[CapeMayRay]

Busy morning, but noticed there was very little wind. Decided to do a mid day trip. I have been fishing either the last of high or the out going tide. Left the dock and 1:45 pm to fish the incoming tide. Marina was infested with gnats and we couldn't get out of there quick enough. Water at the dock was 62.4 Ocean was 55 to 56 degrees. Good tide moving and water looked pretty clean. Talked to another fisherman outside the inlet and he said earlier he got some small bluefish so we thought we might see another species other than our targeted striped bass. In the first 5 minutes I got a good hook up. Turned out to be a 19 1/2 inch sea herring. A couple of casts later my buddy got a small striper. We thought we were going to have a great afternoon. It was not to be. The weather and conditions were the best that I have fished in this year but the action was dead. We worked about 5 normally good spots in the ocean and caught nothing else. Before we came back to the inlet we fished in tight to the surf and kept getting some really small hits but could not hook up. Finally I almost landed a super small fluke that must of be 7 or 8 inches long. Think that was what was hitting our flies.

Even with a nice fast moving tide at the inlet there was no signs of life or birds. Still trying to save the day we headed to the back to try a good incoming tide spot. Again the gnats were bad and the fishing even worse so we headed in. Better than being home, but not what we expected.

 

[CapeMayRay]

My last trip was much slower than normal even though I thought I had a good tide and conditions. When I got home I just happened to look at the lunar fishing talbes for Cape May and they said I was fishing a fairly poor day at a poor time of the day. Never really paid any attention to lunar tables. Just happened to look at today and it said it was a good day over all and the best time would be 12:58 pm till around 2:58 pm. Decided to check it out and see if there was anything to it.

Buddy Paul and I left the dock at 12:45 pm. Weather was overcast, damp and a little foggy. We headed to the ocean and tried two quick spots with out a hit. Even though it was a light northeast wind we had fairly good sea swell making it a bit difficult to fish exactly were we wanted. The water was 56.5 degrees and fairly clean and we were fishing the mid to bottom of the out going tide. Move to third spot and I told Paul that lunor table said we should be in prime time starting now. Who knows, we started catching sea herring on chartruese/white clouers. Paul was having better luck than me. I was using a larger clouser and working for bass. He was using a double fly rig with a little smaller clouser and even smaller clouser trailing off the back of the main one.

We had a good steady pick of sea herring and we caught into the 20's, 12 of which I kept to salt down for fluke bait. Every once in a while we would get a small striper.

About mid-way into prime time Paul got a nice hit and we knew it was a better fish as it started pulling line off his reel. We were both thinking a better bass or perhaps a nice bluefish. As he was reeling it in I notice the nice flash of dark pink and knew he had a nice weakfish. The Weakfish was 27 1/2 inches long. We got a couple of pictures and released to produce more weakies and be caught another day.

With the tide changing around 2:10 the seas seemed to settle down but with the colder incoming tide the fog started to fill in pretty good. Before we headed in we went back to one of our first spots that hadn't produced. This time we caught herring and I caught my best striper of the day. With it past lunar table prime time we head back in around 3:45 pm. Nice to have a good GPS as we needed to find our way back to the inlet with the heavy fog.

Was it the lunar tables, just luck or what ever? We had a great afternoon of fishing for what ever reason and I will look at the lunar tables now to see if I find them to really hold true.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Monday night after dinner I went to Cape May Point to fish the incoming tide, figured I might have a shot at some fish. Use to always fish there this time of the year and have sucess catching a few fish. Found the water really ugly. It looked like liquid mud. Must of been all the heavy rains from the weekend. Made about 10 casts and figured I would be beating a dead horse, so I quit. Did see a couple of spiny dogfish caught by a guy fishing bunker. Will get out in the boat today and hope to find the ocean cleaner.

 

[rob]

I had a few follows by small blues last week, hope to find more than just blues tomorrow morning, and perhaps get a couple to bite.
We'll see!

