Fluke and sea bass carry the Jersey Shore bottom bite

What's biting

What's next

With a new moon in play, tides are running stronger than usual. The next high at the Sandy Hook station lands around 7:23 PM ET, worth building an evening drift around, and Cape May's next low near 2:18 PM ET sets up a good midday window for working bottom structure.

If the pattern holds, the fluke and sea bass bite should stay steady into the weekend, with water sitting comfortably in the mid-60s rather than dropping toward the colder marks that shut bottom fishing down. North along the coast, Saltwater Edge in Rhode Island is already describing a fall run that is "blowing up," a signal the broader migration is underway and could start pushing striper activity toward Jersey Shore waters as nights continue to cool.

Context

Early October sits in the heart of the Jersey Shore's fall transition, the stretch when bottom species like fluke and sea bass typically hold strong before colder water shifts effort toward migratory stripers and bluefish later in the month. A fall run building now, rather than arriving late, is on the typical schedule for this stretch of coast.