Page 8 - Phil Sciortino News Today

A recent cold snap shut down some reliable back-bay striper fishing, but with more bait around as we near April, fishing is just heating up.

Northern New Jersey Fishing Report – July 22, 2021 July 22, 2021 Warmer water added heat to this week’s fishing. Better fluking was reported on all the local reefs and wrecks, Spanish mackerel popped up along the beaches of Monmouth County and while the tuna bite may have lost a step, bluefin, yellowfin and bigeye were caught at the mid-shore spots and the canyons. There was even a report of white marlin in the Island Beach State Park surf, but more about that later… Northern New Jersey F...

May 27, 2021 Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle in Seaside Park shared this picture of a good day’s fluke catch on Barnegat Bay earlier this week. For Memorial Day Weekend, there’s something for everyone. Striped bass, bluefish, fluke, black sea bass and ling are all in the mix. For the freshwater folks, there’s plenty of trout around plus large and smallmouth bass and panfish. Now if  the weather will just cooperate, it will be a good unofficial start of summer. Rick Hebert at Tackle World in R...

  Tak Waterman in Long Branch shared this photo of Rob Radlof (left) and Gerard Faccone with the 104-inch bluefin tuna caught this past week on spinning gear. Photo by Kyle Arcomono. Tuna fever gripped Monmouth and Ocean counties this past week. Giant bluefin popped up close to shore about a week ago and the boats quickly got on the fish. Some very big tuna were caught on the troll, popping plugs, and stick baits. The story of the week was the 104-inch behemoth caught by Rob Radlof and Gerard ...

May 6, 2021 The big bluefish that crashed into the inlets last week are still around and now in the bays, river and along the beaches. At the same time, the bass bite continues strong in Raritan Bay and has spread into the rivers and onto the beaches. Add to that reports of bluefin tuna and good freshwater action and it looks like a good weekend of fishing. Northern New Jersey Fishing Report Tackle World shared this photo of Pete Rock and the Raritan Bay striper he caught earlier this week. Ric...

April 29, 2021 Connor Thompson from Grumpy’s Bait and Tackle in Seaside Park got this big blue in the local surf on Wednesday. Big bluefish are back on the menu. The long and lean racer blues showed up in Raritan Bay, the Shark and Manasquan rivers and in the surf starting on Tuesday. Add these tackle busters to the plentiful striped bass in the bays and rivers and good freshwater fishing and you’ve got a solid spring fishery. Northern New Jersey Fishing Report Rick Hebert at Tackle World ...

Spring fishing is gathering steam. Trout fishing has been good since opening day in rivers, lakes and streams and anglers are catching pre-spawn bass, crappie, pike and pickerel. The strong Raritan Bay bass fishing continues with a new body of bigger fish moving in over the last few days. And the striper bite is starting to pick up in the beaches with bait and artificials. The bottom fishing isn’t bad either with cod, blackfish and ling coming over the rails of private and party boats. Rick H...

Nothing like a few days of warm weather to get things going. A couple of sunny days lit up the bass bite in the Toms River and Barnegat Bay and even brought a few keeper flounder out of the mud in the Shark River. Stripers are also hitting along the Raritan Bay beaches on bloodworms and small plugs. There’s been better action in freshwater as well as panfish, pickerel and largemouth bass are being caught in local ponds and lakes. Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet said short and...

It didn’t take long. Striped bass season opened on Monday and initial reports were pretty good with   keepers caught in Raritan Bay and the rivers down south. There were plenty of shorts caught and released as well.   Reports also circulated of a few winter flounder caught by the Mantoloking Bridge and in Belmar. Granted, the bite is far from hot, but we’re off to a good start. Warmer, sunny days are in the forecast and that will only help the cause. The Tackle Box in Hazlet posted this ...

By all accounts, tog fishing remains a bit of a slog. There are days when the weather and blackfish cooperate and anglers who put in the time and effort are rewarded. Unfortunately, there haven’t been a whole lot of those days. The majority of the blackfishing is a pick and there isn’t much else to fish for right now.  Offshore cod, ling and porgy trips have been hampered by bad weather and finicky fish. Freshwater anglers are finding some bass and crappie in local ponds and lakes but even...