Stone Harbor Weather Forecast
Fishing reports straight from our guides in Stone Harbor
Been doing more beach trips lately. They've been spotty at best, but fun.
The sunrises have been good at least
The sunrises have been good at least
The sunrises have been good at least
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It just keeps getting better! Morning surf trips are giving up good numbers of tasty fish. Have you ever tried northern kingfish? They are super tasty! Flaky mild white meat that makes great sandwiches or tacos. Besides kingfish, there are blues, croakers, spot, sharks, and rays. Great action, especially if you are introducing a child to fishing.
The 4 hour boat trips are giving up a ton of fun too. Flounder are everywhere. Mostly shorts, but some nice keepers in the mix. Triggerfish have officially invaded and pop up on random structure, or chase your catch up to rhe surface....
The 4 hour boat trips are giving up a ton of fun too. Flounder are everywhere. Mostly shorts, but some nice keepers in the mix. Triggerfish have officially invaded and pop up on random structure, or chase your catch up to rhe surface....
The 4 hour boat trips are giving up a ton of fun too. Flounder are everywhere. Mostly shorts, but some nice keepers in the mix. Triggerfish have officially invaded and pop up on random structure, or chase your catch up to rhe surface. There are also plentybof sea bass put there bending rids roo. But they are not in season yet. And tog opens back up in August. Have I mentioned the sharks? They seem to be everywhere. Big ones, little ones, and everything in between. The water has been super clear and blue lately. And if you watch, you can usually spot a shark or ray cruising past.
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Fishing has been up and down. Flounder are biting in the back bays and out in the ocean on the reefs. There are trigger fish holding over some of the wrecks too. Lots of little sea bass too. In the surf there are kingfish, spot, sand perch, weakies, rays, and sharks. So good options for lots of action.
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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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]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".
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".
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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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...
The question burning in our minds was simple; push further out in search of bigger sea bass, or, run back inside...
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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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...
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...
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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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.
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.
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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We ended the year with three great trips! We went out and spot locked over some wrecks and did well with tautog. Green crabs were the go to bait, but clams caught too. When running back inside, we spotted some birds and cruised in close to see what all the fuss was about. Turned out to be striped bass (finally!). So, we dropped jigs down and had a blast catching and releasing stripers up to 40". We kept a few for the table as well. The first two trips were mostly about the stripers. The final trip was all tog....
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Tried bridge hopping with Justin tonight. We hit a few normally productive areas, but they were dead zones. They all held bait, mostly spearing, some sand eels, but no stripers. Not a nibble. There were great blue herons at just about every place we went. That was cool. Not sure what the deal was with the lack of fish. Impending full Moon, strong current, general lack of bait, quick drop in water temperature,...who knows. Maybe next time.”
Tight Lines!
Tight Lines!
Tight Lines!
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