<b>Brooklawn</b>

Striped bass could be angled from the Delaware River, said Rick from <b>Big Timber Bait & Tackle</b>. But most of the bass were now 20- to 28-inchers or juvenile, resident fish, no longer the big, breeding migrators that spawned in the river then left. Bloodworms, Hopkins lures and live herring could fool large quantities of the fish, some days putting up 70 for a few anglers. Hot locales included the mouths of Newton Creek and Big Timber Creek and the National Park area. Big Timber carries bait and tackle for all fishing from freshwater to offshore. That includes a complete supply of lures and baits for rivers and lakes; rigs, tackle and frozen bait for bays; and offshore lures, rigs and baits.

<b>Pennsville</b>

A few striped bass were bagged all over the bay, said Jody from <b>Shag’s Bait & Tackle</b>. Fresh bunker was the popular bait, but bloodworms and clams also worked. A few flounder were coolered on the bay during the opening weekend of the fluke season. Fresh bunker is stocked when available, and bloodworms are on hand. Fresh clams can be ordered, and frozen baits are carried.

<b>Port Elizabeth</b>

Pretty good catches of flounder seemed to be pulled up from the deep waters at the Ditch off Fortescue, said Sharon from <b>The Girls Place Bait & Tackle</b>. One of the party boats reportedly grabbed something like 35 flounder on a trip. Striped bass were boated off Reeds Beach and Pierce’s Point on bunker and clams, and Sharon heard about up to 48-pounders knocked down. Plenty of drum were hefted in anywhere from Tussy’s Slough to the Pin Top. A few bluefish might’ve been around, and the netter found a handful in the catch, though blues were unusually scarce in the area lately, even though more of them swam up north. A cold ocean and erratic weather this spring probably delayed their arrival. The netter also picked a few weakfish, not many. All the baits including fresh clams and fresh bunker were in decent supply, carried at the shop when the boats could get out and gather them up.  The shop also carries a large supply of flounder baits including minnows, all kinds of squid, salted and frozen herring strips, Gulps and more, just about anything anglers would want.  The Girls Place is located on Route 47 just after Route 55 ends, and it’s the long, one-story, yellow building on the right. There’s a large parking lot with plenty of room for trailered boats.

<b>Fortescue</b>

Flounder anglers cleaned up on catches during the opening weekend of the flattie season, said Dave from <b>Al’s Bait & Tackle</b>. A buddy reeled up 12 keepers on Saturday, keeping no more than his limit. The bigger doormats seemed to swim deeper waters along the edge of the shipping channel. Anglers fishing shallower at the stakes seemed to catch smaller flounder and more shorts. The deep probably gave up bigger ones but fewer, and the shallows probably turned up more flounder but fewer keepers, like two or three per trip. Dave heard that one party boat docked with 45 keepers on Saturday. Anglers seemed to hook flounder on all the different baits including minnows, spearing, sand eels, mackerel, mullet and herring. What’s more, drum fishing was off the hook. Dave took a trip that bagged seven drum and lost seven on Friday night. Many boaters hooked the boomers south of the 16 buoy. Reports were heard about a couple of striped bass boated on the Delaware side of the bay, but the few customers who tried for them scored no luck. Bluefish 1 to 2 pounds started appearing in the bay. Nobody mentioned weakfish. White perch began to be picked up from Fortescue Creek on bloodworms. Fresh clams, fresh bunker, minnows, live shedder crabs and frozen spearing, sand eels, mackerel, herring, chicken and just about all baits are stocked. Last chance: Catch the big sale through the month, featuring a wall of goodies up to 75 percent off, including rigs, leadheads and more.

