Fishing Line: Sept. 14

The Labor Day Weekend saw some great weather which meant plenty of people went fishing. Boaters were out in force, some working the back waters while others sought their action in the ocean. Still, others fished from the beachfronts, the rock piles or bridges. 
One catch was an unexpected one, the first of which I’ve reported on, while the others were par for the course. Let’s check things out. Boulevard Bait and Tackle reported a good week with plenty of action that we would expect. That means catches of flounder, bluefish and weakfish which are the summer staples.
It also meant a summer surprise. Connor and Drew Lewis pulled off the surprise while they were doing some deep-drop fishing. They caught some tilefish, which you would figure, but then they pulled in a 54.8-poundsnowy grouper. As Cameron reported, it’s “one we don’t see everyday.”
Traditional catches of other species were also recorded. Keeper flounder were landed by two anglers, both named Bill, who were fishing together in Townsends Inlet, and by Kaden who caught a 19-inch flounder who was fishing a local inlet. A nice weakfish was caught by Frank, who fished during a recent night at a local bridge while Kevin caught bluefish, up to 18-inches,from the Sea Isle surf. 
Cameron, the store owner, had a family and friends fishing trip on Labor Day which saw eleven keeper flounder caught while they fished one of the local reefs. The largest fish was 25.5-inches and 6.2-pounds. The Miss Avalon had a busy weekend as plenty of flounder, both keepers and shorts, cleared the rail. Their catch total also included a number of triggerfish. 
The Labor Day morning trip produced a lot of action and many throwbacks. The highlights were the two nice keeper fluke caught by JB and the 6.2-pound personal best fluke caught by Austin. The September schedule has the Miss Avalon fishing for flounder and triggerfish, and hopefully some bluefish as some are reported in the area. Their trip lengths will vary with 6 and 8-hour days being scattered throughout. 
There are also a couple of 10-hour, reservation required, deep-water reef trips. Those trips are on September 18th and the 24th. The last day for flounder fishing is September 27th as the season ends that day. There may also be a few quick-notice trips. Message them your phone number and they will add you to the text list to receive those notifications. Call 609-967-7455. First Fish Adventures provided a good day of fishing for Jim Crawford and his son James. Their day concluded with a nice keeper flounder and twelve tasty mahi-mahi.
Another trip, before the weather turned mid-week saw Lippy and Jake, as well as Captain Zig, load up early in the day on Mahi-Mahi. They got their share, then returned to the dock in time to have lunch. The Starfish is busy sailing daily. They have been providing their patrons plenty of action with flounder, triggerfish, sea bass and sea robins. The unfortunate thing for all anglers in the area is that sea bass are currently out of season. I’ve heard of plenty of nice ones being caught while anglers fished for triggerfish and flounders but they all went back for another day. 
Let’s hope those nice big ones are around when the sea bass season resumes on October 7th. The Sailor’s Delight had a busy Labor Day weekend as their patrons pulled in plenty of flounder, plus sea bass, sea robins and other back bay dwellers. Captains Andrew and Stan plan on sailing daily as long as the weather allows. That means they will be going hard through the remainder of flounder season, then pursuing bluefish and finally finishing up with blackfish. 
Let’s hope the weather cooperates and they get a long fall season under their belts. Grassy Sound Marina reported that Diane Chester was out fishing with another angler. They were behind North Wildwood and fishing on the outgoing tide when Diane landed a25-inch, 5-pound, 10-ounce fluke. 
The big fish couldn’t resist the offer of a large minnow. Captain Chuck from the Sea Star III reported on the consistency of this past week toother recent weeks. Fluke and out-of-season sea bass were caught on every trip. The first croakers of the summer dropped in and were a welcome surprise. The schedule has daily trips sailing at 9 a.m. through the 27th of September which happens to be the final day of the 2022 flounder season. After that, the fall season commences as sea bass and blackfish will be the sought after fish. This week’s pool winners all took their wins with flounder. 
The winners were Paul Bodkin with a 3.25-pounder, Harry Theurer (3.0), George Schmidt (4.25), Karl Ziegler (3.5), Joe Horwitz(3.1) and Wayne Kuehler with a 3-pounder.Captain Mike, on the Miss Chris, spent some time during the week looking for bird-play along the beachfront. When he found it, he found some bluefish also. Lou Goldberg benefitted as he limited out while his daughter, Kaylee, caught three of her own. Flounder were also caught from the same area, with Mark Malone winning pool with his 19-incher. Finally, some triggerfish were also caught during the week. Young angler Sammy Smith won a pool with the trigger that he caught. Thanks go to Nick Rambo for touching base about another quick, productive trip for the All Hanked Up. Chris “Chumley” Winter led the way with two keepers, a 20-incher and a17.5-inch fish. Captain Nick tossed in a 19-inch fish to pad the daily take.
It was another good week of late summer fishing. There’s only a few weeks before the end of the summer flounder season so make sure you get a chance to put a few more filets in the freezer. Then it’s on to our fall fishery and thoughts of sea bass, weakfish, stripers and, ultimately, blackfish await. Get out now if the possibility arrives as more opportunity is better. Take care and I’ll see you around.