<b>Staten Island</b>

Lots of striped bass were squashed on Raritan Bay on livelined bunker or chunks of fresh bunker, said Capt. Anthony from <b>Barbara Anne Fishing Charters</b>. On his other boat, sailing from Belmar, lots were jigged or live-bunkered on the ocean, and ling fishing just began to amp up on the vessel’s bottom-fishing trips on the ocean.

<b>Keyport</b>

Seven keeper striped bass to 18 pounds were sacked from Raritan Bay on clams Saturday with <b>Papa’s Angels Charters</b>, Capt. Joe said. The Robin and Kevin party, with Adam, Chris, Matt and Will, were the anglers. Robin and Kevin combined for four of the keepers, and Chris, 11 years old, claimed three. One keeper striper was tugged aboard a trip Friday on the bay on clam with the Frank Clark party. No bluefish were seen on the trips, but a friend ran into blues on the bay off Keansburg. Space is available on open-boat trips for stripers 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday to Friday.  Open trips are sailing daily 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., the After Work Special, with a minimum of four anglers, when no charter is booked.

 Filling the livewell with live bunker for bait was no problem on a charter Friday for striped bass on Raritan Bay with <b>Andrea’s Toy Charters</b>, the report on the boat’s Web site said. But the fishing was tough, and the trip searched far and wide. A striper and some blues were iced. On an open-boat trip Thursday, seven stripers to 15 pounds were landed on cast lures, and a couple were lost, and a couple of blues were swung aboard. The anglers at first livelined and chunked bunker for stripers, but that never turned on, and they switched to lures. Charters are fishing, and open-boat trips are running until about mid May. See  <a href="http://www.andreastoycharters.com/index.htm" target="_blank">Andrea’s Toy’s home page</a> for an open-trip write up.

<b>Atlantic Highlands</b>

After bouncing around to several areas through the morning on Sunday’s trip, the anglers had landed only a handful of keeper striped bass, Capt. Ron from the party boat <b>Fishermen</b> said in an e-mail. The boat was moved to somewhat deeper waters, and “we finally found some fish that wanted to bite,” he said. A good shot of bigger stripers, including several in the 20-pound range, were caught. The fish included the new leader in the boat’s season-long striper pool: Bill Fell’s 29-pounder. A couple of youngsters on the vessel bagged stripers in the 20s all by themselves. Tom Krako had the hot hand on the trip, landing four sizeable keepers. Some of the stripers on the trip were clammed, but the bigger stripers were taken on rubber shads and bunker. Krocodiles didn’t seem to work in the shallower waters. “Watched birds working on bait all morning, without doing much,” Ron said. Then the bigger fish were axed. Loads of bunker are migrating “up the beach,” Ron said, “with big fish behind them!” The Fishermen is fishing for striped bass 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.

Fluke fishing was off to a fair start, actually a better start than Capt. Tom from the party boat <b>Atlantic Star</b> had expected, he said, since the vessel began fluking when the summer flounder season opened Saturday. No real big fluke were bagged, but shorts and some keepers doled out pretty good action. The fish weren’t concentrated in one place either, but were spread out. The trips found the flatbacks at places including Bug Light and off the Navy Pier on Raritan Bay, but anglers caught fluke on the ocean, too. That meant the fish were migrating in, a good thing. Many anglers had been concerned how the fishing would shape up in the earlier opener than in recent years, and cold waters. Waters were indeed cold, and the fish were freezing to the touch. But they were here. The fluke were thick, too. Even the throwbacks like 17- or 17-1/2-inchers were surprisingly thick. So they had either been in the waters a while or had fed-up on the migration in. So the outlook appeared good, and Tom hopes the fishing keeps getting better.  The Atlantic Star is fishing for fluke on two trips daily 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., and spearing and squid are supplied for bait.

<b>Highlands</b>

Striped bass, very good catches, were burned on Raritan Bay the last days on livelined bunker and chunked bunker with <b>Fisher Price Charters</b>, Capt. Derek said. Saturday afternoon was the only time the fishing was tough. But trips otherwise limited out on stripers to 20 and 22 pounds, and stripers to 36 pounds were cracked on a trip Friday. Only a couple of bluefish showed up here and there on trips, depending on location. Some dates remain for striper charters, and Fisher Price is trying to sail every day, as long as the fish remain. A big body of stripers is making its way up the coast in the ocean on the migration. The next open-boat trips for stripers will probably fish Thursday, Friday and Sunday, depending on weather. Call to jump aboard the open trips or to be kept informed about future ones. 

