<b>Port Elizabeth</b>

Lots of throwback striped bass seemed to swim Delaware Bay, said Sharon from <b>The Girls Place Bait & Tackle</b>. A bait netter found five or six stripers to 26 inches in the nets in the southern bay. Fishing for bigger stripers seemed to begin picking up farther north. A few were reported from Brigantine’s surf. White perch could be angled in brackish rivers and creeks like Maurice River. But anglers were mostly interested in stripers. Boaters had little opportunity to boat the bay last week because of weather. Wind blew, and sometimes rain fell. 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>

The <b>Salt Talk</b> competed in an annual striped bass tournament Saturday on Delaware Bay, Capt. Howard said. Last year in the event, only one striper, a 30-incher, was entered. The fish won, of course. Although stripers used to migrate to the bay by this time of season, the migration’s been later in recent years. So Howard was skeptical about whether any stripers big enough to be entered would be hooked this year. Small, throwback stripers school the bay this time of season, and they seem to be younger bass, yet to migrate, that swim into the bay from rivers surrounding the bay, for whatever reasons. They’re not the large, mature stripers that migrate from north sometime in fall. But a few stripers, three throwbacks, were angled on the Salt Talk during the contest, and other boaters entered a few large. A 47-incher won, Howard believed. Fortescue’s party boats only angled throwbacks, he thought. The Salt Talk fished at the Elbow, and two of the boat’s stripers were bucktailed, and one was caught on bunker. Howard knew about another charter boat that landed three keepers on bucktails at a lighthouse on the bay recently. Howard didn’t know the bay’s temperature, but the water seemed to be getting chilly. 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>

Anglers waited for the migration of striped bass to arrive along the local coast, said Nick from <b>Hands Too Bait & Tackle</b>. But a few keeper stripers began to be reported from the surf from the ocean to Delaware Bay in town. Blackfish snapped along jetties in the ocean and bay surf. The blackfish bag limit will be raised to six beginning Thursday, from the current limit of one. Resident stripers, including a couple of keepers, gave up catches in the back bay on bunker or clams during chumming. Or they were hooked on lures during early mornings or other low-light hours. The lures often included top-waters, swim shads or sand-eel types. For ocean boaters, sea bass fishing was best. Baits stocked include fresh bunker when available, salted clams, eels and green crabs.

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