<b>Port Elizabeth</b>

A few striped bass were boated on the bay, and larger  ones that seemed to be migrators seemed to appear at times along the ocean front, said Sharon from <b>The Girls Place Bait & Tackle</b>. Any stripers from the bay so far might’ve been younger, non-migrating fish. But a 44-incher was reported caught on one of the Fortescue party boats last week. Winds were terrible through the weekend, keeping news to a minimum. Kingfish had been abundant everywhere from the ocean surf to the bay at least until the weekend. Whether that changed after the weather was yet to be known. One customer hauled an 11-pound sheepshead from the bay. So a variety of fish was around, and blues also swam the bay. Crabs were still plucked from the back waters. Fresh clams and green crabs had been tough to find, but both will arrive at the shop Wednesday. She crabs are carried, and can work in place of green crabs. Shedder crabs are difficult to find, but plenty of frozen ones are on hand. Fresh bunker arrives nearly every day. 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>

Windy weather was rough Saturday, and wasn’t much better Sunday, and the party boat <b>Salt Talk</b> was kept in port, Capt. Howard said. He mostly waited for striped bass to migrate into the bay to fish for them anyway. A few small stripers, probably juvenile fish yet to migrate, were hooked on the bay. But Howard waited for the big, migrating ones. “Waiting for the onslaught,” he said.

<b>Cape May</b>

One of the boats from <b>Legal Limit Charters</b> was being moved to Cape May from Tuckerton on Monday for striped bass fishing for the season, Capt. T.J. said. The vessel fishes from Cape May for stripers every fall and spring, also targeting drum from the port in spring. Winds kept news from rolling in about catches in the past days. But previously stripers sometimes began to be bunker chunked on the bay from Cape May, T.J. said.

Reports did come in about striped bass boated on the bay at places like the Egg Island Point flats, Nick from <b>Hands Too Bait & Tackle</b> said in a phone call Thursday, before winds kept trips from fishing. The Cape May surf then sometimes held bluefish, and anglers then waited for the migration of stripers to local waters. Short stripers seemed to show up in the surf one day, and fishing there would be quiet another. But a few shorts were beached. Keepers more often came from the back bay like along the bridges. Mullet had schooled the surf, and anglers would see if they reappeared after the winds. The Cape May Inlet jetties were lousy with tog, and tog also chomped along the sod banks of the back bay.

Back to Top