<b>Port Elizabeth</b>

Anglers talked about  cranking in striped bass all over the bay, maybe not in numbers like earlier, but the fish were there, said Sharon from <b>The Girls Place Bait & Tackle</b>. The netter who supplies the shop with bait heard that a healthy pull of keepers came from off Fortescue on Monday, and previously not much had been heard from that area. A friend picked up a couple of 45-inch stripers at the E.P. Tower. A few days previously the friend grabbed a couple of sizeable ones a couple of miles south of the E.P. One customer was catching bass every day at the 35 buoy on the Delaware side. Many of the bay’s stripers seemed not to bite large bunker baits. Anglers could hook up better with smaller chunks. Being mindful to feel the bites and being careful about when to set the hook seemed important. Many anglers seemed to pull the baits out of the fishes’ mouths without hooking the catches. Stripers still migrated down the coast from the north, and anglers hoped they swam up the bay. Nothing was heard about bluefish in the bay, and big blues usually enter the bay sometime after stripers do. The blackfish bag limit increased to six today from the previous limit of one. The tog hover around structure like rocks, and many of the bay’s lighthouses sit in a bed of rocks, sometimes attracting blackfish. The bay’s reefs can also hold blackfish, and the jetties along the bay and ocean can attract them. Green crabs, a favorite blackfish bait, are stocked. Clams can also draw tog to bite. Fresh clams in the shell are supposed to arrive at the shop Thursday, and no clams in the shell were available this weekend, because winds the previous days kept clam boats from sailing. Fresh, shucked clams were stocked during the weekend, though. Winds in the next couple of days might also keep the clam boats docked. Fresh bunker, the favorite striper bait on the bay in fall, were scarce all season. Fresh bunker was currently stocked, and the shop’s staff were doing their best to keep the bait on hand, traveling far to obtain the baitfish. But anglers should call to reserve fresh bunker. Sometimes the amount of bunker able to be obtained was impossible for the shop to know beforehand. 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>

On the <b>Buccaneer</b> three keeper striped bass were wrestled aboard Friday, and none was on Saturday, and one was on Sunday, Capt. Ralph said. The fish were up to 32 or 34 inches, and some bigger ones were caught by other anglers. Trips fished at the slough near 14-Foot Light in deeper waters toward the southern bay with bunker. Ralph figured the fish were also taken at Blake’s Channel and all around the bay. Not a ton of stripers were around, but some were.

Striped bass catches were alright, and some bigger stripers started to be decked, on the party boat <b>Bonanza</b>, Capt. Mike said. The angling was terrible on a trip Saturday, but was okay before and after. Brian Parker from Franklinville’s charter on Sunday reeled in a 44-incher, a 42-1/2-incher, a 29-incher and a bunch of shorts. On the slow trip Saturday, the boat was sailed as far as 18 ½ miles to the south, but the trip couldn’t buy a bass. The better trip Sunday just fished a different area. Weather was rough sometimes, but was beautiful Sunday. The stripers are being bunker chunked, and many of the bigger ones engulfed a whole bunker head, almost half of the baitfish. Deeper waters seemed most productive, so anglers had to deal with depths and currents, had to be patient. Waters temps were dropping and were probably in the mid to upper 50s. None of the big bluefish appeared so far that sometimes arrive this time of year. That could mean fishing is running late. Open-boat trips are fishing  Fridays and Mondays, and Saturdays and Sundays are usually booked with charters. Anglers can call Mike at 609-381-2978 if interested in fishing on an open basis on weekends, because sometimes a charter will want to fill a few spots, or sometimes a charter will cancel. Then the vessel will run open. 

A few keeper striped bass were angled aboard the party boat <b>Salt Talk</b>, Capt. Howard said. Four were bagged Thursday on a trip that fished east of the 19 buoy. All throwbacks were landed on a trip Sunday that fished at the 6 buoy, the wreck buoy and the 32 buoy. Other trips also sailed through the week, and all the fish, stripers to 38 inches, were bunker chunked. The anglers sometimes tried eeling, but only chunks worked so far. Howard likes fishing with eels when the bait works, and trips liveline them at places like the bumpy bottom at the rips near Fortescue. Anglers talked about the big blues that sometimes arrive this time of year, and nobody found the slammers yet. The bay was 50.4 degrees to 52 degrees on trips. Charters and open-boat trips are fishing for stripers. The open trips usually sail on days when all the anglers interested in open fishing can be grouped together. So telephone if interested.

<b>Port Norris</b>

Anglers from <b>Port Norris Marina</b> docked striped bass, including good-sized fish, throughout the past week, Jill said. Some came up short, returned with none, and sometimes a day was slow. But the fish were out there, getting nailed at waters including ½ mile south of both the number 1 buoy and the E.P. Tower. June Pacitto checked in a 40-incher and a 37-incher Saturday. On the 60-foot charter boat <b>Bodacious</b>, sailing from the marina, 11 keepers were tugged aboard Saturday. Charters are hunting the linesiders on the vessel, and so are open-boat trips 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Tuesday. Anglers should call ahead to reserve open trips, making sure space is available. Fresh bunker was stocked but was difficult to obtain this season, and call to reserve ahead to ensure a supply.

