Cape May Fishing Report June 1 to June 30

[CapeMayRay]

Almost turned a bad night into a good night, but like they say you have to hook-em to cook-em!

We were schedule to leave the dock at 4:00 pm but right around that time a thunderstorm came through. We said in the car and I looked at some of the flies he had tied and talked about what might work.

Storm passed and 5:00 pm we had bright sun and what looked to be an ideal night. We decided to target weakfish. Went to the beach front and found perfect conditions, except no one told the fish. We worked the area has thorough and hard and anyone could and after 2 hours of flinging flies with 3 hits and two sea herring we shifted to plan B.

We worked the inlet rocks on the outsides as the parade of boats coming in from the shark tournament made the inside like a washing machine. We worked it for an hour and hooked and lost a small blue. Water was nice and clean but no signs of bait.

Had to go to plan C. We headed into the back bay as everywhere we tried was dead. First area we hit was dead. No signs of life and no hits. With the water still pretty low and coming and it getting close to being dark I worked us up into a wide shallow creek where the water was 2 to 3 feet deep. I put on a new rattle popper that I had made and my charter put on a chart/white deceiver fly.

I got the first hit on my popping fly and then he cast to a stand of reeds in the water and hooked into a super nice fish that took off like a rocket around the back of the boat and was heading across the flat. The way it acted looked more like a weakie than a bass. Just as I got the boat headed in the direction of the fish the hook pulled.

A couple of casts later a little 15 inch striper tried to eat my green rattle popper and hooked himself good. (don't know what he was thinking as it was big enough to choke him) Right after that while I was getting the boat into a good casting position another bass came up and whacked my popper while it was dragging behind the boat.


We had more action in the last 15 minutes than we had all night.

We would of stayed longer but just as it got dark the mosquitoes came out in full force. We put on repellent but they were super thick and my charter said it was a long night he had a good time and lets head in.

Was tempted to head back out, but felt tired myself. We had our shot at that one nice fish of the night and I found my new popping fly will works great.

[CapeMayRay]

Didn't get out in the middle of the night Saturday. There was still a breeze and a light drizzle and I decided I didn't need a fish that bad.

After not wanting to fight the weekend crowds and boat traffic I didn't fish. Now I decided I needed the old fishing fix.

Called up Paul Kerlinger from the club and told I was going fish in the middle of the night and he said he was up for it.

We left the dock around 10:30 pm. with the tide coming in with high around 1:30 am. The wind was 9 mph from the east and suppose to fizzle, which it did. We decided to work the back bay in search of stripers and weakies in the shallow waters.

The first place we stopped showed some signs of bait and fish. The first I had seen any in the back this year, so we decided to work that area hard.

About the 10 casts I hooked up with the first bass of the night.

Shortly afterward Paul hooked his first of the night.



For the next 3 hours we stayed there and worked the bass, catching a total of 16 to 26 1/2 inches plus 3 sea herring. Plus we lost a few, but it was nice action as we would work our flies across the current flow. We caught on both intermediate and floating line and small flies. Small clousers, small surf candies and small spearing flies all worked.



When the tide slowed we shot deep into the back bay to work a creek where I thought we had a good shot at nailing a weakie. It never happen. Got there and the tide was still coming in and it was like a mirror, and very bright with the half moon putting out more light than I would of liked. We worked it for an hour along with the area around it and never heard a pop or saw any signs of life or got a strike.

Around 2:30 am. after having a fun night and decided to head in.
It was well worth the effort and we both at a great night.

[CapeMayRay]

With it being cool, cloudy and good wind blowing out of the northeast all day I decided to go fishing over at Cape May Point so I would have the wind to my back. Started heading over there and decided I would go out in the boat instead and find a place to hide from the wind.

With high tide at 4:30 pm. I left the dock at 5:00 and shot to the back bay to work up some creeks. A couple of times it started to rain but it never got bad enough to put on the foul weather gear.

