Fishing Reports May 1 to May 31

Yesterday afternoon never worked out. The wind was up all afternoon, with on an off rain. The rain was to end at 4, then 5, then 5:30 pm. The wind was to drop out and shift to the northeast and that never happen. Paul and I decide to give up and go Friday morning.

With light northwest winds Paul and I left the dock this morning at 6:00 am. and headed to the ocean to fish the last part of the incoming tide. Conditions looked pretty good for fishing except the water was pretty brown from all the rain and the higher than normal high tides, plus there was a fair amount of weed in the water. Started out with a sea herring fest. They seemed to be all over the place. Paul used smaller flies and was hooking them pretty much at will. I was stubborn and refused to take off my larger flies. I would get the hits, but with my larger hook size and short shank I only hooked up three. Paul lost count at over 15 and was have fun with them. The majority of them were pretty good size. He even had on double header.

We moved to another area and found more sea herring. After working that area hard we decided to hit one more spot before heading into the back bay to try a couple of creek mouths. That last spot in the Ocean I caught at 21 1/2 inch striper and a 15 1/4 inch tog. Both took a good size chatreuse/white clouser. Paul hooked a tog also, but it too him into the rocks and he ended up loosing the fish and a fly.

The back was very disappointing. We tried a fair number of out flows of creeks and saw no signs of life or got any hits. We hit one last point on our way out and I missed a striper that hit my fly about 10 feet from boat. Thought I had it hooked as I had it on for about 5 seconds, but it shook off. Fun trip, but our expectations were higher than how we did. It sure felt good to get back out on the water.

With an even better weather forecast than Friday I decided to head out Saturday morning, optimistically expecting the fishing to be better than yesterday. Larry and I left the dock at 6:00 am. to fish the incoming tide in the ocean. There was little to no wind and we were both excited. The water was a bit brownish, but not too bad and there was very little ground swell or wave action.

To sum it up. Fishing was painfully slow except for sea herring action. Larry had a small pink sand eel pattern that the herring just loved. Larry had 13 of them before taking the fly off as they were getting annoying. I had one as with my larger flies they would hit, but found it much too big to get down. We worked 4 different spots that all seemed to have sea herring and nothing else. Talked to 4 other boats fishing where we were and they were not even getting any herring other than the one angler who was using a flyrod.

Before heading in we tried 3 spots in the back bay. Water in the back was cleaner and we saw no visible signs of any life other than one small striper that Larry hooked, while we were working up a small creek. It shook the hook before he could get it too the boat. Not a great day, but we did have a little fun.

Didn't fish this morning and was anxious to work a trip in soon. Tuesday morning they were calling for stronger winds and possible rain showers. All day working in the yard it was pretty windy, but looking at the forecast they were calling for the winds to start dying down around 5:00pm. Decided to try and evening trip and avoid the rain tomorrow morning. Left the dock at 5:30 pm. with non flyfishing buddy Tom to work the ocean on the incoming tide. When we left the dock the wind was still blowing good but it looked lighter than it did all day and coming off the land I knew the ocean would be pretty calm.

Before making my first cast I was stripping the sinking line off the reel precast and the fly line broke making it useless. Checking the line, it was were I damaged it two weeks ago when a bass took me across a metal structure. Luckily I had a back up rod with sinking line.

Water in the ocean was fairly clean compared to how it has been the last few times that I fished. The first two spots we fished we didn't get a hit, so we moved further down the beach. Here I got a nice 27 1/2 striper using a chartreuse/white clouser. Shortly later while making a slight move with the main engine my fly line was off the side of the boat and got caught in my main prop and wrecked my second sinking line. Just a stupid mental lapse on my part. Luckily I had three more rods onboard, but the all had intermediate line that doesn't sink as fast. Not what I prefer, but good enough to get by on.

Wind kept dying out and it was down to zero hen we moved to spot 4, Here I caught 3 sea herring and my first weakfish of the season. It was a super small one, but fun to get something different. Buddy Tom, who is a good fisherman, never got a hit the whole time. He was using different rubber swim baits and jig heads with rubber baits, but just couldn't buy a hit.