 

[CapeMayRay]

Shouldn't of fished Yesterday. Was suppose to be a light wind day. Checked the lunar tables and they said it was to be a so so day at best and that the best hours to fish were 10:28 am to 12:28 pm. Buddy and I left the dock at 10:15 am with the wind blowing out of the southeast pretty strong. Headed to the ocean. Water was 54.5 and a bit brownish but very fishable. The wind was annoying as it made for a good chop and it tough to have the control of the boat that I would like for fly fishing. We worked 4 different spots for an hour and half. I got one hit and landed a small striper on a clouser. With the wind getting stronger we moved to the back bay to try some out flowing creeks. Water in the back was much worse than out front. It was very brown. We did a hit and run at a number of good spots. My buddy had one small fish hooked but it came off before we saw what it was. With the wind and brown water we decided not to beat a dead horse and came in.

 

[rob]

Was roaming the wb rancocas looking for signs of trout today, only found sunnies... big ones and in full spawn colors. Fun but not the target species. I hate these rainbows for south jersey streams, if they had been brookies I'd have known where they were... in every snagly blowdown in the river. They supposedly stocked yesterday and I saw no anglers today.

Ah well, salt again next week.

 

[CapeMayRay]

A couple of trips ago I started looking at the solar lunar fishing tables to see if they held any water. Not sure if I can say they work. You still have to prove them to me. I looked at them this morning and they said all day today was just going to be average and one of the poorer days of the month. The best fishing was to be early morning 6:47 to 8:47 and 7:15 to 9:15 tonight. Looking at the weather we were to have light winds late morning off the land and then by afternoon the wind was to pick up and switch to east southeast. I wanted to fish the calmest part of day starting around noon as I wanted to fish the ocean front. According to the lunar table the worse time for fishing during the day was going to be. 11:56 am to 12:56 pm.

I decided I was going to go out and temp fate just the same. Made a couple of calls to see if I one of my buddies wanted to go, but they had commitments.

Left the dock at 11:45 am and headed for the ocean to fish the last two hours of the incoming and some of the outgoing tide. Another negative was high tide was only going to be up 3.9 feet which is one of the lower high tides and there would not be as much current, which is bad when you fish for species that actively feed during times of strong currents.

Got to my first spot and found the water a touch dirty with a good sea swell so I could not get as close to the beach as I would normally like. The second cast I caught a nice 22 inch bluefish that I put in the live well for dinner. I worked the area for about a half and hour and picked 2 small stripers before moving to another spot. This spot was even tougher to fish the surf was fairly big and just couldn't work it the way I wanted to. (didn't get a hit) Moved to third spot where I caught a smaller blue around 17 1/2 inches.

With it slow I moved to a fourth spot where I fished most of the time. Here I got two more bluefish, one of which I kept for a buddy for his dinner. Then I got my fish of the day. Had a nice hit and it took off really strong taking my line to my reel. Didn't feel like a blue so I was thinking larger striper or nice weakfish. It went down under the boat and I had to put my rod tip down to clear my motor. Then it went back under the boat and I had to clear the electric motor. Finally tired it out and netted it. (Always a little tougher with a 9 foot fly rod) You don't want to high stick and break your rod. This is when you wish you had a buddy to help you. Turned out to be a nice 28 1/4 female weakfish. I was pretty excited. A guy who was going by, watched me catch the fish and offered to take my picture holding the fish before I released it. So far my day was going just fine.

Went back to fishing and caught another two bluefish and another small striper and had one bite off, before getting another nice hookup. Not as big as the first weakfish but a nice one non the less. This was another female and it was 20 1/2 inches long. Took a picture and released it.

By now it was starting to cloud up pretty good and the wind had shifted from the east and I decided to head back to the inlet and call it a day, but did stop at one area that looked really good. I made about 30 casts and caught 5 more stripers to 20 inches. Thought about staying out longer but I had to drop off buddies blue and clean mine for dinner. Headed in at 3:45pm.

Every thing was caught on chartreuse/white clousers using sinking line. If this is suppose to be a poor fishing day according the solar lunar fishing table I would really like to fish a good day. I think I am going to have to put those tables in with fortune telling, ghosts, and flying saucers. I will just fish what has worked for me in the past. Good tides, good conditions and what my gut tells me. All I needed was a fluke and I could of had a South Jersey Fishing Grand Slam.