<b>Neptune</b>

Fishing for striped bass was slow on a couple of trips Saturday with <b>Last Lady Fishing Charters</b>, Capt. Ralph said in an e-mail. On the Last Lady, his smaller boat, five keepers, including three in the 40-inch range, were trolled, and on the Last Lady II, his bigger boat, only one striper was managed for 15 anglers. The group was offered a chance to go bottom fishing, but decided to stick with striper fishing. Ralph talked to boaters who clammed for stripers that day, but they scored slow catches. Stripers never showed up that could be jigged, like through the previous week. But striper fishing just started this season, and better days will happen. Two individual-reservation cod trips will sail this month: one to the mid-range wrecks, leaving at 4 a.m. this Sunday, and another to the offshore wrecks, leaving at 3 a.m. Sunday, May 29. Individual-rez striper trips are on the books for the Wednesdays of May 18 and 25, clamming, jigging or trolling, whatever it takes. Another one of the trips for sea bass is slated to fish the mid-range wrecks, “for the big ones,” Ralph said, on Sunday, June 5. Individual-reservation fluke and sea bass trips will begin to fish every Wednesday starting June 15, and kids under 12 will be free, limited to two of the youngsters per adult host.

<b>Belmar</b>

<b>***Update, Tuesday, 5/10:***</b> From an edited e-mail from Capt. Kris from <b>Fish Stix Sportfishing</b>: “Saturday we had four for an open-boat trip (for striped bass). We had a tough day.  Jigged for a bit, but no fish. Trolled for about 6 hours, and managed to grab one bass. Sunday we had four for an open-boat trip. We started off the day searching for the bass, but there was nothing. We set anchor for ling, and kept about 15 or so. The bass bite turned on around noon, and we ended up with four nice fish jigging and livelining. Monday we did a crew trip with my mate Darren and buddy Jesse. As usual, it ended up a normal weekday bass trip. No boat traffic and <i>tons</i> of bunker bass! We went 12 for about 30. Got our limit to 33 lbs livelining bunker. On the way in, got some 30 lb+ fish on pencil poppers! The fish are aggressive and hungry. The bunker bass are here! We still have dates available. See you soon.”

Lots of striped bass, good catches, were crunched on the ocean, sometimes on jigs, other times on livelined bunker, said Capt. Anthony from <b>Barbara Anne Fishing Charters</b>. On the boat’s bottom-fishing trips, ling catches just started to pick up on the ocean. On Anthony’s other boat, sailing from Staten Island, lots of stripers were racked up from Raritan Bay on live or chunked bunker.

A trip on the ocean Friday jigged striped bass – a very good catch, all the anglers limiting out, bonus-tag bass beaten to boot, and additional keepers released – on the <b>Nan Sea J</b>, Capt. Tom said.  One bluefish, a 10-pounder, the first blue of the year on the vessel, was caught. A trip Saturday morning returned to the same area, and striper fishing was dead, the life just wasn’t there, and only a couple of stripers were landed. There was no apparent reason, and water temps were exactly the same, a chilly 46.5 degrees. But striper fishing turned back on during a trip Saturday afternoon off Shark River Inlet. Bunker were livelined for bait, and quite a bit of action was pounced, and the stripers were bigger this time, probably 20 to 25 pounds, not huge yet this season, but larger. Eleven stripers were landed, and the anglers probably scored 30 bites, and the waters off the inlet were 52 degrees. So Tom was pretty excited about the season’s start to livelined-bunker fishing. No blues showed up on the trips Saturday, but one fluke was jigged. Tom was asked whether he heard about fluke fishing on Shark River on this opening weekend of fluke season, and he heard about some caught, he said. Another charter was supposed to fish today.

