We headed out a little late due to my getting out of work late. It would have been nice if the crew readied the boat but they started cooler diving early. We broke the inlet about 3:30 PM, just as it seemed the action was breaking up down off Seaside.

We had some small areas of bird activity but nothing to write home about. Had a couple of knock downs on red and black tubes. Snagged bottom letting one rig out in an area I had no idea had any structure…marked that spot as it seemed to be holding some small fish…will have to stop on it in the future when we have bait aboard.

Switched over to jigging and had a few blues in the 8 lb range and some short fluke also on both bucktails and iron. They must be really hungry, some of them were barely twice as long as the jigs.

It wasn’t the numbers and species we were looking for but we had a good time, burned very little fuel and got to test my new LED lighting on the way in.

Saturday I headed right for a wreck on the Axel Carlson. I made a couple passes drifting over it before anchoring to test the waters. On each of the two drifts I caught a couple shorts and put a keeper sea bass in the box on each pass. After anchoring up and getting in position over the portion that I wanted it was non-stop action with short and keeper sea bass and a few short tog with one keeper about three pounds. The bergals were not too bad, had about a dozen of them as well as two would-be keeper fluke at 22 and 23 inches that were released for next season. I also gave a couple of rock piles a shot, they each produced keepers and shorts as well. Upon returning to the Inlet I was greeted with acres of bunker with nothing working them, they were just flipping and being playful.

Sunday I got a late start leaving the dock about 7 AM and decided to head back to the same wreck since it was producing so well. It did not produce as I had hopped. I guess the swifter currents of the full moon on a day and stronger winds had put the fish off a bit. I moved around to the rock piles and began picking at fish with keepers, shorts and tons of bergals mixed in. I decided to call it a day early as the winds picked up a bit. Approaching the bell buoy there were fish busting everywhere. I grabbed the first rod rigged with an artificial which happened to be a bunker colored rattle trap. I immediately hooked up with something small…it turned out to be a snagged bunker. I knew there was something under them this time as they were spraying out of the water and not just being playful. Second cast I hooked into something much bigger…it turned out to be a four pound bonito. They were everywhere and I had one on with every cast until the fleet showed up speeding right through the breaking fish putting them down in a matter of minutes.

I can’t wait for cooler temps to weed out the fisherman that lack both proper boat handling skills and proper etiquette when fishing bunker pods or schools of breaking fish. It is very frustrating and you can’t explain to them that they will catch more fish if they adjust their methods as their way is the only way and no one else knows what they are doing. All-in-all it was a great weekend on the water with fish in the box two days in a row and sore arms.

Left the dock at 5:30…got to the inlet and thought we were making a big mistake when the Henriques and Viking in front of us went down into the trough and all we saw was their hard tops and antennas on their fly bridges! Hit the bottom of the first trough and took water of next wave over the pilothouse…still not through the inlet it was too late turn around so we proceeded out to the bell buoy to see what it was like. Once out away from the inlet it was not too bad…4-5′ rollers with little or no chop on them. I guess we just happened to leave at the wrong time of the ebbing tide as guys who left later said the inlet was not that bad.

Once we picked up everything off the floor we proceeded to the Axel Carlson. Hit several wrecks until we found the ones with fish willing to feed. Marked bait and fish on almost everyone we stopped at.

We had a constant pick of fluke (both shorts and keepers) as well as many keeper sea bass. Actually most sea bass were keepers.

The lack of drift I don’t think was the problem with fluking…the ground swell and wicked bottom current in the morning had the fish off. The little bit of wind there was there was opposite the current but once they were going th same direction the fluking bite picked up.

Once the South wind really kicked in we headed into the Mantoloking pipe to give that a shot before heading in. More of the same…plenty of sea bass on it and some fluke as well.

All fish were on spearing. I tried various gulp baits throughout the day and did not get a touch on any of them. Tried deadsticked and jigged…spearing did not matter jigged or deadsticked the fish just hammered it everytime.