 

[rob]

Those are nice weakies, Ray!

 

[CapeMayRay]

Always a treat to catch a few weakfish. A couple of years ago it looked like they might be making a come back but then the last few years there have not been as many. They are really a tasty fish to eat but I can't justify killing one until the stocks are in better shape. I miss the days when they were around and could be caught everywhere during the season.

Saturday did get my first ugly bass of the year. It had sea lice on it, the tail was all shreaded and bleeding. It had sores on it's mouth and was missing scales and the skin on the side looked abnormal. You wonder whether it was right to release it or should you of put it out of it's misery.

 

[fdformicola]

love to catch & release weakies my favorite fish hope they make a comeback in my lifetime

 

[CapeMayRay]

After working around the yard all day I was ready for a break. Checked the weather and they were calling for 9 to 10 mph winds. Left the dock at 3:30 pm with a plug fishing buddy and we headed to the inlet. We were a bit disappointed when we got there. The water was pretty brown and the wind was blowing out of the southeast around 15 mph. and there was a good chop on the ocean.

Brown water and the wind didn't seem to bother the fish. Started catching sea herring right away and the bite continued the whole time we fished. Chartreuse/white clouser was hot. My buddy was using a rubber swim bait and had one bite off from a bluefish and caught a couple of sea herring. I missed a bluefish and got on small striper. After getting bounced around for an hour and half we decided to leave the biting fish and head to the back bay.

Should of headed back earlier as with the close to full moon super high tide. (5.2 feet of incoming water) The tide was way up over the sod banks already.
It was difficult fishing as we couldn't really see where the sod banks were, but we managed two bluefish and missed another, one of which I kept for dinner.

With the tide just starting to go out we decided to head in, instead of fighting all the straw that would be coming off the banks on the out going tide and were back to the dock by 6:30. We both had a good afternoon and I had a great bluefish dinner.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Had best trip of the year today. Started out similar to yesterday. Worked around the yard most of the day and with lighter winds than yesterday I decided to go out fishing again. Called my fly fishing buddy Peter and we left the dock at 3:45 pm. Again we were going to fish the incoming full moon tide which was going to be 5.4 feet of high water. Hit the ocean and the water was 55.6 degrees and much cleaner and far less rough than Wednesday afternoon and I was expecting a good sea herring bite like yesterday and maybe a couple of bluefish and stripers. Even saw a bald eagle sitting on a pole as we started to fish.

First spot that we tried I caught a nice 20 inch blue fish and my buddy Peter got bitten off. The second spot I caught a small striper. On our third move we hit the mother load. We both hooked up at the same time. Peter had the better fish so I let my fish run a bit and helped net his fish. It was a beautiful 23 inch weakfish. I then reeled in my fish and I had a 19 inch weakfish. Both of us were using chartreuse/white clouser flies and sinking line.

The rest of the afternoon we worked that spot to death. In total we landed 21 nice size weakfish. Most of the fish were 22 to 24 inches and all fought really great on 8 wt rods. We were having the afternoon of our lives. We must of just hit the right place at the right time. We had 4 times where we were both hooked up at the same time and must of missed another 7 or 8 that got off during the fight. In-between we also picked up another 3 bluefish and never got a single sea herring the whole afternoon. We took some pictures and released all fish and were soaking in every minute of our great trip.

It was the fantastic fly rod fishing and catching few and far between weakfish. It reminded me of the days when they were strong in the Delaware Bay and you could catch them with out hardly trying. We stopped fishing at 6:30 pm with the fish still biting as we both told our wives we would be back by 7:00 pm. for dinner.

It was just an awsome 3 hours of fishing. We will have to see it might just be the best trip of the year as a day like this is just comes along once in a blue moon.

