Tautog push builds in Delaware Bay as tide windows set up

What's biting

What's next

The next high at this station falls this evening, with the following low arriving before dawn, a tide stage worth building a structure trip around if tautog is the target — that's the window Higbee's has tied to its recent action. NJ's summer flounder season closes September 25, which should nudge more boat traffic and bait pressure back onto bay structure as the reef and wreck crowd thins out.

Expect the tautog bite to keep building into early October as the bay eases off the low 70s. Weakfish should stay in play on the same tide stages that have been producing around the lighthouses, per Big Dave's Tackle, and the mixed panfish bite (spot, croaker, kingfish) should hold as long as water stays in this range.

Context

Mid-to-late September in Delaware Bay is the shoulder season between summer panfish and the tautog run building toward its fall peak. A bay still sitting near 73°F is on the mild side for this point on the calendar, which tracks with weakfish and kingfish still active alongside an early tog push rather than one replacing the other yet. Nothing here reads ahead of or behind schedule; it's the expected September transition playing out on time.