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.