[sparse grey]

Lousy windy days down here with little fishing. Hope you are getting some nicer weather & I look forward to reading many accounts. I am still having picture problems so cannot post some of the hogfish I have caught. { Hope all are well.

 

[rob]

Did an ocean charter with my son yesterday afternoon out near Boca R. Slow day but just the two of us, caught 4 small blackfin tuna, a mahi and had a nice fight with a 25lb class amberjack.

Ate well last night.

Hope to hit the inlet with the flyrod later this week... the winds have been up and down here... a bit sporty @ 15 steady out of the SSE when we went out trolling but died down after a few hours, so
that when they changed to live lining bonito, it had laid down nicely.

 

[sparse grey]

Rob Glad your getting out & catching. Any chance of the long rod on the tuna & how long will you be down?

 

[rob]

Very sporadic bite on the troll and conditions ruled out any attempt by me on the fly.

we're down till the 13th

 

[CapeMayRay]

Enjoy your trip and hope you get a few shots at some fish down where it is warm. I got in a short freshwater trip on the first, but a big windy thunder storm came up and chased me in after one sunfish on black bead head wooly bugger. Headed back to the car when it started raining and it turned out to be a good move as it came down in heavy wind driven buckets just as I got to car. On the way out a tree got blown down across the access road and I had to call the police and have crew with a front end loader and a chain saw so I could get home. Waited longer for the tree to clear than the time that I fished. Now the weather has turned cold again so it maybe be a while before I get out to fish.

 

[rob]

Ray, you seem to have your share of adventures lately!!

Down here looks like a blowout until Monday or Tuesday with a nasty onshore wind. I don't know of intercoastal access points around here, but may explore over the weekend.
For now, just enjoying the warm windy weather and being a tourist

 

[johnnyraff]

Had one tiny striped bass March 1 on soft plastic right at dark.

 

[Fly Ty R]

Ray,
Gees when it rains it pours for you... Glad you got out of there safely. We had a brief storm up here that day but it mostly broke up before getting to us. The wind afterwards the next day was actually worse than during the storm. Still odd for early March, but you never know anymore with this crazy weather. The water temps probably haven't dropped much at all, so if you can brave the bitter cold today it should still be decent. And it's supposed to warm back up this week anyway.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Wednesday it was a beautiful day. Was going to do some yard work in the afternoon and buddy Paul called up and said let's go fishing. Tough decision (work in yard or go fishing???) You know what I did. Using a black bead head wooly bugger Paul got the first fish.

I started with an olive bead head wooly bugger. Both of us were using sinking lines and letting our fly get down deep close to the bottom and used slow short strips, with both colors working well and all the crappies were decent size.


The wooly bugger that I was using was a bit larger than the one that Paul was using. I only caught crappies and he caught a mixture of crappies and good size sunfish.

After loosing my fly to a snag on the bottom I switched over to a all black bead head wooly bugger and caught one super nice Crappie.

Paul switched over to a white/tan clouser and caught two largemouth bass, with this one being the largest.


Over all it was a great afternoon of fishing. We fished for a total of 2 1/2 hours and caught over 20 fish between us. Much more fun than working in the yard any day.

 

[Fly Ty R]

Glad you and Paul are out enjoying this weather. Just wish it wasn't so windy, but I'll take it for March. It's better than what's coming at us this weekend and next week... Ack... You have a nice crappie spot there. And as always, the black WB can't be beat. They catch stripers just as well as they do crappies and trout. Thanks Don Martinez for inspiring the idea with the original wooly worm.

 

[sparse grey]

Nicely done Ray & Paul. Really nice crappies & yes, the WB can really be alive.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Took advantage of the good weather again on Thursday. Did that yard work in the morning and it was off for a couple hours of fly fishing. No one could make it to fish with me so I went on my own. Got to lake and the first cast I caught a small large mouth bass on a black bead head wooly bugger.

Within the next 20 casts I caught 2 nice crappies and was anticipating a banner afternoon. Shortly after I caught my last crappe, my buddy Peter called and asked how the fishing was and that he was headed there to join me. From the time he called until he got there I had not gotten a single hit.
Peter arrived and on the second or third cast caught a nice crappie on a black bead head wooly bugger and we both thought it would be game on again.

His was the last fish we got. We tried fishing off the bottom, mid water and surface, in both deep and shallow water with a number of different go to flies and not a hit.

Even tried dead stick fly fishing while taking Peters picture. Right now it is snowing so no fishing today.

 

[Fly Ty R]

Probably the impending change in the weather turned them on then off. Next time try a big fuzzy nymph hanging deep under a strike indicator, right above the weed line. That usually does the trick. A bugger will work for this, and a small piece of sticky foam folded over itself will work for a while as an indicator. Bobber fishing with a fly rod...

 

[CapeMayRay]

Just when I was getting use to all that nice weather and decent freshwater fishing, mother nature had to come in and show her bad side. Can't fish or work on getting the boat ready as it is too cold. The few times that I have gone outside, I can't wait to get back inside. Been watching all these fishing shows this time of the year and have friends in Florida sending me pictures of big snook (34 inch range) and telling me they are catching tons of specks, blues, jacks and reds. Where is that global warming when you need it.

 

[rob]

well I didn't have luck with the flyrod on the east coast saturday, but did a pier thing the day before and had fun with various sizes of tropicals, biggest a 3 lb "grunt" which looks like a pompano.

was a slow day, but off that pier they live line and various other sorts of techniques and get some good game fish. couldn't flyfish underneath it due to "traffic" at the spot but at any rate
heading back north.

next time down I'll plan on more flyfishing, or rather, hope that my flyfishing plans don't get blown out with 30+ winds

we'll be back Wednesday, hope the snow's out and the road's are clear by then

 

[sparse grey]

Safe & blessed travels.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Got to race remote control sailboats Sunday up at MT Laurel. There was no ice on the pond and snow was all gone. Cold and windy which was good for racing. On the way home stopped at a pickerel lake. Caught one very small pickerel about 10 inches long. With the wind blowing straight in my face and a lot of tree and brush snags along the shore I only fished for about a half hour. Looks like the weather might ease up a little this week to seriously get out and work fresh water for a bit.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Had to run back to Mt Laurel again this morning to get income taxes done and on the way back stopped at the pickerel lake that I hit on Sunday. Got another small pickerel and this little nice one, using a silver bait fish pattern. Fished for about and hour.

 

[Fly Ty R]

Anyone heading out this weekend? Looks like the weather is supposed to be A+++! Think I might go poking around for bass somewhere...

 

[rob]

definitely will try for local fw species