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Sandy Hook Bay (New Jersey) — one of the area's fishing spots. About 22.3 km² in area. Nearest town — Long Branch. Salt water, not fresh — so this page carries its own marine bite forecast. See when the bite is best: hourly fish activity for the days ahead, computed from the weather, pressure, and season.
Nearest towns and cities
The basin is close to regular: the bank runs smooth and natural cover is scarce, so fish hold to the few anomalies — inflows, drop-offs and weed edges. Larger than 6 of the 9 waters nearby.
The longest fetch is 4 mi along the north — south axis: wind along it builds a wave on the open water and pushes silt and food towards the lee bank.
Other nearby places to fish
Other nearby waters
New Jersey: the months when each species peaks and when it goes quiet. The current month is outlined.
| Fish | January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black drum | active | peak | peak | active | active | fair | fair | fair | active | active | active | active |
| Flounder | slow | fair | active | active | active | active | peak | peak | peak | active | fair | slow |
| Striped bass | slow | fair | peak | peak | active | active | active | peak | peak | active | slow | slow |
| Bluefish | slow | slow | fair | active | active | active | peak | peak | peak | active | fair | slow |
| Spanish mackerel | slow | slow | slow | fair | peak | peak | peak | active | fair | slow | slow | slow |
Wednesday, October 21
Look for structure — reefs, flats, channel edges; work them slowly near the bottom.
Sandy Hook Bay — Wednesday, October 21
The bite is strong — fish are active. Pressure is dropping — this usually boosts the bite. Peak 00:00–03:00.
The computed water temperature is around 58 °F — colder than the 61–79 °F comfort range for Black drum: the fish conserves energy and takes more cautiously.
Black drum feeds at night: the peak falls in the dark hours, between sunset and sunrise.
Pressure is dropping 0.09 inHg over the day — fish are usually more active ahead of a weather change.
One more input — the moon's feeding windows: within their hours the score sits higher than across the rest of the day. The window times are in the “Solunar feeding periods” card below.
October is an active season for Black drum here.
These are the same values the bite curve above was computed from. How the forecast works
| 00:00 | 01:00 | 02:00 | 03:00 | 04:00 | 05:00 | 06:00 | 07:00 | 08:00 | 09:00 | 10:00 | 11:00 | 12:00 | 13:00 | 14:00 | 15:00 | 16:00 | 17:00 | 18:00 | 19:00 | 20:00 | 21:00 | 22:00 | 23:00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -1.2 ft | -0.4 ft | 0.3 ft | 0.8 ft | 0.9 ft | 0.4 ft | -0.1 ft | -0.7 ft | -1.2 ft | -1.7 ft | -1.8 ft | -1.4 ft | -0.7 ft | 0.2 ft | 1.0 ft | 1.6 ft | 1.7 ft | 1.4 ft | 0.7 ft | -0.0 ft | -0.8 ft | -1.6 ft | -1.9 ft | -1.8 ft |
Open-Meteo tide model, grid point 1.3 mi away
Open-Meteo Marine model, grid cell 1.3 mi from the waterbody. Values are daily means.
Cloudy · feels like +47°
The day is 3 min shorter than yesterday.
Sunshine hours count direct sun only — cloud cover cuts it, so it is shorter than daylight.
Geomagnetic fieldG1 geomagnetic storm, Kp 4.7
Kp index — NOAA forecast. Not part of the bite score: catches show no link between geomagnetic storms and the bite.
The windows are set by the moon's transit and rise, and the forecast above already accounts for them: within these hours the bite score sits higher than across the rest of the day, while the day's overall level still comes from the catch-calibrated model.
What are solunar periods?Look for structure — reefs, flats, channel edges; work them slowly near the bottom.
Sandy Hook Bay — Wednesday, October 21
The bite is strong — fish are active. Pressure is dropping — this usually boosts the bite. Peak 00:00–03:00.