Limits of striped bass, excellent catches, “were the name of the game” Thursday and Friday on the ocean on the party boat <b>Golden Eagle</b>, the report on the boat’s Web site said. “Then came Saturday,” it said. The fishing was difficult at best on the trip that day, despite loads of bait schooling the waters. Water temps dropped a few degrees, maybe “a partial cause,” the report said. A handful of keepers were bagged during the daytime trip that day, and a few were coolered on the twilight trip that day. The fishing improved on Sunday’s trip, and stripers started to be boated again, and blues were mixed in. Large schools of bait in the waters should keep drawing the fish back in, improving the fishing, the report said. Too few anglers showed up for today’s trip to sail. Check out a  <a href=" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klz_eD0Ulg" target="_blank"> a video of the fishing</a>, apparently from Sunday.  The Golden Eagles is fishing for striped bass 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily and 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays through Sundays, “until we start our night blues schedule,” a report said last week.

<b>Brielle</b>

Anglers on the <b>Big Kid</b> limited out on striped bass to 30 pounds by 10:30 a.m. on a trip Friday, Capt. Ken said. The fish were trolled on shads and Tony Maja bunker spoons, and the Maja’s mugged the bigger bass. Charters are available for stripers, including from 5 to 9 p.m., bottom fishing for ling and cod, and fluke. All available fish in season are on tap. Heads up: The Sunday of June 26 is available for charter to compete in Mako Mania and the Jersey Coast Shark Anglers tournament, running at the same time.

Fluke fishing was sort of slow on the ocean since the season for them opened Saturday, but the summer flounder were netted on Manasquan and Shark rivers, said Dave from <b>The Reel Seat</b>. The Manasquan was loaded with 2- to 3-pound blues. Boaters pelted good fishing for striped bass on the ocean until Saturday, when water temps dropped. But pods of bunker were around, and better striper fishing was probably a matter of water temps rising again, and that should happen with forecasts for northeast winds at the moment. Most of the stripers were found to the north, but catches were heard about to the south at Seaside on Friday. The fish were jigged and trolled there, and not many blues were heard about from the ocean, maybe because of cool waters. Not much was heard about surf fishing locally, but reports rolled in about stripers beached from the wash farther north from Deal on up and farther south at Seaside to Ortley Beach and Lavallette. Clams caught them, and sometimes bunker did, and plugs began to pick up a few. Blues supposedly hit the surf at Seaside Friday, storming in with bunker and stripers. The shop carries tons of fluke jigs, bucktails and rigs, and surf tackle. Blue Frog and Wahoo bucktails newly arrived at the store this season. Some new tackle is arriving. Check all of this out and also the shop’s 30-percent sale on Old Man’s Tackle Box bucktails and butterfly jigs, while supplies last.

With <b>Fish Monger Charters</b> a six-angler trip Friday boxed up a bunch of ling and landed more than 20 striped bass on the ocean, keeping the vessel’s limit of stripers, releasing lots more, Capt. Jerry said in an e-mail. The trip first fished for ling, and the fish, including good-sized ones, were pulled in as soon as the boat was set up on the grounds. When the bites backed off, the trip just moved a little, and the catches were back on. The angling slowed when the tide changed, but ling were still picked, and another flurry kicked in at the end, and the anglers put together a healthy cooler. A couple of cod and assorted eels were in the mix. Then the anglers decided to move inshore and try for stripers on the way home. Birds working the waters were seen right away, and the fish were picked on every drift at first. “Then it broke loose,” Jerry said, and fish splashed, and birds worked, and multiple hook-ups were nailed. The anglers limited out and released a bunch more stripers. “Was a great day on the water – nice mixed bag,” Jerry said. On Saturday anglers aboard planned to scope out stripers on the way to the ling grounds, and not much striper life was seen, so they continued to the ling fishing. Ling, fat ones, began flying over the rails right away, and when the bites slowed, the trip wiggled a little to relocate, getting a fresh shot at them. A few more double headers came up than on the previous trip. Out-of-season blackfish were released, and the usual assortment of eels were pumped in. The trip slugged away at ling until the anglers had their fill by lunchtime. Other anglers who the crew spoke with who striper fished all said the fishing was slow that day, but the anglers with Monger decided to give striper fishing a try anyway. Not much was happening, and a few stripers were trolled among the fleet. Trolling with Monger got no takers, but a small patch of birds was found picking the waters, and one of the anglers aboard the Monger reeled in a 22-pound striper. Another was lost, and that was it. “Made the most of what the ocean had to offer, and had a real nice day,” Jerry said. “The guys were happy with big bags of tasty fillets.” On Sunday a trip looted a load of ling and limited out on striped bass on livelined bunker. “Bunker bass are here!” Jerry said in the subject line of the e-mail. The anglers on the trip planned to take advantage of the great ling fishing then move inshore to fish for stripers. Big ling bit at a steady pace, and when the bite would slack off, the boat would be moved a few feet, and the catches would become even better. A healthy cooler of ling was put together by 11:30 a.m., and the anglers decided to look for stripers. At first, bunker were found scattered, and were difficult to catch for bait. Boaters trolled stripers, and the anglers with Monger worked hard, managing to jig a couple of bass. Just as the trip was about to go home, Jerry saw a big school of bunker, and stripers crashing on them. The bunker were tough to snag for bait, but a bunch were landed and livelined, “and it was game on!” Jerry said. Every livelined bunker got bitten quickly, and stripers were blowing up on top, and at times a few bass fought for single bunker baits at once. The anglers nailed multiple hook ups at times, and the six of them limited out quickly on the 15- to 27-pound stripers, had lots of other run-offs, pulled a few hooks, and broke some off. The anglers left them biting when the bunker ran out. “Looks like it’s starting!” Jerry said. “One of those extra special days on the water.” A trip was supposed to be back at it this morning.

