Chris Parlow News Today

Sea bass season starts off with a bang, fluke and bluefish are chewing in the rivers, and cow stripers take metal lips and live bunker out front.

Bigger bass are taken on plugs in the surf and around Raritan Bay while bluefish keep piling into Barnegat Bay and the rivers; meanwhile, the near-shore giant bluefin bite continues.

Bluefish storm the beaches and inlets, fluke begin to show in the rivers while tog fishing improves on the reefs, and bluefin tuna are caught within 12 miles of shore.

Smaller stripers are scattered throughout the surf, tog fishing is best for anglers dissecting small structure, and the bluefin bite wraps

Prior to the storm, stripers took sand-eel imitations in the surf, double-digit tog were chewing, and bluefin tuna were caught on the troll.

Stripers take diamond jigs and flutter spoons while the surf bite slows, tog fishing is hit or miss out front, and bluefin tuna smash ballyhoo and big paddletails in close.

Tog fishing has been hit or miss and the surf has scattered striper action as bass move slightly offshore, where bluefin tuna are taking trolled ballyhoos.

Stripers push south through the surf of IBSP, tautog fishing has been inconsistent, and bluefin tuna take paddletails and trolled ballyhoo close to the beaches.

Stripers and gator blues feed on bunker and sand eels in the surf, Raritan Bay hosts a solid bass bite, and tog fishing is better around the jetties and inlets than the wrecks.

Stripers blitz on sand eels, peanuts and adult bunker along the beaches and tog are caught from the jetties to the wrecks as the 5-fish blackfish limit begins.