Nighttime Surf Report

[Hookmanski]

Here you go Andy!!

Had a plan in mind at work today and decided to shoot right down to the shore as soon as I got off. Pulled up to the inlet at 6:45 after a long drive, line in the water by 7. Gotta love “local summer” at least, got a great parking spot

I fished around the inlet for about an hour with no real action. Met a guy named Chris who I recognized from the Facebook page as a bass guy, he said it was his first time ever saltwater fishing. Nice meeting you! Unfortunately the inlet bite was not hot today, I didn’t see one fish landed. After dark, I rolled up the pant legs and took off the shoes, threw em in the backpack to go shallow wade the surf. I had tossed a few different lures around the inlet like deadly dicks and epoxys, but in the surf I knew I wanted to throw the blurple SP Minnow.

Started casting and walking north, the wind was blowing from the south pretty good. About 15 minutes in I was hooked up - something pulled a good amount of drag off my new tsunami shield 5000, but unfortunately it came off the hook. I was thinking it was a decent sized blue.

Walked the beach slowly and made what seemed like hundreds of casts before I hooked up with a very greedy snapper blue. He had something going on with his head, like he had been attacked or had some kind of disease. I stuck around that spot for a bit and got a few more light strikes but nothing else.

I was hitting the jetties the whole way up and after walking almost 2 miles I decided I should probably start heading back the other way. It was about 10pm at that point and I live an hour and change away, plus I gotta work tomorrow! on the way back I decided to focus my attention on the jetties. I was giving the rod a good swipe to get the SP to the sand and after that a slow retrieve , kicking up sand on the bottom. The second jetty on the way back was the winner as I got slammed. Fish fought hard and put a good bend in my MH 10’ airwave and I thought it’d be a blue for sure, but it turned out to be a decent schoolie bass!! I had really hoped I’d catch one but didn’t want to get my hopes up, so I was freaking out (which is evident in the picture quality). After a quick picture, I got it back in the water and it kicked off hard out of my hands. I was throwing the 5” SP, so I think the fish was somewhere in the 18-22 inch range judging from the photo. I forgot the tape measure so no official length.

Nothing else happened after that but I didn’t care, it was a great night. Water was warm, wore only a light jacket, and the beach was empty. Can’t wait for more fall saltwater fishing! Tight lines!!

[bulletbob]

Nice report, and good job on the striper.. Keep getting down to the shore at night, and put your time in. .. In a few weeks, around mid October the Striper fishing heats up, and if you put the time in, you may get in on one of those "right time right place" scenarios.. You don't have to be a great fisherman to have a great fishing experience.. You just have to be there when the fish are, and have something on your line they will eat...bob

[Brewlugger]

Good catch there, congratulations.

[MudCat08]

Fantastic surf report. It took me two years of chasing bass to get my first striper. You definitely have to be at the right spot at the right time as said above (I kept getting unlucky). Schoolie bass fight hard I bet it was fun!

[AndyS]

Once you learn how to read the beach you won't even need to go near jetties.
My best striped bass night fishing I had snow in my headlamp.
Keeep at it !

[Hookmanski]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

Nice report, and good job on the striper.. Keep getting down to the shore at night, and put your time in. .. In a few weeks, around mid October the Striper fishing heats up, and if you put the time in, you may get in on one of those "right time right place" scenarios.. You don't have to be a great fisherman to have a great fishing experience.. You just have to be there when the fish are, and have something on your line they will eat...bob

I'm going to try and do one night a week and see if i can get on some more/bigger ones. Can't wait!

Originally Posted by Brewlugger

Good catch there, congratulations.

Thanks man!

Originally Posted by MudCat08

Fantastic surf report. It took me two years of chasing bass to get my first striper. You definitely have to be at the right spot at the right time as said above (I kept getting unlucky). Schoolie bass fight hard I bet it was fun!

I just started fishing for them last year and I love it. I was lucky enough to catch one on my first try targeting them, but then went months without seeing another. Hopefully this fall i'll get on them pretty good!

Originally Posted by AndyS

Once you learn how to read the beach you won't even need to go near jetties.
My best striped bass night fishing I had snow in my headlamp.
Keeep at it !

The first fish (the one i lost) was about as far away from a jetty as I could've been on this beach! Same with the blue, I caught him in the trough just past the wash. I have a pretty good understanding of the structure from years of surfing, but can't wait to learn it even better. Thanks again for all the gear!

[NJ219bands]

Great trip. Last year I made 53 trips to the Manasquan Inlet north jetty and only 1 of the 100+ fish that I caught of 9 species was a striper at 18” caught on an Ava A17 in the evening in October. This year I made 10 trips to Manasquan and caught 13 blues, a blowfish and a bunker. I’m going to do more plugging this year and hopefully will catch more stripers. Last year I didn’t see any stripers other than the one that I caught.

[shrimpman steve]

Very nice report! Time on or in the water=fish

[torchee]

Raritan bay from shore was hot before sunrise last weekend. Plenty of bluefish life, had seen 2 bass caught - no luck for me yet...

Actually land a few keeper fluke on snagged peanuts after sunrise.