Not much was going on in the fishing world as Hurricane Earl went past and aimed for New York and New England.

Frank Jankowski at Frank's Boat Rentals in Strathemere was glad to have Friday off. He was catching up on all the "loose ends" he could not get to over the past several weeks. Other marina operators can no doubt identify.

Jankowski did not pull his rental boats, although he brought his trailer in to the marina just in case. He just put double lines on his own boat.

Jankowski said he expects it to be calm by this afternoon, and he'll be there early morning in case anyone shows up to rent a boat. He was getting requests for reservations for Sunday, indicating the Labor Day weekend won't be a total blowout.

They have been getting quite a variety in the back bays of Strathmere and Sea Isle City. Jankowski said flounder are still plentiful and still mostly small. Baby sea bass are thick. Bluefish, spot and croaker, and, no doubt, sea robin are all in the mix there.

Many of his rental-boats customers catch kingfish but don't know what they are so they don't keep them. When they get back to the dock, Jankowski educates them with a description and an illustration.

Crabbing is outstanding in back bays throughout the entire area, and inside Strathmere is no exception. Jankowski said the biggest score so far this season is 147 blueclaws by "serious" crabbers on a 6- to 7-hour trip, but numerous hauls of 20-30 are recorded on 4-hour trips.

He said Intracoastal markers 335-339 is the hot stretch of water for crabs and all the species of fish he's seen.

They pulled "20-some" boats at Ray Scott's Dock in Margate. Rachel Scott said eight or nine people helped get rentals and slip tenants' boats out of the water as a precaution.

Rachel said they were hunkering down, and it was desolate, dark and windy on the bay at mid-day Friday. They saw one boat racing across the water.

They too were optimistic about the rest of the weekend turning out nice. Rachel's mom, Robin, had a bait delivery so they would be all stocked up when the weather breaks.

Joan Barrett at Dolfin Dock in Somers Point said she and Rob were enjoying a "gift from Earl" with a day off before Labor Day. They opened for two minutes, she said, for a delivery of bloodworms.

Joan said they have a yard full of boats, too, because they pulled all but two. She said when she looks out her window all she can see is two 20-foot boats.

Bill Nickerson at Fin-Atics in Ocean City said Earl probably won't shake things up too much, so when the weather clears and conditons settle out, fishing is likely to come back pretty much the same as it was before.

Flounder hug the bottom on reefs, wrecks and inshore sloughs in the ocean in addition to inlets and back bays. They probably won't be bothered much by a rough ocean, Nickerson said.

Bluefish and croaker plus small weakfish were inshore, too.

Nickerson said Fin-Atics had a report from Monday and Tuesday that bluefin tuna crashed small bluefish at Table Top. A couple of anglers fishing for flounder watched but did not have any gear to throw at them.

Kingfish and spot were thick in the surf. When waves subside, surfcasters will be happy and surfers will not.

Flounder season is open today, Sunday and Monday but is closed beginning Tuesday in the state.

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Mike Shepherd is the retired sports editor of The Press. His Shep on Fishing column and Shep's Hot Spot appear Tuesday and Saturday in the sports section. Call 609-350-0388 or e-mail:

sheponfishing@yahoo.com

Inside: Link to the Tuna Stakes Overnight tournament website

Young anglers have really gotten into The Press Fishing Contest this year.

The Press presents a weekly bragging-rights certificate for best catch, and we are in the 15th week of that neat addition to the contest.

Brett Katzianer of Warring-ton, Pa., caught a 59-pound mahi last Saturday and entered it into the Youth Division at Jim's Bait and Tackle in Cape May, one of the sponsors of the contest. It was 66 inches in length.

That mahi crushes the old Youth Division record of 34-8 set by Tim Robeson of Swainton back in 1995, and takes the weekly prize. Youth Division entrants now have won five, or one-third, of the weekly Press Fishing Contest championships.