All in all it was a great day on the water ending the day with seven keeper fluke to 23″ and a dozen sea bass to 3 lbs! The highlight of the day was my personal best sea bass at 21.5″ and 3 lbs.

Curious as to your thoughts on what the weekend’s forecasted heave will do to the fluke fishery. I have a feeling it will be the beginning of the end. In years past when the close was Columbus Day that was a much bigger deal. If my memory and my quick glance at my logs was correct the last time they fled the inshore waters in a hurry before a storm was in September of 2005. What do you think…will the heave starting on Saturday trigger them to migrate back to the shelf? It seems that they are already showing in numbers in the haunts that we typically fish in mid to late September.

We decided to try something off the beaten path and run out to the mud hole.

It was a nice ride out but once out there it was sporty. We had whales all over, several draggers, weed lines, pilings, and birds here and there. We figured at least we may find some mahi if no BFT were around. We marked several bait with nothing under or around them.

The 75 degree water on the charts was no where to be found, instead we had a 69/70.5 degree break and that was about it. Water was cold, green and dirty.

Trolled up and down Little Italy, across to Monster Ledge, up and down the Ledge, around the Lillian and Arundo.

We did hear of some action at the Oil Wreck but that turned out to be amber jacks…at least that is what was said on the radio. I personally have never caught one trolling and have always caught them wreck fishing.

There was a school of baby mahi between the west wall of Monster Ledge and the Shark River Reef that we release a few of…the biggest being about 14″ all hit on either the purple/black jet or purple/black cedar plug.

Due to the terrible water conditions we decided to run back in early and do some fluking. About 8 miles off the water was much bluer but cold…68 degrees and no bait to be found.

Once we got over to the Axel Carlson we had pretty steady action with fluke and sea bass. Fished a couple wrecks and put a half dozen fluke and 8 sea bass in the box and headed in.

After speaking with a couple guys who fished the Southern end of the Axel Carlson one had 14 keepers between two guys and the other had their limit and came in early.

All in all it was a nice day on the water despite taking a slight beating in the beginning. My first two home-made spreader bars swam straight and looked good to us back in the spread. Hopefully soon we will get some better water to the North and have some fish move in.

What a day…it was a little sloppy once you got 4-5 miles off the beach early but then laid down. Actually needed a sweatshirt and jeans in the early morning. It was 58 at the dock when I left! Brrrrr….and it is August!

Anyway, started on the Manasquan Wreck and had only shorts, moved to the Valparaiso and more shorts and short sea bass.

Then moved to the NE side of the Axel Carlson. the drift was very fast and needed 8-10 ounces to hold bottom with 30# braid but it was worth it. On the first drift there I put a 21″ and 23″ fluke as well as a 17″ sea bass in the box. The next couple of drifts produced some shorts, more sea bass and two skates.

I moved south a little bit and put two more fluke in the box a 24 and 25 incher (biggest of the day). After a few more drifts there with more shorts and sea bass and short sea bass I decided to head to a lump a little further off to the south since it was laying down. I never ended up making it to the lump.

On my way I was greeted by birds working and fish busting all over. From the distance it looked like bonito…but after a few passes it was not. I immediately hooked up a falsie. Then numerous single and double headers of monster bluefish and another falsie. I was getting ready to pack it in when something munch larger hit the green/yellow feather. I cleared the other rod, slowed the boat, increased to full and the drag was still screaming. I was at first thinking I might have finally done it and hooked into my first BFT but the typically pulsating was not there. After about 10 minutes and a brief pause of the slight give and take and I spotted the whip tail in the distance, another short run and the line parted.

The mono had been shredded above the 6′ Bimini. 6′ leader to feather plus 6′ Bimini, mono shredded above 12′ of line = big thresher! It was fun while it lasted. Actually surprised it stayed hooked as long as it did with a 150 pound mono leader.

