Welcome to the Raritan Bay Page
Click On Any Thumb nailed Photo to Enlarge It
Raritan Bay is part of the Port of New York & New Jersey's marine estuary system. With coastal borders in both New York and New Jersey rules of both sets of marine fisheries Laws apply to fishermen in this area, New York State & New Jersey State Laws are enforced within the bay.
Generally the middle of the main shipping channel, known as "Raritan Reach" is the boundary between both States. the Raritan Reach channel stretches from Tottenville, Staten Island to Sandy Hook NJ where it intersects with Chapel Hill Channel and Sandy Hook Channel at an area know as the Sandy Hook Rip at Loran fixes 26988.7 43726 on Loran Chain 9960
The true boundary has been debated for two centuries, and you will not find me entering into any debate on the subject of where the line is, but if you click on the Thumbnail photo above, you will see the true boundary. The local Environmental Conservation Officers know very well where the line is, and who can argue with them?
Raritan Bay is part of the New York Bight, which includes New York Harbor's Lower Bay, Jamaica Bay, Sandy Hook Bay and Atlantic Ocean coastal waters out to the continental shelf, and to well known deep water fishing areas as "Cholera Bank", Middle Ground" "Three Sisters, "Mud Hole", Yankee Wreck", " HA Buoy" "17 Fathoms", and the Block, Wilmington, and Hudson Canyons known as the Hudson Shelf Valley.
Raritan Bay sits at the doorstep to the Hudson River estuary system, home to the second largest spawning stock of Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) on the Atlantic Coast. Millions of striped bass pass thru the Verrazano Narrows twice a year, entering the Hudson River's freshwater system to winter in the Fall months, then once again in the Spring of the year as they head back into saltwater after spawning in the early Spring.
Other species that frequent the area are Shad, Atlantic Herring, Spot, Tautog (Blackfish), Atlantic Sturgeon, Bluefish, Mackerel, Flounder, Fluke, Menhaden (Bunker), Porgy, Tommy Cod, Weakfish, Whitefish, Cod, Ling, Skate, and a variety of Shark. Lobster, Blue claw crab, Stone crab, clam, oyster, and a host of other marine species are found in Raritan Bay. Offshore are species of Pelagic Shark, Tuna, Marlin, Swordfish, etc. Pelagic means "wide roaming" so these species are just passing thru the area.
Striped Bass, Bluefish, Winter Flounder, Fluke, Blackfish, Weakfish (Sea Trout), Porgies, Whiting, and Ling, Cod and Crab.......... Raritan Bay is one of the most productive areas of the North Atlantic. Click on this thumbnail to see a photo of "Little Joe's" 48 pound bass caught outside Great Kills Harbor on Staten Island. It will give you an idea of the local fishery.
BOOK A SALTWATER FISHING CHARTER IN THE NY BIGHT...CLICK HERE!
A bight is a general term for a bend or curve in the shoreline of an open coast. In the New York region it refers to the great expanse of shallow ocean between Long Island (to the north and east) and the New Jersey Coast (to the south and west). Because Long Island trends generally east to west in relation to mainland of New Jersey it creates a great right angle in the general geometry of the Atlantic coastline. The Hudson River's outer harbor and the Raritan Bay (shown in the image above) constitute only a fraction of the greater New York Bight region.
Current understanding is that the age of the earth is about 4.6 billion years old, with the oldest known rocks on Earth's surface dated at about 3.8 billion years. The oldest rocks in the New York Bight region are found in surface outcrops throughout the Highlands region. These exposures of Precambrian "basement rock" have been estimated at 1.3 to 1.1 billion years old. These rocks underlie younger rocks throughout much of the area, and have undergone a high degree of alteration since their formation. The early stages of alteration occurred in a mountain-building episode that affected the entire eastern margin of North America. This mountain-building episode is collectively known as the Grenville Orogeny which ended roughly a billion years ago. During this period older rivers and sediments were subjected to deep burial and metamorphic alteration.
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Raritan Bay NY State Marine Resources Saltwater Fish
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