The Fishing Line: Father’s Day Fishing

School’s out! The fish are in! Beautiful June weather is calling you to come down and fish before it gets more crowded.
Here’s a great opportunity for fishers to get involved in the decisions being made about regulations: The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries will host a public listening session today, 5–6 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel in Freehold, in conjunction with the June Council meeting. NOAA Fisheries is seeking input from anglers and others interested parties on the National Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Policy. The session will be broadcast live via webinar (select “enter as guest”) Participants may submit questions and comments through the webinar’s chat function. Webinar: http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/june2014.
Sea Star III and Sterling Harbor both report solid drum fishing in the Delaware Bay and Sterling Harbor also reports nice catches of weakfish around the jetties at Cape May Point, North Wildwood and Cold Spring Inlet. Fluke fishing in the back bay remains good with some 3 to 6 pound fish being caught. Bucktails with mackerel strips or spearing with a Gulp! swimming mullet on a teaser hook has been working well for anglers. Sea bass are on the wrecks around the 20 fathom line.
For Captain Ray, TideRunner, it was another good week of fly fishing for his charters. Clouser flies in a number of color variations all caught fish while fished with sinking lines. Bluefish and sea herring were most abundant species this week sometimes making it difficult to get down closer to the bottom to get stripers and weakfish. Stripers caught were mostly small, but still fun when caught on a fly rod. Ray says the weakfish were nice size, but were harder to come by.
Captain Dan Schafer, Insomniac Guides, set out around 1 pm to shoot some infield video. The tide had just about dropped out and to his surprise the first flat of the afternoon was crawling with bass and southern rays. The bass were staging just outside an almost dried up creek bed. Too shallow to throw anything else; the bass crushed a top water plug placed just up-current of its nose. More fish followed the same pattern with fish working other “dry” creeks. Dan hasn’t seen this many fish around for a long time.
The Atlantic Star had a successful charter trip targeting blue line tile and sea bass. The pool winner was Scott Taylor, Ottawa, Canada, for his 15 pound blueline. High Hook honors were claimed by Otto Jensen, Fairbanks, AK with 21 bluelines and a limit of sea bass.
The Starlight is sailing daily for four-hour trips. Biggest pool fish of the week was a 3 pound sea bass caught by Nicky Sneathen, Goshen. High Hook went to Kenna Baker, Madison, WI, with plenty of small weakfish.
At Grassy Sound Marina it’s been a great week of fluking. They’re getting ready for the 8th Annual Grassy Sound Marina Flounder Tournament June 28. This Back Bay Tournament will have prizes for Heaviest Flounder, 3 Heaviest Combined, Children’s and Women’s Divisions , and the Daisy Mae Award (12th heaviest flounder receives a refund of the entry fee.) Cash Prizes, Door Prizes, Award Ceremony, Excellent Barbecue, Cold beverages and Live Music. Registration www.grassysoundmarina.com
NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife announced a new contest focusing on fishing in the state, the Fishing Fun Photo Contest. The contest is designed for families and friends to share the fun of a child fishing or with a fish they’ve caught. For more information, rules, photo submission and release form visitwww.njfishandwildlife.com/photocontest.htm .
CALENDAR: Father’s Day Weekend, June 13–15 join The Wildwoods Beach N Boat Fishing Challenge on the beaches, bays and ocean of The Wildwoods. It’s FREE and anglers can win their share of $8,000 cash and prizes. It’s not just for fishermen, plans include fun and events for the entire family.
Saturday, July 5, 15th annual “Whale of a Day” Family Street Festival, Town Bank, 8:30 AM to 4 PM, street vendors and food, kids games, and “white elephants.” For l information, call Ron at 846-7890.
Stop by Harbor Fest, Nature Center of Cape May, Saturday from 2-4 p.m. I’ll be there with my new children’s book “Counting the Fish in the Sea: The Story of the NEAMAP Trawls.
The Fishing Line runs year round so keep sending your reports and pictures to cmiller@cmcherald.com. Column and pictures are posted online at www.capemaycountyherald.com and on Facebook. Pictures that do not make it into the print edition are posted online and to Facebook.