Capt. Jim of the Starlight Fleet announced new fall sailing schedules. The Twilight has commenced 8 hour striped bass fishing trips and the Atlantic Star is now doing 8 hour trips for seabass and blackfish. Pool winners this week included a 10 pound bluefish, and 8 and 6 pound blackfish. Lots of seabass are being caught with some limits on board. The largest seabass of the week was 4 pounds 9 ounces, signalling the beginning of a nice fall seabass run.
Although the wind made fishing a bit tedious in the past couple of days, there are a few reports. Sea trout (also called speckled weakfish or specks) have shown up in the back bays near Stone Harbor. A 4 pound speck was caught by Peter Cole from Nummy Island. He was using a fly. Other anglers are reporting a few striped bass from the Cape May jetties and the sodbanks.
If you haven’t already booked your fall striped bass charter, now’s the time. See the Cape May Times charter boat fishing page for details.
This post marks the first on our Cape May Times Fishing Blog. This blog will be updated regularly in order to provide readers with info on what’s happening on the Cape May Fishing scene, including fishing reports, notes on how to catch fish in the Cape May-Wildwood area, what the charter captains are reporting and special trips on local charter and party boats. We hope this helps you better enjoy the fishing in Cape May. We also encourage you to email us news of your fishing success
Top of the news in the past few days has been the blowout high tides, gale force northeasterly winds, and a few interesting changes in local fishing.
News from the Starlight Fleet, Wildwood Crest. Some nice seabass have been caught on the Twilight and Atlantic Star, so it looks like the fall sea bass season has commenced. The Atlantic Star is now running 8-hour trips starting at 8 a.m. for sea bass on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. The Twilight continues to sail daily for 6 hour trips. These boats are also catching some croakers and bluefish. Limits of sea bass are being reported, with some seabass over 3 pounds, and a few larger bluefish mixed in.
Capt. Ray of the Tiderunner had some great fishing just before the northeaster. His clients did well on striped bass and blue fish using flies and light spinning tackle. He is also seeing plenty of bait in the water. The largest fish on a fly was 30″ with some blues in the 2-4 pound category. His catches would appear to indicate a serious beginning to the fall fishing season.