Feeling bad for Tom at 8:00 pm. we headed to the back bay to see if he could use a popping plug and scare a bass. Tried a couple of prime spots and got no hits. With zero wind the gnats were as bad as they could be and at 8:30 pm. we called it a night and headed in. I at least had some. For Tom it was a tough night.

CapeMayRay said:

Didn't fish this morning and was anxious to work a trip in soon. Tuesday morning they were calling for stronger winds and possible rain showers. All day working in the yard it was pretty windy, but looking at the forecast they were calling for the winds to start dying down around 5:00pm. Decided to try and evening trip and avoid the rain tomorrow morning. Left the dock at 5:30 pm. with non flyfishing buddy Tom to work the ocean on the incoming tide. When we left the dock the wind was still blowing good but it looked lighter than it did all day and coming off the land I knew the ocean would be pretty calm.

Before making my first cast I was stripping the sinking line off the reel precast and the fly line broke making it useless. Checking the line, it was were I damaged it two weeks ago when a bass took me across a metal structure. Luckily I had a back up rod with sinking line.

Water in the ocean was fairly clean compared to how it has been the last few times that I fished. The first two spots we fished we didn't get a hit, so we moved further down the beach. Here I got a nice 27 1/2 striper using a chartreuse/white clouser. Shortly later while making a slight move with the main engine my fly line was off the side of the boat and got caught in my main prop and wrecked my second sinking line. Just a stupid mental lapse on my part. Luckily I had three more rods onboard, but the all had intermediate line that doesn't sink as fast. Not what I prefer, but good enough to get by on.

Wind kept dying out and it was down to zero hen we moved to spot 4, Here I caught 3 sea herring and my first weakfish of the season. It was a super small one, but fun to get something different. Buddy Tom, who is a good fisherman, never got a hit the whole time. He was using different rubber swim baits and jig heads with rubber baits, but just couldn't buy a hit.

Feeling bad for Tom at 8:00 pm. we headed to the back bay to see if he could use a popping plug and scare a bass. Tried a couple of prime spots and got no hits. With zero wind the gnats were as bad as they could be and at 8:30 pm. we called it a night and headed in. I at least had some. For Tom it was a tough night. View attachment 506823 View attachment 506824 View attachment 506825

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Nice report! Nice to see a weakie around. I believe I was fishing the beach in the general area of where you were at the same time this evening. Before the sun went down, I saw an osprey pick off a few fish just behind the surf - I wonder if it was sea herring. Also landed this guy on clam casting just behind the breaking waves. Beauty of an evening except for the bugs.

Tuesday I pieced together my 350 depth charge sinking line using two of those loop ends that work like the Chinese finger hand cuffs and was able to make it fishable. A little bulky going through the eyes but good enough till I get a new fly line. Left the dock this morning at 6:00 am. with buddy Tom again to work the start of the incoming tide in the ocean. There was little to no wind and the water was nice and clean.

First spot I was throwing my standard large chartreuse/white clouser with and all bubble gum pink jiggy as a teaser. A few minutes into fishing I hooked up with a double headed small bluefish. Landed the one with the second one biting off my teaser. Being lazy and not wanting to take the time to retie another teaser on I fished the plain clouser and the loop knot that had the teaser seemed strong and holding well.

We slow picked sea herring, with no other decent hits. I was catching on the fly and Tom using spinning gear was catching on a whitish clear rubber shrimp with a swimming tail. With the action pretty slow for us and the other boat fishing we move to another spot. We worked it hard with no hits or signs of life and were just about ready to leave when I set the hook on a nice bass, that took me straight into my backing. At this time doubts of that knot strength in my 20bl test leaded had me concerned as to whether the know would hold. The fish put up a good fight, mostly near the surface and Tom netted it. Almost lost it then as when he lifted the fish out of the water the end of the net broke off. Turns out corrosion took it's toll on it. We landed the fish, took a few pictures and released it. It made my morning.

