Light At the End of the Tunnel

[CapeMayRay]

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They are killing the fish up the Delaware River. Atleast the guys fishing with herring or bait. Don't know if anyone is up there trying a fly.

Here our water is still very cold and not sign of the bluefish yet. They are really late.

Had an interesting afternoon. My charter this afternoon was a husband and wife who don't fish much, they where visiting Cape May and wanted to try some fishing. With rain in the forecast for late afternoon we left the dock earlier than normal, around 3:00 pm with the tide coming in.

All looked well. Very little wind and water was calm. We went out to work the ocean front and inlet. Water was still cold 51.8 but fairly clean.

Had to work with them a bit on casting spin rods. Had them using rubber spro rubber swim baits and small swimming plugs. It was a slow start but I found some fish. They went 1 for three on stripers with the wife getting this 26 1/2 inch bass.

They also had 4 Atlantic sea herring. Not hickory shad, no spot on them and they were long and thin.

Casting skills really hampered them as the lost a number of baits and plugs to the rocks, but overall they did pretty well.

All was going well until shorty after they got the striper. The rain front hit us and it poured for awhile. They both only had foul weather jackets with no pants and got pretty wet and cold so we had to come in early. They had a good time and were happy they had some action.

With it around 6:15 and still calm with just a light drizzle I decided to head back out myself and see if I could get some fish on the fly. Just as I got back out to the beach front it started to rain hard again, but I was able to get some herring and a 22 inch bass. Then it started really pouring hard and the wind kicked up out of the east pretty good. I was able to get one more 24 inch bass and another herring right before it got dark. I was using sinking line and a chartreuse buck tail deceiver.

After dark I hung in there for about another half hour, but conditions were deteriorating and then I saw a flash of lightning and heard thunder. Being out in the ocean is tough enough at night, but with wind, rain and lightning I knew when to quit.

Even with full foul weather gear and boots I got pretty soaked myself. Brought the herring home and salted them down for bait. Overall it was a fun afternoon.

[CapeMayRay]

Invited Peter over for dinner tonight and early afternoon I got the urge to fish after catching last night. Called up Paul Kerlinger from the club and took him and Peter out. We only had a short window of time as we had to get in for dinner.

Left the dock around 3:30pm Water in the harbor was 51.5 As we left it was very cloudy and looked like rain with a decent breeze out of the east. As we headed out the inlet we found the water still very cold. 51.2 degrees and it was a bit greenish brown and not as clean as yesterday.

Started out getting sea herring on small clousers with intermediate line.



(Hickorys are not as long and thin and they have a spot or two on the sides. The fish were were getting were Atlantic Sea Herring)

After being out for abour a half hour it rained hard, making it look like a repeat or yesterday. The rain stopped after 15 minutes and with the wind and cold water it was just damp and cold.

Kept picking at the herring and then Peter got the first bass on a clouser on sinking line and we thought it would be the beginning of some hot fishing, but it never developed.


Pictures make it look nicer than it really was. With the wind coming off the ocean and with the current and sea swell it was a full time job keeping control of the boat to keep it in a position for two guys to cast flies.

We had to leave just as the water was getting nice and clean and the tide was getting ready to change. (Just about when it got good yesterday) Had to leave to make it home in time for dinner.

It was a short fun trip and we all had a good time. Paul kept 7 herring to salt down for bait.

I told Pete, let's go back out after dinner, but he had had enough of the cold and wet conditions. It worked out for the best as when we finished dinner it began raining hard again and just like yesterday we had some thunder and lightning.

[Dave Sikorski]

Glad to see you found some pullage Ray.

I haven't even looked at a fly rod yet this year and our fish are here and ready to be caught...

Keep the reports coming and hopefully I'll chime in with a few of my own sooner than later.

Heck, I haven't even tied any flies in close to 2 months.

-D

[CapeMayRay]

Dave, that is hard to believe. Come on we need some reports from your neck of the woods.

After a day of on and off showers and a heavy downpour in the afternoon the skies cleared and we saw sunshine and some blue sky. After dinner I decided it was too nice a night to stay home.

Pete and Paul couldn't go so I did a solo. Left with the last of the incoming tide. Water is still cold. 51 to 52.8 and the inlet and along the beach front.

When I started out there was a pretty good ground swell and a wind blowing off the ocean making it impossible to fish in close to the beach. Water in the ocean was a bit brown from all the surf. I did manage to get 2 sea herring on a small clouser.

Decided to move to the inlet in-search of cleaner water. Bumped into friend fishing in his boat and we fished side by side. Finally just as it was getting fairly dark I got a nice 26 inch striper that I caught on a bunker fly using sinking line.

Second picture has the full moon and fishing friend in the background. He got his best striper ever on the fly. It was somewhere in the 32 to 34 inch range. Lost it at boat side trying to put the bocca grip on it.

Fished a bit into the outgoing tide as it kept getting nicer and nicer. The swells were still there but the wind died to nothing and it was pretty pleasant. We both headed in at the same time. I am not a big fan of fishing at night with a full moon. Give me a dark new moon night.