Delaware Bay Stripers Running Hot — Black Drum Join the May Push

What's Biting

What's Next

With winds easing to around 11 mph and water sitting at 60°F as of Monday evening — a meaningful improvement from the whitecap conditions Tuckerton Bait and Tackle described dominating the bay earlier in the week — the setup heading into Memorial Day weekend looks considerably better across the board.

Striped bass should remain the headliner. Blue Chip Sportfishing is calling this 'the best Striper Fishing possible' right now, and field reports from Big Dave's Tackle and Higbee's Bait and Tackle both confirm oversize fish (36–46 inches) steadily working the bayfront beaches on bloodworm and clam presentations. These fish are not blitzing under birds — they're staged in cuts, sloughs, and along sod banks. Early-morning and evening sessions have been producing the most consistent action, and anglers rotating between clam chunks in the wash and bloodworm ball rigs on slower holes are covering the most ground effectively.

Black drum should intensify as calmer conditions allow more boats to access productive bay structure. Fish to 15 pounds were already showing on clam baits per Dockside Café and Marina, and dusk sessions have been the most productive window for drum. With more fishable days ahead, expect clearer reports of where drum are concentrating along the Cape May County bayfront.

Fluke is the bite most likely to benefit from the warming trend. Anthony Califano notes that wind and cold water were the dual suppressor on flounder through mid-May. Outgoing tides in back-bay shallows and near inlets have been the productive window when conditions allowed — that pattern should expand as bay temperatures push higher through the holiday weekend. Live minnows, Gulp, and killie combinations have been the go-to presentations in nearby bay systems per The Fisherman — Southern NJ.

Black sea bass are worth a run to nearshore wrecks and reefs for boats willing to make the trip. The season just opened May 15 with a 10-fish bag limit, and per The Fisherman (Northeast), improving temperatures heading into June should get that inshore bite catching fire in earnest.

Context

Mid-May is historically one of the prime windows for the spring Delaware Bay striper push along the NJ bayfront. The annual migration funnels large striped bass up through Delaware Bay toward Hudson and Delaware River spawning grounds, and the Fortescue-to-Cape May County beachfront typically produces some of the region's most productive shore fishing of the year during this period. The oversize stripers (36–46 inches) confirmed at Fortescue beaches by both Big Dave's Tackle and Higbee's Bait and Tackle are entirely consistent with what Delaware Bay shore anglers expect in the second and third weeks of May — this is the run anglers plan their spring around.

Black drum also follow a reliable seasonal calendar on this bay, typically moving onto NJ bayfront beaches in late April through May and keying on clam and sand flea baits. Their presence now — fish to 15 pounds reported by Dockside Café and Marina — is on schedule and not exceptional, but welcome confirmation that the broader spring pattern is intact.

What stands out in 2026, per Anthony Califano reporting for The Fisherman — Southern NJ, is that an extended cold and windy stretch through early-to-mid May actually worked in the stripers' favor, keeping fish in the bay longer than a warmer spring typically allows. That extended residency has been a windfall for shore anglers willing to brave the conditions. The trade-off has been a slower-than-usual start for fluke. Flounder fishing on Delaware Bay typically doesn't fully come alive until water temperatures establish themselves in the low-to-mid 60s — a threshold that generally arrives around the Memorial Day holiday — so the current slow fluke action is not out of character for mid-May, even setting aside the wind that made it worse than usual.