We had some wind and poor sea conditions, but mid-week cleaned up real nice with fishable seas and good back-bay drifting conditions. Anglers working most of the South Jersey wrecks are producing excellent quantities of keeper sea bass. Striped bass continue to be caught on the troll and along the jetties with plugs and poppers. The early morning tides have been producing the best for bass. Fluke fishing was very good according to most of the shops with fish in the 2- to 6-pound range being landed. Early season is all about water temperature and finding the warmest will generally produce the most active Fluke. I did get some text messages of Weakfish in the 5- to 7-pound range being landed in our more southern locales. The action was on 4- and 5-inch pink Fin-S.
Here is this week’s rundown:
Creekside Outfitters in Waretown reported some nice catches of Fluke from a variety of Barnegat Bay locations. The BB to 42 has been producing as has some parts of the Oyster and Double Creek channels. Bucktails tipped with minnow or Gulp has been the “go-to” lures. Sea bass fishing was excellent the past week with limits caught from wrecks in the 3- to 7-mile range.
Reel Reaction Sportfishing out of Waretown / Barnegat Light has been running weekday afternoon and double trips on the weekends for Fluke in the backwaters on their new skiff. The charters have been averaging 25 to 45 fluke with 3 to 6 keepers. Most of the action has been on bucktails and Gulp. The skipper has weekday and weekend dates available, so give them a call.
The Super Chic out of Barnegat Light has been running sea bass trips and finding them in the 50 to 80 foot ranges. The skipper continues to book trips for the rest of June for sea bass and striped bass.
Fisherman’s Headquarters on Long Beach Island reported decent catches of striped bass on the troll over the weekend and during mid-week. Striped bass fishing off the jetty has also been pretty good for some of the smaller slot fish. Sea bass fishing remains excellent from most of the area’s reef and wreck sites. There was word of a decent Bluefin Tuna bite occurring just offshore near Seaside and also further out at the Atlantic Princess. Fluke fishing remains very strong for most of the early season bay spots and Magictail Bucktails tipped with Gulp is the ticket to keepers.
Absecon Bay Sportsman in Absecon had solid reports of Striped Bass around the Absecon Inlet and some have been in the 40-inch range. There also has been some Bluefish and Weakfish in the mix, especially around the area’s bridges. Flounder fishing has been pretty strong this past week with keepers in the 3- to 5-pound range hitting the scales. White Perch are still around, but you have to go way up river to find them.
Offshore Bait & Tackle in Atlantic City reported excellent fishing over the past few nights with some nice Striped Bass to 38 inches being caught off the jetties. There has also been some nice Weakfish to 24 inches. Flounder fishing in some of the back channels of Atlantic City and Brigantine have had some keepers around.
Fin-Atics in Ocean City reported a decent Flounder bite for the season opener and through this past week. Most of the action has been in the warmer, shallower depths from 4 to 7 foot. Small jigs or bucktails tipped with 3 to 4-inch Gulp have been producing. Striped Bass and even some Weakfish have been showing up at the area’s bridges as well as Corson’s Inlet.
Badfish Charters in Ocean City has been busy plying the backwaters for schoolie stripers over the past week along with some bluefish. The skipper reported an influx of some bigger Bluefish into the backwaters.
Sea Isle Bait & Tackle in Sea Isle had good reports of Fluke fishing over the Memorial Day weekend with most of the anglers able to pick at keepers in the bay. The hottest bites have been in the back on Gulp baits and both sides of the tide have been producing. Sea Bass on the wrecks remain very good with quick limits for most anglers working the 60- to 80-foot depths. There has been a pretty good weakfish bite from the area bridges on pink soft plastics.
Avalon Hodge Podge in Avalon reported some nice catches of striped bass and bluefish from the back bay area of Avalon and Sea Isle. The fish have been caught on swimming plugs and clam or bunker chunks. Fluke fishing got off to a nice start with decent numbers of keeper fish being caught. There has been some nice reports of weakfish to 5 pounds hitting the bridges and adjacent sods during the night tides. The surf is slowly starting to see kingfish which are being caught on small pieces of bloodworm and FishBites.
Jersey Bait & Tackle in North Wildwood had decent reports of Flounder for the 1st week of the season and the best action was in the 4- to 7-foot depth ranges behind North Wildwood. Anglers working the beaches with clam or bunker chunks have been finding Bluefish and Striped Bass.
Peace Token Fishing Tackle in Cape May Court House received some quality reports of Flounder picking up bucktails in the backwater, but the real word was the outstanding Drum bite as quite a few fish were caught in the 50-pound range. Sea Bass fishing remains excellent for wrecks in the 110- to 130-foot range.
Jim’s Bait & Tackle in Cape May have been busy moving clam as the Drum bite ramped up over the weekend with boats catching 1 to 5 keeper Drum from some of the sloughs in the Delaware Bay. Sea Bassing has been absolutely outstanding with boats able to catch limits on wrecks in the 120 to 130 foot range. Anglers looking to target flounder had better luck on the west of side of Wildwood and North Wildwood. The jetties lining Cape May and Delaware Bay have had some schoolie striped bass and a few weakfish.
Greenhorn Outdoors in Bridgeton reported some striped bass being caught on chunked Bunker off the beaches with the night bite producing better. There are good amounts of schoolie stripers in the river along with some decent sized white perch. The shop received word from anglers earlier in the week of a good drum bite off Delaware Bay (close to Cape May).
South Jersey Fishing Forecast
There are plenty of options to find your best bet to bend the rod this weekend. Fluke fishing remains an excellent choice for kayakers, land fisherman, and boaters as most of our southern bays are teeming with flounder. Most of the ratios have been in the 10 to 1 range of throwbacks to keepers. A ½- to ¾-ounce bucktail tipped with Gulp or live minnows should do the job at most of the locations and remember to fish the warmest water. Sea bass fishing is another viable option for boaters as 2- to 4-man limits can be caught in less than 2 hours. Anglers looking for fish of the bigger variety, it may be the time to break out the trolling gear and hit some of the nearshore sites for bluefin as there has been a word on those. Good Luck, Be Safe, and Tight Lines!