Night Prowlin

By Nick Honachefsky
Jul 24th 2017

An angler holding up a fish with another angler behind him

Right now in New Jersey, there is a viable night fishery for bottomfish on the wrecks and reefs that include the likes of ling, cod, porgies, sea bass and even squid.

Under the guise of darkness, bottom beasties lurk along the sea floor. Many party boats are making nightly runs to the 3 to 12 mile wrecks to pull on a cooler full of species. I hopped a trip on the Gambler on Thursday and the boat had a few hundred ling come over the rails with red hake up to 3 pounds.

Set ups for bottom bouncing can be relatively simple in nature, with a 7-foot medium action rod rated for 20 to 40-pound such as a Lamiglas BL7040C, matched with a conventional reel such as a Shimano Torium 16 class reel. Spool up with 50-pound Power Pro braided line, then Albright knot a 10 foot section of 40-pound TrikFish monofilament leader where the tag end is simply tied into a double overhand knot.

Loop an appropriate weight bank sinker from 6 to 12 ounces on the loop. About 3 inches up from the weight, pinch the line and loop on a snelled size 2/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook, cinched on with a lark's head knot for ling and black sea bass. You can also opt to tie a dropper loop 24 inches above the bottom hook and lance on a size 5/0 Gamakatsu or Owner Baitholder hook to target larger species like cod that patrol a little off the ocean floor.

Proper baits on the bottom hook include small 1-inch pieces of fresh clam, squid strips, bergall strips or Berkeley Gulp! 3-inch Swimmin' Minnows in white or chartreuse. The top hook can be baited with a big piece of clam tongue or a 6-inch Berkley Gulp! Grub.