Spring has sprung and with the flounder and sea bass seasons open, there’s no reason not to get the gear out and get fishing. Remember the flounder limit is five (5) fish at 17.5 inches and sea bass have 12.5 inch size limit, 20 fish bag limit, to Aug. 8, resumes Sept. 27 to Oct. 14 and again Nov. 1 to Dec. 31. Blues, drum and weakfish are also in the mix.
Bucktail Willie is finding fluke up to 23 inches. He has tagged and released over 60 so far this year with an average size at 17.82 inches. Willie has seen bluefish up to 25 inches roaming the waters in small schools. He says the bonus fish is weakfish.
If you catch the tight tide and wind, weakfish up to 23 inches have been caught. The striped bass bite has been slow inshore but the surf in Strathmere area has produced a lot legal size bass. Best tides have been outgoing but the bite is improving on incoming as water begins to warm up.
Sterling Harbor Marina, near Shawcrest, reports surf action is excellent with striped bass up to 40 inches and black drum up to 25 pounds. Clam is the bait of choice. In the back bays, there are plenty of schoolie stripers, bluefish and a good showing of weakfish. In the Delaware Bay drum fishing has turned on. Jesse Bowman reported five black drum on a recent trip on the Jersey side of the bay and Scott Wheeler and crew of Big Bone had seven drum at Slaughter Beach on the Delaware side.
Offshore, Tim McGregor and crew of the Reel Maniacs made their first trip out to the Canyons and found pretty blue water with plenty of baitfish. The crew had seven Mahi-mahi with the largest bull dolphin caught by Ryan Worley weighing in at 25 pounds. The crew was fishing near the 1000 Fathom line at the Lindenkohl Canyon.
Captain Ray had some really good fly fishing action on warm, light wind days where you could fish in just a sweat shirt. Chartreuse/white clouser flies fished on sinking line caught all species. They had stripers, mostly small ones, nice size bluefish, sea herring and weakfish. It’s the best weakfishing that Ray has seen in years and all good size ones. During the week the smallest weakfish was 17 1/2 inches but most were 20 to 24 inches, with the biggest being 26 inches. One three-hour trip two anglers caught 20 weakfish.
Since weakfish stocks are so diminished and at this time of year when they gather to reproduce, Ray took some photos and released all the weakfish in hopes of boosting their numbers down the road. He kept a few bluefish for dinner.
NEWS: South Jersey surfcasters have claimed victory at Drag Island after learning that efforts to preserve access rights to this historic Somers Point walk-up hotspot have proven successful. Yes, You can fight the government and win. Drag island will be kept open. A small group of five got the ball rolling and with the support of Senator Van Drew (D-Cape May), followed by the RFA jumping in, the Turnpike commission changed its position. Special thanks to Senator Van Drew and RFA, without their help this could not have been accomplished. The details can be found on the RFA Web site.
The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs will held an oversight hearing yesterday on data collection issues in relation to the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. No results available as of this writing.
Lois Grimes, Flotilla 86, Public Affairs reminds boaters and fishers to make sure your engines are tuned, your fishing tackle in good condition, your safety gear up to date and on board. It’s very important to have a N.J. fishing registration, which is free, available online, and can be “googled” and printed. Without it, you can be fined. Boat operators must have a N.J. Safe Boating Certificate or face fines by N.J. State Police. The Coast Guard Auxiliary is giving this safety class May 25, June 1, July6, and Aug.3. Call 889-2236 for more information.
CALENDAR: May 31, 6:30p.m., Sterling Harbor hosts G-Loomis NRX Inshore Launch Seminar by Captain Dan Schafer, Insomniac Guide Service. Captain Dan will focus on discovering and catching fish in Back Bays, Flats and Salt Marshes. Light refreshments will be served.
Send your reports and pictures to cmiller@cmcherald.com. Column and pictures are posted online at www.capemaycountyherald.com. Let’s go fishing!
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…
