Well, the weather stayed very warm, but so did the fishing action. The reefs are really kicking with some fine fluke action, including the biggest fluke in the area this year. Inshore, we had some nice fish taken before the water cooled, while green water made the offshore “spotty.” The back bay gave up some good fluke and weakfish, so action was pretty decent all around. Let’s check things out.
Matt over at Jim’s Bait and Tackle reports that “fluke fishing really picked up this week.” The Cape May Reef, Delaware Reef Sites 10 and 11, and the Old Grounds all had good reports. Two big fluke, a 9.54 pounder for Marty Albin and a 7.25 pounder for Sam Henready, came from the Cape May Reef. The heavyweight fluke champion so far goes to the 13.5 pound fish caught by Bill Serad. Some party boats are hitting the reefs and getting a few dolphin while fluke fishing, plus catching croakers in the bay, or small blues and kingfish in the rips.
Early in the week, the inshore troll produced three wahoo for Rick McKeon from the Lumps, two dolphins for Bill Weatherby at a buoy and a Spanish mackerel for Bart Williams from the 5 Fathom Bank. An up-welling of cool water slowed the results, but the temperature “picked back up” as the weekend approached.
Offshore, results were “spotty” due to green water in the Canyons. A few marlin were reported in the Baltimore, but not much else.
The surf consists “mainly” of fluke, small weakfish and a few croakers. Kingfish are along the beaches in Cape May and the Wildwoods.
At Utsch’s, Captain Fred is happy with the fluke coming in to be weighed. Four had come in right before this report with one being a 5.25 pounder. The charter boats returned with 10-18 fluke after recent trips, and the “over pour” had two 9 pounders on two different outings.
Dolphins are being taken from the East Lump to the Five Fathom Bank, and some tuna are still at Massey’s and the other canyons.
Another boat from Utsch’s, Cape Queen Sportfishing Charters, reported a good trip, minus some sea sickness, for the Lesshafft family of Oreland, Pa. who caught 24 bluefish during their morning trolling recently.
Boulevard Bait and Tackle had another good week with reports of fluke catches from the local reefs and “structure.” Some patrons stopped in and had fluke measuring from 21 to 25 inches, while the “boss” got out to the same areas and returned with more fish for the count. Little George stopped in with at least 10 blues caught from the beach, so action is all around.
The Miss Avalon with the duo of Captain’s Irv and Brandon contributes with plenty of pictures of flounder, sea bass, triggerfish and porgies that the area is harvesting from the local reefs. Kyle Burton was a recent pool winner with a nice fluke.
Debbie from Grassy Sound Marina also talks about the fine fluke fishing at the local reefs. She adds that fluke are in the back, and weakfish are “being caught regularly” along the sod banks. Crabbing is still good in the back bays and off the fishing pier. A few anglers that succeeded are Tom Pizzollo who had a 21 inch fluke coupled with a nice weakfish, Kevin Hawe and Mike Ciarlante with seven keepers to 25 inches from Reef Site 11 and the Cape May Reef, and Dylan Mooers who caught a 25 inch fluke at the Cape May Reef.
Good crab outings were had by the Ware family and the Armbruster family, while the winners of the 18th Annual Big Jim Adair Family Fishing Tournament were Tommy Savage, Dan Adair and Katu Adair. 48 people were in attendance on a hot, stifling day.
The Sea Star III and Captain Chuck are visiting some wrecks and reefs, and getting rewarded with fluke and some sea bass. Frank Servocky won three pools with fluke of 3.9, 4.8 and 5.55 pounds. That’s a good week! Paul Bodkin, another regular, won with a 3.1 pound fluke. Jim Ladislaw, Mike Buccialia and Casey Gardzielik rounded out the winners with respective 3.15, 3.70 and 4 pound fluke.
The Royal Flush continues sailing its three-trip schedule and picking up kingfish, weakfish, snapper blues, triggerfish, porgies, croakers and short flounder. Triggerfish went to Jenny Browning, Jimmy McCann and Kevin Higgins, while weakfish went to Jonathan Hall and Jane Marris. Finishing out the notable catches were Mark Harvey with a bluefish and Marian McCann with a kingfish.
Captain Mike from the Miss Chris checked in with word of recent fishing excursions. Among the news was that Steve Atkins celebrated his birthday by catching a 4 pound, 2 ounce pool-winning fluke. Good job Steve, and a Happy Belated Birthday to you.
There were a few other catches from around the area of note. Tom Hopkins caught a 22 inch, 4.9 pound fluke on August 19 in the back bays of Wildwood from the boat Slo-N-Steady. Gary Spiegel caught and released a 4 foot barracuda while trolling between 4FB and Five Fathom Bank.
As the MidAtlantic Tournament got underway Monday, most boats stayed at the dock, while only seven ventured out into the windy conditions. More will get out as the week progresses, and the possible days to fish lessens. Boats can fish three of the five potential days. 157 boats are entered, and the total purse is a record $3.13+ million.
As I finish this column we are now through four days of the tournament. Thursday saw ideal offshore conditions, “and found the billfish in a feeding mood.” With well over 500 billfish having been caught through the first four days, the catch ratio is above one billfish per boat each day. Because of minimum weights established for white and blue marlin, over 95 percent of those caught have been released. Regardless of the amount of catches, the overall leaderboard determined by weight saw few changes.
Notable catches from Thursday in Cape May went to George Conway of Atlantic Highlands, N.J. with a 56 pound wahoo, Sean O’Donnell from Glenmoore, Pa. with a 71 pound yellowfin, Thomas Kilareski of Bethlehem, Pa. with a 69 pound yellowfin, and local angler Jamie Diller of Stone Harbor with a 24 pound dolphin. These catches put each party into “the mix” in the respective categories.
In Ocean City, Md., Fishing for Maryland from Dayton, Md. weighed in a 53 pound dolphin that got them on the leaderboard in that category.
The final results will be available for next week’s issue.
Submit your fishing news and photos to mrobbins@cmcherald.com.
