Capt. Dave's Fishing Reports Archives

April, May Reports, June Reports,Daily Reports Page

2000

September 29,  It looks like another great weekend comming upas we ease our way into some real fall weather and should get into some serious fall fishing.  The wind and rain early in the week dirtied up the water some and slowed the fishing somewhat,. but the weakfish reports have been steady if not as hot as the weekend was.  The water temperature has made anoticible drop so the stripers will start to get a little more hungary.  they still have all the food around they can hope to eat so you will have to work to fool them.   I was at the Fisherman Magazine surf fishing seminar last night and even though I didn't get to see it because I was selling cast nets, areators and such at a table I got some fantastic reports from some of the north Jersey Shop owners.  It seems like they have been experiencing lots of fish in Raritan Bay and at the tip of the hook.   Barnegat Inlet has also had some serious blitzes.  The fish should follow the mullet south and we should see more every day.  With the weatherman forcasting light and variable winds tonight it would be a good time to get started on your own striper season. 

Tomorrow we have a mid day high tide so it is perfect for hitting the weakfish, live bait may be the best, but I would like to suggest that you give some deep diving crank baits a try so you have a chance to get below the bluefish and get some serious flash in front of the big weakies.  There will probably be a lot of company out there on the weekend, but with the numbers of bass holding at the bridges you should do well to get off the beaten path and cast plugs for school size fish in some of the back creeks.  The labrinth of thorofares behind Little Beach Island can hold untold fish who seldom see a boat go by and even less likely see bait or lures presented to them.   Even getting off the inland waterway to a spot like Duck Thorofare will put you far away from the crowds even if you can see them across the marshes.      Remember you are looking for fish at ambush points so you have to work extremely quiet and serch out places where a fish can sit and wait for the tide to bring him hisgoodies.  To really work these areas without disturbance I would suggest getting on a pair of rubber boots and parking the baot down tide at least 100 feet from likel;y spots and walking up and casting from the bank.  Remember if lures or poppers don't bring a strike, a small live eel swam pastlike a rubber worm with a very short leader and no weight will often bring strikes when nothing else will. 

Now daylighi is breaking and even though there is some wind today I have to get out and fill my bait tanks with bunker and finger mullet so i am ready for the weekend.  

September 25, Eels, eels, eels, at least they don't need as much attention as the shedder crabs, but I've got them. I got a delivery and they are just about perfect bait eels. For once I am happy to be able to lower my price on something. New eel prices will be $1.00 each , $10.00 per dozen and $60.00 per hundred. I am loaded up so there is no need to make special orders or call ahead for availability, I have them. If you are a charter captain, or just an avid fisherman and want to get together with friends for larger quantities please call and I may be able to give you a even better wholesale price. By the way I do still have some of those live shedder crabs is stock, so it that is your favorite weakfish bait I should have them in stock for at least another week or two.
    Speaking of weakfish, it just keeps getting better and better. The vast quatity of bait is keeping them in the back bays and tight to te beaches. Anyone fishing live bait is catching them. and big ones. If we can avoid major storms for the next few weeks the fishing should surpass that of two years ago when some fishermen actually caught their limits with landing nets when schools of weakfish exploded on baitfish on the surface alongside their boats. I have reports that they are even sucking down surface poppers on the beaches which is unusual for weakfish to get that aggressive. At the moment they are feeding fast on the schools of mullet, but when the mullet run ends they will turn on to spearing and the fin-s fish will come into their own and thats when the lighted docks will really turn on.
    Weakfish aren't the only game in town We weighed in a 12 pound flounder Saturday caught drifting minnow and squid off Harrah's and though it wasn't too calm there were lots of fluke caught outside. Stripers continue to improve. Harry Rabiger and Paul Steelman have continued their nocturnal habits to get them pounding on their poppers. Friday Bill Lake had them biting the baby bunker, but blamed his line on busting off two larger fish while bringing in only a slot fish. The linesiders are really filling up fast on the quantity of food available so you have to be on the water in the right place when they feed to have a chance to catch them. Bob Scull has been electric motoring under the Ocean City bridges and told me a cow slammed him and while trying to stop it from going under the pilings he straightened a 5/0 Gamagatsu hook.  That would have to be a big fish.