By 8:30 am, with the fishing so slow all the other boats that were fishing headed in and we had the whole ocean to ourselves. It didn't matter. We worked two other spots, only catching one more small striper and another small bluefish and we headed in at 9:30 am. I at least had my thrill for the day.

Not having the best tide for fishing this morning, but I still decided to fish the last of the outgoing, dead low and the start of the incoming, as there was to be light sea conditions, little wind and could we go out in lower light. Paul and I left the dock at 6:00 am and headed to the ocean. It was a beautiful morning, just as forecast. Water was pretty clean for near low water. First area we tried had sea herring. Paul with his smaller flies was keeping busy with them. I got a 16 1/2 inch fluke.

Second spot had more sea herring and Paul had a nice fish that seemed to fight like a weakfish, but it got off before we could see it. Third spot had a few more herring.

We were going to call it a day, but I insisted we try one last spot. Here we got Three stripers and more herring before calling it a day at 10:15 am. Paul got the biggest bass of the day on his little tiny herring killer fly that I was kidding him about the whole trip. Kept telling him to put on a real fly to catch a real fish. Guess he showed me. The three stripers made for a nice finishing rally and we both went in satisfied. We saw no signs of any baitfish anywhere, or bird play, other than ospreys picking up sea herring. Did see two pelicans though.

Didn't fish this morning as last night they were calling for rain. Never started raining till some time in the afternoon. After dinner with no wind and a light drizzle I decided to go fishing. Didn't feel like going in the boat with it being around 6:00 pm. Thought about going to Cape May Point, but after looking at the tides the water was too low. Decided to check out a back bay spot that might just hold some fish where the water wasn't too low yet. Took freshwater gear encase the water there was too low, so I could shift gears.

Got to my sod bank area a little after 6 pm. Worked a point that had some current that drained a shallow area into a little deeper water. Fished intermediate line with a chartreuse/white clouser with a small chartreuse/white baitfish pattern in front of it. On about the 7th cast I hooked up with a nice schoolie striper around 22 inches. Got it all the way to the sod bank and with the lower tide the front fly got hung up in the roots of the bank and while trying to unhook the teaser the striper on the clouser shook off.

While fishing I notice fish sort of slurping on the surface. It sort of looked like freshwater trout do when they feed on the surface. I decided to switch to a popping fly and fish it with the intermediate line. Not the best, but doable. I didn't even think to bring a floating line. Using the popper I got a striper hooked up that got off and two other good hits that I didn't hook.

Around 8:30 pm, with it getting dark I decided to quit. I felt pretty good with the action that I got, but on the walk back to the car that changed. , I has to cross a deep mucky mud area. In crossing, my one foot sunk in deep as did my second foot. In trying to pull that second foot out the bottom of the wader boot stayed in the mud and my foot came out of the boot section causing me to fall backward on my but. It was a bit of a struggle to get my foot back in the boot, get myself free and try and stand up with nothing hard to push up on. Ended up using my stripping basket which did the trick.

Made it back to the car, but what a muddy mess I was. I looked like I was in a mud wrestling match, plus all my gear and rods were covered. When I got home, It took me about 10 minutes with the hose to clean everything up. Paid the price for my one fish tonight.

Spent Mothers Day in Ocean City. Met up with my wife's brother and my nieces family. Had a great time on the boardwalk and picked up a tub of Johnsons's Carmel Pop Corn. Did not feel bad about fishing as the wind was blowing strong out of the north east all day. We got home around 6:00 pm and the wind was dying out. Decided to go fishing from the sod banks again like Saturday night, only I would be more careful and better prepared.

With the tide a little higher and going out I thought tonight would be better than Saturday night. Started fishing at 6:20 Conditions looked great. I cast clousers on intermediate line and popping flies on floating line for till close to 8:00 without a single hit. I was very disappointed and almost ready to call it a night as it was almost dark and the gnats were pretty bad.

