One of the promising developments in the first part of the improving fishing season is what looks to be the return of decent catches of weakfish.
The Press Fishing Contest has received five entries, which is probably already more than the last two seasons combined.
The heaviest weakfish weigh-in so far is a 7.81-pounder caught by Egg Harbor City resident Skip Compton. It was entered into the Senior Division at Dolfin Dock in Somers Point. It was caught May 21 with a yellow and white bucktail with purple worm in the back bays of Margate.
Other hefty weakfish entered - Joe Craner of Northfield with a 6.54 fish caught off Drag Island between Somers Point and Ocean City and certified at Dolfin; Gary Goll of Cape May Court House at 6.05 caught at the 8th Street jetty in Avalon on May 25 and weighed at Moran's Dockside in Avalon; Paul Dailey of Pine Hill at 4 pounds, 10 ounces caught in Absecon Bay on Tuesday and certified at Up The Creek Marina in Absecon.
You can only keep one fish, minimum 13 inches, so the stale joke is that they all limited out.
One of the long-time weakfish hot spots is Mullica River. Violet Meyer at Chestnut Neck Boat Yard in Port Republic said the early returns are better than they have been for at least three years. She said Friday that the usual weakfish spots such as Deep Point and Doctors Point in the Mullica have produced "lots of big fish."
As usual, shedder crab is the best bait. Meyer said the best time is high water or early morning.
Incidentally, apologies to all shedder crabs. They were misidentified as green crab in this column Tuesday when describing a one-day out-of-state bait-buying trip from Dolfin Dock by Joan and Rob Barrett.
Mike Hughes has seen a number of 4- to 6-pound weakfish at Budd's Bait and Tackle in Cape May, and he had a hint of a rumor of a 13-pounder that was not confirmed. Hughes said kingfish, croaker and weakfish are mixed together in the surf at Alexander beach in Cape May, and they are biting on bloodworm, shedder and even night-crawlers.
There seem to be lots of 3- to 5-pound summer flounder throughout the area. Another old-fashioned doormat was caught, and again the women are topping the leaderboard.
Howard Sefton got a call 8 p.m. Thursday - after closing Capt. Howard's Bait and Tackle in Egg Harbor City - from a very excited Kimberly Hackney of Hammonton. Sefton opened the store and Hackney walked in with a flounder that weighed an even 7 pounds and was 26 inches in length. Hackney caught it in Absecon Bay with what she described as a freshwater rod with light line and a minnow. Basic and effective.
She was fishing with Raymond Acevedo of Hammonton, who, oh by the way, picked off a 3-pound flounder.
The heaviest flounder entered into The Press Fishing Contest to date is a 10-3 pounder caught May 18 by Nancy Tregnan of Brigantine. And to add to the theme: Candy Jankowski of Marmora has been leading the way at Frank's Boat Rentals in Strathmere with keepers that went 18, 19, 20, 20 and 20 inches caught over Memorial Day weekend.
Other keepers reported recently include the first of the season by 87-year-old Tony Pagano of Cardiff. It happened May 17 on the Duke of Fluke back-bay partyboat docked in Somers Point.
Duke Capt. Brook Koeneke said it was 18 inches in length and weighed 2.3 pounds. Koeneke also reported a 4.5-pound flounder for a 14-year-old from Deptford.
Rolland Reeve of Avalon picked a 5.8-pound flounder out of Paddy's Hole, one of the best flounder spots inside Townsend Inlet.
In addition to the weakfish, Dailey caught a 4.6-pound flounder. Joe LoPane at Up The Creek said he was drifting near the Brigantine Bridge in Absecon Inlet and caught both the flounder and weakfish with a minnow.
The new fishing area at the Somers Point-Ocean City causeway bridge is a cool place and it looks like it can only get better as more people learn about it.
Brian Lee, a mechanic from Clementon, has fished it four times.
On Thursday, he pulled a 21-inch keeper flounder over the rails, and earlier he caught two. He was using a plain hook with minnows for bait at high water and the outgoing tide.
He was there with 7-year-old Andy and 8-year-old Aaron Villafana and mom, Dana, of Somers Point.
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Mike Shepherd is the retired sports editor of The Press. His Shep on Fishing column and Shep's Hot Spot appear Tuesdays and Saturdays in the sports section. Call 609-350-0388 or email
sheponfishing@yahoo.com.
You can also hear Shep's on-air fishing reports Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 6:05 a.m., 9:45 a.m. and 7:05 p.m. on WOND 1400 AM and on our website: PressofAtlanticCity.com
