<b>Newport</b>

Crabbing was a little slower on Friday, but catches were fine Saturday through Monday, and customers on Monday morning, when Linda from <b>Beaver Dam Boat Rentals</b> gave this report, had already filled bushel baskets half-full with the blueclaws. Many of the crabs were shedding in Oranokin Creek, where Beaver Dam is located, and in the bay, and that was early, because the shed usually takes place on the moons, and the new moon is tomorrow. Sometimes crabbing can drop off during the shed, but catches held up. Plenty of big, meaty crabs skittered about, and customers also talked about seeing good numbers of small ones, but that’s only good news, because it means the population will sustain. The crabs grow on each shed, and the small ones now will be the bigger ones later in the season. Phil Procida  crabbed multiple times and busheled out each trip, and said he caught big, meaty ones, and tasty to boot. He also hooked a large striped bass in the creek but lost the fish at the boat, and the linesider, which bit a piece of chicken, wouldn’t even fit in the net. The bass were apparently around, and perch should be swimming the creek. Beaver Dam tries to stock bloodworms on weekends for the fishing, and also tries to carry live grass shrimp on weekends for those who want to drop a line for the fish. A limited supply of fishing tackle, specifically for the fish in the creek, is on hand. The shop also stocks frozen bunker and chicken backs for crabbing. Customers at Beaver Dam rent boats that are towed onto the creek for crabbing. The staff checks the boats every hour, and if a crabber wants to come in to use the restroom or take a break at other times, they simply cell phone Beaver Dam, and the staff comes and gets them. The staff also crabs the creek on a regular basis, keeps tabs on the best spots and puts customers on the locations. Crab-trap rentals are available, and a variety of traps are sold, and the staff is happy to teach customers how to use them. Daylong canoe and kayak rentals are also offered, and customers usually paddle them up the creek for an awesome day in the outdoors. The area is rich with wildlife, not to mention crabs. The creek and surrounding waters are only one of six places in the state where commercial crabbing is prohibited, probably a factor in the large population of the hardshells. Beaver Dam over the weekend just finished participating in the area’s annual Bay Days that celebrate the bay, and offered special, shorter than usual tours on the waters for the celebration. Tours of the creek are always available upon request. The store also offered a special on the rental boats for Father’s Day, in conjunction with Bay Days. The Fourth of July will be the next major event, and a special will be announced for that weekend, so stay tuned. Beaver Dam Boat Rentals is open 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day, and the rental boats are available during any of those hours.

<b>Dividing Creek</b>

Crabbers probably averaged a dozen of the blueclaws per trip, said Ann from <b>Wildlife Boat Rentals</b>. Ann herself did a little crabbing and nabbed 1 ½ dozen keepers, and one customer crabbed from the road and plucked a dozen, and another also hit a spot from the road and picked up a half-dozen, for example. Kids fished from the dock and hooked catfish on the creek. Wildlife’s boats probably won’t get splashed until later in the season, but the shop is open to supply customers who crab from the many spots available on the ponds and creeks along the roads in the area. The staff will point you in the right direction. Everything from crab bait and traps to nets and even bug spray, suntan lotion and sunglasses is stocked for all needs for a day of crabbing. A few fishing supplies and a bit of bait, including grass shrimp when available, is also on hand.

<b>Fortescue</b>

Anglers on the <b>Albatross</b> flounder fished, and a 21-1/2-incher was the biggest they caught so far this season, and lots of flounder carpeted the bay, but probably 80 percent were throwbacks, Capt. Ziggy said. Many more would be keepers if the limit were 17 inches like last year instead of 18 this year, and plenty of the fish measured 17 ½ inches. A weakfish, the first one of the year on the boat, was reeled in during a trip, so that was good news. Charters will certainly sail for weaks if the trout show up in decent numbers. Drum were still caught, but drumfishing will probably taper off now.

Nine drum were hooked, and six were landed, on a charter Saturday evening, and five drum were fought, and four were boated, on a charter Sunday evening, said Capt. Ralph from the <b>Buccaneer</b>. The drum season was good on the vessel, and Ralph is now ready for a break, and he’ll start slowing down on drum fishing. Flounder, weakfish, croakers and blues will be next up on trips.

