Delaware Bay Shore Fishing in New Jersey: Fortescue to Reeds Beach

New Jersey’s Delaware Bay shore runs from the river mouth near Salem down past Fortescue and Reeds Beach to Cape May, and it faces Delaware across the bay. It is a flat, muddy, marsh-edged shore, not a surf beach, and most of the fishing is done with bait from the sand and from boats working the channels and shoals offshore. This guide covers what the rules say for the bay, what recent reports describe, and where our sources run out. Much of the access information we found is older or comes from magazines, and we mark it that way. The agency pages for state beach access and bayshore closures were not readable when we checked, so we make no claim about them.

Rules that are specific to the bay

The rules snapshot above lists the figures we verified from New Jersey’s saltwater tables, updated October 5, 2026. The ones that matter most here:

• Fluke have a 17 inch minimum and a limit of 3 in Delaware Bay and its tributaries west of the COLREGS line, against 18 inches in most other waters. The season is May 4 to September 25 in 2026. The line sits near Cape May, so the full explanation is in the Cape May guide and the New Jersey fluke guide.
• Striped bass follow a 28 to 31 inch slot with one fish a day. The state table does not list the bay separately and appears to treat it as “all other marine waters,” which is open March 1 to December 31. We have not been able to confirm that reading with the agency, so check before you keep a fish. Non-offset circle hooks are required with bait. See the New Jersey striped bass guide.
• Black drum have a 16 inch minimum and a limit of 3. Weakfish have a 13 inch minimum and a limit of 1.
• Registry and license: saltwater anglers 16 and older must be on New Jersey’s free registry. A Delaware fishing license is required for anglers 16 and older between the upstream tip of Artificial Island and the Delaware-Pennsylvania line, except when fishing from the New Jersey shore.
• Horseshoe crabs: we could not read a current New Jersey agency page on the horseshoe crab rule, so we do not state it as a rule. News reports describe a state moratorium on taking crabs for bait, with an exemption for the biomedical industry.

Fortescue and the bloodworm surf

Fortescue is the best-known spot on this shore. A Fisherman hot-spot article from 2017 describes it as a bait fishery. It said a local tackle-shop owner put 99 percent of fish caught off the Fortescue surf on bloodworms, and that striped bass come in spring, drum in May and June, and fluke in summer. It lists the Fortescue State Marina on the creek, a tackle shop on Downe Avenue and several party boats, and names offshore spots such as the Punk Grounds and the 16 Buoy. All of that is a 2017 account, so confirm whether a shop is still open and what the marina charges.

A May 21, 2026 OnTheWater report from the southern part of the state describes the Cape May and Fortescue areas as producing striped bass from 30 to 43 inches on bloodworms, with the fish over 31 inches released. The same report calls the Delaware Bay drum bite spotty but very good if you find the schools, most productive in 10 to 15 feet of water, with clams and bloodworms as the baits. It described fluke as slower in the bay and better in the shallow backwaters behind Wildwood. A report is a snapshot of one week, not a calendar.

The crab spawn and the birds

The Fisherman article says the horseshoe crab spawn, which begins around the first full moon of May, drives surfcasters off the beach. Crab eggs are also the reason the bay matters to migrating shorebirds. WHYY reported in August 2026 that biologists counted more than 30,000 red knots at the peak this spring, mostly on the New Jersey side, which it called the highest single-day peak since 2019 but still a fraction of historic levels, and it describes the red knot as federally threatened. We did not find an agency page about spring beach closures to people, so we cannot say whether any beach you plan to fish is restricted. Our red knot Dock Tale tells that story. If a beach is posted, stay out.

Access and what we could not confirm

We did not find a current list of public access points, fees or hours for Fortescue, Reeds Beach or East Point. The 2017 article mentions the state marina on Fortescue Creek, and an older New Jersey Fish and Wildlife boat access list (dated 2001) names Mad Horse Creek Wildlife Management Area near Canton and the Pennsville municipal ramp on the Delaware River further north. Those are leads only. A state boat ramp permit costs $15 according to the state’s license fee table, but we have not verified that it applies to a given ramp, so ask the owner. Check tides before you drive onto any road near the marsh. A 2026 Audubon map the research flagged says Moores Beach Road floods at high tide, but we did not read the map, so treat that as a lead too.

Gear that works

A medium spinning rod of 9 to 10 feet with a sinker holder suits bloodworm and clam fishing from the beach, and a heavier surf rod handles bigger striped bass and drum. From a boat, a medium-heavy conventional outfit with a sliding sinker rig is the usual way to work channel edges for drum. Fluke call for a lighter spinning rod with a bucktail or a minnow-and-strip rig in the shallow backwaters. Tell us the fish and the beach and we can build a rod for it.

Safety

• Tides and mud. The bay shore is shallow and the tide covers flats and roads quickly. Do not wade out on soft bottom.
• Wind and chop build fast across the open bay, so small boats should watch the forecast.
• Biting insects are heavy on the marshes in warm weather.
• Fish advisories: we did not read New Jersey’s consumption advisory for the bay or river, so check the state advisory before you keep fish.

Across the water

Delaware’s side of the bay is covered in our Delaware Bay shore guide, and the broader comparison of New Jersey beaches is in New Jersey surf fishing. The New Jersey rules guide puts the license and registry rules together.