Wahoo! Yippee! Hooray! Three kinds of fish? No, just wahoo, plus another double-digit fluke, the first stripers in a while, triggerfish, other fluke, golden tilefish, mahi-mahi and the regular fish suspects. Lots to cover so let’s get moving.
Sterling Harbor, with Cathy reporting, gets us underway by reporting that flounder fishing “remains good” when conditions are favorable at Cape May Reef, Reef Site 11 and the Old Grounds. Not surprisingly, shorts are out-numbering keepers. James McGinty was at the Cape May Reef and hooked a 2 pound, 10 ounce porgy.
Inshore, “a mixed bag” consisting of flounder, weakfish and croakers can be had while “bottom fishing.” Add these fish, plus kingfish, and sharks in the evening, to what you may get if you go fishing on the beach. Bucktailing around the rocks with gulp has produced “some nice flounder.”
Inshore trolling from 20 Fathoms to the Canyons has yielded mahi-mahi and wahoo. Gene Cuneo scored a 48 pound wahoo while trolling in the Massey’s Canyon area. Also, white marlin and yellowfin tuna are showing up in the canyons.
Crabbing receives 3 claws from Crabby Jack who mentioned that a lot of females are being caught. He also recommends releasing them so they can replenish the population.
Captain Fred, representing Utsch’s Marina, reports good action lately for some of the marina faithful. Captain Ed had 18 flounder on one trip, Captain Mark from the Gone Fishin’ had “a good catch” of flounder and sea bass, the Full Ahead with Captain Bob at the helm returned with 20 flounder and five dolphin, and Captain Tom on the Fishin’ Fever came home with 25 dolphin to 20 pounds, and 8 golden tilefish to 13 pounds.
The Cape May Point area is providing croakers, small weakfish and bluefish. Only “one to one-and-a-half miles” from the beach, cobia are under schools of bunker, and some are being taken.
In the back some small stripers are being taken from different areas, and that will provide some top water fun as the fall approaches. Personally, I’m looking forward to hitting the sod banks and creek mouths with some plugs while floating around in a kayak.
Don’t forget the Utsch’s Yard Sale on September 24 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Ship’s Store and Tackle Shop will have various items for sale.
Matt from Jim’s Bait and Tackle reports a status quo on flounder fish when compared to the previous week. Fluke are at the Reefs and the Old Grounds. When fishing for them, focus on short drifts or jigging near and structure. The fish are tight to any structure possible, so try out that strategy. Some fluke are still in the back, but be prepared to fight through the little sea bass that have invaded the area. The Rips have small weakfish, bluefish, kingfish and croakers. Having fished in the back, and also in the Rips recently, I can attest to those statements. The family and I caught a lot of these fish on those outings.
The inshore bite was good for dolphin, particularly at the Sea Bass Pots just north of the East Lump. “A lot of reports of wahoo bite offs” were made, but a few catches were made. Mackenzie Hand of Court House caught her first wahoo at Massey’s Canyon that weighed 39.8 pounds. The charter boat Fishin’ Fever hooked up with a white marlin about 17 miles out, and “we even got a report” that a yellowfin was hooked up just inside the Cape May Reef on a stretch plug.
Offshore, the marlin bite in the canyon’s to the north remains good. On the flip side though, the tuna bite “remains spotty.”
The surf holds small fluke, weakfish, kingfish and small croakers. When the weather cools, the mullet in the back should move out and get things kicking in the surf.
Grassy Sound Marina starts by mentioning “an unusual catch in Grassy Sound” of an 18.5 inch southern kingfish that was caught by Marc Fineberg, then released. “Their average size is 15 inches.” Flounder, weakfish and sea bass are throughout the back, plus short stripers are around at night. A highlight this week is 3-year-old Christopher Wagner who helped reel in a 19 inch keeper fluke. Another option is crabbing that has done well recently in Turtle Creek. 55 crabs were caught by the Giorgio “Crew” recently from a rental boat. Those will make for some good eating.
Boulevard Bait and Tackle has news of Striped Bass activity in the back bays. Eric and Al were out on the evening of the 30th and returned with two stripers, a 38 inch, 20.3 pounder and a 28.5 inch, 7 pounder. Cameron, the shop owner, also was out and caught over 20 weakfish and stripers. This back bay action has to get you pumped for the approaching fall fishing season. Also, another big fluke was also reported via Whale Creek Marina that weighed 11.68 pounds and was 30.5 inches long. Don Erdie also put a 22 inch keeper on the scales recently, so there are still some fine keepers coming out of the back.
The Royal Flush continues bringing in kingfish, weakfish, croakers, porgies, bluefish and some throwback flounder. They are hitting the ocean out front in the productive area off of Cape May Point where a lot of local boats have been going. A couple of noteworthy catches went to Joe Stallbaum with a weakfish and Marian McCann with a kingfish.
Captain Chuck on the Sea Star III reports lots of fluke as they monopolized the daily pools. Three at 4 pounds or more went to Sam Patitucci (4 .0), Bob Darling (4.05) and Andy Buttenbusch (4.75). I just want to say thanks to Captain Chuck, Chris and anglers Paul, Frank and Don for an enjoyable day on the water.
The Starlight has been reaping in bluefish, kingfish, weakfish, croakers and short fluke recently. Thanks to Ernie, Ricky, Tom and Chris for a productive and fun day for my son and I.
The Miss Chris with Captain Mike had a nice pool-winning fluke for an unnamed lady angler from Illinois. I’m sure her visit to our area was enjoyable and memorable with the catch and pool money she was holding. Good job.
Other people who sent in reports and pictures were the guys of the “Crazy Daisy” with their fluke and sea bass, Jacob Hemple, a young boy who caught his first fish, a fluke, Laura Garron and her 2nd place, 4 pound, 11 ounce fluke in the Bridgeport Family Marina of West Wildwood Flounder Tournament, Alex Ernst and Rich Ryan with a 63 inch, 54 pound wahoo, and Heather DiRienzo who sent in a picture of her 9-year-old son Hunter who caught his first mahi-mahi while fishing with his dad and younger brothers Dean (7) and Hudson (6). Thanks for reading and sending in your reports and pictures.
The recent MidAtlantic Tournament concluded its Silver Anniversary in a record-setting fashion. Records were set in the cash purse, nearly $3.16 million, and in total billfish caught, 840. Of fish caught, over 93 percent were released. 157 boats participated by fishing three of the five days, which equates to 5.35 billfish per fish for those three days, and 1.78 billfish per boat, per day, all tournament records.
The biggest fish caught was the 754 pound blue marlin captured by Bob Nabrzeski on the Easy Rider from Lighthouse Point, Fla. It was worth $531,513. Second place, at 432 pounds, went to Anthony Demarco of South Brunswick, N.J. who won $181,382. There was no 3rd place qualifier.
Other winners included: Heaviest Tuna – 230 pounds, Stuart Hitchner on the Pez Machine of Barnegat Light, N.J., worth $374,096. Second Place – Michael Flanigan with a 156 pounder. Third Place – Adam Youschak of Wildwood, N.J. with a 76 pounder worth $176,015.
The heaviest dolphin was 53 pounds and won by Fishing for Maryland of Dayton, Md. and was worth $26,226, while the heaviest wahoo at 75 pounds went to Edward Bondarchuk of Lighthouse Point, Fla. and garnered $69,442.
Submit your fishing news and photos to mrobbins@cmcherald.com.
