Fishing Reports Cape May Nov 1 to Nov 30

[CapeMayRay]

Wind was blowing pretty good out of the south this afternoon when I went to the boat and it looked like it was going to be another windy afternoon.

Left the dock at 2:30 p.m. with the wind still blowing good to try and catch the exact tide that I had yesterday.. Another solo trip as Peter couldn't make it. Zipped to the back bay flats looking for hot action like yesterday. Was using the same bunker fly on 350 sinking line. Got to the area where I did well yesterday and got one 17 inch striper after about a half hour of fishing.

The wind died to nothing and it was beautiful. Water was very clean, but the only difference I could see is the water flow out of the creek mouths. It was very weak and just did not have the strong flow that attracts the fish.

I fished a total of 3 hours and worked a number of creeks and points and caught 3 more small bass up to 20 inches at three different spots with one missed hit. No signs of bait or any bluefish today.


With it being so nice I decided to hit the inlet and see if there was any thing along the rocks or the beach. I Found nothing, no signs of bait, birds or fish anywhere. I fished till 6:30 and on had one small bass follow my fly near the rocks. Right around 6:00 pm the win started up again and was blowing pretty good by the time I got back to the dock.

[CapeMayRay]

Checked out the boat this morning and all was well. Water was nice and clean. Looked great for fishing except for the relentless wind.

Checked out the beach and the water was ugly brown with big waves that were held up nice by the strong westerly winds. I could see the waves crashing over the inlet jettys and out past the area blocked by land you could see rough seas.

Perfect surfing conditions. There must have been 25 or more guys out surfing.





This last one has a guy in a tube and the guy in the water is taking pictures.

It was fun to watch and I was remembering my younger years when I was in a wet suit out there surfing big storm waves. Last surfed about 15 years ago and got rid of all my boards.

With the wind still blasting and gusting pretty good I canceled this afternoons fly charter. I know there would be some fish in the back but with the wind it would would be a real struggle and not be much fun at all.

Everyone is tied up to the dock and sitting tight hoping tomorrow the wind will die a bit.

[CapeMayRay]

Worked around the house all day and tied a few flies and thought if the wind slows up a bit I would give it a try. Went to the beach this afternoon and talked to a couple of surf fishermen who said they never got even a hit. Water still looked pretty brown.

Went to the boat with the tide coming in and the water in the marina looked fairly dirty, but not too bad.

Around 4:00 pm the wind died a bit and decided to fish. Left the dock at 4:30 pm with the tide just starting out and the water 57.2

Went straight to the back bay. Water there was 56.8 and fairly dirty, but not too bad. Was using the 350 sinking line and 5 inch bunker fly. Caught a 17 1/2 inch bass fairly quick and shortly there after got two more small bass with the biggest 19 1/2 inches.


Moved to another area before the sun was fully set and started picking away a stripers.

Right at sunset the wind died to zero and it turned out to be perfect night for fishing. After it got totally dark I caught my best fish with most being 20 to 22 inches.


With the tide going out and the water dropping I switched over to intermediate line and a big yellow deceiver. (only be cause it was already on my intermediate rod) It worked great and I continued to catch fish until I headed for home at 7:30 pm. (Wanted to get in for dinner and watch the Eagles.)

Went home a little cold but had a great night action wise. Ended up with 13 small bass on the night. Must be new fish coming into the back as most that I caught after dark had sea lice on them. Water was 55.3 when I head back to the dock.

[CapeMayRay]

Was excited about getting out tonight after last nights good action. Peter was to go with me, but had to back out at the last minute.

When I got to the dock I talked to some of the guys that had come in from Delaware bay chunking. Looks like most of the boats I saw did pretty good with a few nice keepers.

Left the dock at 4:30 pm with a good southeast wind blowing. Water temp was 56.2 when I got to the back bay.

Saw a friend who had been fishing for a bit and he said he only had some blues and was heading in as the wind was a pain.

Tide had not started out yet. I started out with 300 sinking and a new bunker type fly and began to work the sod banks. In the first 5 minutes I had about a 3 lb blue and for the next hour not a strike.

Unlike yesterday when the wind dropped out at sunset, today at sunset it picked up. It kicked up to around 20 plus mph and between the chop and controlling the boat with the electric motor is as annoying and I was in a somewhat sheltered area.

Stuck it out till the tide picked up and worked a point break where I caught 3 small stripers to 20 inches in an hour and half and had enough. I was cold and with the heavy chop I decided to call it a night around 7:15


Being somewhat sheltered I did not realize how rough it had gotten. On the way back to the dock when I got on the inlet side of the 1.00 bridge there were big swells with rolling tops. The boat and I got a good salt water wash down and I got even colder as I did not have my foul weather suit on.

I think I had fun, but I am not sure. It was nothing like the night before.

[striper101]

Great shots Ray! Glad to see your getting them inside also!!! Nice work!

