<b>Port Elizabeth</b>

Waters toward the turn buoys, or the 2 and 3 buoys in the bay off the Maurice River, were giving up nice kingfish, and sometimes weakfish were biting there, said Sharon from <b>The Girls Place Bait & Tackle</b>. Anglers were still waiting for striped bass fishing to turn on.  But striper baits, including fresh bunker, eels and clams, and striper hooks, rigs and all supplies needed for striper fishing are fully stocked. 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>Dividing Creek</b>

Ann from <b>Wildlife Boat Rentals</b>, which is already closed for the season, heard no real news about crabbing in the past week, but she promised to give an update if she did. Still, she thought plenty of crabs should be on tap, because they were when the shop closed for the season last week. She’ll continue to give updates as long as she can this year. Wildlife reopens in May, when the blueclaws should be skittering around again after burrowing in the mud through winter.

<b>Bivalve</b>

Weakfish got reeled in near the 2 and 3 buoys, and kingfish came from the same place, and so did blues and sometimes croakers, said Pat at <b>Longreach Marina</b>. John and Kim Plummer bagged 12 weaks to 19 inches and two kings on one trip and 6 weaks and 6 kings on another. Gary Wilson, Gabe Carr and Marion Kennedy took 10 weaks, 3 kings, 4 blues and a couple of porgies. Eight-year-old Arnando Santiago pulled up a 20-inch, out-of-season flounder and was disappointed that he had to throw it back. Frank Kemmerer, Mort Burg and Charlie Steinhower totaled 8 weaks, 17 kings that were each about 2 pounds, 4 blues and 2 croakers. John Angerman and wife fought 15 blues and 3 croakers to the boat. Frozen shedder crabs are stocked, but live shedders are scarce, though occasionally the shop is able to stock two or three dozen live ones. Fresh bunker is on hand, especially for striped bass bait. Longreach’s Striped Bass Tournament takes place October 13 to November 15, and the entry fee is $30 per boat. The crew from the boat who checks in the heaviest striper wins 80 percent of the entry fees. The Atco Hookers Striper Tournament is slated for October 27 at the marina.

<b>Fortescue</b>

Two-pound blues and lots of kingfish were swimming off Fortescue, said Dave from <b>Al’s Bait & Tackle</b>. Quite a few spots were still hovering around the area, and Fortescue surf anglers sometimes beached weakfish. There was no size to the weaks, but even boaters were creeping up along the surf for a shot at the trout. Weakies were still biting near the 2 and 3 buoys toward the Maurice River. No striped bass were biting yet, and the water was 73 or 74 degrees, while normally the temp would be 65 degrees or lower by this time. So the water was too warm for stripers, but with the cold front that was coming this week, striper fishing shouldn’t take too long to begin. Normally stripers would just be starting to give up catches. Fresh bunker will be carried for striper bait as soon as cool weather takes a hold and stripers begin to chew.

<b>Dennisville</b>

Weakfish that were biting toward the 2 and 3 buoys off the Maurice River was about the only news about fish that held in the bay, said Rusty from <b>Captain Tate’s Bait & Tackle</b>. The weaks were small, but some were keepers, and crab was the best bait, though shedder crabs were scarce. Even the supply of frozen shedders ran out at the shop, but if anglers could find frozen, that could be good. But Rusty’s been selling hardshelled crabs that anglers could use for bait, especially with shedder oil, and that should work, though some anglers insist on shedders. A few kingfish and croakers were mixed in with the weaks, and so were a handful of blues, but the number of blues seemed to drop off compared with before. No news about striped bass in the bay was heard, and during some years when the water temp is right, reports about a few stripers hooked will roll in by this time of year. But customers were seeing water temps from 69 to 72 degrees, and that’s too warm. When temps drop to the low 60s, say 60 to 62 or so, resident striped bass will start to wake up and be caught. Water salinity was also high, because of lack of rain, and that hinder things. Salinity was so high that bluefish were swimming up the creek near the shop, and Rusty never saw them that far upstream before. He hoped that striper fishing might begin within two weekends, but anglers will see what the coming cooler weather will do. One customer who was striper fishing battled a 300-pound sandtiger shark at 20-Foot Slough and released the fish, measuring 12 feet from nose to tail. Moving to the coast, surf fishers were finding lots of blues, and a few kingfish were still around. Weakfish, a lot of little ones but some keepers, could be found toward the inlets, and try swimming live mullet or peanut bunker. One angler said he must’ve hooked 40 weakies including two keepers at Paddy’s Hole. Weakfish did seem to be schooling up and pushing out to the coast, gearing up for the fall migration. Mullet were still schooling the coast, but they weren’t bunched up lately, because of lack of easterly winds. Some tog were at the jetties, and so were triggerfish, small porgies and such fish. On the reefs and wrecks sea bass seemed to be small, even on the pieces farther offshore, and a few keepers could be hooked, but even a party boat captain was talking about the relatively difficult fishing. Maybe the warm water was the cause. Tuna fishing was good when the boats could make it to the canyons, and the northern canyons seemed to produce better than the southern ones. Lindenkohl Canyon was especially hot, and catches also came from Wilmington and Spencer canyons, and some customers pushed farther south to the Baltimore and got skunked. A bunch of yellowfin and longfin tuna were biting, all on the chunk, and live bait such as squid or peanut bunker could always be a bonus, instead of only using butterfish or sardines that everyone usually has onboard. Swordfish were also getting bagged. The shop is carrying live spots, and fresh bunker is stocked on weekends at this point, because some customers want to try for stripers. A fully supply of all the usual frozen baits is also carried.

<b>Cape May</b>

Bunker chunking for striped bass in the bay usually begins during the second week of this month, or in other words this week, but the fishing might start late because of warm water, said Matt from <b>Jim’s Bait & Tackle</b> in a fax. If you dropped a piece of bunker down now, sharks would be all over it. Surf fishing was similar to the previous week: Mullet schooled the wash, and mostly bluefish gave up action, and striped bass were few and far between.

Back to Top