Well the day after our last fishing report (July 2nd) my wife and I welcomed our first child into the world. Our baby boy and his mom are doing great, it has been crazy trying to keep up with the weekly reports, so I apologize for the delay. The good news is we have added another author to The Mid-Atlantic Sportsman to help keep up with all the weekly reports and daily posts as well as updating all the website pages. So look forward to seeing a brand new weekly fishing report every Monday on the site. And don't forget the South Jersey Sportsmen's Jamboree is taking place this coming Saturday (July 26th) at Banger's Sport Shop in Winslow, NJ. Come by and check out The Mid-Atlantic Sportsman table, mention this post and receive a free vinyl sticker for your car, truck, boat, tackle box etc. All the information about the event and the list of vendors can be found here - South Jersey Sportsmen's Jamboree!
Offshore Ocean:
The tuna bite seems to be up and down in the local canyons. The more northerly canyons such as the Hudson are producing more consistent catches of yellowfin, while the southern canyons around the Washington and Poormans are producing a good number of bigeyes on the troll along with some yellowfins.
Marlin fisherman are reporting fair to good action on whites with the occasional blue. This seems to be the case up and down the line with not one canyon producing much more than another. Finding the right water is the key to finding the good marlin bite.
Inshore bluefin fishing has been great the past 2 weeks. Anglers fishing the popular 20 and 30 fathom areas are catching good number of "over" and "under" bluefins. Some days it is hard to find the different sizes of fish as they school together in similar sizes, however, some anglers are lucky enough to come home with both their over's and under's
Mahi are also being caught in good numbers up and down the line, and can add good action when the tuna and marlin bites are sporadic. Not to mention they are one of the best fish to eat in our waters. Wahoo are also starting to be caught in more numbers. As the water warms even more and we get into August and September the wahoo bite should get better and better.
Inshore Ocean:
Flounder fishing has been good on the deep water wrecks and reef sites. Bucktails and strip baits are the most popular
There are still some big bluefish being caught on the 10 to 20 fathom lines.
Chesapeake Bay:
Striper fishing is still very good in the upper and mid bay areas. Trolling, chumming and live lining are all catching fish.
Bluefish are still being caught in decent numbers. All the techniques used to catch stripers will catch the bluefish as well. Be careful trolling soft plastics when blues are around you will lose a lot of tails. Spoons, tube lures and other hard baits are good trolling baits as they will catch both stripers and blues and get tore up as much from the bluefish.
Bottom fishing is still good up and down the bay. Croakers, spot and white perch are all being caught. Some puppy drum are being caught while bottom fishing further down the bay as well.
Crabbing has been better the past 2 weeks. Still not great, I wouldn't even call it good. Fair would be the best way to describe crabbing up and down the bay. Some crabbers are filling a bushel basket while most struggle to get a couple dozen for dinner. Hopefully things continue to improve.
Delaware Bay:
Flounder fishing has been very good the past two weeks. The popular mid and lower bay spots are all producing good catches of flounder. You have to weed through a good number of shorts to find some keepers, but there are keepers to be found. Strip baits, GULP! and minnows are the best baits for these flatties.
Bottom fishing for croakers has been good all over the bay. Sometimes it is hard to find big enough croakers worth keeping, but if you find some nice sized ones they do make very good table fare.
Still a lot of brown sharks around as well. Anglers are also catching a few very big sand tigers in the lower bay. Both sand tigers and brown sharks are protected species and are supposed to remain in the water at all times.
Freshwater:
Anglers fishing local ponds and lakes are finding good action on bass with some crappies and pickerel in the mix. Early mornings and evenings are the best times to catch these fish.
Tight Lines,
Dave
Hunting and Fishing in the Mid-Atlantic Region Reports, Reviews, Tips & Techniques about everything and anything hunting and fishing
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