Cape May Fishing Report June 1 to June 30

CapeMayRay · 06-03-2009, 12:07 AM

Had to reschedule my fly charter for tonight due to a family problem on their end, so with too nice a night I got my brother-in-law to go out fishing. He is not a fly fisherman and never caught a fish on a lure before.

We sat at the dock for about an hour waiting for a nasty looking bunch of thunderstorm clouds to pass by to the north of us and then headed out.

Left the dock at 6:00 pm. Water in the inlet was 62 to 64 degrees and nice and clean with the tide in the first hour of going out.

I picked up 3 bass 22 to 27 inches on a chewed up Yanks Deceiver and Dennis missed a fish on the plug he was using. We saw a few small pods of bunker but nothing showing on it.

Moved in along the beach front and I switched to a 4 inch orange/yellow clouser and went 1 for 2 landed a nice 17 inch male weakie which after taking a picture released.

Put on a storm rubber shad and Dennis missed two fish.

Wanting to get him a fish we went into the back bay where right as it was getting dark I got him hooked up with a 22 inch striper on a popping plug.

Just as it was starting to look really good the wind died and the mosquitoes came out in full force. It was my first trip fishing in the back in a while and I can't remember them being so bad. I didn't have my repellent on the boat so we headed in to avoid being eaten to the bone. I think they are going to be a real problem in the back this year.

brad regan 01 · 06-03-2009, 08:09 PM

good report as always

CapeMayRay · 06-03-2009, 11:40 PM

It was another night where we had a severe thunderstorm watch till 9:00 pm. Looked at the radar map and saw nothing showing so I gave Peter a call and said let's get out early in case they develop later.

We left the dock at 5:15 pm with the tide coming in. We got to the inlet with a good wind blowing out of the east, water was nice and clean. We worked the inlet for awhile and saw no signs of bait and got no strikes so we hit the beach to work outside the breakers. With the wind and the fairly good size waves it was a job controlling the boat but not too bad.

I got a male weakie around 16 inches on a orange/yellow clouser

Peter hooked up to what looked like a nice weakie but put a little too much pressure on it and it came unhooked. We each had a few more hits but no hook ups.

With the wind blowing pretty good and the tide starting to go out we decided to head for the back bay and get out of the wind and take advantage of the out going flow.

Just as we got to the back it started getting real dark to the north of us and then to the west of us and we could hear some thunder rumbling off in the distance. After about 10 minutes, I picked up a small striper on one of a 8 flies a friend gave me to try. (Orange/yellow clouser on the bottom is mine and the one that has been working the last two days on weakfish.)

Things were just starting to look great with a flow starting out of the back creeks and off the top of sod banks, but just as that was starting it was getting dark to the southeast of us. Seemed like thunderstorms were starting to surround us on all sides. We did not see any flashes of lightning but it was really getting ugly looking, so we did the smart thing and zipped back to the dock at 8:00 pm.

We timed it perfect. We got the boat tied up as we were heading up to the car it started to rain and there was nasty lightning coming on fast.

CapeMayRay · 06-05-2009, 10:19 PM

Felt the need to do some fishing this afternoon. With the wind and rain I decided to do a land based trip at the point. Top of the tide, water looked nice and clean and looked fishy. I fished for about 2 hours and had one hit and caught a Sea Herring. Had to put on a small fly just to do that as I saw a few small swirls. Rest of the time I was throwing clousers and deceivers without a hit.

4 guys I saw using bloods and bait only got sand sharks. Did get it out of my system. Will be back in the boat tomorrow evening.

CapeMayRay · 06-07-2009, 11:37 PM

Very tough Saturday night. Left the dock at 5:00pm with a 2 person light tackle charter. Decided to see if we could pick a couple of weakies before going to the back bay. Hit the inlet with a strong incoming close to full moon tide. Water was very brown. Tried the beach front with the brown water and big sea swells made it difficult to keep the boat right where I wanted it.

We got two nice hits on Storm rubber shad baits but no hookups. Worked the inlet rocks before heading to the back and had a tail taken off and one bite off but no fish landed.

Went to the back on a normally good tide. Water was brown everywhere I tried and we covered a ton of ground without even a strike using top water popping plugs.

Finally found a area where we were able to get 8 or 9 strikes as the tide started to go out. Fish were not hitting all that hard and a few were definitely bluefish. We had two stripers hooked for awhile, but both came off before getting them to the boat.

