May is here, and with it, some great fishing.  The beaches are heating up on the Bay side as well as the ocean side.  Stripers and Drum are being taken on both fronts, mostly on Clam.  Fresh being the better choice.  Stripers are also heading back into the Bay after spawning, and there are some big Cows being taken.  Bunker, Herring, and Clam are working for them.  The Back bays too are coming to life.  Stripers, Blues, Flounder, and Tog are back there now.  Unfortunately, Tog are now out of season, and not a moment to soon now that they are all over the structure in the back.  Stripers are cruising along the flats areas and can be targeted with small plugs, jigs, and bait.  Blues, well once you find them, they pretty much eat anything you throw at them.  And man are they fun!  Flounder season open up this weekend!  They should be in all of their usual haunts, and since the season is earlier this year we may have some nice shots at good sized fish.
On my most recent beach outing, I landed 2 nice Puppy Drum, one 27" and another at 31".  Didn't have a scale.  Both put up a great fight in the surf!  The 31"er broke my leader as I was pulling it into the shallows.  Luckily, Gunnar, my lab, pinned the Drum before it could swim off.  I snagged him by the tail and dragged him in, then tried to lip him.  Well, I forgot about the circle hook in his mouth, and as i started to lift him up, he flopped and drove the hook into my thumb.  Lesson for the day:  never lip a fish with a hook in it's mouth!  I know better, that's the bad part.  Anyway, the 27" was released, the 31" was dinner for my friend Lee.  Had to call it a day due to work.  And the hook backed out easily, thankfully.
Hopefully the fishing stays hot!  Good luck out there, and Tight Lines!


And don't forget, the Surf Casating Demo day is coming up next weekend (5/14) on the beach in Sea Isle.  See my previous post for details.