How is pleasure boating on Barnegat Bay, NJ?

[Mark42]

Looking for some local areas to go boating. Mostly just for exploring and taking in the views. Barnegat Bay is huge. It looks accessable from the Manasquan River. What is the bay like for pleasure boating? I heard it is a shallow bay, any problems with running aground? Any state run launches in the area?<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />Mark.

 

[PAkev]

Re: How is pleasure boating on Barnegat Bay, NJ?

I fished the little egg harbor there last year.<br />Lots of sand bars. Outside the channel markers you can find yourself in waist deep water.

 

[Sea Mitch]

Re: How is pleasure boating on Barnegat Bay, NJ?

I go there every year for a week. We rent a small boat for fishing. The fishing is great, we catch flounder, weakfish and the usual crap (skate, blowfish, crabs, sea robin etc.)! Always get a keeper. The water is low at low tide. Check the tide charts to see how low it's going to be. Outside of the channels at low tide you can have 1 ft of water and it drains fast! When the tide is high, you can go pretty much anywhere. It's very calm. We rent a dinghy with a 9hp from Polly's on LBI, been out in all kinds of weather, never had a problem. Lots of marinas and places to go also (in the summer anyway)!

 

[Chris1956]

Re: How is pleasure boating on Barnegat Bay, NJ?

Mark42, I live on Barnegat Bay. The northern part of the bay is shallow, and the 6' deep channel is narrow. Below the Toms River Bridge, the channel gets much wider. The Toms River itself is 7-9 feet in most places, pretty deep by bay standards. Acces from the Manasquan River to Barnegat Bay is via the Manasquan canal. This canal has a swift current, and is a no wake zone.<br /><br />Fishing is great in the bay in the spring(May, early June) with large weakfish (Sea Trout) and medium Bluefish. In the summer the Weakfish and Blues are smaller. I'v never caught many large Fluke in the bay anytime.<br /><br />There are some sandy beaches in the bay (not many), and it is mostly shallow near the shore. It's great for kids and non-swimmers. There is access from a bay anchorage to the Ocean beach via the walkway at Tice's Shoal. Barnegat Inlet is accessable from the bay's main channel via a narrow, twisty channel - pay close attention or the water will be ankle-deep, any you will be stuck fast. Oh yeah, Barnegat Inlet is the world's worst inlet (They say). The waves will stand up at it's mouth, during the wind-against-tide times.<br /><br />The bay water warms up easily, so swimming by Memorial Day is usually not a problem. The water is also pretty clean. There are several salt-water creeks and rivers that feed the bay and some have marinas and resturants. The wind blows the waves into 3' chop from the south each afternoon. The bay is glass before 9AM.

 

[swist]

Re: How is pleasure boating on Barnegat Bay, NJ?

As a general comment you gotta have more respect than you might think for large bodies of water stuck behind barrier islands. They are shallow which leads to a lot of chop (would rather have 6' long swells on open water than 3' chop 5 ft apart). The shoals and shallows move around a lot - so charts aren't always accurate, and there can be a false sense of security that one is somehow better protected.

 

[JamNJ1955]

Re: How is pleasure boating on Barnegat Bay, NJ?

I have spent many summer days fishing, skiing or just cruising around the barnegat. There are definatley some shallow areas around the lavallette area, just stay in the channels <S>.