# Is Asbury Park worth bringing gear?



## ReelDeal

I was made aware that I’m going to Asbury Park this weekend and I would like to get some fishing in while everyone else deals with hangovers. I can not find much on the area besides a spot near 8th street. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks


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## BillHoo

Have not been to Asbury Park in years. Almost bought property there when I came back from Iraq.

My dad used to bring me fishing there off the jetties. Used to be free access to the beach if you had fishing gear. They may restrict things now to bring more revnue. The city is corrupt and was in a heap of debt from what I remember from the 90s and early 2000s.

Drive South 10 minutes to Belmar and you can fish off a pier near the Marina on the Shark River. The name is a bastardization of "shirk" because military guys from the NJ Military Academy in Sea Girt used to go there to goof off and shirk their duties. The pier is a popular fishing site for flounder winter/summer whatever species is in season, rays, puffer fish and bluefish. Maybe the ocassional mackerel school.

If you have a military ID or are a retiree, you can drive south another 5 minutes and go onto the base at Sea Girt. Follow the road down past the motor pool, Med center and NJ National Guard Museum and you will see some RVs parked there along the water. 

I've gotten snapper blues out of there and used to drop a crab trap there. Used to haul up a crab once every 9 minutes. If you bring TWO crab traps, you double your success in a shorter time!

Other side of the lake is a public park and it's crowded. On the military side you'll likely have the shore all to yourself.

No salt water license that I know of other than the Salwater Fishing Registry.
https://www.nj.gov/dep/saltwaterregistry/index.html

If you want to drop some money and fish a party boat for 6 hours, you can find one there. Best to look up the schedules at the Marina. Some leave at 0730 and some leave around 3:30 PM

Let us know how you do!


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## BillHoo

I just realized some folks might not know what a "jetty" is.

So basically get onto the beach, you might have to pay a fee, or they might tell you fishing is only before 8 AM and after 5 PM or something like that. Look out onto the surf and you will find piles of rocks that jut out into the surf. The rock piles are jetties.

Don't go on them if they are so broken up that they are cut off from the beach. You want to find one that you can just walk onto with your fishing gear.

Also wear good gripping athletic shoes as some of the rocks may be slippery. BE CAREFUL!!

You may see lobsters in the rocks. Pay no attention to them, they'll just get you into trouble. Be constantly aware of the crashing waves.

Or just cast onto the surf.

You can get flounder, bluefish, false albacore, tuatog, blackfish, and the occasional mackerel from jetty fishing.


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## ReelDeal

BillHoo said:


> I just realized some folks might not know what a "jetty" is.
> 
> So basically get onto the beach, you might have to pay a fee, or they might tell you fishing is only before 8 AM and after 5 PM or something like that. Look out onto the surf and you will find piles of rocks that jut out into the surf. The rock piles are jetties.
> 
> Don't go on them if they are so broken up that they are cut off from the beach. You want to find one that you can just walk onto with your fishing gear.
> 
> Also wear good gripping athletic shoes as some of the rocks may be slippery. BE CAREFUL!!
> 
> You may see lobsters in the rocks. Pay no attention to them, they'll just get you into trouble. Be constantly aware of the crashing waves.
> 
> Or just cast onto the surf.
> 
> You can get flounder, bluefish, false albacore, tuatog, blackfish, and the occasional mackerel from jetty fishing.


Thanks for replying. I’m familiar with Jettie fishing. I’m looking for blues and false albacore for bait to throw heavier at sharks. I figure I’m only going to have from about 6 to 8am if I’m lucky. If I get entertained with other fish I’m fine with it. 

Can you give me more info on where the “other side of the lake” where I may have the beach to myself? I am not prier military. Thanks again


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## ReelDeal

Also, do you have a name for the pier? I’m on google earth and I’m not finding anything. Just a private pier that is members only. Thanks


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## BillHoo

The pier for fishing the Shark River
Google directions for the Belmar Marina. As you enter the marina drive as close to the water as you can. There is a service road you turn left on that follows the water which will be on your right. There will be parking on the left. 

Last I was there, (fall of 2004) parking was free. At the end of the road, there is a left turn that brings you back onto the highway. Not sure if they will let you drive to the right onto the pier anymore. Otherwise, just park somewhere and walk out onto the pier and fish. From the parking lot, you can see Windmill Hotdogs across the highway, a good place for lunch. If by chance that pier is no longer public, you can just walk over to the other, smaller pier at Maclearie Park and fish.

Sea Girt
The lake I'm talking about is Stockton Lake. The military side is Sea Girt. The public side is Manasquan. Public street parking fills up pretty fast, but if you are there around 6AM, you should be OK. Get as close to the water as you can and park. If you go down E. Main St. to the beach and make a right turn on 1st Ave, you hit the Manasquan Inlet. Parking is extremely sparse down there. But again, early start and you might be able to get to a metered parking spot along the inlet. I think you need to feed quarters into the meters. I've gotten blackfish and blues from the rock pilings along the inlet there using leftover pork skin from a roasted ham as bait. Spinners and spoons good for blues. Most likely snapper blues there. 

You can literally fish where you park also. Just park at a meter, step three feet from your hood and cast.

To the North of Sea Girt is Wreck Pond. A narrow inlet give the pond access to the sea. I have never fished there. Might be good for crabbing and a few snappers.

Good luck!


