Striped bass fleet zeroes in on big body of fish off Ocean County
Ocean County locales seemed to be the hot sport over the long Thanksgiving weekend for striped bass, as both the fleet and surf fishermen were zeroed in there.
The big body of fish were out front of the Seaside Heights boardwalk down through the two barrier islands, Island Beach and Long Beach. The cows appear to have moved on and as fishermen landed a ton of schoolie size to keeper size fish. The drifts were long and metal jigs were very effective in catching them.
Capt. Louis Farris had Nuccio Arrigo's boat Opportunity few miles north of Barnegat Inlet 60 feet of water on Friday and then directly in front of the inlet on Sunday in 30 feet of water. He said this body of bass was loaded with 25 to 38 inch fish and they had their limit within 15 minutes of fishing. He said they were successful trolling through the fish or drifting the schools and jigging. He said the water temperature was 52 degrees. On board was Farris, Nuccio and his father Frank Arrigo and Ed Schuyler.
More: Boats crush striped bass as super fall run maintains torrid pace
Farris said he heard some chatter on the radio of bluefin tuna landed in the same area but about six miles off the beach. There have been a few captains chasing these so-called ghosts. Shore Catch Guide Service reported one of their captains, Jerry Malanga on the Eastbound, a 25-foot Contender got one over the weekend.
Grumpy's Tackle in Seaside Park had several fish weighed in and tons of reports from the beach. According to the shop the bites were spread out and sporadic, but in some places they went on for hours. Depending on where one was on the beach some anglers got into all out blitzes and some didn’t do too well.
As far as what the bass were feeding on the shop said there are sand eels, adult and peanut bunker, as well as butterfish holding them in the area.
Blackfish
Not everyone chased stripers over the weekend. The blackfish, or tog as many call them, are biting.
More: What's biting: get the latest fishing reports here
The Jersey Coast Shark Angler's Club chartered the Mimi VI for Thanksgiving morning run out to the Shrewsbury Rocks. Karl Viemiester of Brielle was one of the anglers on board and said the blackfish preferred the white legger crabs over the green crabs. He had one keeper at 2.9 pounds and five shorts. Chris Mullen of Point Pleasant caught the pool fish, which was a few ounces shy of 4 pounds.
When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Fall run: big body of striped bass now off Ocean County coast