September 20,  Yesterday was wet and windy so not much happened.  I got some paper work done and did some buying so I a restocked with cast nets so you can catch your own bait, but even the new load has been going fast.  Today was very busy, but I didn't get any reports from the flip side.  I've been trying t get  my tanks ready to hold 10,000 eels and am getting close.  I really can't believe that the crabbers are still bringing in shedder crabs so I'll still be loaded up through the weekend and probably the end of the   month. I got information on a couple tournaments today.  The Harold's Club 5th annual Trash Fish Tournament Goes off this Sunday and it is quite a party.  This is pretty late notice so if you want to do something different this is your chance.  If you are a striper fisherman the Absecon Saltwater Sportsman's Club has announced their three day tournament  for October 20th thru October 23rd.  Complete information on both available on the tournament page. .  The weatherman is giving us a great report for the weekend so you better get ready to fish, I'm ready with what you need.

From: "katalena" <katalena@jersey.net>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject: weakfish
Date: Monday, September 18, 2000 7:27 PM

September 18, Had a great day near Broad creek,16 weakfish using live bunker.

September 18,  Just a quick note to thank everyone who stopped by for the sale and even though I can't give you the special pricing every day I will be fully stocked for the entire striper season which is turning on better every day.  The weekend was great fishing even if a little windy, but it looks to be getting even better.  It looks as though Gordon which was classified a hurricane a couple hours will completely peter out and not affect our weather.  The mullett are getting thicker everyday in the back bay and any cold snap should put them on the beach in phenominal numbers.  I've been cast netting them almost every day and have plenty in my tanks including some true corncobs.  I am getting a big load of eels this week and I'm sure I'll be able to offer lower prices this year than I have in the past.  I just have to wait and see if the quality and size of the eels is as good as the supplier claims.  I should be announcing pricing later this week.  For volume buyers I should be the lowest around.  Now  have to get kids to school and thestore open so I'll just leave you these e-mail reports.

David,

Thanks for a great website. I found your URL in
the Press's want ads.

I'm looking for a 17' (approximately) skiff/bay boat.
I've got a new 40horse Suzuki to push with. If you know
of any of your customers that have something like that
for sale, could you give them my phone number? Thanks.

Andy Quinn 264-8652

September 12,  Striper time is here!  Now that I've got your attention, it is definately time to start fishing.  Anyway we had the most beautiful weekend imaginable.  I guess to make up for some of the rain and mucky weather we had in July and August.  What made it even better is that the fish are here and cooperating splendidly.  If we can just hang onto this kind of weather we will see a fantastic fall.  As i mentioned, the stripers are the big news.  Every day more and more customers are discovering the pleasures of plugging the sod banks and comming up with fish regularly.  Not just shorts, but honest big keepers like the one in this picture of Rusty Russell caught in the very early am Saturday.   Bill Heller even raised fish Friday afternoon on the top of the tide in the daylight, so you don't have to be out in the dark to find them.  One thing for sure is that they have a lot of bait to choose from so you have to do well to get them to bite.   I've had lots of reports from the surf in front of A.C. giving up bass which always happens this time of year.  The bat is really starting to pile up at Harrah's Dock under the lights at night and I had a visit from the world record striper  fisherman Al Mc Renolds who said that big weakfish are harrassing the mullet and can be caught so for an easy night fishing trip get over there.  If the fishing takes off like two years ago you won't even be able to find a place on the dock so give it a try soon. 
    How thick are the weakfish, well they have been following the schools of bait right up int Absecon Creek and three pounders are being caught right off the bulkhead .  The best fishing has been with the live bunker of a close immitation like the Gag's Mr. Bunker. Remember all the tackle is on sal this week at 25% off regular low prices so take advantage and stock up, because when the blitz is own I'll be stocked up, but don't look for a discount.

September 6,  I never did get back with a pre-Labor Day report, but the weatherman screwed up again.   He kept looking for rain and we had three of the most beautiful fishing days on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  Very light winds, yes a few clouds, but pleasant temperatures made it a great time for anyone who made their way out.  If anything made the back bay fishing difficult it was the abundance of bait in the water.  The crabs are shedding extremely heavy for september, so this keeps the weakfish fat and happy.  Bait fish make the water look like boiling soup.  Spearing, bunker and mullet are thicker than I have ever seen them.  Bluefish are boiling everywhere.   I got out myself and really only did some family boating.  Monday however I did stop in Little Bay and casted to breaking bluefish with my brother and nephew.   We caught all we wanted for dinner and I had a couple nice lures cut off because of my refusal to put on a wire leader.  However I did pickup a fat three pound weakfish in the shallow waters hunting with the bluefish.  That one hit a Rebel Windcheaters.   I just got a report that the first of the cold snap got the mullet moving and the big weakfish had them piled up at Harrah's dock.  It appears that this may be the year of super night fishing under the lights.  Mullet shaped plugs or plastics may work, but sometimes the fish get picky and you may need fresh bait with a cast net.

