Stripers, tog rebound on NJ's Delaware Bay as nor'easter clears
A nor'easter that flooded Cape May County docks and kept most Delaware Bay boats tied up all week is finally clearing, and the NJ-side bite is coming right back. NOAA's Cape May station reads 68.7°F as of Friday evening, still solid fall-run water. Per The Fisherman — Southern NJ, Big Dave's Tackle says the bay and back bays produced the week's best action before the storm, with kingfish, croakers and spot mixing with a good tautog bite off the bridges and lighthouses on sandfleas and green crabs, and plenty of baitfish pushed up the bay and into the inlets. Pier 47 Marina and Fin-Atics, in the same report, both flagged strong nighttime striper action along the sod banks on flood tide, fish running 16 to 29 inches with a few over 31. Per The Fisherman — NJ/DE Surf, Hands Too Bait and Tackle had blackfish, weakfish, stripers, bluefish, croakers and kingfish going before the storm cut up the bayside and beaches.
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What's biting
What's next
Winds are swinging around out of the W/NW behind the storm, and Fin-Atics expects stripers to feed heavily as soon as the blow clears, with peanut bunker, mullet and spearing still thick in the back bays.
The overnight low near 10 PM tonight and the following high near 3:30 AM are the tide windows worth building a trip around, with the flood stage favoring the sod-bank striper bite these shops have been describing. With the moon at last quarter, tidal swings stay moderate rather than extreme, keeping that flood-tide window fairly consistent through the weekend.
The tog bite at the bridges and lighthouses should hold or build as water cools toward true fall numbers, and black sea bass stacked on the bay-area wrecks, per Hands Too and Waterfront Marine, should keep producing once boats get back out. Fluke are winding down regardless of the weather; check current NJ regulations before targeting summer flounder as that season closes out.
Context
This fits the calendar for the Delaware Bay's NJ side in early October. Tautog typically strengthens through fall as the water cools, and a strong back-bay striper run on bait and flood tides is the classic early-fall signature here. Peanut bunker and mullet pushing out of the back bays and into the inlets is the usual cue for this transition, and it matches what shops are already describing this week.
The week's disruption was storm-driven, not a sign the season is lagging; shops across the bay describe the same shape, solid pre-storm action interrupted by a nor'easter, with the bite expected to resume as conditions settle. Black sea bass holding on bay wrecks and tautog working structure both track typical fall timing for this stretch of the bay.
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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