<b>Port Elizabeth</b>

One customer picked up 13 weakfish on a 210-degree heading 2 miles from the turn buoys, and another nabbed 19 while fishing east of Bug Light, so some weakfish were around, said Sharon from <b>The Girls Place Bait & Tackle</b>. Several customers reported good catches of flounder, but Sharon was unsure where they hooked up. Croakers were boated in deeper water, and spots bit inshore. Spots are a great bait for nearly anything, including weakfish, and the shop stocks fresh spots. The store also carries a large selection of baits for the bay, and a full variety of offshore baits can be ordered a couple of days in advance. 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>Newport</b>

The week’s fishing was typical for the bay, and reports were different from day to day, said Mike and Mickie from <b>Sundog Marina</b> in an e-mail. Lewis Patrick on Wednesday returned to the dock with six blues, two flounder to 22 inches and one weakfish that inhaled Gulp shrimp while he fished from the 6 buoy to the 32 and 34 buoys. On Friday Bill Penn and wife fished the 6 and reeled in two keeper weaks and 10 blues. Also on Friday Bill Simmerman and Larry Jordon hooked 13 short weakies on Bill’s new Dusky. Saturday’s seas were sloppy, and although fish were landed, no keepers were reported. On Sunday Capt. Mike on the Other Woman, a charter docked at the marina, fished the 6, his favorite spot, and came back with six keeper weaks, some croakers and some bluefish that bit shedder crabs. Perch fishing was steady at Nantuxent Creek toward the end of the week, and bloodworms were the choice bait, and crabbing started to pick up along the creek after it had shut down on Sunday. Rental boats are available at the marina to fish and crab on the creek. Mike from the shop also headed offshore Wednesday to Thursday with O-Beth Sportfishing from Margate, and he and the crew fished Lindenkohl Canyon and nailed a 110-pound mako shark, two yellowfin tuna and a longfin tuna. The fishing grounds were like a crowed highway, with more than 30 boats fishing the area 87 miles offshore. Tony Deacon and crew on the Sally Ann fished nearby and boated a 250-pound bigeye tuna and some yellowfin tuna. Sundog is carrying bloodworms, shedder crabs, minnows and frozen baits and opens 6 a.m. for boat rentals, bait, gas an all boating and fishing supplies.

<b>Dividing Creek</b>

Crabbing dropped off this past weekend compared with before, for some reason, said Ann from <b>Wildlife Boat Rentals</b>. An article in the Atlantic City Press said salinity levels were high, so maybe that could be a reason, or maybe it was the effects of the full moon, but nobody knows. It should pick back up, and it could change in an instant and be completely different this weekend, and the season’s been a good one. This time of year is usually the best season to bag the biggest blueclaws, because by now the crabs have shed through the warm months and have grown larger each time, before they start to head for the mud to hibernate when the weather turns cold. Three-and-a-half dozen keepers that a customer took home Friday was the most anyone caught, and a couple of customers picked up two dozen, and the rest netted a dozen or fewer. Wildlife will be open 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through September before calling it a year. All supplies needed for a day of crabbing are carried, including traps, nets, hand lines, bait and even items such as suntan lotion, bug spray and sunglasses. Fishing tackle and bait are also carried, and Dividing Creek can produce perch, catfish, stripers and other fish. Live crabs are also sold for eating.

<b>Fortescue</b>

Anglers on the <b>Karen Jean</b> were boating a mixed bag of blues, croakers and a few weakfish, Capt. John said. Some of the blues were bigger than before and weighed 2 to 3 pounds on the last few trips, and croaker fishing slowed down compared with before. Lots of the weaks were small, but sometimes keepers were mixed in. On one trip 30 weaks were hooked, and three were keepers. On Saturday about a dozen weaks were reeled in, and four were keepers, and on Sunday a dozen were landed, and none were big enough to keep. The ones that were keepers were average sized, and the boat’s been fishing 1 ½ miles off Fortescue and Gandy’s Beach.

Small blues were swimming near the lighthouses, and a few weakfish were hitting, and croakers were scarcer than before and were small, said Capt. Ralph from the <b>Buccaneer</b>. He was doing no fishing at the moment until the bite picked up, because his charters want to catch lots of fish. Captains were disappointed that flounder season will close in a week, because flounder were the main fish to target, and it’s a bad situation, with weakfishing much slower than normal these days. Ralph is looking forward to fall striper fishing and hopes the season will be good.

