BL Reef 25 August by Dave Spendiff

Posted on September 1, 2017 by VHFC

With the favorable marine forecast of 2 ft or less seas, I wanted to fish the Barnegat Light Reef and locate and chart some nearby wrecks. So much for a plan! The seas were 3-5 ft and miserable to fish in. Why I ignored my inclination to turn back when I saw the very sloppy inlet escapes me. After the thrills of the inlet and a fast idle to the reef, I started to fluke fish. In an hour and a half of rocking and rolling and rocking and rolling I had caught 3 shorts and a couple robins when I got a solid hit on the 6” white Gulp grub. What a fight! The 7 ft stout rod was bent deep into the butt and the tight drag was giving up short bursts of line. Holy Cow! It was a big fluke that hit my teaser. With great luck, I was able to scoop it into the net on first try. WOW! A slow trip back to the inlet and an easy ride to the dock, put me there around noon. A quick trip to the Beach Haven Bait & Tackle scale put numbers to what I already knew was the biggest fluke of my life – 6lbs, 14ozs! Sure glad I toughed out the rough seas!

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Fishing Facts

Of the fifty United States, thirty-eight have a striped-bass record. New Jersey has the largest striped-bass record—a 78-pound 8·ounce whopper that was caught in 1982. The state with the smallest striped-bass record is Iowa. That landlocked striper weighed only 9 pounds 4 ounces and was caught in 1983.

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