The Fishing Line

Labor Day may signal the last weekend to get in some fishing for those families bound by school schedules but if you are lucky enough to find some free time, the fish are still out there and the captains are happy to help you find them. Just remember, summer flounder season is over Sept. 7.
Captain Brook Koeneke of the Duke O’ Fluke pontoon, Somers Point, calls this “hunt-and-peck time” for the flatfish in Great Egg Inlet. On a morning trip, though, his customers enjoyed a fluke blitz near Longport on the incoming tide.
Twin brothers Ryan and Billy Johnson, 11, Basking Ridge, managed to get both their hooks into the same flounder, a 2.13-pounder. In a Solomon-like decision, Captain ruled that the youngsters should split the pool.
It’s croakers, croakers, and more croakers according to Ron Flemming, Cape May Bait and Tackle. High hook went to Justin Fulmer with 24 caught at the lighthouse park. Liam Curtis, 6, had a mixed bag catch with weakfish. croakers, kingfish and throw-back fluke. Short stripers, 22 to 26 inches were boiling under the Cape May bridge, being caught on clam.
Captain Ray found algae bloom in the back-bay, inlet and along the beach last week. He says the water was super clean prior to the warming and overnight it changed to this ugly brown color. The full moon tides made it a bit better but not much. He’s going to wait it out.
From Sterling Harbor I hear that there are some keeper flounder, croakers, kingfish, small weakfish and bluefish at Cape May Point. Flounder are being caught at the Old Grounds and Reef Site 11 and are at the Cape May Reef with mostly throwbacks being caught.
Small stripers are being caught along the back-bay sod banks near docks and bridges mainly at night using clam for bait.
The Lobster Claw area remains the best bet for bluefin tuna, chunking, trolling and jigging all seem to work. Bob McCormick and crew weighed in a 41 pound wahoo caught while trolling near the Lobster Claw.
Yellowfin tuna are in the canyons with blue marlin, white marlin and Mahi-Mahi. Try trolling and jigging.
The Hooked Up II out of South Jersey Marina is still finding bigger bluefin tuna. Captains John and Diane Sowerby say this has been one of the best seasons they have ever had. On almost every trip, they brought back one legal bluefin that dressed out at over 100- pounds and they released or lost a few in the 125-175-pound class.
There is also a decent bite trolling closer to Cape May on some 80-100 pound bluefins and a few up to 125 plus that are mixed in with wahoo, small yellowfins and dolphin. Overall there is better than decent offshore fishing happening out of Cape May at the present time.
They ran two inshore family trips for the first time since spring drum season on the Delaware Bay and destroyed the croaker population. If you have a small group and would like to fish on a deluxe comfortable charter boat with six anglers maximum, give them a call.
At Grassy Sound Marina the back-bay has croakers, kings, and weakies. Matthew Guthrie, 13, Green Creek, was high hook with 25 of 32 croakers caught on clam during incoming tide.
The John Casey Crew, Warminster, Pa. had a great time with four keeper flounder to 22 inches caught on minnows.
Other News:
Mid-Atlantic Fishery management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission put out their recommendations for fishing regulations for 2009. All quotas are up by 3 percent:
Summer flounder, 18.45 million pounds TAL, 14 inch size; scup, 7.34 million pounds TAL, 9 inch fish; black sea bass, 2.30 million pounds TAL, 11 inch fish; bluefish, 29.36 million pounds TAL, no minimum size.
The change in the biological reference point means that summer flounder are not overfished and that overfishing is not occurring. These recommendations need to be approved before finalization takes place.
With Addendum IV due to expire on Sept. 30, Addendum V will continue horseshoe crab management in Delaware Bay for another year. Based on the most recent surveys, management measures are resulting in increased horseshoe crab abundance.
Addendum V mirrors the measures contained in Addendum IV including a delayed, male-only harvest in New Jersey and Delaware for one year. It prohibits the harvest and landing of male and female horseshoe crabs from Jan. 1 to June 7, and restricts the annual harvest to 100,000 males per state from June 8 to Dec. 31. States have the prerogative to implement more conservative measures. New Jersey had implemented a moratorium on the harvest and landing of horseshoe crab.
Copies can be obtained by contacting the Commission at 202-289-6400 or via asmfc.org under Breaking News.
Recent entry into the Cape May County Fishing Tournament: Henry Suwala, Cape May, striped bass, 44-pounds, 1-ounce. 1 oz., June 6, Poverty Beach in Cape May.
Big Game Fishing Workshop, Nature Center of Cape May, Saturday, Sept. 6, 10:30 a.m., Charlie Langan, South Jersey Marina. Pre-registration recommended, $10, $8 for Audubon Society members, 898-8848.
Book recommendation: “Tuna—A Love Story” by Richard Ellis tracks the alarming story of the bluefin tuna.
Check out www.SeeMyBigFish.com and be sure to send your fish stories and pictures to Be My Guest reporter. Send info to cmiller@cmcherald.com. All photos submitted will be posted to See My Big Fish .com