First big wide creek that I worked the water was a bit green so I put on a chartreuse fly. It was a bit disappointing. Worked it super hard for two hours as far up as I dare go on an out going tide getting small striper and missing one. in 2 1/2 feet of water.


It is a creek that always has signs of life, but I saw none. Water was 68 to 71 degrees and by this time of year, with the tide and the cloudy weather I should of been alive with life. I never saw so much as one bait fish, swirl and never spooked any with my fly or fly line.

Moved to another mouth of a creek and in 3 to 4 feet of water caught another small bass and no signs of life there either.

Made the third move to a nice rip line off of a point and got one small striper there and again no signs of life that I normally would see.

My last move was to another point where I switched over to that large green rattling popping fly that I caught on the other night. Found some fish here and worked it till 9:00 pm catching 3 bass to 25 1/2 inches and missing 5 other hits on the popper.

Got fish there, but again at this point I normally should see bait, or hear some popping as bass feed. Again no signs of bait.

I had a good night catching 6 bass and should of been pleased but I can't help remembering a few years back when the same areas were alive with bait, you would see signs of fish and I would catch from 12 to 20 some bass under the same conditions.

[Dave Sikorski]

Looks like some pretty good days so far this month.

That rattle popper looks HUGE. I bet in makes plenty of commotion. What kind of foam is that?

Thanks for keeping the reports coming!

-D

[CapeMayRay]

It is bulletin board foam that I got at Michaels Craft Store. It comes in green, yellow and brown that I know of. My popper is big, splashes well and makes a lot of noise. Will be trying a few and use marker pen to make it all black.

[CapeMayRay]

One of those super tough nights and nothing I would do differently. Left the dock with a Jim Sherman from the fly club. He is new to fly fishing and wanted to get that first saltwater fish on the fly.

I picked tonight a month ago when he called so we would have the best chance to catch a fish. Jim has a new Coulton rod and reel and is learning how to cast.

We left the dock tonight at 5:00pm with high tide at 5:30 We started out at the inlet and found the water really brown and ugly. I guess with all the rain and wind it must of really stirred up Delaware bay. With no hits we ran to the back bay where the water was much cleaner.

Jim has his own boat and wanted not only to catch on the fly but to see some of the type areas that would hold fish and how to fish them. Conditions looked perfect. We worked up the same creek that I caught in earlier in the week and it was a dead as dead could be. Not one hit and zero signs of fish or bait.

We moved around and hit all the prime spots as the tide was going out. It was the perfect set up with tide conditions and we could not buy a strike of any kind. Being new to casting, Jim's skills were limited, but good enough that he should of been able to catch if there were any fish around. Again all these area had zero bait. I have never ever seen this this time of year with the perfect conditions and tides. Even went up along the edges of the sod banks to see if I could find one piece of bait and found not one.

Ended up at two nice point breaks that always hold a few fish.
What's wrong with these pictures?


NO FISH Tried a smack-it Jr plug with a spinning rod to see if we could wake up a fish at a couple of prime spot and managed two small bass to 23 inches but that was it.

To add insult to injury the wind died and the gnats and the mosquitoes came out with a vengeance and with both had enough frustration for one night.

Jim took it in stride and said he was use to not catching. For me it was unacceptable as the conditions were the best you could want. Don't know if it was all the rain over the last couple of days or the just plain lack of bait anywhere that was the problem.

I am leaning toward the lack of bait. Again when we got back to the dock at 9:30 I walked along the whole lighted dock area and could not see one speck of bait and only a couple of grass shrimp period.

[CapeMayRay]

Sunday started great was up to visit my daughter for fathers day. Went out for a good breakfast.

On the way home I remembered I left my camera at her house, so no pictures till I get it back.

Sunday was a tough charter. Was told they wanted a fly trip but when they arrived I found out that they never fly fished before. Went to plan B and broke out the spin rods only to find out they never cast spin rods either.

Tried to work the inlet area to start and found it very difficult to teach three people how to cast and at the same time keep the boat off the rocks. There was good breeze to make things more difficult with slack line blowing all over. It was a full time job removing plugs off the rocks, out of the electric motor and the taking care of the assorted normal tangles that occur while fishing.

