Smiles, that one word describes fishermen this weekend. Why was everyone so happy? Beautiful weather and lots of fish!
Every tackle shop, party boat and charter boat I talked to, expressed how good the fishing was this weekend for many species. Black drum, weakfish, flounder, stripers , bluefish; all were being caught up and down the jersey shore.
Offshore a Gulf Stream eddy slid into the local canyons. This warm water, brought lots of life into the Wilmington and Baltimore canyons. With that life, comes the first pelagic fish for the season.
Everything is in place for some great fishing to start off the summer season!!
Margate
Jessica Obermeyer of the Jessie O Fishing Fleet Margate sent us this report:
We opened the 2014 flounder season with 23 keepers on the back bay flounder trips. The weekend brought out many anglers who have been eagerly waiting the flounder season. Pool winners for the weekend were Sandy Bobbs of Cape May with his 4.11 pounder (photo attached white jacket) Mike Kopistansky from Blue Bell, PA 4.14 pounder, Jennifer Goodman from NY 3.11 pounder, Mike Kinnon from Modena Park, PA with his 5 1/2 pounder.
Photo also attached of Jason Keegan of West Deptford with his trifecta catch on opening day!
Jessie O's Fish N Fun sails 2 back bay trips daily at 8am & 1pm. We also offer a Progressive Jackpot pool which the winner takes all at the end of flounder season. Pot total after the weekend is $65 & growing, fish to beat is 2.10 pounder.
Ocean City
I talked to Dan Scheeler from Finatics in Ocean City, and he said fishing was very good this weekend! The surf bite was good from 47th street to Corson’s inlet. Bluefish are being caught from 3-5lb’s with the biggest up to 10lbs. Stripers are being caught along the beach and in the back bay. The stripers on the beach are biting on fresh bunker and fresh surf clams, while in the back the hot bait is bloodworms. Black drum were also landed on the beach, with the biggest reported at 29”. They also reported weakfish in Corson’s Inlet up to 7lbs on lures. Dan, reported of tuna being caught in Wilmington and Baltimore Canyons.
Finatics Flounder Derby starts June 1st and it is free, please call the shop for info.
Sea Isle
Mike Cunningham from Sea Isle Bait and tackle reported a great weekend of flounder fishing.
They held there opening day flounder tournament this weekend. 1st place and $2380 went to Justin Kock with 6.1lb fluke, 2nd place was Ken Clayton, 5.9lbs, and 3rd place was John Fergon at 5.7lbs.
The stringer prize went to Mason Reeves with a 3 fish combined weight of 16.9lbs!
Weakfish division was won by Jeff Ferfon with a 6.6lber.
Mike also reported weighing a 24.9lb striper for Peter V from Langhorne, PA
Avalon
Tammy Carbohn from Avalon Hodge Podge gave me the following report:
“The fishing really turned on around here! We have been weighing in Weakfish, Drum, Stripers, Blues and Fluke over the past couple days. These fish are coming in on a variety of baits and artificial both in the bay & surf. The largest fluke we saw was 24” & 4.77# caught by Bob Scully in Patty’s Hole using Mackerel strips. Bill W. from Blue Bell, PA weighed in a 41” & 29# Striper he caught at the jetty using a swimming plug. The largest weakfish was 29” & 7.8# caught by Bob P. from Oreland, PA using bass assassin nuclear chicken on a bucktail.”