    I have my bait tanks full of mullett including some really nice corncobs.  I hope to have thdm alive right thru the big mullet run which should be starting shortly. 

I finally got complete information about boat storage and winterizing posted ,  If you own a boat and keep it in the Greater Atlantic City area I would appreciate you looking over the information and giving me chance to take care of it this winter check out information here "storage"

From: "Tom W" <Absecon1@dandy.net>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject:
Date: Saturday, September 02, 2000 2:54 PM

We picked up some bunker, shot out to my striper hangout. They were hanging out somewhere else today. First bait in the water , and before I could bait my line, Nick hit a doormat on the head with his bait. Just another day in the bay..The Redman

From: <CMeili120@aol.com>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject: Fishing the East
Date: Tuesday, September 05, 2000 8:57 PM

Just saw fishing the east. Well first off, congrats on the large fluke. That
was a pretty nice size fish. But just to clear something up-The large fish Bo
had was not a skate, but it was a large Cownose Ray. I've caught some before,
and they can acually pull the boat around. Got some nice croakers, small
weaks, and blues off Margate yesterday, so it seems as though outside is
getting better each day

August 30, Another month is comming to an end and I still haven't figgured how to get enough reports posted.   anyway the days are getting shorter and now is the time the real fishing starts to take off so I've really got to get my fingers to the keyboard.  There have been loads of fish caught and I admit that I've been slow to post pictures, but I do have some new ones up, take a look "pictures" I've been trying to get the rest of the page together and you can check out a few of the new "links" on the visitors link page.  I've also been getting a new listing of fall fishing tournaments and hope you have time to enter some check out the list at the "tournaments page".

  On the fishing front I don't know how things can get much better. The bait continues to pour into the inlets filling the back bays and estuaries. The creek here in Absecon is literally a soup boiling with bunker, mullet, spearing, spots and who knows what else. I don't know why more big fish aren't caught actually in Absecon Creek, but I did see some big bunker showers last night as some sizable predator was scaring the schools through the surface. Last night I managed to find a school of mullet without any bunker around and got my tanks filled up so I will be sure to have plenty of mullet and bunker for the weekend. Last friday Redman took some Bunker and Mullet for a swim and added four stripers to the pile of weakfish they produced. If the sea bass and little critters are driving you crazy I really would suggest giving the live bait route a try. Shedder Crabs still will put big numbers of weakfish in the boat, but are targets for all the little bait stealers in the bay. The Croakers seem to get more numerous by the day on the outside scene. if you want to target fluke you may have to go to super sizes baits to discourage the little guys from biting. If you do want to target croakers i suggest you impose your own size limits and bag limits so you are not needlessly killing fish you have no desire to clean or more than you will eat and eventually end up wasting. I hope to get at least one specific report out before the Labor Day Weekend, s until then tight lines and good fishing.

August 24,  I can't believe that I let so long go between reports again, but the weather finally broke, the fishing is great ad I've been to buzy to find time to sit down at the keyboard.   For now I'm going to just make this very short and post a few letters and reports I have recieved. A couple quick notes.  Offshore fluke fishing is really picking up if you can get a bait between the croakers.  The weakfish continue to dominate the back bay action, they are under the bluefish you see busting the surface.  Try a fast sinking lure and get ahead of the school to have better odds at hooking up with a   weakfish.  Live bait is really comming into its own.  Break out the live wells and cast nets and have a ball with bunker, mullet or spots.  There are still plenty of fluke in the back, work edges to the deep water to get a better ods at keepers.   be ready to pick thru lots of shorts and sea bass further back in the bay.  I hope to expand on all of this shortly.  Keep checking back and send in your reports.

