Author: kensdock

The entire seawall was alive with flashlights and headlamps. With every cast of my lure, I would notice a new fisherman, searching out a place to fish. I have been avidly fishing in Cape May County, NJ all of my life. Maybe, I would bump into one or two other fishermen during a night fishing trip. Why such an increase in fishing activity ? This weekend was the Beach and Boat fishing tournament’s Wildwood Challenge. Fishermen traveled in from all over to fish the tournament. The tournament activity also created interest, that inspired people to fish, that weren’t even in the tournament. I caught some beautiful weakfish during the tournament. However they were all short of Bill’s 6.8 tide-runner. The State wide Beach and Boat tournament is still alive until November 30. They have over 10,000 fishermen in the tournament. If you haven’t entered, do yourself a favor, and sign up. It is super cheap, high in value and a lot of fun.

The weakfish was stalking the edge of the sod bank, when I spotted the purple hues. It wasn’t long before my shadow spooked her. The tide-runner weakfish turned and dropped out of sight. It was so refreshing to see the weakfish in such a natural state. About twenty cast later, a weakfish hit, peeled some drag, razed to the top and dropped the hook. The scouting trip was a success. The water clarity,water temperature and wind direction were all good. However, I didn’t see any bait that would hold the fish in the area. Heading back out on the top of the tide, to continue the hunt.

Skipping school,Vacation days, sick time, whatever it took. I always made” time for fishing the first ten days of June. The Drumfish, Weakfish,Summer Flounder and Mako shark bite is usually the best of the year, hold for the weather. This year the weather, wind,rain and cold, have taken the first three days, so far. Hopefully by the weekend it will calm down. Today, time is better spent elsewhere.

I reached down to grab big Mikes weakfish, one of a few he had caught in a very short time. This one would place him in the number one spot in Moran’s weakfish tournament (7.85?).My phone battery had died, leaving me unable to take a picture. Over the next few days the condition have continued to decline.However, some nice weakfish have been caught. Including CJ’s 7.7 pound tide-runner weakfish above. The challenge has been locating clear water and the correct water temperature. Marginal, is the best you can expect to find.