[CapeMayRay]

June is starting off great. Buddy Peter and I left the dock at 6:30 am. The wind was very light and we were looking forward to a nice day fishing the incoming tide in the ocean. Winds were suppose to shift to the northeast and slowly pick up to maybe 10 mph. by 10:00. Weatherman was wrong again. By the time we cleared the inlet the shift took place and it started blowing pretty strong out of the northeast. It didn't take long, within fifteen minutes it blew in a pretty good fog, glassed got all fogged up and it was cold. With the wind blowing around 15 mph it made fishing more difficult, mainly the casting. The water was nice and clean but only 59.5 degrees.

The fog eased up a bit but with the heavy over cast the fish were hungry. We started catching weakfish and had good action the whole time. Most of the fish were 18 to 22 inches and we had 3 double hook ups. We ended up boating 22 weakfish and one bluefish. We missed a fair number of hits and a few that we just tried to lift out of the water as we gave up netting them.

All fish were caught on chartreuse/white clousers and we were both using sinking line. We had enough fun by 9:45 when we decided to head back to the dock with the fish still biting. By the time we got inside the harbor it was just sunny and windy, but you could still see the fog out over the ocean. Back at the marina is was sunny and hot. Ended up keeping the bluefish and one male weakfish for dinner. First weakfish that we have killed in a long time. All the others were released.

 

[Krazy8]

Nice Report , and nice catch

 

[CapeMayRay]

Thanks, it was a fun morning at the right place at the right time. Forgot to mention a few of the fish were spitting up small 1 1/2 inch small shrimp. Don't think the weakfish were spawning as usually when they are one or two fish will follow the hooked one to the boat. We didn't see any followers. It looked like another good morning for fishing as I was driving up the parkway to go to my yearly heart check up at Penn. It was fairly calm and foggy.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Was up at University Of Penn Hospital for two days for my yearly check up from my heart and vascular surgeons so I didn't get to saltwater fish the last two days. Everything checked out good and both gave me another year before I have to see them again. On the way home this afternoon.

I tried a fresh water creek that I had not worked for a while. It was really difficult to fish, but had waders and was able to wade out to where I could do limited casting. Got a really nice crappie and two very small largemouth bass. Creek is below the spillway of a lake and there is a pretty strong current. Found fish in eddies and sheltered areas along the deeper banks. Did see a guy fishing right at the spillway who caught about 3 1/2 lb Largemouth on a tine 1 1/4 inch trout magnet. Only fished for about an hour and a half. I was wearing waders, it was hot and there was tons of poison ivy to avoid.

 

[rob]

I usually manage to get into the poison ivy and then bring home a bunch of tics in the process as well!

Nice going, between you and another fellow I know of, you always find crappie (and he carp) that I’ve always wanted to locate, somewhat closer to home LOL.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Tough trip for me this morning. Almost didn't go as it was going to be dead low tide when I left the dock and it was going to be a very low high tide, so there would not be a whole lot of current, plus being a weekend I knew everybody and their brother would be out on the water. None of my regular fishing buddies could fish this morning, perhaps they knew better. For me, it was either fish this morning or wait until Monday as I am racing model boats tomorrow.

Got to the ocean and found it in the lower 60's and fairly brown from the outgoing water. About the 5th cast I caught a 16 inch striper and figured it might not be a bad morning. Moved on and worked another area for about an hour without a single hit.

Moved to some submerged structure where a got hung up and lost my fly and then after tying on a new one I got hung up again on the very next cast and lost that one too. After tying on a third fly the tide was starting to move and I finally got a small weakfish about 16 inches. A few casts later I got hung up again and not only lost my fly but about 6 inches of my fly line that must of wedged in the rocks. I had to leave that spot as I couldn't take the pain anymore. Tried three other spots before heading in. Got one small hit for my efforts. Just couldn't put it together this morning and kind of wished I didn't push myself to go as I had a fair amount of things to take care of around the house after being away for a couple of days.

