Overall biomass may be down, but the heart of the fishery still beats in the Garden State. We have already witnessed the complete disappearance of the weakfish in Raritan Bay and it is said that this is due to the loss of bunker in the Chesapeake, a major spawning ground for them. "The most important habitat for the weakfish is the brackish waters of the Chesapeake bay… These “young of the year” baits often choking local canals, harbors and lagoons by late summer will soon be making their migratory move down the beach, which coincides with the kickoff of the fall run. While Delaware Bay once experienced some of the most epic weakfishing in history (Karl Jones still holds the state record, an 18-pound, 8-ounce tiderunner caught there in 1986 during the heyday.) Anglers catch big weakfish in unusual waters BY AL RISTORI Star-Ledger Staff Weakfish are a shallow-water inshore species rarely found in deep waters except those adjacent to their preferred habitat, such as Raritan Beach in Raritan Bay. Al's Tip of the Day: Sandworms are very expensive, but you can stretch out your supply by combining one with a plastic worm -- or better yet a Gulp sandworm. We'd love to see your photos! Separating New York from New Jersey, the Raritan Bay is the fishing epicenter for one of the US’s biggest urban areas. Bonito and little tunny have been spotted off Breezy Point. My brother, Kevin McCarty, has caught a lot of weakfish in his long salt water fishing career, but no others have come even close to this monster Weakie. I spent years living in Sea Bright in the late ‘90s though, where’d I stand along the street ends on the incoming tide well into the night, slowly working a pink Fin-S at a 20- to 45-degree angle for a few amazing catch-and-release weakfish nights, and I was always excited at not having to clean a fish before slipping into the rack for a few hours of sleep. All rights reserved (About Us). For bait fishing, sandworms and clams are getting lots of eats. 14 Ramsey Rd, Shirley, NY 11967 Learn more about this video at http://bit.ly/11eI1Yn including recommended tackle at http://bit.ly/10gUhZZ from Northeast Angling (http://neangling.com). However, while overfishing is not occurring in the weakfish fishery, the stock is still considered depleted with the one-fish regulations sure to be around for some time. In late September of 2017, I joined Guy Buono aboard his Grady-White out of Nicholl’s Great Kills Park Marina out on Staten Island. The Raritan East Channel in Raritan Bay and the Sandy Hook Channel in Sandy Hook are both excellent areas for weakfish too! The main breeding grounds of the weakfish are in the near shore estuaries of the Chesapeake Bay. There are also a lot of … XBMX - That was some year (2008) for Raritan Bay. Pushing off from the slip, the first order of business was securing bait/chum in the form of peanut bunker, which were thick in Great Kills Harbor as usual this time of year. Now this only works if you send in your photos (send them to "fishpic@starledger.com") so if you've got a catch worth bragging about, send it in and we'll put it up for all to see. The Jersey side of Raritan Bay is the place for … In 1985, New Jersey anglers landed 3.4 million pounds of weakfish; commercial fishermen took another 3 million pounds. Frank Wagenhoffer. New York NY, United States • Member since March 2018 . The Northeast Angling season opened with a May 17 weakfish fishing trip to Barnegat Bay, NJ with Captain Terry Sullivan. Raritan Bay fishermen employ a variety of methods to tangle with the stripers and blues, but most notably are fond of trolling at this time. . Then in 2005, weakfish action was pretty amazing on the Raritan in particular from August through September as peanuts were being gobbled up like candy by marauding schools of these sea trout. How: Thread a sandworm on a three-way rig and you’re good to go. That strange-looking creature has long been a favorite of stripers and weakfish in Raritan Bay. It also has dark spots on its back, yellow-colored fins, and two large canine teeth in its u… I’d love to see them bend again . STRIPED bass, weakfish, fluke and bluefish are all on tap for the weekend and from the looks of it, saltwater fishing is in full bloom. - Weakfish - Raritan Bay $725 - Tile Fish - Canyon $1,650 ----- - Six (6)-passenger maximum on all trips. Surfcasters can employ the same method along a sod bank or jetty by tossing a small handful of netted peanuts along with the moving tide and following up with rigged peanut (check out the surf bunker article this month by Allen Riley!). Sharks starting to show in surf. The responses I got were intriguing. It’s possible. Even easier and more direct was threading the hook of the jighead through the snout of a live peanut, and soft tossing into the fray; slowly raising the rod tip up and down gives that baby bunker reason to swim against the weight of the jighead, which can attract the attention of a weakfish nicely. The channels are the main places: Raritan Reach Channel, Sandy Hook Channel, Chapel Hill Channel and Terminal Channel near the Earle Naval Pier. Recap of yesterday: The northwest wind greatly improved fishing. If you haven't looked in our "links" section, you're missing the latest water temps, tides, weather reports and state regulations. 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