Flounder still populating back bays at Jersey Shore

I doubt many people would have predicted the great run of back bay summer flounder the south Jersey shore is experiencing at this time of the summer. In a normal year by now the big ones would have packed-up and moved out into the deeper ocean waters. Now, many of them have, but there remains a cadre of doormats still residing in the back, especially in the deeper channels and holes. A number of 5-pound and greater fish were weighed-in in recent days.

With such good activity in the back I think many anglers have decided postpone those trips to the artificial reefs. If you do decide to head outside, the Cape May Reef seems to be garnering the most attention in recent days.

There is a real mixed bag of fish in the inlets. Triggerfish movedin in pretty good numbers and they are being joined by sheepshead and scads of black sea bass. Early morning and evening anglers have been having some success with weakfish, stripers and small sharks. Most of the stripers have been short but they still provide some fun action, especially when you are casting some sort of top water plug. Also expect to find the usual summer fare of skates and sea robins.

That hurricane that blew off our coast departed the area fast enough to allow some offshore boats to visit the canyons. Once they got there they found there was no obvious impact on the quality of the fishing, especially for tuna and mahi. The Spencer, Poorman’s and Wilmington Canyons all produced fish. The tuna seemed to be mainly yellowfin.

In places like the 28 Mile Wreck you can perhaps find some bluefish and king macks. That also is a good place to put out a chum slick for sharks. Some false albacore also are turning up. I don’t know of anybody who eats those things but I suppose there are ways where you can mitigate their very strong taste. But, what I do know is they are terrific battlers, especially on appropriately sized tackle. What they lack in physical size they make up in sheer strength.

In Florida there is a proposal to ban shark fishing from the beach. Of course, bathers are no fans of people fishing for sharks around them but perhaps a more important reason for the potential law is that some endangered species are being harmed when they are dragged onto the beach to be unhooked.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery to our long time friend, Captain Norm Hafsrud. Over the past winter Norm had some back surgery and the recovery has been slow. Norm is a retired Boyertown High School teacher and coach and has been a mainstay with his charterboat The Viking for years.

ACROSS THE BAY

Canyon fishing really took off last weekend. A tournament out of Ocean City, MD produced some impressive yellowfins and mahi. The largest tuna weighed-in at 73-pounds, but it was the mahi that really got everyone’s attention. The largest was a bull going 49.8-pounds. Another boat also caught an impressive one, but that weighed just 42-pounds and was relegated to second place.

Spot, mullet and grass shrimp have taken over Cape Henlopen State Park. Cast netters have been having a field day with the mullet and grass shrimp. Of course, just about anything that swims will eat a grass shrimp. All that bait naturally attracts predators and that includes striped bass. Most are short but there are some slot fish mixed in. Some stripers in the 20-to25 inch range are being caught in the Canal.

Along the beach there is a pretty good bite on croakers and kingfish and flounder. In the ocean, Reef Site 11 remains the place to go for the flatties and sea bass.