Fishing Reports from Cape May June 1 to 15th

[CapeMayRay]

Was away for a couple of days and came back to Cape May last night with the wind honking and white caps in the inter harbor.

Got up this morning and found a light wind from the south. Left the dock at 5:30 a.m. with a one person fly charter. Found calm seas and over cast sky. Went to the inlet with the tide just starting to roll in good and found clean water.

Using 5 inch bunker fly, client missed one bass and had another decent one swirl at the fly, right at the boat as he pulled it out to make another cast.

Moved to the beach front to try for bass and weakies. Caught a good number of blues and sea herring, all on clousers, Orange/yellow and Chart/white on sinking line, with a fair number of bite offs.

We kept 6 blues for dinner and headed to the back bay flats, for the last hour of fishing, now that the water was higher. Water back there was super clear, but it was now drizzling,windier, but it looked great. Back there we got 6 stripers 21 to 23 1/2 inches and one little larger blue all on 5 inch bunker flies with a few misses and a couple of followers.

Would of stayed a bit longer, as the fish were still hitting when we left, but client had to be back to the dock by 9:30 to meet up with his wife and some friends.

Thought about going back out my self but by then it was raining harder and the wind started blowing pretty good. Looks like it is going to be strong winds and heavy rain for the rest of the day

[CapeMayRay]

Tough afternoon. It was cloudy, rainy and windy this morning. After yesterdays good back bay action. Peter and I thought it would be a perfect day with the low light and high tide in the back to go out and have some fun.

Left the dock at around 11:30 a.m. It was cool and light drizzle. Tide was just starting to turn to the out going and the water in the back was nice and clean. We worked the heck out of the flats, and every good creek mouth, trying numerous areas from Cape May to Sunset lake and neither of us had a hit in three hours of hard fishing.

Around 2:30 in the afternoon we went to the inlet and the sun started coming out bright and it was getting too warm for the foul weather gear. Right away I had one small hit and a very small blue follow my bunker fly back to the boat.

We were both disappointed with the lack of fish on what looked like the ideal low light day.

Our last effort of the day was to work the inside of the south jetty with the outgoing tide ripping out full steam. It was loaded with weed, (green, snot grass, etc) forcing us to clean our fly and line on about every third cast.

Now it is full sun and not looking so ideal for bass fishing, but 1/4 of the way down the jetty I got a 23 1/4 inch bass that hit a bunker fly, right up close to the rocks. I was using 350 sinking line.


About 5 minutes later Peter got 20 incher, that he got on a chart/yellow deceiver using sinking line. His fish had a big bite out of the side of it. Sort of looked like a lamprey mark as it was very round. With no more hits and too much sun we were back to the dock by 3:30 p.m.

We were both happy to just get a fish period as we never expected such a good looking fishing day to be so slow.

[CapeMayRay]

Went crazy last night and stayed out super late. Wind was suppose to die down. Peter and I left the dock at 7:00 p.m. It was low tide and just changing. Water in the harbor and beach front was ugly brown and the wind was a bit annoying but fishable.

First hour of fishing was very slow with only a couple of small blues and herring. As the sun set the wind died, the water cleaned up the action picked up. We ended up with three bass to 22 inches and more blues and herring.

Tried the inside of the inlet rocks and couldn't buy a strike, so we headed back to the dock at 10:00 p.m. I wanted to stay out so I dropped Peter off at the dock and went back out.

With the tide coming in and high around midnight I thought I would work the back bay flats and sod banks.

Wind died down to zero and the whole back was like a mirrow. I worked about a mile of sod banks without a hit and moved to another area. I finally found some fish. Never got any hits along any sod banks. Got all my fish inside of creeks close to the mouths on the old faithful black silicone mullet on intermediate line. Caught 4 bass with a 25 and 26 incher being the largest. and missed one that got off during the battle.

As calm as it was and as long as I fished, I did not hear one splash, pop or see any bait or signs of anything that would lead you to believe that there were any fish back there. Very unusal for this time of year

Was about 2:00 a.m. when I decided to call it a night. When passing under the bridge I saw a friend and his buddies working the shaddow line. He was using his fly rod and getting some small bass so I decided to make a few casts.

