Updated: Thursday, July 2, 2026 · Next update: Thursday, July 9, 2026
This New Jersey fishing report for early July finds the Jersey Shore fishing a solid summer mix. Fluke are the summer staple, set up in the bays, inlets and on the nearshore reefs and lumps. Holdover and migrating striped bass are still available in the surf and the back bays on the low-light tides, bluefish chase bait, and sea bass work the nearshore wrecks and reef sites. The main condition to plan around is tide: a moving tide drifts your bait across the fluke, so fish the incoming or outgoing rather than slack.
What’s Hitting
Fluke stack in the bays, inlets and on the nearshore reefs and lumps. Striped bass work the surf and the back bays at first and last light. Bluefish roam after bait, and sea bass sit on the nearshore wrecks and reef sites.
Where to Find Them
Drift the bay channels, inlet edges and nearshore lumps for fluke. Lumps and channel edges create current seams where bait gets swept past, and fluke lie along them to ambush it.
Stripers hold in the surf troughs and along the back-bay structure at low light. Sea bass and blues work the nearshore reefs and wrecks, and the reef sites off Manasquan and Barnegat are a productive target.
Tides & Conditions
Water warms into the upper 60s to low 70s. Stripers feed best in the surf at dawn and dusk, and calm mornings give the cleanest water for the nearshore drift.
Spearing, bay anchovies and small squid are thick through the bays and along the beaches, and fluke set up along the channel edges and lumps to ambush that bait as the tide moves it. On the reef sites, a hi-lo rig tipped with squid keeps the sea bass and porgies feeding through the drift.
Tackle & Tactics
- Fluke: drift a bucktail tipped with Gulp or a minnow-and-squid strip on a fluke rig, adding weight to hold bottom in the current.
- Surf stripers: clams, bunker chunks and swimming plugs at low light.
- Sea bass: squid and clam on a hi-lo rig over the wrecks.
Keeping the sinker in contact with the bottom on every drift is what keeps baits in the strike zone for both fluke and sea bass.
Local Intel This Week
The Belmar Marina ramp and Fisherman’s Cove in Manasquan serve the northern shore and Manasquan Inlet, with the Leonardo State Marina covering Raritan Bay. Launch at Belmar or Fisherman’s Cove for the inlet and the reef sites off Manasquan, and use Leonardo State Marina for bay fluke drifts in Raritan Bay. Fluke concentrate in the inlets and on the nearshore lumps, stripers in the surf troughs at low light. Check current state and federal regulations and seasons before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
For doormat fluke, keep experimenting with drift speed. Deploy a drift sock if the wind pushes you too fast, or add a bit of scented Gulp trailer to slow, tide-only drifts. The biggest fluke want a bait moving at a specific, deliberate pace along the bottom, and controlling that drift is the whole game.
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