There were some fish being caught today. I had a buddy fishing with a friend that did pretty well. The fish turned on where it was dead earlier and he was catching, but there was a real crowd of boats. I just didn't get it going today. Maybe next trip.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Today was a Remote Control Sailboat Sailing Day. We had a fantastic day. Good wind and good sailing weather. We race at Laurel Acres Park in Mt Laurel. Only minor problem was that as we were arriving to sail, so were about 50 scouts and their leaders and parents. Seemed they planned a big take the scouts out fishing day. Luckily by the time they were finishing up we were ready to race, so we just delayed a bit to allow them to finish up so neither of us would interfere with the other. Don't know if they got a lot of fish. I only saw a few sunfish caught, but the kids all seemed to have a good time.

On the way home I stopped for about 3/4 of an hour a cedar lake that I pass by. Got two very small yellow perch and missed a very small pickerel. Both took a small flashy baitfish pattern.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Been wanting to get out in the boat and fish, but the tides are just so so. At prime times early in the morning or evening there No water in the back bay and for the ocean the wind has been just enough from the wrong direction to fish where I want to. Tomorrow morning they are calling for thunderstorms, so it it just a wait and see. Might have to do a freshwater trip, but this time of the year it starts getting hot and buggy.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Did a quick freshwater trip last night. Fished 7:00 pm. to 9:00 pm. Got three small large mouth bass on a all black popping fly. All the action was in the last hour. Also had a decent pickerel almost in but it bit me off. Another guy fishing got two really nice bass up to about 4 lbs on a rubber worm rig. The gnats and the mosquitoes were super bad taking some of the fun out of it. No pictures. We had a power outage last night and it screwed up my desk top computer, Just bought a new one and they are grabbing info from my old hard drive and should have it back to me in a couple of days. Feel like a fish out of water with my just my cell phone and a outdated laptop.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Got my new computer and Just have to figure a few things out with the new model and figure out were old files are now located etc. Was going to go out early Sunday Morning and squeeze in a short trip before racing model boats at Cape May Yacht Club, but with them calling for some rain in the morning we decided to go this morning.

Buddy Peter and I Left the dock at 6:00 am. and headed to the ocean to fish the outgoing tide. Water was in the lower 60's and fairly clean with a light breeze. We were originally going to go to the back bay, but at the dock the gnats were really bad and with little wind we figured it would be brutal. We tried three different spots. Worked them for a total of 2 hours with out a single hit. We saw a number of boats fishing and didn't see any fish boated, so we decided to go to the back bay to fish some creek mouths and small rip lines.

The breeze by then picked up and gnats were not a problem. Water in the back was a bit brown and in the mid to upper 60's, but not too bad. We worked a number of prime spots for an hour and half and again neither of us got a single hit. I said let's hit one last spot and call it a day. We were almost ready to pack it up for the day. I said three more cast and that's it. On the second cast I got our first fish of the day. A nice little 21 1/2 inch striper. Now we couldn't leave. We worked that last little rip line for the next half hour and pulled out 4 more stripers and then called it a day. That last half hour saved the day and we both felt a little better. All fish were caught on chartreuse/white clousers using intermediate line.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Kind of crazy day today. Had to be out of the house by 6:00 am. as they were shutting down the road for the triathlon from 6:30 am. to 11:30 am. During that time if you had to leave your house it had to be an emergency and they would give you a police escort. We had a major remote control sailboat regatta here in Cape May that started at 9:30 am so I had to get out early and kill some time.

Forecast was really looking crappy. Suppose to be rain with thundershowers through the morning until about 1:00 pm.
Decided to go freshwater fishing for and hour and half and then get some breakfast before sailing. It looked like it was going to pour at anytime when I left to go fishing. Arrived at lake at 6:15 am. with only a couple of light sprinkles. Had a tremendous short trip. Caught a super small largemouth, a medium one. (that fell off the hook while lifting it out of the water) and a really nice 17 1/2 inch one that made my morning. Caught one nice pickerel and had another one bite my popper off. All fish were taken on fairly good size all black popping flies using floating line. It was a fantastic start to my morning.