Then finally a decent fish took my popping fly and I had a good hook up. Looked to be about 25 inches. I really don't have a long handle net, like I use to have when I did a lot of jetty fishing. I grabbed the leader snapped it off trying to dead lift it up the sod bank, I quickly tied on another popper and hooked up and landed a smaller but decent fish. Trying to get the hook out with my fingers the fish made a quick move, I lost my grip on the fish and one of fingers got cut pretty good by the hook point. (Forgot to bring a Dehooker)

Got the fish back in the water and caught one more striper with my hand dripping blood all over as I didn't have anything to stop the bleeding. Missed one more fish around 9:00 pm. With it dark I had enough and decided to head back to the car where I had some paper towels to clean up my bleeding finger. Was super careful going across that super sinking mud as the last thing I needed was to get all muddy again.

Almost missed the bite, but being patience and not giving up saved the night.

After getting home last night I checked the weather and Monday morning was to be light winds and I decided to do a trip. On short notice I couldn't get one of my fly bubbies so I had to do a solo trip. Left the dock at 6:00 pm. and headed to the inlet to fish the out going tide in the ocean. First spot caught a little striper that took a chartreuse/white clouser. I was fishing it on a 8wt rod using a new Cortland 8 striper 250 grain sinking line instead of my heavier 10 wt rod.

Next hour and a half I didn't get a single hit so I moved on to a third spot. Got there and started catching small bluefish and sea herring. Ended up catching 7 blues and 3 sea herring on the 8wt and kept three blues for dinner tonight. When the action stopped I went back to where I caught the first small striper. Getting no hits I tried one rip line in the back bay before heading in. Got no hits there. Had some fun, was back at the dock at 10:00 pm and will have a fresh bluefish dinner tonight. Not a bad way to start the week.

Was very windy all day in Cape May. Weather was calling for the wind to die out and shift to the north east. Buddy Paul and I left the dock at 5:00 pm. to fish the last of the incoming tide. Hit the ocean with the wind blowing fairly strong out of the east southeast. Not the best wind direction and windier than predicted, but it was fishable with fairly good surf along the beach. For the first two hours the fishing was very slow. I missed one decent fish that felt like a weakfish and we had a few small hits and misses that were either sea herring or small bluefish. Then we found one area that held some weakfish. I got the first one and it that one or two followers swimming along with it, almost right up to the net. We had one double where both of us caught at the same time, We ended catching 5 in total. At 8:00 pm. with the sun almost all the way down, it getting colder and the wind still blowing fairly good we called it an early night as I plan on going out Thursday morning with fishing buddy Larry. We were both happy with the action for a short trip. All fish were keeper size and released to be caught another day.

Left the Dock this morning at 6:00 am. with fishing buddy Larry to fish the last of the incoming tide in the ocean. It was a lot colder than it should be for this time of the year. Zipping out to the inlet it felt more like early April. Ocean water was nice and clean, about as nice as I have seen it. Northeast wind was blowing fairly good but very fishable. Fishing was fairly slow to start with a couple of small hits and misses. Larry broke the ice and caught the first fish. A nice eating size bluefish. We picked along with Larry catching a few nice size sea herring.

At second area that we fished I thought I snagged the bottom. Using sinking fly line and fishing deep you always snag some weed or structure. I started to shake the rod to get it loose but my line was going size ways I had a fish on and a decent one one, that was taking me into my backing. As I tried to control the fish the spool came off the side of my reel and was rolling around the deck so I knew I had to just fight it with the line I had out with no chance of fighting it on the reel. I knew it was a good fish and was thinking striper until we saw the fish. Turned out to be a huge weakfish. Larry did a great job netting and I was pretty excited. That fish just made my day. We took a few pictures and released the big female to reproduce more weakies.

We fished till around 10:00 am. catching 2 more much smaller weakfish, a couple more blues and some sea herring. It was a good morning for both of us and Larry took home some bluefish for dinner tonight.

Couldn't fix spool problem in the boat. Will have to check it out this afternoon.