Mantoloking Fishing Pier

The Mantoloking Fishing Pier is a 160-foot leftover piece of the old Mantoloking Bridge, on the west side of the drawbridge in Brick Township, now a county park at the top of Barnegat Bay. It puts you within casting range of the deeper Intracoastal channel under the bridge and the shallower flats around it, and storm debris on the bottom has become fish-holding structure. The park has bait stations, restrooms, parking and a shaded gazebo at the end of the pier.

When to fish

• March through May: winter flounder, especially on sunny days.
• From March: stripers on the pilings once the back-bay season opens.
• Late April through May: bluefish, usually 3 to 8 pounds, with some much larger fish in recent springs.
• May through November: fast light-tackle action on schoolie stripers.
• Summer: fluke, snapper blues and blue crabs.

Where to fish

Cast toward the channel under the drawbridge for deeper water, or work the flats around the pier. Stripers hang along the bridge pilings, especially at night under the streetlights. Expect snags: the debris that holds fish also grabs rigs.

How to fish it

For winter flounder, lower a chum pot on a rope and cast bloodworm baits downtide of it. For bluefish, chunk bunker or cast poppers and metals, and walk big fish to the base of the pier to land them. For schoolie stripers, a half-ounce leadhead with a 5- to 6-inch soft-plastic swimbait works well on the morning tides and at night. For fluke, fancast a bucktail tipped with a soft bait, and for snappers, use spearing on a slip-bobber rig.

Getting there

The pier is part of Ocean County's Mantoloking Fishing Pier park on the west side of the Mantoloking Bridge (Route 528) in Brick Township. Anglers 16 and older must register with New Jersey's free Saltwater Recreational Registry.