Jersey Stripers

[SWS Regional Reports]

Captain Dan Bias of Reel Music Sportfishing, Shark River, NJ reports that he had Hunter Stagg, his father, Ricci and Barney out on 5/22. The weather forecast looked grim but in usual NOAA form it was way off and turned out very nice on the water with just a little bit of a heave. The charter netted bunkers just north of the inlet and then stayed on the bunker schools, but found very few marks of bass underneath, but finally they hit paydirt. Hunter’s dad got hit and boated a nice 30-pound class bass, then it was Ricci’s turn to reel in another 30-pound class bass. All said and done the crew battled stripers in the 32 to 38-pound range. All the action was off legendary Asbury Park, with the bass stacking up in the deeper waters of 50 feet and more. The run of large cow bass is just starting, and should peak sometime in the first week of June.