Shark river reef update sat 5/18

[Togfather2530]

So I wanted to follow up with our run to the shark river reef from sandy hook to sea bass fish for a change of pace. The fishing was pretty lousy and it was mostly feeding bregalls all day. Tried jigging as well to get away from them but that only resulted in foul hooked bregalls. Ended up with 8 sea bass and some ling cod for 4 guys. There were some private boats and party boats there along with us throughout the day and no one was doing anything impressive. We tried many spots on the reef throughout the day. Nothing like burning 200$ in gas to catch bregalls. Hopefully next time is a little better.

[Togfather2530]

I fish closer areas all the time. Wanted to try a different spot that I don’t get to fish much. This report was more just about letting people know how the bite was on that reef Saturday. I was hoping for a much better sea bass bite though.

[Reel Class]

Originally Posted by Capt Joe

Hmmm let’s see....you ran from Sandy Hook to the Shark River Reef. Hmmm.. yea I would say you probably ran past about.....oh maybe 500,000 Seabass? Just a guess of course but probably pretty close. But as long as ya got some Ling Cod that’s ok.

What Capt Joe said!

Further isn't always better. You ran past MILES of good seabass bottom and wrecks that would've probably produced better!

The offshore reef is and always has been known as a great spot for bergalls - all of those pieces out there area always loaded with them. Even when the seabass bite is good out there it's tough. In the summer and fall, other species congregate on the bottom out there and it can be a little better, so as long as you get away from the bergalls.

[Sea Jay]

Hey Togfather

Thanks for the report, last year the last weekend in May we fished there and limited out by 10 am with all fish over 14”. So nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[Togfather2530]

Thanks for the insight. I fished it pretty hard all day after going out. Quite a bit of ling. I’ll fish some other areas and post my findings next time out. Either way it was nice to change it up for the day. Also I marked tons of coordinates while I was there. Drifted mostly all day with the conditions we had there. Good luck everyone