Stone Harbor Fishing Reports (May 2026)

Frank B.
Stone Harbor, New Jersey
Reported 1 week ago

The crazy good surf striper fishing continues along the NJ Cape! Soaking clams or bunker is yielding big striped bass, some nice sized bluefish, and pesky dog sharks and skates. Plugging the surf is hot! Lots of stripers to be had, and occasional mini blitzes of blues. With the cooler...

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Frank B. Stone Harbor, New Jersey Reported 1 week ago

The crazy good surf striper fishing continues along the NJ Cape! Soaking clams or bunker is yielding big striped bass, some nice sized bluefish, and pesky dog sharks and skates. Plugging the surf is hot! Lots of stripers to be had, and occasional mini blitzes of blues. With the cooler than normal water temperature the striped should stick around for awhile. Flounder fishing is fair, it would get better if the dirty water would clear up. And drum fishing in the Delaware Bay is finally heating up. Getting class to go out and play is the only issue.

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Frank B.
Stone Harbor, New Jersey
Reported 3 weeks ago

]The beaches are giving up some really nice striped bass. They are hitting a variety of plugs, clams (fresh and salted), and bunker chunks. There are some black drum in the mix too. The back bays are giving up good numbers of stripers too. And the flounder are pretty thick...

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Frank B. Stone Harbor, New Jersey Reported 3 weeks ago

]The beaches are giving up some really nice striped bass. They are hitting a variety of plugs, clams (fresh and salted), and bunker chunks. There are some black drum in the mix too.
The back bays are giving up good numbers of stripers too. And the flounder are pretty thick too. Looking forward to flounder season opening up!
I've been splitting time between the beaches and back bays and doing well. Lots of stripers from 20 to 40".

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Clint C.
Cape May, New Jersey
Reported 4 months ago

Last couple of days all were released too big

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Clint C. Cape May, New Jersey Reported 4 months ago

Last couple of days all were released too big

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Clint C.
Cape May, New Jersey
Reported 5 months ago

Fishing was good today

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Clint C. Cape May, New Jersey Reported 5 months ago

Fishing was good today

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Jeff S.
Somers Point, New Jersey
Reported 5 months ago

The striped bass migration has arrived off Atlantic City. Massive schools of bunker, bass and bluefin when the wind lays down.

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Jeff S. Somers Point, New Jersey Reported 5 months ago

The striped bass migration has arrived off Atlantic City. Massive schools of bunker, bass and bluefin when the wind lays down.

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Frank B.
Stone Harbor, New Jersey
Reported 2 years ago

What a fun day out! Skel and I ran out to see what we might find. First stop was the reef. We spot locked over a pile of rubble and hauled up short sea bass, after short sea bass. I managed three blues and a triggerfish too. Made a move...

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Frank B. Stone Harbor, New Jersey Reported 2 years ago

What a fun day out! Skel and I ran out to see what we might find. First stop was the reef. We spot locked over a pile of rubble and hauled up short sea bass, after short sea bass. I managed three blues and a triggerfish too. Made a move to o eof the wrecks, but it was barren. Ran a few miles further out and tried another wreck. We found more sea bass, but they were even smaller.
The question burning in our minds was simple; push further out in search of bigger sea bass, or, run back inside and enjoy the bent rods? We ended up pushing further out. We found some sea bass pots and worked the area in between them. There were clouds of fish! We started off with bait, Mole crabs, clam, and squid. Then I changed up to jigging. Jigs were the ticket. Bigger fish and quicker results. While hauling up a ton of short sea bass, we slowly drifted close to one of the pots. We noticed some movement and realized there was a big school of little mahi holding to the structure. We tried chunks of peanuts, whole peanuts, and all sorts of lures. Skel managed to finally get one of the slightly larger mahi to bite his chunk. It bent the rod for about three seconds and spit the hook. I finally had enough. I ran back over to the little piece of rubble and dropped our jigs. We started
right back where we left off. The sea bass were voracious, and for some reason, bigger. We hauled in fifteen keepers in short order, along with loads of shorts. I even got a big porgy.
Unfortunately time wasn't on our side. I could've stayed out there all day. But, obligations take precedence over fun at times...

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Frank B.
Stone Harbor, New Jersey
Reported 2 years ago

Fished the surf this morning with Christopher and his crew. Early 6am start allowed for viewing the sunrise, always a nice bonus. The surf wasn't bad, but a steady two feet pounding the shore. That'll come into play later. I set up six rods to start. Two with bloodworms and...

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Frank B. Stone Harbor, New Jersey Reported 2 years ago

Fished the surf this morning with Christopher and his crew. Early 6am start allowed for viewing the sunrise, always a nice bonus. The surf wasn't bad, but a steady two feet pounding the shore. That'll come into play later.
I set up six rods to start. Two with bloodworms and Brown Dog Bomb kingfish rigs, two with cut bait (bluefish, kingfish), and two shark rods with chunks of bluefish and kingfish. It didn't take very long for one of the kingfish rigs to attract a hungry fish.
Our first victim was a little kingfish, which we released. I figured out the fish were in fairly tight to the beach, so I kept the casts short. The cut baits and shark baits were eaten by pesky fish and crabs. We picked at kingfish while the tide slowly began to ebb. I was hoping the turn out would spark the bite a bit. The only thing it did was bring in some weakfish and skates.
We ended up with six kingfish, three skates, and two weakies. Not stellar by any means, but a nice day. Things got a bit slow as the tide slowly ran out. Then suddenly one of the shark rods started to get pecked. Seemed like a skate or doggie bite, but when dude grabbed it, it took of screaming. He held on tight and reeled when he could. The beast dragged him down the beach a good way. I followed and coached him as he battled the heretofore unseen assailant. Finally, a good two hundred yards from where we started he began to gain line and draw the beast in toward shore. Suddenly the surface erupted and the head and pectoral fin of a sizeable sand tiger emerged and thrashed. I told him to expect heavy resistance when it hit

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Frank B.
Stone Harbor, New Jersey
Reported 3 years ago

Flounder fishing has been pretty good in the back bays lately. Gulp and various meats have been working well. The sea bass bite on the Inshore wrecks is on fire. You can't hit the bottom with a jig without being hooked up. The surf continues to produce nice striped bass...

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Frank B. Stone Harbor, New Jersey Reported 3 years ago

Flounder fishing has been pretty good in the back bays lately. Gulp and various meats have been working well.
The sea bass bite on the Inshore wrecks is on fire. You can't hit the bottom with a jig without being hooked up.
The surf continues to produce nice striped bass and puppy drum, both on fresh clams. Salted works for stripers too.
And to add to the fun there have been some nice weakies and blues around as well. Fishing is in full swing here and should only get better.

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