Joe, Let me know when you make it down. We should try to get out and fish even if it is for a few hours.
Gorgeous day but tough fishing. It was very slow but we managed to get a couple of fish. Left the dock with on fly and one plug angler with the tide still coming in this afternoon. Decided to try the back bay as before all the wind there were at least a few fish back there.
Started back on the flats in 4 foot of water. We found only a little bit of bait. (glass minnows) We worked the rest of the incoming tide and only got hits from 8 to 10 inch blues. Finally fly angler hooked into a striper on chartreuse jiggie using floating line.
Looked to be about 20 inches long before threw the hook right near the net.
We kept on moving and picked a couple of small blues on the fly and plug and finally hooked a nice 24 inch bass on a smack-it-jr popping plug.
Came back and worked a creek mouth with the outgoing tide and got this striper on the chartreuse jiggie.
Really for such a nice day and a great tide it was painfully slow. My guys really worked it hard.
We were back to the dock by 5:30 pm and I was thinking about going back out myself after the charter was done but with the overall lack of bait and lack of fish, I didn't want to waste my time.
Evening didn't start too good. Got down to the boat and found my starting battery didn't have enough juice to turn over the engine. I was due to replace the battery this summer but thought I would see if it would make the end of the year.
Flipped the battery switch and used one of my trolling batteries to get it started and then put it back on its own battery to get it charged up.
Left the dock at 5:00 pm and was barely able to get out of my slip as we had a super low tide. I think I had about 10 inches of water under the boat as I dredged my own channel out of the marina.
Headed to the inlet hoping to find some clean water or some bird or bait activity out front. Water in the inlet was very brown and there was a good amount of straw and crap in the water along the Wildwood beach front.
Decided to work down the Cape May beach front hitting a couple of spots here and there that looked fishy, but only found more brown water. After fishing for about and hour and half I was about ready to head in when I found a pocket of clean water.
Right as the sun was getting close to setting in about 7 feet of water right off the beach, I picked up my first bass of the night using a chartreuse buck tail deceiver on sinking line.
That was the start of my best personal fly night of the year, number wise. There was no sign of any fish or bait there but the bass were in there thick. I started get a hit on just about every cast and just started hammering them for the next hour.
I had perfect conditions. No wind, light wave action and hungry fish. I ended up with 21 stripers 18 to 22 inches in the next hour and they were all caught on that one fly on the sinking line and I must of missed at least 10 more hits and a few that shook loose during the fight.
Even had a beautiful sunset to make it even better.
I fished till 7:45 It got dark fast, the wind shifted off the ocean and it was getting tough to control the boat and keep out of the waves and off the beach.
When I went to start the engine the battery was down again so I didn't want to push it as I had enough fun for the night.
Will get a new battery tomorrow.
Really do not think the fishing has improved overall. I just think I hit the right spot at the right time as I never saw any signs of life anywhere.
After last nights slug fest of small bass and putting in a new cranking battery, I was chopping at the bit to get out tonight. It was another beautiful day here in Cape May and with light winds it looked like another great night for fishing with almost identical conditions as last night.
Got Peter to go out with me tonight and we left the dock at 5:00 pm with the tide just starting in. Headed to where I slammed them yesterday and found the same clean 57 degree water. We fished it to death, until after dark. Pete had one small hit and we saw a small patch of mullet swim by with nothing on it. I never got a strike.
After dark we moved in from the ocean and figured we would try one last spot before heading in. Here we picked up 4 quick bass. I caught 3 on the same chartreuse fly as last night on sinking line and Pete got one which was the nicest bass of the night on a mostly white clouser on floating line.
Pete's bass was a nice fat one and had a littoral tag in which I will send in and see where it was released. We fished till 8:00 pm and headed in to watch the Phillies Game.
What a difference a night makes caught them like there was no tomorrow last night and came close to getting skunked tonight.
Fishing is still tough and no signs of bait at any of the areas that we fished. Now just hope we get a few of the better fish as they start to move through our area.
Weather was a nice surprise this morning. When I went to bed last night the forecast was calling for a 12 mph northeast wind at sunrise and getting stronger as the day would progress.
Left the dock at 6:45 am this morning with a fly charter and it was dead calm with a gorgeous sunrise.
