First, Happy Halloween, and may you receive many treats from the fishing realm. Next, if you are of the belief that cool weather kicks fall fishing into full gear, you received a great chance to check your hypothesis. A couple nights recently were down right cold, resulting in the first frost warnings of the fall. The stripers that reside in the backwater have been very active, bluefish are around, and I’ve heard word of blackfish being caught along the sod banks in the back. We also had word of an unusual catch off a local beach. Let’s open the bail and get started.
Miss Avalon has been catching the sea bass and putting fillets on the dinner table. They did well over the weekend, minus the windy Sunday. Triggerfish and blue fish helped to fill up the cooler. They’ll be running on weekends, but call ahead and check on the availability as trips are subject to charters, and yes, the weather.
Boulevard Bait and Tackle has new weekend hours. They open at 6 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and close respectively at 5 p.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday they are closed. They also reported that the recent cold front had the resident stripers biting, and that false albies are about a mile off the local Sea Isle beaches.
To prove the point, Cameron, Kyle and Bill went to the backwater on Monday. You needed to “put your warm clothes on,” but the fish “were hungry” so all was good. Poppers, swimmers and soft plastics worked to the tune of nine stripers to 31 inches. The fish are there, but they said there was “not another boat fishing.” Get out there if you can and get in on the action.
Captain Chuck from the Sea Star III checked in to share news of their week. They had “more good action” even though the weather lessened the amount of trips sailed. When they got out, the fishing was “hot” as sea bass, triggerfish, blowfish, bluefish and porgies filled the fish box. Triggerfish helped to collect the pool money for Ed Price who caught a four pounder, and for Kathy Mulvehill who weighed in a 3.5 pounder. The Sea Star sails daily at 9 a.m. for a six-hour trip. Head on down to the dock and hop on.
The Hooked Up II was out over the past weekend trolling for tuna. After checking out some spots without much luck, they changed tactics and headed for some deep-water wrecks which resulted in them doing “pretty well for a few hours” with nice keeper sea bass. They will be available for deep-water tilefish trips or offshore jumbo sea bass outings. They will also being running late fall and early winter striper trips out of their Atlantic City slip. Call them at (609) 425-1970 and set up an outing.
The Cape May Lady reported good fishing before the recent windy Sunday. On one day they were a few sea bass short of a boat limit. They added ling, bergals and bluefish to the total, as well as some “exotics” such as white hake, bonito and chub mackerel. They will be running various types of trips, so stay tuned for more news of what is coming up. Also, check out Mark’s Fishing Line on Facebook for updates on upcoming trips.
Captain Skip, skippering the Stalker skiff, has been getting into striped bass. His patrons have had plenty of action on their backwater trips, with some being keepers, while other fish fell into the bonus-tag size range of 24 to 28 inches. For those fishing the backwaters, the tag is nice to have. The nice feature is that the order you catch your three fish in doesn’t matter. Just remember to take your tag with you so you can put it on the fish and keep everything legal. Get your application in the mail immediately because you have to apply by the end of October. Get that October date stamped on it and hopefully that will help. Good luck.
Cape Queen Sportfishing Charters is booking sea bass trips. They will be running out to local wrecks while waiting for the arrival of striped bass. They also have a 14-hour “Deep Drop” sea bass trip that will begin in mid-November and run through the end of the year. Call or text your interest in a trip to (609) 884-0001. You may also send them an email.
Striped bass action led the way on the report from Grassy Sound Marina. Captain Barry from Hit the Surf Charters had an “unexpected” catch recently. He was fishing near some dock lights and pulled in a hybrid bass. It “put up a great fight” while “acting like a 28 incher.”
Johnny Kustner was “at it again” as he was out doing some catch and release striper fishing before the anticipated weekend washout. The pictures showed some of his successful catches.
I recently received word of an unusual catch. David Gonzalez sent in two pictures of a hammerhead shark. The unusual part is that it was caught off the beach in Cape May. I bet he figured he had a nice bluefish or striper on the line before he saw his unusual catch. Thanks for sending in the pictures, Dave. Keep reading the column and let us know how your fishing excursions go.
After reading a news update from the DEP, I would like to say welcome back to the American Shad. The report states that American Shad are migrating and spawning in the Millstone River for the first time in 173 years. It’s good to have you back. Where have you been? The removal of the waterways Weston Mill Dam seems to have facilitated this return. Five juvenile shad, averaging 4.3 inches in length, were found 4.5 miles upstream at the base of Blackwell’s Mill Dam. This is considered to be the next impediment to the shad. None have been found upstream of this location. Continued monitoring will go through spring 2020. This will provide an important demonstration of the efficacy of dam removal to help determine which future dam removal projects will provide the greatest ecological benefit.
Submit your fishing news and photos to mrobbins@cmcherald.com.
