8-18-14

Fishing has still been very good this week along the Southern Jersey shore. I’ve been seeing lots of great reports for flounder close to shore and at the offshore reefs.  Offshore the tuna bite has been good on the day chunk bite. Overall, August has been good so far, and as long as the weather cooperates it should stay that way.

In Cape May, the big event, The Mid Atlantic, started Monday. The Mid Atlantic is one of the premier fishing tournaments on the East Coast, and it is hosted at Canyon Club Marina in Cape May. The event is in its 23^rd year, the participants target Marlin, Tuna, and other pelagic species.  This year 127 boats are vying for over $2 Million in prizes! The tournament runs Monday thru Friday and weigh-ins are held at Canyon Club marina.  Last year’s heaviest White Marlin was 84 lbs. caught on the boat Lights Out by Bill Haugland and paid out $654,416!! This is an exciting event for the NJ shore and right now the weather looks pretty good for the week. Good luck to all those fishing!

CAPE MAY

Off The Hook Tackle

Rusty Zeigler, “Fluke fishing remains good at the Old Grounds, Reef site #11 and the Cape May Reef. The Crew on the Double Play had a two man limit at the Cape May Reef on Sat. up to 24". The Crew aboard The Stars and Stripers did it again catching 12 beautiful keepers to 6 lbs at the Old Grounds

. Ed Pickul on the Deliverance had 5 nice keepers at the Old Grounds also. The Offshore fishing is still good,Yellowfins can be found in the Lindenkohl Canyon on the chunk. There are White and Blue Marlin in the Baltimore and the Wilmington canyons. The crew of the Intuition went 2-2 on whites on Monday and 2-2 again on Saturday in the Wilmington and the Baltimore. There are still some nice Mahi Mahi and some Wahoo around the 20-30 fathom lines.

The hot boat this weekend was the Emanon, they fished the Cape May Marlin and Tuna Club Ladies Day Tournament on Saturday and caught and released 6 for 7 white marlin! Taking the top boat award! The crew was Brian Sullivan sr, Brian Sullican jr, Lisa Sullivan, Debbie DeFazio Ashley Hassler, Matt Sullivan, Paul Wheaton, and Thomas Zerbo.”

Jim’s Bait and Tackle

 Matt Slobodjian, “Fluke fishing is holding up well at both the Cape may Reef and the Old Grounds. There is also some good action at Del. Reef Site #10. While a lot of the fish are short there seems to be good numbers of keeper sized fish mixed in. Dolphin and a few Cobia have been showing up behind the boats drifting for Fluke so its a good idea to keep a pitch bait set up and ready to go. There are a ton of small Fluke in Cape May Harbor right in the channel by the Coast Guard Base not many legal fish. The Delaware bay is still holding fish along the edges of the channel in about 25ft. of water again not a lot of keepers.

The 5 Fathom Bank and South Shoal are still full of small Blues and Bonita that can be trolled up on small lures and spoons. Didn't hear much on the East Lump or any of the inshore lumps this week. We did get a few Wahoo Reports from the Trunk but didn't hear of any Tuna.

Offshore the bite was on early in the week on the daytime chunk in the Wilmington Canyon with Yellowfins in the 60-80lb range. A few Bigeye were also picked in the Wilmington this week. Saturday there were some White Marlin caught in the Baltimore but the fish seemed to be in small pods, some boats caught some didn't.

In the surf the Croakers are still the best bet at Cape May Point. Shrimp and Clams work best for these fish but they will take just about anything offered. The beaches in town are pretty slow with mostly Skates and Sand Sharks. The Kingfish still seem to be best at the Hereford Inlet beaches on Bloodworms.”

WILDWOOD

Sterling Harbor Bait and Tackle

Kathy Algard, “The hottest action this past week has been fluke fishing. Fluking at all the reefs has been excellent especially at Reef Site 11 and the Cape May Reef. Frank Hennigan and crew of Glenmore, PA limited out with flounder up to 7 pounds at Reef Site 11 on Saturday on Frank’s boat “Avalanche”. There is still good fluke action in the back bays. Taylor Rossiter of Bridgeton, NJ checked in with a 2 pound 14 ounce flounder measuring 19 inches from the back bay of Wildwood and she also released a 26 inch striped bass. There are still a lot of throwbacks to pick through to get the keepers, but the action is steady. The back bay striper fishing was red hot this past week with sardines being the bait of choice however striped bass are also being caught throwing top water lures such as Zara Spooks and the like along the sod banks. Jim Rossiter of Bridgeton, NJ weighed in a 10.2 pound striped bass caught on a frozen sardine. Chandler Olvieri age 15 of Ridgefield Park, NJ caught his first ever keeper striper measuring 30 inches on a frozen sardine from the Wildwood back bay. Chandler also had a 25 inch striped bass on sardine that was released. Offshore tuna action improved with bigeye tuna and yellowfin being caught from the Lindenkohl down to the Baltimore Canyon, with the occasional mahi-mahi and some white and blue marlin in the mix. Tim McGregor of Wildwood, NJ got his largest bigeye tuna to date; a 225 pounder from the Lindenkohl Canyon while trolling on his boat “Reel Maniacs”. Crabby Jack gives the crabbing only 3 Claws this week. Check out our end of summer kayak sale with great savings on leftover and demo kayaks!”