With the tide coming in we headed to the inlet to work the jetties and the beach front. Water was nice and clean and conditions looked perfect, but fishing sucked. We worked the area for two hours and never got a single strike, or saw any signs of bait or fish. No signs of any birds anywhere.
With the weather so nice we decided to work up the beach toward Wildwood, looking for signs of life. After wasting another hour we decided to run in to the back bay where there was now enough water to fish.
Right as we started back for the inlet the wind started picking up and by the time we got to the back it was now blowing pretty good. The move paid off as we found 6 small bass against some sod banks and flats area. They were caught on a small spearing fly and a olive over white clouser using intermediate lines.
As we fished it got windier and windier and by the time we quit it was difficult to fish, even on a lee shore sod bank, so we headed back to the dock at 11:00am.
Very strange Day. With the prediction of high winds for today, I canceled my morning fly charter last night as my charter had to drive down from western Pa area and it was to be his first salt water fly trip.
Got up this morning to bright sunshine and strong wind so I made the right decision to cancel.
Went to the fishing flea market that was held here in Cape May this morning and picked up a few odds and ends. After lunch I decided to go out and see if I could find some place to hide from the wind and fish the start of the out going tide.
Left the dock at 2:00 pm and Shot to the back bay flats, to the leeward shore with the wind still blowing pretty good. Here I started working some creek mouths. Got one 16 inch bass on the same old chartreuse buck tail deceiver, using intermediate line, at the first creek, on about the 10th cast and thought I was going to get them good.
Action was few and far between. I worked 8 creeks really hard till 4:30 catching 5 more stripers all around 16 inches. I had to work for hard for them but was pleased that were some fish around and was feeling pretty good.
The wind eased up a bit and I decided to move to the windward side where there was a point break. Here I hit pay dirt. I started catching stripers at a fast pace. At the first point I caught 9 more stripers from 14 inches to 23 inches, with most under 19 inches.
The action seemed to stop so I moved to another point and picked up 3 more bass. When the action stopped there I hit one more point and picked up an additional 4 bass. Fished to 6:30 and had a total of 22 stripers on the fly. (my best number wise for the year)(pretty good for a 4 1/2 hour trip) Almost like the good days a few years back. Only then most of the fish were 21 to 28 inches instead of little rats. Water temps in the back were between 59 and 61 degrees.
Here is that chartruese fly I have been using. It is still looking pretty good considering it has caught over 50 fish. It is getting bit beat up but I think it still has some fish left in it.
I had a great afternoon was was treated to another great sunset.
After a great day of fishing and the perfect way to end the day.
Nice thing about fly fishing is that you do not make a mess of the boat with bait and you rarely deep hook a fish and get blood all over. I had the boat cleaned and covered in about 15 minutes, and was feeling pretty good.
After last nights hot action, you know I had to go out tonight and see if I could get more fish and find a decent fish among all the rats. Both fly buddies Peter and Paul were out of town so I went out with a friend who likes to plug fish and who I can occasionally talk into trying the fly.
We left the dock at 4:30 pm. with a 13 to 15 mph wind out of the northeast. We shot to the back bay to get out of the wind and fished some creek mouths on the leeward shore. We had no luck at all. No signs of bait and Tom had one small bass hit his Smack-it-Jr.
We decided to fish some current lines off of points where I caught yesterday and fish in the wind. First point produced two fish on the plug and I got 5 on the same chartreuse fly I have been catching on while using intermediate line.
We move to another point where I two more fish on the fly and my buddy finally gave in and said set me up with a fly rod. Had him using a chartreuse fly like mine with a little heavier sinking line as it would cast a better for him with the wind blowing pretty good. (He was able to get some half way decent casts) and caught one on the fly.
We moved to one last point after dark and he got two more stripers on the fly and I caught an additional 3.
Over all it was a good night. We caught 15 stripers on the night and headed in at 7:30. All the stripers were small with the biggest being 21 1/2 inches long, but they were a lot of fun. They must be fish that have moved in from the ocean as a few of them had sea lice on them.
Still not seeing the usual better fish that accompany the small rats. With only glass minnows around in the back, my guess is that there is no decent stuff for the bigger fish to feed on and they are just not coming in like they use to or there are just very few of them around.
All the fish we are seeing are smaller than the resident fish that we get during the height of the summer when the fishing is not suppose to be as good as it is in the fall. I get more keeper size fish during the summer than prime time any more.
