Sea bass stay red hot as fluke rebuilds along the Jersey Shore

What's biting

What's next

The squid push pulling bluefin tuna toward the Jersey coast looks like the story to watch over the next several days. Fishermans HQ LBI describes bluefin arriving on 20-to-30-mile runs behind a heavy squid invasion, and OTW Northern New Jersey's more recent count has fish as close as 15 to 40 miles out, so if bait stays thick the tuna bite should hold or even tighten closer to shore. Anglers heading offshore should plan on drifting live and dead bait over the grounds early, per Fishermans HQ LBI, and should double-check current retention limits, since NJ Saltwater Fisherman notes the Atlantic bluefin angling-category limits remain in effect through the end of the year.

Fluke should keep trending in the right direction. OTW Northern New Jersey has ocean fluking trending upward on the reefs, and Capt Ron's out of Atlantic Highlands is finally seeing quality keepers after a slow start to the season, with fish up near 5 pounds coming on gulp sand eels. With water in the mid-60s, expect that improvement to continue as more fish stack onto structure through July.

Sea bass should stay a dependable bet regardless of what tuna and sharks are doing offshore. Blue Chip Sportfishing has anglers limiting out on almost every trip right now, and that kind of bottom-fishing pace typically holds up well into summer.

In the surf, Grumpys Tackle's rebound report ties improving weather to stripers back on clams and fluke responding to bucktails and soft plastics. With the Last Quarter moon easing tidal extremes this week, the turn of the tide around dawn and dusk should be a more consistent window than fishing peak current. Weekend anglers should also keep an eye out for sharks, since Blue Chip's Mako catches suggest warm offshore water is already drawing sharks within charter range, a bite that typically builds as summer progresses.

Context

NJ Sea Grant's State of the Shore report for 2026 describes the Jersey Shore entering the season in strong shape after a winter with only limited storm impacts, with forecasters calling for a near-to-slightly-below-average hurricane season, generally favorable conditions for a normal summer fishery. The current mix, sea bass locked in as a dependable summer staple, fluke rebuilding after a slow spring, and bluefin tuna arriving behind a squid push, tracks fairly closely with a typical early-July pattern for this region rather than signaling anything unusually early or late. Fishermans HQ LBI's own framing of a "spring-to-summer transition" now underway matches the seasonal shift anglers typically expect as beach crowds build with summer visitors. The Mako shark activity Blue Chip Sportfishing reported is consistent with the warm-water shark run that typically follows inshore bait buildups this time of year, though nothing in the available intel offers a clean comparison against prior seasons' shark numbers. Overall, the sources gathered here don't include enough season-over-season detail, no direct comparison to 2025 catch rates for these species, to call this a standout year one way or the other. It reads as a fishery tracking normal early-summer form across sea bass, fluke, striped bass, and bluefin tuna, rather than an outlier season in either direction.