Striper bass trending upward as water temperatures drop

This has not been much of a fall fishing season here at the shore, but perhaps that is about to change.

The air temperature has been quite a bit above average until this past Tuesday, when we awoke to more seasonable temps. That should signal the water temperature soon will start to drop, and the striper bass should start to turn on.

Don’t think there is nothing to catch, because there are good reports on taug, small bluefish and out-ofseason summer flounder and seabass. Anglers working the various rock jetties and bridges have been doing quite well on the taug, with even a sheepshead or triggerfish occasionally thrown in.

The big Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic has been going on for a couple of weeks; and after a very slow start, the catches are beginning to improve. Several nice stripers and blues have been entered so far.

The largest of the bass, as of the time this is being written, hit the scales in Surf City at close to 17-pounds. By the end of the event in December, that weight probably will be doubled or possibly even tripled, as the bigger fish move in.

The largest blue so far is a quite impressive fish. It weighed just over 14-pounds and was caught in the Ship Bottom surf. Back in the 1970s, blues that size were everyday common.

Reports from the Atlantic City and Atlantic County Surf Tournament are not as encouraging; but as the fish continue moving south, action should prick up for those entered in that contest.

Probably because of the warm water, there is plenty of life in the back bays and rivers, although most of the action is on small fish. You can expect to find kingfish, spike weakies, mullet, way undersized stripers, occasional porgies and, oncein-a-while, a red drum.

A couple of boats have headed outside, and their catch seems to be mostly little tunny or false albacore. I have no reports of any big boats visiting the canyons, probably because of the persistent winds. I would expect there are tuna out there when the opportunity presents itself.

Not many people are enjoying it right now, but the crabbing remains excellent. ACROSS THE BAY » The reports I have been receiving from Delaware seem to be mimicking the activity in Jersey.

Surfcasters have been getting their fill on small bluefish, which are hitting on cut mullet. The Cape Henlopen State Park Pier has been producing quite a few summer flounder, although most are fairly small. While summer flounder season in New Jersey is over, you can still catch there in Delaware.

Anglers working the Inner and Outer Walls are taking home some nice catches of sheepshead and taug. Taug also are being caught along the rocks in Indian River Inlet.

Massey’s Ditch also is teeming with taug; but my advice is to hit the IRI inlet because those Massey’s fish, while abundant, are very small.

Finally, at Broadkill, you should be able to find some stripers ... nothing big, but there are some legal size fish mixed in.

Because mullet are so plentiful, you will have little trouble cast netting some for bait. The tackle shops also say they have loads of them on ice.

I am not a big fan myself personally, but many people also enjoy eating mullet as a meal.