Striper fishing remains good at the mouth of Delaware Bay. Numerous big bass have been taken from deep water rips of The Valley by boaters drifting eels and spot. Trollers pulling Stretch 25+ and Bomber CD25 plugs on Overfalls also had success with rockfish. Chartreuse, gold and pink have been good colors. Bucktailers hooked fish too in shallower rips. Tipping jigs with Gulp! eels or Jerk Shads, or Skippyfish tails adds enticing action. Chopper blues ranging 8 to 12 pounds mingled with stripers, and pounced on offerings intended for the bass.
Several anglers reported releasing nice sized flounder that also grabbed striper baits. With cooling water temps, spiny dogfish have shown up. They've been particularly pesky at Overfalls, but not so much so between the deeper areas between 8 and 8A Buoys.
Last Saturday, Miss Kirstin returned with 4 rock to 22.1 pounds and a bluefish. The Pirate King had 5 bass to 22.4 pounds and a pair of big blues. Captain Ted himself caught a 28 pounder, part of the Indian's take of 7 quality stripers. Stanley Smith scored a 30.1 pound striper with an eel in The Valley. Jeff Griffin got a near citation 29.6 pound rock in the same locale. Brian Stephens and his crew trolled up a limit of 6 fish between 20 and 30 pounds at Overfalls. Catching was good during Sunday morning's flood tide. Capt "Mole" Barnes checked in with 4 bass, including his 17.8 pounder, a 25.4 pounder for Bob Persch, and Mark Swift's 26.7 pounder. Captain Vince's eelers aboard Miss Kirstin limited out with 10 fish between 18 and 20 pounds at Overfalls, and were back at the dock by 11:30 am. Bassers on Katy Did decked 10 rock to 29.8 pounds drifting eels and spot in The Valley. Robert Goracci got a 33.3 pound lunker aboard the Pirate King. On Monday, the Skipjack scored 7 stripers to 20 pounds and a slammer blue. Tuesday, Katy Did came back early with a limit of 8 to over 20 pounds while deploying spot and eels in The Valley. John Joe Kabino pulled a Cabo Sunset Stretch 25+ at Overfalls for his 34.2 pound trophy. Ron Rowles reeled in a 27 pounder and Bill Matthews managed a 19 pounder while drifting eels at 8B Buoy. Striper seekers on Grizzly got 9 keepers for the box and released 2 others. Joe Legrand landed a 29.25 pound linesider during a previous trip aboard the Grizzly. Wednesday, Skipjack Captain Chris Thurman showed 'em how it's done by putting a 34.3 pounder in the box. Bob Bessel boated a 27.1 pound bass on that same trip to The Valley.
Tautog fishing continued decent on days with good conditions. Strong currents and dirty water were problems following the Full Moon. The Walls and Ice Breakers still yielded tog, as did Bay reef sites. George Magaw checked in a 7.54 pound citation blackfish from the Outer Wall Sunday. Toggers on the Angler had nice catches Tuesday. Captain Carey had a great Wednesday of togging at the Ice Breakers aboard Grizzly. His fishermen landed 58 plump keepers, including a 10.25 pound citation specimen for "General Lee".