<b>Point Pleasant Beach</b>

Because striped bass fishing was slow on the ocean Saturday, the anglers on an open-boat trip Sunday were asked Saturday night if they’d rather fish for cod, the report on the <b>Reel Class Charters</b> Web site said. The three anglers decided to go for cod, bailing the fish on the ocean. Seventy-five cod, if not more, were landed, and about 40 were kept, until the 125-quart cooler was filled to the brim. All the cod kept were larger than 23 inches, and a 12-pounder was the biggest. Six ling, mostly jumbos, six pout and a sea raven were also kept, and a 12-inch pollock was tossed back. Dog sharks showed up at one point, until the trip moved to escape them. Capt. Allen from Reel Class five years ago would’ve never imagined catching cod like this off New Jersey, he said in the report. “This was a day for the books,” he said, and the anglers could’ve kept catching them if they had stayed. “Let’s hope these codfish keep coming back!” he said. A charter sailed for stripers Saturday morning on the ocean, managing two caught -- a 31-incher and a 20-pounder -- missing a few others. The trip first jigged for stripers to the north at readings near Sandy Hook, grabbing the 31-incher, the angler’s first-ever, on a Krocodile. No more stripers were seen there afterward, and the trip ran back south, getting into the end of a troll bite, picking up the 20-pounder on the troll, missing the few others mentioned above. Then the anglers switched to jigging, then trolling, and so on, working back to port. Waters were 44 degrees at first during the trip, and were 50 degrees by the end. Charters and open-boat trips are fishing.

Striped bass fishing kicked off Friday for the season on the party boat <b>Gambler</b>, plowing a fantastic catch, as good as anyone could want, on the ocean, Capt. Bob said. Anglers were throwing back stripers, 20-pounders, by noontime. The trip fished far north, but the Gambler is a fast boat, sailing the distance fairly quick. Krocodiles caught most of the bass, and a couple of bluefish were reeled in. On Saturday’s trip the fishing turned off like flipping a switch. Dead. All boaters seemed to find the fishing slow that day, from what was heard on the radio. That just happens sometimes. The Gambler is fishing for striped bass 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, and a wreck-fishing trip will head out 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday for ling and cod. Two trips daily will begin to fish for fluke May 28, the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Nighttime bluefish trips will start to sail Fridays and Saturdays that weekend, and nighttime wreck-fishing trips will begin to run Sundays and Mondays the same weekend for ling and cod. <b>***Update, Tuesday, 5/10:***</b> Capt. Mike, Bob’s brother, ran the trips Monday and today, and striper fishing bounced back. The angling wasn’t as good as on Friday, and customers had to work a little harder, but the trips gave up good catches of sizeable stripers. Just nice fishing, Bob said. Six-ounce Krocodiles pounded most, but a few of the bass were clocked on bunker that was snagged for bait. Not many bluefish were around yet.