Weakfish seemed to move a little closer to Fortescue, and a mile or 1 ½ miles south of the number 6 buoy seemed the predominant place that held them, said Dave from <b>Al’s Bait & Tackle</b>. Lots of the trout were small, and the fishing was hit or miss, and one day would produce, and the next wouldn’t. But keepers were mixed in, and some 4- and 5-pounders were weighed at the shop, but just not a lot. Nice-sized, 3-pound bluefish were everywhere, and croakers were around, but no large numbers like before. Spots, including good-sized ones for eating, were plentiful, and flounder still showed up at the Maul and Flat Top. Be sure to get your flounder before the season closes in one week. Surf anglers at Fortescue beached decent numbers of blues, a few weaks, and sometimes kingfish and sea bass. The surf was the only place that Dave heard kingfish were landed, though boaters would normally find some by now. Porgies were boated, mostly toward the Club House, and no lack of toadfish and sandsharks bit near the E.P. Tower, and anglers could almost catch them as many times as they dropped down a bait. Looking ahead, striped bass fishing should begin in the bay by the third week of October, and Al’s will start carrying fresh bunker for bait for the linesiders by the end of September. Minnows, the popular flounder bait, will continue to be carried till about the end of the month, because some anglers like to fish with minnows for weakfish and croakers and such. Shedder crabs are available, especially for weakfish and croakers, and the store raises its own shedders, but the crabs should be ordered ahead of time, because they’re starting to become scarce. Crabbing’s been excellent all around Fortescue.

<b>Bivalve</b>

Those who knew what they were doing caught weakfish, and certain anglers came back to the dock consistently with weakfish catches, said Pat from <b>Longreach Marina</b>. Those anglers also typically kept quiet about the locations of the bites. Flounder were sometimes boated, and customers seemed to land the flatties at the Maul, Little Egypt, inside the 1 buoy and between the 1 and the E.P. Tower. Anglers and their catches included: Trish Christy, Parkesburg, Pa., 6 nice flounder; Donald Haught and Jim Wood Jr., 3 weakies; Jim Wood Jr. on another trip with his dad and Bill Wood, 8 weaks; Bob Vertolli and John Pepitone, 5 flounder; Joe and Debbie Pierce and Michelle, Caitlyn and Heather Andrews, 10 nice flounder; Tom Schofield and Gloria Garofalo, 2 nice flounder; Ernie Valentine and Herb Stone, 18 blues, 10 flounder, 5 croakers; Bill Solinsky, Franklinville, 3 flounder, 2 blues; Tom Sebastian and Cliff and Steve Knaub, 8 flounder about 21 inches apiece; Mike Daniels, Pitman, 7 flounder, 3 blues; and John Baglio and Al Picola, 5 weaks. Longreach is stocking minnows, shedder crabs and all the usual frozen baits.

<b>Dennisville</b>

Some weakfish were showing up in the bay off Bidwell Creek, said Tim from <b>Captain Tate’s Bait & Tackle</b>. Croakers covered 60-Foot Slough, and plenty of flounder were still boated at Miah Maul, 14-Foot Light and Flounder Alley. Flounder fishing was good in the ocean at Reef Site 11, where Freddy Ochs ran a trip yesterday that reeled in 13 keepers to 7 pounds. A number of striped bass were appearing at the rocks around Brandywine and bit plugs and bucktails, and Doug Gomersall and sons Joshua and Noah fished there and hooked four, including a nice keeper 30-some inches. Stripers were also waking up in the back bay and smacking surface plugs and bucktails. Offshore fishing was good, and yellowfin tuna to 70 and 80 pounds were on the bite at Lindenkohl Canyon at night, and swordfish sometimes grabbed baits. Baltimore Canyon was giving up white marlin and blue marlin. The shop is carrying live spots, plenty of shedder crabs and all the frozen baits for the bay and inshore, and offshore baits including sardines and butterfish are also well supplied. 

<b>Cape May</b>

Capt. Gary from the <b>Sea Fox</b> fished off Cape May Point on Sunday for a catch of croakers, blues, small weakfish and flounder to 19 inches, he said. The water was 74 degrees, and a charter also fished Cape May Reef on Thursday and came up with sea bass and a bunch of flounder to 24 inches, and the water was also 74 degrees. Charters on the boat are also tuna fishing.

Reports were starting to roll in about decent numbers of weakfish boated in the bay, said Matt from <b>Jim’s Bait & Tackle</b> in a fax. None of the fish was large, but boaters got into good catches of 17- to 20-inchers at Crow Shoal off Capt May Point, and a steadier bite was taking place along the flats from Bug Light to East Point. Pete Hardaway and crew fished Crow Shoal and landed 22 of the trout to 20 inches and three keeper flounder last Wednesday. Flounder fishing was very good in the ocean at Reef Site 11 and the Old Grounds. Capt. Tom Lippincott and gang from the On Point fished Reef 11 and bagged 14 flatties over 24 inches apiece for a great day of fishing. Ken Raker weighed in a 10.92-pound doormat that came from the Ben Franklin Bridge rubble at Came May Reef. Art Handling took an 8.37-pound flounder from the Old Grounds.

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