From: "Tom W" <Absecon1@dandy.net>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject: Feeling Lucky
Date: Sunday, August 20, 2000 8:13 PM
Hey Dave,
I didn't get out Friday or Saturday since the family went camping. Sunday, we returned ,unpacked , and about 2 PM I felt lucky so I picked up 6 shedders and hit my favorite weakfish drift..2 drifts and I caught 2 flounders , legal but not much more so I tossed em back .
On my 3rd drift , pole in left hand, pole in right and one on the floor, a fish of unknown magnitude snaped the tip of the 3rd pole ( of course) so hard the reel end bounced up off the boat, and with a second yank ,it flew clear over the side and gone in less than 3 seconds. " Son-ofa-bitch" echoed off the marshes several times cause I said it more than once. I finished
the drift ,started again, pole in left, and pole in right, and picked up a dancer on my left. Boated the weakfish, and instantly the other line started to dance. I reeled it in, another weakfish, and it had a line wrapped around it going down beneath the surface. Yes , it was my 3rd pole. The good one you sold me 2 months ago.
To top the trip off, on my way in, I passed a school of blues chasing baitfish out by the Brig. bridge. Several casts with a popper ,and I had 3 in the boat before everyone and their grandmother honed their boats in on the action.
Just another day in the bay..The Redman
From: "John Aschenbach" <johnwa@erols.com>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject: Invasion of Sea Bass
Date: Tuesday, August 22, 2000 2:52 PM
Hey Dave, I went out to the Atlantic City inlet and my dad and I caught over 85 small Sea Bass! We also caught 2 keeper flounder, but they just took over the waterways.
Thanks for your time -Pete A.

From: "robert freedman" <goldwingman@netzero.net>
To: <david@abseconbay.com>
Subject: fishing the east with bo higby
Date: Wednesday, August 23, 2000 11:42 AM
Dear Dave,
We really have a lot of laughs watching bo-zo fish!
Does he have a clue of what he is doing?
He is always fast to measure the fish. And wants to keep everything!
Is he that hungry? What a clown!
Some of the fish that he keeps are very close to legal size. We are keeping a close eye on him!
When he fishes with you , we love when you don't give him a chance even to measure the
fish. You just throw then back! That's Great!
Keep throwing them back Dave! Don't let bo-zo keep any!
We are even thinking about writing his sponser and telling them that we will boycott them if
bo don't start releasing fish.
Great talking to you Dave, and remember, KEEP THROWING THEM BACK ON BO-ZO!
have a good one!

Back Bay Fisherman

August 17,  Finally we have had a couple nice days and today is near perfect.  I've already heard some really good reports from yesterday and this morning.  Flounder are available from the back bay as far out as you want to go.  The tog boat brought back a full catch of flounder from in front of harrahs caught on the upcomming tide this morning.  No giant fish but all the 16 to 17 inch  fish they wanted.  they didn't even bother looking for weakfish. 

August 14,  The rain continues, but the weatherman promises light at the end of the tunnel and a better day tomorrow.  Yesterday must have one of the slowest days since March, except possiibly for today.  The only boat going out of here did manage to bring back some real nice fluke caught in front of Harrahs and a few nice weakfish caught on Hopkins under birds mixed with bluefish to 4 pounds, so it is ovious that the rain isn't chasing away the fish.  Hopefully I will see much more activity tomorrow.  I've been getting the store ready for better weather and I've begun ordering new stock for the upcomming Fall Striper Season Kick Off Sale  I hope you will stop by and take advantage of the 25% off from September 7 thru 17th.  Check out details HERE

August 13,  It's a rainy Sunday so the store is finally calm here in the store giving me time to get a report up.  I had really hoped for a good weather weekend because all week long the fishing has been super hot.  Just about any fish you wat to catch is available.   Weak fish have been the stars of the show.  With the great influx of bait into the bays the Weakfish have really started to pursue them and get agressive.  With many still days this week the water surface has been constantly disturbed by clouds of spearing launching skyward to avoid the chopping teeth of bluefish and the grabbing jaws of weakfish.  Blues are present from the smallest snappers to some medium sized fighters to about three or four pounds.  These miniture choppers will attack most metal lures as well as bucktails and shiny, noisy plugs.  The best seems to be the rattletrap as this attracts attacks from weakfish more consistantly than any other lure.   The new Gags Mr. Bunker has been working well too.  Since most of these fish are feeding almost exclusively on spearing I believe the effectiveness of the rattletrap on the weakfish is that it resembles the snapper blues that are also feeding in the melee.   What easier time to outwit a meal than when it is concentrating on feeding himself.     I also have heard stories of packs of stripers attacking the baits.   This all goes to tell you not to by pass any school of breaking fish until you give a few casts and if you get results don't quit until you have caught enough fish to truly identify the makeup of the school.
    I see a few fishermen who are really catching the weakfish.  They are anchoring up in known feeding areas and playing the waiting game with floating jig heads and shedder crab on long leaders from the sinker.  It appears that the weakfish just can't stand not eating the waiting baits when they wander past.  This is a very passive kind of fishing, but extremely effective, and I've seen the results on the cleaning table which are very impressive.  I've seen James pile the table with a limit which looks like cordwood with the smallest over two pounds and some I know to go over five. 
    With the influx of baitfish I've finally got a reliable supply of peanut bunker and have started to catch mullet.  There is also a good number of spots in Absecon Creek and I would have to assume in al the other back bay areas.  The spots are very good baits and can be caught on bloodworm and a very small hook, they are very hardy  so if you have a live well and access to some small fry fishermen get them on down to your nearest dock and keep them entertained catching spots so you can turn the spots into tiderunner weakfish. 
    I've got a great supply of Betts Tyzak cast nets from four to eight feet which are very functional and reasonablely priced for the average fishermen.   I'm also ordering a supply of their Super Pro nets in six, eight , and ten feet.   These are 1/2" mesh nets with 1 1/4lbs. of lead per foot which makes them super fast sinkers  which you need to catch the mullet.  If you are fishing the lights at night  I always keep the 1/4" mesh nets in stock so you can catch the spearing that  are the prefered food under the lights. For now I'm going to try and catch up on some more updates on the page and I hope I can keep the reports comming.   Please e-mail me yours.
    Heres a request from a good customer and page contributer. Try to help him out.

