Black sea bass fishing in New Jersey saltwater fishing

In New Jersey saltwater fishing, black sea bass peak May–October and are around April–February, according to Fish Scouter's month-by-month season calendar. May: Sea bass on the inshore reef sites as the season opens — NJ sets split seasons, check NJDEP.

1. JanuaryAroundHoldover stripers in the rivers; tog and sea bass on the wrecks. Slow soft plastics for holdover stripers in the Mullica, Toms and Navesink; party boats for tog and jumbo sea bass on the deep wrecks when the season's open.
2. FebruaryAroundThe dead of winter — wrecks and river holdovers. Calm-day wreck trips; warm afternoons in the back-bay rivers.
3. MarchNot here
4. AprilArriving
5. MayPeakSea bass on the inshore reef sites as the season opens — NJ sets split seasons, check NJDEP.
6. JunePeakFluke, sea bass and the first tuna and makos. Bucktails on the ocean reefs and ridges for fluke; chunk butterfish for school bluefin on the Mud Hole and the Texas Tower; chum for makos (release) and threshers.
7. JulyPeakCanyons and the ocean reefs. Overnight canyon trips to the Hudson and Toms for yellowfin on the chunk; doormat fluke on the Barnegat and Manasquan ridges; kingfish in the surf on bloodworms.
8. AugustPeak
9. SeptemberPeakAlbies off the inlets; the fall bite stirs. Epoxy jigs for false albacore off Barnegat and Sandy Hook; last fluke week on the reefs; snapper blues everywhere.
10. OctoberPeakThe fall run starts; bluefin push inshore. Stripers on sand eels and peanut bunker along the coast — birds off Sandy Hook and Island Beach; tog season reopens on the jetties; bluefin on topwater within sight of the beach some years.
11. NovemberLeavingJumbo knotheads on the deep wrecks before they move offshore.
12. DecemberAroundThe run slides south to Cape May; tog on the wrecks. Last big stripers on the south Jersey jetties and beaches; jumbo sea bass and tog on the deep wrecks.

A 130-mile barrier-island coast of surf beaches and rock jetties, cut by inlets (Cape May, Townsends, Absecon, Barnegat, Manasquan, Shark River) into shallow back bays — Barnegat Bay, Great Bay, the Cape May wetlands — with Raritan Bay at the north end; offshore, a field of artificial reefs, ridges and wrecks out to the Hudson, Toms, Wilmington and Spencer canyons.

Fish Scouter charts 868 artificial reef, 470 wreck, 148 ledge / hard bottom spots in the The Jersey Shore map area — the kinds black sea bass hold on.

• SquidStrips on a bottom rig for snapper, grunts and porgies; whole on a deep-drop rig.
• Live shrimpUnder a popping cork or free-lined, hooked under the horn on a #1 to 2/0 circle hook; on a jig head for the bottom. The universal inshore bait.

• Leader30–60 lb fluorocarbon
• Hook2/0–7/0
• Braid30–65 lb

Feeds in 52–78°F water, best at 58–72°F.

All about black sea bass · The Jersey Shore, the whole year