The Fishing Line: The Fourth not Forgotten

This column appeared in print on July 4, 2012
Happy Fourth of July. As we enjoy this holiday let’s remember, freedom has been hard won. Fly the red, white, and blue proudly. Special Shout-Out to Commander Paul Miller, USN, who is headed to Afghanistan later this month. We’ll all go fishing when you get home next year.
Happy times these days with flounder fishing improving daily with some nice fish coming from the Cape May Reef and Reef Site 11. Spro Bucktails with mackerel strips and spearing have been working well. Sterling Harbor reports some nice flounder coming from the Back Bays also.
The offshore tuna bite is red hot and there have been some big blue marlin and several white marlin reported. Green Machine spreader bars and green Iland Lures with ballyhoo have been the most productive. Frank Hennigan of Glenmoore, PA and crew of “The Avalanche” had 6 Yellowfin Tuna to 60 pounds while trolling the Baltimore Canyon.
Crabby Jack gives the crabbing 4 Claws this week and says there are plenty of keeper blue claws around.
Frank’s Boats calls this a ‘better than normal flounder season.’ with many boats returning with keepers in the 18–19 inch range. The bite moved closer to their docks this week with the best action being at the junction where Flat Creek, the main channel and Strathmere Bay meet. Strip squid along with minnow produced the best action.
Frank’s prediction for a great crabbing season this year seems to be reality with several boats losing minnows and pulling up crabs on their fishing lines. There are a lot of crabs out there and as July and August draw near they will be getting bigger and should give us one of our better years for crabbing.
Brynnie-B fished the back bays with daughters, Brynn and Chloe, as well as John and Gracie Thompson. They made lots of drifts throughout the ICW behind Stone Harbor and North Wildwood despite howling wind and managed a few small Dog Sharks as well as one large Doggie, and a small sea bass on the day. Lots of fun for the Dads and girls despite the wind and lack of fish. Dads had to buy the ice cream since the girls caught all of the fish.
On another Day, Brynnie B fished with Andy Majka at Sea Isle Lump and a few inshore wrecks. Drifting the lump only produced skates and a small bluefish while the wrecks produced a great mixed bag. They landed 2 nice trigger fish, tons of catch and release tog, a squid, a kingfish, a huge eel, several Bergalls, sea robins, and a 4 foot brown shark. Captain says, “It was an absolute non-stop blast.”
Mark your calendars: Grassy Sound Marina’s Flounder Tournament, July 14, grassysoundmarina.com
Also on July 14, Sterling Harbor Marina’s Duke of Fluke Tourney, sterlingharnormarina.com
Send your fishing reports and pictures to cmiller@cmcherald.com. There are terrific pictures coming in but not room for all of them. All pictures submitted are posted online at www.capemaycountyherald.com.