From: "thomas caterina" <mvptomcat@dellnet.com>
To: "David Showell" <A-BAY@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: 17' Carolina Skiff
Date: Saturday, August 12, 2000 6:30 PM

Hey Dave, Looking for a used 17' Carolina Skiff. I'm prepared to make a reasonable offer. Any information provided would be appreciated. Thomas Caterina

  August 7, We've come through another weekend with what would have to be very mixed results on the fishing scene. If you want to load up with flounder and you like fishing in the ocean now is the time to do it. The action on the AC reef and other outside spots is really heating up. From what I'm hearing the hot fishing is all on the far outside so don't bother stopping on the inshore spots except for exploratory fishing. Plan on making the run at least six miles and preferably to the spots over ten. It wont be long before the inshore spots fill with weakfish, fluke and croakers, it just happened yet.
The Absecon Saltwater Sportsman fishing club held their annual family fishing tournament yesterday and there were a lot of happy young fishemen weighing in fish here at Absecon Bay Sportsman Center. The numbers of fish weren't that high but everyone seemed to catch something. I even managed to get out with a while with my crew of my wife Judy and my daughter Kimberly. We got out at mid-tide and had to work to find fish. Finally I managed to hook a two pound weakfish by the 175 marker, which my daughter fought to the boat. Then we snuck up the Gull Island Slough into Reed's Bay where a lone boat was working. There Kimberly started off with atough fight on a two pound flounder, we quickly added several more to the catch that went back into the water just missing the legal mark. We watched the other boat constantly boating fish as well, some of which went overboard and a few were ovioulsy keepers. That shows that the fluke definately haven't left the bay , but you may have to do some looking to find them. I was getting the best activity way back in the bay where the depth was six to eight feet. Back at the marina and weigh in all the participating kids got trophys and a great lunch of hotdogs and hamburgers fed the rest of the families. If you are interested in being part of a great group of fishermen with good fishin tournaments and related activities, this club is a good one. They meet twice a month during the fishing season and once a month in the winter at Absecon American Legion currently they meet the second and fourth monday fo the month. If you are interested I will be glad to give you further info. Keep in touch as I took some pictures of the gathering and will soon post them to a page for viewing. now it's back to work and hopefully some fishing.

August 4,  So many things keep happening I just can't seem to keep up with the reports.  At the present things have slowed up while we are waiting out a storm bringing on the change of a high pressure area which should give us a beautiful weekend.  i'm back in the shedder crab buisness as they have started to get a few locally as well as the crabs available from delaware bay.  Unless we ae faced with some unforseeable disaster I should have shedders all weekend.  I also am getting out softshells, so if you want a good eating treat I'll be glad to set you up with whatever you need.  On the remainder of the bait scene I did extremely well catching minnows today, I'm loaded up with all I could possibly need and all were caught with 1/2 inch mesh traps so they are all big ones.   While waiting for the tide to come up high enough to pick up my traps I caught three nice 3 lb weakfish on two drifts thru Steelman's Thorofare starting at the mouth of Broad Creek and ending just before the Island .  This action was taking place just about half tide rizing on shedder crab with an electric chicken bass assassin and on pearl; white culprit worms.  That was all I needed for dinner so I ran out to the ICW at marker 178 and was watching thousands of segulls working over bait and bluefish in the area known as the Oasis.  I took a few minutes to cast off the bank and caught another Weakfish on a pink and gold rattletrap.  That one went back in the water so it all made for a good trip.  I got just got word that the schools of fish under the birds are mixed with weakfish and blues to 3 lb which is a size to put up a good fight. So whatever you do whenever you come upon a bunch of birds pounding bait don't pass them up until you at least catch a few fish.
    I've got a couple e-mail reports to put up and I would really like to have a lot more.  I also had a phone call about  new local fishing report web page, and I had hoped to have the information  to post here, but I haven't recieved it so far, and I also didn't bother to write down the web address because I expected it by e-mail. Maybe I'll have it tomorrow

