The Fishing Line: Mostly Shorts, with a Few Keepers

Lots of good fishing news from around Cape May County so let’s get right to it.
Matt from Jim’s reports fluke at Delaware Reef Site 11 and at the Old Grounds. The captains tell him of mostly shorts with a few keepers mixed in. Ditto that report for the Cape May Reef. Matt took a fishing excursion of his own that produced three keepers and a ton of shorts.
Begrudgingly, Matt needs to give credit to his brother George, and his friend Charlie Danowski who got eight keepers from the backwaters in the bad weather on a recent Saturday.
Makos are being caught mainly to the north, but a few were taken around the 20 line. Big threshers are still around as a 305 and 286 pounder were weighed in. At the Point, the catch-and-release shark fishermen are getting some brown and sand tiger sharks at night.
Bluefin tuna were caught early in the week at the Hot Dog while trolling, but when the crowd showed up, the fish went down, and it turned into a chunk bite. The lumps inside the tip of the Elephant Trunk also produced Bluefin on the troll, plus some nice dolphin.
Checking the canyons revealed small yellowfin, some white marlin, and a few bigeyes. To the south, the crew of the Fortuna got some decent 40-50 pound yellowfin before the weekend weather turned bad.
Surf fishing at Cape May Point saw a lot of short fluke, with a few keepers, plus many croakers.
Terri reports that the Starlight Fleet is running their summer schedule, by adding a 7 p.m. trip. Warming water led to flounder and sea bass being the main targets. Recent pool winners were Nicky Sneathen with a fluke, Whitaker Jensen with a nice sized flounder (both of Court House), and Tess and Finn Horner who teamed up for the pool, and also got some sea bass for their efforts.
Cathy from Sterling Harbor reports red hot flounder action in the back bays. George Kehnast caught a limit of flounder, and “over 40 throwbacks. Reef fishing was very good and getting better.”
Ryan Hagen (Royersford, Pa.) caught a 4-pound, 5-ounce flounder at the Cape May Reef on a squid/minnow combo.
If going offshore, yellowfin have been consistent in the Baltimore and Wilmington Canyons. Some blue and white marlin were also mentioned. Some advice: look for flotsam and jetsam where mahi-mahi are showing up more and more. Scott Nave (Goshen) weighed in a 19-pound dolphin caught in the Teacup area.
Crabby Jack gives crabbing five claws this week, as plenty of number ones are being caught.
Chuck from the Sea Star III checks in with reports of “up and down” fishing, due mainly to the weather, which messed up the weekend trips. Chuck hopes that “the start of July will heat things up.” His patrons were able to get flounder and sea bass. Pool winners this week had a decidedly flounder feel as they took four with the winners being: Nick Clay (4.25 lbs.); Frank Servocky (5.40 lbs.); Penny Fail (3.5 lbs.); and Paul Bodkin (2 lbs.) The Royal Flush touches base with us, and they too have added a 7 p.m. trip. They are currently fishing the ocean for flounder, sea bass, weak fish, and king fish. Notable catches reported belong to Bob Thornton (Folsom, Pa.) and his 2-½ pound flounder, Howard Estleman (Cape May) with a 2-pound flounder, Mark Kalinowski (Baltimore, Md.) with a 2-¾ pound flounder, and Marty Keating (Clifton Heights, Pa.) and a 3-pound flounder.
Capt. Fred from Utsch’s checked in before the weekend rain and wind with an early weekend message. Capt. Mark on the Gone Fishin’ caught flounder and sea bass at the Old Grounds, and a boater from the marina caught several keepers at the same location.
The charter boat Fishin’ Fever went offshore, getting yellowfin tuna and a few dolphin. Earlier in the week, the offshore charters were wreck fishing and caught sea bass, ling, and a few cod, but wreck fishing is slowing down.
Capt. Ray of Tide Runner Charters reports working hard, and covering a lot of water for the fish his patron’s caught. The best area was the shallow back bay flats at dusk, or after dark, and they mainly produced school stripers, and a few blues. Both fly and spin fishing, using floating line or surface plugs, has produced these fish.
Capt. Paul from the Sailor’s Delight checks in with word that Jim Labbi (Roslyn, Pa.) caught a 22-½ inch, 4.2-pound flounder this afternoon (July 1). It was Jim’s first flounder in years and Paul was happy to help end the dry streak. The Pedrazzani family had a good slow drift that produced a few flounder, and some sand sharks that the kids love to get. They even got some crabs for their efforts.
Tag Ends: Aboard the Lady Chris, John Lynch, a young fisherman, caught a stargazer. Margaret Licitra caught a 24-inch flounder under the North Wildwood Bridge. A nice catch of mahi-mahi, flounder, and black bass was caught aboard John Hearn’s Crazy Daisy at Reef Site 11 June 29.
From the “’Don’t Do’ department: When removing the plastic wrap from a fishing pole, don’t have hooks on the pole. I’ve done it many times before, but it finally caught up with me.
When washing down some poles after a recent trip, I noticed some plastic wrap still on the pole. While trying to slide the plastic up and off the cork it was covering, my hand slid upwards, then the recoil brought my hand down quickly, and solidly, onto the smaller front hook of a tandem hook rig designed to hold a long strip bait.
The hook was in my finger, past the barb. The bigger J-hook made it impossible to remove the smaller hook on my own. After a quick trip to Urgent Care the hook was removed with a piece of string! Thanks, Doc. Check out the picture.
Get out and hook some fish, not your finger. Good luck.
Submit your fishing news and photos to mrobbins@cmcherald.com.