Fishing Reports Fly Fishing Cape May, New Jersey

Fishing is pretty much the same for the last two weeks. Smaller fish are being taken in the back on surface plugs, crease flies and gurglers. Larger fish are being taken along the jetties especially in the early evening. Fishing still is not what it should be with mostly smaller bass being taken in the back creeks and channels.

Fishing continues to improve, but it is not were it should be this time of year. Live bait fisherman have been catching keeper size bass in the inlet. Back country fishing continues to be slow with stripers being taken in the 13"-15" class. The northern end of the island is reporting larger schools of bait, and larger baitfish, in the Grassy Sound and Hereford's inlet area. Higher catch rates are also being reported. If fishing remains poor on the southern end, I will be moving future trips to the north end.

Fishing along the jetties is starting to improve. Stripers in the 20" class are being taken inside the inlet along the jetties. Larger bluefish are starting to provide steady action along the jetties. Inlet water clarity was much improved during last week. Backcountry water clarity still needs to improve. Starting to see small pods of mullet moving through the inlet.

The water temperature continues to drop into the high sixties. Water clarity continues to be an issue and fishing continues to be slow. Small stripers are being taken in the backcountry.

The water temperature continues to hang in the lower seventies. Fishing in the back has pretty shutdown with small fish being taken in small numbers. Small bluefish are a steady pick at the mouth of the inlet. Capt Ray Szulczewski reported a couple of stripers taken along the inside of the south jetty. Dredging continues in the inlet. Water clarity continues to be the issue both in the inlet and in Jarvis Sound. Hopefully as the water temperature drops, conditions will improve. Mother nature was slow to warm up the waters this season and it has the effect of pushing the time table back.

Fishing continues to be slow due to high water temperatures and poor water clarity. Some fish are being taken on the top of the incoming tides, but the numbers are nothing to write home about. The area needs a change in temperature or a storm to flush out the back bays and bring in cleaner water. The water is so dirty that flies and swimming baits disappear six inches below the water surface. Hopefully tropical storm Hanna will bring a change to the area this weekend.

Fishing has been slow the last week or due to ever present winds and poor water quality. The water temperatures have improved and fish are being taken in decent numbers during the periods of clear water and low wind. We caught a break during Saturday evening's trip, the fish were feeding on bait fish along the sod banks in clear water. We fished the last half hour of the incoming tide and landed two stripers and missed several other during an hour of fishing. We did not stay for the turn of the tide and the beginning of the outflow.

Friday's charter was a young experienced fisherman who wanted to try his hand at saltwater fly fishing. After a short casting session we headed to the inlet where he quickly caught sea herring and his first striper on the fly. He later moved to light tackle and caught a flounder, four stripers and a bluefish.

After a week to ten days of slow and inconsistent fishing, the water temperature increased a few degrees and the fish made their appearance in the inlet and the back country. The sea herring and bluefish were in the inlet during the incoming tide. It was one of those days we talk about, a fish on every cast. After loading up the bait well with 20-25 sea herring for a future trip, I called it quits.

Monday' charters were both father and son affairs. The morning trip was fog bound in Jarvis sound. We started with top water plugs and later added Berkeley's Gulp Chartreuse Jerk Shad. Action was steady through out the trip with stripers to 24" and bluefish up to 4 lbs.

Friday evening's charter was a light tackle charter with three out of five blue fish landed in the 2-3 lb. class, all fish were taken in the back bay creeks. We later moved to the ocean front and landed twelve weakfish, all were spikes approximately 11-12 inches.

Sunday's charter was less productive with only one flounder taken along the ocean front on a Berkeley's Gulp Chartreuse Jerk Shad. The charter was from 5:30 - 8:30 pm. Capt Ray Szulczewski reported no fish taken during the same period. He extended his charter by half an hour and reported seven bass taken between 8:30 - 9 pm.

Friday night's charter was a challenge, the wind picked up after we were on the water and fishing was slow. The high point of the evening was a 6 lb. 26" weakfish which was taken inside the south jetty on a Storm's Peanut Bunker style swim bait.

Fished Saturday with my son, you is not a serious fisherman. We fished the outgoing tide in Jarvis Sound with top water plugs, he managed to catch eight bluefish in the 20" class on a Smackit Jr. plug. All fish were caught within an hours time on light tackle.

Sunday morning's charter started on an incoming tide. Fishing was slow along the ocean front, but we were able to catch a couple of bluefish, but they were of the "Snapper" class. We later moved the the backcountry, but the water was still too low and fishing was disappointing. We made a run to the Cape May Rips, hoping to find bluefish feeding along the rip line. There was no bird activity and only a couple of boats and no fish. We returned to the back country, the water was higher and we were able to catch one bluefish on a top water plug. We later moved into one of the back country creeks off of Jarvis Sound. The charter's fiancee missed the opportunity at a striper, which we could see, next to the sod bank. As the fish spooked and darted down the creek, the charter turn and cast a chartreuse Berkeley Jerk Bait in its direction, he hooked up on his first striper. He had never caught a striper before.