We were forced to head to the back where it was a little calmer. Found the sod banks totally covered with the super high new moon tides making it difficult to fish without the boat being on top of land. They managed one nice bluefish and had nice striper that came up and whacked a popping plug.

If I would of know in advance about their casting skills I would of brought bait and made life easier for all of us. When we left the dock all the bait stores were closed.

They said they had a good time, but it was tough night and I felt bad about not being able to get them more fish. Atleast no one on board got hooked.

[CapeMayRay]

Went down to the boat late in the afternoon to do some maintenance and then go out fishing. Got the work done and a heavy rain squall came by and it looked like another to follow it up so I went home.

We got the another heavy rain and the sun came out. Checked the weather radar and all looked good so I went back down to the boat.

Left the dock at 7:30pm with high tide at 8:30 with the new moon highest tide of the month. (they were warning of coastal flooding tonight) Outside the inlet there was a very large swell and with the super high tide waves were breaking over both jetties making it a bit hairy to fish close to the rocks in some areas.

Found a small bit of bait off in one are with some blues and herring busting on it. Started catching fish from almost the first cast. Started out with some blues and herring and then started getting some stripers. Yanks Assassin was working really good till a blue bit it off. I then put on a larger deceiver type fly that JSchmidt gave me. Caught all fish on 350 sinking line.

It was some of the best action I have had this year. Ended up with 5 stripers from 22 inches to a nice keeper 31 1/2 inches long which I released. Action lasted till the tide stopped and I headed in at 9:00 pm.

The wind had stopped when the tide changed and we had a beautiful sunset.

Hope to have my camera back by the end of the week. I feel lost without it. Could of had some neat pictures with the waves and the sunset.

[CapeMayRay]

Left the dock at 5:00 pm with one person fly charter with the incoming tide. It was going to be another one of those super high tides due to the new moon cycle. They were again calling for coastal flooding and fishing the back with all the debris coming off the sod banks would not be good. After last nights fishing, I was expecting a decent bite.

Headed out to the inlet and found extra strong current a bit brownish but not too bad. After working it for awhile with no success we worked the beach front where the water was cleaner. Conditions were excellent, but with no signs of any bait or strikes, we moved back to the inlet where there were now some birds working.

Found that there were some small blues around. We caught some and left them to go after stripers. It was a slow grind but we managed to get 3 stripers form 23 to to 27 1/2 Inches. We were using 350 sinking line and caught one on a Yank's Flutter fish, one on a Chartreuse/white Clouser and the biggest one on over size Green/silver jiggy.

There were a lot of guys out fishing last night and I only saw a few other bass taken as other than the bluefish it was a pretty slow night.

Still looking for bait fish every night along the docks, I did see a small worm hatch. Only saw one here and there. There wasn't much but it could be why the bass bite was much slower. Still not seeing a speck of bait yet and still only a couple of grass shrimp.

[CapeMayRay]

Pushed my evening charter earlier into the day as they were predicting a chance for thunderstorms come early evening.

Left the dock at 3:00 pm with a father and two young boys for a spin fishing trip. With the super high tides and super low tide I was just barely able to get out of my slip with the tide still going out. Low tide there would of been 2 inches of water.

Headed to the inlet to fish the beginning of the incoming tide.
Found the inlet calm and the water very green, but were lucky to see some birds and small blues. Was able to chase the small blues around with the electric motor and pick away at the blues. 13 to 18 inches until the action stopped.

Worked the inlet and the beach front hard seeing no bait, birds or fish and getting no strikes. Did see 3 pelicans fly by.

Half way through the trip made a move to the back where we set up for bait fishing with clam, where we caught bass to 25 1/2 inches and a ton of sand sharks.

Water back there was a brownish green and loaded with weed. We had to keep checking our lines every few minutes to keep our baits visible. They had fun, but fishing just not up to what it should be.