So where are the real sea bass?f fri 7 sat report

[Togfather2530]

Went fluking in the navesink and shrewsberry river friday. Managed 4 keepers to about 21" between the 2 of us. Wonder rig with killie and a jighead with gulp was our presentation. We didn't catch that many fish but the keeper ratio was good.

Saturday I had plans to catch a decent amount of sea bass before the limits reduce. I was optimistic after reading some reports since the season opener and haven't been able to get out yet. Finished the day being rather disappointed with it. Started out hitting some hard bottom areas in the scotland area trying multiple drops then fished the fisherman buoy area trying about 6 or 7 different areas there and then headed south more and tried 3-4 more drops east of the SHR. fished 35- 65' feet of water. At every drop there was immediate life but nothing but rinky dinky juvenile pathetic fish nibbling. At the fisherman's there were a few respectable charter guys and plenty of private 250K$ boats with triple outboards on them seemingly being content bouncing around and catching these dinky fish. I fished this way as long as I could keep my friend content (1/2 day) before having to give up and go fluking. Talked to another guy who worked the rattlesnake area somewhere last Thursday and had 4 keeps out of 100. If this is what it is then its a fishery for an 8 year old lol. Im not looking for any specific spots but what is the deal? 17 fathoms? 100' of water? shallower or deeper? How much fuel does one need to waste and how far does one need to go to catch 10 lousy 121/2" fish? I don't mind running if its not a goose chase. My idea of "excellent" sea bass fishing is occasional double header 15" fish lol. After all what the hell is the point of the high low rig. Also why would there be hardly any bigger fish but tons of juveniles? After a day of that nonsense I felt bad for the charter boats out there. Any insight would be appreciated. Also with all this talk on here about this fully recovered fishery at 240% I have to say Im beginning to wonder an awful lot. I did not see very many good reports of off shore bottom fishing this winter at all.

[Togfather2530]

Any insight or thoughts would be much appreciated guys, Thanks

[Joey Dah Fish]

Try using a jig avoiding more of the smaller fish. There’s plenty of keepers out there.

[Togfather2530]

Thanks Joey for your thoughts and suggestions. I am pretty experienced at bottom fishing. I did jig a 47 and hopkins for quite a while with no luck in bigger fish. I’m not seeing it. I’ve been on enough good sea bass trips to know it shouldn’t be that hard.

[Joey Dah Fish]

I’ve been out a few time it was very good with good quality fish. Changed to fluke

[Togfather2530]

Thanks Joey. . Hopefully others will have some insight on depths and their recent findings. Maybe the “real” fish are picked off already. I can’t see that considering the regulations we’ve had in recent years and the season just started a few weeks ago. A 12 1/2” sea bass doesn’t have much meat on it.

[frugalfisherman]

Sea bass has been open a couple of weeks. The bigger fish have been picked off these areas.

[porgylber]

I was out on Thursday and our charter had no problem putting together a good catch. We were in 90 feet of water, due east of the Highlands. I’d guess about 5 miles. There were plenty of shorts, but the big boys were still there, with a bonus appearance of some slob ling! Good luck!

[Flygaff]

I was out there on Thursday. Lots of small fish. I caught 63 Sea Bass, 2 skates, a robin and a dog. only 6 keeper SB.

[hammer4reel]

we jig fished yesterday . had well over 100 sea bass moving around looking for marks.
fished in 90' of water

as you said lots of little fish.
would have been an east limit keeping 12 1/2" fish .
we opted for keeping only fish 14" or better and kept 16 for the three of us fishing.

Fish were feeding HEAVILY on blood worms, every fish we caught was bloated with them to the point I was surprised they even hit the jig.

[Reel Class]

I would fish deeper. Typically if there's small fish inshore, inside of 65' I'd look deeper say >75'.

[Togfather2530]

Sea bass has been open a couple of weeks. The bigger fish have been picked off these areas.

So my thought to this is that if all the bigger fish get picked out of areas this quickly its a good thing they are beating us up on the sea bass seasons anymore. Imagine if the grounds were beat on all season long. Its seems crazy that 3 weeks into a season on a fish that has been regulated like sea bass have that they are picked out so quickly.

[Togfather2530]

Thanks to everyone for their replies and suggestions so far. I guess next time ill go deeper and see if I can put something together

[Pauls1976]

Last weekend we were on a well known wreck in 70’ of water. Loaded up on Sea Bass to 3.5lbs. Fish were loaded with tiny sand eels. So we switched from Ava17’s to 007’s and couldn’t keep the jigs in the water. We even jigged a couple squid.

[Capt Joe]

Went fluking in the navesink and shrewsberry river friday. Managed 4 keepers to about 21" between the 2 of us. Wonder rig with killie and a jighead with gulp was our presentation. We didn't catch that many fish but the keeper ratio was good.

