Cape May Fishing Report Aug 1 to 31

[CapeMayRay]

Non fly charter tonight. Had husband, wife and son out for a striper plugging trip. Left the dock at 5:00pm. We had ideal tide, clean water, and good weather. Couldn't of asked for better set up and I was sure we were going to have a good night, only the fish were missing.

Using popping plugs, which are usually deadly, it was a struggle. We hit some prime set ups found some small bait and but could only find dinks. Even when the tide started out we hit all the go to spots and they were dead giving up maybe one fish at every other spot and they were super small. We are just not seeing the normal fishing for this time of year and there are no signs of any bluefish any where in the back, which is really weird.

5 of the 6 stripers we caught on the night were from 15 to 18 inches and this little bit better bass was caught by the son. It hit like a ton of bricks and splashed and thrashed all over putting up a nice fight in the 3 feet of water where it was hooked.

For ideal conditions and tides it was a pretty poor showing and we had to work hard for every fish we got tonight. Even the 4 or 5 fish we missed looked like they were on the small side.

[CapeMayRay]

Finally had a decent night of weather for fishing and some decent fly fishing too.

Left the dock at 5:00 pm with a one person fly charter from Virginia. Good caster as he helps a guide in Va. teach fly anglers to cast.

Hadn't fished the inlet in a while and with the light winds decided to give it a try.

The "Slammer Blues are back!" Some where. We got this monster on a clouser on intermediate line. Don't get them much smaller than this.

Not thinking he was getting down enough I had him switch over to 350 sinking line and a yanks Assassin and he got two small bass and missed a much better one that just threw the hook.

My last Assassin battered after who knows how many fish is still catching. (May have to sent it back for re-hab.)

With the sun getting low I shot to the back to catch the last of the incoming tide and switched him over to a chartreuse larger popping fly where he caught two more as the sun was setting.


We moved to another area where the tide would be starting to go out and picked up two more on the same popping fly.

After dark we made one final move and found some fish and charter caught two more on a black shammy fly. With the time up I told charter with the fish hitting I would give him some more time and he said OK and why don't I do some fishing too.

We fished for another hour and half. I got 5 small bass to 22 inches using three different bay anchovy flies made from EP fibers. and he had another six small bass on my small anchovy flies.

All our fish tonight were on the small size, but a lot of fun. 19 Bass and one blue on 7 different flies. Not a bad night of fishing and both of us went home with a smile. Small fish didn't bother him as where he fishes most of the stripers he catches are 10 to 18 inches and his biggest of the night a 21 incher made his day.

[CapeMayRay]

Had Monday nights charter back out again on Tuesday night. Didn't get 19 bass like the previous night, but did get 9 up to 26 inches.

Tough start to the night. Weather called for 12 to 13 mph winds. Left the dock at 5:00 pm and headed to the inlet and found 20 to may 25 mph winds. It was a bit difficult to work the rocks but the charter was a good caster and we worked it hard for about an hour before giving into the wind with out a strike or seeing any signs of life.

Moved to the back bay where we worked a incoming tide point break. Wind was still difficult. Had a few hits and managed two small fish on a chartreuse popping fly fished on intermediate line.

Made a couple of moves getting a few hits and I got nice 26 incher on a steroid gurgler while fishing up a creek trying to find some shelter from the wind as it was really a pain.

Finally found a spot some what sheltered from the wind with a current right near the end of the trip where I was able to get my charter into a decent bite. Again I gave him a little more time. Here he caught 4 more bass and I got two myself. Again small bay anchovy flies made with EP Fibers did the trick. Could stay out too long as I had to get up at 4:00am for a morning charter and we left with the fish still hitting.

All the fish were small from 15 inches to 21 with only that one larger fish. Fun night for both despite the tough wind conditions.

[CapeMayRay]

All the flies below are used and have had about 5 fish caught on each one, so they are a little beat. (don't tell the fish)

EP Fibers are not my favorite material to work with as it fouls and tangles a bit a bit. Flies look good in the water and the fish seem to like them so that is all that counts. I find using some soft body or similar stuff and running along the hook prevents the material from riding down on the hook fouling.

I do believe other flies would have caught. It is just that we started catch on them and why change if they are working.

[CapeMayRay]

This morning got down to the boat at 4:30am and the wind had died down to nothing. Left the dock at 5:00am with three anglers to fish for bass using popping plugs.

