Turn to trolling for the best offshore catches

By far my all-time favorite method of salt water fishing is inshore trolling. I suppose that became ingrained in me back in the late ‘70s and early ‘80swhen the inshore waters of south Jersey were teeming with huge bluefish. The days of a summer-long extravaganza of slammer blues passed a couple of decades ago but that does not mean inshore trolling is dead.

Right now, anywhere from 5 to 20 miles off the beaches you will find an abundance of fish that are just made of that style of fishing. By dragging a Clark Spoon, large bucktail, cedar plug or any of a myriad of other small to medium sized lures you will be able to entice all sorts of critters.

Probably the most desired would be the mahi. These would be more the chicken size rather than the big bullheads of deeper water, but they are fast and can even give you a few jumps. Along with the colorful mahi you can anticipate hooking into Spanish mackerel, tailor-sized blues, cobia, football tuna and false albacore or little tunny as they are sometimes called. Little tunny have no food value to anyone I know. In fact, some people say even the family cat won’t eat it. But, what the tunny do deliver is a fight that makes you think you have a whale on the end of the line. They are big time battlers but they should be released once you get them to the boat.

Some of the more popular south Jersey spots for inshore trolling are the Avalon Shoals, Stone Beds, Atlantic City and Sea Isle Ridges, and the Hambone.

While we are out in those waters I suppose I should mention the partyboat fish- ing. The reefs, wrecks and snags that attract these big boats are producing some very nice catches of seabass, triggerfish and occasional porgies for their passengers.

There does not appear to be much action on summer flounder out on the reefs just yet. That might have something to do with the water temperature and the fact that there is plenty of bait in the back bays for them to eat. So, why use gas going to a reef when you can find loads of flat fish not far from your dock. Fishing on the Miss Ocean City partyboat, Mike Facciolo of Media was able to bring home a flounder that was just under 20 inches in length. On the same boat, Gordon and Ryan King of Allentown had some weakfish and kingfish.

Now, after we said there are loads of flounder in the back bays we have to also say that the vast majority of them are shorts and cannot be kept. One friend told me Tuesday evening that he had 30 of them that afternoon in one of the back bays but not a single one was a keeper. That I believe is a bit unusual and I have seen quite a few anglers cleaning some easily legal fish so you should be able to get enough for dinner.

All season long we have been talking about the abundance of kingfish and this week is no exception. Whether you are fishing a rock jetty, fishing pier or the surf, make sure you have a generous cooler by your side for the catch.

Out in the deep waters of the canyons the summer action continues to improve. Various tuna family members seemtomaking up the bulk of the catch, both on the chunk and on the troll. Billfish still seemto be a little slow.

Isuppose bynowyou have heard of that 926-pound mako shark caught last weekend out in the Hudson Canyon. I doubt the fish will be granted state record certification since the crew admitted several anglers were on the rod at various times. I wonder what I would do if I knew I had a fish like that on the line. Would I bring it in or release it?

On August 12 the Ocean City Fishing Clubwill stage its annual Boys and Girls Surf Fishing Tournament on the beach at the north end of Ocean City. The contest is for kids from 8 to 16 and the boy and girl winners each will receive a brand new bicycle, along with trophies and other prizes.

ACROSS THE BAY » Anglers in Delaware also are having a pretty darn good summer of fishing. Taug, kingfish and flounder remain on the menu in the usual spots, such as the Lewes Canal and Indian River Inlet. The surf is the place to be if you are a fan of kingfish. Reef Sites 10 and 11 continue being big producers of flounder, seabass and triggerfish. The same inshore trolling action as New Jersey can be found off the Delaware coast.

For the big stuff head toward the Baltimore, Washington or Massey’s Canyons. Yellowfin and bluefin tuna are supplying the bulk of the activity with some big eye thrown in.

Another large vessel is about to be added to the Del-Jersey artificial reef about 25 miles off the Delaware coast. This latest addition will be the 320-foot ferry Twin Capes, which for years plowed the water between Lewes and Cape May as part of the Delaware River and Bat Authority’s ferry fleet. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control is purchasing the ferry, which had not been used for the past four years. It will be scuttled at the site once equipment is removed and the vessel is cleaned of possible pollutants. This is the same reef on which the fabled Coast Guard cutter Tamaroa was sunk earlier this summer.