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| Mon., June 8, 2026 |
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| Moon Phase: Last Quarter |
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Next Full: June 29 Next New: June 14 Sunrise: 5:26 a.m. Sunset: 8:24 p.m. |
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| Get Off the Computer And Fish the Summer Surf By Mark Marquez II |
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Summertime. Time to hit the beach, feel the sand under soles, wade into the wash, think large thoughts while watching the sea and sky. Right? Well, if you’re a vacationer. But a surf angler might think something else. Like about waves of striped bass that blitzed during the spring. Or bluefish that will slash through the wash in weeks to come. Summertime is less than ideal for anglers to hit the beach. Stripers and blues have migrated away But don’t rule out the suds in summer. The angling just takes more thought and work, and like most work, is worthwhile. “It’s fishing,” said Paul Comerford, “During summer, you have to fish hard to catch,” he said. But there are exceptions. Fluke fishing’s “not bad” in summer, Large, so-called tiderunner weakfish, some of them 8 or 10 pounds, swim up and down the surf at night in the warm months. |
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Fluke are the most abundant and popular among the fish at this time of year. Fishing a bucktail is one of the best ways to hook them. Try tossing a light, ¾-ounce or 1-1/2-ounce bucktail or jighead, especially a Spro or a round-headed Andrus in chartreuse, white, white with red or white with pink. A Berkley Gulp swimming mullet threaded on the hook is a good idea.
Wing the bait to the white water at the edge of a hole, letting the line drop down into the hole. The flatties sit at the corners and wait to ambush. Work the line very slowly. Let it remain still a moment, then pick up and move it a couple of feet, and repeat, letting sands get kicked up a bit, fan-casting an area to cover ground. Don’t be surprised if a striped bass hits. Any kind of dead-sticking in summer usually attracts junk fish like skates and sharks. Fluke rigs can also be fished, and Paul prefers a plain bottom rig with a single hook, maybe with a silver spinner. An egg-slider weight with a single hook is another good, simple and effective rig. The egg rolls around on the bottom, and the hole through the weight works like a fish-finder rig, putting the angler in direct contact with the hook for better feel. Other anglers fish rigs with tandem hooks, and they can work, but Paul likes Let a rig stay more stationary than a bucktail or jig, but be sure to pick up, move it a couple of feet once in a while, and cover ground. Fluke can bite any time of day, but Paul favors incoming tides. Fluke fishers shouldn’t cast far, Paul said. The flatties stay tight to the beach, the zone. Fishing beside the jetties is the best bet, and favorite spots in Paul’s area include the north jetty at Barnegat Inlet, where many of the fish gather, the Lavallette jetties and the Belmar rocks. |
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Summertime, surf stripers are smaller fish that are yet to migrate in their lives. Black swimming plugs are standard, and live eels grab the bigger bass. |
 Daylight is a favorite time to frolick the beaches in summer, but not for fish. They avoid exposure, and summer surf angling is largely nocturnal. |
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Impale the eel through the bottom lip, not both lips, then through an eye socket with a 5/0, short-shanked, live bait hook on a 40- or 50-pound, fluorocarbon leader. The top lip is left unhooked so the eel can breathe. Cast the creature, let it sink, lift a little, retrieve and repeat, fan casting, working an area. The edges of jetties are a likely spot. Bluefish can also storm the wash a moment. “Always be prepared for anything if possible,” Paul said. Keep ready metal lures like an Ava or Hopkins, even at night. The toothy fighters will also smack lures meant for stripers or weaks, but the damage to the plugs gets expensive. Fresh or frozen chunked baits like bunker also work. They’re not picky. Many shops carry frozen mullet all year long. Kingfish can also show up when waters reach the high 60s. Target late afternoons or early mornings, dunking small strips of squid, clams, sandworms or bloodworms on small hooks, and look for structure or holes, ledges and drop-offs. Croakers usually arrive in mid to late August, and fishing for them is strictly nocturnal. Downsize hooks to a 3/0 or 4/0, use either a high-low or a fish-finder rig, and fish the same baits that weakfish like, such as squid, shedder crab or sandworms. Once croakers arrive, the surf story is about to change. Schooling mullet, one of the first harbingers of the fall migration, are close behind, usually coming in by the second week of September. Once mullet school, blues will follow. And that’s another surf story, called Fishing the Fall Migration, the Best Time of Year! The summertime pattern begins when the spring migration ends, and that is set in stone: when waters reach 70 degrees. Striped bass vamoose at that point, heading north for cooler waters. Bluefish move offshore and spawn. No matter whether bunker are schooling 10 miles long, few stripers will remain. The start of the fall migration is less dependant on water temperatures, and every season’s different, Paul said. But usually waters in the high 60s like 67 or 68 coincide, and the first schoolie striped bass normally trickle in by the second week of September, when blues are moving in. The main body of stripers is a long ways off, usually in full force at the beginning of November, but there’s a gradual build-up, and action can last into January. To catch in the surf in summer, you’ve got to fish, Paul said again. There’s a population of anglers he calls the Cell Phone Crowd or the Computer Crowd. They rely on cell phone calls from buddies or good reports on the Internet before surf fishing. If you’re waiting for a call or a report in summer, you’re not going to get one. You’ve got to fish. Now, get off the computer and get out there! |
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Use the jig alone or add a second hook on a leader attached to a dropper loop above. Fish another swimming mullet on the trailer on a 3/0 Gamakatsu hook. 