What another nice weekend, although the wind on Sunday caused some boats to stay tied up at their respective docks. Still, if you wanted to, you could fish along the Intracoastal Waterway, or from a beach setting, and have had a very enjoyable day. It’s all a matter of perspective and how you are able to adjust.
We also had a great white shark sighting to liven up the week. Let’s see what went on recently.
The Sea Star III had another steady week with sea bass, flounder, and even a codfish during the day trips and some nice drum fish during the evening outings. Capt. Chuck mentioned that more flounder are starting to show up, which is nice to hear and totally welcomed news.
His pool winners this week with sea bass were Liza Dmitrieva (1.85 pounds), Mike Carels (1.85), and Kevin Nelson (1.8). Harry Theurer won with a flounder (2.0) while Lawrence Reid finished off the day-trip winners with a 4.45-pound codfish.
Nighttime drum fish winners were Paul Bodkin (17.66) and Carl Henry with a 51.26-pounder.
If you want to get in on the drum fish trips, you better get moving. There are less than two weeks left, as of this writing. Set up your reservation and grab a seat at the rail.
The Miss Avalon continues to fish for sea bass. They are running some deep-water trips, as they did recently, where the anglers caught eight to nine fish on average. Some flounder are being caught also, but not to the summer standards yet. It shouldn’t be too long before the flounder, and good-eating triggerfish start to show up regularly.
Trips are also being run to the local reefs, with fish being caught there also. Check ahead to see what trips they will be sailing, especially if you wish to sail on the longer deep-water trips.
The Avalon Lady is hitting the backwater holes and warmer shallow stretches for flounder. Their patrons have been pulling in some nice keepers on each outing. They sail daily, except Tuesdays, from 8 a.m. until noon.
The weekend trips produced five keeper flounder on Friday and then they followed that up with six on Saturday.
They started their week off with seven keeperflounder on their Monday morning trip.
Later in the week, USA Pools had a private afternoon charter and returned with nine keepers. A relaxing afternoon was had by all. The open-boat morning trip that day had three keepers.
The Sailors Delight is “deep into their summer flounder fish” routine now. They are running two trips daily, as the weather allows, and are busy making some anglers “happy.” They have been catching a good mix of keepers and shorts and providing a good day of action fortheir patrons. Stop by and check out the “orange pontoon boat.”
Grassy Sound Marina reported a good day for Mike O’Donnell, who was fishing from his kayak. His day consisted of four sheepshead, a 6 to 7-pound tog (released), and a keeper striped bass. He kept one of the sheepshead for the table.
Also kayak fishing was Matthew Marino and his uncle Wes. They fished the top of the tide using white Gulp. Matthew bested his uncle and leads a competition with his brother because of the 25-inch, 5.5-pound flounder that he landed.
Finally, 8-year-old Brent Chlebowski was fishing from the pier with a bunker and minnow combo. He caught a really nice flounder that appeared to be in the 3-pound range. Nice job, Brent.
Don’t forget to register for the 16th Annual Flounder Tournament at Grassy Sound Marina. June 25 is the day, and the tournament will include boat, kayak, and pier divisions. Registration forms are available on the marina’s website.
Boulevard Bait and Tackle was, again, a busy place. Plenty of anglers were checking in with news and photos of their catches from the beaches of Sea Isle City and Whale Beach.
Striped bass were caught by Andrew (photographed and released), VJ (a 31-incher), Todd (36), and Gill, who landed a 29-inch fish.
Drum fish went to Cathy (42-inch) and John while a couple of big bluefish were caught by Ricky Bobby and an unidentified angler.
Sea Isle Bait and Tackle reported on a nice day of flounder fishing for Travis, Kyle, and Tom that saw fish up to 4.9-pounds being caught.
Capt. Tom, from the Fishin’ Fever, recently ran out to the canyons for his first trip there this season. He returned with six Yellowfin tuna and a nice dolphin. Some Bigeye tuna are also being caught. He is scheduling trips for offshore fishing, as well as deep-water flounder. Check out his available dates on the boat’s Facebook page.
Don’t forget that the Jim’s Bait and Tackle Tuna Tournament is scheduled for June 18. You still have a little bit of time to enter before this Saturday, so don’t delay if you’re planning on participating.
Cape May Bait and Tackle reports that stripers, as well as drum fish, are still being caught from the Cape May area beaches. In fact, friends of the owners of the shop checked in with a photo of a drum fish that they caught at Sunset Beach during a recent visit.
Thanks to reader Nick Rambo who sent in word of the first sea bass trip of the season for the crew of the All Hanked Up. The four anglers, who fished June 4, returned with 32 sea bass on a “beautiful” but “slow” fishing day.
An interesting visitor was in the area recently, as a 12-foot great white shark was spotted off Townsend’s Inlet. Videos of it swimming by a fishing boat were posted on the U.S. Coast Guard Station Cape May Facebook page. It was interesting to think about what may beswimming further below, and just out of sight, when any of us are fishing out there. I, for one, would like to have the opportunity to watch one swim by. Maybe someday.
It was another good week of fishing, even with some days lost to windy conditions, but there’s also the feeling that things are about to break out. With the arrival of tuna and dolphin offshore, plus with flounder, sea bass, bluefish, weakfish, drum fish, and striped bass still here, and triggerfish and kingfish expected to show up soon, it’s a virtual cornucopia of fishing. Get out and enjoy it. Take care and I’ll see you around.
Submit fishing news and photos to mrobbins@cmcherald.com.
