t was a year to remember for sports fans. With the excitement that sizzled with Sosa and McGuire, the Yankees, and the Jets, sports enthusiasts were served up a full plate for 1998. Unfortunately, however, for the fishing fan much of this history making excitement and melodrama had to be seen on “let’s go to the videotape”. The reason, the fishing person was setting some records of his own and didn’t have time to sit in front of the screen to be a remote TV director.

The year in review can be summed up in one word, phenomenal. But as I looked back through my archives I think I used the same term last year also. Two great years in a row with some minor differences and some similarities. There really isn’t too much to complain about when it comes to fishing at the Jersey Shore.

The similarities was the bad news for the surf fisherman as the big stripers once again past up the beach on their migration back to the Hudson, the Chesapeake, or waters off of the Carolinas. These fish stayed offshore delighting boaters with excellent action once they arrived from the north. From Thanksgiving right up to the present time a good class of twenty to thirty pound fish were present in twenty-five to seventy-five feet of water. These fish were easy prey for jigs and rubber shad umbrella rigs. The number of surface blitzes that occurred offshore was also an incredible sight on many a given day. Birds could be seen working the bait and schools of stripers aiding the boater like a flag on a putting green. Flyrodders also cashed in big time from the boats due to the shear number of fish that were present.

Incredible numbers of short bass were caught from both the beach and boat. Anglers that kept count broke personal records from the year before for the number of fish caught and released. Not only were the bass numbers incredible but the weakfish and albacore runs were two of the best runs we have ever seen in recent years. The albacore and weakfish took up the slack in the early part of the fall when the striper action was off.

The weakfish arrived in the early part of June and hit the Manasquan River and Barnegat Bay in full force. Action was consistent, particularly in the early evening hours on fin-s fish with fish up to 32 inches being caught. This action continued for the entire summer and into the first week of October. Once again, tremendous numbers of smaller fish were taken routinely. It was a common site to go down to the Manasquan Inlet rail and watch anglers lift one weakie after another onto the walkway. In fact, many a night this became a pretty popular tourist attraction for our summer visitors.

The albacore run began around the first week of September and this southern speedster remained until the third week in October. Again, with numbers that were just to difficult to count. Fish up to twelve pounds were taken from both the beach and boat. Numerous anglers had told me that this was the first season ever that they had hooked into an albie. A lasting memory I’m sure.

The famed North Jetty at Island Beach State Park, N.J., became a haven for fly fishermen once again during the peak of the albie run. Large concentrations of albies would ritualistically appear along the rocks each morning just after sun up. Bay anchovy patterns stripped through their lair would draw vicious strikes immediately relieving your reel of its fly line and a good part of its backing.

Both the weaks and albies were present in greater numbers and for a longer period of time this year than they were during the 1997 fall season. We can thank Mother Nature for that. Our weather remained calm, consistent, and water temperatures didn’t fluctuate much remaining on the warmer side for nearly all of September and the first part of October. This held the bait and the fish in our area.

And let’s not forget our bluefish run either. Blues arrived in the second week of August and remained in the surf until early November. The fish were small to begin with, in the one to two pound range, but ended up tipping the scales at eighteen pounds by the end of October. We can thank the peanut bunker run for this. Soon after the mullet run ended in September the peanut bunker came in along the beach and filled the void. Wherever you went, from the Hook to the Island, they were there packed tightly along the beach. Blitzes of blues and bass were a common occurrence as these fish feasted on them for the entire month of October and a good part of early November.

From this point on the action shifted away from the surf and to the boat. The sandeels stayed offshore, as did the herring, leaving the surf fisherman with nothing else than some really short bass. The boat fishing on the other hand was absolutely incredible and was a record-breaking end to an already fabulous season.