I then heard back from a buddy in the marina that was out on the Axel Carlson curious about what I had found. I ran back to the reef to fish with them for a while and try and put them on that spot I was on earlier since they only had shorts all day but there was a dive boat on it when we returned. We moved in between some pots on another spot and immediately I put two more fluke in the box…a 20″ and 22″ fish. repeated drifts yielded some shorts and more sea bass.

Total for the day was one lost thresher, a dozen or so bluefish (released), two false albacore (kept for bait), 15-20 short fluke, dozens of short sea bass, 6 keeper fluke from 20″ to 25″ and 12″ keeper sea bass. By far my most productive day bottom fishing this season.

I fished aboard the U Lucky Dog for the tournament with Tommy, Ryan and Mike. We broke the inlet to gorgeous weather, flat calm seas and little wind. Not your ideal fluking conditions but we were determined to make the most of it and were glad the forecast was off a bit.

After a little debate to head North or South the captain pointed the boat North and hit the throttles. It was a quick ride up to the Sandy Hook Reef. Shortly after getting lines in most of the crew was complaining about the sticky bottom and wanted to move over sandy bottom. I tried explaining you had better chances of quality fish in and around structure but they were tired of getting hung up on the bottom after only our first drift. Oddly not that many rigs were lost though, most of the time they were able to get themselves free.

We fished two wrecks on the reef before moving to the edges of the mussel beds. We had constant action with shorts and just legal fluke as well as hordes of short and barely legal sea bass. We did manage a few keeper sea bass and I had one that was almost 18″.

After moving around that general area we had a few in the box but nothing to write home about…maybe a three pounder. We tried off of Red Church and the Elberon Rocks and then started heading back South. As we started making our way South the conditions deteriorated quickly and came more in line with the original forecast. At that point we decided to head for the barn. As we neared the inlet we decided to make one last drift on the Axel Carlson.

I had a few good hits right away but failed to hook up. Even dropping back to compensate for the fast drift did not help. I switched out to a two hook-slider rig to try and hook up on the short strikes…still could not catch a break. I will definitely be headed out to that last spot with more favorable conditions next week though.

All in all it was a fun day but not very productive. Everyone caught fish, not everyone caught keepers but we did have some fillets for all and we had a great time.

Left the dock at 5:20 and was up to Monmouth Beach at 6:35. First time in a long time we did not catch the train bridge on the way out!

Had two buddies from the marina aboard and I did not even get the engine off and my bait in the water before the first keeper hit the deck. A fat 19 incher. Minutes later we had more coming over the rails. We took a long first drift and the fish were in small pods in different parts of the drift so we started moving around to each spot.

There was constant, almost non-stop action as long as you worked and were not lazy about moving the boat back over the piece after a short drift. Water was 68-65 degrees. I say it back-wards because it went down as the South wind picked up. Went through about 8 lbs of spearing.

Made a couple other stops off the tennis courts for sea bass but only got one keeper and bunch of shorts. Did manage another keeper fluke there and another stop off the orange condos North of Red Church. Again short sea bass and tons of short fluke with a few more keepers mixed in.

Highlight of the day was we went up with two boats, the other guys were slow out of the gate so we had a few minutes on them. When they radioed to say they were about three miles away over the side went a bag of popcorn. Then two minutes later they were all excited on the radio asking if were in the action with the huge pod of birds working. Of course we said yes, just North of it drifting South into. Which was a line of crap since we had a North drift but the looks on their faces and words that soon followed yelled in our direction were priceless when they figured out what the bird activity was from.

Started home when some of the rollers started topping 5′. Probably was a good move as the inlet was not bad at that point but on the change of the tide it looked like it was going to get interesting. Coming into the inlet there were breakers topping the jetties and crashing almost up to the Tiki Bar.

Ended the day with 14 keepers to just under 5 lbs, only two skates, no doggies, three birds (always welcome for crab bait) and countless short fluke and sea bass. Another great day on the water with good weather, good friends and good times.

