Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report - 6/6/14

Offshore Ocean:

Tuna have arrived in force over the last couple of weeks in our local canyons. Bluefins have been reported from the Hudson down to the Baltimore Canyon. Yellowfins are being caught out deeper in 100+ fathoms. The bluefins should be in the midshore 20 and 30 fathom lumps as well. With the nice marine weather forecasted for this weekend we should see anglers connecting on tuna both in the canyons and inshore.

Shark fishing is still very good. Makos and threshers are both being caught. The makos have been found from the 20 and 30 fathom line out to the deep of the canyons. Threshers are being caught from right off the beach out to 30 fathoms.

Tile fishing is still very good. Many boats are catching their keeper bluefin tuna then switching to tile fishing to put some more tasty fish in the boat.


Inshore Ocean:

Sea Bass fishing opened 2 weeks ago. Reports have been slow to fair, with some limit catches mixed in. Flounder fishing at the offshore wrecks and reefs is getting under way. We should see some big flatties being brought in by anglers targeting them over deep structure.

Striper fishing off the New Jersey coast has still been very good. Trolling and live lining are the two most popular ways of catching these big striped bass. Thresher sharks will also be feeding on the same bunker schools as the stripers. Don't be surprised to hook into one of these big sharks within sight of land!


Chesapeake Bay:

For the most part trollers have downsized all of their trolling tackle to catch the smaller stripers that are all up and down the bay. Anglers are reporting good catches of over and under stripers from above the bay bridge down to the Potomac River and further south.

Bottom fishing in the lower and mid bay regions has been very good on both white perch and keeper sized croakers. Some spot have been caught as well but most reports are of bigger fish too large to live line.

Delaware Bay:

Anglers fishing for black drum found good success on big fish over the past two weeks. The popular spots on both the New Jersey and Delaware sides of the bay produced big fish. Fresh clams are the best bait when targeting these drum.

Croakers and sea trout are also being caught by anglers fishing the mid and lower bay areas. Clams, squid and peeler crab are all great baits for bottom fishing.

A few flounder have been caught throughout the bay. Fishing has generally been slow but some anglers have put decent catches together of keeper flounder.

One reason I believe flounder fishing has been off in the bay the last couple of years is the presence of big brown sharks in the bay. I do believe this healthy brown shark population is a good thing. They are a lot of fun to catch and can ware you out on light tackle, but why they are a protected species is confusing to me. I have personally never kept or eaten a brown shark (been illegal to do so for the last several years) but hearing from people who have (when it was legal to do so) they seem to be good table fare. And a limit of 1 per boat or 1 per person would certainly not hurt this extremely healthy population we have. From my own experiences and talking to others and reading different reports anglers catch large numbers of these big sharks almost every trip in the bay. Whether they are fishing for flounder, croakers, drum etc. these big sharks are all over the bay. I do think these sharks consume a large amount of smaller fish, flounder, sea trout, croakers etc and compete with the bigger fish, such as the big stipers and weakfish and if the population explodes anymore than it already has we will have a big problem.

Freshwater:

Anglers fishing local ponds and lakes are catching bass, crappies and pickeral. In the heat of the summer early in the morning and late in the evening are the best times to fish.

Catfish and perch are being caught in the Delaware River and freshwater tributaries of the Delaware and Chesapeake Bay.

Tight Lines,

Dave