Cape May Tide Charts & Fishing

Season: Spring and fall migrations; summer in New England (check regs)

Baits: Live or chunk bunker (menhaden), Clams, Live eels

Stripers feed where moving water pushes bait against structure: inlet mouths, jetty tips, bridge shadows, rips and points. Fish the stronger part of the tide, and dawn, dusk and night, especially in summer. Chunks or clams on the bottom from the beach, eels or swimbaits at night along rocks. Circle hooks on bait; release fish carefully, most of the catch goes back.

Season: Spring and fall, as water warms and cools (check regs)

Baits: Green crabs, Asian shore crabs, Fiddler crabs

Tog live in the rocks and eat crabs. Fish a crab on a short leader tight to the bottom against a jetty, wreck or rock pile, and expect to lose rigs. Slack and slow current make it far easier to keep a bait in the strike zone without snagging.

Season: Spring and fall runs along the beach; summer offshore

Baits: Cut menhaden, Metal spoons and jigs, Topwater plugs

When blues are blitzing bait in the surf you will see birds working and bait spraying; throw a metal or a popper into it. Wire or heavy mono leader, because they bite through everything else and through each other. Bleed and ice them immediately if you plan to eat them.

Season: Late spring through fall (check regs)

Baits: Squid, Clams, Small jigs

A structure fish: rocks, wrecks, reefs, jetties and pilings. Drop a high-low rig or a small jig straight down and keep it just off the bottom. Bigger fish sit deeper; inshore jetties and piers hold plenty of smaller ones.

Season: Late spring through early fall (check regs)

Baits: Squid strips, Live killifish (minnows), Gulp! swimming mullet

Drift or slowly retrieve a bait along sandy and gravel bottom near channel edges, inlets and drop-offs. Moving water is everything: fluke face into the current and ambush bait, so a slack tide usually means a slow bite. Bounce the bottom and give a second before setting the hook.