There was some early morning activity this week on the North side of the Great Bay between Big Creek and the cut going into Osborne Island. Anglers cast small Hopkins type lures (3" long about 1 1/2 ounce) to Bluefish (1 1/2 pounders), Weakfish (just keepers) and Striped Bass(20-30"). Some of the time, birds were active in the area to indicate just where the fish were working. Last season, White Bucktail lures with Chartreuse Grubs caught the same working pods of fish. Then, it was in the mouth of Oyster Creek, Motts Creek, and along the banks from the Coast Guard Station to Little Sheepshead Creek(ocean side). Check these areas out too. Early morning or late evening is really the only time these pods of fish are worth chasing.

Crabbing in the Mystic Island lagoons has been rather well for many crabbers. Some people just don't seem to get a lot of crabs in their lagoons, but the majority of people agree that crabbing has been pretty good. If you have a small boat, head out a couple of hours before low tide to a mouth of a small creek. As the tide falls, the crabs leave the shallow creeks for safer deep water. If you're crabbing in one of these areas, and you stay past the low tide, you also have the possibility to catch the crabs as they return up the creeks. The legal size limit is 4 1/2" from a point to point measurement across the back shell of the crab, and a license is required for using commercial style traps.

Where are the Fluke? Good question. Anglers have been catching the Fluke this week just about all around the Great Bay. Specifically, drifting in the mouth of the Mullica River, around the clam stakes on the North West side of the Fish Factory, in the deeper water channel that runs past Capt. Mikes and Cape Horn Marinas, as well as the Grassy Channel area. Each area seems to produce Fluke a little differently. For example, the Stakes are the most active with mostly throwback size Fluke, while Grassy Channel is the best producer of larger Fluke, but not too many of them. Just ask Ernie Alburger, he will confirm that there are large Fluke in Grassy Channel after he weighed in his 8 pound 26 1/2" Fluke this week. Bob Mydosh weighed in a 7 lb. 2 ounce 25 1/4" Fluke from the Marshelder's Channel in Tuckerton Bay. Another interesting Fluke weigh-in came from Frank McMahon. He caught his 4 pound 21 1/2" Fluke on the Atomic Lump out on the ocean about 3/4 of a mile North East of the Little Egg Bell Buoy. Frank and his father were the first anglers to report a successful catch on the ocean.

The Bluefish are back at the Barnegat South Ridge. Break out the heavy tackle, gather up the chum and the Mackerel bait and go have a great time. Other smaller Bluefish were caught by anglers who were trolling small spoons between Little Egg Inlet and Absecon Inlet tight along the beach.

Weakfish hot spots are hard to come by. The most quantity of Weakfish are being caught in the mouth of the Mullica River. Larger fish are scattered around the bay with the best consistency of activity coming from Little Sheepshead Creek from sunset until dark. Most of the Weakfish in Little Sheepshead creek fish are being caught from land based anglers who are casting 1/4 ounce jig heads with several different colors of the Fin-S Fish lures. The pink, green speckled, and albino colors were the hot items this week. Largest Weakfish being reported are between 7 and 8 pounds and are from 25 to 28 inches in length.

Some anglers have inquired about bay activity for Kingfish and Blowfish. Early on, some of the Graveling Point surf anglers were reporting a catch of a Blowfish or Kingfish now and then. After the Bass fishing died off at Graveling Point, the Blowfish and Kingfish reports diminished. They just are not around the Great Bay area yet. Good news of the week is that it hasn't been too windy and the gnats weren't bad at all. However, the hot humid weather brought out the Green Flies in numbers. Be prepared to wear long pants this weekend or keep a can of bug spray handy.