Just a plain tough night. Did check at the dock when I got in and there saw a bit of a worm hatch in the marina. Have not had a tough night like this in a long while.

CapeMayRay · 06-08-2009, 12:05 AM

Sunday afternoon was another tough fishing day, but with better results. Left the dock around 4:00 pm. with a light tackle charter. It was really hot at the dock when we left. Hit the inlet with the incoming tide and with a strong southeast wind blowing. The water was fairly dirty with the strong close to full moon tide and a bit choppy from the big boats coming in from shark fishing.

After an hour of fishing with only a few hits, Walt, using a x-rap by Rapala hooked into a nice fish which we thought was a striper. When it was about 25 feet from the boat it came to the surface and I could see it was a nice weakfish and we a got excited.

It was the first big Tide Runner weakfish of the year and was the biggest he had caught since the good old days when he was a kid. Walt was fishing with his wife and 12 year old daughter and with it being a bit rough we decide to move to the back to more sheltered waters to see if we could get some stripers or blues.

The wind seemed to keep building. When we got to the back the water there was very brown and there was a good amount of wave action from the wind and it started to get cold. we all had to put on sweat shirts.

To get out of the wind we worked up a shallow creek in the back bay and found water around 69 degrees. We worked this creek for about an hour and in 3 1/2 feet of water Walt hooked nice fish on the same x-rap lure. In the shallow water the fish had no where to go except all over the place. It ended up being a nice keeper striper.

With the wind still blowing strong it was really cold on the water. Everyone put jackets on over the sweatshirts. After working a couple of spots the group decided to call it a night as they were really cold. Walt was still warm from his two nice fish on the night.

CapeMayRay · 06-08-2009, 10:14 PM

Had to fuel up today so I decided to try for weakies on the start of the incoming tide as it was to get windy later this afternoon with a chance of thunderstorms.

Left the dock at 4:00pm. and headed out to work the beach front before the tide got too strong. Before I got any weakies I had two small blues destroy my orange/yellow clouser.

The blues that were around seem to go away so Put on a fly that a friend gave me. The third one down on the left.

It worked well. I got a 15 and a 16 inch weakie before the tide and the wind picked up. Made another move trying for some bass along the rocks with the second fly down on the right. Got a bass on that one in the back last week, but it didn't last long. Hooked a little nicer blue and just before I could boat it it chopped the leader.

Put back on the fly that caught the weakies and moved to where we had that nice one yesterday. Worked it for awhile with no hits and decided to head in a 6:30 as the wind picked up even more and I had a dinner waiting for me at 7:30

CapeMayRay · 06-11-2009, 12:33 AM

Went out with fly charter this afternoon. He wanted to take his nephew out who had never gone saltwater fishing before. When we left the dock at 4:00pm. it was nice and sunny and warm with a northeast wind blowing pretty good making it a bit cool.

Decided to fish on the lee side of the jetty to get out of the wind. The water was 65 degrees and a clean as I have seen it for a low tide. It was really nice looking.

I was hoping to get a few weakies with the beginning of the incoming tide and my fly charter was anxious to try some of the first flies he had tied. (last time he was out with me he caught using Yank's Assassins and went home tied some flies in that style.

Alex using a spin rod caught his first saltwater fish which was a blue.

Then John on the fly with his own yellow/orange/white clouser started hitting sea herring pretty good . So Alex would not get left out of the action I put a fly on about a 18 inch leader and tied it to the back of the hook on the buck tail worm combo that he was using and he was able to catch the sea herring.

About an hour into the fishing it windier and fog started to set in, making it colder. We picked a few more blues and more sea herring as the it got colder, foggier and it was like fishing in a light drizzle. (Good striper weather)

Alex caught his first striper and missed bigger one, that got off under the boat.

John after a hit or two switched to a black clouser and got his first bass of the night

With it getting dark and super foggy we headed in. No weakies that I targeted but enough action to keep them happy, but no size to any of the fish. As usual, we saw zero signs of any bait anywhere all night.

jemche · 06-11-2009, 03:29 PM

great reports lately!

i have been noticing that you tie a swivel to your leader and attach the fly to the swivel? what are the benefits of this?

thanks.

CapeMayRay · 06-11-2009, 06:42 PM

It is just a plain duo lock clip. I have been doing it for years and it doesn't effect the action of the fly or the the fish. Just makes it easy to change flies. Most use some sort of loop knot. (I call the clips a metalic loop knot.)