Put on a new fly I just made this afternoon, a light green bunker fly made with Steve Farrar blend fibers and within a couple of casts hooked a really nice bass. Never saw it but from the way it was fighting I knew it was keeper size. Well it went straight to the bottom and hung me up in the pilings and junk at the bottom of the bridge.

Broke it off and only lost leader and it didn't mess up the line. I have caught many a fish there and never had that happen before. Fished till 2:45 a.m. catching blues and herring and decided to go home an get some sleep.

We did see some cinder worms in the lights with fish coming up to munch on them. That might of had something to do with the slow bite around the sod banks.

[captcl]

Thanks for the pics Ray. That green fly looks like a killer!Got some good weather on tap through the weekend if it does'nt get to noisey! Watch oyt for the t-storms late in the day/evening!

[CapeMayRay]

Had to do some shopping on the mainland this afternoon and visited a friend in Stone Harbor. On the way home I decided to stop at Nummy Island and give it a shot.

Fished for about 3 hours on the out going tide. Water was nice and clean. Looked good and fished a point with a nice little rip line. Never saw any bait but had three hits and caught two blues, one after another with intermediate line and 5 inch bunker fly. The rest of the time it was nothing. Caught the fish around 5:00 p.m and fished to about 7:00 p.m.

[CapeMayRay]

About a week ago I said there were some huge blues roaming around the back bay flats. Well we nailed two nice ones on plugs for my husband and wife charter this afternoon.

Left the dock at 4:00 p.m. at the top of the tide. It was super hot all day and a brisk wind out of the northeast kicked up. It also looked like everyone who owned a water craft was out on the water.

Went to a shallow flat with the tide just starting out. Caught a few small blues and husband missed a really big fish that really took drag.

After a few small bass, his wife hooks a huge fish in 4 foot of water. I saw the flash of the fish and it looked like it was three feet long.

She was using a YoZuri mag darter on a light rod with 10 lb test no leader. Well it screamed drag and took off like a rocket. We followed it around with the electric motor and finally landed it.

It was so big, we took it right into the Harborview and weighed it in. It was 36 inches and weight 15 1/2 lbs.


Went back out and got more smaller bass and blues. When the trip started it was very hot. Around 7:00 p.m. it was cold, damp and overcast. We had sweat shirts, hood sweat shirts and foul weather gear and the wind was up to 20 to 25.

We were just about to quit when I suggested we try a few more casts at one last point. His wife was getting tired of casting so I took a few and ended up catching a 33 inche blue myself on the same YoZuri plug. Came in around 8:00 p.m. Cold and damp.

Only thing that would of made it better would of been catching them on the fly.

Got a fly charter tomorrow morning and you know where we will be trying!

[CapeMayRay]

Saved last nights blue and checked the records. It was caught on 10 lb test. 6 pound ladies record was 12 something and 10 to 12 test ladies was somewhere around 19 lbs. Those fish were all caught off shore. Here is one of the small stripers she caught plus while she was fishting her big blue.

When I cleaned the fish it had a few small fish in the stomach plus a aprox. 14 inch striper. Here is a better shot of the fish before we weighed it in.

Was all excited about this mornings fly charter. I had visions of big blues on the fly. We left the dock at 5:30 a.m. with the tide going out. Would of liked to get an earlier start but that was when we set the time for a week ago.

Only got 4 small stripers to 23 inches in the first hour and a half. the sun was starting to get strong the water in the back was getting shallow and boats and jet skiers were buzzing by where we wanted to fish.

Decided to try for a keeper bass and switched to clams and clam bellies for chum. Moved to deeper water and set up. We landed 12 more bass to 26 1/2 inches, 4 nice blues and a 21 in fluke.

Clients likes blues so we keep the blues and fluke for him to take home. Not too bad for 4 hours of fishing.

[CapeMayRay]

Went out Sunday evening in search of big blues on the fly rod. Started out around 6:30 p.m. with the tide just starting out and worked a large creek that was just starting to flow onto the flats.

