Reports are slow to come in but I certainly am seeing more and more boats in the water and surf fishers on the beachfront.
According to Sterling Harbor reports, striper fishing remains good along the North Wildwood and Cape May beaches when the wind and weather cooperate. There are small stripers in the Back Bays along with some big bluefish. Drumfish have started in the Delaware Bay with reports coming from Slaughter Beach on the Delaware side of the Bay. Some nice striped bass have been caught in the Delaware Bay on the flats, from Bidwell Creek north.
Crabby Jack gives the crabbing 3 claws and says there are plenty of crabs, with some keepers, but many on the smaller side.
Captain Ray says if is weren’t for the blasting high winds, the boat fishing would have been great. The strong northeast winds forced him to cancel his charters. He did manage to get out for a short trip late one afternoon when the wind dropped to 15 mph and caught some stripers.
Ray took a one-man charter over to Cape May Point where with the wind to their backs and fished with fly and spin rods. They fished off the beach and caught stripers. Most were small, but they did lucky enough to catch a nice 29.5 inch keeper size striper. After taking a few pictures, Ray released it to be caught another day.
Ray did hear of some weakfish being caught, so if the weather co-operates there should be some good fishing with most species available and ready to feed.
NEWS: NOAA is approving new measures for the scallop fishery for the 2013 fishing year, including revised catch limits, adjustments to the time of year when scallop fishermen can fish in the Georges Bank scallop access areas, continuation of the current closures of the Elephant Trunk and Delmarva Access Areas to protect young scallops, refinements to the scallop fishery, yellowtail flounder accountability measures, adjustments to the industry-funded observer program, and other changes that provide more flexibility for fishermen in the individual fishing quota program to transfer unused quota among vessels. This will result in reduced quotas for 2013 and 2014 and the continued closure of two special access areas in the Mid-Atlantic. You can read the notice from the Federal Register.
NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife NEWS: 1) Reminder to commercial and recreational fishermen, seafood dealers and harvesters to participate in an Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP) survey, which has been developed to better understand the marine fishing community’s views on electronic harvest reporting systems. Information from this survey will be used during a workshop in the fall on how to improve new and existing electronic reporting systems, which will be shared with fishermen and fishery management agencies. Provide your input on electronic reporting options. Information is strictly confidential. www.surveymonkey.com/s/ACCSP_ereporting
2) Assist in gathering data on Atlantic sturgeon by reporting any interactions with the fish including accidentally catching a sturgeon while fishing, seeing a sturgeon washed up on a beach, or even watching a swimming sturgeon. Research on this species gained significance when it was listed as a federally endangered species in 2012 and the upcoming Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission stock assessment. www.njfishandwildlife.com/news/2013/sturgeon_reporting.htm
3) Interactive flash version of the 2013 New Jersey Marine Digest is an attractive alternative to the PDF versions. Go to www.eregulations.com/newjersey/fishing/saltwater/ . The site also has links to the eRegs versions of the Freshwater Fishing and Hunting Digests. Download PDF versions of the complete Digest, individual segments, or past issues, at www.njfishandwildlife.com/digmar13_pdf.htm
4) A feature article about the 2012 Delaware River Seine Survey, and background information on the primary species studied (including 88 updated Fact Sheets), has been posted on the division’s website. www.njfishandwildlife.com/artdelstudy13.htm
WELCOME: Captain John Beach, Beach Runner Charters, Mocean Marina, Rio Grande, 827-2777
CALENDAR: May 19, Somers Point Diner, 1 p.m., Meet the authors of the exciting true story of a local fishing boat sinking off the coast of Cape May and the rescue of its five passengers. Promising Forecast: a Miracle Rescue at Sea by Daniel David Jones and Arthur J. Higbee. Call 816-4310 for reservations.
Send your reports and pictures to cmiller@cmcherald.com. Column and pictures are posted online at www.capemaycountyherald.com. All fish pictured were caught during legal seasons. Let’s go fishing!
Cape May – Last week I witnessed a woman helping a man who seemed to be having difficulty getting up in the water. the next thing I saw was she also was injured. My Uber ride was there to take me to the…
