Eastern Marine Fishing Report ~ 11/06/09

Halloween has traditionally been the kick-off to fall Striper season in the Delaware Bay and surrounding area. It’s from this time forward that anglers start to gear up for the schools of Striped Bass and Bluefish returning from their summer migrations to the New England States. Both varieties of fish inhabit the Delaware Bay and seashore around this time of the year. The arrival date is determined by water temperature, water clarity, wind direction and available food sources. Whether your drifting the bay or hitting the beach for a day of surf fishing, this is a prime time of the year to get tangled up with some of those big girls we only see now and in the spring time of the year.

I myself would have thought that we had a couple of more weeks before we started to get solid reports of big Striped Bass and Slammer Bluefish with consistency. Boy, was I wrong! Here at Eastern Marine we have been receiving information on catches of Striped Bass and Bluefish since October 22nd. I know it’s hard to speculate but I would have to say that old double whammy Nor’easter put these fish here just a little bit earlier than usual. So lets take advantage of our target species early arrival and get hooked up on some quality fish.

Locations that produced Striped Bass were as far north as Ship John Light House to as far south as the Cape May Rips. The largest concentration of fish in the 40″-50″ length was reported in the 60′ slough just east of the 14 Foot Light House on the Jersey side of the channel. Anglers out of Port Norris New Jersey had a banner day at the 60′ on Thursday according to Eastern Marine patron Andrew McCoy. “Not just me, everybody that pulled up to the ramp was pulling fish out of their coolers that taped out to 48 inches. “It was unbelievable,” said McCoy! Live spot is of course the premium bait for Striped Bass, but with the limited supply of spot in the area fresh cut bunker and live eels have produced the majority of fish. Here at Eastern Marine we just received a shipment of Delaware River Eels and our tailor cut bunker chunks in an 8oz package are a perfect fix for the angler on the go!

According to George Long, Bluefish have made appearances at the Indian River Inlet and at 3R’s Road on the surf. George said they were the big Slammer Blues ranging 8-12 lbs and measuring to 30 inches. Bucktails and spoons on the retrieve worked at Indian River. Fresh frozen mullet from this fall’s run worked on the surf for those that had it. We have some of the prettiest fresh frozen fall run finger mullet here at Eastern Marine you will find, I promise you, come check us out!

The Tautog bite is also in high gear. Toggers have reported great trips to inshore wrecks, reef sites in the bay and the Outer Wall especially. Customers here at Eastern said they were able to cull through with the bite being so intense and average weights of keeper tog were in the 5-7 lb range. Many patrons I talked to say they were being conscious to target white chins (male tautog) as opposed to females due to the concerns about the stability of our tog fishery. Green Crabs and Sand Fleas as usual were the bait among toggers. Well the big linsided lady’s are here fellas, with some toothy Slammers and a pounding Tog bite thrown into the mix. Until next time tight lines and stay safe!