Another week of good action that was capped with a weekend of wind. It may have slowed some, but not all. A couple of big flounder were caught from our local back waters, showing that there are still big fish available. A sheepshead also was caught during the week, so all kinds of fish are cruising our waters. The term “mixed bag” appeared in more than a few reports, as a variety of fish was available for the catching. Now, let’s get into our report.
The Royal Flush checked in with their report saying that they continue to sail three daily trips. They have been cruising the oceanfront in search of snapper blues, croakers, weakfish, triggerfish and kingfish. The croakers had the best action this past week. Loaded buckets of croakers went to Gina Bowen and Andrew Lord. Kingfish were claimed by Carson Newman and Ryan DeJesus, while “twin triggers” went to Roger Dewey. Linda Frame got on the board with some bluefish. They had a good mix of fish that kept everyone busy.
The folks at Grassy Sound Marina continue to pull crabs from pier. Other interesting catches in the traps were a turtle and a small flounder. They were released back to the wild.
There were “great reports from the rental fleet” as weakfish were reported to be “running rampant.” One angler had an 18-inch weakfish and two 18.5-inch flounder, while Johnny Kustner and Nick Pinkerton “caught three keepers to 20 inches.” They were fishing near the top of the incoming tide.
The pier provided a 20-inch flounder for Bill Lauser who used a combo of bunker and squid while fishing on the incoming tide. His wife was crabbing from the pier while he was fishing, so a tasty dinner was a definite possibility.
The back bay boat, Sailor’s Delight, caught fish number 1,501. They record the number of flounder caught each year with the goal of increasing it the following season. As they said, they are “setting the bar high for next season.” The data also shows that the flounder are still in the backwaters this late in the season.
Congratulations go out to Stalker Fishing Charters and Captain Skip. They took second place in the recent 2018 Flounder Pounder Open based in Longneck, Del. with a 27-inch, 8.5-pound flounder. The angler listed on the leaderboard for the catch was Mike Frank. There were 324 boats in the tournament in which you fished three out of five days. Good job Skip and crew.
The Full Ahead with was out over the weekend and had a good haul of fluke, sea bass and mahi mahi. It was described as a good “mixed bag.” A nice catch to note was made by “Eric” who defeated a pool-winning flounder that weighed 7.5 pounds. He and the rest of the crew limited out “with most fish being 20 plus inches.”
On Tuesday, the Fishin’ Fever reported a “great inshore troll trip.” The pictures showed many mahi on the deck. The report concluded by saying it was going to be “fish tacos galore.” They have a tilefish trip scheduled for Friday, so I’ll be waiting to see how they did.
The Sea Star III with Captain Chuck fished the ocean all week and returned with fluke, sea bass and triggerfish. They had a good mix of “keepers and shorts every trip.” Two of the daily pools were won by anglers who caught sea bass. Greg Speroni (1.75) and Wayne Ryan (1.60) were the lucky guys. The winners with fluke were Butch Sarnowski (3.65), Mike Venezia (3.75), Karen Sulpizio (3.95) and Pat Coyle (4.25). Get out while you can because as Captain Chuck mentioned while concluding his report, “summer is fading fast.”
The Cape May Lady has stayed busy lately with open boat fishing as well as private charters. They have been catching sea bass, kingfish and flounder. They also released their schedule for September and October. They will be offering four- and six-hour trips for triggerfish, scup and your one-fish limit of blackfish. Tilefish trips, combination sea bass and ling trips, and even a 30-hour trip for tile and mahi are planned. Check out their Facebook page to see what is happening on any day of the next two months. Call them with any questions or suggestions at (609) 780-7900.
The news from Boulevard Bait and Tackle concerned another big flounder that was caught by Frank Jankowski. It measured 29.75 inches and topped out at 9.92 pounds. It was Frank’s second nine-plus-pound flounder he has caught in slightly over a month. He caught it out of Whale Creek Marina, with credit for the information also going to the Strathmere Fishing and Environmental Club.
Another notable catch that they reported went to Kylee who bested a nice flounder at the reefs on Friday.
Sea Isle Bait and Tackle had the pleasure to report the news of a 12.7-pound flounder being caught. An angler named Jeff went on a trip with Bayhound Charters and caught the fish “behind the island.” The big fish are still around, so get out and give it your best shot.
The Avalon Lady continues to stay busy, as the backwaters are still giving up keeper fluke. The inlet area also provided action in the form of keeper fluke, sea bass and kingfish. Brown sharks also were a source of “some fun” for anglers who definitely felt a bend in the pole. There were “smiles all around.” They are also catching crabs when they set out the traps.
The Miss Avalon is sailing daily and pursuing flounder, sea bass, triggerfish and porgies. They pull out of the dock at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. During the past weekend, they had happy anglers catching sea bass and flounder. One angler had two-thirds of his flounder limit, while another had a nice mixed-bag for her efforts. Thursday had a good morning trip as triggerfish, sea bass and kingfish were caught. Captain Irv’s phrase “fish on” was being heard a lot.
Avalon Hodge Podge reported a keeper fluke for Bob Scully from a Sunday outing. He was in “the back bays of Avalon” when he landed a 24-inch, 5.15-pound fluke. His deadly combo was gulp and minnows.
Smugglers Cove in Stone Harbor reported that on Saturday, Aug. 18, an angler came in with a 25-inch, 8.8-pound sheepshead. No name was provided for the angler.
The 2018 MidAtlantic Tournament is underway. On Wednesday, all 157 boats stayed dockside as 20 to 30 knot winds hit the canyons. This marked the first time that this occurred in the 27-year history of the tournament.
With two days left in the tournament, the white marlin division had a tie at the top as 73-pound fish were caught by John Phelan and Justin Branning. Andrew Hall was in third place with a 68 pounder.
No blue marlin had been weighed as of this point, but 16 had been released while others were fought, then lost.
Ed Dunn leads the bigeye tuna category with a fish of 116 pounds. Chad Jackson and Mark DeBlasio were tied for second, each with 114-pound fish.
The wahoo division had Ed Zajdel in first with a 71-pound fish. He was comfortably ahead of Joe Posillico who was in second with a 46-pound fish. No other fish were entered, so third place is “vacant.”
During the first two days of the tournament, over 400 billfish were released. 387 were white marlin and 16 were blue marlin.
Submit your fishing news and photos to mrobbins@cmcherald.com.
