Broke the inlet shortly after 5 and starting working bunker, wouldn’t call it pods…they stretched pretty much from the inlet all the way south to Ortley/Lavalette. Some of them were thicker than others but unfortunately they were all happy bunker and swimming for their lives. Talked to Tuna Kahuna, Bri-Time, Loanfish and a couple others and everyone seemed to be doing the same…stocking up on crab bait.

Once I got a 10 gallon bucket of bunker I headed off to the Axel Carlson for sea bass and fluke. My first drift I put a nice 24″, 4 lb 12 oz fish in the box. As I was motoring back to the beginning of the drift a buddy a few slips down from me is anchoring up right on my MOB mark from where that fish was caught. I circled him a couple times, busted his stones and moved off to another piece. Only had short sea bass, cod and fluke after that.

Decided to look at a couple other wrecks but there wasn’t much life on the sonar so I didn’t bother stopping. Despite the wind against the tide in the river I decided to give it a shot. The kelp was pretty bad but if you kept your rig clean there were tons of fish there. Weeded through the shorts and put a 19 incher in the box before a boat anchored up right in the path of all who were drifting. Called it a day and headed in.

Had 52 degree water when I broke the inlet along the beach that warmed to 54/55 when I left bassing for bottom fishing. On the reef the surface was a bit warmer and was up to 60.3 at one point. After my buddy got back from wreck fishing they had a cooler full of sea bass and cod, 8 keeper cod I think he said with at least that many more shorts. They also had released a dozen or so keeper blackfish and countless short sea bass but no fluke for them while on the hook.

Had high hopes of running out to the Glory Hole but my crew bailed. Left the dock at 6 am solo, broke the inlet and was greeted to birds working and only two other boats in the on the action. Had non-stop action with spike weaks for two hours until leaving fish to find fish.

Moved out onto the Axel Carlson Reef and with very little wind or current and the few boats that were anchored and doing circles decided to drift the deck barges and rock piles. Again had non-stop action with mostly short sea bass and monster porgies. Had triggers coming up with the porgies but couldn’t hookup with any. Also released several would be keeper fluke. After boxing a few porgies I said screw it and headed further off.

Put lines in at the 15 line and the inshore slough and headed toward Little Italy. Shortly after I had a falsie on a green/yellow mini feather daisy chain. Reset the lines and 10 minutes later had another one. Circled back around and had big splash on the mini spreader bar. Then a smaller splash and I thought I finally had something good, but it came unbuttoned after about three minutes. Reset the lines again and trolled back toward Manasquan Ridge without a touch. Had great marks deep, never stopped to jig, didn’t feel they were concentrated enough warrant it, in hindsight, probably a bad idea.

Picked up and ran back to the reef and boxed a few more porgies and at 2 pm called it a day.

I also started using the Lucanus jigs that have been in the boat all season, they work pretty well. Had weakfish and sea bass on them Sunday and sea bass on last Tuesday. Only reason I tried them for weaks was I had broken off the leader on my spinning rig and didn’t want to take the time to re-rig so I tied in a dropper look to put on the chartreuse/yellow clouser that I was doing so well with the weaks and I started getting double headers. The jig that worked for the weaks was the green/gold. It was the 3oz size which was overkill for the drift we had in 30′ but I had only planned on using it get the teaser down but the weaks were all over it.

I normally don’t stay out that late and now I remember why…the inlet, train bridge and canal were a zoo. The hard charging outgoing from the moon and the SE breeze didn’t help the inlet with all the joy riders that haven’t been out in a month but it was still a great day on the water and glad I went. Water inshore was 66-68 degrees and pretty clean and green/brown, offshore was clean, blue/gray and 64-66.

Went out Sunday with Mark, Wayne and Mike.  Had a blast, first time I have ever been out with Mike…he his hilarious.  Always a good time at the marina with Mike around and now he is certainly welcome as a crew member anytime.

Decided to stick close to home in case the storms rolled through early so we headed to the Axel Carlson.  Tried a few wrecks I haven’t fished in a while and had a slow pick at short fluke and sea bass until a couple of dive boats showed up, at which point I decided to move to other structure.

On our first drift on some rubble I boated my personal best summer flounder, it measured out at 24″ and 5 lbs 6 3/4 ounces.

We continued to take the same drift and put a few more fish in the boat, fish were either shorts or over 20″.  We also continued to pick away at short and keeper sea bass.

Conditions were great, flat seas, light breeze and warm water for a change.  Temps ranged from 71.4 to 74.3.  Throughout the day we had bunker flipping and occasionally being harassed by something.  A couple times there were slicks around the flipping bunker so we suspect that blues are starting to make a showing.  We mainly fished water 80′ in depth and I used a 2 ounce bucktail all day while others used 3 or 4 ounce ball jigs and bucktails.  All the bigger fish hit bucktails or ball jigs and spearing seemed to be the preferred bait.  Didn’t get even a tap on peanut bunker or squid heads.  Also tried the Hogy Squid and caught a few skates but nothing else.  This was in one of our first spots so I will definitely try it again for fluking with the 7″ bait.  I think it will be a good addition to our lure selection for other species as well including, striped bass, offshore wreck fishing, tile fish, tuna and maybe even as a trolling lure.

