Cape May Reef

Headed out to Cape May Reef with Andy today. Left the dock shortly after 6Am. Hit a huge school of Herring on our way out, so we stopped to catch a few for use later. As usual, the NOAA forecast was off the mark. Blowing 10-15 with 2'-3' seas. Called for 5-10, 2' or less. CLose enough I guess.
On our way to the Reef we came across a huge school of Bunker, so we snagged some more fresh bait. Made it out to the Reef and tried a wreck that had been productive earlier in the summer. It was loaded with small Doggies. So, we moved over to another wreck. This one was hot! Every drift we nailed something. More so Andy than I, he was extremely lucky today. I need to find out what he's been sacrificing to the Fish Gods... Anyway, he landed 3 nice keeper Flounder on three consecutive drifts. We also caught a bunch of Sea Bass, 2 keepers, Porgies, Triggers, Blues, Sea Robbins, the usual assortment of Doggies and Skates. It was an absolute non-stop blast! He nailed a final keeper Flounder, then things shut down. About that time some nimrod in a big boat tried to muscle us off the wreck. He came way to close in the conditions we had. I think the boat was the VIn-Mar? Something like that. Anyway, I tossed a 4 oz. Fluke Ball very close to his nice hull, and he realized we weren't giving way. So he left. We made a few more drifts in and around the structure, catching the odd Sea Bass and such, then decided we were going to hit the lump further out and try for a shark or two. As we were finishing up our final drift the Sea Star moved in on us, but was far more considerate than the nimrod earlier. He gave us a wide berth and went well up current of us. Hope the nimrod took notes...
Anyway, we hit the lump. Put out a chum bag and two shark rods. Bluefish on one, Herring on the other. A Blue or similar facsimile ate the Herring. It was the only action we got. We did get a ton of hits on the Flounder rods we were dragging, but never landed anything. Hard hits too. Weird. As we were nearing the end of our first chum ball, i noticed the sky was black over Cape May. We checked the Serius Weather system, and there was a major storm system slamming the coast. Thankfully it stayed over land and away from us. Then the next storm came through. At this point we had moved back onto the Reef and were working over another wreck. Andy had just landed his fifth keeper Flounder of the day, to go along with his two keeper Sea Bass - did i mention he kicked my ass today? Anyway, we noticed a third storm rolling across Cape May and more into the ocean. We decided we should play it safe and head in. Townsends was still wrapped up in the initial nasty storm, so that way was out. Cape may was covered up in the new system, but it seemed to be moving off fairly quickly. So, we headed toward Cape May. About 100 yards outside the inlet we hit the rain. It increased in intensity as we headed in. Andy went under the bridge and into the deluge. It was horrible! You couldn't see. I told him to head back into Cape May Harbor, and there we sat and waited it out. 20 minutes later we had blue skies and smooth sailing. Bit of a rough ending, but an otherwise great day out!

Tight Lines!
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Looks look a great time for sure.. Great report also

nice report and nice pics captin