The striper bite is red hot in the Delaware Bay. Boats from Cape May NJ are catching in the area of Number 1 buoy, just outside of the Maurice river. All the sharps are limiting out easily. Clam is the bait most are using followed by blood worms. What I use for bait for stripers this time of year is live herring. Hands down the best striper bait. A few keeper bass have been caught from reeds beach and higbees beach. I do not know of any keepers being caught from Stone Harbor or Avalon beach front. I saw a few commercial crabbers today in the back bay putting out their gear for blue claws. They will load up the back bay areas with pots from now until memorial day. Most crabbers move all their gear to the Delaware Bay once the water warms up and the crowds show up. Some tog have been caught the last couple of days around the Ocean drive bridges with one tog hitting six pounds on the scale. I have not put my boat in the water yet due to the fact I have an unusual amount of work to do around my property due to the winter storms. There should be a few tide runner weakfish around the back bay areas of Cape May co.. With this record warm sunny weather the first weakfish should be caught soon. The weakfish population is severely depleted, however if you apply effort with local knowledge you still have a chance at a tide runner weakie. The best news I heard on weakfish was from the upper Delaware Bay late last summer, I had very reliable reports of a few fishermen limiting out every trip. I also had solid information from the Barnegat bay with reports of limit catches last summer.. The Barnegat Bay had a large school of weakfish rooming around last August. I found this information as great news! Due to the fact that some traditional weakfish spots are completely void of any weakies. Hopefully the new weakfish regulations will help. Recreational fishermen have a one weakfish bag limit per day with a 13″ keeper size. Commercial is 100 pounds per trip 13″.We always have a good run of spike weakfish in the ocean in the fall yet they never return in the spring. Hopefully the 100 pound per trip commercial limit will save a few of the fall spike weakfish. I am betting if given a chance the spike weakfish will return in the spring.
5 generations of cape may county fishing & hunting knowledge
Ken's Dock 