<b>Port Elizabeth</b>

The blow over the weekend but the damper on reports, and Sharon from <b>The Girls Place Bait & Tackle</b> only heard about a few striped bass caught, including a 35-incher and some shorts, she said. One of the Port Norris charter boats got no bites on Friday and eight fish, four keepers and four throwbacks, on Saturday. Nobody mentioned fishing during Sunday’s weather. Bluefish that stormed the coast last week for the first time this season probably put off stripers a moment, typical when blues first come. The speedsters probably swam up the lower bay, and nothing was heard about sightings in the upper bay so far. But a friend hooked 40 blues along the coast at Wildwood. No drumfish were reported hooked in past days. News about a 38-pound striper hauled up from the Maurice River last week on Monday night was circulating. Otherwise mostly short stripers seemed to bite in the Maurice, and herring were migrating up the river, schooling in spurts like usual. Bloodworms or herring will draw attention from the river’s linesiders. Work Sabiki rigs to hook the herring, and all kinds of Sabikis are stocked, or toss tiny gold spoons to the baitfish. The spoons are difficult to find, but some are carried at the shop. Fresh clams, fresh bunker and, when available, fresh herring are stocked. Herring is difficult find, but sometimes suppliers offer the bait. Frozen baits like squid are in full supply.  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>

<b>Wildlife Boat Rentals</b> should open for crabbing toward the end of May as usual, Ann said. The blueclaws take a while to skitter up waters like Dividing Creek after wintering in the bay. Nothing was heard about any of the hardshells scurrying about yet, though they might’ve appeared at waters closer to the bay by now. When crabbing season gets under way, Wildlife will be open with rental boats and all supplies from traps to baits to suntan lotion, everything needed for a day out. Fishing tackle and bait will also be on hand, for those who want to drop a line for perch, catfish, small striped bass or whatever swims through the creek. Live crabs for eating are also usually sold.

<b>Fortescue</b>

Surf casters bailed quite a few stripers around Fortescue lately, and scored very well on Thursday, when a mess of keepers were bagged, said Dave from <b>Al’s Bait & Tackle</b>. The shop is now open full time for the season. Bloodworms worked best for the bass from the beach, and not a lot of boaters from the area were fishing yet. But the Fortescue party boats will start fishing this weekend, and other boaters will probably launch their seasons then. A few boaters picked occasional striped bass at Miah Maul, and a few connected with the linesiders at the Punk Grounds here or there, and all who boated stripers seemed to dunk clams to get the job done. Bunker didn’t seem to produce yet. Dave only heard about one drum caught so far, but the season was still a little early for drum. Bluefish began to appear near Fortescue, and commercial netters said decent numbers of weakfish were among their catches. One report rolled in about an out-of-season flounder caught by mistake. Fresh clams, fresh bunker, bloodworms and all the frozen baits, including herring and mullet, are stocked.

Trips were slated to start fishing for striped bass this weekend on the <b>Albatross</b>, but Capt. Ziggy might postpone them, if action doesn’t pick up, he said. He might start sailing next week. Striper and drum trips will run, and drum fishing was great the past couple of years.

Fishing for striped bass sounded slow this weekend, said Capt. Ralph from the <b>Buccaneeer</b>. His season’s first charters for the fish are on the books for Saturday through Monday, and he hoped the bite began by then.

<b>Andrea Charters</b> has been fishing for stripers a number of weeks, catching a few of the fish so far, and the bite was exceptionally difficult this weekend in the eastern winds, Capt. Dave said. But catches should bust loose in the coming week, and this weekend last year was the best of the season for striper fishing on the bay. The waters lately were 58 degrees, a prime temp for striper fishing. The linesiders have certainly been in the bay, and commercial netters said they had to remove a ton of the fish from nets. Dave’s first drum charter of the year was slated for last Saturday but had to be nixed because of rough seas. Another drum trip is slated for this coming Saturday. No drum were reeled aboard on the boat yet this season, but it’s time. Striped bass and drum charters will continue, and flounder trips will begin when flounder season opens May 24. Andrea Charters also specializes in weakfishing, no matter whether weaks were scarcer in recent years compared with before. The crew really focuses on the trout, usually beginning in late May or early June, and knows how to find them, and charters still score good catches at times. Even on flounder trips, a couple of dozen shedder crabs are kept aboard for weakfishing, and the charters might push up to the shallows and cast around the grass for weaks as a bonus. Netters were coming across a few big, spawning, “tiderunner” weaks that move up the bay in spring. Dave sometimes picks up the tiderunners in late May around structure. Good to see that weakfishing is still a focus from Fortescue, the Weakfish Capital of the World.

