Well, fishing seems to be kicking back in. The regular summer subjects are here, plus others such as croakers and spot are starting to finally show up. Some cobia and wahoo arrived recently, and stripers are also being caught. We had a 35 incher that was reported here last week, so they’re not all schoolies, although most are. A puppy drum was also caught recently from the backwaters by a kayak fisherman. Let’s get going.
Boulevard Bait and Tackle had a busy week, and Saturday had “great reports coming from all over this morning.” Kingfish and spot, “yes spot,” were along the beaches while small bluefish and flounder were at the inlet. Some keepers were also at the reefs. Dean and Deano had a 3.74 pounder for their Saturday effort while another angler had a stringer of kingfish.
On Tuesday, a 27.5-inch, 6.36-pound flounder was weighed in by Matt Schad. He currently holds second place in the shops yearly tournament. He has “been fishing the reefs hard and consistently bringing home dinner.”
The Avalon Lady continues to find keepers in the back, whether it’s while day fishing or under the cover of darkness during their night trips. Three keepers, along with 80 throw backs, plus some sea bass, sharks and sea robins, came aboard during a recent Friday morning trip. There is a lot of life in the backwaters, so the trips are always active.
On Wednesday, the morning trip produced a couple of nice keepers, while they “lost two or three more keepers due to trying to lift them over the rail.” My public service announcement to you is to keep the line tight and wait for the net.
The Miss Avalon is fishing every day. They have been catching triggerfish, sea bass, flounder, bluefish and croakers. Zachary Robbins and his girlfriend Noelle were out recently and caught short flounder, some sea bass and three triggerfish, including the pool-winner. Others have been catching similar mixed bags.
Cathy at Sterling Harbor says that the reefs have been “good for flounder when conditions allowed for a proper drift.” The Dunne family had six keepers to 21 inches during a recent trip to the Wildwood Reef. A 5.65-pound flounder was caught by Robin Harbaugh, also at the Wildwood Reef. Flounder are also coming from the back bays, although there are more throwbacks than keepers. The backwaters are providing action with short striped bass that are hitting clam baits or top-water lures. A 10.1-pound puppy drum was caught by kayaker Jimmy Dickinson during an outing behind Wildwood.
The Delaware Bay has been giving up “nice catches of flounder.” The area “around the shipping lanes up near the 19 Buoy” has been a good spot. Weakfish and bluefish have also been caught from that area.
While you’re in the ocean, keep “your eyes open” when around the buoys. Some cobia has been caught from around them during the past week. Remember that cobia need to be 40 inches long to be kept.
Tuna provided good action last Sunday the 5th when chunking near Massey’s Canyon or the 19 Fathom Lump, but then “slowed” during the week.
The canyons offshore have “plenty of white marlin.” “Mahi mahi can be caught from the beaches to the canyons right now.”
Crabbing is “excellent” and Crabby Jack repeats last week’s grade of four claws.
The Sailor’s Delight continues to rack up their flounder catch total. Between the keepers and the throwbacks, they are right near the 1,500 fish level. Undoubtedly, by now they have passed it. All three daily trips continue to find hungry flounder, and that makes all parties happy.
The Royal Flush is taking their three daily trips to the oceanfront and catching croakers (which finally started to show en masse), kingfish, sea bass, weakfish, triggerfish, bluefish and “throwback flounder.” They experienced a very active week with Jim Walsh, Ashley Kiefer, Tim Pfeil and Brian Hogland bringing in triggerfish. Others notable catches went to Dean Dobbs (sea bass), Brian Bowks (weakfish), Mary Liden (bluefish) and Jonah White with a “bucketful of croakers.” For any information on their trips, please call (609) 522-1395.
Grassy Sound Marina had word of a nice catch for Bill Doan. He returned to port with a 36-pound cobia. Elsewhere, Lyle Petersen, the 2017 tournament champion, landed a nice flounder while fishing along the ICW. A limit of flounder, with fish to 24 inches, was caught by Terry Fortino, while 9-year-old Sophia caught her first flounder.
Captain Mike from the Atlantis at Miss Chris Marina says things have “been consistent down at the point.” That translates to having a nice “mixed bag” of kingfish, weakfish, bluefish, croakers and fluke. Mike described Lucas Exbox as “the luckiest young boy around” as he caught two keeper flounder, one of which won him the daily pool.
Captain Chuck from the Sea Star III stated “more of the same this week.” That means ocean fishing that was “producing” nice fluke, sea bass and triggerfish for his fares. Fluke, with weights in pounds, took all the daily pools for Frank Servocky (3.25), Dave Leposki (3.8), Gary Agness (3.4 and 3.5), Rick Mroczck (4.75), Moe Farallo (2.1) and Vinnie Sallustio (4).
The Cape May Lady has been busy lately, as they have been putting their customers on triggerfish, bluefish, kingfish, jacks, scup, sea bass, fluke and croakers. They described the croakers as “here in force.” Pictures showed multiple buckets loaded with croakers while another fishermen had two-thirds of his fluke limit.
The Fishin’ Fever led by Captain Tom experienced a “couple good days of tuna fishing.” One day saw eight yellowfins and a 107-pound bluefin caught, then two days later they had 11 yellowfins to 70 pounds. They have availability for “offshore tuna, marlin, mahi, wahoo and swordfish trips coming in September and October.” Call (609) 868-6014 to secure your trip.
Captain Bob had the Full Ahead out targeting different species. One angler, Donald, landed his personal best fluke: a 7.6 pounder. That put “him on top of the leader board at the CMMTC.”
Ryan Morse, reported here previously for catching catfish, switched over to blackfish recently. He sent word in last week of catching a 15-inch, 2.2-pound fish while using green crab as bait. Remember that currently you have a bag-limit of one fish at 15-inches or greater.
The Ocean City Fishing Clubs 43rd Annual Tournament for boys and girls had to be shortened due to a Saturday morning thunderstorm. The two-hour event had to be called due to lightning after a little more than an hour. 84 young anglers participated.
The top prize winners for catching the largest fish went to 10-year-old Danielle Audet and 11-year-old Justin Lowery. Both caught flounder, with Danielle’s going 16.25 inches and Justin’s 15.5 inches.
High-hook winner for the girls was Julia Roman with two flounder, while Luke Whitworth won for the boys by catching eight bluefish. Whitworth was first in the 8-10 age group, while Roman was third in the same age group.
In all, 32 fish were caught with “small bluefish, fluke and a smattering of other species including sea robin” making the list. The first fish caught was from the “other” category, as Courtney Stimson landed a kingfish.
Here’s a reminder that the 2018 MidAtlantic is taking place the week of Aug. 19-24. The tournament, based in Cape May and with a satellite port Ocean City, Md., has an estimated cash purse of well over $3 million. For additional information about the tournament or to register, visit www.themidatlantic.com or call Aaron Hoffman at (609) 884-0177.
Well, another busy week with lots of good results. If you make it out, let me know how you did. Take care and I’ll see you around.
Submit your fishing news and photos to mrobbins@cmcherald.com.
