Bay bass blitz fires as 74-degree water stacks bunker at inlet mouths

The thermometer doesn't lie — Great South Bay hit 74 degrees this week while the ocean side sits at 68, and that 6-degree gradient is doing exactly what it's supposed to do. It's stacking bait on the flood tides and holding bass on the ebb, turning every inlet from Manasquan south into a feeding station.

Raritan Bay is absolutely loaded with stripers right now. I'm talking about fish from schoolies to mid-30s crushing live bunker in 15 to 25 feet of water. The key is finding the pods — they're moving with the bait, so you need to stay mobile. Live-line a bunker on a fishfinder rig with a 6/0 circle hook, and when you mark them on the screen, drop it down and hang on. The bite has been best on the last two hours of the outgoing, especially around the Reach and the flats off Keansburg.

What's really got me fired up is the fluke action at the inlet mouths. Manasquan has been producing keepers to 6 pounds on the start of the outgoing tide. The pattern is textbook — fish are staged right at the inlet throat where the current funnels bait out of the bay. I'm running 3/4-ounce bucktails with 5-inch white Gulp Swimming Mullets, dragging them slow on the drift in 20 to 30 feet. The green teaser about 18 inches up from the bucktail has been the difference maker — it's accounting for half my keepers.

Shark River is fishing the same way, but you've got to deal with the weeds. The southwest wind we've been getting is pushing grass into the inlet, so I'm fishing the cleaner water on the north side of the channel. Same rig, same technique, but you might want to bump up to a full ounce to punch through the weed line.

The sea bass bite is still cranking in New Jersey waters. We're in that sweet spot where you can keep 10 fish over 12.5 inches until the regulations tighten up next month. The Axel Carlson Reef area has been producing limits of quality fish — I'm talking 14 to 16-inch fish that are thick as thieves. Diamond jigs in white or chartreuse, bounced hard off the bottom, are getting crushed. The ling are mixed in thick, so bring a net for the bigger ones.

What's interesting is the water temperature spread we're seeing. The shelf stations are all reading 67 to 68 degrees, but that bay water at 74 is creating a feeding highway. When the tide turns and that warm water starts draining out, it's pulling everything with it — bunker, spearing, sand eels, the works. The bass know this, and they're positioned accordingly.

The southwest wind pattern we've been locked into is actually helping the fishing. It's not blowing hard enough to make conditions sloppy — we're talking 15 knots with gusts to 20 — but it's pushing bait around and keeping the water moving. The pressure has been steady around 1003 millibars, which means no major weather disruptions coming.

Looking ahead, we've got a new moon Friday, which means spring tides and stronger currents. That's going to really fire up the inlet fishing, especially for fluke. The stronger flow will concentrate bait even more, and those doormat fluke that have been playing hard to get might finally show their faces. I'm planning to be at Manasquan Inlet right at the start of the outgoing tide Friday evening — that's when the magic happens.

The bunker schools are thick from Sandy Hook all the way down to Barnegat, and where you find bunker, you find everything else. Blues are mixed in with the bass, mostly in the 3 to 8-pound range, and they're absolutely savage on topwater plugs at first light. Throw a pencil popper or a Spook into the breaking fish and hold on.

One thing to watch — enforcement has been active on the party boats, so make sure you know your regulations. The fluke limit is still 19.5 inches, and they're checking. For sea bass, remember that New Jersey's generous 10-fish limit at 12.5 inches runs until June 19, then drops to one fish through August. Get them while you can.

The weekend looks perfect — southwest winds staying light, water temperatures holding steady, and those spring tides starting to build. If you've been waiting for the right time to get out there, this is it. The bay bass bite is as good as it gets, and the fluke are finally starting to cooperate at the inlets.