Barnegat bay report
 

Bass fishing has been phenomenal lately, bloods working good during the day then the magic happens at night. I have stumbled upon quite a few night time blitzes , most fish are in the 20-26" range with a healthy dose of keepers. The only problem is the amount of people fishing at night, I usually run into 3-4 but with everyone off its now 10-20 at all hours of the night. Perch fishing has been slow with more yellows then whites and starting to see more and more crabs.

Re: Barnegat bay report
 

Nice report. Curious about your thoughts on the power plant being closed? It seems the Bass fishing is getting better.

Re: Barnegat bay report
 

The reason why it appears the fishing's getting better is that all those fish are still pouring into the bay, now more fish than ever, and they're not going to OC -- They're more spread out, there's seemingly more of them, and they are basically accessible from every single access point from the PP Canal all the way down to Beach Haven inlet.

What happened before was the schoolies would really stack up in that waterway, and there would be SOME at all of the other known spots. Now, since few of those fish are going into the outflow, all of the other fish are inhabiting those other spots and they're stacking up.

So yeah fishing is getting better and I honestly think there's more bass in the bay now then there ever has been.

Re: Barnegat bay report
 

Agreed, they are not stacked up by the plant and more widespread. It seems to be a very good run so far for sure. Last summer while Fluking near the BB/BI we noticed alot less of that annoying snot weed as well and I think that is due to the plant closing too.

Re: Barnegat bay report
 

The snot/shmegma has been around forever. It grows over the winter on the bottom and it basically "releases" and dies as the water warms and gets washed out. Some years it's worse than others. N Barnegat Bay and the Manasquan River always have it bad, as well as down S near the causeway. It's a type of algea/sea grass.

Re: Barnegat bay report
 

I thought New Jersey was shut down after dark???? How are you fishing?

Re: Barnegat bay report
 

Thanks for that Captain. I'm a Benny from North Jersey so I get things mixed up sometimes. I'm sure you are well aware how that goes. The main thing is there are some Bass around. Going to give it a try tonight

Re: Barnegat bay report
 

With all due respect, consider worrying about yourself and the safety of your family... You don`t get the responses you would like on this post, so you start another 1 **under Fishing in N.J.... Again, with all due respect, take a deep breath and relax... Life has changed for the time being, it has not completely stopped... I am not advocating reckless behavior, just common sense over hysterics.... Please maintain safe social distances... Before you know it, this will be in our rear view mirror...

Re: Barnegat bay report
 

Thanks for that rumster.... Couldn't have said it any better!!

Re: Barnegat bay report
 

My pleasure....

Re: Barnegat bay report
 

LOL wasn't saying you aren't knowledgable. Maybe you're right with the plant shutting down it's affecting the growth, who knows. All I know is when I set up at a semi-familiar bass spot (after perch fishing) last night near LBI I saw LOADS of shmeg all over the bottom so who knows. S wind was cranking and we only gave it 5 minutes as all the prime spots were taken and we didn't feel like freezing our asses off.

Re: Barnegat bay report
 

I really have no knowledge about it and I appreciate you letting me know. I miss fishing the OC outflow but I'm glad the plant is shut down. I chose to do some plugging along the Raritan bay shoreline around the top of the tide and caught nothing. The Bunker were pretty thick in there and it was really nice weather. I was happy to see a guy and his kids get one nearby on bait.