<b>Bivalve</b>

Pat from <b>Longreach Marina</b> reported plenty of sizeable striped bass that boaters from the docks landed. The anglers and catches included: John Dale, 42-inch striper; Mike and Val Bashenko and Pete Bashaniak, Estell Manor,  44-, 43- and 29-inch stripers; Scott Lowley and Gary Wilson, Franklinville, 32- and 31-pound stripers; Greg Blackman, Malaga, 47-inch striper; Charles Huber, Berlin, 40-1/2-inch striper; Jack Massey, Philadelphia, 43-inch and two 30-inch stripers; Mike and Gary Colon, 37-1/2- and 28-1/2-inch stripers; Lucky Murray and crew, Millville, six stripers 32 to 36 inches; Bill Ehrler, Franklinville, 40-inch striper; Mike Pugsley Sr. and Jr., Millville, 38- and 30-inch stripers; Anna Hines, 10, and Michelle Hines, Fairton, 42- and 37-inch stripers, respectively. Fresh bunker was scarce, and many of the above stripers were boated on frozen bunker. But fresh bunker was stocked Sunday night for the following day or two. Longreach Marina’s Striper Tournament is under way until November 20, and a 41-pounder was currently in the lead. The entry fee is $40 per boat.

<b>Villas</b>

Striped bass were boated on the bay and at the Cape May Rips, said Capt. Ben from <b>Budd’s Bait & Tackle</b>, located in the Villas, and the Ho-D-Doe, the charter boat from <b>Budd’s Tackle Charter Services</b>, sailing from Cape May. The rips seemed on fire with the catches Thursday, and the angling dropped off Friday and wasn’t good Saturday. But a few stripers were boxed. A thousand boats seemed to fill the bay during the weekend, and anglers on some seemed to score well, and on others seemed to scrounge for one striper. On the Ho-D-Doe’s striper trips sometimes the crew were “heroes,” Ben said, and on other days the fishing was slower, but the trips fared pretty well on the whole. Surf anglers beached stripers in the Cape May Point area on fresh bunker or fresh clams. The only blues that were heard about were all the 12- or 15-pounders anyone could want that schooled 5-Fathom Bank in the ocean. If anglers wanted blues, the gators could be trolled there. Nobody talked about blackfish so far, but the bag limit increased today. Fresh bunker is stocked when available, and is usually on hand, but definitely call to reserve. Fresh clams are usually always carried.

<b>Cape May</b>

On the <b>Heavy Hitter</b> anglers boated striped bass on three trips Friday through Sunday, Capt. George said. On Friday’s trip John Barr’s group waffled a 44-inch 30-some-pound striper at the Cape May Rips on an eel. On Saturday’s trip George Crowsley’s gang nailed stripers to 35 or 36 inches on eels at the rips and while trolling during slack tide. On Sunday Harry and Brian from the Insulators’ Union’s trip drilled stripers to 35 or 36 inches while eeling at the rips and trolling during slack tide. Seas were terrible through the end of the week, but the fish were there. Winds screamed for days but dropped to 5 to 10 knots by Sunday.

Three trips Friday through Sunday each hauled in striped bass including 15- to 20 –pounders, and a 28-pounder was the biggest, said Capt. Eric from <b>O-Beth Sportfishing Charters</b>. The fish were bunker chunked on the bay. Friday’s trip axed six stripers, and Saturday’s trip probably totaled eight, and Sunday’s trip clocked six. Stripers are hitting! Eric said. Seas were somewhat rough in the mornings on the bay, but flattened out compared with previously. The weather was beautiful during the weekend.

Five anglers on a trip Sunday walloped five stripers to 33 inches at the Cape May Rips with <b>Fish Tale Charters</b>, Capt. Craig said. So that was a good catch, and the fish were boated from 7 to 8:30 a.m. on outgoing tide. Four pounced on livelined spots, and one jumped on a bucktail. Several other stripers grabbed baits but got off. The trip arrived at the grounds at 7 a.m., made a couple of passes at one location, and nothing bit. The vessel was moved to another rip with shaken up waters that the fish like, and that’s where the bass were caught, as the boat made a number of passes through the place. This was the first striper trip for several of the anglers. Craig hooked the bass that hit the bucktail, passing it off to an 11-year-old on his first-ever striper trip. Fish Tale is fishing for stripers at the Cape May Rips, and eels and bucktails are provided, and anglers provide their own spots if they’d like, and Craig can pick up the baitfish. Having the smorgasbord of eels, bucktails and spots isn’t a bad idea, and when anglers opt to fish with spots, they usually use them first on a trip. That’s probably why most of the bass on the trip were landed on spots. Some of the fish attacked eels but weren’t landed, and by the time the anglers used more eels, outgoing tide had changed, and the fish seemed to prefer feeding on outgoing that day. Craig heard nothing about stripers in the ocean, but few boaters reached the ocean in the tall seas lately. Seas by this trip on Sunday were fine, though seas remained sporty through Saturday. Sometimes Fish Tale will fish for stripers on the ocean, when that’s the better option, jigging for the fish there.

Not a ton of striped bass swam the Cape May Rips, but the waters gave up a fairly good bite, and anglers had to work for the catches, said Capt. T.J. from <b>Legal Limit Charters</b>. The linesiders to 40 inches were hauled aboard the boat. Striper angling was so-so on Delaware Bay, sometimes turning out the fish, other times not. T.J.’s other boat is fishing for stripers from Tuckerton and would begin blackfishing from there once the blackfish bag limit was raised to six today from the previous limit of one.

All charters racked up striped bass this past week on the <b>Down Deep</b>, and on a couple of days the fishing was good, and on a couple was slow, Capt. Bob said. He heard about stripers caught in the ocean under working birds farther north at places including Brigantine, and those fish should migrate south to the local area, and striper fishing should just get better. The trips on the boat fished at the Cape May Rips with eels and spots, and the baits worked equally well, and they also fished on Delaware Bay with bunker chunks. The fishing at the rips seemed to be picking up somewhat. On the bay Sunday an angler on a friend’s boat chunked a 53-pound striper. The bunker supply was scarce, and single baits cost $3 apiece.

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