Fishing Reports Cape May Oct 1 to Oct 31

[CapeMayRay]

Went out with my brother-in-law who is not a fisherman. Had to wait for him to get down. We left the dock at a little after 9:00 a.m Went to the inlet and was able to get some good bluefish action until the wind started picking up pretty good and the tide was starting to slow down. It was zoo city with all the weekend guys and the bright sun was not helping any.

Decided to shoot to the back an try the sod banks even with the sun high. caught one striper 22 inches and missed another around 10:30 and picked a few more blues with one around 5 lbs.

No pictures, left camera on the kitchen counter, which I would of thought would of made for great fishing. Overall tough morning with the water still very dirty all over but around 65 degrees in the back which is about 10 degrees down from early part of the week.

[flies only]

good stuff ray !! how is the new girl treating you ????looks like you r getting some fish on her.....

[CapeMayRay]

Boat has been perfect. Everything I expected and more.

Sunday night fly charter turned out to be great. Left the dock at 4:30 p.m. with a good westerly wind still blowing. Got to the inlet and found conditions a lot nicer than this morning. Worked the inlet with charter using spearing type fly an me throwing a bunker fly. We had good number of hits but with our hook forward patterns we only got a few hook ups.

As the sun was starting to go down the wind started to fizzle and we took a run into the beach looking for bait in the surf line.
I thought it was going to be a slow night for my charter as I landed the first bass on a bunker fly and he hooked one and broke it off.

We keep on casting and searching catching a few blues along the way. Then we hit a spot just after sunset that was loaded with small stripers. We both put on popping flies and were getting two and three hits on every cast with hook ups on every couple of casts. My charter got six bass in quick order and I got a couple while I trying to keep us out of the surf as it got real dark.


When the action stopped we moved back to the inlet where we picked up a few more bass and blues. It was a beautiful night. The wind died to zero and it was like a pond and we were the only ones out fishing. Came in at 8:30 with a total of 11 stripers for the night. They were all small, from 18 to 22 inches but it was a fun night with my charter getting his biggest and first striper on a popping fly and he was pretty excited.

[CapeMayRay]

Almost a duplicate of yesterday. left the dock with a decent breeze. Today it was coming out of the south. Worked north of the inlet and found all the small blues you would ever want. Charter was using a plug and I was fling the fly. We got only a few that might of went 3 lbs and I had to switch to a large fly to get away from catching every time my fly hit the water.

We worked the same area as yesterday and had the same striper bite as last night, only the waves and the wind were stronger making it a full time controlling the boat so my charter could stay close to where the fish were.

All stripers were around the same size from 19 to 22 inches and the bite stopped shortly after it got dark.

We worked the inlet for the last hour picking up a couple of additional bass and were back at the dock by 8:00 p.m. just as the wind died to nothing. Ended the night with 9 bass on the night.

[CapeMayRay]

Couldn't do it again tonight. Didn't have a charter and decided to get a personal trip in. Called Peter and we decided to leave the dock around sunset to hit prime time. When we cleared the inlet the was a good southeast wind and it was almost low tide.

Found low water in the area where we wanted to fish with a fair amount of surf and chop. It was all I could do to keep Peter in a position to cast without ending up on the beach. He got one small striper and missed one. After it got totally dark we had to leave as I was difficult to see.

Got back to the inlet and found no tide. We worked it hard for about an hour and half and we each had a couple of hits but no hook ups. With still very little current and a good amount of wind we called it an early night.

[mikelpl]

Nice reports Ray

[Dave Sikorski]

Great reports Ray.

I sat down at the tying bench tonight for the first time in a while. Glad to see you've been getting some steady action. I haven't picked up a rod in nearly 3 weeks. If this weather continues, I can see a lot more fishing rod and less shotgun in my future this year.

Thanks again for sharing your reports, they keep me staring out the window wondering why I'm not on the water more.

-D

[CapeMayRay]

Dave, hunting is for people who don't fish.

I know I always say darkness is your friend, but got the urge to do some speculating for Specks. Peter and I left the dock around 2:30 p.m. and were going to take a trip to some known Speck Spots. The wind was blowing pretty good out of the southeast. We figured we better check the inlet first just to make sure there was nothing of interest there before we made our long run.

Was a bit snotty with wave action around the rocks and found my turning motor on my electric motor was not working. Could not tell whether is was a battery or motor problem. We were going to head right back in to fix the problem but figured we would give it a quick shot in the back bay as the prop on the electric worked and I could some what hand steer it.

Thought we were going to be in for a great afternoon when on my third cast I got a nice striper on a 5 inch bunker fly.

After that it was a steady harassment by small blues. They kept whacking my bunker fly on just about every cast. Pete using a smaller fly would catch one here and there.

Right before we headed in we made a move to another spot and in 3 feet of water Peter caught a small bass on a small blue crease fly.


With each of us catching a bass we headed back to the dock at 5:30. Not too bad for a short trip. It felt weird to be come back to the dock at dusk instead of going out.

Wind was still steady and with the low tide we figured it would be beating a dead horse.

[CapeMayRay]

I tracked down the problem with my electric motor. Batteries were good it was a problem with the auto pilot board. Looks like a corrosion problem. Took most of the afternoon in between rain to rewire my back motor to match the new boat hook up and unbolt an exchange motors.

I was all excited about going out fishing this afternoon with the overcast even with the strong wind. Just as I finished the motor change I looked up and the whole harbor was fogged in heavy.

Called Peter and we decided with the strong winds, heavy fog and it getting dark we would bag the idea. Looked like it was not going to be a fun night.

[CapeMayRay]

Decided to got out to night with Peter and Ken Kelly from the club. We took my boat and left the dock a little after 4:00 p.m. with a strong west wind and the start of the out going tide.

Wind was the biggest problem as it was blowing pretty well. We decided to work the back bay and try a number of the small creek mouths. We worked a good number of spots and could only catch blues to about 2 lbs. The water was 68.4, still super warm and we saw no signs of bass and very little bait.

We had 3 good fly fishermen and we were fling, bunker, gurgglers, poppers, deceiver etc. If the fish were there we would of caught. We were back at the dock at 7:30.