Fresh Middlesex County Fishing Reports

Our team ran a quick trip yesterday morning. We started out with Porgie and Sea Bass and wrapped up with striper on live bunker.

Fish from 28”-40”. On the troller and snag and drop.

Ran out in the afternoon and got our limit in under an hour. All top water action!

Hey Gang, On Sunday, we found some dense schools of bunker right off the beach but as what is normal of late there was nothing there except doggies. So we went a little deeper and found some bird play and occasional fish on the surface chasing sand eels. Thanks to our buds on another charter boat we were advised to put out some trolling gear even deeper. It worked. We ended up with a couple “overs”, measuring up to 35”, 4 slot keepers, and 2 bonus in about an hour. Persistence and flexibility to do different things (like things I don’t care for - trolling - ) paid-off. Had our first double-header of stripers on a trolling rig in like, 15+ years. On Monday we had Ken and his dedicated crew of anglers out for stripers. These guys were focused on using top-water, jigs and plastics. The fish were even more scattered than on Sunday and we had a whipping West wind. It was whack-a-mole on sand eels over a large area. We had 4 stripers. 3 in the keeper slot and 1 bonus fish. I have to hand it to these guys. They wanted to actively fish, not troll - which probably would have resulted in more fish. They really worked it. So, we emptied out the boxes. We threw everything - I don't limit myself and more importantly my clients to any one manufacturer in order to receive a piddling discount on gear - and all four fish were taken on sand eel imitators. The weather pattern through the end of the month shows the best days to fish are mid-week. This bite has not even broken wide-open yet. We will return to the Ocean City December 1st. Maybe the stripers will be inside the 3 mile line by the time they move South and maybe they won't. That's the frustration we have had over the past few years and why we moved to Manasquan Inlet for the beginning of the run. If you want a trip where you have your best shot at a good striper bite, book through our "Mighty Heron Stripers - Point Pleasant" Page. If you need a trip out of Ocean City, book through our Mighty Heron Charters - Let's Go! page. If you are interested in booking an ocean trip out of Ocean City in December, I suggest contacting us first for a report on whether or not we have a fair shot at finding the fish inside the 3 mile limit. This Autumn has been warm and the water temps are slowly falling so we will open up "up the river' striper trips until December 10th and then re-evaluate, based on conditions.

Consistent action once again! We are happy to see that the keeps are mixed in with these larger fish.

we had Mike and his 2 youngest sons out today. The kids reeled in over a dozen nice striped bass. tough kids on a windy November daya