The Fishing Line: There’s a smorgasbord out there

It’s all coming together now. We have sharks: blue, thresher, and Mako; stripers, drum, fluke, sea bass, and blues. Inshore, offshore, sea or surf, the only thing missing is you. Take a day and enjoy the sea.
The drum fishing is still happening, says Captain Joe Pritchard. The Zebley family had a fun time reeling in a 75-pounder followed by a nice 50-pound one. They had a nice surprise with a 19-inch flounder.
Captain Fred at Harbor View reports drum to 70-pounds still being caught at 16 Buoy and Slaughter’s Beach. The fluke fishing is good at Miah Mall with fish up to 6-pounds. There are lots of sea bass but more shorts than keepers. Blues and stripers are in the backbays.
The Miss Chris, Cape May, reports good fluke action with Jim Scurti of Wilmington; Harry Vecchione, and George Sevick, both from Philadelphia, limiting out with fish up to 6.65-pounds.
On her night runs, Miss Chris is finding drum up to 75-pounds. Vincent Marino, Pennsauken, age 12, brought in a great fish at 72-pounds.
Sterling Harbor reports excellent flounder fishing in the Wildwood back bays. Sue and Ken Smith of Philadelphia, reported 30-flounder with 12 keepers caught while fishing on their Hobie Mirage Outback Kayaks.
Fluke fishing turned on in the Delaware Bay with good catches being reported from the Banana Peel Slough and Miah Maul areas. Sea bass at the Cape May Artificial Reef was excellent and the drum fishing was good with numerous fish in the 60-70-pound range.
Sharking looks like it’s going to be right on time. Michael Bulifant weighed in a 243 pound Thresher Shark caught on the Big Bully out of Wildwood, NJ. Mike Gillen caught his first ever Mako shark which weighed in at 98 pounds caught on Uncle Joe’s Y- Knot out of Wildwood.
When Captain Ray could get out between thunderstorms, fishing was good. He managed to catch stripers on the fly rod along the inlet rocks and in the back bay waters, with the bigger fish coming in the inlet or along the beach front.
He also started catching weakfish with some nice keepers 15 to 17 inches. They were all caught on orange/yellow clouser flies on sinking line in the ocean along the rocks and released after taking a few pictures.
Weakfish are showing up in Grassy Sound Channel near the marina and plenty of stripers are being caught from the fishing pier, mostly shorts with a few keepers mixed in.
Mark Jones and Curtis Dodd, Rio Grande, caught two keeper flounder using Gulp near the marina and Dean Depace, New Castle, Del. caught a 20-inch flounder using mackerel at ebb tide on the pier.
Tommy Resto, Philadelphia, caught two 18-inch flounder during outgoing tide near the Stone Harbor toll bridge also on mackerel.
Joe Sandefur, Philadelphia, brought in four stripers and two keeper flounder using clam and mackerel on the fishing pier during incoming tide.
Capt. Lou Haubois, Middle Township, out fished his son with a 24-inch flounder using Gulp in Jenkins.
Captain Joe Pritchard, Schmedley Charters is looking to fill a charter for the Sixth Annual Tuna Tournament held in July. They currently have two men. Call 609-463-0857
All photos submitted to The Fishing Line appear online at SeeMyBigFish.com. Be sure to send your fish stories to cmiller@cmcherald.com. This column appears first online at capemaycountyherald.com