Last Fluke of the Season

Well 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.

Last Ditch Fluke Effort

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.

Well 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.

MFC Intra-Club River Tournament

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".

6/10 JCAA Fluke Tournament

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.

http://jcaa.org/JCNL0607/TournamentWinners.htm