Summer Fishing in Local Waters

Most members of the Gateway family use their boats to fish. Some are hardcore anglers, others enjoy wetting a line occasionally as an adjunct to their time on the water. The one thing we all share is the abundance of fishing opportunities available throughout the year, some of which can be found just a short run from the marina.

Summer and early fall offerings on the piscatorial menu include fluke, striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, bluefin tuna and mahi mahi. And if steaming up a pot of blue claw crabs in Old Bay seasoning piques your appetite, you’re in the right place because the Navesink and Shrewsbury Rivers are crawling with the tasty crustaceans.

Fluke are the star attraction of summer because they are readily available, easy to catch and great on the plate. Early season fluke action takes place in our two rivers, and they are there when the season opens in early May feasting on grass shrimp. Ultralight spinning outfits work best and the baits of choice are small jig heads with Gulp curly tails or shrimp imitations. As summer takes hold the action in the lower river and bay picks up. A few marina sharpies drift along the docks right out front and catch a surprising number of keeper fluke. Tides have an impact on when they bite best, but the techniques are the same - jigging bucktails with Gulp or squid strips. If you’re up for chasing big fluke, head around the Hook and south to places like the Shrewsbury Rocks, the Sandy Hook Reef, the Scotland Grounds and other structure areas where they often feed. You’ll need even heavier jigs or drift rigs and sinkers along with a strip baits and even live killies. Fluke season runs from May 4 through September 25 with a minimum size of 18-inches and a three fish per person bag limit.

Black sea bass are often caught while fluke fishing, but you can only keep one per person from June 22 through September 22 and it must be over 12.5 inches. The real sea bass fishing starts up again in the fall when bag limits rise.

Most of the large striped bass that inhabit the bay and nearby ocean waters have left the area on their summer migration north, but there are a surprising number of resident bass that hang out all summer long. Drifting sandworms in the Shrewsbury River can produce decent catches of bass including keepers in the 28 to 32-inch slot size limit. Night fishing around the bridges can be productive on certain tides and moon phases, and Raritan Bay and areas in New York Harbor hold stripers all summer, too. One of the best ways to catch them there is fishing with live bunker or spot. If you see Chuck Many, the marina’s resident striped bass expert, around the docks or on his boat Tyman, he is a ready source of information on all things striped bass.

Bluefish are making a comeback with small blues often found chasing baitfish under flocks of terns around the tip of the Hook and down the beach fronts. Larger blues are settling in on traditional spots like the Mud Dump, 17 Fathoms and the Rattlesnake to mention a few. Spinning tackle with shiny metal lures like diamond jigs are frequently all you need, but if you really want to get into them bring chum and bait. More blues in the five to 10-pound class have been caught in the past week.

Weakfish are still a scarcity, but small ones seem to be around. They are most apt to hit worms drifted in the rivers or around the channel edges in Raritan Bay. Chapel Hill Channel was once a favorite spot for weakies, especially at night, and bucktails tipped with sandworms were the hot ticket, but not many anglers do that anymore.

We’re still waiting to see if the bluefin tuna will move close to shore, but there are rumors that a few have been caught within ten miles of the beach. A couple years ago fish to 300-pounds moved into the area at the end of the Ambrose ship channels feeding on bunker. Trolling, jigging and casting poppers are the most popular techniques. Just make sure you have heavy enough tackle and a highly migratory species (HMS) recreational permit from NOAA for your boat. It can be purchased online at https://hmspermits.noaa.gov/. If you’d like to try for a more readily available pelagic species sharks have been abundant and make for a challenging catch and release fishery. A bucket of chum and some dead or live baitfish will usually do the trick. The HMS permit is required for fishing for sharks, too.

Quite a few of the bigger boats on the south docks are canyon capable and if that includes you the variety of fish you can challenge increases to include yellowfin and bigeye tunas, white marlin, mahi mahi, and even a shot at a blue marlin. The tip of the Hudson Canyon is about 80 miles from Sandy Hook.

On the mahi front, summer typically sees small to medium sized mahi taking up residence around the commercial pot buoys around the Mudhole. Live bait or a variety of lures fished around the highfliers can catch these colorful, acrobatic gamefish and they great to eat.

If a lazy day of crabbing sounds like fun, the upper Navesink is one of the best places to put out your baited traps. Areas around bridges, bulkheads and channel edges are all good spots to drop the traps, sit back with a cold one and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

For a compendium of New Jersey marine fishing regulations or to sign up everyone on your boat for the state’s free saltwater fishing registration online go to https://dep.nj.gov/njfw/fishing/marine/seasons-and-regulations/.

We are honored to be your Gateway to boating fun and great fishing.