Bluefish,Bluefish,Bluefish and some Bonito thrown in are being caught every day by the Charter Fleet at South Jersey Marina. Not far off the beach at South Shoal and 4FB buoy there is a huge school of these fish. On a regular basis our boats are returning with coolers full of these mid-size fighters.The offshore fishery is producing a nice quantity of Bluefin Tuna.They range in size anywhere from 50 to 95 pounds. "Top Shelf", "Slammer", "Hooked Up", "Big Game", "Noreaster" and "Cape Queen" all had Bluefin this week. We still haven't seen the arrival of Yellowfin in any large quantity. But rest assured, they're not too far away and they will soon be jumping in the boat in the weeks to come.

Charlie

Flounder fishing has taken a new twist at South Jersey Marina. One of our Charter Captains, Bill Bittmann of the "Top Shelf" has started conducting kayak fishing guides in our back waters. He landed 3 nice fish on 6/27 averaging about 3 pounds each. "Slammer" reported a large number of good size Bluefish out at the lightship and on 6/29 had his charter limit out (15 per man). We also had a report of several Thresher Shark about 4 miles off our Cape May Inlet. The "Olivia Grace" caught one there that weighed 132 pounds. July marks the unofficial start of our offshore fishing season. In addition to several successful tournaments being held at our marina, we expect to see a banner year for charter boats to catch Tuna, Dolphin and Marlin in the weeks to come.

Charlie

Inshore:
  Several boats had success inshore this week. The Fiesta caught over 50 good sized Sea Bass and several Bluefish on most of their 4-hour PartyBoat trips. 
  The Charter Boat "Big Game" also had a nice catch on Wednesday of last week. He had a total of 13 keeper Flounders and a few small Bluefish.
They were caught just northeast of the Old Grounds.
  On Saturday, "Common Sense" had 18 and "Slammer" had 22 keeper Sea Bass caught at the Cape May Reef.
  Offshore:
 On Saturday, "Big Game" ventured off to the southern canyons and caught 3 nice Yellow-fin Tuna and 3 Dolphin(Mahi-Mahi). The heaviest Dolphin weighed 11.6
pounds and was our first weighed in.
  We also had an unusual catch this week. On Friday, Janice Starn aboard the "Infiltrator" weighed-in an 11.66 pound Wreck Fish (Polyprion americanus). We don't see many of those around Cape May since their habitat is usually on the western side of the British Isles or up into the North Sea. It must have been quite a long swim to get here.

Charlie Langan
South Jersey Marina

The week in Cape May sure started out slow thanks to the weather. the Charter boats at South Jersey Marina were finally able to get out by Thursday the 14th..
Cap't. Sowerby on the Hooked Up found the Drumfish in the Delaware Bay and brought home 10 nice sized fish. On Friday The Cape Queen weighed a 90 pound Mako Shark. On Saturday the Top Shelf caught 47 Sea Bass out over a wreck. The best news is that the Raging Bull went to the Baltimore Canyon and caught our first Yellowfin Tuna at 52 pounds. They also had a White Marlin hooked but failed to to get it in for release. Another boat sighted a Blue Marlin in that same area.
This warm water in the Canyons at this early date is promising news for this year's offshore fisheries. Stay tuned.....

Charlie

The 27th Annual Shark Tournament was held this past weekend at South Jersey Marina. A record number of boats participated (223) and a record purse was
available ($255,930) for the various categories of winners. The first day was extremely successful....there were 43 shark weighed that day. At
that point, the following boats were among those on the leader board:

Reel Games   590 Lb. Thresher Shark
Miss Ellie   280 Lb. Mako Shark
Nyse-ly Done 231 Lb. Blue Shark

By the end of the second day, the following boats were the final winners:

The charter fleet at South Jersey Marina continues to fish for Striped Bass, Drumfish and Tautog. Several boats came in with nice catches this week. One of the highlights was a 14.9 Striper and a 3.7 Tautog caught by Mike Kohler, Jr. (age 8) of Lansdale, Pa. on the Noreaster II.On 5/11/07 the Noreaster II limited out (24 fish) on
Tautog. Several of which were nice sized fish.

November 16, 2006
 
   WHO said the offshore fishing season is over? Get a load of this overnight trip on 11/14 aboard the Charter Boat Hooked Up II. They ventured down to the Washington Canyon from South Jersey Marina where they had the following results:
22 Tuna kept (Yellowfin and Longfin)
5 Swordfish all lost
20 other big tuna broken off.
1 224 pound Bluefin Tuna
   The members of the charter trip were obviously extremely satisfied with their catch. The Bluefin was caught by Chris Begley of Folsom, NJ and it was a marina record-breaking fish.. The big tuna, as well as all of the other fish were caught chunking or jigging.
 

