Another night of the same fantastic fishing until a thunderstorm rained on our parade.
Left the dock at 5:00 p.m. again with the wind blasting as strong as yesterday if not harder. Were going to try the back for stripers, but couldn't resist the bird activity at the inlet. Again it was wall to wall birds, bait and swirling fish along with heavy current and waves.
First fish, on the first cast was the largest of the night. 27 inches. We had 5 bass in the first half hour along with bluefish and found if we stayed away from the birds and the fastest water we would get less blues.
As the tide came in the end of the inlet was getting rougher and we started working down the inside of the south jetty, picking bass, blues and sea herring. I had 2 bass, some blues and a mess sea herring on the fly rod and the old standby Chart/white clouser. With out the sinking line I do not think I would of been able to cast it in the strong winds. My charter stuck to the spinning rod and was hammering the fish with a chart jig head with a 6 inch clear Chartruse curly tail worm. Again the wind was more brutal than it looked in the pictures.
We kept an ear to the weather radio and an eye on the sky as they were predicting nasty thunderstorms reported on the radar coming across Delaware bay. When we saw the first blink of lightning we were headed full throttle home.
Got back to the dock in time. As the storm came we could feel the air change from cold to warm. The lightning never came close and the wind died to nothing as it started to rain and it has been raining ever since.
We got 1/2 the charter in and fished for 2 hours and had over 35 fish 12 of which were stripers. My charter was pleased.
The morning and evening double weakfish charter that I canceled last week, I had to cancel again this past Friday as we had northeast winds 25 to 35 mph and rain. Not great weather to fish the beach front jettys for weakies. Going to try for this coming week. Got to have a nice day before the tide runner season is over.
Lucked out today as the rain and wind fore-casted was late in getting her.
Left the dock at 5:30 a.m. with my one person fly charter and it was clear and dead calm. As we pulled away from the dock a light wind started. Worked the inlet for about 15 minutes without a strike and decided to head into the beach front area to try for bass or weakies. Got there and found a pretty decent ground swell. We were treated to a nice sunrise and great conditions with the water being pretty clean.
Was fish-able but couldn't get in quite as close to the beach as I would of liked.
Very shortly he started catching fish. Sea Herring and blues to start and he hooked and landed an nice 27 inch striper that gave him a nice battle on my T.F.O. 9wt. with 350 sinking line and the old faithful Chart/white clouser.
It was his biggest striper and biggest fish he had ever caught on a fly rod.
He preceded to steadily catch blues and herring for the next couple of hours as the wind became increasingly stronger. The tide started running up the beach strong and the wind increased. At the same time so did the size of the sea swells and it became more difficult to work the area as the waves were breaking out further and there were white caps developing.
Charter was having fun catching fish and wanted to extend his trip a couple more hours. We then moved to the inlet rocks, outside and inside, where he picked up more blues and herring. With the high tide we decided to try the back bay and find a lee shore to fish. Tried a few prime spots with out a strike or signs of fish and called it a day.
Charter was happy as he caught over 40 fish on the fly rod and I only lost 3 flies to bite offs and 4 torn up by fish and put in re-hab.
It was windy all day and around 7:00 the wind started to die. Pete and I decided to go out in the boat. Left the dock around 8:00 p.m. and decided to work the beach front where I had lots of fish yesterday.
Got out along the beach and conditions looked perfect but today the water was very clear. I put on 5 inch bunker fly and Pete was using a chart/white clouser. We worked it hard for an hour and we were each getting small hits and Pete caught a sea herring.
After dark we worked the inside of the inlet jetty about half it's length and never got a hit.
Went to the bridge and worked the shadow lines and Pete caught a 15 and 18 inch bass on a yellow/white clouser.
With it dead calm and pretty warm we decided to go way up on the flats and work some creeks. Back there I switched to a beat up old black silicone mullet and got a 16 and 18 inch bass in two separate creek mouths.
We would of fished longer but the tide was still coming in strong at 11:00 p.m. when headed for home and we didn't want to wait for the outgoing which I believe would of been pretty good.
Was a beautiful morning with no wind. Decided after breakfast to take a ride to the Point and give it a quick shot. It was a bad tide and the sun was bright but I figured what the heck.
Found it dead low tide and slack water. Water was as clear and clean as you will ever find it. (Not good for bright sun.)
