Scott'sBait & Tackle
   Weekly Bulletin for
Thursday, July 1, 1999

A few anglers have asked whether the Spanish Mackerel and Bonito have shown up local to the Little Egg Inlet yet and the answer is no. I did hear one report about a few Spanish Mackerel being caught in the Longport area, so it is possible that we can be catching them regularly by next weekend.

Bluefishing activity has really dropped off. The only action has been by the Barnegat
Headboats and it's not as good fishing as it was before last weeks blow. The boats dump a lot of chum in the water and give the Bluefish a reason to stay in the area; they have food. When the weather soured and there was 5 days of hard wind blowing in a row, the boats weren't able to get out due to the rough seas and the northern migration of Bluefish just kept on going up the beach because there wasn't any bait to hold them in the area. It will take awhile before the fishing for blues becomes really hot again.

Erratic water temperatures around the Little Egg Inlet put a halt on the good Striper
action in the area near Little Sheepshead creek and the 120 marker pole in the Inland
Waterway. As far as anyone can tell, the fish just moved on up the beach.

Weakfish are either back in the Great Bay or they just decided to start feeding again.
There haven't been any reports of those six to ten pound Weakfish like we had earlier in the Spring, but anglers have been pretty satisfied with fish in the 18 to 20 inch range. Fishing at daybreak at the mouth of the Mullica River is the one of the most dependable time/places for weakfish activity in the Great Bay at this time of year. Shedders and Bloodworms are the bait choices that do the trick in the river. Grass Shrimp work real well in Marshelder Channel and the Coves(Roses & Parker) of Tuckerton Bay. Anglers have been pretty tight lipped about the action over there this past week.

Fluke are around again, hooray! There are plenty of small Fluke in the local bays which
helps make for a more interesting day and is a must for keeping the action going if you
have kids on board. Marshelder Channel is active with  the small Flatties, giving up a
keeper now and then as well. Reports have been coming in all week from anglers who are drifting any shallow water sandbar back into deep water from the Fish Factory right on out into the Little Egg Inlet near the 'F' buoy. When fishing the deeper water, anglers have had to abandon the light tackle shad darts and Fin-S lures. Rods, reels and rigs that allow a 3 to 5 ounce sinker are what is becoming more popular as anglers start to fish the deeper water. Spin and glow rigs are a great rig choice, since the rig comes with a large sinker snap ready for that heavier weight, yet the rig floats a little off the bottom and provides better bait visibility which means more hook-ups. Activity on the Little Egg Reef site has slowed as far as catching decent Fluke goes. If sharks and skates are your thing, then the reef site has all the action that you need. Better fishing has been reported up and down the beach in the 55 to 60 foot water depth range. Specifically, one report was good just outside the Atomic Lump area which is 3/4 of a mile East of the Little Egg Bell Buoy. On the ocean, the Top & Bottom setups are the hot rigs. The mylar or shiny tinsel type rigs look like Spearing or Sandeels and might give you an edge at catching more fish. Use the old squid and Minnow bait combo; it's what's working.