November 6, 2006

  Fifty boats participated in the 6Th. Annual American Striper Association Tournament hosted by South Jersey Marina in Cape May. It was a two-day program held on 11/4 & 11/5,2006 and the weather (for a change) cooperated.....and so did the fish. Each boat was allowed to only weigh-in one qualified fish per day.
  A total of 49 Stripers were weighed during the event and 10 winners were presented to the top Junior Angler, Lady Angler and the heaviest fish winners.
  The Grand Prize for a 57.4 Striper went to "Cuttin Thru" owned by Stuart Fishman of Woodbury, NJ. Not only was it a tournament winner, it also set a record for the Marina. Mr. Ken Wente, tournament Director said a good time was had by all and next year promises to be even bigger and better. Information and schedules can be seen on www.fishasa.com

  Charlie Langan
  Charter Fishing Coordinator
  South Jersey Marina

October 5, 2006
Our fleet continues to be plagued with high winds and heavy seas and this weekend is forecasted for more of the same. Weather permitting (3-4 days a week), we are still fishing for tuna with good success rates.
    For example, on Saturday 9/30 the Noreaster II caught 10 Yellow-fin Tuna and a nice Swordfish (68.5 lbs.) on an overnight trip to the Canyons. On Sunday, 10/1 the Hooked Up ventured off on an overnight trip and came home with 7 Yellow-fin and several nice size Dolphin.

    On Wednesday, 10/4 we saw Slammer bring home a Swordfish, 4 nice Yellow-fin and a Dolphin after his 24 hour offshore trip.

   Sea Bass, Weakfish and Bluefish are still plentiful on our inshore trips to various wrecks and reefs.

September 22, 2006

Our report is rather brief again. The offshore fishing was less than spectacular this week. Captain Lechner on the "Slammer" went overnight on Friday 9/15 and caught 22 Dolphin and a 62 pound Wahoo on the inside of the Baltimore Canyon. Inshore activity was dominated by Captain Bittmann on the Top Shelf. He found a wreck that produced 160 Black Sea Bass. Most of them were a real nice size.

Charlie Langan
Charter Coordinator

August 29, 2006

The Charter Fleet at South Jersey Marina wasover shadowed this past week by the Mid-Atlantic $500,000 Tournament. A record number of entrants (176) between Cape May and Ocean City,MD competed for a record amount of prize money ($1,998,150.00). As you might expect, there were several money winners thanks to the 1st., 2nd. & 3rd. places of White Marlin, Blue Marlin and Yellow-fin Tuna as well as single prizes for Wahoo, Dolphin and other categories. Listed below are some of the top prize winners;
  88  Pound White Marlin   Uncle "T"  $803,415
  722 Pound Blue Marlin   Quiet Storm $137,450
  184 Pound Yellow-fin  Tuna Sea Wolf $255,294

 Needless to say, there were a lot of happy faces at the awards banquet on Friday evening. For the full details and photos of our tournament, please go to our website; www.ma500.com.

There WAS what I consider the CATCH OF THE WEEK made by the charter boat Noreaster II. A 177 pound Blue-fin Tuna was caught and weighed-in by John Linnington of Cape May. As you can see by the picture attached, it was a huge fish falling only one pound shy of breaking South Jersey Marina's all time high weight of 178 pounds for a blue-fin, posted in 1994.

  Charlie Langan
  Fishing Coordinator
  South Jersey Marina

August 16, 2006

The offshore fishing has been productive whenever we can get away from the dock. Friday and Saturday of last week and Tuesday of this week were "blow-out
 days".
 On Thursday 8/9 two boats; Big Game and Slammer had identical catch reports. They both were in the Baltimore Canyon and they both released a White Marlin. As a side bonus they also caught several Dolphin. On Sunday 8/13 Jen & Tonic caught a 56.5 pound Yellowfin Tuna and 10 Dolphin, one of which weighed 17.5 pounds. Big Game on the same day had 2 Long Fin Tunas and several Dolphin.

 The inshore fishing is providing many Bluefish, Bonito and Croakers. No one comes home from an inshore trip with an empty cooler.

Charlie Langan.
Charter Coordinator
South Jersey Marina

The Charter Boats at South Jersey Marina are quite active these days. On a daily basis most of the fleet are out fishing for the big ones.

