[CapeMayRay]

It was another super hot day in Cape May to start the new month off. I decided to fish Monday night, figuring it would be a little cooler on the water. Buddy Paul was suppose to fish fish with me but had to drop out at the last minute, so I did a solo trip.

Left the dock at 6:45 pm. and headed to the ocean to fish the incoming tide along the beach front. Water in the harbor was 66 degrees. When I cleared the inlet it water was 63.8. With a light westerly wind I was able to get in close to the beach as the surf was very light. Water close into the beach was fairly clean and 63.6 degrees. For about and hour and a half I picked up 5 weakfish and missed a couple of hits. Two were 17 and 16 1/2 inches, another was 13 1/2 inches and two were under keeper size. They were the first under size weakfish I gotten this year. 4 were caught on pink/white clouser and one hit my all white teaser fly.

As the tide came in the current picked up along the beach and the water dropped to 61.8 degrees. Near dark I headed back to the inlet to work the rocks before heading in. The water was the coldest there, down to 60.2 degrees and the tide was only half way in. Never did get a hit in that colder water and headed in at 9:00 pm.

During the trip I did see some small pods of bunker that were about 8 inches long and some small bait fish, but there was nothing feeding on any of it. Did also see a fair number of cow nose rays and foul hooked one in the wing. Big hassle as they fight like hell and waste a lot of fishing time. As the sun set the wind died down to zero and it was actually a bit cool on the water with all that cold water around, to the point where I almost needed a sweat shirt. Overall it was a decent night of fishing.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Tuesday, after dinner I checked the forecast and it looked like a duplicate of last night. Tried calling 4 of my regular fishing buddies, but on short notice, none of them could make it, so it was another solo trip. Decided to fish the start of the incoming tide in the ocean again. Left the dock at 6:30. Harbor water was 66.8 degrees and the closer I got to the ocean the water got a little cooler. It was 66.5 right outside the inlet.

I headed down beach and was again able to work in close to the beach as there was a very light breeze and no sea swell. Again I fished a pink/white clouser with a second all white fly as a teaser and fished it on a sinking line. Water when I started fishing was 66 degrees and fairly clean. You could see fly down maybe 2 1/2 to 3 feet. On about the tenth cast I hooked and caught the nicest fish of the night. A nice 18 inch weakfish. Had pretty good action till near dusk when the tide started ripping pretty strong and a mess of dolphins were working the same area that I was. Don't know if it was the dolphins or the current that caused the bite to stop.

Ended up catching 9 weakfish. Only 4 were keeper size with the smallest being 10 inches. Also caught a 14 1/4 inch fluke that had a Littoral Society Tag in it and one super small sea bass. I took some pictures of the tag and left it in so maybe it can be caught again and they can possible get more information from it down the road.

It was another perfect night for fishing. Incoming water when I stopped fishing along the beach it was down to 64 degrees. As the last of the sun was gone, I headed back to the inlet jetty. Water there was down to 60.9. It looked fishy but I again never got a hit.

While fishing along the beach I did have tow small pods of bunker pass by me. They looked to be about 6 inches long. Also had some small bait fish being chased by 6 to 8 inch snappers.

For this time of the year It was a good trip. Sizes were mostly small, but the numbers where good. Quit fishing and headed back to the dock at 8:45 pm after having a fun night of fishing.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Wednesday would of been another good night for fishing but I gave it a break. Mailed off the fish tag information to the American Littoral Society this morning. It will be interesting to see where and when it was first caught. Usually takes awhile for them to respond.

I always like to take a good close up picture of the tag instead of removing it. That way there is a chance they can gather even more information on the individual fish.

 

[CapeMayRay]

There are private tags that look the same that different clubs and organizations use. They usually have the name of the organization printed on the tag. You can also go on line when you have different types of tags and usually find out who was doing the tagging. During the 80's and 90's I use to tag a lot of fish each year and have gotten returns from all over the place. Always fun to see where it ended up and how much it grew.