We headed to the back and found some small bait on a point with the incoming tide in 2 to 3 feet of water and started getting some hits. All three were new to popper fishing and we missed the first 9 fish. Mostly due to yanking the popper away when they got the hit or just stopping thinking they missed it. (it is hard for anglers to get use to as when you see the bass hit you want to set the hook, but you have to wait till you feel the weight.) If the fish Misses it you have to pretend that it never happen and just keep working as they will come back and attack it again.

Finally we got the first bass in the boat.

After working this area for awhile about 150 yards away right off of the main channel in 3 to 4 feet of water I saw some fish coming up on the surface and feeding. We moved over there and Caught 5 more fish. One of which had a Littoral fish tag in it. We also missed a number that they couldn't hook up.



We even hooked a nice keeper size bass that really fought, peeling off drag, running all over the place and it just came lose before we could get it to the net. Nothing that the angler did wrong. He had a good bend in rod, drag was set right, the hook just pulled.

When the action died I moved to another shallow area where we missed 4 more fish. With it getting brighter I made one final move to another shallow area 3 to 4 feet deep that I rarely fish, for our last shot before the high sun called a end to the game. Here they missed 5 more including one that we saw the whole side of the fish as it hit the plug. That one looked like a possible keeper, but the angler gave up popping the plug when he missed it.

On the bright side I did see some mullet spooked up when one of the plugs hit the water, which is a good sign. I may have to give this area some consideration in the next few trips.

They enjoyed the morning even though they only caught 5 fish out of the 30 some shots they got, and watched dinner pull the hook. Was a bit weird as even on a bad hook up day you can at least get 50 percent and many times you the fish will hook themselves on the first strike. (That's fishing)

Hope I have a better hook up ratio on tonights trip.

[CapeMayRay]

With all the activity this morning I thought this evenings trip would be an easy one, but we ended up having to work hard to find some activity.

Left the dock at 5:00pm with three anglers out to catch some bass on spin rods. With the tide coming in we went to the inlet and worked it a bit and had zero hits. While working it the wind kicked up a bit and the water seemed was 66 degrees which was 5 degrees lower than yesterday.

Just as we moved to the back the wind completely died. We started where had action last night and this morning an saw bait but found no fish activity so we moved on and worked a number of prime spots. We found good amounts of small bait everywhere we worked, but could not raise even a swirl behind any popping plug.

Finally in the last hour I found a spot that had less bait but there were fish. They caught 5 of the 15 fish that hit with the biggest being 22 inches.



Right at dusk the mosquitoes came out heavier than I had ever seen them. We took some heavy bites before we could all get the bug spray on and where headed back to the dock around 9:00pm and noticed the water inside the harbor was 66 degrees which made it feel like air conditioning as we zipped across the water.

[CapeMayRay]

Woke up to rain this morning and it was on and off very light drizzle on and off all day till I left the dock with my charter. Had one fly angler and one spin angler. We left the dock at 5:00pm and just as we headed out to the inlet it started to rain hard.

Got to the inlet and found we were the only nuts out there fishing in the rain. A little wind from the northeast creating a little wave action and a strong incoming full moon tide and boat wakes from the canyon runners.

Fly angler came through and caught 2 small bass on that same beat up, well used Yanks Assassin using 350 sinking line. (It still keeps catching after taking a licking) They were is first every stripers on a fly so he was excited. With it still raining pretty hard we moved to the back where I would have to fight the tide and waves.

Went to the same spot we tried yesterday where it was dead. It was still raining pretty good but the wind died to nothing and by 8:00pm it stopped raining. Here in 3 feet of water, using a popping plug, on the first cast the plug angler hooked up with his biggest bass of the night. It was a nice 26 incher.

He got two more before the fly angler using a chartreuse popping fly on floating line, caught another little one. We kept working the area with the fly angler catching another small one, before he had one absolutely smash his popper and take off to the races getting him right into the backing. (In 2 to 3 feet of water there is now where for them to go but away.)


He landed his biggest bass of the night and now his personal best. A nice 26 inch striper.

We moved to two other locations and picked a few more bass for both and one small blue and were treated to a nice sunset before calling it a night. Again the mosquitoes came out in full force and were really bad so we had to get the bug spray on.

