Striped Bass Thick off North Sea Isle and Strathmere

Today and the past weekend were tremendous for striped bass off of the Sea Isle beaches. I weighed in four stripers today to 40 inches and 25 pounds. All were caught on clam, but spread through the morning. The migration is climaxing from now until Memorial Day, and will tale off until June 15th. Fresh clams in stock!
Fluke opens on Saturday, May 29th, and preliminary reports are very good. Expect to see a lot of large fish weighed in. Live minnows on sale Thursday!

Striper on Beach and in T.I.

I weighed in a 20 pound striper in today caught from 93rd street in Sea Isle. It took a clam one hour before high tide on Wednesday. Another customer emailed three pictures of small stripers he caught from the Strathmere beach. Both customers reported a lot of sand sharks and skates in between the bass.
I fished the beach on Wednesday evening, and only had sharks and skates. So it goes....

Bluefish Heavy Behind Corson's Inlet

I went fishing for two hours after work today and had great success. I was anchored on the slope of the channel, and casting Bass Assassin and Mister Twister lures into the center of the channel. My lures were white or pink, and I was using a half ounce jig-head to get the lure to the bottom. Once there, it was a slow retrieve back to the boat. I finished with seven bluefish, and one small fluke.
A good day.

Spring Fishing Has Sprung!

After dropping my boat in the water, I had to wet a line. I headed across Ludlam Bay to Flat Creek. I was casting a white bucktail with a white worm and I had two bluefish and one fluke. I was casting to the center of the channel and allowing the lure to fall to the bottom, then a slow to medium retrieve back to the boat. The bite on lures ended at sunset; bait is the way to catch fish right now in the bay.
Customers at the shop have reported steady striper action on Whale Beach with clam and bunker. The bunker have arrived in vast numbers off the beach, and bluefish to four pounds are among our waters. Troll form Atlantic City to Cape May from the coast to five miles to sea to catch all the blues you can handle.
I am going to fish in the bay tomorrow in hope of catching the first weakfish of the season, I will be using a pink Bass Assassin, or i will try the bucktail and worm.
Tog still biting well at Townsend Inlet bridge with green crab and clam. Fish are weighing double-digits!

Townsends' Inlet Stripers and Tog

Striped bass have been biting in the inlet from the bridge to the rock pile extending from Avalon. Stripers as large as 16 pounds have taken clams. Fish the outgoing tide.
Tog have been biting off the 8th street jetty in Avalon. Clam and green crab is the preferred bait. Slack tide or slow moving water will be most active time for these fish too feed.
Weigh your catch here and your photo will be online in a matter of moments.

April Fishing Report

Expect to see striped bass consistently on the surf when the temperature breeches 50 degrees. Clam will be the preferred bait; bunker, mackerel, and herring are also viable bait choices. Artificial lures by Bass Assassin, Fin-S, Atom, and others are vastly underrated, and can often out-catch live or fresh bait.
Inlet fishing from the shore will produce similar results to surf fishing, but remember inlets are rocky, and an extra ounce of lead may be necessary to keep your rig. Boaters drifting through the inlet should compliment their bait with some chum. While your bait drifts and your chum permeates, the dedicated angler would toss a white buck-tail with worm trailer. Around the bridges and structure of inlets, an angler with green grabs and clams would catch tautog, a true delicacy.
April fishing in the coastal back-waters of cape May County is spectacular. The days are growing and the temperatures are rising. The back bay is the first fishing ground to thrive in Spring. The shallow waters, and dark mud bottoms allow for quick water warming which promotes algal growth, which in turn supports krill, shrimp, minnows, plankton, and other other organisms that compose the massive lower component of the food web. Once the most important component of the food web has grown from the sapling spring sun, do the true spring predators arrive. By the first week of April, Ludlam Bay is overwhelmed with ravenous bluefish, elusive weakfish, and premature summer fluke. The most successful fishing strategies here all involve artificial lures. Soft plastics on small lead-heads are most successful (they catch fish and are cheap to lose to bluefish). Buck-tails are highly effective lures not to be overlooked. If striped bass is your target, fish the falling tide near creek mouths; the out-going tide brings many food choices off of the marsh to a waiting striper. Cast your lure up the creek and let it fall out of the creek with the tide. Try many creeks and make many casts to be most successful. One may also anchor or drift clams of bunker at a creek mouth or in Ludlam Bay.
Offshore, roughly 100-130 feet of water Atlantic cod are biting better then they have in many years. The cod are biting clams and squid, with standard rigs. With the tog, you are also going to have a nice catch of ling. It is expensive to head offshore, but with a few buddies to ease the gas cost, a cooler of fish is surly waiting for the dedicated spring angler.
Gibson's Tackle & Marine is open daily from sunrise to sunset, in season. Gibson's has a complete stock of merchandise, along with the essential local knowledge, to provide any angler with the tools and know-how to catch a fish worthy of the dinner table.