In the first hour caught a quick three small stripers up to 22 inches and got bit off by about a 3 lb blue. The next two hours it was as dead as it could be. Water was clear, no signs of bait and even with it getting dark it didn't get better.

Buddy who was fishing the other side of the sound where I was fishing had same action. He and his son were using popping plugs and got a quick three small bass each and then it was dead the rest of the evening. They were looking for some blues for a shark fishing trip tomorrow.

Neither of us saw any bait or signs of life. Looked like we had perfect tides for fishing, but no one told the fish.

[CapeMayRay]

Good night of fishing despite 25 mph north east winds with new moon high tides.

My fly charter for tonight was a bit surprised that we were going out. I told him we were going to go in the back bay and head to area of sod banks in the back bay and fish in the lee of the shore line. I told him that if we went out and didn't get any fish in the first hour I would bring him back in, (no charge) and he could reschedule another trip.

Left the dock at 5:00 p.m. and found white caps on the north side of old 50 cent bridge with a blasting wind. Went to the north east side of Jarvis to get out of the wind. Had charter using a sinking line and a bunker fly. Wind was giving him a bit of trouble but he was getting casts good enough to catch.

Covered a lot of ground. With the tide rolling in, the sod banks were getting covered and we were losing our lee shore. Turned out we had new moon tonight plus northeast wind blowing all day and they were forcasting coastal flood watch.

Tide had already covered all the sod banks and it looked like all water from Wildwood Crest to the parkway. Told him we would work this last 200 yard of now covered sod banks and if we did not catch we would go in.

The last hundred yards proved to be the spot. With everything covered we found a two old white shell beds that we could see under the water from a distance. I was able to keep a position about 50 feet off it and work the edge of the covered sod bands. Here we found stripers to 24 inches.

In the picture above we are about 30 feet off the sod banks and the tide was still coming in.

With no lee shore and tons of weed and straw blowing off the sods against the current charter started fishing with spin rod and mag darter. We picked more bass and a couple of blues around 4 lbs.

Around 8:00 p.m. we couldn't tell where any sod banks were at all due to it starting to get dark. There were absolutely no sod banks showing any where. Even the island right past the bridge at two mile was completely under water. Saw all kinds of baby gulls sitting on straw floating along with parents around.

Moved to the lee shore of the north side of the inlet with the tide just about dead. Waves were blasting over the north jetty but with the high dunes inshore we were able to find it pretty decent next to the rocks.

As the tide started out we started getting a few hits and caught 2 more bass on the fly one on mag darter with the biggest 26 inches and missing a good one.

Shortly after dark the wind shifted to more easterly and with the outgoing tide it was starting to get a little snotty even where we were.

We were back in the Dock at 9:15 p.m. Total of 9 bass and 2 blues.

[CapeMayRay]

Well we lucked out. At 5:00 p.m. tonight there was no rain and the wind was about 15 m.p.h. which seemed beautiful compared to last night. Went to work the same lee shore of Jarvis. Tide was coming in and we were there earlier in the tidal stage than yesterday.

Father had limited spin casting experience and the 9 year old son had no casting experience. I tried to keep the boat in position and teach the young guy how to cast. It took a while but he was finally making some decent casts.

Working the back bay sod banks we managed 6 small stripers on Yo Zuri mag darters up to 22 inches. The father missed a pretty good fish that just spit the hook and caught 2 and the son caught 3 bass where I cast out and he hooked them when he reeled in and the one pictured where he cast out, hooked the fish and reeled it in all on his own.

As the tide covered the sod banks we decided to go to the inlet and work the jetty rock. On the way there the sod banks were pretty much covered again. Looked like the high tide was about a foot and half less than yesterday. Here is a shot across the island at two mile.

Worked the last of the incoming and the start of the out going in the lee of the dunes and the jetty. No stripers there tonight only blues. we ended up catching 5 there and kept two for dinner.

Think it would of been a better night if they had better casting skills but they did pretty good considering.

They both had a fun night and around 8:30 p.m. the wind really died out. We ended up fishing till 9:30, 1/2 hour longer than normal and the kid didn't want to go in as he was having a great time, but they had a 2 hour ride home.