The Fishing Line: Jump on July Fishing

Post Fourth of July vacationers are in for a treat. A good day fishing will be the highlight of your summer.
The Canyon Clipper had the Bill Malone group, from Philadelphia, out for flounder and had some really nice fish. The DS Brown Charter from Dover, Del., did also with some sea bass thrown in. Captain Stan’s been catching flounder up to eight and nine pounds with a lot of action and a lot of throw backs. Offshore tuna fishing is still good and so is the shark fishing for Makos.
Captain Dan, Insomniac Guides, headed out at first light with John and his dad. John holds the boat record for striped bass weighing in at 22 pounds a couple of summers ago. Not to disappoint, at the first stop, he ties on a nice fish almost immediately. After a lengthy fight, a nice 14 pound fish was in the boat. A short ride later they had a nice 4 pound flounder. Then another bite. There is very little doubt what it is as the green water surges and the fish slowly rises from the bottom. A drawn out, patient fight, and as soon as it near the surface, Dan slips the net under a solid 8 pound flounder. An absolute trophy.
Grassy Sound Marina reports croakers showing up in great numbers and the crabs have arrived. Flounder still top the list of catches with 23 inches the norm. The Fishing Pier is producing some excellent catches of blue claws. Croakers are being caught in Turtle Creek on minnows and a bucktail top of the outgoing;, sea bass and weakies on hot pink bucktails top of the incoming. Joe Patriarch, Philadelphia, caught two nice fluke to 23 inches near the spoils site behind Stone Harbor on minnows and a bucktail, incoming tide. Fishing from the Grassy Sound Pier, Joe Walder, Jr., Magnolia, caught a 22 inch flounder on minnows at incoming tide and Joe Zielonka, Pittsburgh, Pa., caught two 23 inch flounder doing the same.
Flounder fishing was great at the Old Grounds, Reef Site 11 and also in the back bays and the Cape May Reef was also showing increased numbers of keepers. Ryan Matejik of Levittown, PA weighed in a 4 pound 4 ounce flounder measuring 28 inches, caught near 2 Mile Bridge on a Gulp! Swimming Mullet. The back bays are also producing schoolie sized stripers for those throwing top water lures or jerk baits.
Bill (bucktail willie) Shillingford fishing out of Whale Creek Marina has been concentrating on striped bass this week with the dropping water temperatures and had a consistent bite early in morning. Prime bait was surface poppers prior to sunrise, after sunrise it was trolled bucktails with twister tails, that did the trick. Any color was working as long as it was white. Bass were running 19-26 inches. All fish were tagged and released. Remember, if you catch a tagged fish PLEASE take time to turn the information in .Yellow tag is American Littoral Society and red tag is US wildlife.
Fishing continues to be pretty good for Captain Ray on TideRunner. The high winds limited ability to fish the ocean so most of his fishing was done in the back bay areas. Fly anglers had best results with chartreuse/white deceivers fished on intermediate line. The higher wind made fishing with popping flies a bit of a challenge. For the spin anglers, Gulp baits fished on jig heads, swimming plugs along with popping plug caught stripers, bluefish and fluke. Now that the water is warming up, Ray is finding the best fishing to be early mornings, late afternoons till dark or after dark.
NEWS: RFA: While hundreds rallied on Wednesday in opposition to a seismic blasting study to begin off the Jersey shore, Governor Chris Christie and officials with the DEP announced they plan on suing the federal government to stop the blasting.
Just before 5 p.m. on July 2, as scores of fishermen, business owners, environmental activists and legislators gathered in Barnegat Light to begin an organized town meeting in opposition to the federal government’s approved ocean seismic testing plan being coordinated by Rutgers University, organizers received a welcome bit of news from Trenton.
“I want to reassure you that the issue of seismic testing off the New Jersey coast is of great importance to the Christie Administration and the DEP,” wrote DEP commissioner Bob Martin in an email alert to organizers just prior to the official rally.
Here’s hoping some rational voices prevail.
The Fishing Line runs year round so keep sending your reports and pictures to cmiller@cmcherald.com. Column and pictures (many which do not make it into the print edition) are posted online at www.capemaycountyherald.com and on Facebook. Check out epektales.com for info on Miller’s book, “Counting the Fish in the Sea: the Story of the NEAMAP Trawls.”