<b>Port Elizabeth</b>

Friends boated kingfish, weakfish and blues, a good catch, at Bug Light, said Sharon from <b>The Girls Place Bait & Tackle</b>. The kings were abundant and good-sized, and the anglers released the weaks, but landed some sizeable ones. Fish including weaks remained in the bay. Not a lot was heard about angling during the weekend in winds Saturday and forecasts for rains Sunday, though not much rains fell. But fish including weaks bit last week, and netters currently had no difficulty catching weaks. Large, migrating striped bass could begin to arrive in the bay by the third week of October. Sharon’s caught them that early, and the fish showed up later in recent years, but one never knows. Stripers that were probably younger, non-migrating stripers were already caught farther north sometimes. The fish began getting active in cooler waters, apparently, and anglers in the know landed them. When migrating stripers enter the bay, boaters will fish chunks of bunker for them. Fresh bunker is stocked. Customers crabbed, and the blueclaws were probably around. Crabs should begin to move toward the bay from the creeks and ponds, because of cooling waters. They winter in the bay, burrowing into the bottom. Shedder crabs became a lot more difficult to stock. Crabs stop shedding as the season cools.  The Girls Place, located on Route 47, just after Route 55 ends, stocks a large supply of baits and tackle. It’s the long, one-story, yellow building on the right, with plenty of parking, including for trailered boats.

<b>Newport</b>

Crabbing was wrapped up for the season during the weekend at <b>Beaver Dam Boat Rentals</b>, Linda said. Catches were “down,” she said, because of cool weather, and the shop wasn’t even opened Sunday, because of forecasts for cold and rains. Catches were slower than expected toward the end of the season, but the sizes of the blueclaws was phenomenal, and the rest of the season turned out excellent crabbing. Was a good year, and Linda and crew thank crabbers. Though crabbing from the shop’s rental boats will be closed for the season, canoe and kayak rentals will remain available by appointment, and autumn is a great time to paddle scenic Oranokin Creek, running past the shop. The boat launch will remain open for duck hunting, and turkey check ins will be open. Crabbing will become available again on the weekend before Memorial Day, and the shop will be open earlier for canoeing and kayaking, bait and supplies, and environmental days for groups like schools and scouts. Give a call.  <a href="http://www.crabulousnj.com" target="_blank">Visit Beaver Dam’s Web site</a>.

<b>Fortescue</b>

The party boat <b>Salt Talk</b> will fish for striped bass this season if the migration swims in, Capt. Howard said. The season was early for stripers, and waters would need to cool. But cooler weather that began this week will drop bay temps. Fortesue Creek was in the low 70s in past days. Weakfish, blues and other fish like spots that the fleet had fished for at places like the Punk Grounds seemed to thin out in the past week. Boaters still found some, but trips on vessels from Fortescue began fishing at the lighthouses for catches including blackfish and small black drum. On the Salt Talk, charters are available, and open-boat trips will resume daily if the striper migration shows up.

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