Fly Rodding The New Jersey Coast

Mention saltwater fly-fishing venues and most anglers imagine sun-washed tropical bonefish flats or secluded mangrove creeks. Yet, great fishing locales aren’t always in distant or sparsely settled places. A double haul from the most densely settled corridor of the United States lies a fly fishers’ mecca. The 100-mile-long New Jersey coast, from Sandy Hook, within sight of the Manhattan skyline, to Cape May Point, at the entrance to Delaware Bay, can be reached by 50 million people in a day’s drive or less.

Because of its proximity to so many anglers, the Garden State’s beaches and estuaries have played a major role in the evolution of saltwater fly rodding. The waters of legendary Barnegat Bay were home to the first chapter of the Salt Water Flyrodders of America in the 1960s. Today, the Atlantic Salt Water Flyrodders carries the banner and several newer clubs have sprung up along this stretch of the mid-Atlantic coast. Fly shops, too, have appeared to address the needs of these anglers.

Variety

One reason that New Jersey fishing can sustain itself in the face of this onslaught of humanity is the variety of its offerings. Nearly every type of water is here to satisfy the tastes of any angler. First are the miles of pure white sand beaches. Next, manmade rock jetties that stabilize the beaches and limit sand transfer create prime gathering spots for bait and the gamefish that prey on them, as well as casting platforms for shore-based anglers.

Over a dozen inlets interrupt the coastline, meaning that river mouths and inlets provide thoroughfares for fish and the boat fishermen who pursue them. You’ll also find hundreds of square miles of open bays, wadeable flats, and sheltered marsh creeks, lined by seemingly endless grassy sod banks. Tidal rivers fish well too, for anglers who have spent time to learn their secrets. The inshore ocean waters are accessible to small boats from scores of ports, and offshore sites like Barnegat Ridge, the Mud Hole, and the Baltimore and Wilmington canyons are within reasonable range of more seaworthy crafts.

Species

Add to the state’s wide range of water types the variety of target species attractive to fly rodders and you can understand why so many anglers trek along New Jersey’s beaches and boat its bays with long rods in hand. Striped bass are the bread-and-butter game species because of their numbers and the long season of their availability. They are viable fly-rod targets from April until December, and there is a chance of catching a trophy fish at any time. While these largely migratory fish are most abundant in fall, especially from Sandy Hook to Barnegat Inlet, as well as the rips off Cape May, some resident fish are available through the summer in most coastal waters.

Though the numbers of larger specimens have been diminishing in recent years, bluefish still account for many exciting hours offshore, along the oceanfront, and in the bays from April until October or early November. They can show up nearly any time and any place.

False albacore, officially known as the little tunny, can lay claim to the title of most exciting inshore fly-rod species. They’re available for a relatively short time, yet these tackle burners attract hordes of fly fishers to the Jersey coast in September and October. The Atlantic bonito, a cousin to the false albacore, normally appear in late summer. Along the New Jersey coast, as opposed to New England, bonito tend to stay offshore and are generally regarded as a boat fisherman’s quarry. Nevertheless, in the immediate past few years more of these fish have come into range of beach and inshore anglers in August and September.