Fishing Report June 1 to June 15th

[CapeMayRay]

Tough start to the new month. My morning charter called last night and said his wife was concerned about what the conditions would be like in the morning as they were looking out at the ocean from their room. Tried to tell them that conditions could be totally different my morning and we would not be going out if we had nasty conditions. His wife was intimidated by how nasty the ocean looked and did not want to go. If his wife was not going to go he wanted to cancel the trip and it was too late to try and schedule another client.

Morning came and it was one of the nicest days we have had in a while. Beautiful calm day and bright and sunny. Would of been a great day for fishing.

My evening one person fly charter started out good. Left the dock near the top of the tide. The water was pretty clean and there was not wind. We worked the back sod banks which were flooded by the new moon tides.

We had 2 small stripers to 21 inches and one blue and where waiting for the tide to change so we could work the creek out flows and point breaks.

About half way through the trip we could see a thunder storm working it's way toward us. After seeing some nasty blinks of lightning we raced back to the dock, where we waited on land for about an hour and a half watching the slow moving storm. It never really hit us but stayed close enough to make us think twice about going out.

Never did go back out and after I got the boat put a way the wind kicked up from the southwest and we had a good breeze blowing. Everything was in place for what looked like it would be a great evening of fishing tide wise.

[CapeMayRay]

Well, it was DOWN IN FLAMES LAST NIGHT for Pete and I. I thought I had it all figured out. I didn't have a charter, we had a new moon high tide and the wind was dropping out fast.

Left the dock at 7:30 pm. Head to the back bay and the tide was still coming in and was about a 1 1/2 feet over all the sod banks. We tried fishing a few area but felt with the water so high all bait and fish would be up on the top.

We went to the inlet where we fished the rocks. We each had a few hits and I had a fish on but lost it. We were both using 4 to 5 1/2 inch flies. Could of been blues, herring or small bass.

When the tide went down a little we hit the back bay to work the creek mouths. Normally under these conditions it should be a no brainer with fish and bait right there.

We only saw a few fish and bait and again we had some hits and both of us hooked and lost fish. We worked about 5 creek mouths and all were basically dead. We tried 3 point rips and they were dead.

It was dead calm and the water clean and even my deadly black mullet fly could not raise a fish. Even threw a black popping plug to see if we could find any activity and nothing.

I thought there might be a worm hatch. Put a light in the water and saw no signs of it. Even when there is or they are feeding on shrimp you will see them feeding.

Could not of asked for a better set up with tide, wind and darkness. THE BIG SKUNK GOT US!!!!!

Passing under the bridge on the way back to the dock the outgoing tide was blasting out and brown. Just one of those nights you have to put behind you.

[CapeMayRay]

Glenn Hertzler from the club and I went out on a personal trip last night. We had perfect conditions. New moon fast running tide, clean water and light wind.

Started on the beachfront looking for weakies. We had a really few small blues attack our flies and saw none of the bait guys getting anything. Water temp 58 to 59 degrees.

Worked the inlet rocks for about an hour without a single hit between the two of us and not one sign of fish or bait. Not even a single bird diving in the inlet. (usually on a strong tide there is always baitfish for easy pickings for the birds or fish.)

Moved to the back where we hit all the prime locations where we picked up two stripers to 21 inches and 3 small blues with the water 59.6 to 63 degrees and never saw one sign of bait or swirl of a fish and it was calm as glass and we covered a lot of area.

Really had to work hard for the few fish we caught and we had prime conditions.

[CapeMayRay]

Had non fishing things to do on Saturday but heard there was a decent striper bite in the morning.

Sunday morning Pete and Glenn from the fly club went out with me. We left the dock at 5:00 am with about 1 hour before dead low. It was nice and warm till we hit the inlet where the water was 59 degrees. We had to put on sweat shirts to feel comfortable.

We had a fun morning. I was using 300 sinking line and a orange/yellow jiggie and caught one 17 inch fluke, 2 keeper weakies and a number of sea herring.

The guy below had a huge shrimp that he brought up and it wasn't a mantis shrimp. It had to be about 3 1/2 inches long.

Pete was high weakfish man with 4 keepers and some herring. He was using sinking line and a chart/yellow weighted fly and a yellow fly.


Glenn didn't get any weakies but he was high hook on the herring and caught the only bluefish. He was using intermediate line and a olive/white clouser.

