The flounder season kicked off on Saturday, with thousands of anglers hitting the water. Fluke were plentiful, though most were throwbacks, averaging one keeper in 5-20 fish caught. With fewer boats on the water this coming week, it will be easier to do some serious fluking.
Keeper bass continue to be taken from both boats and from the beach. Anglers fishing near Poverty caught a few keepers and one fly angler, named Dutch, took 28 and 30 inch fish, just off the beach. Both were returned to the water. Fish of that size are prime breeders, so all anglers should think about releasing more in this size class. Sure, you can legally keep them, but we do need to protect the stock for the future.
Black drum slowed for a bit, but that should only be temporary. The Down Deep charter boat (http://www.capemaytimes.com/fishing/charter-downdeep.htm) reports drum to 50 pounds in the past week. Legal Limit charters has also been catching drum, with fish in the 40 pound range (http://www.capemaytimes.com/fishing/charter-legal.htm). Now’s the time to book your drumfish trips, before the drum season is over. We have several more weeks before things wind down for these hefty fish. For other charter drum fish boats, see the Cape May Times charter boat pages.
Finally, bluefish have made their presence known around Cape May. Both the Tiderunner and Irish Fly (http://www.capemaytimes.com/fishing/charter.htm) report small bules are filling in between the striped bass and herring. These fish are in the 1-3 pound range and are a ball on flies.
The South Jersey Coastal Fly Anglers held their annual fly fishing outing at Corson’s Inlet on Thursday May 21, with more than 25 club members participating.
Lined up along the sodbanks and out closer to the inlet, members caught a couple dozen fish. Small bluefish predominated and none seemed to be larger than about 18″. In addition there were Atlantic herring and hickory shad, as well as a couple of flounder and one or two striped bass. One of the flounder was keeper sized, perhap 19-20′, but it was promptly thrown back. All present were happy and all fish were returned to the water. Fly of the day was a chartreuse clouser, which seemed to catch more than other flies used.
Courtesy Tiderunner
Striped bass fishing has really picked up along the Cape May beaches and jetties, not to mention the action is still going on up Delaware Bay. Fishing for bass has been good from the usual places such as Poverty Beach,the Cape May Point jetties, and a few other spots. Capt. Ray of the Tiderunner landed and released a 36″ bass on a fly while fishing from a boat off Cape May. From his boat we watched two keeper bass caught from shore on lead-heads tipped with rubber. Clams ares producing from the beach and some fish are keepers. Back bay stripers have not arrived in any numbers, probably because the water temperatures have been too cool. The sun has simply refused to shine in the past week or so.
Along with bass on the beach front are good numbers of Atlantic herring. Although most people do not eat these fish, this is the species that many Europeans eat. Though not large, they are great fun on a fly rod. A 3″ clouser minnow with chartreuse and white bucktail and some flashabou took the herring. They are great little fighters and some of the larger herring run to more than 16″. If the bass aren’t biting, herring can put a smile on your face.
Now’s the time to jump on a charter boat for black drum in Delaware Bay. There are reports that the drum run has started. A few have also been caught from the beaches. This action should last through the month and into June, but don’t wait. Some of the charter boats offer split charters or serve as open boats to fill in small charters. Some of the boats at this link provide the opportunity for anglers to score on 30 pound plus drum - http://www.capemaytimes.com/fishing/charter.htm. Landing one is a real tug of war, not to mention that they provide some fine eating.
Not much word on weakfish from Cape May Point jetties or elsewhere, although they should be here soon. Similarly, the cool water has probably held up the back bay bluefish run. With waters in the 51-52 degree range, it seems like most fishing is a couple weeks late. Anglers generally enjoy a spring run of racer and tailor blues in mid-late April.
October is the beginning of the fall tog (blackfish/tautog) season in Cape May. Although they are sometimes caught in September, they really start to bite well in early to mid-October as water temperatures start to drop. With that in mind, my buddy Jim and I decided to try our luck at one of my favorite tog spots.
We were actually going to do some fishing for small blues, but decided to see if we could each pick up a keeper (the limit is only 1 tog greater than 14″ until November 15) on our way to our bluefish destination. We pulled up to our spot and within 2 minutes Jim had a fish on. It was about 16″, so it went into the bucket. For the next 30 minutes we had a ball trying to catch our second keeper. We lost a really good fish after it buried itself in the bottom and finally broke off. We also lost many a fiddler crab to the toothy devils and we never did get a second keeper. Actually, I did catch one that was probably 14″, but because it came off the hook so easily, we released it. As the tide stopped running, we headed for the bluefish.
So, the tog are biting and will be until water temps get too cold. Remember, the limit is only one fish now, but after November 15, you can keep 6 fish greater than 14″. Party boats like the Starlight Fleet in Wildwood Crest and the Miss Avalon in Avalon are catching tog as part of a mixed bag on the nearshore reefs. The tog are mixed with sea bass, croakers, and some other species.