Six or seven drum were boxed, and another was being fought, when Capt. Mike from the <b>Bonanza</b> gave this report from the waters on Steve House’s charter on Sunday. That was at 6:30 p.m., and the anglers were “doing quite right,” Mike said, and time remained on the trip. Forty to 45 keeper flounder were smoked on the year’s first daily, open-boat flounder trip Saturday, the opening day of flounder season. The fishing went well, and some decent-sized flatfish to 23 inches were clobbered. Sunday’s flounder trip nabbed fewer catches but some sizeable doormats, and south winds messed up the drift. So the angling sounded productive on both fronts: drum and flounder. Open-boat trips are sailing for drum 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. every Wednesday, and call Mike to reserve at 609-381-2978. Charters are also drum fishing, and the schedule is busy, and catches are peaking, and call quickly to book. Open-boat trips for flounder, no reservations required, are sailing 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

On the <b>Salt Talk</b> a drum charter clobbered six of the fish and another tackled four, and the catches included a couple of good-sized ones, Capt. Howard said. Another drum charter on Saturday was slow. John Cieslak on one of the trips hauled aboard his first-ever drum, an 80-pounder, a big one. No open-boat flounder trip sailed Saturday because of the charter, but the boat’s first open flounder trip of the year wrangled up a dozen keepers on Sunday, the second day of the flattie season. Joe Zajko limited out on flounder to 4.9 pounds. Fishing was looking up, Howard said. Drum charters are sailing, and call to reserve, and don’t delay, because the bite is now. Open-boat trips are fishing for flounder 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day so long as there’s demand and no charter is scheduled, so always call ahead to confirm.

<b>Bivalve</b>

The list of weigh-ins was long from the holiday weekend, said Pat from <b>Longreach Marina</b>, and the anglers checked in drum, striped bass, flounder and more. They included: Don, Ron and Todd Rosewall, 11 drum to 70 inches; Tom and Tommy Sacca and Darlene Harris, six drum to 60 pounds; Dave Parkhill from the Natalie Jean and crew Jimmy Gartman, Don Goodin, Joe SanFelice and Danny, four drum to 70 inches; Alfonso Rouse, David Frank and Tina Eichmeyer, four drum 31 pounds to 50.5 pounds; Tony Rizzo and Burt Morgan, three drum to 60 inches; Don Sauder, 61-pound drum; Gary Wilson, 47-inch drum; Tony Rizzo on another trip with John Swydsky, four stripers 43 pounds, 42 ¾ pounds, 28 ¾ pounds, 26 pounds and 24 pounds; Nick, Nicky, Sean and Jon Emigholz, five stripers 40 pounds, 36 ½ pounds, 36 pounds, 31 pounds and 28 ¼ pounds; Henry Barton, 43-inch striper; Jeanie Przelomiec, 41-inch striper; Mike Cassady, two nice stripers; John McCaffrey, Brad Sharr, Chris Parker and Eric Bouer, six flounder to 6 pounds 7 ounces; Nike Narcisso, two flounder on Saturday and two flounder 5 and 6 pounds from the 19 buoy on Sunday; Ross DelRossi, three flounder including two just over 18 inches and a 19-incher; Bob LaBree, 5-pound flounder and three blues; and Rich and Claire Andrus, three weakfish.

<b>Cape May</b>

Two trips for drum sailed with <b>O-Beth Sportfishing</b>, Capt. Eric said, and one pummeled 13 of the fish to 85 pounds, and the other waxed six of the boomers to 65 pounds. Drum swam here or there on the Jersey side of the bay, and anglers just had to find them. They bit lightly, and incoming tides gave up most of the catches on the trips.

Drum fishing started to take off around Wednesday, and a trip Thursday with <b>Legal Limit Charters</b> shellacked 26 of the fish to 75 pounds, keeping 12 and releasing the rest, Capt. T.J. said. That was the first catch of that magnitude at the marina this season, he said, and the trip limited out in 2 hours, keeping only large ones. About a half-dozen apiece were boated on trips Friday and Saturday, when mobs of boats filled the waters. Two drum were muscled aboard Sunday, and waters were less crowded, but probably 100 vessels fished the area on Saturday night when T.J. left for home from that trip.

