March Fishing Reports from Cape May

[CapeMayRay]

The weather has finally gotten nice here in Cape May and I have my boat just about ready for the water. Guys with the bigger boats are starting to get stripers in Delaware Bay on Calm, but they are running a good distance up which isn't a good idea in a bay boat this time of year, so I have to wait till April when the back bay and ocean warm enough to start catching on flies and artificials. Around 50 degrees seems to be the right temperature for that.

In the mean time I have been having fun at Cape County Lakes and ponds. Bluegills and crappies have been taking small flies and Pickerel and Largemouth bass have been striking most any fly that looks like a bait fish with the old standby yellow/orange Mickey Finn fly being the best.

It just feels good be get out and get a wiggle on the end of the rod and it gets you tuned up for the saltwater season.

[dabarc4u]

Welcome back to reporting on Cape May fishing. Been a long winter Enjoy reading your reports and dreaming. Thanks.

[CapeMayRay]

I decided to get out and fish this afternoon before the northeast wind started honking and the rains came. The cold weather really shut down the bit. I thought the low front might produce a good bite, but I think the water temps dropped a lot the last two days.

When I got there is was pretty dead calm in the sheltered end of the lake. I caught a quick two bass on a Mickey Fin and then the wind picked up with cold damp mist making it really raw out.


I worked the lake hard for the next 2 1/2 hours trying all the areas that I could fish and only saw one super small pickerel follow the fly. The weather really changed fast my hands were getting numb and you could see vapor.

On the way back to the car I moved to a small pond with very green water and caught one pickerel before it start to drizzle pretty hard and figured I had enough fun for the day.

I think the cold water really slowed the fish down. The hits were very light and the fish did not fight or jump as much as they did on Saturday.