3 Best Striper Fishing Beaches in New Jersey (Expert Tips)

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Of all the Northeast states that experience the striper migration in full force, New Jersey is my favorite. The colorful characters, beautiful beaches, and potentially incredible striped bass fishing make this state an incredible place to catch stripers.

Before Greg Myerson took the current world-record striped bass, which weighed nearly 82 pounds, in Connecticut, the world record belonged to New Jersey. The striper that Albert McReynolds caught in Atlantic City held the record nearly 30 years before Myerson’s Connecticut bass surpassed it by about three pounds in 2011.

It’s tough to top New Jersey for striped bass fishing from shore. This is a state with excellent beach access, plenty of tackle shops with helpful proprietors, passionate fishermen willing to help a polite newcomer, and a potentially sensational bite for a fall run that is getting longer and later every year.

Let’s talk about beach access for a moment. If you pay attention to parking signs, you can park on the street, walk less than 100 yards to the beach, and start fishing.

In Long Island and Massachusetts, where I’ve also extensively fished for stripers, it can be trickier to find street parking where you won’t return to a ticket or an empty space.

North vs. South Jersey

It’s worth noting that the northern and southern parts of the state have somewhat different surf fishing conditions.

From Hoboken down through Forked River, you have relatively steep drops off the coast. As a result, the water gets to 15 to 25 feet deep in short order at high tide.

When you head further South, closer to Atlantic City, the drop is more gradual off the coast, with less of a steep shelf that attracts game fish like striped bass corralling bait. In southern Jersey, you’re talking about a broad shelf that levels off at about 20 to 25 feet deep and stretches out for more than a mile. 

Therefore, in the northern part of the state, you are more likely to have schooling stripers pushing bait tight into beaches. Because you’ve got these steep drops, schools of fish can corral bait like sand eels and juvenile menhaden (peanut bunker) up against drop-offs and ledges in the surf.

Farther south, a more gradual drop off the coast makes it less likely that you’ll have blitzing stripers pushing bait in any given place. So while you still might be successful fishing bait like clams or a chunk of bunker, and intercepting a passing school of fish, you’re less likely to see schools pushing baitfish.

Just imagine you’re trying to catch a fly in your house. You’d corral it into a corner where you’ve got the best shot at taking it out with the swatter. You’re not chasing the thing through hallways, right? Stripers are the same way; they’re pushing baitfish against structure where it has nowhere to go. Find this structure near land, and you’ll most likely find schools of feeding fish.

Especially on days and nights when there is significant exchange between high and low tide, these ambush points near the surf can be especially promising.

Check a tide chart online, or grab a printed tide table from a local tackle shop and look at the numbers under the “tide height” column. If that number is small, you’re talking about a minimal change from high to low tide. If it’s large, as it will be around new and full moons, you’re looking at a big swing of water that could potentially bring schools of bait and striped bass in tight to the beach.

High tide will have those fish pushing in as far as they can to the beach, but low tide will allow you to reach cuts and drop-offs you otherwise might not be able to access. Slack tide is often the least productive time to fish the surf.

When to Go Surf Fishing in NJ

Photo by Rick Bach

In the spring, striped bass making their annual migrations north will begin arriving as early as April.

However, the biggest numbers of stripers will be available off the beaches from early May through mid-June. Heading into summer, warmer water temperatures push them either north or offshore looking for cooler, more oxygenated water. 

While anglers may occasionally land stripers from the surf in the summertime, especially in low-light or nighttime conditions, the second excellent opportunity of the calendar year comes in the fall.

Anglers will start looking for bigger schools of fish, in earnest, in early October, although this is often a little too soon for peak fall fishing in New Jersey.

Between mid-October and mid-November is when you’re most likely to see the biggest body of fish pushing through. Straggler striped bass may be available part-way into December.

If you really want to drill down on the best fishing days in the New Jersey surf, be sure to mark your calendar to fish during the new moons in October and November.