 Inshore:
Bonito, Bluefish and Mackerel are still being trolled up at or near the 5 Fathom Bank about 10 miles off of Cape May. Top Shelf had a 7 pound King Mackerel today (8/2.) In the Delaware Bay Croakers have arrived andare being caught in large numbers.

Offshore:
Bluefin Tuna in the 90-100 pound class are being weighed in at our marina almost every day. Hooked Up, Top Shelf and Slammer all had 2 beautiful on more than one occasion this week. Chunking near the Hambone seems to be the most productive.

Charlie Langan
Charter Coordinator
South Jersey Marina

July 25-26, 2006
Due to Tropical Storm Beryl, there were no Charter Boats out of South Jersy Marina fishing for four days this week.

On Monday 7/24, we managed to get out into the Delaware Bay where we found nice size Croakers. On Tuesday, Slammer, Top Shelf and Noreaster II all had  major catches (50-80 fish) of Bonito, Bluefish and Mackerel near the 5 Fathom Bank.  The Hooked Up brought in 2 Blue Fin Tuna and a Yellow Fin from the Hambone on an overnight trip.

The very next day 7/26, Hooked Up went back out to his hotspot and brought in a 141 lb. Bluefin, a smaller Bluefin and 2 Yellowfin Tunas. The  picture says it all.
 

July 13, 2006
The Charter Fleet at S.J.Marina concentrated on inshore fishing this week, primarily because we were inundated with Bonito and Bluefish at the 5 Fathom Bank. The boats that fished there had so many fish they were releasing as many as 50 fish a trip because they had more than enough to bring home. To give you an idea of the success rate, see the following:

Big Game 7/6 33 fish
Top Shelf 7/7 69 fish
Noreaster II 7/8 49 fish
Top Shelf 7/8 95 fish
Slammer 7/8 103 fish
Big Game 7/10 97 fish

In the offshore group we had Top Shelf bring in 3 Yellowfin Tuna from the Baltimore Canyon.

-Charlie

The offshore fishing came alive this week also. On July 1,  Cap't. Bill Bittmann on the Top Shelf had a 17 pound Dolphin. Two days later on 7/3 Bill went to the Baltimore Canyon and caught 6 Yellow-fin Tuna the largest was 43 pounds (picture attached). The Hooked Up I and Hooked Up II set off to the southern fishing grounds and each came in with Blue-fin Tuna. One was 113 pounds and the other was 100 pounds (on the right). To sum it all up...it's safe to say that our season has begun and fishing should continue to be great for the balance of the season. Get your charter reservations in early.

June 30, 2006

Our report week started out on Friday 6/23 with bad weather that only got worse. By Tuesday 6/27 we had gale force winds, small craft advisories and no Charter Boats leaving the dock. Wednesday finally showed signs of improvement and some boats ventured out. Most caught Sea Bass and Flounder in limited quantities. The Noreaster II decided to troll that day and brought in 13 Bonito, 12 Bluefish and a real nice 7 pound King Mackeral which made the vacationing Laurie Bennett and family quite happy.

- Charlie

May 25, 2006
"DRUMS ALONG THE DELAWARE"....and the beat goes on. Charter boats at South Jersey Marina set out for Drumfish almost every day this week and had success, whether it be in the evening or during the day. The fish that were brought in all ranged in the 40-60 pound class with an occasional 70+ pounder. The fish seemed to have relocated from the Delaware side to the east shore. Places like the Pin Top and the sloughs were among the so-called "hot spots". Cape May Lady did very well last weekend.(photo)

We had another nice surprise this week; the Noreaster II weighed in a 10 pound Flounder. It was caught at Brown Shoal using squid for bait. Sea Bass on the wrecks and reefs are also being caught. Top Shelf had a nice bag (65 fish of the 2 pound class)



 

May 19, 2006

   The Charter Boats out of South Jersey Marina continue to have great success with the Drumfish season. They seem to have the best luck in the late afternoon or evening. In fact, the Big Game with Captain Joe Pritchard at the helm on 5/13 had seven big ones including one just over 80 pounds. The very next night he caught 14 Drumfish in the 40-60 pound class.

On Thursday, Slammer weighed a 55 pound Drum while Top Shelf caught five with the heaviest being 67 pounds. The Striped bass are still in our waters this week as well. Noreaster II, for example had a group bring in 4 real nice fish between 16 & 23 pounds.
 

- Charlie Langan
South Jersey Marina

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