Double-digits of drum were lambasted at the Pin Top with the Butler group Friday with <b>Schmedley Charters</b>, Capt. Joe said in an e-mail. The catch was great, and the charter had so much fun that they booked another one of the trips for June 7. Joe expects drum to be caught well into June.

Drumfish snapped pretty well, said Capt. Bob from the <b>Down Deep</b>. Trips for the fish included the Gohnringer charter and the Stargil crew, who both tackled drum to 60 pounds. The Venditto gang hauled in drum to Charlie O’Brien’s 70-pounder, and the Bill Berezbill trip dialed in on drum to 65 pounds. On the Scott charter, Melissa Scott, 15, put the skids on a 50-pounder, and the anglers fought all the drum they wanted. On Sunday brothers Evan Petragovits, 13, put a stop to a 64-pounder, and his brother Paul clubbed a 51-pounder.

A charter limited out on 18 drum to 75 pounds on Sunday on the <b>Heavy Hitter</b>, Capt. George said. He gave this report from the waters while the trip was almost back home at 9 p.m., a little earlier than the trips usually end, so apparently the anglers, the George Parker family, limited out somewhat early. Drum seemed to be biting pretty well lately. Three of the fish were hooked as soon as the boat arrived at the drum grounds, and double-headers were also scored during the outing. A trip Saturday with Kevin Driscoll’s party was tough. The clam baits from the supplier were rotten, and other captains who gave reports to this site also talked about boats receiving bad baits from a shop that day. Plus the anchor refused to hold, and the trip was out of the game. One drum, a 70-pounder, was landed. On Friday a group from the Piney Hollow Gun Club drilled 11 drum from 30 to 75 pounds, including a couple of big ones. Anthony Metea, George Harper, two other Georges, Tom DeGinney, Tony and Frank were the anglers. On Thursday John Anderson’s charter also pelted a good catch of drum to 70 pounds.

Drum trips that fished since Thursday pretty much all limited out with <b>Jaftica Sportfishing</b>, and the fishing really took off, Capt. Ray said. On Thursday night a charter waffled a 92-pounder, and 40 to 70 pounds was probably the average size on the trips. On Saturday night a charter limited out in 2 hours, with double and triple headers, great fishing. The drum swam in all different areas, and if boats found them, catches were good. The fishing was somewhat more difficult than last year, an exceptional year, when charters often limited out quickly. Private boaters this year might’ve had more difficulty at times, but charters this season usually scored well, even if it took more work than last year. Ray heard about decent flounder fishing for up to 22- or 23-inchers on the bay on some vessels.

Boaters angled in drum from the Pin Top and north of there in 33 feet just on the Jersey side of the shipping channel, said Matt from <b>Jim’s Bait & Tackle</b> in a fax. Good numbers of the fish also swam the Delaware side of the bay off Slaughter Beach at Broadkill Slough and up at the Piles. Mark McPherson after fishing on the Cape May Lady weighed in an 89-pounder that was “our biggest fish weighed in yet,” Matt said. It’s assumed he meant the biggest drum this season. Carmen Spiewak, 13, caught a 66-pounder. Striped bass started moving back down the bay, after spawning in the Delaware River. Anglers landed them at the cove north of Reeds Beach, the Fish Traps and the Erickson’s Stakes. They also hooked them at Blakes Channel and Reef Site 2. The crew from the Dreamer checked in two 33- and 31-pounders on Saturday. Capt. Lyle Rutty and crew weighed in a 32-pounder. Kevin Finnegan weighed in the first flounder of the year at the shop, a 6.13-pounder, on Saturday, the opening day of the fluke season. Reports came in about flounder, lots of shorts but some keepers, wrenched in from Delaware Bay at the 19 buoy. A few were taken from the back waters, but the fishing there was slow, probably because of boat traffic. Surf casters did a job on plenty of striped bass, and 2 to 3 hours before high tides was best on the ocean side of Cape May, and clam was the best bait. Frank Stepniak dragged in a 32-pound striper from the Cape May wash. Greg Beatty, 9, boated a 4.81-pound sea bass at a wreck on the Fiesta.

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