<b>Bricktown</b>

The three anglers aboard a trip with family for Mothers’ Day on Sunday limited out on striped bass in less than 2 hours on the ocean, said Capt. Rich from <b>Jersey Hooker Outfitters Bait & Tackle</b>, located in Bricktown, and <b>Jersey Hooker Charters</b>, sailing from Point Pleasant Beach. The fish were trolled, simply because that was easy. Striper fishing was generally stellar on the ocean, and bunker schooled, and the bass were beaten on bunker, jigs and on the troll, mostly at the Shrewsbury Rocks, and catches were heard about off the Essex and Sussex building in Spring Lake. Surf anglers beached stripers and blowfish, and Manasquan to Island Beach State Park was the stretch Rich heard about. James Barry, Bricktown, weighed in a 12-pound striper from the surf. No results came in about fluke fishing during this opening weekend of fluke season, and maybe waters were cold. Fluke should definitely swim the Manasquan River. Racer blues sped along the Manasquan near the Point Pleasant Canal. Blueclaw crabs began to be picked at places like Beaver Dam Creek, where big jimmies were socked.

<b>Seaside Heights</b>

“The big fish are here!” said Scott from <b>The Dock Outfitters</b> in the report on the shop’s Web site. He and two anglers fished at the Seaside Heights Casino Pier this morning, and Scott live-bunkered a 25-pound striper, and the two other anglers honked one apiece: a 35-pounder and a 23-pounder. Some cocktail blues were also caught at the pier. “This is the time of year to be up there fishing,” Scott said. “Get out past the breakers where the bunker and fish are.” An angler Saturday kayaked a 30.35-pound stripers at Ortley Beach on a Krocodile. Reports said bunker schooled all over at the Casino Pier Saturday, and anglers snagged them for bait. One angler reported beaching a 29-pound 42-inch striper, his biggest to date, from the surf at Island Beach State Park Friday night. Another and her sister on Friday clammed two keepers at the Casino Pier.

<b>Barnegat Light</b>

The first trip of the season steamed Saturday on the party boat <b>Miss Barnegat Light</b>, the report on the vessel’s Web site said. The anglers picked away at 2- to 4-pound bluefish in the morning on diamond jigs. Then the trip pushed farther offshore, and the patrons punched bigger blues, 6- to 10-pounders, on bait in a chum slick. Mark Winkle, White Plains, was high hook for the day, bagged 10 blues. The Miss Barnegat Light is bluefishing 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Sometimes striped bass can be in the mix this time of year. Both daily trips and nighttime trips for blues will begin later this month.

<b>Barnegat</b>

“Awesome striper fishing off Island Beach State Park this weekend,” Capt. Dave DeGennaro from the <b>Hi Flier</b> said in an e-mail. The fish, mostly 25- to 35-pounders, were trolled there on the ocean on Tony Maja bunker spoons, and green was the hot color. “We struck out on Saturday, running past the fish to get to greener pastures,” he said. But for Sunday’s trip, Dave heard about another boat scoring well Saturday, so he visited the captain at the captain’s marina. The captain turned Dave on to the spot for Sunday, and the trip on the Hi Flier headed right there, trolling two 30- and 32-pounders. “If it were my find, I would be more specific where, but not on borrowed info,” Dave said. Both anglers on the trip, John LaRue, Haven Beach, and Phil Falato, Seaside Park, caught their personal-biggest stripers. Also, 2- to 3-pound bluefish are swimming Barnegat Bay, and Dave’s trips are throwing popper lures to them on light tackle in the 3- to 9-foot flats. They savagely attack the surface lures, “making for a great visual,” Dave said. The Hi Flier is running either charter or open-boat this Saturday and Sunday from 5:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The trips will fish for the stripers and blues. Plus charters and open trips are stalking the blues 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Full-day charters are also available daily.

