The holidays are finally here and for many that signals an end to your fishing season. For those who keep their boat and/or toes in the water, keep sending in your reports and pictures; this column runs year round. When the fishing reports don’t fill it, it will keep you informed of happenings with NOAA, the federal registry, state regulations and more.
Capt. Jeremy Scrocca, Stalker Fishing Charters, says the fall striper bite is still in full swing (when the wind actually let them get out).
Fish are being caught off the beachfront with live bait, and a few on lures. The Cape May rips are producing fish on live bait, and the bucktail bite really turned on the last trip, so hopefully that is a sign of great lure action in the rips to come for the rest of the month.
Jayburd and his charter of the Westmonds had a great trip with their limit of stripers plus many more to 34-inches. Fish were caught mostly on bucktails in the rips. Alfonse Amadei, Bill Raquet, Ron Haines, Harry Garber and Scott Vining, and Pat Dennery had 35 bass to 32-inches on live spot on a morning run while Len Capone, Shawn Whitlock, Pat Dennery, Mike Becker, his group, and Mike Sweeney had 30 stripers to 32-inches in the evening.
Mike Scull and his group from Glassboro had 25 stripers to 33-inches; Dan Norton, his group, Dick Spotts, Anthony Califano, and Dave Gonzales had 15 bass to 37-inches; Doug Graves, his son Doug, Steve Deffler, and Guy Csyzyk caught 30+ fish with 8 keepers to 34-inches. Dom DiBlasio caught his first keeper after three years of trying.
Keep your eye on their website (stalkerfishingcharters.com) calendar for open boat, and private charter availability or call 231-9611.
Captain Ray ran into a common problem this time of year: Dirty Water. He got out when the weather was nice but the inlet and water in along the beach in front of the Coast Guard Base looked like liquid mud. Moving to the back bay flats found water a bit cleaner, but little to no action.
Ray did hear of some bass taken by other boats that they caught out past three miles where the fish were feeding on bait.
During his morning trips on foot, to check out Poverty beach, he saw one nice striper that was caught on clam; all the other guys he talked to never got a bite.
If you want to get better at fishing, let me recommend two courses at Cape May Tech’s Evening Education Division. Captain Dick Herb, Escapade, Avalon, will be teaching a Saltwater Fishing Series of four classes and another class on Fishing Rod Making and Repair. Check their catalog or call the school for details, 465-2161 ext 646.
Have a wonderful Christmas and I hope Santa leaves you a few fishing ‘toys’ to keep you inspired during these cold days.
All photos submitted appear online at SeeMyBigFish.com. Be sure to send your fish stories to cmiller@cmcherald.com. This column appears first online at capemaycountyherald.com
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