Irene sure has given us some strange weather and the reports are all over the place. The pictures tell a more positive story. And it’s September! Who doesn’t love fishing in September?
Sterling Harbor reports that prior to the storm flounder fishing was as good as it gets, but Hurricane Irene stirred up the bottom, and now the flounder are tough to come by. On a positive note, croakers have invaded the South Jersey waters.
Michael Bascome, 7 of Wayne, Pa., weighed in a 3-pound 4-ounce flounder while fishing on Dad’s boat “Size Matters” out of Wildwood and Cindy Dickinson of Cape May, checked in with her personal best fluke that tipped the scales at 7-pounds 8-ounces. She caught the fish at the Cape May Reef on squid while fishing on her boat “U-10”.
Offshore the fish are scattered. In the back-bays, plenty of schoolie stripers with an occasional keeper are hitting on top water plugs in the evening or at night. In the surf, kingfish are still biting in Wildwood Crest and North Wildwood.
Aidan, 7, and Liam, 5, Haley of Maplewood, caught their first ever kingfish in the Wildwood Crest surf.
The Baker Family of Jim Thorpe, Pa., fished one of the offshore wrecks and had a nice mix of sea bass, ling and cod while fishing with Capt. Tom Daffin in the Fishing Fever III.
Debbie over at Grassy Sound Marina tells me loads of stripers were way back up in the creeks near the marina just before and after Irene and reported some very nice catches off the Fishing Pier. Flounder, sea bass, snapper blues, and crabs are being caught off the pier.
Stray Cat Charters is reporting that the fishing in Ocean City is red hot. Croakers and spike weakies with plent of Sea bass and a few porgies; fluke are pushing offshore to the 60 foot lumps. Sea bass fishing continues to be outstanding with close to limits for the all day trips.
Ocean City Fishing Club and the city’s Department of Recreation will host the 44th annual Invitational Surf Fishing Tournament on Sept. 17. Registration from 5:30-6:30 a.m. at the Ocean City Intermediate School, 18th Street and Bay Avenue. Teams of six persons and individuals are eligible to compete. The school is the also the site for an awards ceremony, a light lunch, and prize drawings.
Ocean City Fishing Club and the city’s Department of Recreation will host the 44th annual Invitational Surf Fishing Tournament on Sept. 17. Registration from 5:30-6:30 a.m. at the Ocean City Intermediate School, 18th Street and Bay Avenue. Teams of six persons and individuals are eligible to compete. The school is the also the site for an awards ceremony, a light lunch, and prize drawings.
Members of the Ocean City Fishing Club will be on the beach to measure and record each catch. Three Ocean City tackle shops will accommodate anglers who need bait and other last-minute supplies: Fin-Atics Marine Supply, 1325 West Avenue; Pappy’s Fish n Stuff, 621 Bay Avenue; and the Sea Gull Shop, 309 55th Street. Contact Mike at 856-466-9546 or mike@windoorfloor.com
The NJ DEP has reopened the majority of shellfish beds in the state after tissue samples collected over the weekend met federal health standards. Commissioner Bob Martin signed an order reopening shellfish beds in the ocean from Sandy Hook to Cape May Point and reopening estuarine shellfish beds from the Metedeconk River to Cape May Point. (www.state.nj.us/dep/newsrel/2011/11_0109.htm).
Send your fishing reports and pictures to cmiller@cmcherald.com. All pictures submitted, if they don’t make it in the print version, can be seen on the Herald’s Web site www.cmcherald.com, click on community, then fishing and boating.