<b>Mystic Island</b>

Summer flounder fishing, on opening day of the fluke season Saturday, was fishing more than catching or keeping, said Scott from <b>Scott’s Bait & Tackle</b> in the report on the shop’s Web site. For boaters, winds against the tide made drifting difficult most of the morning, and three keepers was the high hook heard about for the day. Locations fished were expected:  all around the 139 marker, in the clam stakes on the Mystic Island side of the Fish Factory, and off the end of Radio Road, fishing in front of Great Bay Marina. “I could not put a finger on any hot rig, lure, Gulp or combo bait,” Scott said. Surf anglers weighed in a striped bass and a fluke from Graveling Point and Pebble Beach Saturday. An  angler later bought ice for a 36-inch striper and four blues he banked at Graveling on Saturday. That sounded like the place to be Saturday. Waters were cool, so the area should continue to dish up the fish. Early on Saturday, stripers and drum were latched into on boats, and Scott’s best guess was that they were caught either at Grassy Channel or the Brigantine area. Fluke fishing turned up similar results on Sunday, occasionally producing the fish. Reports sounded like most of the catches came from the clam stakes mentioned above. Somebody boated drum from Grassy, the report said Sunday. “Word was that they weren’t big ones, and you had to sneak them out from in between the sharks and skates,” Scott said.

<b>Brigantine</b>

After surf fishing broke wide open Wednesday, shoveling up lots of striped bass, including sizeable ones, and some drum, covered in the last report, the catches continued Thursday and Friday, the report on <b>Riptide Bait & Tackle</b>’s Web site said. Three anglers who fished Brigantine’s north end Thursday night said the bite was strong, and they each landed keeper stripers to 17 pounds, and nobody else was there. On Friday one couple of anglers whaled five keepers, keeping their limit of two apiece, releasing one. Also on Friday, another angler checked in a 14-pound striper, her first keeper from the surf, and another stopped by with an 11-pounder. Several stripers were reported beached Sunday morning. Surf fishing was slow today, and only four or five fish, including several drum, were weighed in. But the fish are still out there, the report said.

<b>Sea Isle City</b>

Dan White and friend Kevin jumped aboard Saturday, the opening day of summer flounder season, on a back-bay trip with Capt. Joe Hughes from <b>Jersey Cape Guide Service</b> and <b>Sea Isle Bait & Tackle</b>, Joe said. Trips during the weekend took advantage of the best time of year to mix it up with fishing for several species – flounder, blues and striped bass, a back-bay slam! it’s called – and so did this one. What’s more, Joe found that stripers were willing to punch surface-popper lures the first time this season, exciting news, but more on that in a moment. On the trip Saturday the anglers at first clammed a short striped bass. Then they kicked off flounder season, landing the flatties and blues. Flounder fishing during the weekend’s trips wasn’t as hot and heavy on the bay as expected, but the fish were caught. South Jersey’s shallow, warm back bays turn out some of the best floundering in the state in the beginning of the season. But the season for the fish opened early this year on May 7, compared with the opening on May 23 in recent years. Still, Joe pre-fished for flounder on a couple of trips before this year’s opener, and lots of the flatfish, and good-sized ones, were nabbed and released on the bay. Flounder fishing on last year’s opener was gangbusters, and the fishing was the best in years on the bay last year for Jersey Cape. So maybe the fish were yet to fully migrate to the bay this early in the season, or maybe the weekend’s flounder fishing was slower for a moment for whatever reasons. The flounder during the weekend were sluggish, and anglers had to pay attention to feel the bite and hook up. Nevertheless, the fish were caught, and the number just wasn’t what Joe expected. Blues in the bay were also less numerous than this time last year, and waters were colder this year, maybe the cause. But blues were in, and the stripers that slammed popper lures were great news, and a sign that waters were warm enough for stripers to be active enough to attack poppers. The stripers that were popped weren’t found everywhere, but instead in isolated pockets of warmer waters where Joe knows to find them. The bay, depending on where he fished, was 50 to 63 degrees, a big difference. Flounder also seemed to bite best away from the inlets or away from the colder waters of the ocean. But here’s the news about the stripers. Jodie Clarkson joined a trip on the bay Sunday, angling flounder and blues, and two short stripers on Skitter Pop popper lures, missing a couple of other stripers on poppers, and leaving the bass biting. More probably would’ve been popped if the trip had stayed on the waters, but the outing had to return for Mothers’ Day. Jersey Cape specializes in popper fishing for stripers and blues on the bay for exciting, visual, top-water action. The conditions would’ve also been perfect for fly-rodding the bass on poppers. Joe’s anglers fly fish for them with a Crease fly he ties, a modified version that throws lots of waters. The bass could’ve also been caught on Clouser Minnow flies, because the fish fed on spearing. Joe also took a fun trip with his dad a short time, a couple of hours, Saturday afternoon, that landed flounder, including a few keepers, and blues. The trips fished for flounder with a white Gulp mullet on a bucktail with a plain minnow on a trailer tied above, and the fish hit both. Some of the flounder also jumped on a Gulp shrimp a jig that Joe’s anglers usually fish for the blues, bouncing the jig slowly along the bottom in cold waters this time of year. Flounder fishing seemed likely to amp up shortly, and this was one of the greatest times of year to fish the bay, a chance to score a back-bay slam: flounder, blues and stripers, in one trip. Trips available included after-work specials 4:30 p.m. to dark, and tides this week are perfect for popper fishing for stripers then.  Looking ahead, Jersey Cape will offer annual trips for drum on Delaware Bay in the coming weeks, when the boomer fishing should take off. Keep up on Joe’s fishing on <a href="http://captainjoehughes.blogspot.com/
" target="_blank">Jersey Cape’s blog</a>. 