We got a late start due to partying and watching the neighbors fireworks across the creek.

Left the dock about 5:30 with the intentions of looking for some bass early and then going fluking. Coming out of the inlet that sunken fishing boat is way closer than the half mile reported. It is more like 150-200 yards off the North jetty. The aerials and booms were visible above the water and the smell of diesel was pretty strong…there was no visible sheen on the water though.

Had some great looking pods off Spring Lake…bunker spraying, jumping clean out of the water not just flipping. But did not get a single run-off.

After a the rain passed and it looked like there would be no lightning we started running North. Didn’t see much or mark much till we got just South of Shark River. Off in the distance we saw hundreds of birds working…we figured we hit the mother load. Wrong! turned out to be about 200 carcasses, some filleted some not…all stripers. Not sure if it was from a head boat in the inlet or by-catch from a netter that they took some fillets. There was also a lot of garbage and debris in the area. We kept pushing North.

Our final stop Monmouth Beach. We setup on our first fluke drift and had fish on and in the boat immediately and even double headers! There were a lot of 17.5″ fish but we managed 10 keepers all over 19″ with the largest being 23.5″ at 4 lbs 13 oz. We had pretty solid action for over three hours with about 100 fish caught between the two of us. And for once I caught the largest fish on the boat. I bet if we did not try for stripers first we would have had no problems putting together a limit catch, the early morning bite is always much better up there.

We had pretty clear/clean water up North, it was 62 when we got there and 64.x when we left. When breaking the inlet in the morning we had 61.x. Entering the inlet on the way in there was 59.7 degree water in the river. Again the bait of choice fluking was spearing…we went through over three pounds in just over three hours. Most fish hit the spearing but we also had a bunch on the bucktails with pearl Gulp! jerk shads.

Since I still have yet to hear from the manufacturer of the boat about any resolution to the condition of the fuel tank we took Mark’s boat out for opening day of the 2008 fluke season.

Due to all the reports we turned right out of Manasquan and ran down to the bathing beach. We had spoons in the water before 6 am and zig zagged our way to the CGS. Marked a ton of fish and bait, had a half dozen knockdowns, had three fish on for two minutes but nothing to the boat.

Around 10-10:30 we switched over to fluking. Stopped on a couple of small lumps with bait…only dogfish and skates. Moved further North to a small wreck off Lavalette and had tons of 16″-17″ fluke. Spearing was the preferred over any type of strip bait but Gulp shrimp out fished the spearing.

Water was cold…started the day with 51.2 and ended the day in 15′ of water with 55.3…most of the day was around 53 degrees.

I was amazed at the lack of boat traffic. I don’t think we saw 100 boats all day including only 1 head boat. The huge crane being towed North was something…that thing was gigantic.

I did hear from a couple of guys after we returned to the dock that the few that ran North had pretty good results on 20 and 30 pound class fish up on the mussel beds and rocks, and they reported large bunker schools up there as well.

We watched a tug towing a huge crane all day. We first saw it before 6 am a little South of Barnegat Inlet. When we were packing it in around 12:30 it was up to Lavalette. All in all it was a great day on the water…great weather, great friends but not so great fishing but we all still had a great time.

What a crock…now that they jack the minimum size up, they legalize the use of fluke belly, back or ribbons for bait. Follow the link below to read the full article from the APP.

On the 2008 summer flounder season that is. The NJ State Marine Fisheries Council voted unanimously to raise the minimum size to 18″. We will retain the same bag limit at 8 fish but will have a shorter season by a week. The 2008 season will run from May 24th through September 7th.

1. 17 1/2″ June 28th to Sept 8th 2 fish
2. 17 1/2″ July 4th to Sept 2nd 8 fish
3. 18″ May 25th to Sept 8th 8 fish
4. 18 1/2″ May 17th to Oct 17th 8 fish

The Summer Flounder Board will look at them on Thursday and if approved then the NJ Marine Fisheries Council will be holding an advisories meeting to receive comments and then discuss and vote on it at their March 6th meeting.