They are catching the Cows in Delaware Bay we are getting the rats in the back bay and there seems to be none of the in between sizes around.
Nothing worth taking pictures of and with the bit of heavy cloud cover we didn't even have a pretty sunset.
We had a heavy rain early this morning and it was fairly breezy most of the day. Late afternoon the wind died down and there was only a light rain forecast for tonight. None of my friends wanted to fish in the rain so I headed out myself.
Left the dock at 5:00 pm and thought I would head to the inlet to see if I could scare up a bigger bass then I have been catching in the back. There was still a big swell coming in and the water was very brown at the start of the out going tide. I worked for a short while and decided to look for better water clarity.
Shot to the back bay and found the water 58.6 degrees and much cleaner but it hat that milky look to it, that it gets when a lot of rain water mixes with the salt water. You could see down maybe 2 feet.
Hit a small creek that had some out flow current and got two quick bass. Both were around 16 inches.
As I moved to one of the points where I had been catching the last couple of days, it started to rain and it really got dark extra early because of the heavy clouds and rain. Here I got three stripers 20 to 21 1/2 inches in the first half hour of working the point. Was using a new chartreuse and gray buck tail deceiver with a little flash and fishing it on intermediate line.
Then I went a half hour without a strike. Checking the water, I noticed that the water was now pretty brown with the strong current and you could only see the fly down a foot.
With it raining pretty good I called it a night and headed back to the dock at 7:30 At least I had a little fun for the day.
Fly fishing buddy Peter could only fish till 4:00 pm so we left the dock at 1:00 pm. with the tide already coming in for a while and a fairly strong wind from the northeast. We headed to the inlet. Found pretty good wave action and the water there was very dirty. We could only see our fly down about a foot.
Decided we would head to the back and look for clean water. We found it and conditions looked great but fish were no where to be found. We covered a lot of ground and neither of us got a hit.
We moved a couple of times and found a creek where we saw a small bass jump out of the water and thought we found a hot spot. It was dead neither of us had a hit after 2 1/2 hours of fishing and everywhere we fished the wind was a bit of a problem.
With a half hour left before I had to take him in, I decided to change to a dull brownish tan fly. After working it a bit saw a striper come up and hit and miss it. On the next strip another hit and miss. (checked to see if hook was sharp) It was. A little while later I had the same thing happen. Finally hooked a little 16 incher to get rid of the skunk. I gave that fly to Peter to use and he had a fish hit it twice, but no hook up. (We now call it a two hit fly) 3 hours of fishing and one dink bass. (pretty poor fishing)
Dropped Peter back at the dock and headed back out to see if I could get a couple more bass. The water was a little more murky from the incoming tide so I went back to my trusty chartreuse fly that now has over 60 bass caught on it. Fished back to where I missed my first fish, earlier in the day and caught 2 small bass.
Moved to 3 other spots and caught three more small bass. Wind was still blowing pretty good and the sod banks were getting covered over pretty good with the extra high push from the northeast wind, so I headed back to the dock at 5:30pm.
Had some fun, but had to work hard for it. I really expected much better fishing as we had a good tide and overcast conditions. Still not seeing the better fish that usually show up this time of year.
Wasn't going to fish tonight as I had a charter for tomorrow morning. Charter called and said he had the flu and couldn't make it. I looked at the forecast and they were calling for increased winds for tomorrow so I thought I do a quick hit and run trip tonight.
No one could make it on short notice to fish with me. Left the dock at 5:00 pm. with the incoming tide. Water was still very dirty at the marina and at the inlet so I headed to the back bay. Like yesterday the cleanest water was as far as you could get from the inlet. Water in the back was 58.1 and about 2 to 2 1/2 feet of visibility.
Third spot I tried I caught a nice 22 inch striper on the old chartreuse fly using intermediate line.
Two casts later I got this little dinky 15 incher and thought I found the hot spot.
It never keep going. I kept on working different areas and creeks and only came up with one more right before it got dark. A even smaller 14 1/2 incher.
With a pretty bright moon and just about dead high water I called it a night. Checked the water at the bridge on the way in and at dead high, with no current you could barely see down a foot. Had a fun 2 hours and was back at the dock by 7:00 pm.
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
