Stripers and sea bass fire up as Jersey Shore boats wait out nor'easter
NOAA CO-OPS readings show 64.6°F at station 8534720 and 65.5°F at station 8536110, water still holding onto late-summer warmth as the fall run gets underway. The bigger story this week is the nor'easter that pinned Jersey Shore boats to the dock: captains reporting through The Fisherman — Northern NJ and The Fisherman — Central NJ described record street flooding at Belmar and Beach Haven, with charters like the Golden Eagle and Skylarker tied up all week. Before the blow, the bite was strong. The Fisherman — Southern NJ reports very good nighttime striped bass action on the back-bay sod banks during flood tide, fish running 16 to 29 inches on bucktails and Mag Darters. Blackfish, weakfish, striped bass, bluefish, croakers and kingfish kept anglers busy on most tides per The Fisherman — NJ/DE Surf. Capt Ron's Atlantic Highlands NJ put anglers on all-day black sea bass action on the last clear days before the storm, and Blue Chip Sportfishing NJ calls sea bass charters very good, with full-boat limits on half- and full-day trips. False albacore and bonito are still working the beaches too, per OTW Northern New Jersey and Fishermans HQ LBI's live-bunker trip.
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What's biting
What's next
Seas should start dropping through midweek. The Fisherman — NJ/DE Offshore cites the National Weather Service forecast for high pressure building in, with seas easing to 3 to 4 feet by Wednesday and winds turning W/SW around 10 knots, the window boats sidelined by the storm are waiting on. Several Northern NJ captains, including the Big Mohawk III and Ol' Salty II, expect to resume trips by midweek once the surge drains and the Belmar lots dry out.
That reopening lines up well with what was biting hard right before the blow. Look for striped bass to keep firing on the sod banks around the tide change, and black sea bass to stay thick on the local wrecks and reefs once boats can get back to them. Grumpys Tackle's bucktail sale, timed to the fall run, tracks the pattern of migrating stripers pushing through as nights cool off. With the Waning Gibbous moon building toward last quarter, expect stronger tidal swings this week, good news for the flood-tide striper bite once the fleet is back on the water. False albacore should keep showing on the calmer days behind the storm as peanut bunker continues moving through the surf.
Context
Late September on the Jersey Shore sits at the pivot between summer holdovers and the fall run proper, with striped bass, bluefish and false albacore overlapping the tail end of black sea bass and a tautog bite building on structure. A nor'easter stalling boats for the better part of a week is a normal fall-run hazard here, not a sign the season is running behind; it compresses the calendar rather than erasing it. Fluke season is closing out on schedule for this time of year, shifting attention toward sea bass, tautog and the migratory species that define October on this coast.
Synthesized from real-time NOAA buoy data, USGS stream gauges, and current reports across regional fishing blogs, captain updates, and angler forums. Check local regulations before keeping fish. Never trust a single source for a trip decision.
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