<b>Bivalve</b>

The weekend’s blow made customers scarce, and striped bass fishing was slow, maybe because of the weather, and a few linesiders were docked, but not many, said Pat from <b>Longreach Marina</b>. Leon Miller from Franklinville showed off a 33-incher. Before the weather turned, many customers were fishing shallow waters, including around Bug Light, a popular locale. Some returned there during the weekend but with slower results. Others tried to catch drum, but none reported a catch. Commercial netters found a number of big weakfish—the large, spawning “tiderunners” that enter the bay to spawn at this time of year—in the mesh. The weaks might not be abundant, but at least some were appearing. Longreach is now open every day, and slips are available, if you need a place to park the boat this season. Grab one while you can. Fresh bunker and frozen clams, mullet, squid and other frozen baits are stocked. The Atco Hookers Striped Bass Tournament takes place at the marina on Saturday, and stop by to sign up.

<b>Dennisville</b>

Surf anglers on the bay like at Reeds Beach, Pierces Point and other spots were pulling in lots of stripers, mostly shorts, on clams and bloodworms, said Tim from <b>Captain Tate’s Bait & Tackle</b>. A 28-inch weakfish was reeled up at Reeds, and a 36-inch striper was nailed farther south on the beach at Alexander Avenue in Cape May. Boaters found spotty fishing for stripers on the bay, mostly catching the fish at the mouth of the Delaware River past Fortescue. But Blake’s Channel and the number 1 buoy also gave up a few. Drum fishing on the bay will probably start to turn on with the next full moon. Along the coast reports came in about a few weakfish swimming around Townsend’s Inlet, and loads of 6- to 8-pound blues stormed the back bays at Sea Isle City and Avalon. The shop is carrying fresh clams, fresh bunker, fresh herring, eels, minnows and frozen baits.

<b>Cape May</b>

Four trips striper fished the bay on the <b>Fishin’ Fever</b> from Friday through Saturday, Capt. Tom said. Anglers on the trip Friday morning took down four keepers and released 14 shorts, but then fishing took a turn for the worse, maybe because of stiff weather that was rolling in. Only two shorts were hooked and released on the next three trips, and winds built horrendous seas by Saturday afternoon, with 5- to 6-footers stacked tightly on the ride home, probably some of the worst conditions Tom ever sailed on the bay. So fishing fell apart, despite 58- to 60-degree, clean, clear water. After Friday morning’s catch Tom thought the bite was finally breaking open, and called a buddy in, and he bailed a catch, too. But by the afternoon, he and friends on two other boats were fishing the bay, and a total of seven stripers were probably landed among them. The Fishin’ Fever on its trips targeted 15- to 25-foot depths all over the bay, from Tussy’s Slough in the south to mid bay to clear up to the northern bay at Cross Ledge toward Fortescue. Tom thinks that another wave of migrating stripers might push into the bay before spawning linesiders return to the bay from the Delaware River, when big breeders should be able to be hooked.  Striper fishing on the river didn’t sound great, but Tom knew about a few big ones, like 50-pounders, that were beaten. He heard about no black drum bagged on the bay, but he was marking fish that looked like drum that were stacked up but refused to bite, something others would also report this week.

Fishing for striped bass was tough in the past days, and a couple of shorts managed to be caught on a long trip Saturday, and Sunday’s trip was weathered out, said Capt. Mike from <b>Copacetic Sportfishing</b>. He fished different areas from the flats to the sloughs, and dog sharks were abundant, and seas started kicking up in the afternoon, and the trip stayed on the water 10 hours to try to hook more stripers. But Mike thinks the best striper fishing is probably yet to come, and he knows someone who’s been fishing farther south, along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, who’s been bailing bass, so maybe plenty of the fish will still migrate north to Delaware Bay. Anglers were waiting for the bay’s drum fishing to begin.

