Fishing in Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay

This may be the most underrated bay system in the country. Although surrounded by densely populated areas with vigorous industry, and subject to water flow from the polluted Kill Van Kull, Raritan Bay has been cleaned up considerably over the years. This bay was once famous for its oysters, but pollution shut down all shellfishing except for relay to clean waters for later harvest or for processing in depuration plants. Although rarely clear, the bay waters are extremely fertile, and bountiful harvests of baitfish and grass shrimp attract droves of such predators as summer flounder (fluke), winter flounder, bluefish, striped bass, and weakfish.

Except for pound nets and the purse seining of menhaden (bunkers), netting isn’t allowed in the bay. Even that is prohibited on the New York side of the bay, and efforts are underway, aided by spotter planes, to end the decimation of that most important forage fish each spring and summer by mostly out-of-state bait purse seiners. Unfortunately, a great deal of illegal dragging has been conducted at night by “pirate” trawlers primarily operating out of Belford, although that activity recently has been reduced as law enforcement agencies implemented night scoping tech-nology to nab the well-organized bandits.

A unique fixture on the Jersey side is the Naval Ammunition Pier at Earle, which extends far out in the bay. Fishing is off-limits for boaters inside the buoy line around the pier, but navy personnel enjoy great sport off the pier, especially for striped bass at night. A large party and charter boat fleet sails out of the modern port at Atlantic Highlands, which is near the mouth of Shrewsbury River and also features a large launching ramp. Nearby Leonardo State Marina has a party boat and some charters but caters mostly to private boats and features a good ramp with ample parking. Other party and charter boats sail from Highlands, Keyport, Morgan, and Perth Amboy.

The season starts in March as winter flounder become active; that fishery continues into early May, and the peak usually occurs during April. Although the flounder population along the coast was extremely depressed during the 1990s, Raritan Bay produced excellent angling every spring. Many fish ranged into the 2- to 3-pound class and shorts were few. The clam beds off Staten Island often attract weekend fleets in the hundreds, although many productive flounder grounds are spread throughout Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays. The latter comes alive in April as fish drop out of the Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers.

The Shrewsbury and Navesink are also noted for their flounder fishing. The Shrewsbury may produce as early as February if the winter is warm and the season is open. March is a sure thing, although the fishery comes and goes with weather conditions. Early flounder turn on when the weather is sunny and mild, leading to warmer and clearer waters. Avoid fishing after rain or snow, which will turn the waters cold and dirty—driving flounder back into the mud. Larger female flounder move out first to spawn and leave the river, so the best fishing usually starts in March and may be over before mid-April, after which small male flounder take over. Most of the early effort occurs between the Sea Bright and Highlands Bridges, whereas the mouth of the Shrewsbury is best in April. The Navesink flows into the Shrewsbury just above the Highlands Bridge and provides excellent flounder catches a bit later than the other river, with small boats doing best during April in shallow waters around the Rumson Bridge.

The last shot at flounder usually occurs from late April into May in the ocean off the Cedars on Sandy Hook, where big flounder may be mixed in with ling (red hake). A Raritan Bay fall run usually develops in November and December, although relatively few anglers seek flounder. More glamorous fish such as striped bass are still available.

Striped bass also start biting in March, when many are hooked on sandworms cast from bay shorelines stretching from South Amboy to Atlantic Highlands. Almost all of these stripers are shorts (sublegal size) caught in waters that are only a few feet deep and warm up faster than deeper waters. As a general rule, this fishing is best from the middle of the flood into the beginning of the ebb both day and night. Flounder anglers catch short stripers from boats starting around late March, but striper enthusiasts rarely make a concentrated effort before April and May, when they begin to drift worms at the usual bay hotspots such as Sandy Hook Rip, Flynn’s Knoll, and Romer Shoal, as well as the Highlands and Sea Bright Bridges in the Shrewsbury. Again, the vast majority of these early bass are shorts.

Chunking with cut bunker is a deadly method from June to August in many areas of the bay that have mussel bottoms. Flynn’s Knoll and Ambrose Channel draw the largest fleets. Live eels drifted in Sandy Hook and Ambrose Channels and in Flynn’s Knoll are the top producers in September and October, unless purse seiners leave enough bunkers in the bay to create an attraction for big bass. If schools of bunkers are available in October and November, there should be good action drifting live bunkers or trolling bunker spoons on wire line. Trolling often produces some bass within the bay into early December.

Bluefish arrive during early May and are usually abundant by midmonth. In some years these are 2- to 3-pounders, although on occasion there may be schools of 10-pounders that not only enter the bay but also go right up into the rivers. Shore casters usually get good shots at blues for a week or two before the fishery becomes primarily a boater’s game, and then trolling and jigging are favored. Schools of mostly 1- to- 4-pound choppers remain in the bay throughout the summer, and many larger ones are also caught by those chunking for stripers. The fall fishery is primarily outside the bay, however.

Fluking also starts in May, and is normally worthwhile after midmonth. These fish are the predominant bay fishery from June through August. Pursuing fluke throughout the bays is a large party boat fleet at Atlantic Highlands, which is joined by others from such ports as Highlands, Leonardo, Keyport, Morgan, and Perth Amboy. Charter and private boats partake in this fishery as well, and thousands of boats may be involved on weekends. Some fluke tournaments draw well over 200 entries. At times, the best fishing is in the western end of the bay, but sometimes it’s preferable to fish closer to the ocean or down the beach at Sandy Hook. Fluking continues through September, when the departing fish tend to pile up in Ambrose Channel, and it often remains viable well into October.

Weakfish arrive early, but very few are caught on hook and line until July. Earlier attempts occur upriver in the Shrewsbury, but volume weakfishing is mainly a bay proposition. Large concentrations of these fish are usually found in Raritan and Chapel Hill Channels. After years of depressed weakfishing, the species bounced back in the mid-1990s and has been improving steadily with ever-larger specimens and relatively few shorts. The best fishing usually occurs in August and September, although schools may remain available into October if there aren’t too many early cold northwesters. Whereas jigs work when weaks are feeding actively, the Raritan weakfishery is almost exclusively pursued with sandworms drifted a few feet above bottom on a three-way swivel rig. Although night fishing is effective for weakfish in many areas, those found in the bay almost always stop biting at dark.

Anglers sometimes encounter the full range of bottom fish in the bay. Blackfish (tautog) are caught by fish potters as they come in to spawn during the spring, but anglers take relatively few then. Fall provides the best shot for blacks around rocks supporting navigation aids and on a few shallow wrecks. Some mostly small sea bass are mixed in with the late-summer weakfish, but porgies (scup) are rare except in tiny sizes. Raritan Bay hosted massive runs of large porgies into the middle of the century, before pirate netters from Belford wiped them out.