Fall run stirs at Sandy Hook as bluefish and albies push the beaches

What's biting

What's next

Look for the fall pattern to keep accelerating over the next few days. Jingles Bait and Tackle in Beach Haven logged the first striper weigh-in of the season this week, an 8.15-pounder taken on a plug, and early-season bass activity typically works its way north toward Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook as water keeps cooling into early October. Tautog are stirring too: Surf City Bait and Tackle reports blackfish starting to chew around the jetties, a bite that should build through the inlet structure here as fluke season winds down. With the summer flounder closure landing September 25, expect effort to shift toward bluefish, albies, and the building tautog bite. The next low tide here sits around 12:40 AM with the following high near 6:47 AM, so a pre-dawn outgoing tide into the turn is the window worth building a trip around this weekend, especially near the inlet choke points that The Fisherman — New Jersey edition flagged this week for staging bait. Check state regulations before harvesting anything as the fluke season closes.

Context

This tracks close to typical for late September in Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook. Bluefish and false albacore blitzes usually take over the surf right as the summer flounder season winds down, with striped bass and tautog activity building in behind them through October as water temperatures fall through the upper 60s and into the 50s. The overlap this week, a closing fluke season alongside the first striper catches farther south and an active bluefish and albie bite in the surf, is right on the seasonal calendar for this stretch of coast, marking the shift from summer patterns into the fall run that will carry through October and into November.