Reports and photos are pouring in and everything is good and getting better. My family and I got out for a short trip on the Royal Flush and came home with three keeper fluke and two blues. The fish were biting; fluke, trigger, sea bass, robins, skates. It was a beautiful day on the water.
The Mucho Clams run by Captain Jerry String went to Spencer Canyon and had four yellow fin tuna, all keepers. Keepers. The water was 71.5 degrees and the tuna were caught using rainbow and green squid bars.
They had 24 throwback yellowfins and 50 Skip Jacks. They even raised a white Marlin who bit, then spit the hook on the run off. Captain reorts a “great day on the water, July 7.” I bet we are all jealous.
Bill (bucktail willie) Shillingford, fishing Whale Creek, had an excellent week on striped bass with fish running up to 42-inches and 27-pounds. They bit early (6-9 a.m.) on eels, poppers and bucktails. The trick was to find the edge of the cooler water and the bass were right there. Willie didn’t fish for flounder all week but saw a lot being caught including some decent fish later in the week along with numerous shorts.
Captain Jim from the Starlight Fleet, Wildwood Crest, reports the 6-hour trip has been fishing the Old Grounds and Reef Site 11, with some big flounder taken on each trip.
Earl Dawley, Moorestown, had the week’s biggest fluke, weighing in at 7-pounds 8-ounces and Bob Twardy, Sayreville, caught one at 6-pounds 9-ounces. Next trip, Matt Smith, North Wildwood, weighed in a fluke at 5-pounds 12-ounces and Ed Wittmer, Upper Dublin, Pa., won the pool with a 6-pound blue.
High Hook honors went to B. D. Dexter, Lower Township, for his limit of fluke up to 5-pounds.
There have been lots of big flounder caught on the Grassy Sound Fishing Pier. Most nice flounder weighed in were reported on all sorts of Gulp baits.
Jaclyn Zaccaro, 11, Broomall, Pa. caught and released a 40 inch sand tiger shark off the Fishing Pier using peanut bunker.
Dave Taitt, Blackwood, had five keeper flounder with the largest at 28 inches, 6.75-pounds using Gulp, minnows and pink tap dancer squid, on outgoing tide at the TI Reef.
John Plunkett, Philadelphia, caught four keepers with the largest at 26.5-inches, 6-pounds, using chartreuse Gulp near the marina at outgoing tide.
Tom Amundsen, Washington Twp., caught a 23-inch flounder during incoming tide using minnows off the Fishing Pier and Chuck Harris, South Philly, caught a 21-incher on the Fishing Pier on minnows during outgoing tide.
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) is considering a management alternative, which would close the Mid-Atlantic snapper/grouper fishery.
The NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Marine Fisheries Administration is collecting catch data necessary to avert the closure.
Information on the fishery management alternative, the list of species affected and contact information for reporting Mid-Atlantic snapper/grouper catch data is at http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/news/2009/mardataneeded.htm .
Weekend tournament: July 15-18: Eighth Annual Mid-Atlantic Tuna Tournament at South Jersey Marina and Canyon Club Marina, Cape May. $825 entry fee per boat, southjerseymarina.com
Check out the July 15 print edition for this report in pictures.
All photos submitted appear online at SeeMyBigFish.com. Be sure to send your fish stories to cmiller@cmcherald.com. This column appears first online at capemaycountyherald.com
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