You can only get away with it in saltwater. It will not work when using those super small insect flies needed for trout.

06-11-2009, 03:29 PM	#9
jemche Sit down Shut up And fish Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Ocean City, MD Posts: 484 Credits: 6,985.1 Boat: 18' 6" VIP baystealth "Karaha" 26' 6" Glacier Bay "POLECAT". Best Catch: 76 in BFT Occupation: Mate on Skip's Bait and Tackle	question great reports lately! i have been noticing that you tie a swivel to your leader and attach the fly to the swivel? what are the benefits of this? thanks.

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06-03-2009, 11:40 PM	#3
CapeMayRay I think Admin is going to let me have this space Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Cape May, New Jersey Posts: 1,111 Credits: 2,649.7 Occupation: Charter Capt.	It was another night where we had a severe thunderstorm watch till 9:00 pm. Looked at the radar map and saw nothing showing so I gave Peter a call and said let's get out early in case they develop later. We left the dock at 5:15 pm with the tide coming in. We got to the inlet with a good wind blowing out of the east, water was nice and clean. We worked the inlet for awhile and saw no signs of bait and got no strikes so we hit the beach to work outside the breakers. With the wind and the fairly good size waves it was a job controlling the boat but not too bad. I got a male weakie around 16 inches on a orange/yellow clouser Peter hooked up to what looked like a nice weakie but put a little too much pressure on it and it came unhooked. We each had a few more hits but no hook ups. With the wind blowing pretty good and the tide starting to go out we decided to head for the back bay and get out of the wind and take advantage of the out going flow. Just as we got to the back it started getting real dark to the north of us and then to the west of us and we could hear some thunder rumbling off in the distance. After about 10 minutes, I picked up a small striper on one of a 8 flies a friend gave me to try. (Orange/yellow clouser on the bottom is mine and the one that has been working the last two days on weakfish.) Things were just starting to look great with a flow starting out of the back creeks and off the top of sod banks, but just as that was starting it was getting dark to the southeast of us. Seemed like thunderstorms were starting to surround us on all sides. We did not see any flashes of lightning but it was really getting ugly looking, so we did the smart thing and zipped back to the dock at 8:00 pm. We timed it perfect. We got the boat tied up as we were heading up to the car it started to rain and there was nasty lightning coming on fast.

06-05-2009, 10:19 PM	#4
CapeMayRay I think Admin is going to let me have this space Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Cape May, New Jersey Posts: 1,111 Credits: 2,649.7 Occupation: Charter Capt.	Felt the need to do some fishing this afternoon. With the wind and rain I decided to do a land based trip at the point. Top of the tide, water looked nice and clean and looked fishy. I fished for about 2 hours and had one hit and caught a Sea Herring. Had to put on a small fly just to do that as I saw a few small swirls. Rest of the time I was throwing clousers and deceivers without a hit. 4 guys I saw using bloods and bait only got sand sharks. Did get it out of my system. Will be back in the boat tomorrow evening.

06-07-2009, 11:37 PM	#5
CapeMayRay I think Admin is going to let me have this space Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Cape May, New Jersey Posts: 1,111 Credits: 2,649.7 Occupation: Charter Capt.	Very tough Saturday night. Left the dock at 5:00pm with a 2 person light tackle charter. Decided to see if we could pick a couple of weakies before going to the back bay. Hit the inlet with a strong incoming close to full moon tide. Water was very brown. Tried the beach front with the brown water and big sea swells made it difficult to keep the boat right where I wanted it. We got two nice hits on Storm rubber shad baits but no hookups. Worked the inlet rocks before heading to the back and had a tail taken off and one bite off but no fish landed. Went to the back on a normally good tide. Water was brown everywhere I tried and we covered a ton of ground without even a strike using top water popping plugs. Finally found a area where we were able to get 8 or 9 strikes as the tide started to go out. Fish were not hitting all that hard and a few were definitely bluefish. We had two stripers hooked for awhile, but both came off before getting them to the boat. Just a plain tough night. Did check at the dock when I got in and there saw a bit of a worm hatch in the marina. Have not had a tough night like this in a long while.

