Don’t let the nip in the air fool you, there are fish out there waiting to play tag with you. Remember flounder fishing is now closed; the sea bass season runs through Oct. 14 and then re-opens Nov. 1.
Grassy Sound Marina is seeing lots of blues and snapper blues, at both tides with reports of puppy drum and 20 inch weakies being caught behind Stone Harbor. Try using chartreuse Gulp and mullet, live and chunked.
Mike Stoltzfus, Williamstown, caught 2 keeper flounder and a nice blue fish in Turtle Creek at the top of the tide. He also caught king fish on mullet chunks. Tim Everett, Philadelphia, caught a 22 inch flounder off the Fishing Pier.
Sterling Harbor Marina reports some good catches of wahoo and white marlin at Wilmington and Baltimore Canyons. Small stripers and snapper blues are being caught along the beachfront and in the back bays, small stripers and weakfish are still being reported. Crabby Jack gives the crabbing 3.5 out of 5 Claws this week.
Sterling Harbor invites you to stop by and take a test ride in one of their many kayaks.
Frank’s Boats is closed for the season but he suggests you keep going out for those weakies and blues. If you run into a school of blues, start casting and retrieving any silver spoon. Kingfish are spotty but if you find one, there will be others. Striper action is picking up along the sod banks. The crabbing continues to be strong with catches from two to four dozen or more. Kudos to Don Brown, Ambler, Pa., 22 inch weakfish, 29 inch striper, and 18 inch flounder
Captain Ray tells me that despite very warm water temps for this time of the year, he is picking away at resident stripers around the inlet and beach front areas using flies and plugs for the spin anglers. Most of the blues have been nice size for eating in the 17 to 18 inch range; again popping flies provided the most excitement as there is nothing like seeing a fish come out of the water like a Polaris missile as it aggressively takes your fly. Down side is the bigger blues have taken their fair share of popping flies as he hasn’t used wire in front of the poppers as it changes the action of the fly a bit. On one of the super windy evening too windy to fish in the salt, Captain Ray did some freshwater fly fishing at a local pond and had some fun with pickerel and sunfish using a floating cricket type fly.
Captain Chuck, Sea Star III, is continuing to sail daily at 9 a.m., weather permitting.
CALENDAR: Oct. 7, Governor’s Surf Fishing Tournament, Island Beach State Park.
Same day registration 5 am in Pavilion #1. Adults $20, teens 17-13, $5 and kids 12 and under free. Anglers may be asked to verify their compliance with the NJ Saltwater Recreational Registry Program, so if you have not already registered make sure you do before hitting the beach the day of the tournament. Visit http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/gsft.htm .
Oct. 9-10: North Wildwood Surf Fishing Tournament, Third Avenue and the beach, 522-2955 or northwildwood.com
Oct. 15-18: Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s meeting, Ocean Place, One Ocean Blvd., Long Branch, 732-571-4000. For online access to the meeting, register at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/707531321. E-mail confirming your registration with the information you need to join the Webinar.
Oct. 25-27: Utsch’s Annual Striper Classic, 884-2051 or capemayharbor.com
Send your reports and pictures to cmiller@cmcherald.com. All pictures submitted are posted online at www.capemaycountyherald.com.
Wildwood Crest – Several of Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks have created quite a bit of controversy over the last few weeks. But surprisingly, his pick to become the next director of the FBI hasn’t experienced as much…
