Targeting post spawn Trophy Stripers on the 55 Hooked Up 11

[Captain's John & Diana]

Note: There very well might be a great day bite on true Trophy size stripers on May 9,10,11 as May 9th (Mother's Day is the the full moon) and we had 32 stripers over 20 lbs and 19 Black drum on a day trip a few years ago around the first full moon in May fishing with all fresh surf clams. We have May 9th, 10,11 open for 8-10 hr. combo Jumbo Striper-Black Drum at this time. These are day trips departing based on what feel are the best tides to fish. Early season we like the outgoing tides which provides warmer water on the Black on the Delaware Bay as the shallower bay water warms up sooner than the incoming ocean water. I think this will really hold some merit this season with the ocean water still in the low 40's as this is being written and we will have to see what happens to the water temperatures over the next few weeks. Either way with all our trips between 8-10 hours you will be able to fish part of both tides. We encourage conservation pratices on both the large female stripers and Spring Black Drum if we are lucky enough to have one of those banner days that the full moon has provided in the past years.

Last spring the only really good bite on Trophy Stripers was short lived and on fresh bunker way up the bay between 25 and up to 30 miles from Cape May and very few charter boats made that run with the price of fuel. We will get fresh bunker and run to where the best bite is if that is what it takes to provide a good catch for our customers. This very well could hold true again in this spring early May with the bay still being quite cold. It is an option and we will have to wait and how this plays out over the next few weeks.

Most important if the stripers are not within range or there really is not a realistic chance to catch them at least on our boat we will not take your money and go for a long boat ride on the Delaware Bay. We can reduce the price of the trip and target big Black Drum or refund your deposit. What ever work best for you. We value repeat customers and try our best to be fair and honest and not take any of our customers money if the bite is not there. Spring striper fishing can be hit or miss and overall not as consistant as the fall bite but at times it also can be awesome on all trophy size ones that have finished their annual spawn and go on a feeding frenzy before departing the Delaware Bay and heading north for the summer.


Pictures of one of the two brand new Caterpillar diesel engines being installed at Canyon Club in Cape May this past Friday. We should be up in running in a few days and ready to start our inshore season shortly.

[MAKO19]

Good stuff as always John! What are your thoughts on drifting and jigging the lower bay in the Spring? I have heard good things about eeling in the lower bay on the lumps and shoals at the end of May. I personally have not tried this yet since we are never in the water this early. However, this year we are and I will consider trying it since the tog season is closing up this week and there really is not much else going on in the ocean to pass the time by while we wait for the tuna to show up offshore.

[Captain's John & Diana]

It used to be by far the best time of year drifting eels on the Cape May Rips starting around Memorial Weekend mainly on the last moon in April and first one in early June. These were all the big females that had spawned and on their way north leaving the Delaware Bay for the summer and but would stop and feed on the rips only at night. The biggest eels you could find worked the best and the fish were all big. We had a couple over 50 inches but never one that weighed more than 47 lbs. I do not think we ever caught any stripers under about 18-20 lbs if my memory is correct. Three years ago we caught one around 40 lbs but that was the last time we fished out there at night. We used to drum fish until about 10-12 pm and then move over to the rips and these combo drum-striper trips were by far my favorite time of year for inshore fishing as the stripers were so much bigger than the ones we caught in the fall on the rips. Even back then for those that remember fishing with us we only allowed one trophy fish per person on each trip but honestly if you caught 6 cows know one was disappointed plus a few 50-80 drum on the same trip. What changed was the invasion of dog sharks on the part of the rips we always fished and it got we could not put live bait in for 10 seconds and a doggie had it. Every striper we caught was full of baby spike weakfish and that is what we used to look for on our fish finder as they attracted the big post spawn stripers.
I do not think it would be a bad idea to give this a try and the best dates would be right around the full moon the first week of June. When we had a full moon with hard running tides we slammed them in early June. I might note we had them real good on day trips occasionally at Brown Shoal and the rips in front of Brandywine also but only thru about the second week of May and then they turned all nocturnal. There used to be a pretty good bite drifting eels on that first full moon in May and then the day fishing would die real quick until the night run started at the end of April. It was truly nothing short of awesome striper fishing back then on some of these night trips and in the early years we even caught a few 8-12 lb weakfish on the same trips but again we are going back a few years. The last few years we fished the rips at dusk and night we tried live spot and they also worked real well on these bigger stripers but nothing worked as well as big eels. If anyone wants additional information about this late spring fishing I would be glad to share what I know as I doubt we will be doing any rips fishing as it costs too much in fuel to go running around the rips on the new boat. Having said this you never know as I always looks over to the rips on my radar at night while coming home from drum fishing to see if anyone has sneaked over in the middle of the night but in recent years we have not seen much on the radar. It would not surprise me if at least a few big stripers still hunt for food at night in the late spring on or around the rips and it sure would be fun giving it a try but it would probably be very hit or miss.

[Captain's John & Diana]

i think we should see a few really good days coming up next week around the full moon just using good old surf clams right in the same general location as where he drum bite are. Having fresh bunker probably will not be a bad idea but in recent past years surf clams worked great on the first full moon in May. Last year we did not fish the moon as the fish were farther up the bay out of our range as the bay water was too cold early spring. Hope this does not happen this year and we will know shortlyand right now I would like to see more warm weather to help the bay water temps rise up a little up towards the mouth of the bay.

[BILLO]

Are you saying that you DO NOT fish the rips anymore?(due to fuel costs or other resons). NO rip fishing in the fall either ?

[reelayer]

Capt. John, Are your plans for May 10th for it to be an open boat. If so. I would be interested. I have only myself as a definite, but I can probably find at least 1 more angler...maybe 2. Will send deposit upon hearing back from you. tsalerno57@comcast.net. Please say hello to Diana for me. She will remember me from the cath lab @ burdette. Tom Salerno
Thanks Capt.

[Captain's John & Diana]

Billo: I do not fish the rips anymore either spring or fall. It is just too hard to fish on our big boat with all the boat traffic and I prefer to anchor and chunk these days. It has been a couple of years since I have been out on the rips.

Tom: I sent you an e-mail about the coming dates but not sure if you recieved it. We are definetly going to run an all night trip on May 9th and possibly a shorter trip on the afternoon of May 10. I expect to see the bass start up right after the full moon on or around the 9,10,11 or so or maybe a day to two earlier.