Katzianer is 14 years old and a student at Archbishop Wood High School in Warrington. He's kind of a young veteran because he fishes with his dad, Ed, on his boat Liquidity. They were fishing in 700 fathoms of water south of Baltimore Canyon.

Liquidity is entered in many offshore tournaments. In fact, the crew was in the Mid-Atlantic $500,000 last week, and if the mahi had been caught a couple days earlier it would have won the division.

Brett plays football and got today off from practice, so Friday they headed down to the Canyon Club in Cape May, where the boat was docked to go offshore today.

Katzianer entered his fish online and attached a photo at PressofAtlanticCity.com/fishingcontest.

There were a couple of other contenders for the week of Aug. 15-21.

Jim Breazeale of Seminole, Fla., caught a 77-pound bluefin tuna at Elephant Trunk. He weighed it at Moran's Dockside in Avalon. Steve Hadley of Egg Harbor City got a 7-11 flounder in Absecon Inlet. Capt. Howard's Bait and Tackle in EHC weighed it.

Another big flounder is on the way and should be a contender for this week's prize. John Gorczynski of Stratford caught a 10-pound, 15-ounce flounder Thursday at Townsends Inlet Reef off Avalon. Moran's weighed that one, too.

Around the area

Ocean conditions might affect fishing in the near future because of a series of tropical storms well offshore, although the weather report sounds great for the weekend. Back-bay fishing should be OK for the most part.

Noel Feliciano at One-Stop Bait and Tackle in Atlantic City said kingfish are biting along the newly built-up stretch of beach along the bay near the inside Longport jetty. Feliciano said kingfish, croaker and flounder are off the inlet Boardwalk in front of the Flagship at A.C.; plus a few kingfish move in to Vermont and Massachusetts avenue jetties at high water.

Dave Showell from Absecon Bay Sportsman Center said there are always flounder in the back bays. Plus, spot continue to be thick around his dock on Absecon Creek.

Tim Davis at Moran's reported triggerfish around the rocks in T.I. inlet and 2- to 3-pound blues in the bays.

Davis said Moran's leaderboard changed in bluefish. Matt Smart of Morris Plains caught an 11.27-pound blue Monday at Sea Isle Ridge with Jim Lutz on the partyboat Nev-R-Enuf that runs out of Avalon Sport Fishing Center.

Bob Connor, the Ventnor Fishing Pier correspondent, said they were catching a lot of small fish - spot and croaker, plus a few kingfish - Friday morning.

The Tuna Stakes Overnight tournament scheduled for this past week was postponed by weather, according to director Len Stroebel. It was rescheduled for Sept. 18-26, headquartered in Atlantic City and at Hoffman's Marina in Brielle. For details, call Stroebel at 609-377-0529 or visit PressofAtlanticCity.com/

sports for a link to the tournament's website.

Mike Shepherd is the retired sports editor of The Press. His Shep on Fishing column and Shep's Hot Spot appear Tuesdays and Saturdays in the sports sections and Thursdays in At The Shore. Call 609-350-0388 or e-mail:

sheponfishing@yahoo.com

Become a fan of Shep's on Facebook and he'll let you know when he files a daily update. Go to Facebook.com/PressofAC and look under favorite pages, or simply search for Mike Shepherd's Shep on Fishing in the Facebook search field.

We get even a little streak of nice weather and fishing seems to take off.

Inshore fishing has played a part.

Croaker have spread along the beaches and inshore to Ocean City and Atlantic City, and bigger flounder definitely have increased at the reefs and lumps.

Bill Nickerson at Fin-Atics in Ocean City said croaker and 5- to 7-pound flounder are in 17-40 feet of water off Townsends Inlet, at Ocean City and Great Egg reefs, and off well-known and easily recognized landmarks such as the Ferris wheel in Ocean City, Lucy The Elephant in Margate and Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.

Nickerson said spike weakfish are sometimes in the mix, and Brennan Marine in Somers Point reported sea bass.

