The Fishing Line: Rain, rain go away

When is the weather going to give us a break? It may be true that the weather above the water has been messy, at best; I’m hearing that this cold, rainy weather makes for a greater striper season. Let’s hope so.
Sterling Harbor in Shawcrest, is now open seven days a week. Their first fishing reports were good with folks catching stripers from the North Wildwood beaches on clam, and also in the back bays near bridges and dock lights.
These are mostly shorts, but a few keepers were in the mix. Tautog fishing is excellent. Anglers are limiting out on tog and 6 to 7-pound fish were not uncommon. Sterling Harbor has fresh clam available
There were also some nice catches of sea bass from the Cape May Reef and inshore wrecks out to about 20 miles. A few reports of drum fish being caught in the Delaware Bay are filtering in.
They have the new Hobie Pro Angler kayak. Stop in to check it out and take a test ride.
After a slow start due to super cold water temperatures, Captain Ray Szulczewski finally got some warm days which raised the water temperatures into the mid 50s.
“That is all it took to make the fish respond to artificials,” he said. He was able to catch his first three stripers on the fly using a chartreuse buck tail deceiver on sinking line.
“The fish were all throw backs but it felt good to be able to start catching on the fly rod again.”
The offshore fishing report from the Atlantic Star for April 24 had Donovan Prawl, Stratford, CT; Jerome Beatty, Daubure, CT; Yong Yan, Edison; Gil Smith, Burlington; and Alex Amadon, N. Brunswick, all with their limit of sea bass.
All anglers had between five and 10 tile fish each with one weighing in at 15.5 pounds.
Bucktail Willie fishing out of Whale Creek Marina has found a steady summer flounder bite, of course this is catch and release, so the fish should be handled with tender loving care.
He says the striper bite is hit and miss but he expects it to improve as the water warms up.
Willie will be giving a seminar on summer flounder fishing at Whale Creek Marina on May 16 at 10 a.m. Don’t miss it.
The 2009 Marine Digest is available at njfishandwildlife.com/digmar.htm It should be available in local bait and tackle shops any day now.
The Marine Fish Conservation Network released a new report, “Implementing Annual Catch Limits: A Blueprint for Ending Overfishing in U.S. Fisheries” iavailable at conservefish.org.
Spring black sea bass fishing on New Jersey’s artificial reefs can be fast and furious. Check out “Reef Tactics for Black Sea Bass” at njfishandwildlife.com/artreeftactics09.htm .
Special thanks to Jim Gartland, director of NEAMAP who included me on a demo trawl. Gartland and his team are doing a survey on fish in the North Atlantic bight. Thanks also to Captain Jim Ruhle and the crew of the Darana R, the converted commercial vessel, now research laboratory. Other observers included committee members and staff from the NMFS. It was good to have them there as this data will be important for renewing fishery management plans.
Check out SeeMyBigFish.com and be sure to send your fish stories to cmiller@cmcherald.com. This column appears first online at capemaycountyherald.com