They ARE out there…
If the barometer you use to rate fishing as “good” is catching lots of fish, then you can say fishing has slowed down a little. If the barometer you use is the size of the fish caught, then the fishing is great! If you want to catch the bass of a lifetime, now is the time to go.
First up was a picture sent to us by Ben, who landed and then released this 47 inch bass in the very early hours of Sunday out on Island Beach State Park.
And our featured photo above is from Craig Napolitano, who stopped in to show us this picture of a huge striped bass he landed from the IBSP surf right after sun-up. It was 51 inches long and bottomed out his boga grip. He landed it on a Grumpy salted clam he picked up earlier that morning.
We have also been hearing some good reports in the surf regarding fluke. S&S Fluke Nukem bucktails and Gulp! swimming mullet have been the taking a majority of them.
Speaking of fluke, we have been hearing better reports coming from the boats fishing the artificial reefs, so the ocean fishery is starting to heat up.
The black sea bass fishing has been good on the local inshore wrecks. Those fishing bait have been getting them on clams or squid. Plain ava jigs with no tube tail have been taking some of the bigger ones.
On the local docks, the crabbing is picking up, with some nice catches being put together. Bunker has been the choice bait. We have all of the supplies you will need for a successful crabbing adventure, including traps, drop lines, and nets. You’ll have to stop at a grocery store for Old Bay to make it a perfect trip.
So there is nothing new in terms of scheduling the second round of the Battle of the Bulge fluke tournament between Ray and Scott. Scott just finished his duties as the BSC Catch & Release Tournament Chairman (for which he did an excellent job). Now that the C&R tournament is over, he has no excuses not to schedule this. Ray in the meantime was warming up for this with a bottom fishing trip on Sunday. He says they did well on sea bass, ling, and winter flounder. “Drop and reel” fishing is what he called it. Then he complained that his arms were tired. Scott may have a chance yet…
