Bonito and albies push toward Sandy Hook as fluke season winds down

What's biting

What's next

Expect the next few days to be about finishing out summer flounder before the September 25 closure, per The Fisherman — New Jersey edition. With the First Quarter moon this week, tidal swings should stay moderate rather than extreme, which should keep Capt Ron's pattern of grindy-but-steady drifts intact through the weekend rather than producing a sudden hot bite one way or the other.

The bigger story to watch is the small-tuna push. Grumpys Tackle (NJ) flagging bonito and albies alongside the fluke bite is typically an early tell for this stretch of the Jersey Shore — as bait continues to stage and move out of the back bays, that action tends to concentrate closer to the Hook and along the reef and rip lines through late September. Anglers chasing light-tackle speedsters should keep an eye on the inlet and bay-mouth edges over the next couple weeks as that bite typically builds.

Striped bass are the one piece still missing. Nothing in current reports points to a real bass push into the bay yet, and cooling water is usually what flips that switch — worth checking back as overnight lows start dropping, which typically nudges the early fall bass run into gear locally. Bluefish should stay a steady, if unspectacular, presence in the meantime; the pattern out of the neighboring Belmar-area boats (per The Fisherman — Northern NJ) has been hit-or-miss day to day, which is normal for this transitional stretch of the calendar.

Weekend anglers should plan around the tide change rather than fight it — Capt Ron's reports this week describe the bite improving noticeably once the tide turns, with better numbers and quality coming after the slack. Early risers targeting fluke should prioritize the last hour of the outgoing and first hour of the incoming. With the season closing in about a week, this is also the window to get a final legal fluke trip in before the focus shifts fully to blues, bonito, and whatever early stripers start showing.

Context

A hard fluke closure on September 25 is standard for the New Jersey season, so the closing-week grind Capt Ron is describing out of Atlantic Highlands tracks the usual late-season script — fish are still around, but the easy numbers faded weeks ago and it's a tide-and-effort game now. That struggle for a clean drift shows up across several of his recent reports, which is typical for mid-to-late September in Raritan Bay as bait patterns shift and boat traffic thins with kids back in school.

The bonito and albie mix Grumpys Tackle (NJ) is reporting alongside fluke is a normal seasonal overlap for this stretch of the Jersey coast — small tunas typically start showing in local reports through September as bait pushes out of the back bays. Seeing them mentioned in the same breath as fluke, rather than only after the fluke season closes, suggests this year's timing is tracking close to average, maybe fractionally early.

Striped bass are the one spot where there isn't enough direct signal for Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook specifically to say whether the fall run is early, late, or on schedule — the only NJ Fish & Wildlife mention of stripers this cycle is a general habitat note tied to the Shark River WMA, not a bite report, so characterizing the timing further would be padding rather than analysis. Worth revisiting once local shops start reporting actual striper catches instead of listing them as a resident species.