Got two quick herring to start off and thought it was going to get better. Took korkers and worked the ends of a couple of jetties and all the beach between. Bait guys were only getting skates, sharks and a couple of herring. Saw one guy loose what looked like a nice weakie in the rocks as he tried to lift it out of the water.
Was just about to leave when the guy next to me caught a 26 inch bass on rubber jig head bait and right after that Nesmund King from the club stopped to try out his new 2 handed 12 foot Speye rod.
He was just learning but it could get a fly out almost double the distance of a normal fly cast.
Was a tough morning. After my first two herring never had a hit for 2 1/2 hours.
Last edited by CapeMayRay; 05-22-2007 at 06:29 PM.
Finally got my weakfish charter out after canceling two weeks in a row. We were on the water at 5:00 a.m. It wasn't a fly trip but a strictly go for the big tide runner weakie. Started catching on the first few casts, only the wrong species.
We were fishing with 5 other regular early morning guys and no prized weakies were caught by any of us that I know of. Water was very clear and the striper and blue action was good till the sun got high around 8:00 a.m.
Had a nice sunrise and good conditions with a light southeast wind making it easy to work into the surf line shallows.
Ended up with 8 stripers to 22 inches and a number of blues. Around 8:00 a.m. switched to fishing the deeper dirtier water around the inlet getting another bass and more blues.
Canceled our weakfishing try for the afternoon and reschedule if we ever get a decent weakie bite.
Was out fishing by 5:00 a.m. With a one person charter who had only fresh water fished and wanted to catch a saltwater fish of any kind on a lure. Light south wind and good sea conditions we hit the beach front before sunrise.
Had charter using rubber storm swimming baits and after a few casts he caught a 22 inch striper a couple of very small blues and a sea herring and then the action stopped. We worked the area for a couple of hours with just a couple of more blues and had a few hits and misses.
Then worked the whole south side of the inlet jetty and not a strike. Around 8:00 a.m. It was close to dead low and the sun was getting high we worked the north side of the inlet and found some blues to about 4 lbs.
With a steady bite of blues, we got to talking about fly fishing and he said he would like to try it some time. I told him I had rods under the gunwale and would teach him if he wanted.
He said he would like to see how it was done, and invited me to take some casts and show him how it was done.
Pulled out my 9wt with 450 sinking line with a bunker fly. First cast I caught a blue that messed up my bunker fly. It now looked ratty and no longer had any eyes. About 10 casts later I caught a 22 inch bass, on it that we saw follow the fly and take right at the boat.
Few casts later saw another bass come up and take the fly at the boat. Better fish and nice fight. Ended up just being a keeper right at 28 inches.
He didn't want any fish so we released it. He was impressed how easy it looked to catch on a fly rod but said he would like to practice on land before doing it in a boat.
I got one more bass on the fly and stopped to just unhook blues as he was then catching on just about every cast.
With the fishing action good I gave him an extra hour and a half of fishing of fishing time. He was having fun and so was I. Ended up the day with 7 stripers and a mess of blues with most of the action late morning, bright light on bad tide. Had him catching on swimming plugs, the rubber shads, bucktails and finnesse lures. He had 4 bass and about 25 bluefish.
How would you rate this May vs. May's of years past? Seems like it's been a good one, minus the big ole tide runners.
I have only caught the big weakies once, it was in early June back in 2001 in the OC inlet. Casting white bucktail jigs w/ white curly tails. Caught 6 over 26" that night, and had no idea what I had just experienced. My buddy was wearing out the stripers that same night. I wish I was closer to the beach, I love the sound of the surf at night and the kids screaming at the boardwalk in the background.
-D
Last edited by Dave Sikorski; 05-24-2007 at 03:48 PM.
Dave, the water was very cold early and it was a later start than usual. Inlet and beachfront has been where most of the activity has been. In past years the striper active has been in the back bays earlier. Three years in a row early baitfish in the back bay has been slim to none and the back has been slower than years past.
Weakfishing has been the latest start I can remember. Hope it is just that, late! Do believe the beach replentishment to be a major factor. We had decent weakie action untill they pumped the beaches.
There are alot of regular morning fisherman trying with poor results.
Overall the fishing hasn't been too bad and I have found enough action to have fun and keep charters happy.
I am lucky most fly guys and light tackle fishermen like the action and not so interested in the meat and filling the coolers. I use light rods with 10 lb test line for the lightest spin gear. With that and fly rods they appreciate every fish and enjoy battle. Seem to always be able to find fish, but some days you have to use everything in the book and try a number of spots.
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