We had great action and missed a number of weakies and had a good number of hits. A fun time with good friends.

All six keeper weakies were released and I keep some herring to salt down for cut baits.

We caught 4 species of fish and were a bit surprised that we could not get a striper, as they are usually the easiest to find. We only saw one small one caught by one of the other boats.

[CapeMayRay]

After getting in from this mornings trip it turned out to be a stinking hot day in Cape May. When the wind shifted to the west it got hot and humid.

With my one person fly charter this afternoon we left the dock at 4:30 pm. He wanted to catch a few blues for dinner. There was only about 1 1/2 of out going tide left and we tried a spot in the back bay where I had been getting blues this week. Water was clear with a lot of weed and 68 degrees but the fish were there.

Using floating line with popping flies and yellow/white jiggies with sinking line he got 13 blues. We keep 4 and released the rest.

With the tide starting to fizzle we headed for the ocean. It felt really good as we cleared the inlet area and got away from the hot land breeze. We worked where we did this morning catching 2 keeper weakies to 17 inches. Released both to do our part to help the hurting stocks.


Also caught some sea herring on the same yellow/white jiggies and were back into the dock by 7:30 for dinner reservations that charter had made.

Would of went back out again myself, but after the heat today and doing 2 trips I had enough.

[CapeMayRay]

It was down right hot at the shore today. When I left for my charter this afternoon it was 90 some degrees. Left the dock at 5:00 pm with two brothers who wanted to both fly and plug fish.

Started in the back with the out going tide. Water on the out flow off the flats was 68 degrees and very clear. You could see right to the bottom in 5 feet of water.

Started catching blues on popping flies and floating line and sinking with a yellow/white jiggie. After a little lull in the action the guys switched over to popping plugs and caught more blues and one 22 inch striper.

With it pretty hot we decided to work the inlet rocks where it was a little cooler. Here we picked up another 20 inch striper on a popping plug. With little bait and action we moved to the beach front.

They switched back to the fly rods and and had a steady bite until after dark catching 8 weakies of which the kept 2 for dinner and released the rest, and missing just about as many. Also caught sea herring and one more bluefish. Yellow/white and Orange/white jiggies were what the weakies wanted. Water was 65.3 degrees.

Could not of asked for a better night. It was dead calm, no seas and much cooler on the water and we had good action.

[Dave Sikorski]

Woah, I've been falling behind here. Great Weakie action Ray!

Glad to see you getting them on the fly. I hope the stocks really rebound.

Keep up the great reports and drink plenty of fluids. For your sake I hope that cool water is keeping you all cool. It's downright NASTY here.

-D

[CapeMayRay]

Hey Dave, What do you think of the metalic loop knot (the clip) in front of the fly. I have used it with flies as small as 1 1/2 inches and it doesn't seem to effect the catch at all. WARNING DO NOT TRY THIS TRICK IN FRESH WATER My theory is if they can't see the big silver hook hanking out of the fly they do not see the clip.

[CapeMayRay]

No fly fishing tonight. Had father and 10 year old son out spin fishing. Son just got a new spin rod and a fishing trip for his birthday and he wanted to catch a fish on his new rod.

We left the dock at 5:00pm. with the tide going out. Started in back creek where we found 71 to 72 degree brown water. They got a few bluefish on top water plugs but the action was slow.

We tried two more creeks with no hits and moved to a cut where a flat drains off. Here the young angler caught a 24 1/2 inch striper on a popping plug.

They both also caught a number of blues still using popping plugs.

As the tide got lower the snot grass and weed got too heavy to fish so we moved out the inlet to the beach front. Water here was 66.4 We found no weakfish but did get two short fluke, small blues and some sea herring using small rubber spro swimming lures.

Ended up at the inlet where we caught a few more blues and sea herring. Left right about 9:00 with it dead calm and the mosquito's out in full force.

Young angler wanted to try the fly rod as he had tried casting a 3 wt fly rod for trout before, with a orivs lesson for kids, but in the boat with a 9ft weighted line it was more than he could take on and line control was a real problem. Suggested trying casting on land to get the feel before really giving it a shot in the boat. Atleast he was willing to try.

[Dave Sikorski]

I've never used those clips, where do you get them?

How many trips to the last in the salt, and have you had one fail yet?

Love those fangs on that weakie!!

-D