I hope to get an update at the conclusion of the ASMFC Summer Flounder meeting in Alexandria on Thursday.

I am not sure how many of you are following with detail the fight over summer flounder or fluke that most of the Northeast states are going through. There has been some speculation over the options being presented to the ASMFC and some controversy over the three of size options that were published by the APP this week.

1. 5/24 – 9/8 18.25″ 8 fish bag
2. 6/28 – 9/8 17.25″ 2 fish bag
3. 7/4 – 9/2 17.25″ 8 fish bag

There have been several comments that these are not actually three of the six and we may not know for another week or so if that is the case or not. But the fact that they are all a quarter inch size limit really has no bearing if they are viable options or not. In the history of ASMFC they have never approved a quarter inch minimum size, it has always been a full inch or half inch in size.

If you are not already involved at some level I urge you to join a local fishing club that is in-line with your beliefs as well as donating to one or more of the organizations fighting for the recreational angler and sportsmen and women.

• Jersey Coast Anglers Association: http://www.jcaa.org/
• Recreation Fishing Alliance: http://www.joinrfa.org/
• NJ Outdoor Alliance: http://www.njoutdooralliance.org/
• Save the Summer Flounder Fishery Fund: http://www.ssfff.net/

APP: Fishing czar sends a shot across the bow

APP: Commission urged to rethink summer flounder plan

It was a sad day on the water with our last fluke trip of the season. All we can do is hope that next year we will not be cut back too much. I would rather see a longer season with a smaller bag limit. We have much better fishing in the fall with better quality fish.

Anyway…we left the dock at 6:11 am and were at our first stop by 7 am. We initially tried to run outside to the reef but it was a little to sporty for me (I just did not feel like getting beat up). We began in the inlet area and had a constant pick of fish from 6″ to 16.5″. We moved up river a little and had the same results…more shorts.

We decided to try and run outside as the wind was laying down. It had changed over from a steep chop to more of a swell so we ran out the East side of the Axel Carlson Reef. Soon after we were catching bigger fish. The first two keepers were about three pounds. We were all by ourselves for the first forty five minutes and were then joined by several smaller boats and Capt. Ron and the Miss Norma K. Then we boated a 5 lb. 6 oz. fish soon followed by a 4 lb. 10 oz. fish. We continued to make short drifts over that productive bottom and ended the day since we had to be somewhere later in the day with six solid keepers and a couple of cocktail blues.

All in all it turned out to be a great day on the water boating the largest fluke of the season…well at least when the season is open. Earlier in the year you may remember Jimmy Bananas boated a fish almost 6 lbs. I guess now we will turn to weak fishing till they leave and wreck fishing until the stripers show.

I originally was setting out in search of some weaks. After cruising the bay, the Mantoloking Bridge and the Matedeconk I decided to head towards the inlet and maybe outside for some croaker/weakfish action along the beach. Got near the end of the inlet and the 33 foot express in front of me disappeared in the trough so I decided to stay inside. First drift produced a keeper. Next few drifts produce shorts and then another keeper. All fish were caught on homemade chartreuse bucktails with white Gulp! shrimp. Watched a few other boats try the same drift as me to not catch or even get a tap. The action was fairly consistent over the same piece. All in all not a bad way to end the fluke season.

Well we fished all over…we tried 90 feet of water 10 feet of water and had similar results…short fluke, weaks and croaker. We fished Seaside Lump, the Seaside sewer pipe, off the Casino Pier, the Ortley pipe, Mantoloking Pipe and so on. We heard reports of fluke deep so we tried that. It was a gorgeous day till about 1 PM when the south wind really started to kick in and whip up some chop. We did manage a few croaker, weaks, blues and another ling. Looks like the inshore cod and ling fishing may be really good this year, that is our second ling in the last few weeks from withing the sight of land.