Headed in around 11 and got the boat and gear cleaned with time for a beer before the storms stated rolling through.  Got some pretty high winds up to 46 knots and near horizontal rain for a while.  And some pretty big lightening strikes as well.

Headed out a little later (6:30) than normal knowing we probably were staying close to home and not doing much fluking. I wanted to run back up to Monmouth Beach to fluke but had a feeling the ride back when the SE kicked up would not be fun. Ran out to the Axel Carlson in a ground swell with very little drift. Was able to keep the jigs vertical with 1 to 1.5 ounces in 72′ of water and immediately put some nice sea bass in the box. We continued with a steady pick of sea bass and ling with some shorts mixed in unlike prior weeks.

Moved in on the beach after the bite died and played catch and release with short fluke on the Mantoloking pipe. When the wind started picking up around 11 we headed in, and glad we didn’t make the run North as we would have had to run into the ground swell with 2′ of chop on top and a head wind. We both had things we wanted to do anyway so it was good short trip with fish in the box.

Didn’t really pay attention to water temps but with ling hanging around still the bottom is still pretty chilly. The sea bass ranged from 14″ to almost 21″…almost my largest to date. They were hitting spearing and peanut bunker, the didn’t seem to like quid strips at all but also hit on squid heads, bucktails and gulp shrimp, with the best producing bait being spearing.

Too bad the garbagefish.com tourney wasn’t this week…we had a few small robins and two small skates but had a huge male smooth doggie, his tail hung off the motor box which is 44″ wide…so he was probably just over 4′! He was released and the numbers of the wreck he was patrolling were written down in hopes he will be there next week!

Saturday we went fluking up off Monmouth Beach. Ran up at 28 knots and was fishing by 7. Tons of fish up there, many 17 to just over 18″ fish. We didn’t keep anything under 18.5 so there was no question if stopped on the way in. Heard a number of boats were boarded. Fish were taking spearing, squid heads and peanut bunker. With peanuts getting the most attention and stronger strikes. I had a couple of double headers of both fluke and sea bass. Also had tons of sea bass with many shorts. Probably had 60 plus fluke and about the same sea bass keeping 12 fluke and 11 sea bass for the table. We also had birds workign around us most of the day, not sure what was under them didn’t really cast to them at all nor did we mark anything really when we drifted through them.

Sunday I mainly mated for a buddy who had to take a friend and his two kids fishing. This trip we headed out to some numbers I did well the week before with sea bass. Shortly after arriving in 75′ of water we had the first fish in the boat. I was hooking fish and handing the rods off to the kids. Once both were bringing in fish I decided to catch my own…big mistake. The rods I was handing off all had keeper fluke and big sea bass (16-20″ fish) but all I would come up with were skates, sea ravens and sculpins. Only fished about two hours but we put a couple nice fluke (19-21″) in the box as well as another 11 sea bass but none of the keepers were under 16″. Had a dozen or so short fluke and probably two or three dozen short sea bass to keep the kids on constant action. We also added a few ling to the box for a little variety. The ling weren’t as thick so bottom temps must be coming up a little. Again bait of choice was squid, killies, spearing and peanuts.

The peanuts were not big, only about 1.5″ to 2″ but very thick in the marina this weekend. After a fall, winter and spring of not throwing the net I was pretty rusty and only yielded a dozen or so a throw I was still able to put a good amount together for this weekends trips. Definitely need to get a smaller net to through in the launch ramp where they appear most of the time. The 8 footer is just too big for the small space.

Water temps were down a little but sinkers and fish were coming up warmer. Surface temps ranged from 66 to 69 degrees both days deepening on location and time of day. There was a small pod of dolphin just outside the inlet making the inlet a little more interesting with it being a holiday weekend, with all the armatures out with them site seeing at the same time.

Highlight of the weekend was Saturday night just after the fireworks displays up and down the creek there was a supposed jumper off the Beaverdam Bridge. The emergency vehicles and state police cleared out pretty quick though, not sure what the outcome was but they were cruising up and down around the bridge and walking all the docks in the marina.

I also heard rumors from sources I wouldn’t waste gas on but heard from a few people that a couple guys got YFT in the eastern parts of the mud hole yesterday. I do know there was another thresher pulled off the Sea Girt Reef over the weekend and heard a bunch of BFT caught south in the Fingers and also up toward the Mako Hotel.

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.

Fished the Sea Girt Reef today for sea bass. We had about 25 fish with 6 keepers to 2.5 lbs. They got more aggressive from about 11 AM till 1 PM when the south east wind kicked in and shut them down. All the keepers were loaded with crab and some shorts were spitting them up as well. There was no drift or very little drift most of the day making for an easy day of wreck fishing since you really didn’t need the anchor to stay over the structure. Great day on the water and fish in box too!