The Fishing Line June 8

Wow! The weekend started out with great weather, bringing the reports in in droves by the start of Sunday evening. Lots of pictures accompanied them, so I will have a real chore going through everything and getting all the contributors mentioned. I’ll do my best, but remember, Mark’s Fishing Line on Facebook is helping to get out information and pictures, also.
Captain Fred at Utsch’s starts with what is a common theme amongst many reports. The drum fish bite is great. This was echoed by Matt at Jim’s Bait and Tackle, Cathy at Sterling Harbor, Captain Chuck from the Sea Star III, Captain Tom from the Fishin’ Fever and Captain Bob from the Full Ahead. All spoke, or posted pictures, about the drum fishing in the Bayshore Channel vicinity. Sterling Harbor reports the crew of the Slick Willy caught 79 and 50 pounders while Luke Dombrowski got a 67 pounder, The Sea Star III is represented by Paul Bodkin with a 68 pounder and George Schoell with a 71 pounder, Harry Barcan (78.8 pounds) and Maryanne Reynolds (72 pounds) weighed in from Jim’s Bait and Tackle, and Captain Tom reported all “big ones” from a Friday night Delaware Bay foray.
Back to Fred who mentions another common trend: the sea bass fishing is going well. He and others report many limits for anglers fishing for these tasty fish.
He concludes with word of a 35 pound tile fish caught by Matt from his boat, Contender, and says that the stripers have started to slow, but not stop as we’ll see later.
Matt reports that a nice 51.5 striper was caught Saturday by Denise Mulholland, and her group also caught two over 40 inches. These were caught in the bay, while beach stripers were being caught if you put your time in. Bunker is the best beach bait as of now. Also, the bay and canal are starting to see croakers showing up. These should increase in the next few weeks.
Jim’s is also seeing some “nice” weakfish come in from the area jetties and beaches including North Wildwood and Higbee’s Beach. Most of these are being caught with either bloodworms or buck tails tipped with pink rubber.
Cathy from Sterling Harbor Bait and Tackle, mentioned in the drum report above, adds that the Delaware Bay shoreline from the Ferry to Reeds Beach is a productive area, as well as Slaughter Beach on the Delaware side. Drum are also being caught on the Jersey side.
Switching to the bluefish scene, Cathy mentioned that the recent invasion has “subsided for the most part” but some are still being taken. Lance Rodney checked in with a 12 pounder caught on bunker in the back bay of Wildwood. Mike Williams of North Cape May brought in two, a 9 and 6 pounder, caught from the Ocean City fishing pier.
Stripers being weighed in were popular as Bill Collins (30 and 36 pounders), Frank Scirrotto (40 pounder), Brian Ritchie (21 pounder) and Thomas Baker (51 pounder) came into the store. North Wildwood beach produced three, North Cape May had one and the Delaware Bay contributed one.
Flounder are being caught in the back waters, along with an occasional weakfish. They are hitting mackerel, spearing, minnows and gulp. DJ Zolna, 12, weighed in a 3 pound, 12 ounce specimen.
Crabby Jack gives crabbing three claws, and expects the action to “improve now that we are past the full moon.”
In addition to the drum fish, the Sea Star III reports a mixed bag of sea bass and flounder during their day trips. One fluke was 3.5 pounds while a couple sea bass eclipsed that weight also. The drum fish are being taken during the Wednesday and Saturday late afternoon and evening trips.
Continuing the mixed bag theme finds Boulevard Bait and Tackle checking in. Cameron checked in with a number of pictures featuring stripers and flounder. A couple highlights were young angler Preston and his 37 inch, 16.1 pound striper, and the young trio of Calin, Kendall and Caden with their four back bay keeper fluke. The beach was the place to be for the stripers.                
News from Grassy Sound Marina is fluke heavy. It starts with the first keeper for 5-year-old Chase Gould. It was a 22 inch fish taken on a minnow. While on the water, he also witnesses a pod of porpoises chasing bluefish and forcing them from the water near the Stone Harbor toll bridge. Other fluke were caught by Bob Taylor (20.25 inches), 3, including a 26.5 inch, 5 pound, 9 ounce fish, went to Jane Stevens and Jay Broome, and a 22 incher, among 3 keepers, went to Tom Pizzollo. A few blues and reports of weakfish caught along the sod were also mentioned.
The Pier at the marina produced a 21 inch fluke for Jim Perry, and a nice keeper for Jim Adair.
Off The Hook Bait and Tackle in Cape May sent in pictures of some nice drum fish for 86-year-old Harry Hayes fishing with Captain Ray Trainor on the Miss Addison, and five big weakfish with the two heaviest weighing 7.5 and 7.55 pounds, again taken on the Miss Addison.
Sea bass are making the scene and filling coolers all over. The Royal Flush, Bayhound Charters, the Lady Chris and the Miss Avalon all had productive trips for their patrons. While returning to Sea Isle, the Bayhound with Captain Al was able to get an angler on a nice puppy drum, adding it to the sea bass already on board.
The 31st Annual Fishing Tournament of American Legion Post #331 will be on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The captain’s meeting will be held on June 17 at the Post building, 117th and 2nd Avenue, at 6 p.m. Refreshments will be served, you will get your free tournament T-shirt and you can win a door prize. Eligible fish are flounder, weakfish, sea bass, striped bass, blue fish and kingfish. Fishing is permitted within 12 miles of shore from the beach, bridge or jetty. Fishing is not allowed in the Delaware Bay. Final weigh-in is from 2 to 4 p.m. on June 18. A custom built fishing pole with a Penn reel will be auctioned off. Drinks and food will be served till 6 p.m.
Register by June 11. Additional information and an entry fee is available at: www.stephencludmanpost331.org.
Captain Dick Herb, tournament chairman, can be reached at (609) 967-0779, and is assisted by Spence Jones who can be reached at (609) 780-2168 if you have any questions.
We’ll finish with congratulations to Natalie and Enrique who were recently engaged. The proposal took place, and was accepted, while out on the Sailors Delight Back Bay Fishing boat. Hopefully they caught some fish that they can freeze and prepare for the wedding reception when needed. It can help them to keep the cost down. It may not be romantic, but just an idea to help them save some money. 
Submit your fishing news and photos to mrobbins@cmcherald.com.