I have no first hand news to report…I am in the final week before moving and have not had much time for anything else. I have heard from very reliable sources that fluke (and I mean keeper fluke) are showing in great numbers. With most guys having limit catches in the 3-5lb. range. Hopefully this is the norm throughout the rest of the season so I can get in on this action in another week or so once the move is over.

Fished the Manasquan River and Inlet today from 3 to 6 PM for a Manasquan Fishing Club Intra-Club River Tournament. Had 10 shorts to 16 1/4″ and no keepers. Also had a couple of birds and lost a fish at the side of the boat…did not get a chance to see what it was other than long and slender and definitely was not flat. Must have either been a weakie or a blue…did not fight much so don’t think it was a bluefish. Water was cold near the inlet only 52-54 degrees, found 70 ish water further up river but no fish. The wind and tide kind of fought each other most of the time except in one part of the river when they combined for 1.9 knot drift.

The first place fish was 18.5″, second was 18″ and third was 17.5″.

We headed out and toughed the wind. We left the dock about 5:30 AM. It wasn’t really that bad, more of a pain in the ass then anything. In tight to the beach and out to about 35 feet it was flat, once you got about 3/4 of mile out it started to get a little sloppy. It did blow almost all day and the gust were something…if you did not stow everything it was only a matter of time before the gods carried it 30-50 feet away from the boat before touching down in the water. Despite the predicted bad conditions, we headed up North in calm seas and gusty winds, about a mile North of Monmouth Beach (only took 40 minutes from the Inlet). We worked our way south from there stopping at all the usual places, Red Church, The Rocks, Deal, Long Branch, The Essex & Sussex. Between the three of us we had between 60-70 fluke ranging from 14-16 3/8″ with 4 keepers to 3.lbs. Fluke seemed to be everywhere just nothing with any size to it. Closer to the beach we were able to fish with 4 or 5 oz. and as you got further out you eventually had to go up to 10 or 12 (using lb. mono or lb. powerpro). The bigger fish we caught were further off the beach. In the ocean the warmest water we saw was 56.4 degrees…brrrr! The tide line was something else, clean greenish/blue water inside and murky brownish/green outside. And the amount of garbage, leaves and other debris on from the edge out about 50 feet was incredible. We got hits and caught fish inside it but near the edge and just over the edge it was no man’s land until you got out past the debris then the fish turned on again. The ride back was a breeze (LOL) with the wind and swell following we were able to cruise at kits. and make exceptional time and fuel economy on the ride to the Inlet. All-in-all we had a great time on the water despite not having anything big enough to bring to the scales. We arrived back at the dock about 4:30 PM.

The fish that were weighed in were depressing. Some of the winners for the various ports were just over 3 pounds and to place on the board weighing a fish just over a pound was good enough.

Well despite bad reports from Saturday and the predicted cold water temps we gave it a shot anyway. We saw surface temps from 62.6 all the way down to 54.3. The winds were not bad except for making it on the chilly side. It was nice when moving to a new spot to be able to go into the heated pilothouse to warm up. Especially for those who didn’t look at the weather forecast and wore shorts. The upper part of the bay from Mantoloking Bridge and the Manasquan River was flat. I heard further south it was slightly choppy and reports from others in the marina were that the ocean wasn’t that bad…2-3 foot chop, a little sloppy but fishable. We had committed to fluking and did not bring the wire line outfits so fluking it was. We tried the upper part of the bay where we did have a few hits (very subtle though…could have had the fluke sluggish from water temps), the Manasquan River around Treasure Island, Clarks, the old channel by Clarks, Crab Creek, and the doggie beach. It was tough with the wind against the tide in most locations as well as the schmeg and grass being pretty thick in most places. We did catch a few green crabs, blue claws and a clam. So I guess you could say we had a crustacean slam! It was a great day on the water nonetheless with my friend Ron, his wife and my mom.