Fishing report for the week of 6-26-17

Big Eye tuna like this 200-pounder have been showing up in the canyons. Photo by Capt Howard Bogan

​Fishing report for the week of 6-26-17

With local streams and the Lehigh River running high and slightly muddy in color, the best angling bets right now are at the shore. And for those who would like to try the sport, the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission has another Fish-For-Free Day on Tuesday, July 4 when a fishing license is not needed. But all fishing regulations still apply. 

Here is the latest fresh and saltwater fishing report from Bill Brinkman from Brinkman’s Bait & Tackle Shop in Philly: 

Over all the lower Delaware river reports have been far and few between. It seems that most guys have given up on the stripers other than the few guys fishing up at Trenton. These guys are still doing very well on fish 22 to 34 inches with live white perch and eels. Most anglers are drifting from the bridges down to where Route 29 comes to the river. Up at Yardley, fisherman with smaller live eels along the islands has been catching 5 to 8 stripers each morning. These fish have been 21 to 26 inches. And up in the wing dam at New Hope, a few guys have been fishing live eels in the flew catching 20 to 31-inch stripers. Smallmouth bass fishing really picked up before all this rain. JR has been catching 30 to 50 bass with live minnows and Zoom grubs. Charlie, wading at Point Pleasant, has been catching 8 to 12 fish with a walleye here and there. Kevin, up at the Water Gap, told me the shad bite is dead but smallmouth fishing in the fast water has been awesome. He has been catching 25 to 40 fish each trip out with grubs, tubes, spinners and top water lures. One fisherman at Narrowsburg has been doing great with smallies with a few walleyes mixed in. But this past week he picked up a 37-inch striper with a live shiner.

Saltwater fishing has been great all up and down the coast. Last week, good numbers of kingfish showed up from Wildwood up past Atlantic City. These fish are hitting bloodworms and fish bites. And in these same waters, fishing kingfish heads or whole smaller kingfish are catching some 5 to 7-foot brown sharks. Flounder fishing has been very good and the bigger fish are being caught from Shark River up and into the Raritan bay. Bucktails have been working the best. Another good spot for bigger flounder has been the old grounds and the Cape May reef. These anglers are using bigger bucktails with 6-inch gulp grubs and catching flounder 3-8 pounds. Everywhere else the flounder fishing has been good but most of the fish have been throwbacks. Back in Grassy Sounds, one fisherman picked up 35 fish without a keeper. But he did catch five nice weakfish 19 to 24 inches. There are some great stripers still being caught up in North Jersey. These guys have been fishing Mojo Rigs, umbrella rigs and bunker spoons. Mixed in have been some 6 to 12-pound bluefish. The porgy and sea bass fishing off New York and Massachusetts has still been very good fishing top and bottom rigs with clams and strip mackerel. I talked to one fisherman who was flounder fishing in the bays of Connecticut catching plenty of fish with very few keepers. He has been doing best with small bucktails, Gulp mullet or spearing. The few guys heading to the Chesapeake Bay have been perch fishing hoping for the spot run to start soon. The perch have been hitting bloodworms, Fish Bites and strip squid the best.

From New Jersey’s Fisherman Magazine comes this report:

Summer has arrived, and so has the shark season! This weekend, Mako Mania and Mako Fever should put a fine sheen along the surface from the Glory Hole to the Texas Tower and about everywhere in between; big makos have been reported in recent weeks too, from the pair of 537-pounders in this week’s print version of The Fisherman’s NJ/DE edition, to the monster 780-pounder brought in to Montauk, NY over the weekend. While you’re set into that thousand-yard stare and hoping to see a float disappear, keep in mind that trophy striper action inshore off Sandy Hook has indeed been “off the hook” in recent days with fish caught and released up to 57 pounds. Fluke action is heating up, and at least one true doormat has been registered in the South Jersey surf – break out the light bucktails and hit the beach for your chance to score a Dream Boat entry. For yellowfin and bigeye, best bet has been Poor Man’s Canyon of late – but don’t worry, there’s more fish to come. Summer has only begun, and we’re only getting started for the 2017 season!

Those wondering where all the giant stripers have gone, might want to look to the North Jersey coast for trophies like the 62.45-pounder for Capt. Rob Crocitto, or the 51-pounder for Stephen Germann on a trolled mojo. This week’s best trophy action has been from Long Branch to the Rocks, though stripers are still there for the taking in Central and South Jersey too, and plenty of bunker around for livelining opportunities as well. Fluke action has picked up significantly with the warming weather and increasing water temps; good bucktail action can be found in the South Jersey back bays as well as out along the beaches – party boats along the Raritan Bayshore are also doing well. 

---