NJ: With summer fading, September makes for better fishing

Here we are into September after a summer that went all too fast. There are some interesting events that will take place plus the fact that the fishing during September has to be rated among the best of the year. The weather is great, with warm days and cool nights taking the place of the blistering heat of the past summer. We got off easy as Hurricane Katrina visited the United States. It only caused some days to be lost for fishermen as the brunt of Katrina's remains stayed well to the west of us.

This weekend looks great and there should be no damage done to the fishing prospects. If a major storm hits sometime when the fish are thinking about leaving, it will hasten their departure. For instance, as the weakfish school up in mid-October, prior to heading out, a major disturbance will see them get out in a hurry. At this time of year this scenario does not take place.

One upcoming event is the 2005 Kid's Fishing Contest, sponsored by the Gloucester County Parks and Recreation and the Sportsman's Outpost. The date is Saturday, Sept. 10, and the location is the Scotland Run Park/Wilson Lake. The fishing gets underway at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 11:30 a.m. This contest is for kids 18-years-of-age and younger and big trophies and prizes will be awarded to the winners. There will be two divisions, boating and non-boating, with three age categories in each division. Keep in mind that all anglers 16 and older must have a New Jersey Fishing License. According to Lou at the Outpost, previous registration is not needed, as you sign up the morning of the contest right at the lake.

As usual, the event will be of interest to all members of the sportsman's family, as all of the events of past years will be duplicated, including the fishing contest, black powder demonstrations, hunting dog demonstrations, plus a host of exhibits by sportsman's organizations and sport shops. And, all is free and will be held rain or shine, with shine preferred.

If you applied for your bonus tags in the lottery section of the New Jersey Striped Bass Trophy Program, you should have received yours by now. According to Karen Hershey, spokesperson for the DEP, the tags were mailed out last Friday and she predicts that if you have not received yours as yet, your chances of getting one are just about zero. These bonus cards are non-transferable, as each one has the persons name and number on it. These cards are good through the end of the year and what kind of a program, if any, in 2006 has not yet been determined, according to Hershey.

Talk about the luck of the draw, my wife, Rachel, and I both applied for permits in the lottery. She received hers but I lost out. That means that in order to get a bonus bass, Rachel must be on the trip.

Before Tuesday and Wednesday, when no boats were out in Delaware Bay, the croaker action was about the same as in past weeks but there was a definite upsurge on the weakfish action. Many of the marinas reported weakfish limits for small boaters and some of the charterboats did likewise.

The areas around the white stakes off Fortescue saw a lot of weakfish being hooked. In addition, the waters in the vicinity of the 6 buoy produced as did the locations near Bug Light and the Twenty-Foot-Slough.

Getting shedder crab has been a problem on occasion, so a call ahead, especially on weekends, is advisable. A fine substitute is spot. There are lots of spot throughout the bay and they can be caught by using a small (No. 8) hook with a tiny portion of bloodworms or squid. They are filleted and strips used either on a plain hook or on a floater. Many anglers report the use of a green floater not only gets more weakfish, but keeps it away from the horde of small smooth dogfish that are all over the bay.

Along the coast those visiting the Old Grounds are doing well on fluke, when the weather allows. Weaks and croakers are all along the beachfront from the surf to one mile out. Some seabass are on tap and their numbers should improve as the water cools.

Surf fishermen are still hitting lots of kingfish plus some croakers. Meanwhile, striped bass are hitting plugs and clams in the back waters. Blues are offshore as well and up north they are on tap both day and night, seven days a week for the party boat crowd. [org pub nj.com by Ralph Knisell]