[CapeMayRay]

Looks like it has started for you guys too. Saw you weighed in a nice one yesterday. You probably had another good day today. Should start seeing some decent size fish in the back, along the rocks or down the rips. With the new boat I will do some rip fishing on nice days. Could use a couple of big fish to refresh my memory on what it feels like. Good to see the striper activity is getting better. From here on it is should be getting real good.

[striper101]

Looks like it has started for you guys too. Saw you weighed in a nice one yesterday. You probably had another good day today. Should start seeing some decent size fish in the back, along the rocks or down the rips. With the new boat I will do some rip fishing on nice days. Could use a couple of big fish to refresh my memory on what it feels like. Good to see the striper activity is getting better. From here on it is should be getting real good.

I'm real glad to see that they are hear! It started a couple days after Utsch's tournament. Should be good from now on thru the spring! Fingers crossed!
Congrats on the new boat!

[CapeMayRay]

Spent a couple hours this morning with Phil Shook, an outdoor writer and North Atlantic States Field Editor of Eastern Fly Fishing.

He writes fly fishing articles and is working on a fly fishing guide to the northeast. He has been interviewing guides and fly fishing anglers while here in New Jersey. He was up at Bob Popovics yesterday getting input on that area and down here in Cape May today.

His next appointment was with Ken Kelly and invited us both to lunch. I had some things to do and told him after he got done talking to Ken, why don't they both me me at the boat and will show him first hand what Cape May has to offer.

We met at the boat around 2:00 pm and headed out to work the inlet rocks with the incoming tide just starting to flow good. I had mixed reports from the boats coming in. A few did well chunking up the bay but the reports from the rips and inlet were not too good.

Got to the inlet and found murky water that was 55.6 We started working one area of the rocks that had good tidal flow and after about an hour of three of us flinging flies we could not get one strike. (I was thinking it was going to be a tough day and what is Phil going to think about the fishing in Cape May.)

I decided to make a move to the other rocks and it turned out to be a good one. I caught the first fish on the bunker fly using the 300 sinking. It was a small 17 1/2 incher but atleast it broke the ice and got rid of the skunk. With in a few minute Phil landed and bass, then a second and then Ken hooked up.




Life was looking good and was about to get better. For the rest to the afternoon till 6:00 pm. we had great striper action with one time having two bass on and almost having three.

Mixed in with the bass were sea herring and Phil using smaller flies than ken and myself was hooking more of them. Most of the bass were 20 to 22 inch range, nice and fat with Ken catching the largest bass of the day.

They were caught them on a wide variety of flies and colors. Ken was using bunker and bucktail deceivers and I stuck with the big bunker flies. Phil was using half and half streamers, clousers etc.

I used one bunker fly that was about 7 inches long. The small bass kept trying to take it but were having a hard time. I could get the 20 some inchers but the small ones had two small a mouth. I could feel them try for it and some would follow it to the boat. The action stayed good into the dark.


We had a great afternoon it was getting cold so we headed back to the dock at 6:00. Believe we ended up with around 23 bass and a number of sea herring. When the sun set it got pretty cold very fast. We could really feel it as we zipped back to the dock but all three of us had great fishing and great conversation.

[CapeMayRay]

Had a one person fly charter this afternoon and was excited to get out on the water with another light wind forecast. I talked to Ken Kelly Captain of Irish Fly and he had a good morning in the back bay with bass on the out going.

We left the dock around 2:00 pm and headed out to the inlet. Saw a friend landing a bass and he said he had had good action on small stripers for the last half hour. The action ended just as we got there. We worked the area for about an hour with only two hits and no fish landed.

As the tide picked up we tried the inside of the inlet were my client hooked a small bass on a chart/white clouser on 225 sinking line on his 8 wt.


Ken came back out for some personal fun and was out fishing next to us.

Maybe it was too nice a afternoon. The ocean was like a mirror and dead flat and we had to work hard for every fish we got. Water temperature was 55.2 and the water was decent.

We pounded out the afternoon and finally got a decent bite right before it got dark, catching 7 more stripers in the last hour and a half. I was catching on a bunker fly and my charter was catching on the same clouser. They were all small with the biggest being 21 1/2 inches. We did see some sea herring working along the rocks but did not catch any even though we had a few hit our flies.


The temperature dropped as the sun set. It was getting pretty cold so we called it a night.

[CapeMayRay]

Was a cloudy warm morning in Cape May with no wind. Late morning I decided to give it a shot. Left the dock at 12:30 pm. It was a one sweatshirt day. Around 12:00 the sun came out strong wind started up. Just as I pulled out of the slip the flags were straight out with the wind from the southeast.

Shot into the back bay and got a small bass right away and then three more in the next half hour. I was using a green/white bait fish pattern more elongated than a bunker fly on 300 sinking line.


Wanted to get out earlier on the tide change and was a little late and missed the prime time. Water was nice a clean. The next hour not a strike.

The last half our I tried a shallow point break that had pretty dirty water and got my fifth and last bass and was back to the dock by 2:30.

It was a fun two hours of fishing.