Weather for sailing never was as bad as the predicted. We had a few light showers during the course of the day and the winds were very light and fluky making sailing in the tidal current a little more challenging. We could of used a little more wind. Seemed like areas around us got heavy rains, but we never got anything nasty and we had a fun day racing.

Just as we quit racing for the day a nice breeze filled in and it got nice and sunny. Thought about going out in the boat after dinner as we had a good high tide at 7:00 pm., but it was a long day and I ran out of steam.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Was a hot day with a light breeze all day and with a close to full moon high tide at just about 8:00 pm. I had to go and fish the incoming evening tide. Buddy Tom and I left the dock at 6:00 pm. and headed to the back bay. You have to fish a little differently on the super high tides when the water cover way over all the sod banks. Through the years I have found a number of spots where I can catch even when the water is super high. Water in the back was 65 to 68 degrees and very brown. Don't think you could see down more than one foot. We worked a number of spots and scrounged a fish here and a fish there. We ended up catching 7 stripers and one bluefish around 18 inches and missed a good number of hits using poppers. Around dead high tide at 8:00 pm. and just as the sun set the wind died out to nothing and the gnats came out in full force. By then all the sod banks were completely covered with water. We fished till 8:30 pm and quit only because we had enough fun and the gnats were brutal. It was a nice ride back to the marina, but once I tied up the gnats were again out in full force. Overall it was a great night. Only disappointing thing was that we covered a lot of ground and never saw a speck of bait fish anywhere. Maybe that is why the fish hit very aggressively.

 

[chaser]

Any tips for fishing flooded banks on an incoming tide? I tend to not do great when the marshes start getting covered feels like the fish can move into the grasses and it’s hard to fish the structure. I know redfish down south move into the grass when the marsh floods. Thanks for the reports I don’t fly fish but do similar fishing around absecon island and I enjoy your reports!

 

[CapeMayRay]

I have always had decent fishing on those full moon super high tides until dark and when the moon comes up bright and strong I find it not as good. Yesterday was pretty perfect. When we left at 5:00 pm. The water was high and the sod banks make a nice wall and contain the fish and baitfish (if there is any) and you can work the banks as usual. I understand what you are talking about. When that tide gets over the banks I have seen baitfish 30 and 40 feet up over the banks where it is impossible to fish. With no contained border fish and baitfish can be spread out all over.

I have a few deep creeks that I like to work as the tide gets higher over the banks as there tend to still be current running in the creeks and they fill up a little later than closer to the ocean. They still have a fairly defined bank until they super flooded over.

I have two other spots that are kind of unique. All the heavy water pushes up over a big section of sod banks. The heat from the banks transfers to the water and pushes over on the other side. I can fish that other side where the water is coming off rather than where it is pushing on. I think any grass shrimp, crabs, and baitfish get washed off and fish wait in the off flow. You may have to look at your map of the back and see if you see a area like that. I have found my couple of spots by trial and error through the years. Good Luck.

Popping Flies and Popping plugs tend to produce better as even if you cast on top of a sod bank near the edge you are on the surface where a swimming plug will dive down and hang you up more.

The change of the tide is always difficult on full moon on new moon super high tides as so much debris and junk comes off the banks and sometimes working creek mouths it is like working a mine field and the water is super dirty from the extra strong current. Hope this is of some help

 

[chaser]

Ray thanks so much I have spots in mind that will work with that scenario. Lee side of flooded banks that you can get behind.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Got out again Tuesday Night. Had similar conditions to Monday night except the wind was from the northeast and the tide was an hour later. Buddy Paul and I left the dock at 5:00 pm. and head to the back bay. Water was 66.8 degrees but even more dirty brown than Monday. Early afternoon we had heavy rains and we got a inch and half of rain which might of had some effect on the fish. Had to work harder for our fish tonight. We had 7 hits on our poppers fished on floating line, but only managed to hook up three fish on the night.

