<b>Brooklawn</b>

A few striped bass started to get boated among bunker schools in the ocean at Brigantine, so at least the fish were waking up, said Rick from <b>Big Timber Bait & Tackle</b>. A few were also beached in the surf at 88th Street at Sea Isle City, and back bay anglers played small ones that attacked Bomber lures and Smack-Its. All the catches were signs that fall fishing for linesiders was moving along, and the hope was that the migration of stripers to the bay would arrive on schedule later this month and in November. Rick heard about croaker catches in the bay, and not much news rolled in about weakfish. Small blues roamed the flats of the bay. In the Delaware River lots of smallmouth bass were on a bite from north of the Schuylkill River upstream. Bigger catfish than before kept appearing, as they moved to the shallows instead of hiding in the deep holes to cool down in summer. River anglers sometimes tangled with largemouth bass, and try working the mouths of creeks like Big Timber. They could locate white perch, and schoolie striped bass are always someplace on the river, like along the island off National Park. Rick this morning was about to head to the Elephant Trunk 40 or 50 miles offshore to try for bluefin tuna, if the weather held. Nothing solid seemed to be known about the fishing since the storm came through, and the weather often kept offshore anglers from getting out. If the weather took a dive today, Rick was probably going to switch to bottom angling for sea bass and tog closer to shore. Big Timber Bait & Tackle 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>

Customers started fishing for striped bass a little at places like Cross Ledge, the Elbow and the 6 buoy, said Matt from <b>Shag’s Bait & Tackle</b>. Whether they had success or not was a question, but any stripers landed now will usually be smaller ones, resident fish starting to become active because of dropping water temps. Larger, migrating stripers will arrive later, moving as far up the bay as about Ship John, and not pushing up the Delaware River like in spring. In fall the fish make a foray into the bay to feed on a migration that’ll continue south, but in spring the stripers invade far up the river to spawn. In fall fresh bunker starts to be the popular bait for stripers, and the shop will carry the fresh menhaden when the fishing starts to take off. Bloodworms are stocked and can be used. Bluefish reappeared in the river, and schoolie, resident stripers could always be nabbed in the waters, and so could white perch and catfish.

<b>Newport</b>

A few crabbers busheled out during the weekend at <b>Beaver Dam Boat Rentals</b>, Linda said. So the blueclaws skittered about, and this weekend might be the last that Beaver Dam is open for crabbing this season, unless customers want to call about booking a special time. Always call to reserve the rental boats for crabbing anyway, so the staff knows to expect you.  Beaver Dam is gearing up for duck season and rents duck blinds to hunters. The first duck season is October 18 to November 1, and the second is November 15 to January 8. Beaver Dam is also a deer check-in station, and all zones are currently open for bow hunting for deer. The shop just became an official agent for fishing and hunting license sales for New Jersey. A cub scout nature day on Sunday at Beaver Dam was a huge success, and the staff and facilities are available to host such events. The staff from  the radio show Sportsman’s Hotline on WFNJ at 5 p.m. Fridays on 1240- and 1440-AM visited Tuesday, nabbing 65 large blueclaws. Beaver Dam provides everything needed for crabbing, including trap sales and rentals, bait, crab spice, crab crackers, suntan lotion, drinks, snacks and ice cream.

<b>Fortescue</b>

Weakfishing started to slow down a little, but the first drop-off from Fortescue was still a place to catch them, said Dave from <b>Al’s Bait & Tackle</b>. Plenty of blues kept schooling, including along the Fortescue surf, where fishing for them was good. Not a lot else swam the surf, except spots that were everywhere in the bay, and sometimes small croakers. Everybody was anticipating the fall run of striped bass, and the shop is now carrying fresh bunker for bait on weekends for the linesiders. With cool weather like today, Dave wouldn’t be surprised if striper fishing started to pick up in a week or 1 ½ weeks. Water temps were dropping, and the bay was probably in the upper 60s.

A couple of the boats fished during the weekend, and one was a party boat that reportedly put patrons into a few weakfish and some blues, and another was a charter vessel that locked anglers into a mess of small blues, said Capt. Howard from the <b>Salt Talk</b>. He was mostly lying low until striped bass fishing takes off toward the last week of October, although his daily, open-boat trips might fish in the meantime, and anglers can telephone to confirm. His daily striper trips, fishing with either eels on the drift or clams on anchor, should launch the last weekend of the month. Water temps dropped a bit, and Fortescue Creek was 62.8 degrees on Sunday, and on Wednesday was 64 degrees. Another week or two of cooling waters should get stripers moving around more. When the Salt Talk is fishing daily, trips sail 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

<b>Dennisville</b>

A few customers tried for striped bass this past week, said Rusty from <b>Captain Tate’s Bait & Tackle</b>. He heard about no confirmed catches boated locally, but one angler had a decent run-off at Bug Light. Carl Glen whacked a 19-pounder from the beach of the bay at Kimball’s Road, just south of Reeds Beach, on a bunker chunk. The shop started stocking fresh bunker daily when available for striper fishing, and catches traditionally have kicked in around the 15th of the month. In the past couple of years the bite took off toward the end of the month, because the weather was warm, but the fishing might come earlier this year. Reports about catches were being heard farther north toward Brigantine and Long Beach Island, and if those fish trickle down, and with 39-degree air temps like this morning, catches of stripers might begin soon on the bay, and some should begin to be landed this weekend. A bunch of weakfish remained in the bay at the same places as before, including the oyster bed stakes, including off Reeds Beach, and off Thompson’s Beach and around the 1 buoy. The ocean front held loads of croakers and some weakfish, kingfish and porgies. Pat Brady hammered a 4-pound porgy, a huge one, other porgies, big sea bass, and croakers 5 miles from shore. Sea bass seemed to start appearing at places like Cape May Reef and Wildwood Reef. Tog were abundant everywhere along structure like bridges and rock piles. Small striped bass and a few keepers seemed to give up fights on the back bay. Big weakfish hovered around Hereford Inlet along the beach and bridge, and live spots will attract them, and stripers were mixed in.  On the offshore grounds Freddie Ochs fought three 50-pound bluefin tuna at 19-Fathom Lump, and those were the only fish he found the whole trip, but good enough. He reportedly said the ocean was 65 degrees from the inlet to the 19, so waters were cooling. Larry Miller fished Baltimore Canyon to land two blue marlin, a white marlin and five mahi mahi around 25 pounds apiece, and had four wahoo bite-offs.

<b>Cape May</b>

Surf fishing turned on a bit, mostly for 1- to 3-pound blues and short striped bass, said Matt from <b>Jim’s Bait & Tackle</b> in a fax. For the blues, mullet fished at Poverty Beach on high tides was a good bet. For the bass, any of the jetties around Cape May Point could offer bites from shorts and keepers. Bait schooled along the Wildwood beachfront, so bigger stripers should move in soon. A few fair-sized ones were already plugged and bucktailed at the Cold Spring Inlet jetties.

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