Wildwood
Cathy Algard from Sterling Harbor Bait and Tackle reported
“Both the weather and the fish cooperated for Memorial Day weekend! Drumfish are being caught in good numbers on both the New Jersey and the Delaware sides of the Delaware Bay. Corey Clark of Wildwood, NJ weighed in his first ever black drum that tipped the scales at 72 pounds! Mike Brier of Villas, NJ landed a 59 pound black drum measuring 45 inches while fishing in his Hobie Mirage Pro Angler 14 kayak. Weakfish are being caught around the jetties and throughout the back bays with fish up to 8 pounds being reported. Scott Pierce checked in with a 8 pound 3 ounce Weakfish that took a pink Zoom behind North Wildwood. Back bay fluking started slow due to the wind, but improved throughout the weekend with many keepers being caught on both Sunday and Monday. Peggy Kelley of Pittsgrove, NJ caught her personal best Flounder, measuring 25 inches and weighing in at 5 pound 5 ounces caught while fishing the ICW behind Wildwood on her boat Razzamatazz! Congrats, Peggy! Seven year old Malaina and 4 year old Karleigh Preston of Drexel Hill, PA each had keeper Flounder while using Gulp! For bait in the Wildwood back bays. Sea Bass season is open and several boats got their limits with the best reports coming from the wrecks around the 20 fathom line. Stripers are being caught along the beachfront and in the back bays. Clam baits are producing the best results! Crabby Jack gives the crabbing 3 Claws this week!”
Cape May
Matt Slobodjian sent me this report:
Hey guys, things are really starting to pop. The Drum fishing in the Delaware Bay is excellent and there is a consistently good bite going on almost every day in the 20ft Slough. There are also fish in the Horse Shoe and Tussy's Slough as well as on the Delaware side of the Bay. Blanca Schulte a female angler from Palmyra NJ weighed in a 77.8lb Drum she caught aboard the charter boat "Full Ahead". Also on that trip Wayne Schwartz of Little Egg Harbor NJ boated a 70.6lb fish. The charter brought 10 fish to the dock and released even more.
We are starting to see some really nice Weakfish coming in from the local Jetties. The fish are being taken on Bloodworms and Artificials also.
Casey Roohan one of the guys who works at our shop weighed in a 7 1/2lb trout he caught on worms on a local rockpile. James Warner of Brick NJ brought in a 9.3lb trout he caught on a Bucktail and plastic worm.
There was plenty of action on the surf for Stripers with the North Cape May beaches still being the best place to target. Bunker has been working best but Clams will also take Drumfish which are there as well. The Cape May beaches are also giving up a few Bass but the Dogfish are still pretty thick.
Fluke fishing started off slow in the backwaters with just a few nice fish being caught. Charles Danowski of Lester Pa. caught a 5.85lb fluke in the back Saturday. A few fish were also picked at Cape May Reef.
Offshore the Baltimore canyon produced some nice Bluefin and Yellowfin Tuna this week. Mike Quinn gave us a good report from the 50 line inside the Baltimore where Bluefin in the 50-60 inch range were pretty hungry. There were Bluefin and Yellowfin mixed as you move offshore to the 100 and out to the 500 line.
This coming Saturday May 31st we will be holding our annual Shark tournament and it looks like the water temp. Is going to be just right. If anyone is interested please call the shop for details.
Rusty Zeigler from Off The Hook Tackle in Cape May said lots of fish are being caught. Weakfish are being caught along the jetties. Dan Coughlan, caught over 30 weakfish on Saturday, keeping the biggest 6.57 lber. The hot lure for weakies is a jighead with a purple firetail. The drumfishing has been literally “Off The Hook!” The fish have been caught around the Bayshore channel with many boats reporting catches in the double digits; up to 80lbs. Flounder action was very good in the back bays, many boats found keepers over the weekend. The biggest fluke was 4.43lbs, caught by Paul Tripodi at Site 11.
Sea bass are being found from Cape May Reef out to 30 miles offshore. The best depth is 80-120ft.
Capt Rob Kurian and the crew of the Sea Esta brought the first mako shark to the scales. It weighed 110lbs and the angler was Paul “Phillyfishing” Tsoukalas.
The first nice temperature break hit the Wilmington canyon earlier in the week and slid down the edge to the Poorman’s by Sunday. Tuna were being caught by the anglers that found the edge of the temp break. The bite was best around 64-69 degrees.
Jimbo Samson returned with an 80-100lb Bluefin on Friday from the Wilmington.
On Sunday, Jody Brown, his son Justin, Charlie Rice and Spencer Scharf had good day at the Wilmington with 7 yellowfin. They reported a 4 degree temp break with the fish biting on the warm side. They also saw lots of life, porpoises, pilot whales, and turtles.