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## BillHoo

I also found this on another board regarding the Shark River.....
Fightin Irish:
On the north side of shark river 1st house from the ocean you can fish in there back yard.they don't own the rights and there fence is 25 yards short of the bulk head people are there all the time i have even seen tents and grill's there so bring a small table and wet your lines you just have to go over the draw bridge into Avon make first left and first left again and it is your house on the left if you pass the coast guard station you went to far.hope this helps


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## BillHoo

I might actually be there early Sunday. Have a tenant moving out from my rental in Piscataway. I might bring some gear or buy a pole at the Marina. Also a walmart nearby,.

Looks like high activity around 7-8 AM
https://tides4fishing.com/us/new-jersey/belmar


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## ReelDeal

Billhoo you have been extremely helpful. Actually put Hope into being able to get a few hours of fishing in. Your directions were great and I found the locations on google earth. I’m baffled as to how difficult it is to find places in Asbury. Thanks again!


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## BillHoo

Your welcome. I never fished Asbury Park. Went to the amusement park as kid in the late 70s before the corrupt town council taxed people into abandoning their homes. By the 90s, you could buy a 10 bedroom mansion for $69K.

I was there was in 1993 when I was an intern for an ad agency promoting the NJ Bell Yellow Pages Sandcastle Contest in Belmar. After our event, the client took off and I was with the Ad Director and another account manager. We realized the client had left us a huge budget for lunch. So we went Net Lanes seafood in Asbury Park and had ordered a lot of great seafood for $300 between the three of us!

by 1995, the place had turned into a ghost town. The Stone Pony was really the only thing keeping it alive.

Late 90s, the LGBT community started buying up property there. The feds were talking tax relief and a bunch of people went to prison (I think).

2005 I came back from Iraq and considered buying a dilapidated house in an "up and coming neighborhood" on the west side of the tracks, next to a crack house. but change my mind. 

If I were to consider fishing there, I'd look to the far north of the beach at Bradley Cove and fish from the jetty there.

Have to be careful which beach you are on. Many homes are built right up to the beach and were bought up by Russian mobsters and ex-KGB hitmen. I heard a story of a scuba fisherman who came out of the water on the wrong beach and was greeted by guys in suits with AK rifles speaking Russian. Apparently they believe the beach belongs to them.


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## ReelDeal

Bradley Cove has most of my attention. It’s right up the road from the hotel. Figured I’d grab Fishbites (squid and bloodworms) on the way brings the shops will be closed by the time I get there. Hope for a spot and throw that back out and see what happens. I can see why the Russians and KGB would be alerted to a man coming out of the ocean in scuba gear hahaha


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## ReelDeal

Stargazer. Caught a stargazer. Haha only got about an hour or so in and it was super skinny waters at low tide. New moon was Friday but the extremes of the tides were crazy. Super low and super high. Clean area but I will not return. I would head north to sandy hook or south to Island beach.


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## BillHoo

Really! Aren't those venomous? I didn't even know they were in northern waters!

I brought gear up, and again did not get to go out. Busy getting stuff for my walk-thru with my tenant. Then had to set up new locks and things before we left and got home at 10PM!

Had lunch with my family and my brother said all the blue fish are currently out in deep water. Might see a few stripers along the shore as they compete with blue fish.


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## BillHoo

Hmmm. Northern Stargazer
The diet of the northern stargazer consists of small fish, crabs and other crustaceans that are unlucky enough to swim near it. Once the prey is in range, the stargazer rises from the sand and in an instant swallows the fish whole.

The top of the stargazer has electric organs that it uses for defense and it may or may not also use it to stun its prey. Because of the electric shocks they should be handled with care if caught.

Did you get a shock? I read they are edible. 

How big? State record is around 13 pounds.

From the Asbury Park Press... who knew!
https://www.app.com/story/sports/ou...-and-sinker/2014/07/04/shocked-fish/12189493/


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## ReelDeal

It ate a 5” sp minnow. I didn’t know they were electric when I throw it back. Looked it up to show my wife and that’s when I found out it has an electric defense. I got lucky I guess.


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## BillHoo

Was it a good fightin' fish?

Fished from the surf or jetty?


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## ReelDeal

Caught from the beach. It was just weight. No real fight at all


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## BillHoo

Wow! I've been locked out of my account since July!

Took forever to get that resolved. Back in business.

Since then, I have checked out the Perth Amboy fishing piers. Looks like potential, but did not fish there. Just explored the area.


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## BillHoo

I was over at the Inlet there this past weekend. Incoming tide the Army Corps of Engineers were dredging the mouth of the inlet - NOT GOOD FOR FISHING!

I was casting a sabiki rig, hoping to hook some herring, but instead lost my rig on the a snag in the rocks after an hour of casting.


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## kurazy kracka

BillHoo said:


> I was over at the Inlet there this past weekend. Incoming tide the Army Corps of Engineers were dredging the mouth of the inlet - NOT GOOD FOR FISHING!
> 
> I was casting a sabiki rig, hoping to hook some herring, but instead lost my rig on the a snag in the rocks after an hour of casting.


If you live up that way invest in some waders, plugs, and lost of lost sleep and starting as early as march (weather/water dependent) you can bang some big bass up the RB.


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## BillHoo

kurazy kracka said:


> If you live up that way invest in some waders, plugs, and lost of lost sleep and starting as early as march (weather/water dependent) you can bang some big bass up the RB.


I live in Fairfax, VA

Only swing by NJ every now and then to manage a property and visit family.


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