It appears the fish are getting bigger and the fishermen are getting smaller!
By Jim Bolton
It appears the fish are getting bigger and the fishermen are getting smaller!
Had a call from Sam Adams in Pitman to let me know his six year old son Sam had caught a 41 pound, 47 inch striper surf fishing off Long Beach Island with his grandpa Don Adams. It was weighed in at Jingles Bait and Tackle. Sam said it took him 20 minutes to land the fish.
This fish puts Sam in second place in the Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic.
Then I find out that fourteen year old Joey Semon of West Deptford comes in with a 55 pound, 7 ounce striper fishing with his dad Joe. They were trolling from Cape May up the beach when the fish hit. It is the biggest fish Joe ever had caught on his boat.
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A few other keeper stripers were reported up and down the beach so it appears the fall run has started.
Tautog are being reported all over the place. Surf, rock piles, inlets and back bays, tog are everywhere. Tog are in season to November 15th. Then from November 16th to December 31st with a 15 inch limit.
Sea bass season is in until December 31st with a 2.5 inch limit and appear quite plentiful up and down the coast.
Ken at Husted's Landing Marina said they had a 48 inch striper brought in by Shane Love of Woodstown last week.
Other than that, not much went on even though they had an Annual Specialist Richard Evans Memorial Tournament that raised $12,000 dollars.
But Ken said they are still doing great on perch in the creek.
Had a call from my old friend Mike Chiola of Millville. He wanted me to know he finally went fishing after 50 years. I use to try and get him to go years ago, but it never happened. And I remember he always loved fried perch.
Talked to Captain Mike Rothman of the Bonanza II out of Fortescue. He said they had been catching a lot of stripers - mostly small on Saturday. They had 35 stripers but only 5 keepers.
Jim Bolton is the outdoors columnist for the South Jersey Times. He can be reached at 856-313-9347 or 22 Arbutus Ave., Millville, NJ 08332.