Flounder fishing picked up a little, and every day seemed a bit better, and the weekend was the first time a number of keepers started to be seen, said Capt. Mike from the <b>Bonanza</b>. Two 18- and 18-1/2-inch keepers were already decked when Mike gave this report from the waters yesterday morning, and the boat was fishing in 13 feet. The bay there was 75 degrees but cooler in deeper spots. The crew will try running the season’s first open-boat, nighttime weakfishing trip 4 p.m. to 11 pm. Saturday, and space is available. The trip will fish the structure or lighthouses with top-and-bottom rigs, speck rigs, bucktails and such, and the trout are usually found in those areas in the evenings at this time of year. More of the open trips will probably continue, and charters will also be available for this type of fishing. The boat’s most recent drum trip sailed Saturday, and seven healthy sized boomers to 70 pounds were taken. That was the vessel’s last drum trip on the books, and drum season typically winds down at this point, but if a charter still wants to try for the bruisers, call quickly. Open-boat trips are fishing for flounder 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

Six anglers fished for flounder on the <b>Salt Talk</b> on Sunday and reeled in a few keepers, a bunch of throwbacks and one bluefish, Capt. Howard said. Plenty of the flounder would’ve been keepers during last year’s slightly smaller size limit. A drum trip Thursday picked up junk fish or cownosed rays, sharks and skates, but drum were a no-show. Another trip for drum last Tuesday hooked four drum, and two were bagged, and the other two, big fish, including one that was fought a while, broke off. The boat is tentatively still available for drum charters, but Capt. Howard will keep his eyes on the fishery to see whether the fish are still biting. Open-boat flounder trips are sailing 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily when no charter is booked, but the open trips almost always run on weekends, because demand for those outings is greater.

Boaters over the weekend dragged in drum, but the fishing seemed somewhat of a struggle now, said Dave from <b>Al’s Bait & Tackle</b>. Flounder fishing was improving, and pretty good numbers were hooked, and customers mostly didn’t bother to fish for them anywhere but close to Fortescue, including at the stakes and the first and second drop-offs. A few 14- to 16-inch blues showed up in catches all over the bay, like usual at this time of year. A few weakfish were found along the lighthouses during the daytime, and soak shedder crab for a hit. Surf fishers at Fortescue landed short stripers, perch and blues, and dunk bloodworms for the stripers and perch, and toss mullet or other oily fish for the blues. Small stripers seemed to be the only linesiders caught at this point in the season. Fortescue Creek was absolutely loaded with perch, and anglers creeled scores on bloodworms on a day out. Live shedder crabs are stocked, and so are minnows and the full supply of frozen baits.

<b>Bivalve</b>

Bay Days, the annual festival on the bay, kept anglers to a minimum during the weekend, said Pat from <b>Longreach Marina</b>. But Phil Garron checked in three drum 71, 72 and 75 pounds. Joe Hassinger drilled a 75-pounder that measured 4 feet 6 inches long. Most don’t measure the fish, but that’s interesting. Fred Pedrick and George Donnelly bagged two flounder to 4 ½ pounds. Live shedders, the favorite weakfish bait, are now stocked. No weaks were reported caught this past week, but some were taken before, mostly around the lighthouses. One angler, Rich Andrus, who always catches some of the season’s first weaks from the marina, casts red and white bucktails with squid stripers for hook-ups. Minnows, frozen squid and other frozen baits are stocked.

<b>Dennisville</b>

Drum fishing somewhat slowed down in the past days, said Rusty from <b>Captain Tate’s Bait & Tackle</b>. Still, anglers were used to walloping 10, 12 or 15 of the fish, and now they might’ve sat there a while and hooked nothing and said the fishing was finished. But some who stuck it out probably landed a few. A bite might continue in the next few days, and the full moon in June, taking place tomorrow, is traditionally the end of drum fishing, but catches could last a moment longer, and drum can usually be found a while afterward. But anglers start chasing other fish, including sharks and tuna that started to turn on. Flounder anglers could reel up lots of fish, no matter whether on Delaware Bay or on the back bays, but bagging keepers was tough, with the new size limit. A few customers said flounder began to appear in the ocean at the Old Grounds, no great numbers, but quality fish. Sea bass also hovered around the Old Grounds, Reef 11 and Cape May Reef, and the fishing was sort of the same: plenty of small ones but some keepers. Surf fishing for striped bass took off at Higbee’s Beach the past couple of days on artificials, and decent-sized weakfish, not a lot, but maybe 5-, 6- or 8-pounders, held along some of the jetties around Cape May, like at Higbee’s. The only substantial bluefish population that people mentioned swam far offshore, around the 30- and 40-mile line. Anglers at Massey’s Canyon said they got covered up with blues. Plenty of sharks swam around, and many might’ve been small, and water temps might’ve been warmer than sharkers preferred, but the fish got hooked. In the weekend’s South Jersey Shark Tournament in Cape May, anglers checked in no makos that had to be 200 pounds or larger to be entered. A variety of sharks like threshers, a big tiger and others were heard about, and variety seemed part of the scene. A 68- to 74-degree, warm-water eddie drew yellowfin tuna to the offshore grounds including Spencer Canyon, and Rusty heard about bluefins taken somewhere in the area, like maybe the Wilmington or the northern end of the Baltimore. The tuna weren’t big and ranged from footballs to 50-pounders.