Just to recap: If you’re planning out a trip to the beach in New Jersey for surf stripers, these are likely to be the best: Early May through early June is a great window in the spring, and mid-October through mid-November offers your best shot in the fall. 

Best Striper Fishing Beaches in NJ

Boiling down the best places to catch striped bass from the shore in New Jersey, we’ve come up with three essential spots to go surf fishing.

Sandy Hook

Gateway National Recreation Area is the first stretch of sand that stripers rounding Long Island and heading south will intercept en route back to the Mid-Atlantic.

A road known as Area F Road leads to the Sandy Hook Fishing Beach, where anglers are encouraged to get in the surf.

Parking is accessible, but park regulations do apply. For example, night fishing requires a special permit, so check the current regulations.

Sandy Hook is a popular fishing location for New Jersey anglers. Don’t be surprised if, especially on an early October weekend, you have to do some walking to find real estate devoid of casting competition. 

Because Sandy Hook does see lots of anglers, your best option for success will be walking to get away from crowds or heavily pressured stretches of sand. 

Gear

When it comes to catching stripers in the New Jersey surf, the longest fishing rod you can get away with comfortably casting will be your best option.

Depending on the tide, fish will often push bait 50 or even 100 yards off the beach. A surf rod of at least nine feet (preferably 10 or 11) will give you the best shot at reaching these fish.

Bucktails are an excellent option for stripers anywhere, and New Jersey is no exception. Chartreuse is a great pick, especially in low-light conditions. Black and purple are popular at night, too.

During the day, a red-and-white bucktail is a classic color choice.

Diamond jigs also perform exceptionally well along the New Jersey Coast, partly because they are dense lures you can cast a mile. 

Large schools of Atlantic menhaden (a.k.a. bunker) are often being pushed up and down the coast by just about everything in the ocean.

These bright silver baitfish typically range from 6 to 12 inches, so a diamond jig between 5 and 7 inches creates a flash underwater that mimics a dying or wounded bunker. That’s exactly what stripers are looking for.

Whenever you can mimic the forage these predators are after and signal that your offering is in distress, that’s a recipe for success.

Topwater poppers and plugs can be another effective lure option to have on hand for potential surface blitzes, which are most likely to occur at first and last light.

A pencil popper is an iconic topwater striper plug and a great addition to any surf bag you’re putting together. Cotton Cordell and Gibbs make popular versions of these lures.

Manasquan Beach

As you head south from Sandy Hook, the beaches, parking locations, and fishing spots become less defined and more a matter of angler choice and accessibility. 

I’ve always been a fan of Manasquan Beach because the beach has relatively steep drop-offs right near shore.

There’s a jetty where Manasquan River flows out to the Atlantic, and it’s a popular fishing spot because striped bass and bluefish can push and corral all types of baitfish into a corner and gobble them up. 

First light is always a good option for targeting stripers in the surf, and the Jersey Shore is no exception. Your best bet is to arrive at the beach before dawn and wait for the first light rays to peek over the horizon.

If and when you see birds hovering over a specific location, especially if they’re dropping to the water, it’s a good indication that there’s a school of baitfish underneath. Birds, especially gulls and terns, are a great indicator of bait that we might not otherwise see.

Gear

Gulls and other birds will often feed primarily on bait like sand eels. Mimicking the eel’s small, silver profile can be an effective means of matching the hatch.

Slug-Gos and diamond jigs are both strong sand eel imitations to throw when you see small to medium-sized birds dropping to feed on the ocean’s surface. However, note that Slug-Gos are lighter and more challenging to cast into a wind and are more likely to be shredded by bluefish if they’re around.

Island Beach State Park

Even further south along the Jersey shore, you have I.B.S.P., or Island Beach State Park and Long Beach Island (LBI).

Anglers actively fishing can remain in the park overnight without fear of being ticketed. The park map also shows swimming areas technically off-limits to anglers between May and October.