11 bass and 1 small blue on a rainy night, we all went home with a smile.

[CapeMayRay]

After a number of good trips in a row the fish had their day. Had a one person fly charter out from New Mexico. We left the dock at 6:00pm and I was sure we were going to have a great night. We had good tide, light wind, perfect little rip lines at all the prime spots and bait fish around. Text book set up. (If only the the fish could read!)

I worked 6 prime spots for 4 hours and zero strikes on the popping flies and never saw one even swirl behind it. I even cast out the good old smack-it-jr and that never got any attention. Finally in the last minutes of the charter he hooked a dinky 16 inch striper on a surf candy so we avoided the skunk.

Every thing looked perfect for catching. You can only hit so many prime spots in 4 hours and I must of hit them all at the wrong time. The only thing I could think of was maybe a worm hatch took place with the full moon, but I could not see anything in the water or back at the dock. Guess the fish have to win once in a while, but it is tough when you have a charter out.

Charter didn't feel as bad as I did. He was happy to catch his first striper on the fly and said it was bigger than most trout he would catch. I just knew how much better it should of been.

I'll get them the next time.

[CapeMayRay]

Canceled a one man fly charter last night. We were going to fish Midnight to 4:00am hitting the outgoing tide, but it was a bit windy and there were some heavy rains showing on the radar and a chance of thunderstorms, so we decided to go out in the morning.

Left the dock at 6:00pm with the incoming tide. Weather radar showed some rain to the west, but it was calm and cloudy. Just as we got to the inlet we had a nice sunrise with some blue sky in-between clouds.

We got no stripers around the rocks but got one bluefish on a clouser before we moved to the beach front looking for some weakies. We never got a strike but had some trigger fish flollow our clousers back to the boat. Some were pretty nice size. I have caught them on small clousers before but they wanted no parts of them this morning.

An ideas on what might of done the trick?

As we headed to go into the inlet there were a mess off small bluefish hammering spearing outside the inlet. After catching a mess and saving a few for dinner we headed to the back for stripers. The spearing were as big as I have ever seen. They almost looked the size of mullet.

Just as we got to the back it started getting very cloudy and started to light drizzle. My charter missed one bass and landed a 17 incher that took a large chartreuse popping fly.


Just as we released the fish it started coming down super hard and we both got pretty soaked by the time we got our foul weather gear on.

With it raining hard and steady my charter said he had enough fun for the morning and let's call it a day.

In heavy rain I cleaned his blues and got the boat cleaned up and put away. (I felt like a drowned rat.) You might know just as I got back to the house the sun came out and it looks like the rest of the day it is going to be pretty nice.

[CapeMayRay]

After the morning rain it got stinking hot here in Cape May. Left the dock at 5:00pm with a plug charter with the incoming tide and no wind and we headed to the ocean to look for some bluefish action to get them started. It was as hot as you can get and we were sweating just being in the boat.

Found bluefish hammering bait fish and the guys were able hook up bluefish like crazy and we were keeping some of the larger ones.(Those big enough to fillet) After it being so calm and getting bounced around by all the Canyon boats coming in, one of guys said he was feeling sea sick, so we moved into the back bay.

Weird catch of the night was a spanish mackeral caught on a swiming plug. It fell off as the angler was lifting it into the boat.

As we got to the back the sky really looked weird to the west. It was very gray and hazy. It was dead calm and the black flies came out in force and we had to use the spray to survive. Shortly after we started tossing popping plugs they started getting bluefish in 3 feet of water. It took some learning but they were finally getting the drill down and not pulling the plug away when they would get a hit. The blues were much nicer than the ones in the ocean and looked to be close to 3 lbs.

Then one of the guys landed a nice 24 inch bass and missed another.

It was just starting to get good when we heard thunder off in the distance. It was almost constant and seemed to be getting closer. I turned on the weather radio and there was a severe storm watch with a bad storm coming across Delaware Bay that was packing 58 mph winds and they were telling boaters to get off the water fast and take shelter.

It was ashame. We still had another hour of fishing and missed one more bass right before we left, but decided to race for the barn and play it safe.

Tied the boat up and got their fish cleaned and all hell broke lose. It was a nasty storm with high winds, heavy rain and constant lightning and it lasted for an hour before I was able to go back down to the boat and put the gear away and put on the covers.