanut bunker and bucktails tipped with Gulp Baits. Occasionally some bull dolphin up to 30 pounds and greater could be trolled up around the pots. Anytime offshore always keep your eyes open for feeding schools of tuna crashing on bait pods often betrayed by the presence of whales breaching with in them as well. Yellowfin tuna will be amassing more along the canyon walls of the Hudson, Lindenkohl, Spencer and Toms as butterfish and sardine baits can hook into them during the night hours and early morning time frame. If you do get tired of catching mahi and tuna for some reason you can still opt to drop down deep in the 400-to-700-foot depths to reel up some golden tilefish for the cooler.
September is truly the month where all currents of fishing come together inshore and offshore. Its all a matter of finding your window and picking a species to target to make it all worthwhile. Enjoy the post-summer craziness and hit the salt!