But once those nighttime temperatures start dropping into the 50s, things change. Not only does the cooler weather bring sand eels, bunker, and striped bass down the coast, it clears the summer tourists from the beaches and the boardwalk.

Especially on weekday mornings right at first light, the Jersey surf can have a surreal feeling to it. You’re fishing a beach that had millions of people trampling on its sand for the last four months, and if you time it right, you can find it empty.

One great part about Island Beach State Park for anglers is that you can obtain a mobile sport fishing vehicle permit.

The special permit allows you to drive on the beach, provided you have a four-wheel-drive vehicle and supplies (shovel, rope, etc.) required to obtain the oversand permit. The permits are available online or in person.

This permit allows anglers to get away from the walking crowd in exchange for the permit fee.

It’s worth learning about driving over sand, how and when to deflate your tires, what gear to have with you, and so on before simply driving on the beach. 

Island Beach State Park is one of the most beloved stretches of sand for Jersey fishermen.

Imagine witnessing a blitz in action, with schools of these fish corralling bait at first or last light, and heaving a plug or bucktail right into it. It’s the type of experience that will have you returning to the striper surf every year for the rest of your life.

Gear

Check out the gear sections for the previous locations to find what works well at IBSP.

A Word on Weather

When it comes to finding feeding striped bass and bluefish in the surf, two primary elements will determine your success to a greater degree than any others combined: Timing and weather.

While we covered timing your trip earlier in this article, and more so in our complete surf striper fishing how-to article, it’s worth mentioning the weather here as it relates to fishing the surf.

Weather is the most critical factor in surf-fishing success. There is no guarantee that the fish you’re after are within a mile of your chosen spot on the sand. To ensure they are, you must time your trip with the migration and be on the beach during the most favorable weather conditions.

Favorable is a loose term here. What we as humans might see as favorable, namely, week-long stretches of bluebird days with nothing but sunshine and a few passing clouds, are anything but when it comes to striper fishing.

Stagnant high-pressure fronts that draw people to the sandy stretches also make it difficult to find feeding fish in the surf.

Fish are most apt to feed, and feed heavily, when conditions are changing rapidly. For example, if a low-pressure front has just passed and the barometer is climbing rapidly, you might see fish coming in to feed more heavily close to the beach after heading offshore during a storm. 

If, on the other hand, the barometer is dropping rapidly, indicating an approaching low-pressure front like a heavy rainstorm or thunderstorm, fish will again be more apt to feed heavily.

Now the stripers want to get some sustenance in them before a low-pressure front arrives that could push them offshore and make finding a meal more difficult.

In addition to a quickly moving barometer, which can spark blitz-like conditions, specific winds are more favorable than others when fishing the surf in New Jersey.

Generally, a south or west wind is great for fishing at many locations. Either of those wind directions will bring warm, dry air to the region, raising the barometer and signaling to fish that feeding close to shore is a safe proposition. 

An east wind is typically the most difficult wind for New Jersey striper fishing, and a north wind’s impact can vary.

Here’s the primary element to remember when it comes to wind direction. Bunker, or Atlantic menhaden, is one of the primary food sources for striped bass and bluefish.

These baitfish move in schools, or pods. They are filter-feeding fish, meaning they swim with their mouths open and subsist on phytoplankton and zooplankton they take in. So basically, they swim into the wind and catch the food the wind and tide bring them.

Why is this important? Because a strong west wind will have bunker swimming right at the beach, meaning the stripers chasing them are much more likely to be within reach of the surfcaster.

Depending on the New Jersey beach you’re fishing, a north wind can bring these baitfish in tighter than they’d typically be, but a west wind is your best friend.

Catch More Striped Bass

Now that you know the best places to catch stripers on the New Jersey shore, be sure to check out our full guide to surf fishing for striped bass to learn about the right gear, the best lures, and the techniques and timing that turn fishing into catching.