 

[rob]

Well, it was not the best day fishing at Corsen's Inlet yesterday, but was one of those "nice to be out there" trips. Met up with the club members at the lot, think about 10 including a couple of new fly anglers came out. There were some some stripers (15" ish) small blues, and a couple of small fluke caught by what info I could gather. For me, I had one good blue on at the inlet but got bit off, and then a couple of hits and that was it from 3:30 - 7:30 or so. Funny there was no wind for you Ray, up here there was a stiff S-SW wind in our face until about 7, maybe 10 steady with gusts to 15+. For a while it felt it went up steady to close to 15 but not for too long. As the sun got lower so did the wind... but the bite never picked up while I was there. I waited for the start of the outgoing and then had to leave.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Sorry to hear it wasn't a great day at Corson's. Always from the beach you have to work harder for your fish and a bite off always hurts more. I alway like fishing there, but with the high full moon tide last night you probably ran out of room to even walk back to the car. When I said there were light winds, I guess it is all a matter of opinion. It was still fairly windy for us last night but nothing like the day before and by the time we were heading in the wind had picked up out of the southeast and the wave action also picked up with the electric motor prop popping out of the water here and there.

 

[rob]

Sorry to hear it wasn't a great day at Corson's. Always from the beach you have to work harder for your fish and a bite off always hurts more. I alway like fishing there, but with the high full moon tide last night you probably ran out of room to even walk back to the car. When I said there were light winds, I guess it is all a matter of opinion. It was still fairly windy for us last night but nothing like the day before and by the time we were heading in the wind had picked up out of the southeast and the wave action also picked up with the electric motor prop popping out of the water here and there.

ok, yes, wind is always relative

Just when you are on shore, you can't change directions to accommodate too much. I haven't hit it really well at Corsen's... always a day (or week) late (or early), but that's fishing... and yes, the walk back was mostly slogging through water. Reminded me of wading the upper Delaware, but without the current (or stones... come to think of it, guess it's not like the big D LOL)

I didn't see bait guys on either side doing anything, nor the couple of boats drifting by, so it's not like the fish were there cleaning up chunks or anything else. If the one striper to my right or the 2 to my left had been any size, I would've been jealous but nah, not for 15" fish

 

[CapeMayRay]

Fishing of a different kind this weekend. Had to run up to my daughters for Grand Kids school program and cub scout awards in the evening. On the way up I stopped at a cedar lake and managed two really small pickerel, the biggest maybe 12 inches long. (big thrill?) Saturday I raced a remote control sailboat regatta in Spring Lake. On the way back to my daughters I stopped at a lake and piked up a crappie and small largemouth. (a little more fun then the pickerel) Sunday it was back to Spring lake for another sailboat regatta with another type of boat that I race. All was going well. Good weather and good winds, sometimes too much wind. I was really doing well after the first 9 races and in the top three points wise, when an inexperienced sailor lost control of his boat in a big gust and hit me broad side. Boats were fairly far away and I couldn't see if there was any damage. Sailed it toward the finish line and the side that I was hit on was out of the water. Went to tack on the other side to head to the finish and within about 15 seconds my boat headed to the bottom of the lake like a submarine.

The lake right in Spring Lake is fairly shallow but my boat went down in the deepest part where it was 15 feet deep. Not wanting to loose a $700.00 boat I ran to the Reel Seat Tackle shop and got two of the biggest weighted treble hooks that you could use for snagging bunker and some crabbing line. Worked for about 2 hours in john boat trying to snag my boat and finally hooked it and was able to bring it to the surface without damaging anything else. (Biggest and best catch of the weekend) Got it right as I was ready to give up and was thinking I might have to hire a diver. Was really lucky as with the 20 mph plus wind the aluminum boat was drifting fast like a balloon on the water making it difficult to control the dragging hooks over where I thought the boat went down. Ended up in 6th place even without sailing the last 4 races.

You can see why she went down so fast. Will have to rename her U-Boat 28

 

[rob]

nice...who had the jon boat?

so glad you got Das Boot back heir capitan!