My first one was a nice slot striper that swirled behind, missing it once and then woofed it down on the next try about 10 feet from the boat were we both got to see the take. After a few pictures it was released. Working the same areas as last night, Paul finally hooked up and landed a striper. The fish we missed seemed to hit the poppers super hard but we just could get a solid hook up. My last fish of the night I thought was another slot striper as we were fishing in 4 feet of water and it really ran off away from the boat and made a couple of good runs. We were surprised when it got close and we saw it was a nice bluefish. Turned out to be 22 inches. It went in the live well for tomorrow nights dinner.

Wind died out again at sunset, but not to zero like Monday, so we had no problems with any gnats. Tonight we did see some super small bait fish at a couple of spots. Nothing big on 1/2 to maybe 1 inches in length. With the tide even higher tonight, when heading back to the marina you could barely see any sod banks. It looked like all water all the way to the Parkway. It was another fun night and we had a great sunset.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Been waiting for a opportunity to get out again this week but, the weather has just not been all that great at the times that I wanted to fish. Today the wind looks to be blasting all day today and not looking too much better for Sunday. Can't even get a break for Fathers Day Weekend. Might have to try some freshwater, but this wind even makes that not as much fun.

Wind still blasting. Weather said 15 to 17 mph winds but my wind gauge is saying 20 to 25 mph and gusting to 35 mph. There aren't even close!

 

[CapeMayRay]

Got out Tuesday Morning and had a super trip with keeper size fish in 4 species. Buddy Larry and I left the dock at 6:00 am. With the tide half way out and dead low at 8:40 am. I decided to try a couple of rip lines as we had fairly low light and just the right tide. Water was very muddy brown and 63 to 64 degrees, but still looked fishy. I thought for sure it would be our best shot at getting a striper or two. Larry lost a small striper and we had two small hits. After working it for about an hour we headed to the ocean.

Water coming out of the inlet was ugly brown but the ocean water was pretty clean, 62.5 degrees and you could see your fly down maybe 3 1/2 to 4 feet and there was zero wind. First spot I got a slot sized striper that I released and Larry got a striper, missed another small one and had a decent bluefish bite him off.

Third spot that we tried I got a nice 21 1/2 weakfish that I released and Larry caught a sea herring. (Really seemed late in the season for one of them.0 I was teasing Larry about going for a grand slam. I told him I would catch a bluefish and he had to catch a fluke. (So far this season we had not seen a single fluke on the fly, which is really unusual.)

Fourth spot that we tried we found some fluke we caught 7 in the 15 to 16 1/2 size and decided to move to a Fifth spot. Here I caught a 21 1/2 inch bluefish that I kept for dinner and a 17 1/2 inch slot fluke that I also kept.

With the wind starting to pick up just a little, I decide to move back to were I got that first weakfish. I ended up catching a another weakfish that was 22 inches and released that also. We then started catching fluke again. Larry landed a slot keeper 17 1/2 inches that he kept and he had another beauty on about 20 inches, but I screwed up while netting and net caught the clouser fly and pulled it out of the mouth of the fish at boat side. I really felt bad missing such a nice fish.

It was such a nice day and the fishing was so good we stayed out longer than we normally would, fishing till around 10:30 am. leaving the fish still biting. It felt good to get back out on the water again and was one of the more enjoyable trips of the year, plus we both got some table fare.

The whole trip we caught everything on chartreuse/white clousers using sinking line.

 

[rob]

What depths were you fishing with most success?

nice report!

 

[CapeMayRay]

We fished 4 to 12 feet of water at most of the areas that we fished. Bottom must of been paved with fluke. We were mainly trying for weakfish. If you would let your fly and line sink all the way to the bottom and just lightly jigged it along you would almost always get a fluke to pick it up.