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.