Saturday I had plans to catch a decent amount of sea bass before the limits reduce. I was optimistic after reading some reports since the season opener and haven't been able to get out yet. Finished the day being rather disappointed with it. Started out hitting some hard bottom areas in the scotland area trying multiple drops then fished the fisherman buoy area trying about 6 or 7 different areas there and then headed south more and tried 3-4 more drops east of the SHR. fished 35- 65' feet of water. At every drop there was immediate life but nothing but rinky dinky juvenile pathetic fish nibbling. At the fisherman's there were a few respectable charter guys and plenty of private 250K$ boats with triple outboards on them seemingly being content bouncing around and catching these dinky fish. I fished this way as long as I could keep my friend content (1/2 day) before having to give up and go fluking. Talked to another guy who worked the rattlesnake area somewhere last Thursday and had 4 keeps out of 100. If this is what it is then its a fishery for an 8 year old lol. Im not looking for any specific spots but what is the deal? 17 fathoms? 100' of water? shallower or deeper? How much fuel does one need to waste and how far does one need to go to catch 10 lousy 121/2" fish? I don't mind running if its not a goose chase. My idea of "excellent" sea bass fishing is occasional double header 15" fish lol. After all what the hell is the point of the high low rig. Also why would there be hardly any bigger fish but tons of juveniles? After a day of that nonsense I felt bad for the charter boats out there. Any insight would be appreciated. Also with all this talk on here about this fully recovered fishery at 240% I have to say Im beginning to wonder an awful lot. I did not see very many good reports of off shore bottom fishing this winter at all.

My suggestion would be a box of tissues and a new set of golf clubs. jmho

[Jigman13]

I can't sea bass fish in Jersey after being spoiled out on the East End. Struggling to catch 12.5-13" fish to fill a creel limit isn't fun. Some have $ numbers for bigger fish but most seem to be catching barely keepers in the summer months. Tough to fish here for them during summer season. I'd rather go east for cod, 20+" sea bass and 2.5+ lb porgies.

[Foul Hook]

We fished yesterday on my rig.we made six stops to either drift and or anchor with only tiny fish like you spoke of. After getting the same reports from the AC reef we decide to run out to he SRR which yielded a few more keeper size ,but only up to about 14 inch. We jigged, clammed, gulp even squid for bait same results. Just a slow day. The high light for us was a 24" whiting

[Togfather2530]

My suggestion would be a box of tissues and a new set of golf clubs. jmho

Thanks for your replies to all. I have no problem trying deeper and or trying more pieces as need be. Just wanted to get some insight and see what others are experiencing. I just can't believe there are so many small fish and its that much of a struggle to get decent sized fish. Obviously fishing pressure is a lot more than people realize in my opinion.

As for captain Joe, if you don't have anything worthwhile or productive to contribute why post.

[Capt Joe]

jmho!:)

[reason162]

As for captain Joe, if you don't have anything worthwhile or productive to contribute why post.

Maybe bc your thread is questioning the vocal consensus here that seabass regs are nonsense. If you believe that then your experience must leave you scratching your head.

My feeling is it's probably yet another species that will benefit from some sort of slot limit. I love a big 4+lb knothead as much as the next guy, but just like 30lb stripers and 5+ lb fluke...those are the brood stock with the "big fish" genes to pass on.

[Togfather2530]

No I’m merely saying if many spots are getting picked of all the bigger fish in 3 weeks time then it’s good I guess that it’s a short season. Everyone wants to fish all year for them. I’m also saying a 12 1/2” fish is hardly much of a fillet. Salt water fishing needs to be sustainable. Fisherman all want a liberal season and there is a lot of pressure on these fish. Honestly the point here is that I found it odd that it’s that hard to get keepers picking through so many short fish. I’ll keep bouncing around on more smaller pieces and looking. There were plenty of fish and I mean plenty. Just nothing of any size whatsoever.

Now on another note. Do most of u feel the sea bass group together according to size? I have read that. In that case one would want to move around to find bigger fish. Or do you feel your better off working it until you catch a few bigger fish. I have done both in the past, but I’m wondering what others opinions are that might know more about their behavior.

Thanks, Don.

[hammer4reel]

Maybe bc your thread is questioning the vocal consensus here that seabass regs are nonsense. If you believe that then your experience must leave you scratching your head.

