<b>Port Elizabeth</b>

Not a lot happened with fishing, said Sharon from <b>The Girls Place Bait & Tackle</b>. Weather was rough most of the past week. Striped bass catches were reported here and there, from creeks and back bays. Those seemed to be resident stripers, not migrators. Water was warm for the fall migration of stripers to swim south to most of the state, except maybe North Jersey. But weather was turning cooler this week. White perch were reeled from brackish rivers and creeks. Customers still crabbed, and caught. One crabber reported a good catch. A few shedder crabs were still stocked for bait. Bloodworms and shedders were popular bait. Customers bought more eels than before, usually a sign that more are trying for stripers than before. Eels are popular for stripers and catfish. The Girls Place, located on Route 47, just after Route 55 ends, carries a large supply of bait and tackle, and is the long, one-story, yellow building on the right. It’s on the way to the bay.

<b>Fortescue</b>

A trip sailed Sunday aboard the <b>Salt Talk</b>, fishing Delaware Bay inshore, but seas were rough, and fewer fish bit than before, Capt. Howard said. A few bluefish, croakers and spots were hooked. Previously, more of those fish and also weakfish were reeled aboard from that area. The angling previously was good, and Howard couldn’t know whether Sunday’s seas caused the slower catches. He heard about no striped bass recently. Any stripers locally would be resident fish, because the water was too warm for the season’s migrating stripers to arrive. The ocean was 68 degrees, and when the migration is in, water is usually 55 or 57 degrees. The Salt Talk used to be a Fortescue party boat. Howard sold that vessel, and the new Salt Talk is a charter boat for up to four passengers.

<b>Cape May</b>

Bluefish 10 to 12 inches and sometimes striped bass were eased from the surf from the ocean to Delaware Bay, said Nick from <b>Hands Too Bait & Tackle</b>. Cape May is at the confluence of the two, and the stripers included an occasional 30-inch keeper. Lures or mullet were fished. Rough weather often kept anglers from fishing last week. But blackfish also chomped along jetties. Sometimes sheepshead and triggerfish did, because water was warm. Cooler weather this week might begin to drop the water temperature.

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