Fishing Reports Cape May Oct 1 to Oct 31

[CapeMayRay]

Was going to fish last night and decided to watch the Eagles. Then Ken Kelly called to see if I wanted to go out fishing and I talked him out of going. Later that night I got a good report of striper activity along with tons of bait and was sorry I didn't go.

Got up this morning and was all excited about taking my fly charter out this morning. We left the dock at 6:30 a.m. with a fairly good wind out of the east with the tide just starting in.

Started out super slow. No signs of bait or fish and some pretty good waves in the inlet. Worked the inlet and the beach front of Cape May, only finding a couple of small blues. Went off a bit to check out a mess of birds but it was only 8 inch blues under it.

After a couple of painfully slow hours of fishing I moved us to the back bay to work some of the sod banks with the incoming tide. It was painfully slow there to with just super small blues.

Finally with a half hour left in the trip, around 10:00 in the morning we picked a couple of nice size blues.

I decided to stick it out a little while longer and give the charter more time in hopes the fishing would improve. It turned out to be a good move as we started to get some bass and fished to 11:30 catching a total 6 small stripers to 23 inches and a few more blues.


Who would of guessed the best bass fishing would of been that late in the morning. Charter was happy and I was able to pull one out of the hat.

[CapeMayRay]

After yesterdays fishing in the back bay mid day. Peter and I decided to give it a shot today. Left the dock at 11:00 a.m. with the tide coming in and it cloudy and looking like rain.

It looked like a great striper fishing day. Went to the inlet where we found some good sea swells and some mullet. Worked the inlet for awhile with a couple of bluefish and decided to go to the back which was the original plan.

Water looked great with lots of bait but fishing was slow with just some small blues hitting our flies once in awhile. With the tide up super high we decided to work up a small creek that I had never been up before. Pete decided to switch to a small clouser while I kept throwing a large peanut bunker pattern. Pete got a small bass, which broke the Jinx we have been kidding in about for the last couple of months. (Ever since he killed a female breeder weakfish he has not been able to catch a striper, even when everyone else was.)



It was small but it was a bass and felt good to get this finally behind him and we thought it was going to be the first of many bass this afternoon. It wasn't to be. We worked the heck out of all the prime areas and waited for the outgoing tide and worked all the mouths and points that normally produce.

It was so slow put I the fly rod down I got out a plug and worked some of the same areas and was able to get a 22 incher out of a creek mouth before we quit.

We fished longer than we normally do, but it didn't make a difference. It was just slow.

[jerseygirl]

I think that weakfish is still in his freezer - for fear of more bad karma if he eats it!

[CapeMayRay]

Freezer burn adds that extra flavor that some people like

Had a one person charter today. With the fishing being so slow I lugged down a cooler of bait in case of emergency. (lugged it back home as we never needed it.) Weather was nice when we left the dock early afternoon with the tide just beginning to ebb.

We started out at the inlet with charter throwing some of the custom wood plugs he had bought with teasers in front of them. With the weather nice I got to use my fly rod with large bunker flies. Water was pretty dirty with a fair amount of weed. All we could get is some bluefish to about 3 lbs.

We shot in to the back bay and worked the heck out of all the prime spots with just a bluefish here and there to show for our efforts. Again the water looked great, there was pleanty of bait but just a shortage of fish. It was just about time to end the charter and it was looking pretty bleak for getting a bass. Since neither my charter or I had to be in and with the weather being so nice I moved us over to a shallow spot and said let's stick it out till it gets dark, we might just get lucky.

The extra hour payed off. The bass turned on and we ended up with 7 stripers to 26 inches with a good number of misses and one even better fish missed. Best action was at dusk and stayed good till the tide stopped flowing. We caught all our bass in 1 1/2 to 2 feet of water and I ended up with the biggest bass of the night.

[CapeMayRay]

Had one of my charters a fly angler here for a afternoon who gave me some neat bunker flies that worked super well for me all last fall. I invited him over to the house where he showed Peter and I just how he ties them so we could make our own. Here they are in two different light conditions. They take on different colors depending on the light.


After tying up some flies Rich and I took off for some striper fishing. Left the dock at 5:30 p.m. in a heavy fog expecting to have a banner night. Using gps we worked our way into the back flats with an out going tide.

With the great conditions we thought it would be a great night. We started out with a steady flow of small blues tearing away at our flies and where waiting for it to get dark.

Just like the day before just as it got real dark we got a bass and missed one and thought it was the beginning of some hot action. It just never happen. We worked to death a couple of prime spots and scrounged out 3 bass to 25 inches.

We stopped at the bridge lights on the way back but there were only some very small blues there. It was a dark, foggy, very wet night but we had fun. Guess the bass all ate early in the day with the low light.

[CapeMayRay]

Non fly charter tonight. Had one of my regular husband and wife charters. They decided to bring their 10 year old daughter with the weather being so nice.

Left the dock at 4:00 p.m. near the top of the tide. No fog today and just a light breeze. With this being the daughters first trip we decided to forgo the inlet and ocean and stay in the back where it was flat.

