The Fishing Line: Hot August Nights

With the heat the fishing has been slow but Captain Ray, Tide Runner, Cape May, was able to get stripers for plug and fly anglers, but we had to work hard for them. The best action was in the back bay areas and the plug anglers using smack-it-jr popping plugs did better than the fly anglers.
Grassy Sound Marina reports short flounder abundant off the fishing pier with a few very nice keepers in the mix. Kingfish and blues are also being caught.
Dominic Domuro caught a 5.1-pound flounder using minnows during incoming tide. Nick Murray, Bristol, Pa., caught an 18-inch flounder off the pier using mackerel at incoming tide and 12 year old Eric Delellis, Aston, Pa. caught a 19” flounder during incoming tide using minnows. Matthew Bruns, Langhorne, Pa. caught a 24-inch flounder in Turtle Creek using mackerel during outgoing tide. Matt Hamer, Dennisville, caught 6 flounder with one keeper fishing Hereford Inlet during outgoing tide with a pink rig and white gulp.
According to Sterling Harbor reports, flounder fishing has improved at the Cape May Reef and the Old Grounds. There are scattered fluke being caught in the Delaware Bay near 9 and 10 buoys.
The Wildwood back-bays continue to have non-stop flounder action, most of the fish are short, but there are a few keepers in the mix. Schoolie stripers are hitting plugs and soft plastics in the back-bays, too, mainly in the evenings or at night along sod banks, docks and bridges.
At the Canyons there are yellowfin tuna, white marlin and blue marlin being caught while trolling.
In the surf, there are numerous Kingfish being caught on Bloodworms or Fishbites Bag O Worms.
Crabby Jack gives the crabbing four claws this week and says the crabbing is just about as good as it gets.
Bill (bucktail willie)Shillingford fishing out of Whale Creek Marina had a steady pick of striped bass up to 35-inches lastl week early in the morning, thanks to a block of cold water. He says the fluke bite is the same-lots of shorts. He also sees small sea bass beginning to show up.
The NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife advises commercial fishermen and recreational anglers that the regulations pertaining to the commercial and recreational coastal shark and smooth dogfish fisheries have been adopted and became effective July 19, 2010.
For details on the ASMFC Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Coastal Sharks and Smooth Dogfish visit www.asmfc.org/ .
The public is invited to attend the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s August 2010 meeting to be held at the Holiday Inn, Historic District, 400 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa., (215-923-8660). Log onto www.ustream.tv and type mafmc in the search block to listen to the meeting.