From: "wilsonnfamily Donna" <wilsonnfamily@email.msn.com>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject: fishing reports
Date: Sunday, July 30, 2000 9:36 PM

Hello Dave, great job with your site. It is great to see you put so much time in for your customers. And if anybody reads this let me tell you Dave has the best selection of jig heads worms and live bait (fresh) around worth the trip. Dave we on my boat TNT with my borther inlaw and sister in the Mica Club Tourny. We worked hard out in front of the bridge for two days to land a 4.0, 2.9, 4.1, 3.8, for the tourny. Can't beleive I lost third place by 2/10 of an ounce. But S_ _ _ happens. The fish were taken bucktail. The bigger fish hit at the top of the tide. Thanks again Jeff Wilson

.From: "wilsonnfamily Donna" <wilsonnfamily@email.msn.com>
To: <reports@abseconbay.com>
Subject: Flatties
Date: Friday, August 04, 2000 10:34 AM

Hello dave I was out yesterday between the rain drops and managed to take so nice flatties home for dinner. I picked the fish up in front of Little Panama. The fish ranged from 17 to my largest to 22 inches. Then head for the barn out of the down poor. Catch ya late TNT

July 28, We got thru a very rainy Wednesday, and I hope you noticed I got a lot more work done on the page even if I didn't get to this page.  Some weather reports not withstanding we should see a very good weekend.  The sun is out now and even though there weren't a lot of customers yesterday, there were a few and I got the report back that the weakfish and flounders were still biting in Steelman's Thorofare.  Except for the rain day all the reports I've had had been extremely good.  The Sunshine Foundation Tournament last weekend showed off some extremely large fluke, all caught aroung the fish factory.   Some people will the this as the end of the fluke fishing, while I would like to put in my belief that it is really just another step in some of the best fishing of the season. You can find fluke from the extreme back bays , And fish to as deep as you want out in the ocean.  In fact this is the only time you can actually be reasonably sure to catch a fluke off the bulkhead in absecon creek.  On the idea that the fluke are making a run out of the inlets and into the ocean, i would propose this.  Next time you are fishing look around and see how many boats are around and how many hooks are covering the prime bottom, then make a calculation of how many fish leave the bay in the live wells and coolers of the surrounding fleet.  Multiply this by seven days a week and you will get an idea of what happens to the back bay fluke population.  Luckily there is a constant influx of ocean fish which gives us a relatively constant supply of fish.   Because we constantly release smaller fish the number of shorts increases while the number of keepers stays or realatively steady or even at times decreases.  Remember all our fisheries are finite resourses, renewable yes, but finite and it doesn't mater if they are caught by hook and line or nets, when they are taken out of the water they are gone.
    As to the work I've done on the page you should have seen the tide tables on the home page and the link to the tide tables for the rest of the year.  I hope that helps with your trip planning.  I also added the old map from the NOAA page which I remarked to show some of my favorite hot spots.  I've also added a page with links to some of my favorite message boards which are filled with information.  I hope you will keep comming back as I ad to the page and I hope you will contribute by adding your reports., Mail Reports

