Monday, August 10, 2015

Big Fluke Sunday

The fishing during the week was painfully slow ( Wednesday was like watching corn grow ) but the weather has been great so we set off on Friday with a good crew of anglers. Once again we had to fight strong currents in the deep water, but Joe N. got it done with a 7 lb. , the largest of his three keepers. A move to shallow water found a hot bite on the shorts, but "The Legend" pulled out four nice keepers. Sunday was a "ten best" weather day and we started off on a crowded "Pioneer Banks" with manageable conditions. Eight to ten ounce sinkers were needed but Evelyn set the mark for the day starting off with an 8lb. 14oz., and then added a 6 lb. and 5lb. before taking the afternoon off. Russ had a good day with three nice fish, his largest being a 7 1/2lber. Everyone was tired from the deep water fishing, so I went looking for the short action we had the past few days and was surprised to see a fleet of party and private boats all over the grounds. Before the tide changed the big boats left the area and all the little boats followed, leaving us all alone to check out some of my pet spots. The guys broke out the lite jigging sticks and went to work, with Roger landing a 7 lb 12oz. beauty.  Anthony " The Barker" was fishing with a brand new custom made jigging rod and did not have a fish and was getting frustrated. He broke out his ultra-lite two foot ice fishing rod with a tiny reel and jigged up a pair of five pound fluke! Lots of action with almost everyone catching, Jiggin' Jack was slamming them with his trout rod, Russ landed a double header, and even I got in on the act catching a keeper on my ten pound test spinning rod. Around 1 PM a fly bit "The Legend" on the leg, causing him to bleed. Russ then noted, "That was the only bite you had all day." You can't make this up.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Big Fluke Hunt

Four spots open this Friday. Fishing 40 to 70 feet, looking for big stuff, conditions permitting. Call if you want to go.

Monday, August 3, 2015

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Fluke Tournaments

There seems to be one or two of them every weekend and I think the fishery suffers because of them. Boats that would not even be out, full of weekend googans with visions of big money in their eyes, follow the professional fisherman around, don't know where they are, run around at high speed throwing big wakes, keeping shorts, not moving for ship traffic... the list is endless. For this reason I decided to keep the boat in today. Friday started off with a pod of about fifteen dolphins frolicking in the channel and a slow fluke bite. "Tugboat" Fred had a few good ones come unbuttoned on the way up and by 11am, Tommy O. had the only two keepers in the box. Boats from as far away as Long Island Sound and Manasquan Inlet ports have been converging on the Pioneer Banks, and the fishing grounds are becoming worn out. When conditions got right we went to work, and "Tugboat' topped off his catch of three with a 6 lb. Tommy O. had three over twenty inches. Evelyn landed a six pounder and "The Legend" was still shut out. Around one o'clock, I gave him a pep talk and Ken responded with an 8 1/4 lber, our second biggest of the season.