06-08-2009, 12:05 AM	#6
CapeMayRay I think Admin is going to let me have this space Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Cape May, New Jersey Posts: 1,111 Credits: 2,649.7 Occupation: Charter Capt.	Sunday afternoon was another tough fishing day, but with better results. Left the dock around 4:00 pm. with a light tackle charter. It was really hot at the dock when we left. Hit the inlet with the incoming tide and with a strong southeast wind blowing. The water was fairly dirty with the strong close to full moon tide and a bit choppy from the big boats coming in from shark fishing. After an hour of fishing with only a few hits, Walt, using a x-rap by Rapala hooked into a nice fish which we thought was a striper. When it was about 25 feet from the boat it came to the surface and I could see it was a nice weakfish and we a got excited. It was the first big Tide Runner weakfish of the year and was the biggest he had caught since the good old days when he was a kid. Walt was fishing with his wife and 12 year old daughter and with it being a bit rough we decide to move to the back to more sheltered waters to see if we could get some stripers or blues. The wind seemed to keep building. When we got to the back the water there was very brown and there was a good amount of wave action from the wind and it started to get cold. we all had to put on sweat shirts. To get out of the wind we worked up a shallow creek in the back bay and found water around 69 degrees. We worked this creek for about an hour and in 3 1/2 feet of water Walt hooked nice fish on the same x-rap lure. In the shallow water the fish had no where to go except all over the place. It ended up being a nice keeper striper. With the wind still blowing strong it was really cold on the water. Everyone put jackets on over the sweatshirts. After working a couple of spots the group decided to call it a night as they were really cold. Walt was still warm from his two nice fish on the night.

06-08-2009, 10:14 PM	#7
CapeMayRay I think Admin is going to let me have this space Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Cape May, New Jersey Posts: 1,111 Credits: 2,649.7 Occupation: Charter Capt.	Had to fuel up today so I decided to try for weakies on the start of the incoming tide as it was to get windy later this afternoon with a chance of thunderstorms. Left the dock at 4:00pm. and headed out to work the beach front before the tide got too strong. Before I got any weakies I had two small blues destroy my orange/yellow clouser. The blues that were around seem to go away so Put on a fly that a friend gave me. The third one down on the left. It worked well. I got a 15 and a 16 inch weakie before the tide and the wind picked up. Made another move trying for some bass along the rocks with the second fly down on the right. Got a bass on that one in the back last week, but it didn't last long. Hooked a little nicer blue and just before I could boat it it chopped the leader. Put back on the fly that caught the weakies and moved to where we had that nice one yesterday. Worked it for awhile with no hits and decided to head in a 6:30 as the wind picked up even more and I had a dinner waiting for me at 7:30

06-11-2009, 12:33 AM	#8
CapeMayRay I think Admin is going to let me have this space Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Cape May, New Jersey Posts: 1,111 Credits: 2,649.7 Occupation: Charter Capt.	Went out with fly charter this afternoon. He wanted to take his nephew out who had never gone saltwater fishing before. When we left the dock at 4:00pm. it was nice and sunny and warm with a northeast wind blowing pretty good making it a bit cool. Decided to fish on the lee side of the jetty to get out of the wind. The water was 65 degrees and a clean as I have seen it for a low tide. It was really nice looking. I was hoping to get a few weakies with the beginning of the incoming tide and my fly charter was anxious to try some of the first flies he had tied. (last time he was out with me he caught using Yank's Assassins and went home tied some flies in that style. Alex using a spin rod caught his first saltwater fish which was a blue. Then John on the fly with his own yellow/orange/white clouser started hitting sea herring pretty good . So Alex would not get left out of the action I put a fly on about a 18 inch leader and tied it to the back of the hook on the buck tail worm combo that he was using and he was able to catch the sea herring. About an hour into the fishing it windier and fog started to set in, making it colder. We picked a few more blues and more sea herring as the it got colder, foggier and it was like fishing in a light drizzle. (Good striper weather) Alex caught his first striper and missed bigger one, that got off under the boat. John after a hit or two switched to a black clouser and got his first bass of the night With it getting dark and super foggy we headed in. No weakies that I targeted but enough action to keep them happy, but no size to any of the fish. As usual, we saw zero signs of any bait anywhere all night.

06-11-2009, 06:42 PM	#10
CapeMayRay I think Admin is going to let me have this space Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Cape May, New Jersey Posts: 1,111 Credits: 2,649.7 Occupation: Charter Capt.	It is just a plain duo lock clip. I have been doing it for years and it doesn't effect the action of the fly or the the fish. Just makes it easy to change flies. Most use some sort of loop knot. (I call the clips a metalic loop knot.) You can only get away with it in saltwater. It will not work when using those super small insect flies needed for trout.