<b>Port Elizabeth</b>

Drum were the fish most anglers chased, said Sharon from <b>The Girls Place Bait & Tackle</b>. Drum were in, so that was the big thing, she said, and trips boated for them at the Pin Top and even inshore, like off Higbee’s Beach. Many customers sailed for a combo of drum and striped bass, and a few stripers were still around this season. Surf fishing for stripers was fairly good at Cape May. Sizeable weakfish were beached along the jetties, and some weighed 6 and 8 pounds, and customers showed photos. A few kingfish came from the surf at different places. Croakers were boated on the bay, and summer flounder fishing was good on back bays, like behind Stone Harbor and Avalon. Not much was reported about flounder from Delaware Bay yet this season. One angler talked about hooking lots of throwback flounder, no keepers, from the bay. Crabbing was slow for both commercial crabbers and recreationals. The blueclaws seemed scarce, and minnows were scarce. Sharon found a source to supply the baitfish, but from out of state. Clams, the favorite drum bait, weren’t easy to obtain, but the store stocked as many as possible. Finding big clams was especially tough. Telephone ahead to ensure a supply of clams, like a bushel for drumming. The Girls Place, located on Route 47, just after Route 55 ends, carries a large supply of bait and tackle, and is on the way to the bay. It’s the long, one-story, yellow building on the right, with plenty of parking, including for trailered boats.

<b>Newport</b>

One trip returned with three dozen crabs Saturday at <b>Beaver Dam Boat Rentals</b>, Paul said. Those crabbers were experienced, and can usually bushel out, and novice crabbers caught fewer of the blueclaws. But the three dozen was an improvement, after a slow start to crabbing this year. That group of experienced crabbers saw lots of small crabs, saying they expect a fair number to grow to keeper size soon. Crabs have been shedding – that’s how they grow – all along this season. They currently seemed to shed at all different times, not mostly around full and new moons, like they usually do. Shed shells kept being seen. The creek was 70 degrees, plenty warm for crabs. The bottom 1 ½ weeks ago, in 6 or 7 feet of water, was 64 degrees, when the shop’s crew checked. Cold water didn’t seem a reason for the slow start to crabbing. Some parts of the state with colder water blamed the water temperature. But waters around Beaver Dam are shallow, so are warm. That usually kicks off crabbing quicker than at other places in the state. Paul suspects the cold winter was tough on crabs. That could take longer than usual for the population to replenish itself in spring. Catches were definitely on the upswing. No customers fished this weekend, but the shop previously reported croakers, good-sized ones, and white perch hooked from the creek. Striped bass milled around the docks the other night, and Paul has seen some big stripers in the water recently. Speaking of fishing, Beaver Dam raises and sells minnows for bait. They’re “gi-normous,” Linda from the shop said, and minnows have been scarce and small at other stores this season, like happens during some springs. Sometimes freshwater from rains, and cold, affects the minnow population like that in spring. If anglers are looking for minnows, including for summer flounder fishing, the shop’s got them, and the baitfish are large. Take advantage of the Fathers’ Day Special: Customers who reserve a rental boat for June 15 will receive half a party pizza and a 2-liter bottle of soda, complementary. Treat dad to crabbing and lunch, and “make a memory,” the shop says, instead of holding another barbecue. Customers crab and fish from rental boats towed up Oranokin Creek, running past the shop. The staff checks on them every hour, and if customers want a break in the meantime, they simply cell phone the shop to be picked up. Also take advantage of the Frequent Crabber Card: Rent any size boat four times during the season, and get the fifth trip for only $20 that season. Everything needed for a day of crabbing is available at the store, from bait, traps and nets to snacks, drinks and suntan lotion. Rental canoes and kayaks are available to paddle the scenic creek. Beaver Dam hosts groups like scouts and family reunions, and can offer an educational day about the environment. <a href="http://www.crabulousnj.com/" target="_blank">Visit Beaver Dam’s Web site</a>.

<b>Fortescue</b>

A photo of a 60-pound drum was posted today on the party boat <b>Bonanza II</b>’s  Facebook page. “It’s not over yet …” the comment with the photo, from a trip aboard Monday night, said. “Thanks … for a great night,” it said to some of the anglers. The drum was the first for the angler who decked it.  The Bonanza is fishing for summer flounder daily and for drum a couple of nights per week, the captain said in a report here previously. Anglers can telephone the boat to confirm. Special flounder trips will fish the Old Grounds on the ocean at times later this season. That’s an area of rocky bottom off Delaware that attracts flounder and other fish, like sea bass, that can be mixed in.

The party boat <b>Salt Talk</b> fished Saturday and Sunday with a few people aboard, Capt. Howard said. Saturday’s trip bailed a mess of croakers, not big, but the fish were filleted up, so the anglers left with some good bags of them. Sunday’s trip was similar, cashing in on croakers, not as many as on the previous day, and some bluefish. The trip made a few drifts for summer flounder farther from shore, toward the shipping channel. But none bit, so the boat was returned inshore and anchored for more croakers. Croakers seemed bigger in shallower waters 3 to 4 feet deep. Private boaters nabbed them there, but that was too shallow for the larger party boat, and the head boat still landed plenty of the smaller croakers for anglers to eat. Flounder seemed yet to migrate into the bay in large numbers, but they could show up any time, and the boat will target them then. The bay was 69 degrees, according to the boat’s gauge. That’s warm enough for flounder, but was the surface temperature. Maybe the bottom was colder. Shallower, warmer back bays seemed to hold flounder currently. One keeper flounder was docked on one of the other Fortescue party boats this weekend, Howard thought. The Salt Talk is also chartering for drum on the bay, and the fleet marked drum during the weekend, like at the Pin Top and 16 buoy, but the fish didn’t bite much. That happens with drum fishing sometimes, and some anglers theorize that’s because of spawning, especially around new and full moons, like the recent new moon. Drum often start biting well again afterward, and anglers will see whether they do. Open-boat trips, like the ones that fished for croakers, are scheduled daily aboard, but usually sail around weekends this time of year. Demand usually picks up for daily trips when schools let out for summer. Anglers can telephone the boat to ask whether a trip seems likely to get out. Charters are available.

<b>Cape May</b>

Drum fishing became slower than before through the weekend, but the fish, okay catches, were hauled aboard the <b>Heavy Hitter</b> on Saturday and Sunday, Capt. George said. He guessed the trips got lucky, and some trips on other boats caught no drum on those days. Saturday’s charter on the Heavy Hitter boxed 30-pound drum, and Jay Allen’s charter on the boat Sunday decked drum 30 to 50 pounds. The trips fished at usual places for drum on the bay, George said. A bluefish was also hooked on Sunday’s trip.

The bay’s drum fishing slowed in past days around the new moon, but some were boated, said Capt. Frank from <b>Melanie Anne Sport Fishing Charters</b>. He did no fishing for them during the weekend, and tuna fished instead. Buddies telephoned him Saturday night, after the tuna trip, while he tried to sleep. They thought he was on the drum grounds, were checking for a report. The tuna fishing aboard went 5 for 6 on yellowfins and 4 for 4 on bluefins at Baltimore Canyon on Saturday. One of the bluefins was kept, and the rest of the bluefins were released. Seas were rough, terrible, in strong winds, but the fishing was good. Melanie Anne will compete in the shark tournament this weekend from Cape May’s South Jersey Marina.

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