Grassy Sound Marina

Debbie Mooers, “The stripers are getting larger and more aggressive with a 40“ striper caught near the marina at slack tide.  The bait fish are plentiful.  The flounder bite is still strong, weakfish are being caught but in lesser numbers. 

60 + folks participated in the 16th Annual Big Jim Adair Memorial Fishing Tournament on the Fishing Pier.  Big Jim was the patriarch of the Port Richmond Adair family.  He was an avid fishermen who shared his passion with his children.  They come together to celebrate every year with a great day of fishing.     Dylan Mooers, Grassy Sound caught a 40” striper on a jighead with a black and white paddle tail shad near the marina, slack tide. Dominic Lomonaco, Briacliffe, Pa. caught a 22” fluke on chartreuse Gulp under the N. Wildwood bridge, outgoing tide. Diane Casey, Warminster, Pa. caught a 20” flounder on minnows, behind Wildwood.

RENTAL BOAT

Greg Berry, Phila. Caught a 20” flounder on minnows near the N. Wildwood bridge on a rental boat, outgoing tide.

Otto Munz, Phila., caught a 22” flounder on minnows in Turtle Creek, top of the incoming.

PIER

Chris Slubowski, Warrington, Pa. yanked up a 20” flounder in a CRAB TRAP.

Mark Hunsinger, McAdoo, Pa. caught two keepers from the pier to 20” on minnows, outgoing tide.

Winners of the Big Jim Adair Fishing Tournament:  1st Place:  Jack Savage, 2nd place:  Joe Tarczewski, 3rd place:  John Smith, with a 20“, 19“, & 18” respectively.”

AVALON

Avalon Hodge Podge

Tammy Carbohn, “This week we saw more of a variety of fish come across our scale. Bluefish are getting bigger in the surf and back bay and are being caught on peanut bunker and small metals. Keeper fluke continue to come out of Patty’s Hole on minnows. Jimmy Longest from Katonah, NY weighed in one that was 6.15# & 26”. Dave Appenzellar caught Mahi trolling the SI Ridge. His fish weighed 15.88# & 42”. Also, Ken McDermott weighed in his weakfish of 5.11# & 26” he caught at TI Inlet bridge. The surf action was slower this week but the off shore tuna action seamed to heat up. The Wilmington Canyon had lots of Big Eye on the chunk and there were plenty of Yellow fin to go around at the Lindenkol on the troll using ballys.”

Margate

Ray Scott’s Dock

Robin Scott, “The race to the bay is on! Families woke up and realized that children return to school

in two weeks, leaving little time to explore the side of Absecon Island opposite the

beach. Whole teams of families can be seen paddling Beach Thorofare in kayaks,

paddle boards, and drift fishing for the abundance of August. Croakers, flounder and

small blues provide the entertainment with a variety of baits to lure them in. Blue claw

crabs are abundant and it is relatively easy to allow a small child an experience of a

lifetime in actually catching their dinner. Ethan Vogin of Ventnor was as proud of his

blue fish caught by boat by Seaview Harbor as Ed Giacomucci of Margate and John

Navratil of EHT were of their tiger shark caught at the 28 mile wreck. Samantha

Figarotta of Yardley, Pa. was her families good luck charm, reeling in a 21 inch flounder

on their dad/daughters outing. The Dashefsky of Margate family kept up their good

flounder karma with a dinner sized catch while Drs. Jim Spotilla and Hal Avery of

Margate casually cruised Beach Thorofare for their weekly keeper or two. The

Hernberg family of Ocean City caught two healthy flounder by passing the torch to their

smallest members who did the family name proud on the bay. This weekʼs fishing tip,

lightweight tackle on the bay with little kids. Dangle a hook with a small minnow off a

bobber for snapper blues, blood worm sized pieces of fishbites for croakers and

kingfish. Cast small silver on the surface for blues. Buy the kids a minnow trap and

catch the tropical fish that eddy off the Gulf Stream. Bigger baits and live lining for

flounder in the bay in the deep holes. “Cause after all, we are right around the corner

from the ocean”

Debbie Ivker of Margate fishing behind her house.  Not bad going out into one's back yard to catch dinner!

 

The Hernberg family of Ocean City show off their prowess on the Margate bay.  The younger guys caught the fish!

Samantha Figarotta of Yardley, Pa. caught a 21 inch flounder on her families dad/daugter outing