Early October reports have folks wondering about the fall season. It’s fishing! It’s always an interesting challenge to out-guess the fish. Hang in there, surprises are in store for the faithful.
Sterling Harbor reports one-to-two pound bluefish are chasing mullet schools that are migrating out of the back bays. In the bays, small bluefish and schoolie size stripers are feeding on the excess of baitfish along the sod banks. Kayak anglers reported good tautog action along the rock piles. Remember the limit is one tautog until Nov. 16. Crabbing has finally kicked in, and Crabby Jack gave the crabbing 5 Claws. The catches are good as the crabs are feeding heavily before they burrow into the mud for the winter.
Schoolie size stripers and bluefish are pretty much the only show in town for fly and plug anglers until larger migrating bass start moving down the coast. For Captain Ray, popping and clouser flies are producing on floating and intermediate lines, with popping plugs working best for the spin anglers. There is some action around the inlet when the mullet is around, but most of the action has been with resident fish in the back bay.
The Starlight is running 6-hour trips each weekday and two 4-hour trips on the weekends. With the flounder season closed, they’re targeting porgies and triggerfish, and blues mixed in. Rob Sneider, Marlton, closed the fluke season with a pool-winning four pound three ounce fish. Dominique Foglio, Blenheim, caught a hefty five pound trigger and Jason Snyder, Philadelphia, had a trigger weighing in at four and a half pounds. High Hook honors were claimed by Amy Jenkins, Camden, for her combined catch of 22 porgies and triggerfish.
The Division of Fish and Wildlife are stocking state waters with trout providing anglers with some great fall fishing. In all, 25,000 fish will be stocked. Yearling brown and rainbow trout averaging 7 to 9 inches in length will be stocked in 17 streams and 14 lakes and ponds statewide. Up to 500 brood stock rainbow trout will also be stocked. There are no closed waters during fall stocking. There is a 9-inch minimum size limit on trout in New Jersey. The complete list of fall-stocked waters and schedule is at www.njfishandwildlife.com/flstk14.htm
More landlocked salmon, ranging from 10.8 to 15 inches in length, were recently stocked in two northern NJ state park lakes. Tilcon Lake (Allamuchy Mt. State Park) received 198 salmon and Lake Aeroflex (Kittatinny Valley State Park) received 227 salmon. Another 574 salmon in this size range are slated for Wawayanda Lake (Wawayanda State Park) in late September to early October. For information on salmon fishing , visit www.njfishandwildlife.com/news/2014/salmonstk_tilconaero.htm
Oct. 11-12, Beach Buggy Great Fall Classic Surf Fishing Tournament, North Wilwood290-6480 or njbba.org
The Fishing Line runs year round so keep sending your reports and pictures to cmiller@cmcherald.com. Column and pictures (including some that didn’t appear in print) are posted online at www.capemaycountyherald.com and on Facebook. Check out Miller’s new children’s book “Counting the Fish in the Sea: The Story of the NEAMAP Trawls” on www.epektales.com
Cape May – Last week I witnessed a woman helping a man who seemed to be having difficulty getting up in the water. the next thing I saw was she also was injured. My Uber ride was there to take me to the…