Started out catching blues from super small to about 2 lbs. Not heavy action but enough to keep us on our toes. Sarah, the young daughter had fresh water fished with her dad and could cast pretty well. See caught the first blue of the night.

We worked around the sod banks with the out going tide and around sunset we had our first striper.

We continued to catch blues mixed with a few bass up until it got real dark. I managed to get everyone a striper on the night for a total of 5 with the largest being 25 inches.




It was another super warm night with the water temperature 73.8 and it was warm enough to wear shorts and short sleeve shirt till we came in at 8:30 Very weird weather for October. People are still swimming in the surf with the water there still in the 70's.

[CapeMayRay]

It was a nice day. Despite the warm water Peter and decided to give it a try. We left the dock at 4:00 p.m. with the tide in pretty good. We tried the inlet first. With the southeast wind we found conditions a little sloppy and very fishable. Water was 73.4 and the water was brown with some weeds. We worked it for a while with big bunker type flies to keep the blues away getting some bluefish bites but no stripers.

We decided to go to plan B and work the back bay. Found the water brown back there too and 74 to 76 degrees. We worked a number of great spots with only small blues hitting our flies.

After a hour and half of frustration we took a flyer to an area I had never fished before as we figured we had nothing to lose and we could atleast scout the area out.

At the new area we still had the small blues and I decide to use a popping plug so we could cruise along at a good clip and search for signs of activity. After about a half hour I got a small bass outside the mouth of a creek. With the tide still coming in we decided to work up the creek. Peter switched to a popping fly as we headed up with the tide. I got one more on popping plug and switched back to the fly rod and also put on a popping fly.

Right around dusk, we found one stretch were we were both getting striper hits on our popping flies but not getting hook ups. The fish would swirl behind but would not commit. It was frustrating as we each had a good number of hits.

On my next cast I decided to use a much faster retrieve. It worked and I got a nice 22 incher striper that completely swallowed the fly.


Right after releasing the fish it was dark and the tide stopped and so did the fish activity. The next hour we only had a few bluefish bites and called it a night as the tide was starting out.

This warm weather and water is really making the fishing tough. It has been a real struggle to get stripers with these warm conditions. We really need some cold weather to get the fishing back to what it should be this time of year.

[CapeMayRay]

Even though we had rain yesterday and last night conditions didn't change any. Peter and I decided to go out and give it another shot. We left the dock at 5:00 p.m. and headed out to the inlet. Water there was 72.4. There was a lot of mullet being hammered by bluefish from small to about 3 lbs.

We played with the blues for about an hour and saw no signs of any bass. Water was still brownish green with some weed and warm so we decided to go in the back and fish.

It was what looked to be a perfect night for popper fly fishing with no wind. Water in the back still looked brownish green and was 73 to 75 degrees. It was a pretty night. Here is Peter working a popping fly with the sun going down.

I was lucky and had a small 18 1/2 inch striper come up and take the same popping fly that I was using the other night. It hit right close to a grass line that had a little current running by it.


We worked our popping flies into the darkness. We had about 6 bass come up swirl and follow our flies. We tried all kinds of retrieves but nothing would turn them on to strike. Again I think the water is too warm for them to aggressively hit.

After dark we move to another area where we used a black and peanut bunker fly. The area normally will produce some strikes, but not tonight. We called it an early night and quit at 8:00 p.m. as a breeze was filling in. It was a little cooler tonight. We needed jackets but could still wear shorts after dark and be comfortable.

[CapeMayRay]

Called off charter for this afternoon. Had new fly fisherman and 20 to 30 mph winds not going to be any fun. Looked fishable on the inside of the jetty which was blocked by the wind but with only bluefish around we decided to try tomorrow if weather permits.

Took a ride to Cape May Point to check it out where our fly club will be meeting this weekend and found 7 to 8 foot waves. Not a user friendly day.

[CapeMayRay]

Canceled Friday nights charter due to high wind, which made two trips in a row. Left the dock tonight at 4:00 p.m. at just about dead low tide. Wind was blowing pretty strong from the west and the water was dirty brown. Only bright spot was that the temperatures had dropped to 67 degrees.

Had a mom and dad and their young 11 year old son. The father and son had taken a fly fishing course where they used 5 wt freshwater rods and they were anxious to try salt water fly fishing. Went out the inlet and figured we would fish the lee shore beach front. There was way too much wind for them to even try the fly rod and it was coming from a bad angle for where we had to fish with the wind.. Seas were calm but dirty brown water and no signs of bait, fish or birds.

I had them using swimming plug and we managed a slow pick of blues until around 6:30 when the mom was getting cold. (she wasn't doing any fishing)


We ran her back into the dock and headed back out. We caught more blues and around sunset we started picking up some stripers.

We had a nice pick of stripers for about 3/4 hour where we landed 7 stripers, had one break off and missed a few. It was the best action I have seen in awhile. Fish all ranged from 21 to 24 inches in size and we left with the fish still biting cause they wanted to get in to have time for dinner with the mom.


Guess the cooler water has started things back on track. I hope it is a sign of better things to come.