Cape May Fishing  Report 6/23/2012

My return flight from Dallas got into Philly at about 1:30 on Friday. I hopped in my car at the Long Term parking lot and headed straight for Cape May. I arrived in Cape May at just about 4:00 and just as I arrived the skies opened up and there was a lot of thunder and lightning. So we ended up heading over to the Harbor View for some Sushi and cocktails.

Saturday the weather was beautiful. I wasn’t sure where I was going to fish; it was a toss up between the CM Reef and Reef Site 11. I met Capt Tommy at the Wawa, and the bait shop, and told him I was thinking Reef Site 11. As I was pulling out of the slip they pulled out into the harbor at the same time. I followed them out to Reef Site 11. We were running over 20 knots so I was happy.

There is a lot of good structure at Reef Site 11. It really shows up on the sonar. I had a short flounder in the boat within 10 minutes of my arrival. I kept doing short drifts, like about ¼ mile long drifts so I would stay on the structure. A charter boat named UnReel was beside me, I saw them catch at least 6 keepers. I was just picking up shorts.

Here's a shot of Tommy and friends at Reef Site 11.

After a while Capt. Tommy called me on the radio and said he was getting a lot of action a little further south, so I headed that way. I continued to pick through shorts and sea bass. I lost a lot of rigs out there, probably 10 or more. That’s to be expected at Reef Site 11. Finally around 1:00 I caught a 19 ½ inch keeper. I almost lost it at the boat, I missed with the net the first time and the little stinger hook on my jig got caught in the net. I was able to get the fish in, and put in the box. I kept fishing until about 1:45 then started packing up for the ride back.

The ride back was just as smooth, as the ride out. Here's a little video I shot while looking back at the Stern, you can see the sea conditions were pretty nice.

When I got back to the marina I filled the boat with gas. It took $90 bucks to fill the tank, and it was full when I left in the morning. So the flounder I’m going to eat to tonight better be damn tasty.

I only gave the boat a quick rinse down Saturday afternoon. A few of us ended up having some beers and shooting the breeze at the Bree Zee Lee. 

Saturday night we were back at the Harbor View to see Northbound Train.

Cape May Fishing  Report 6/16/2012

The weather report for Saturday was not that great. They were calling for a strong East wind and seas in the 2-4 foot range out in the Delaware Bay, and even bigger out in the Ocean. I got up early and drove over by the Ferry station to look at the waters on the bay; at that point they didn’t look too bad. So I headed over to the bait shop and picked up a sandwich at Wawa.

I left the slip just before 7:00 AM and headed towards the canal, which leads to the bay. There wasn’t much boat traffic. About a ½ mile before I reached the Ferry Terminal, I looked out the Port side of the boat and saw a Bald Eagle sitting on a fallen tree branch. This is the 2^nd time I’ve seen an Eagle in NJ. I saw an Eagle in about the same place last year. I slowed the boat down, grabbed my camera, and turned around to try and get a picture. The Eagle took off, and its kind of hard to get a steady shot from the boat. So I turned back around and headed out of the inlet.

By this time the wind had started to pick up and I could see some white caps starting to form in the bay. At first I thought about just turning back, but I persevered and continued my way up the bay. I could only run at about 12 knots and I was heading up to buoy 19 which is about 12.5 miles up the bay. I left all the Ison glass in the enclosure to keep me dry. It took me over an hour to get there, and I hardly saw any other boat traffic the entire time.

The water temperature was about 69 degrees, and the wind was from the East and the tide was just starting to head out. It was a pretty slow day of fishing. I ended up catching 7 small sharks, 1 short flounder and a little tiny sea robin. It was pretty cold and windy at first but the seas died down and it warmed up. I also had a sea turtle out there keeping me company; he would pop his head up every so often.

I decided to call it a day and head for the barn at about 12:30, the ride back in was a lot smoother. It only took me about a ½ hour to get in. Here's a little video footage of the ride back in, I was probably moving at about 20 knots when I shot this.

The closer I got to land the more the wind picked up. As I approached the marina I could see all the flags sticking straight out, the wind must have been blowing at about 20 knots still from the East. When my boat is in the slip it points due West. With the strong wind, I thought docking could be a challenge especially on my own. It took me a few tries to get her in the slip, but it wasn’t too bad. 

 Finally Launched, Tiramisu Fishing Report 06-09-2012

Well I picked up Offshore Bites from Heritage Towers on Saturday morning and hauled her over to the marina. I loaded the boat up, but I had to wait for some assistance to launch her.

Capt Day Glow Dave and Jim headed out fishing on Saturday morning. They went out into the vast Delaware Bay, the conditions were a bit rough at first so they just went to the Sixty Foot Slough. They had no action at the Slough and the seas started dying down, so they worked their way up the bay eventually heading toward the Miah Maul. They only caught 3 fish the entire day; an 18 inch keeper fluke, a short and a little shark.

Here are a few pictures as Dave and Jim as they were heading back into the marina.

And here’s a shot with Capt Day Glow and the Keeper. Rumor has it he blinded the fish at the surface with his bright shirt, and then Jim was able to easily net the fish.

After they got back Capt Dave cleaned up his boat while Jim helped me launch Offshore Bites. I only gave it a small shake down run then headed for the slip. Here’s the boat back in the slip.

After getting the boat in the slip we ended up heading to the Rusty Nail for some drinks. I was happy to see the Kate Delany was back. She plays the acoustic guitar and sings, I think she’s pretty talented. She had played at the Nail 2 years ago, but was not there last year. I can see myself heading to happy hours at the Nail more often this year. Here’s a link to a You Tube video of her playing.  Kate Delany YouTube. 

After The Nail we headed over to the Harbor View for the evening.