July 25,  I can't believe another week has flown by, I really don't want these to be weekly reports so I really have to spend more time.  I would like to thank my customers who have been giving me hell for being so lax.  Lately the fishing has either been fantastic or so-so depending upon who you ask.  I believe that is due to it being summertime and the living is easy, even for the Porgys and Bass.  In other words there is plenty of food out there for everything to eat so you have to really make sure you give them what they want when they want it.  It can be so simple as a bait or even a color change with a bait which will make all the difference.  Saturday morning there was a great weakfish bite at the second set of can bouys heading out of absecon Channel.  Lots of three and four pound fish were caught before the number of boats gathering got to the point that the fish couldn't stand it. 
    for numbers of fish the area around the Sewerage plant and the mouth of Duck Thorofare have been full of weakfish which are either shorts or barley legal.   Keep at it and you can pick out some good fish with them.  The same thing goes for Main Marsh Thorofare.  Get there early, before the crowds to get on the good fish, but if you have a boat load of kids there is plenty of action.  Last weekend I was out of crabs for Saturday afternoon and Sundy, but I finally got a good load yesterday and have been promised more for tomorrow.  If I can get some more Friday I might even have some softshells fot the weekend.  It will be good not to run out of bait shedders.  You can be reasonably confident I'll have plenty for the weekend. 
    I just got word of a lot of fluke being caught off the Brigantine Jetty so if you like to cast from the beach this should be a good place.  For that mater fluke are moving into the inlet area and around the beaches as the Coast Guard Station has been producing well on the flats adjacent. 

July 16, 9 am.  Look I made it two days in a row.  Yesterday the weatherman lied and a lot of folks missed a great fishing day.  I figured the weather would get better and took advantage to get some minnow traps out.  after dropping them off I did a little fishing but things started slow.  the water was a bit murky from the rain so I figured that didn't help.  I ended up in Josh's Slough on the south side of Absecon Bay and hoped to catch a flounder or two for dinner.  I caught one nice weakfish on a tomato worm and crab, but didn't find the flounders.  I figured to run back in and get something else done, but I had been watching gulls picking on the surface at the very end of the slough.  I ran up and casted a blue and chrome rattle trap I had on another rod and got bumped on the first cast.  The next one hooked up and I was into solid three to four pound weakfish.  I drifted down the slough and caught five fish and lost a nice one .  I seemed to loosde them, and the water cleared up rapidly.   Finally I found the concentration, but in the clearer water they didn't hit so hard and I missed a lot of light taps.  I probably could have anchored up and tried changing lures and caught alot more, but since I was supposedly just on a "quick "trip I kept up with the same rattle trap, though I did catch one on a power bait I had on my bottom rod.  Anyway by just doing some investigationg I had ten solid weakfish in an hour and a half.  What it shows it that don't pass up any sign you come across and a coupel minutes doing something out of the oridenary can pay off big.   As the weakfish continue to fill up the bays and live bait becomes more prevalant minnow lures both hard and soft will become better fish catchers. 
    The other fishermen who ignored the weatherman's warning also seemed to do very well yesterday.  I guess that teaches us to look out the window before you give up hope for a fishing day. 
    Myself I had to make the run to Port Norris, but I did get enough shedder crabs to make sure I have a couple days worth.  If my crabbers will just bring me more today I will be much more comfortable for the upcomming week.  However I don't expect a problem.