<b>Cape May</b>

Drum fishing held up, and a charter with <b>Copacetic Sportfishing</b> last week docked with a good catch to 60 pounds, but the fish will probably depart shortly, Capt. Mike said. Get them while you can. A 90- or 100-pound mako and a 70- or 80-pound dusky were fought and released on a shark trip over the weekend at lumps 30 miles off Cape May Inlet. Waters were 70 to 71 degrees, so they warmed quickly from the heat, and mackerel and bluefish were the baits. Shark charters will probably only run another two weeks because of the warming waters. But that also means that bluefin tuna trips should soon start to fish the inshore lumps on the chunk and on the troll. A flounder charter will fish the ocean reefs this week.

Pat Ricci’s group on the <b>Heavy Hitter</b>  muscled in drum to 70 pounds on Wednesday, Capt. George said. On Friday Jim Schiavo’s gang put drum to 60 pounds in the tub, and on Saturday Jim Dougherty’s crew loaded up on 14 drum to 60 pounds and came home early. That will probably wrap up the boat’s drum season, though if a charter wants to sail for the fish, better jump aboard right away. Trips will now turn attention to other fishing, including ocean bluefishing, sharking, bottom fishing, including for sea bass and flounder, and eventually tuna fishing.  A bluefish trip is scheduled for Saturday, and a shark trip is set to run Sunday.

Drumfish still filled the bay at least through the weekend, said Capt. Ray from <b>Jaftica Sportfishing</b>, and he knew boaters who scored well. His drum season came to an end, and previously anglers on the boat exclusively targeted drum, but started focusing on other species now. The boat shark fished Thursday through Saturday, and a small mako and a dusky were leadered the first day, and a couple of small makos and a dusky were rustled up the next two. A 250-pound mako entered the slick on one of the trips, and baits were pitched, but the bruiser wouldn’t take. The waters were 71 degrees, probably warm on the surface but not below, because the sudden heat probably affected the top mostly. Jaftica will sail on shark charters through the month, and tuna trips will eventually kick off. Inshore trolling on the ocean will begin anytime for blues, bonito or whatever pops up. Flounder trips will also fish the reefs or Old Grounds. All these options were opening up because of the impending end of drum fishing.

<b>Jim’s Bait & Tackle</b> served as one of the weigh-in ports for the Jersey Coast Anglers Association’s fluke tournament on Saturday, Matt said in a fax. Tim Kulis won first place at the port for a 6.58-pounder, and Tony Sabo took second with a 6.25-pounder and Dennis Molette scored third with a 6.1-pounder. Most of the bigger flatties were pulled from the Old Grounds in the ocean, and conditions for the fishing were less than favorable, but some anglers managed catches. Flounder fishers who boated the Intracoastal Waterway in the back bays also put together a good showing. Surf fishers sometimes found impressive action. Striped bass gave up an awesome bite at the Higbee’s Beach jetty during 3 hours on Friday, and Pete Jonas bagged a 22-pounder and caught and released six other bass to 20 pounds. Weakfish sometimes bit in the suds Saturday. At the Lehigh Avenue jetty John Pepe Jr., 6, landed a 10.21-pound weak, and his dad hauled in a 10.54-pounder. Larry Rossy beached five of the trout, including three that weighed more than 8 pounds apiece, at one of the jetties at Cape May Point. All the weaks swallowed bloodworms. Offshore fishing started to take off, and Jim’s Bait & Tackle will hold its 26th annual shark tournament Saturday, and anglers can still enter. Shark fishing was productive, and lots of makos were battled, and the crew of the Got-Em-On checked in the shop’s biggest, a 204-pounder that came from the 19-Fathom Lump. The season’s first tuna reports rolled in. Both tuna and marlin started to get reeled up from warm waters at Spencer Canyon, and the eddie was pushing south.

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