I just gotta rant a little.
If you are like me, your boat is gathering grass on the bottom and all of the little chores that have been on the “to do” list have been done for about a week now. When is Mother Nature going to turn off the fans?! There has not been a decent offshore window in weeks now, and we all know the fish are out there flipping around in the whitecaps. There is a bluefin or a bigeye out there with my name on it, and I can’t get there! I pay my taxes, brush my teeth twice a day, only owe money to people I don’t like …so with all this clean living, don’t I deserve at least one day out there a week? C’MON!
Feel much better now…
The crazy inshore temperature upwelling is back for another visit, with some of our pontoon boats clocking temps in the high 50’s on some days in water just barely deep enough to swim in. Need I remind you it is 4th of July week? There flounder should be out on the reefs already but they really are not. Still in the back where the wind has the water looking dark and dirty, finding keepers is totally possible, but much harder than it should be with so many fish still back there. The only redeeming factor is that the cold water should clear things up a little, and there should be a good bite before the bodies of fish move off to their summer feeding grounds. Drifting the inlets, AC/GE/Corsons/TI/Hereford and the mouth of the Delaware Bay is going to be a strong strategy for a couple of days when they start the exodus. Lots of guys like to switch over to dragging more conventional flounder rigs rather than bucktailing in these areas as it can take quite a bit of lead to hold bottom when the currents start ripping. On a 3-way swivel, I like a large profile artificial like a 4” tube squid stuffed with a little mylar with a 4-inch Gulp swimming mullet on a 5/0 Gamakatsu octopus as the base rig. I always add a snack to the end of it in the form of a live spot, peanut bunker, small snapper blue or fairly long strip of greasy meat like mackerel or bluefish fillet. A short dropper loop with however much lead I need hangs from the other terminal. I know the whole “elephants eat peanuts” thing has merit in some cases, but in this instance I truly believe that big baits catch the biggest flatties.
Let’s call the boys in the band and see what is going on in the Southern section of the Oil Refinery and Petrochemical State we live in and love.
If you want to spend a few minutes with a guy that really knows his stuff, bounce into the Absecon Bay Sportsman’s Center and corner Dave for a few minutes. Now he may make you a little nutty because once you get him started he will want share everything he knows with you, but he knows a great deal and it is totally accurate. Dave had a couple of great days fishing live spot for stripers when the water inversion hit and feels that when the tide is right, the chill really snaps the stripers into “go” mode on the feed. He has plenty of live spot if you want to give it a run. The flounder bite in the back has been off and on with the biggest problem being the wind and water clarity, but the fish are there and of good size. You just have to fish them smarter looking for edges and temperature breaks. A big shocker is the crab situation, which for the commercial guys right now is very bad, but there should be enough back there for you to go grab dinner if you work at it. The payoff is good with the price of number 1’s so high right now… it is actually is cheaper to eat lobster.
Team TackleDirect pulled a shift out sharking when they had a little half day window this past week, but it was only blue sharks chowing down in the neighborhood they were in. There are good eating sharks within range if you can get out there with a fairly long list of really nice makos and threshers hitting the scales in the past few weeks. By the way, the Team is headed out to the ICAST Convention in Vegas next week, where all the new products in the fishing world are showcased, and will be providing lots of “almost live” videos of all the new gear all week long. Be sure to tap into the info at Tackledirect.com beginning next Tuesday. There is some really cool new stuff coming out and you can see it there first! They have a really good looking host for the videos too.
Jake at Fin-Atics in Ocean City has seen plenty of happy flounder pounders that have braved the cold water and wind. Keepers of good size have been hitting bucktails and jig heads with Gulp swimming mullet (chartreuse seems to be the color of choice). On the beachfront some really nice kingfish taken using Fish-bytes or bloodworms. A stringer of kingies can make one excellent fish fry and the scenery on the beach in Ocean City isn’t too bad either, if you get my drift. Not a bad way to kill a little time.
On The Water welcomes a great new charter operation this week out of the Frank Farley Marina at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City. Two magnificent Viking Yachts, a 50‘ open convertible, and a 66’ enclosed bridge. Both tricked out for a luxurious ride out and equipped to battle the biggest beasts that swim. Check them out at http://www.saintjudithcharters.com/.
In Sea Isle, Mike at Sea Isle Bait & Tackle is busy growing his shop and customers love it! He has tripled the showroom space and is stocking up with great quality gear from all the brands you looks for. Mike’s anglers had a good week picking away as some weakies on soft plastics (mostly Bass Assassins),. There was a flounder bite when the sun came out and the party boat boys have been real happy with their catches of Sea bass. There have been a few stripers around at night, and when the surf is clean, the kingfish are chewing too.
Two Chums in Sea Isle is really doing great on all fronts. Their boat rental (call ahead folks) anglers are pulling at least one or two keeper flounder on each trip and the crabbing is starting to pick up both in size and numbers. King-fishing in the surf is a busy activity in Sea Isle for good reason. Both size and numbers there this week. Two Chums weighed in two keeper stripers this week as well.
News from Hands Too in Cape May is all high 5’s…. little hand joke there.. very little. Anyway, weakies are still the talk of the town with small plastics, small spot, and floating a bloodworm working in the strategy department. There are croakers all over the place if you want to take the kids out to bend a rod, and the surf is in the kingfish. Hey, what could be better than this? I’ll tell you. Good reports of some big threshers out near Mcraes shoal and the Cape May Reef is starting to give up a few flounder. First reports I have heard of them being out front. Sea bass on the deeper wrecks.
It looks like a Wawa, but inside it is a fisherman’s playground. I’m referring to Peace Token Fishing Tackle in Cape May Courthouse. Owner Mike Jung is a real offshore expert, particularly in the world of offshore jigging and his shop reflects that. If you are down this weekend, be sure to swing through and check the place out.
Best Bet for the holiday week/weekend is to make some time to grab your kids and go fishing! There is plenty of activity in the back with croakers and spot swimming around and the chance of a nice keeper flatties is very good if the wind allows you to get some decent drifts in. If the family has you on the sand instead, grab a bag of Fish-bytes and some light tackle and tangle with those little locomotive kingies. They are so much fun to catch and so great to eat. Boater are going to have to pay close attention to the wave and wind conditions because they are marginal as of the time of this report (Wednesday afternoon). Forecast for 4-foot seas at less than 6 seconds make for a bumpy ride depending on what you are driving and the possibility of a fast moving front with lightening is going to be with us throughout, so be careful out there.
I hope you will all accept my personal wishes for a great holiday with your families. The 4th is always fun and the fishing is just really starting to crank up.
Stay Tuna-ed!