Sea bass and fluke close strong as fall stripers build off Sandy Hook

What's biting

What's next

Expect the fall transition to keep building over the next few days. The next low tide at Sandy Hook is predicted for 3:55 PM local time, and afternoon-into-evening drifts around that tide change have been where Capt Ron's boat has found its better sea bass and fluke action this week. With a waning gibbous moon overhead, tide swings should stay strong enough to keep bait moving, which should hold bluefish and lingering false albacore in range of the beaches and reefs a bit longer.

The bigger story for returning anglers is striped bass. OTW's Northern New Jersey report flags improving fall-run striper fishing as the nor'easter's chop clears out, and that's typically the signal Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook anglers wait for heading into October — cooling water pushing bait, and stripers, tight to structure and the surf line. Fluke fishing is worth checking against current state regulations, since Capt Ron's reports suggest the season is winding down. Sea bass should keep producing into the weekend based on the charter reports above, and it looks like a good bet to hold up as one of the more reliable bottom options as fluke closes out.

Context

This lines up with a typical late-September pattern for Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook: fluke winding down, sea bass filling the bottom-fishing gap, and bluefish and false albacore holding on the coast before stripers take over as the headline fall species. A passing nor'easter slowing the bite for a few days, as the Northern New Jersey report describes, is also normal for this stretch of the calendar — the fishing typically rebounds within days once wind and swell settle. The region is solidly in its fall transition now, with the striped bass run typically building through October as water temperatures continue to drop.