Well, it looks like “Ground Hog Day all over again” for the Long Beach Island area and the captains and boats of the Beach Haven Charter fishing Association.
Another multi-day northeaster is bashing the area with strong winds, large waves, and high tides. This should keep the boats tied up at the docks until the end of the upcoming week.
While this time of no fishing is not positive news, there might be some good to come out of it. Hopes are high that this most recent storm will spur on the migration of striped bass to local waters. Prior to the storm, there were schools of bunker close to shore. If these bunker remain and stripers arrive, things could truly pick up.
Before the most recent storm arrived, there was a pick of fish on inshore reefs and structure. Although the daily limit on tautog is only one per angler until November 15, there seems to be a decent population of these popular fish.
There are also locations holding good populations of black sea bass. With a current daily limit of ten fish per angler, it is possible to put together a full box.
The offshore bite for tuna was strong prior to the most recent northeaster. It is not possible to predict this bite will be there after the storm, but boats will be traveling east to test the waters.
Captain Brett Taylor of “Reel Reaction Sportfishing” had a few stripers before the weather turned. He had trips both for stripers and tautog. One trip resulted in several striper runoffs, but no fish boated. Togging was on the slow side, but his parties did have action with some fish in the box. A goodly number of fluke were also around, but they are now out of season.