<b>Villas</b>

Drum fishing, a fair bite, turned on toward Delaware’s Slaughter Beach on Delaware Bay, the report on <b>Budd’s Bait & Tackle</b>’s Web site said. The fish were marked on the Jersey side, but catches were slow there so far. The fish are often marked before they begin to bite each year, because they seem to gather to spawn and begin biting after they spawn. Nothing was mentioned in the report about the Ho-D-Doe, the boat from <b>Budd’s Tackle Charter Services</b>, sailing from Cape May. But the vessel is fishing for drum and stripers. At the shop weigh-ins included Jeffrey Stanton’s 22.4-pound striper, Destiny Williams’ 12.8-pound drum and 10-pound striper and Russell Hinnershitz’s 9.1-pound striper. No location was given for the catches, but they seemed to come from the surf. The shop this season’s been reporting plenty of stripers and sometimes drum weighed in that were banked from the surf from the ocean at Cape May to the shoreline of Delaware Bay in Villas.

<b>Cape May</b>

Trolling for striped bass began decent on the ocean this morning on a trip, until winds began, so the trip escaped back to port, said Capt. Dave Bart from <b>Relentless Sport Fishing</b>. One 48-inch striper was bagged, and one runoff was scored, and a couple of knockdowns were popped. The fish were found 2 miles from the coast in 50 feet, and reports had started to be heard about stripers caught there during the weekend. News also began during the weekend about stripers chunked on Delaware Bay. A trip this week might fish for drum on the bay, after news about drum catches started to pick up in the last days.

Drum trips were launched for the season on Delaware Bay Saturday and Sunday nights with <b>O-Beth Sportfishing Charters</b>, and a couple of drum to 30 pounds, averaging 20 to 30, were heaved aboard both trips, Capt. Eric said. The run was just starting, and should only get better and better. Summer flounder season opened Saturday, and trips can also fish for them. Flounder trips often sail in the mornings, while drum trips run in the afternoons to nights. Thought yet about big game this year? Anglers should, because shark fishing will begin later this month. O-Beth, who specializes in sharks, usually begins sharking on Memorial Day weekend, and now is the time to reserve dates.

Trips stayed docked in the past days, including because of weather, with <b>Legal Limit Charters</b>, but the boat will begin sailing for drum Thursday on Delaware Bay, Capt. T.J. said. He heard about a few reeled in through Sunday, when he gave this report over the phone. From Tuckerton, where his other boat sails, he heard about a few summer flounder, mostly shorts, plucked since flounder season opened Saturday.

No trips sailed with Capt. George from the <b>Heavy Hitter</b> in the last days, but a friend borrowed the boat, running a trip that came up with 11 drum from Delaware Bay Friday night, George said. George heard about drum boated from the bay Friday and Saturday nights, and talked with a friend on a trip at 6 p.m. Sunday that had already hauled in three or four from the bay. Some drum began to be caught, and the fish weren’t yet big, were 15 or 20 pounds to 45 pounds. A few striped bass were lifted from the bay, and anglers had to be at the right place at the right time, and they might bag one or two. A friend fished for stripers, turning up a half-dozen stripers in shallower waters off the southern bay. George heard nothing about summer flounder caught since flounder season opened Saturday. Dates are available for charters, mostly during weekdays, and call if interested. Sunday, June 5, is available.

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