The bay’s striped bass fishing dropped off toward the end of the week, said Capt. George from the <b>Heavy Hitter</b>.  Charters earlier in the week fared better, and trips on Friday and Saturday were tougher, but each landed at least a couple of stripers. George knew four other boats that caught nothing. Boaters had to keep running to Miah Maul for catches, although stripers usually swim the sloughs and surrounding areas in the southern bay, closer to Cape May, at this time of year. But the southern bay was full of dog sharks. Bill Lyons’ charter on Friday morning landed stripers to 34 inches, and Mike Callahan’s group on Saturday morning reeled in stripers to 32 inches. During the afternoon seas turned wicked like night and day between 2 and 2:30, and a trip had to return to port. Sunday’s fishing was cancelled because of forecasts for rough seas. George marked big piles of drumfish in the bay, but none of the boomers would bite, maybe because they were spawning or because waters were too cold, but the reason was impossible to know.

Decent catches of striped bass were drawn from Delaware Bay at the beginning of the week, but the fishing became a struggle by the end of the week, said Capt. Bob from the <b>Down Deep</b>. Mike Guerriero’s party early in the week boated four keepers to 35 inches and released 20 shorts. Brett Fisher’s gang on Friday nabbed two keepers and released four shorts. On Saturday a bachelor-party charter only copped a couple of bites, and a charter Sunday was cancelled because of the weather. The weather also looked like it would be socked in during the next day or two. But the good news was that drum were marked all over the place, though they weren’t biting yet. Bob expects them to start to feed when the water warms a couple of degrees and after the fish spawn. The other good thing was that plenty of out-of-season summer flounder covered the bottom of the bay.

Striped bass fishing was tough on trip Saturday, Capt. Dave from <b>Fine Line Fishing Charters</b> said, but he persevered until a 32-inch keeper was boated. One bite, one fish, and the bite was only a slight tap. The fish was bagged in 23 feet near Miah Maul, where 75 or 100 boats, including charter and party boats, must’ve been fishing. Fine Line first set up in 15 feet, away from the fleet, but later joined the fleet, and catches were dead for everyone. Dave saw one other striper boated on one of the vessels. He kept fishing even when most of the fleet departed, and that’s when the linesider hit. Clams were the bait, and Dave changes bait every half-hour or so, and Fine Line chums with three or four crushed clams occasionally thrown in the water. The water was 58 degrees, and the anchor was pulled at 2:15 p.m., before seas got too rough. Someone he knows fished at the Horseshoe in the bay Friday but only reeled in dog sharks. Dave heard about no drum landed. Besides charters, Fine Line is offering a <a href=" http://www.finelinefishing.com/opentrip.asp
" target="_blank"> schedule of open-boat trips</a>.

A striped bass charter on Delaware Bay was cancelled Sunday because of forecasts for windy weather, said Capt. Ray from <b>Jaftica Sportfishing</b>. The fishing sounded slow over the weekend, and although Ray knew nobody who sailed in Sunday’s weather, he decided not to take a crew trip either, because of reports about the fishing. A push of fish seemed to come into the bay earlier in the week, and catches were apparently taken Friday morning, but the bottom fell out by Saturday, and catches were slow. Ray heard about no drum boated during the week, and drum fishing might begin after the new moon at the beginning of next week and should last until the first or second week of June. Ray did hear about big stripers beached in the Cape May surf, including a 43-pounder. Another angler dragged two 30-pound stripers from the wash. Charters on the boat will keep striper fishing and will run for drum soon.

<b>O-Beth Sport Fishing Charters</b> parked the boat in the slip at Cape May on Saturday morning before the blow, and then winds and seas kicked up, Capt. Eric said. But the vessel is ready to roll on striper and drum trips now. Nothing was heard about the fishing during the weekend’s rough weather. O-Beth sails from Cape May until about the third week of May and then moves to Margate to start shark fishing. Flounder trips will also begin from Margate when the flattie season opens in late May, and tuna charters will leave the dock from Margate in summer.

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