July 15, 6 am. A rainy Saturday! no one likes that, especially someone in the bait and tackl;e buisness, but it happens and I guess I better take advantage of it by at least updating this web page. so much has happened on the fishing scene that I don't really even know where to start. As a whole fishing in the Absecon, Atlantic City, Brigantine area has been fantastic. Back Bay fishing seems to get better every day. I guess the best way to do this is go species by species. The weakfishing has been fantastic all spring and early summer, but the last week or so in addition to the big tide runners there has been a great influx of smaller fish from 14" to 16". If you specialize in bagging the big bruisers you may consider these guys bait stealers, but if you have a boat full of kids and just want to put them on some fun fish you can't do much better. Shedder crab is still the sure bet for catching weakfish, but I am very sorry to admit that even I haven't been able to keep a supply in stock all the time. I figured I had a sure supply locked in from Port Norris, but it seems that the crabs just aren't shedding according to the demand. I am hoping that the crabbers catch enough today to warrent making a trip over this afternoon. If there is I will be back about 4 0'clock with a load and should be in good shape for Sunday fishing if the weather straightens out.
As far as where to fish it seems like all the regular holes are holding at least a few fish. I fished thursday and found the best concentration at Black Point drifting right past the #162 marker in the deepest water possible. I was marking lots of fish and we were hooking up almost constantly with smaller fish. The biggest fish I saw all day followed a 14" fish up to the boat. The biggest fish we actually boated came from Steelman's throfare just off the bend past the island on the Absecon Bay side. I've had reports of lots of big fish in Broad Creek at the mouth of Steelmans and in reeds bay at the mouth of the Slough which enters the inland waterway about the 172 marker, I just didn't find any. Another hot spot has been south on the waterway from Absecon Channel in front of the sewerage plant. The whole at the mouth of Duck Thorofare has been full of fish, but it is another place you will find lots of small ones.
Flounder wise It doesn't get much better. The end of the stakes in Absecon continues to be hot as well as the deeper fingers which branch out like Josh's Slough on the South side of Absecon Bay and the north slough that goes past the osprey nest. Expect to cull through a lot of shorts in these areas, butyou will find quality fish, especially at the top of the tide and the first hour going out. I had a report of a very quick limit on thursday morning in Mankiller Bay which is always a good bet with all the lumps and rough bottom found there if you find a concentrastion you can do good real fast. The best spot I found for fluke on Thursday was the drop off where Steelman's meets Broad Creek. We were mostly looking for weakfish, but brought in some nice ones. If I had been working squid and minnows on a very short drift I'm sure we could have scored very well. The waterway at Black Point and Meadow Cut was bringing flounders to our weakfish jigs and would have been a good place to drift flounder baits. Outside seems to be picking up on the fluke and fishing the tire reef areas is bringing a mixed bag of fluke and some real nice sea bass. Everyone outside fishing the reef areas seems to be commenting on lots of skates and sharks, but they are still bringing in plenty of fish. I just can't see running out there when you have such super fishing here in the back bays.
There are also a pretty good number of croakers in the back bays We caught one on a weakfish jig thursday and a neighboring boat had a pair. I also had a customer bring in s couple to show me he had caught in Venice Park off the bank alonf with a three pound weakfish his son caught. If you want some good eating anchoring up with a chum pot and worms may fill you a bucket of good eating.
Striped Bass continue to be the under utilized species, even though the number of customers buying poppers and pl;ugs incresases daily it is still pretty much an unknown fishery. Those in the know say it has turned into a strictly nocturnal game, but the nights are calm and warm and the greenheads are all asleep so it makes the back bays a gfreat place to be. Pick the high tide and fish the sod banks where there are good drop offs and good ambush points and it seems like black surface poppers get the most action. For now I'm going to try to get some new pictures posted. I am going to try get back to the reports a lot more often so thank you for sticking by and don't give up I'll have the information here. Please take the time to e-mail me your reports.

July 3, 5am   I just went thru a whole "Lost Week" as work is catching up with me and every time I sat down at the keyboard I either got a call to "fix" some magined problem in the store or just closed my eyes and couldn't make any words come out.  Any way I got thru phase one of the 4th of July extra long weekend and it was buzy!  Lots of boaters are taking advantage of the new ramp and so far I haven't heard of many conflicts, but I'm sure they are occuring however the improvements have been an outstanding success so I would definately invite you to come on down and give it a try.  The fishing has been excellent as well.
    Early in the week the wind made fishing tough, but for those who stuck it out there were plenty of fish, particulary weakfish to make thewind worth while.   Friday Saturday and Sunday brought perfect weather and with the exception of an outstanding amount of boat traffic, there was excellent fishing.  Absecon, Reeds Bay, Broad Creek brought boaters lots of fluke and weakfish including a 6 1/2 pound fluke for Jim  Elliot yesterday .  This long stringy "Horse hair" grass is making fishing difficult in some places and some times especially this opast week with spring tides brought on by the full moon.  I expect the grass situation to improve asthe tides moderate this week as we are in the middle of the moon phase.  My advise is to keep moving until you find a spot that the wind and tide will allow you to fish effectively . 
    Another good report came from Great Bay where large numbers of weakfish of all sizes have moved in.  The deep holes in the Mouth of the Mullica have been producing large fish in limit quantities .  I have heard from several sourses that the shallower areas particulary the area by the clam lots off Oyster Creek are literally paved with fish, but many may be shorts or minimal keepers.  This entire area is shedder crab land so if you want to catch weakfish in good numbers you should use the shedders.  If you want to perfect yur tecnique you can also catch them on a variety of rubber baits such as the Fin-s or salt water assassin.  Go with the smallest jig head you can throw and let it just float above the bottom.  You may not get quite the numbers you will with shedder, but you will have plenty and the satisfaction of fooling the fish. 
    Bait wise I'm holding my own in the store so you will find all the shedders, minnows, eels, bloodworms you could want.  The great fluke fishing has been taking a toll on my minnow tanks so I have to get out now to catch another load.   Finally the water has warmed up and I have been getting minnows as big as I have ever seen so if you are a minnow fisherman stop by and I know you will be happy with the quality of the baits I have in stock today.  The shedder crabs are also in good supply.  I hope to ad to this report later today, but it may be tough, please bear with me in this buzy season and I'll keep you updated.

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