RJ
09-05-2009, 03:53 PM
Overview: With nice weather on the horizon the fishing looks good for the unofficial end of summer. The only bad news is a closed fluke season means more scrabbling to find the next best thing. Most party boats will be switching over to bottom fishing until the fall run kicks into gear. Schoolie bass are the only kind of bass to be found with most cow stripers still offshore. Spike weakfish are just starting to mosey their way into the rivers and inlets. Some areas in the Barnegat Bay are seeing weakfish to 3 pounds at best. Kingfish, croakers, blowfish and bonito round out the top fish available near the bay.
Island Beach State Park: A few keeper bass were weighed in this week from the Park. Most bass are still shorts, but larger bass were taken from the Pocket on clams near the lighthouse. Snapper blues are still in large numbers in the Back Bays behind the park. Shark fishing has slowed down significantly due to the drop in water temps. Spike weakfish were caught near the Route 37 Bridge on pink Fin-S and shedder crabs. False albies and bonito schools from last week are starting to move north and out to sea.
Waretown: Fluke numbers near the Lighthouse were doing a little better until the season closed on Friday. Only a few days of the week saw bluefish schools travel in and out of the Barnegat Inlet. Double Creek Channel is also loaded with fluke and legal kingfish and croakers. The BB and BI Buoys in the Oyster Creek Channel are seeing increased blowfish bites as well. Not much action to the south of Barnegat Inlet.
Island Beach State Park: A few keeper bass were weighed in this week from the Park. Most bass are still shorts, but larger bass were taken from the Pocket on clams near the lighthouse. Snapper blues are still in large numbers in the Back Bays behind the park. Shark fishing has slowed down significantly due to the drop in water temps. Spike weakfish were caught near the Route 37 Bridge on pink Fin-S and shedder crabs. False albies and bonito schools from last week are starting to move north and out to sea.
Waretown: Fluke numbers near the Lighthouse were doing a little better until the season closed on Friday. Only a few days of the week saw bluefish schools travel in and out of the Barnegat Inlet. Double Creek Channel is also loaded with fluke and legal kingfish and croakers. The BB and BI Buoys in the Oyster Creek Channel are seeing increased blowfish bites as well. Not much action to the south of Barnegat Inlet.