Anglers need to have their whole arsenal ready for June. Onshore, inshore and offshore opportunities await anglers who are ready. Some of the biggest stripers of the season are caught in June, now that we have dependable schools of bunker making an appearance once again. For quite a few seasons in a row now, we have had excellent bunker dunkin’ for big bass and blues along the beaches from May through June. Bass ranging from 20 to 30 pounds are common and there have been more 40 to 50-pound fish mixed in than anyone can ever remember. Even the salty old-timers are having a hard time saying things like, “You should have seen it back when…” or “I can remember back in the day we…”. Those good-ol’ days are, quite simply, RIGHT NOW! These are going to be our story years for big fish. Sometimes the striper bite even holds up through the summer, it’s all dictated by the bunker schools. Of course as the water warms, catching bass becomes a very early morning proposition, but moderate June temperatures can make for an extended day of live-lining.

 

 

 While bait fishing with bunker is a great method for catching June bass, boat anglers have the option of trolling bunker spoons either on wire or downriggers. Trolling has been very productive on big bass and blues, especially on the days when the schools of bunker are not being worked over and one has to go into search mode. Big chartreuse spoons seem to be growing in popularity and for good reason -they work! Those scary big TGT Bunker Spoons are huge, but this author has seen enough guys catch fish on them that I am ready to take the plunge and pull some this season.

   Inshore, the bays and river will be giving up bass, blues, and weakfish. Sometimes early June can be better than May! The transition in Barnegat Bay usually happens at the end of June when, the big early season tiderunner weakfish move on, the stripers stay in the cooler ocean water and the blues hang in there through the summer, but not at the same intensity as the May-June run. Mike from the old Moles Bait and Tackle, now L & H Woods & Water, in Waretown, once told me when I first started clamming the bass inside that once the water temperature hits 69 degrees it’s all over. I think my depth recorder temperature gauge read 68.8 on the day I clammed up my last striper that June. A week later the temperature plummeted back to the low 60s after a hard south blow and I went charging back to the clam spot armed to the teeth, only to have Mike explain to me a few days later it doesn’t work that way. Once they’re outside, they stay outside until the October/November run brings them back again.

 

 

   As we get further into June, the Point Pleasant and Barnegat inlets will be active as the hunt for mako sharks will intensify. This too has become a dependable fishery in recent seasons. I can remember mako fishing as a fishery where one usually didn’t catch a fish, but the ratio of boats that catch one or two or more on a trip seems higher these days. While not very scientific when it comes to this assumption, this author is going by what he sees coming into the marinas. Depending on which inlet one chooses and their particular preference of fishing grounds, anglers can run as shallow as 15-miles off all the way out to the canyons. However, a 20 or 30-plus-mile run along the 20-fathom line is typical. The end of June brings the two major mako shark tournaments to this area, both run out of Point Pleasant and both on the same weekend. Jersey Coast Shark Anglers will have their “Mako Fever-Catch It” tournament with three fishing days being offered, Friday, June 20, Saturday June 21, and Sunday June 22. The captain’s meeting is on Thursday, June 19. Prizes in this event are up to $55,000.00. The 23rd Annual Mako Mania tournament, run by the Greater Point Pleasant Charter Boat Association, will have two fishing days, Saturday, June 21 and Sunday, June 22 with their captains meeting on Friday, June 20. The prizes for this event will total up to $80,000. Both of these events have a per-day entry fee, so one can fish any or all days and they can be entered in both events if they choose. Those who do not own a boat or think a 30-mile run is more than their boat can handle may choose to book a charter and try their hand at some competitive shark fishing.

 

 

   The end of June should also bring the first schools of football-size bluefin tuna, false albacore and bonita to the usual haunts like the Monster Ledge, HA Buoy, Glory Hole, and Barnegat Ridge. High speed trolling with Japanese feathers and small jets is the way to go at this time of year. Last year was a big disappointment in the way of small bluefin tuna. However, when it came to the schools of bonito, particularly at Barnegat Ridge during the last two seasons, anglers have been extremely successful. There are even a few dolphin mixed in from time to time. Clark spoons trolled behind planers or drail weights will catch bonito, false albacore and even produce an occasional king or Spanish mackerel.

   So get it all ready; the spinning, conventional, trolling, and offshore rods, you’re going to need them all for June.