Cape May Reef, plus Old Grounds and Reef 11 off Delaware, have a few more bigger fish. Frank Kohler of Cape May picked a 6.76-pound flounder at Cape May Reef, according to a report from Jim's Bait and Tackle in Cape May. Sterling Harbor Marina Bait and Tackle reported Frank Gregorie and crew of Medford limited out on flounder at Cape May Reef with the heaviest going 7 pounds.

Philadelphians John Nardini, Ron Aita and Mario Raffa go fishing in the Margate back bays just about every Tuesday. Robin Scott at Ray Scott's Dock in Margate said the downpour of last Tuesday did not stop them, and Aita came back with a 6-pounder.

Scott reported that it has been a while since the three have been out together because Nardini spent some time on the disabled list. They fish a lot around the Longport Bridge. They used to fish from the bridge and now take Scott's rental boat to virtually the same spot. They use Gulp shrimp and shrimp spray. They covered up with rain slickers and came back to the dock when the rain got real heavy last Tuesday but went back out when it let up. Scott said the rain did slow them up because they average three keepers a trip but got just the one.

And one of them called Monday to set up their regular trip for today.

Gerry Szutarski of Beverly picked up two pool winners while fishing on the Carolyn Ann III partyboat out of Barnegat Light. He got a 4.1-pounder Thursday afternoon and a 3.3-pounder Friday morning.

Fishing Spros or cannonballs with spearing and squid seems to be working well on Carolyn Ann III, according to the latest report. Minnows, mackerel and other cut bait are popular for flounder with clam and squid for croaker.

Kingfish are in the back bays and spread out along the beaches, according to various reports. The surf has croaker and spot mixed in.

Offshore fishing is at peak season.

Team Mucho Clams with Jerry and Tyler String, Steve Cowan, Jason Hearon and Craig Tomlin had a big day Saturday in the Strathmere Fishing and Environmental Club tuna tournament. They were inside Lobster Claw and went 8-for-8 on yellowfin tuna and had two mahi. They trolled up two yellowfin tuna with Sea Witch and Ilanders with ballyhoo, got two bottom fishing with Diamond jigs, and caught four with live spot.

Tyler, a 12-year-old, won tuna with a 61-pound yellowfin and got third in mahi with a 2.6-pounder. Second in tuna was Ryan McNulty at 60 pounds and third was Mike Jones at 57. Brian Riordan won mahi at 5 pounds, 11 ounces and Bill Marshall was second at 5 pounds.

The dates for the Atlantic County Surf Fishing Derby have been set for Sept. 20-Oct. 31. Badges, dash cards and regulations will be available at bait and tackle shops and marinas beginning Sept. 3. The cost to enter is $20. A portion of the proceeds goes to the Atlantic County United Way.

The tournament offers grand prizes of $500 for striped bass and $300 grand prizes for bluefish, kingfish, weakfish and tautog, plus weekly $50 prizes. In addition, $300 prizes go to the heaviest fish for youths 14 and under and to the winner of the Doc Johnston Memorial Award for the female with the heaviest fish.

Beach-access permits will be available after Sept. 14 from participating beachfront communities in Atlantic County.

The Atlantic County Carpenter's Local 623 runs its 23rd annual tournament to benefit South Jersey Cancer Society this Saturday. It has $325, $200 and $100 prizes for first, second, third in bluefish, weakfish and flounder. The cost to enter is $20 at weigh stations: North Point Marina, Brigantine; Dolfin Dock, Somers Point; Chestnut Neck Boat Yard, Port Republic; and Absecon Bay Sportsman Center, Absecon. Call 609-345-0016 or 609-653-8995.

Mike Shepherd is the retired sports editor of The Press. His Shep on Fishing column and Shep's Hot Spot appear Tuesdays and Saturdays in the sports sections and Thursdays in At The Shore. Call 609-350-0388 or e-mail: sheponfishing@yahoo.com

Become a fan of Shep's on Facebook and he'll let you know when he files a daily update. Go to Facebook.com/PressofAC and look under favorite pages, or simply search for Mike Shepherd's Shep on Fishing in the Facebook search field.