Stripers and bluefish are being taken consistently along the jetties and in the back bay and creeks. Winds out of the southeast at 15-25 knots made for difficult conditions. Bluefish and stripers in the 20'' class were feeding on schools of baitfish along the sod banks. Fridays charter was a plug charter, with the high winds we struggled with only one blue and one striper (20") in the back bays. We later moved to the inside of the south jetty were the charter missed a nice striper estimated to be in the 23-25" class and I caught a 25" striper (no photo due to dead camera batteries). We were both fishing a Storm swimming baits.

Fishing continues to improve with excellent catches reported during the week. Capt Ray Szulczewski, while fishing by himself last Thursday night hooked up on a couple of sea herring, a bluefish and six striper's (two shorts and four keepers to 33"). Water temperature was 61 degrees. As Ray said,"I just hit at the right time". Low light conditions are the best time for bass.

Flounder season opened May 24. Fishing was slow towards the lower end of the back bays of Wildwood. Significantly higher catch numbers were reported in the vicinity of the Rio Grand Bridge and further north. I drifted a "Moe" style buck tail with a strip of squid in a small back creek and had immediate results with a 17" Flounder. Nice looking fish, too bad it was a short.

Fished the incoming tide on Sunday evening, a strong south wind forced me to seek shelter inside the south jetty. As night approached the fishing improved resulting in a couple of bass taken in the 20-22" class on a black deceiver.

Fishing was much improved during the week with catches of both stripers and bluefish in the back country and weakfish along the jetties. The weather did not cooperate this pass weekend. Strong winds made fly fishing a challenge, so light spinning tackle was the tackle was the order of the day. Stripers in the 20-25" class are being taken in the back around creek mouths on outgoing tides. Sunday's catch was taken on a jerk bait in 61 degree water.

The fishing has improve during the past week. Sea herring and bluefish are being taken at the mouth of the inlet and along the jetties. Stripers are being taken along the beach front and in the back creeks. The number of fish being caught appears to less than daily catches in prior years. Still not seeing much bait fish. Water temperatures were in the high fifties.

Fishing continues to be slow. Last week's reports from the Delaware Bay, ocean front, and back county are all the same - no fish! A couple of blues and stripers were taken way up the back creeks were the water temperature was in the low sixties. There is no bait in the area, fish that have been taken are feeding on grass shrimp. Recent mid-week reports have fish along the jetties and the back creeks. As the water temperatures increase the fishing should improve.

It has been a very slow start to this year's season. Bluefish and sea herring are in the area, but it has been difficult fishing in the back bays and creeks. The water temperatures are in the mid to high fifties, but there is no bait fish to be seen. There are reports of good flounder fishing in the area, opening day is May 24, so it is a catch and release for the time being. There were reports of keeper size stripers being taken along the ocean front in the vicinity of Poverty Beach. The fish were being taken on clams and bloodworms. With fish being taken along the ocean front, one has to be optimistic that the "bite" will commence shortly.

Saturday's trip was along the the south jetty of Cape May Inlet and along the beach front. Sixteen stripers were taken during the day with fish up to 23". The water temperature was 50 degrees, fish were taken on a chartreuse and white "Half and Half".

On Sunday I fished the southern end of the Five Fathom Bank. The area was thick with bluefish up to 10 lbs. Fish were taken on a variety of flies in water that was eighty feet deep. Fish were taken on a 750 grain sink tip in the upper portion of the water column. Typical catches involved long runs with playing time up to five minutes on each fish. Hooked up on twelve fish and landed eight. While fighting one fish a Blue Fin Tuna broke the surface approximately fifty feet from the bow of the boat.

Friday's charter was canceled due to poor weather conditions. I fished Saturday along the south jetty of Cape May Inlet, it was a challenge to keep the boat away from the rocks with the south west wind. I had to run the main motor for approximately two hours to keep the boat approximately 20 feet from the rocks. The good news was fifteen stripers were caught and released during this period. Fish ranged in size from 15-23 inches, with most fish in the 19-20 inch class. All fish were taken on a sinking line with a chartreuse and white "Half and Half". Water temperature was 52 degrees

Fished late Thursday afternoon with Phil Shook, Field Editor for Eastern Flying Magazine, and Capt. Ray Szulczewski. Between the three of us we caught approximately twenty stripers and five sea herring. Most fish were in the 15-20 inch class with a couple fish in the 22-25 inch class. Water temperature was in the mid-fifties. Fish were taken on bunker flies and clouser minnows on both sink tip and intermediate lies.

Fished Saturday evening with Capt. Ray Szulczewski and Peter Cole, we had windy conditions but a good tide at dusk. We Fished the back creeks off of Jarvis Sound and picked up a couple of 15' blues on a top water flies. We fished for about four hours and the fishing was slow. We stopped at the draw bridge on the way in and played around with snapper blues under the bridge lights.

Sunday's light tackle charter left the dock at 3 pm and we headed to the inlet. We caught several sea herring up to 15" and smaller bluefish. As the tide crested we headed to the back bay to fish the creeks and creek mouths. We hooked several bluefish

Water temperatures continue to hang in the upper sixties. Sea herring (striper candy) usually show up as the water temperature starts to drop, hopefully the larger stripers will make their debut. The Jetty Jocks are reporting go catches during the night time hours.