Favorable conditions finally move in along Jersey Shore

Well, this was the year with not much of a spring season. There really was not a lot to write about simply because the Jersey Shore experienced one ugly weekend after another.

I believe it was eight weekends-in-a-row that had rain. And, when it was not raining there were persistent high winds and even London-type fog that had visibility down to a tenth of a mile at times.

But, as that spring became a memory and summer started to unfold, the outlook now is much brighter. The sun has been shining, the wind has abated on most days and even on those days when Pennsylvania had temperatures in the 90’s the shore was in the 70’s. Hard to beat that.

June and early July are the traditional times for shark fishing off New Jersey and that tradition is being upheld. A number of makos have been landed, although most are small or mid-sized, not the terrifying huge ones. The duskies and browns are plentiful and there have been some nice thresher catches. A couple of those long-tailed sharks even have been caught in the surf.

On the relatively few days when the smaller boats could leave the dock their owners found some excellent summer flounder fishing in the back waters. The flatties continue to be in the back but as the water temp keeps rising they rapidly will start heading into the ocean to the various lump areas and artificial reefs.

I know some of you would rather catch kingfish than most anything else and there is some good news for you. The various inlet jetties have been consistent and so have the ocean-front piers.

The New Jersey black sea bass season closed this past Friday. Couple that with a closed blackfish season it means the offshore partyboats have to adjust accordingly. Some are spending their time on the reefs looking for flounder while others are heading into deeper water searching for things like tilefish. Before the seabass season shut down, Faith and Roberg (cq) Tomas (cq) of Allentown booked passage on the Wildwood headboat Royal Flush and they came home with some nice flounder and bass.

The big private and charter boats now are making the trip to the canyons. Right now it appears the Baltimore Canyon is the place to be. Yellowfin tuna have been making the bulk of the news. Some anglers, when they get tired of battling the tuna, switch over and bottom fish for tilefish.

I know many of you really love crabbing and this year has been booming. I have seen a number of boats coming to the dock with almost full bushel baskets. Just a reminder, when you catch a crab to not put it in a bucket of water, that will kill it. Just keep it in a dry bucket or basket and cover it with a damp towel.

I don’t know if it is a trend, but I have seen a couple of families on the flats clamming. Remember, you need a clamming license and when you get that you should also receive a map showing offlimit areas.

ACROSS THE BAY

The reports coming out of Delaware are excellent. But, first, the biggest news is that another large vessel has been added to the DelJersey reef site. That new addition probably is familiar to many of you. It is the Cape May-Lewes Ferry Lines vessel Twin Capes. It was sent to the bottom in about 100 feet of water, not far from the Navy ship Radford that was scuttled in that area a few years ago.

On the inside waters, anglers are reporting small stripers and keeper flounder in Canary Creek. The canals continue holding quite a few summer flounder and Indian River Inlet has been giving up some keeper stripers. The bluefish activity has slowed. Some black drum have been reported in the Fenwick surf.

The Delaware and Maryland big boats are loving the relatively short jaunt to the Baltimore Canyon where they have been enjoying the tuna and white marlin fishing. Those wanting something different have been running to the Poor Man’s Canyon where the mahi have been schooling.