For more info on tog fishing, click on the following link: http://www.capemaytimes.com/fishing/blackfish.htm
Photo courtesy of Irish Fly
As the dog-days of summer descend on us, back bay and close to the beach fishing in Cape May is providing some decent light tackle action. Striped bass, bluefish, sea herring, and some fluke and weakfish have cooperated, although finding the fish hasn’t always been easy. However, for the patient angler, there are some good opportunities available.
For a couple of weeks, the back bays were loaded with tailor-sized blues… mostly in the 14-19″ range. They have been eager to gobble up baits, or for fly anglers, small poppers worked near the shoreline at dawn and dusk. Although they haven’t been mixed with the blues, there have been striped bass in varying numbers, also working the sodbanks and creek mouths. Other locations to try are the jetties and anywhere there is moving water.
Fly fishing for bass has been good on some occasions with catches of 6-9 fish being reported. These fish haven’t been keepers, but an 18″ bass caught with a popper on a 7 weight flyrod can be loads of fun. Slightly larger fish - in the 22-26″ range have cooperated on a few occasions, but those fish have been taken on deep running flies and sinking or neutral-density line. Fishing clouser deep minnows in charteruse and white, as well as yellow have worked when fished with a 10-15 count down. While the smaller fish have been closer to the sodbanks, the larger fish seem to be waiting for food at the edges of the channels and deeper cuts. Between the deeper water and a moving tide, it takes a 10-15 count sink to get down to these fish.
Another method I’ve been using in the last two weeks is to anchor up in locations where there is a good tidal flow, right at the edges of shallow and deeper water. I then get a little chum slick going. Using leftover mullet from last fall, I throw 1″ chunks at a slow rate. Baits may be floated a couple feet below the surface, with the tide. A popping float, splashed occasionally, has drawn in the bluefish. Once the chum slick has drawn in the fish, I throw poppers into the slick with my 7 weight flyrod. The blues have cooperated when they’ve been there. When they haven’t, I’ve taken bass! Spin anglers can use small plugs, bait tails, or small poppers can catch as well.
The Tiderunner and and Irish Fly have both been connecting with light tackle. Success with jiggies, clousers, or other small flies on neutral density or sinking fly lines have been doing well on sea herring and weakfish, with some of the latter fish being keeper size. Tiderunner has also been getting into the bass when they show up, with one fare taking 9 or 10 fish in less than two hours. This week Irish Fly has been picking bass and weakfish, and on one trip Capt. Ken took two novices who had never caught a bass before. Both connected on light spinning gear.
Weakies are now showing up at Cape May Point jetties, with worms floated beneath a bobber or bait tails worked slowly on the bottom scoring best.
Meanwhile, drumfish action out in Delaware Bay has continued, although it is not as hot as in late May and early June. Party boats are also heading out into Delaware Bay, mostly for fluke, weakfish, and small blues. And, the first wave of croakers has arrived.
While some anglers turn their noses up at the spring bluefish run, some of us look forward to spring bluefish as a great opportunities for light tackle fishing in the back bays and around some of the jetties. As the blackfish (tog) season closes temporarily and some boats are reporting decent catches of striped bass from Delaware Bay (not to mention from some of the beaches), the spring bluefish run in the back bays has come at just the right time.
This past week bluefish in the 1-4 pound range have invaded the back bays and, in some cases, the beach front jetties and surf. From the back bays of Stone Harbor and Hereford Inlet to Cape May Harbor, small schools of bluefish have been turning up in the usual places. Look for them along the sodbanks, inlets, flats, and at creek mouths. This past week, fishing the mouth of a tidal creek on an outgoing tide, several bluefish (and one weakfish) tried to swallow our white bucktails, to which we added a 3-5″ strip of squid. Some fish hit on faster retrieves, while others seemed to prefer a very slow, deep retrieve. On very light spinning rods, with 12 pound line, a 3 pound bluefish provides a great fight.
The Tiderunner and other charter boats report that blues, with some small bass, have been sucking in flies along the sodbanks and Cape May jetties for the past week. It seems they show up anywhere, so moving around to find the fish will pay off.
Rumors of larger bluefish in the 6+ pound range abound, although they are not the norm. One reason more aren’t being caught is likely because many anglers report being chopped off. Although with small blues, a 30-50 pound mono or fluoro leader is sufficient, larger blues simply bite through these lines. Many anglers use a steel or wire leader, which insures that larger fish can’t bite them off. Jpwever. you may get fewer hits with a wire leader. So it’s a balancing act.
In addition to being fun to catch on light tackle, spring bluefish are great eating. This is probably because they have been migrating, rather than pigging out on baitfish all summer, so they don’t have lots of fat. I’m convinced that these fish have a more delicate taste than fall run blues that tend to be fatter and larger.
This spring run of “tailor blues” (an older angler’s term for 1-3 pound bluefish), is, unfortunately, short-lived. With the exception of the 1 pound fish and snappers, tailor blues generally become scarce by June. The smaller fish stay the entire summer, teasing us as we try for bass, flounder, and weakies. So, this is the time to get out and have some fun with light spinning and fly fishing tackle.