November 28, 2013 — The hard northwester that’s been blowing since the coastal storm passed by Wednesday has calmed the ocean, and could provide another period of hot striper fishing — particularly for surfcasters.
The last time we had that situation, there was a blitz of legal stripers at Island Beach State Park as well as at some other areas in Ocean County. That fishing dropped off, but Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina said there was some good surf action before the storm from Sandy Hook to Asbury Park for school bass up to 25 inches.
Those smaller bass had been largely missing as stripers in the teens dominated during the last blitz. Ironically, there was also a lack of large bass after the last northwester — with relatively few weighing in the 20s. Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park records both length and weight on their weigh-ins, and out of dozens listed recently there weren’t any over 39 inches. Some larger bass may have been released, such as the 40½-incher I put back while fishing from John Green’s beach buggy at Lavallette, but it was surprising that there were no reports of at least one much larger bass during the last blitz.