Fishing Reports Cape May July 16 to July 31

[CapeMayRay]

With last nights good plug action I was excited to get out on the water this morning with my fly charter. We left the dock at 5:30 am. near the top of the tide. Morning tide was better than a foot lower than the night tide and there was very little tidal flow and the water was 60 degrees where last night it was 66.

We worked all of the same areas that we did last night with only one small striper and one small blue. We fished a couple of spots where there is normally a good flow and found it weak at best and no fish.

Moved to the ocean and found 59.8 degrees along the beach. Did salvage the day here. Charter got a striper, weakfish, a small blue, a sea bass and a number of sea herring on a small white and silver bead head fly that he uses for steel head.


Finished the morning working all sides of the inlet rocks but could only get more sea herring.

[CapeMayRay]

Crashed and Burned on Tuesday night. Was all excited about having a great night as the night before had good action and we missed a ton of strikes. We had good weather and a perfect tide tonight but, NO ONE TOLD THE FISH!

Left the dock tonight at 5:00 pm with a one person fly charter and hour left till high tide. Water coming in the inlet was 58.8 as we headed into the back bay to find warm water. Everywhere we tried the water was cold. Best we found was 62.2. We worked all the areas that produced last night and could not even get a single strike.

When the tide started out I worked all the normal creeks and outflows. The water coming out was warm up to 68 degrees and should of been loaded with active fish. We worked them all and then went back and worked them all again, but they all seemed dead.

Charter had one fish on that broke his leader on his personal rod and had a nice blue on that bit off his popping fly. They were the only two hits we had all night on the fly. Did get two small bass on a popping plug, but it was one of the toughest nights I have had with close to perfect conditions. Only wild card was the super cold water. I can't figure out why they didn't bite.

With the light breeze it was cold. We had to put on our sweat shirts to stay warm and it was a bit foggy from all the cold water on the way back to the dock. One of the worst nights I have had this year.

Fishing buddy that was out fishing the same area had the same bad fishing. They had 2 bass on popping plugs.

Not every night is fun and games.

[CapeMayRay]

Sitting tight tonight. Didn't book a charter for tonight as I had to get a prostate biopsy late this afternoon and wasn't sure how long it would take or whether I would feel like it afterward.

Wasn't all that bad and I was feeling pretty good, so I tried to get a fly charter that I had on hold if someone canceled, but they couldn't make it on short notice.

Called Pete and he couldn't make it. Was going to go out myself but the fog came in super thick again with the incoming tide and super cold water. Didn't feel like fighting mother nature with it being cold and damp and most likely the fishing would be slow with the water in the high 50's.

It has been about 6 weeks now that the water has been super cold. Usually we are worried about the back bay water getting too warm about now.

[CapeMayRay]

Last night, I couldn't stand being at home with hardly any wind. Took a ride to the Marina and it was socked in tight with fog, so I went over to Cape May Point to fish the last of the incoming and the start of the out going.

Water was much dirtier than I thought it would be but fishable. There was a mess of people fishing with bait and lures. Saw one nice keeper fluke caught, some throw backs and mostly sharks and skates.

Using intermediate line and small 1 1/4 inch fly with some flash I was catching sea herring pretty good. Most were as small as I have ever taken. 10 to 12 inches with a few around 18 inches and I ended up with about 20.

About a half hour after sunset it fogged in good there too.

[CapeMayRay]

Weather co-operated tonight. No fog but a chance of thunder storms. It was cloudy when I left the dock at 5:00 pm. with Husband, wife and daughter on a light tackle trip. Water as we passed the inlet was 58 degrees on the incoming tide.

We shot to the back bay to find the warmest water we could. Found 69.3 and started to use top water popping plugs. Dad could cast but mom and daughter had to taught how to cast and I thought it was going to be a tough night, especially when it started to rain as we started to fish.

Dad caught the first 3 fish of the night.


Then the mom

and finally the daughter.

We were lucky to find fish in all the areas that we fished as the water keep getting colder and colder until finally even very far from the inlet the water was 58.6



Was a great night with 16 stripers up to 26 inches and 3 bluefish. All the fish we caught felt like they were on ice and we had to wear sweatshirts on the way home as it felt cold zipping across the water.

Need conditions like tonight when I have fly charters as it was easy fishing and I have no free nights to get out myself. Seems like the families book their trips early and I have had to turn down some fly charters as they waited to late to book.