My feeling is it's probably yet another species that will benefit from some sort of slot limit. I love a big 4+lb knothead as much as the next guy, but just like 30lb stripers and 5+ lb fluke...those are the brood stock with the "big fish" genes to pass on.


black sea bass are protogynous hermaphrodites, meaning they generally first mature as females and some later become male. The sex change generally occurs over the winter when the fish are 240 to 330 mm (9.4 to 13.0 in) long

[bunker dunker]

calm down,all is good.saturday was as good as it gets with nice c-bass and yesterday was a great catching day with a greater short to keeper ratio.there are plenty of c-bass around. we had bass stacked up 30ft off the bottom yesterday.if the spots your fishing are not holding the fish you want,go look around.they were packed up tight with sand eels on both days so maybe they
are not that hungry.

[henro]

I think no matter what with the sea bass you're going to have to weed through the shorts to start stacking up keepers. The fish are so thick that the shorts continually get to the baits/lures quicker. Just be persistent and keep picking.

[Chrisper4694]

we had two good weekends in a row but the fish def moved, we looked and looked sunday and couldn't find any sort of decent keeper ratio anywhere we looked, but we didn't try much deeper water or really shallow water.

The 2 trips we did have good keepers, 31 out of 40 of the keeper sized fish came on the jig! and yes we counted!

[reason162]

black sea bass are protogynous hermaphrodites, meaning they generally first mature as females and some later become male. The sex change generally occurs over the winter when the fish are 240 to 330 mm (9.4 to 13.0 in) long

I was vaguely aware of this species trait, thanks for clarifying. Male or female, taking only from the top of the size pyramid is probably a bad idea.

[Togfather2530]

I was vaguely aware of this species trait, thanks for clarifying. Male or female, taking only from the top of the size pyramid is probably a bad idea.

I was vaguely aware of that as well. It is from my understanding that most of the big sea bass would be males. I’m not sure if they have “big fish genes” or not. I would think if they live long enough and have a good food source they would all get to 15-16”. I’m happy with 15-16” sea bass. I could be wrong about that though. Thanks for everyone’s input. Unfortunately I didnt make it out in the beginning of the season bc of other obligations. Seems others had difficulty as well. I’ll search more.

[reason162]

I’m not sure if they have “big fish genes” or not. I would think if they live long enough and have a good food source they would all get to 15-16”.

I think by definition, big fish will have big fish genes. Or rather, big fish genes built the brain with the correct behavioral patterns to grow a big fish body :)

In any case, good luck on your hunt! I haven't been out once this year for seabass...I might have to travel for the big ones as Jeremy pointed out.

[SaltLife1980]

Sea Bass fishing is boring.. :D:eek:

[Ice Cream Bill]

Roger, thanks for the input. Absolutely love your fishing and cooking videos!

I have to agree with Jigman 100%. If you have fished on head boats out in RI, MA NY and CT (i.e. Block Island) catching 3-4 lb fish, then fishing in NJ for 12.5 inch “keeper” sea bass is not fun. If I want huge sea bass in NJ, it will cost me $200 to go offshore in Nov/Dec. (which I’ve done the past 3 years).

However, I have been pleasantly surprised by my early season sea bass results:
May 29th NS boat Brielle 14 keepers (ORL 10), 3 ling
June 8th Ocean Explorer me+ daughter 14 keepers, 1 four spot flounder
June 10th NS PP charter Caught limit, 1 ling

I use clam/other bait/Gulp. Hardly ever jig which will produce the bigger fish 9 times out of 10. Tons of fish around; you just need to know how to weed through the little ones. Be careful what you wish for. New York’s season has yet to open up. Tight Lines!

[Capt Sal]

Any insight or thoughts would be much appreciated guys, Thanks

Go deeper and you will be rewarded.It takes a few trips to learn but just think of how many boats fish the Rattlesnake .Why? Easy trip?

[reason162]

Roger, thanks for the input. Absolutely love your fishing and cooking videos!

I have to agree with Jigman 100%. If you have fished on head boats out in RI, MA NY and CT (i.e. Block Island) catching 3-4 lb fish, then fishing in NJ for 12.5 inch “keeper” sea bass is not fun. If I want huge sea bass in NJ, it will cost me $200 to go offshore in Nov/Dec. (which I’ve done the past 3 years).

However, I have been pleasantly surprised by my early season sea bass results:
May 29th NS boat Brielle 14 keepers (ORL 10), 3 ling
June 8th Ocean Explorer me+ daughter 14 keepers, 1 four spot flounder
June 10th NS PP charter Caught limit, 1 ling

I use clam/other bait/Gulp. Hardly ever jig which will produce the bigger fish 9 times out of 10. Tons of fish around; you just need to know how to weed through the little ones. Be careful what you wish for. New York’s season has yet to open up. Tight Lines!

Thanks Bill!

I was just musing out loud...Like any other fishery, I'm sure 10% of fishermen catches 90% of the fish! I was going to travel east with my kayak this year, but I may have missed my window for yak seabass.