The last I heard, the giant sea bass ( Stereolepis gigas), was a Pacific-only species, native to southern California & Baja, and had not yet made its way east to the NY Bight
That being said, in years past, the traditional time to find large sea bass on the south 'Jersey wrecks was from Thanksgiving to New Year's day.
I recall an invitation-only trip that we made on the Spray III out of Belmar, back in December of 1984. We had intended to scout the "southern" wrecks for cod and pollock, and instead, encountered schools of 4-5 lb sea bass on almost every wreck Capt John DeRose anchored over. It was a blast catching the aggressive buggers two at a time on 8 oz diamond jig and teaser rigs meant for pollock, though the fight left something to be desired when you took into consideration that we were using 4/0 reels matched to stout rods that were designed to wrestle a brace of 40 lb. pollock away from a wreck.
__________________
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a
pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly
used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW--What a ride!!!"
-Stuart Wilde-
Anyone been Giant Sea Bass Fishing offshore of NJ lately? 