 

[CapeMayRay]

We have a jon boat at the model sailing club there. We use it to change the racing bouys, depending on the wind direction or to retrieve a boat where battery or servo fails. Even though toy boats they get pretty expensive. I have one boat that I sail that was over $3,000.00 new last year. It has three mast and sail set ups for different wind speeds. Us old guys who use to race real sailboats can still have fun trying to kick each others butts. Still just as competitive as when we were younger and a lot less work than a real boat. No having to find a crew or have to feed and supply them with beer.

 

[CapeMayRay]

With all the sailing this weekend and all the heavy wind yesterday hadn't fished since Thursday. Mid morning I was doing some work around the house and noticed there was very little wind. Checked the weather and they said there 6 mph winds out of the north northeast and it was going to pick up a bit and switch to south southeast in the early afternoon and Thursday they were calling for pretty good winds again. Made a quick call to fishing buddy Peter and we left the dock at 11:00 am. and would catch the last half hour of the incoming tide and fish outgoing. Water was as clean as I have seen it all year. Looked more like Florida water then Jersey water. We decided to work inside the inlet before heading out and running down beach. Water was 56.4 and it didn't take long before I got the first striper. After catching a few stripers we decided to move. The next two spots also held stripers. In total we caught 17 with most in the 17 1/2 to 22 inch size. Also caught 2 19 inch bluefish that I kept for dinner. Everything was caught on chartreuse/white clousers on sinking line. We tried 3 additional spots in the ocean and got no hits but did have a nice fish follow fly close to the surface before turning away. I was looking down on it and couldn't tell if it was a bass or a weakfish as it happened pretty fast. With the bright sunlight and the super clear water, it might of been a little too nice. On the way back to the dock we decided to go into the back bay and try 2 nice rip lines around a sod bank area. Neither of us got a hit and again the water was very clean and with the bright light, not productive so we headed back to the dock around 3:00 pm. Never saw any signs of any baitfish the whole trip.

 

[CapeMayRay]

Hadn't fished for awhile. Fluke opening day I had to go to a memorial service in Mt Laurel for a good friend who died of heart attack after we raced remote control boats last weekend. It was a real shocker as he was only 58 and in great shape with no previous conditions. He died of a heart problem similar to mine, only he never made it to even the hospital where he could of been helicoptered to a heart facility. (not a good start to the memorial day weekend)

Rest of the weekend was fun. Had my daughters family down and the two grand kids 5 and 8 years old. Took the family out for a joy ride and to look at the dolphins. No fishing as it was the typical everybody and their brother out fishing or cruising. Holidays are always like the scene in the JAWS movie. Even went to the beach and all the other things associated with Memorial day weekend and kids. Arcade, downtown, golf, bike riding and the Memorial Parade Service at the Coast Guard Base.

Early afternoon after company left for home I decided I would give fishing a try now that all the crazies would be off the water. Almost didn't go as the both high tides of the day were going to be very low and there would be very little current to activate feeding. The deciding factor was little to no wind. Left the dock at 6:15 pm with the tide about 1/2 out. Went to the back bay first to try a couple of rip lines that should produce. Water in the back was 67 to 70 degrees but the water was very brown. (probably from all the rain during the thunderstorms last night.) Got one hit and landed a 16 1/2 inch striper on the first rip line and got one hit and landed a 17 inch striper on the other rip line. They were caught on chartreuse/white clousers fished on intermediate line. After spending 20 minutes on each rip I decided to move to the ocean.

Ocean water was 61.8 to 62.9 and nice and clean. It was beautiful and there was only one other boat out that I saw fishing. First spot that I tried I got a quick almost back to back 4 stripers. Fish were from 20 to 23 1/2 inches long. All caught on chartreuse/white clousers on sinking line. With the wind and wave action down to almost nothing I decide to make another move and go try for some weakfish.

First fish that I hooked up was a 17 1/2 inch fluke and the second was my first spike weakfish of the season. Shortly after that I hooked a really nice weakfish around 24 to 25 inches only to loose it trying to net it. That is the only problem with using 9 foot fly rods. Trying to net decent fish without high sticking and breaking your graphite rod. Could of used a net man. Didn't ask anyone to go out with me as I thought the fishing might be pretty slow. The rest of the night I got 2 more spike weakfish and called it quits about 9:00 pm.