According to Henry Van Dyke, fishing “’Tis an affair of luck.” And that sure seems to be true. Most of the reports today are positive and yet, there are lots of folks asking, “Where are all the fish.” On any given day, in any lucky spot, it’s a toss-up but it’s still a great time to go fishing.
For Captain Ray on Tide Runner, it was all stripers this week with the bulk of the action in the back bay areas.
“You had to fish sunrise, sunset or in the middle of the night if you wanted to get stripers on flies or plugs with some days having to search till you found fish, but it was worth it,” he said.
Smack-it-jr popping plugs accounted for the most stripers for plug anglers, with one evening getting 12 for two anglers. Even with no keepers, the explosive surface action on light tackle makes for and exciting time.
Captain Ray took two young anglers from the Netherlands out with their dad for a fun morning trip using bait for stripers. The kids enjoyed the sand sharks in-between the stripers the most.
The Royal Flush reports catching fish on all trips: flounder, snapper blues, kingfish and a few weakies. The night trips are catching snapper blues, sea bass, sharks and skates.
Captain Joe Pritchard, on The Big Game, South Jersey Marina, says reef fishing and inshore trolling for bluefish has been excellent. The bluefish are running only 1-2-pounds lbs, so for a family trip with kids, the action is non-stop and super exciting.
The Jacob’s group on Saturday, boated a nice 50-pound bluefin, and six dolphin worth gaffing.
The Hooked Up II under Captain John Sowerby, South Jersey Marina, took the Miller family from Queen Creek, Arizona for an offshore fishing trip; their first venture into salt water fishing. After releasing a few undersized bluefin, they landed 78 and 40-pound keepers. But the catch of their day was a 28.8-pound dolphin, the heaviest one caught this year at South Jersey Marina.
Captain Bill Bittmann had a group out on his charter boat Top Shelf over the Cape May reef. They caught 41 trigger fish and several blue fish. That’s a good day fishing.
The Third Annual Grassy Sound Marina Flounder Tournament Results:
First place, heaviest: Ric Burke, Cape May, 5.85-pounds; second place heaviest: Ken Hornback, Atco, 4.09-pounds; third place heaviest Gary Doyle, Court House, 4-pounds.
Heaviest three: Ken Hornback, Atco, 9.51-pound; women’s heaviest: James West Crew, Rio Grande, 4.28-pound; children’s heaviest: Evan Reef, Dennisville, 2.79-pound.
Fishing Pier Division Results:
First place: Stephen Nocella, Mt. Ephraim; second place: Tim Sohn, Philadelphia; third place: Shawn Adair, Philadelphia.
Veteran fisherman Jim Reichert, Green Creek fishing Grassy Sound out front of the marina ended up with a broken rod trying to reel in a 40-50-pound drumfish. There were quite a few boats and fishermen watching him being towed around. He just about boated the fish. His crew could not believe it was a drum.
Sterling Harbor reports flounder are being caught at Cape May Reef, Reef Site 11 and the Old Grounds. Offshore, some bluefin tuna were caught on the troll at Massey’s Canyon and the 19 Fathom Lump over the weekend.
Sterling Harbor’s 16th Annual Duke of Fluke Tournament was a huge success with 150 boats entered and 17 kayaks. In the Single Heaviest Fluke Division: first place: Duct Work, Captain Scott Pierce, 11.86-pounds; second place: C-Bob, Captain Chris Lowrey, 8.10-pounds; third place: Freaky One, Captain Ed Adams, 7.85-pounds.
Five Heaviest Fluke Division: first place, Stars & Stripers, Captain Paul Tripodi, 27.31-pounds; second place, Duchess, Captain Craig Goss, 26.50-pounds; third Place, Adam Bomb III, Captain Adam Crouthamel.
Kayak Division: first place: Justin Fesler, 2.86-pounds; second place: Matt Ebbecke, 2.24 pounds; third place: Ellen Fox, 2.04-pounds.
Duchess Award: Melissa Jastremski, 7.79-pounds aboard Adam Bomb III, Capt. Adam Crouthamel.
Junior Angler Award: Jack Hausman, 5.07-pounds aboard Tag & Release, Capt. John Hausman, Sr.
Heaviest Sea Bass: Mike Bascome, 3.79-pounds aboard Size Matters, Capt. Mike Bascome.
Heaviest Bluefish: Collin Hondros, 2.09-pounds aboard Shore Beats Workin’, Capt. Pete Hondros.
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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