Cape May Fishing Report April 15 to April 30

[CapeMayRay]

Action on the fly finally got under way last Friday the 16th. Got the first stripers of the season on the fly, missed a couple and has some followers. Water was still very cold. It was 49 to 52.8 Fish were caught on 300 grain sinking line on a spearing pattern. All the fish were caught in the ocean around the inlet.

Didn't fish over the weekend with the strong winds but had a 2man charter out today and we got 4 stripers on plugs. They missed a couple and had some followers. Not to bad for mid-day with the water temps 51 to 53 degrees. Again all the action was in the ocean.

Have yet to see any action in the back bay, on the flats or around creek mouths. Should start up soon.

Can't wait to get back out with the fly rod. Looks like it will get better each day.

[CapeMayRay]

Got out today with friend from the South Jersey Coastal Fly Anglers. Went out at 12:00 noon. Not the primmest time but we had a beautiful day and a good tide and felt lucky.

Started out at the inlet. After only a few casts I had a nice big bass come up and follow my Yank's assassin to the boat only to turn away at the last minute. We thought we were going to be in for a super day.

We caught but it was tough. We had to work for every fish we got. We caught 4 stripers to 24 inches, with the plain small clouser being the fly of the day. My 24 incher had either fin rot or something was chewing on it.

Water was really clean and nice. Maybe too nice with all the bright sun. About as nice as it gets with the temperatures from 51.2 to 53.4

We brought some bait for tog if things got real slow, but from the boats we saw fishing, we didn't seem much caught at all.

[CapeMayRay]

Been out a few times this week. All small stripers and they have all been caught in the ocean around the inlet rocks. Still no signs of any fish in the back bay areas yet, even though the water back there is fairly warm with some creek mouths close to the mid 60's.

Decided to fish the incoming tide on Saturday. Left the dock around 1:00pm and headed to the inlet. No signs of any birds or any thing except for a ton of tog fishermen trying to load up before the end of the month limit goes to 1 fish.

Water was fairly clean. Using a spearing fly on 300 grain sinking line I caught a 18 inch bluefish on the first cast. It was my first of the year and no signs that they were in the water. Then I had to work for all the other fish of the day. Got one more identical blue and had one bite off. The two stripers that I got on the day where smaller than the blues by about a half an inch.

Not great fishing but still fun. I was the only one not tog fishing. kept one bluefish which I had for dinner. Just the right size and it was very good. Only fished three hours and headed in.