Blowfish in Barnegat Bay by Ed Valitutto

Posted on July 30, 2019 by VHFC

With my grandson down for the week and the fluke fishing being short on keepers, we decided to try for blowfish. Andy Tonneson suggested anywhere near the Rutgers buoy just north of the BI buoy. We started with a fluke drift but the crabs were voracious. I managed a 15 inch fluke but you could not keep a Gulp on the hook without having the tail removed by a chisel bite!

We anchored up, set out the chum log and within 10 minutes the action was non-stop. Well it was non-stop for Nick. All I could manage was to lose my bait on both hooks within seconds of hitting bottom. I finally figured that Nick was positioned further away from the chum pot and got first dibs at the fish. His rod was also lighter and more sensitive to the bite. Reluctantly he agreed to switch rods and positions. He continued to catch them on my rod in my spot while I continued losing bait after bait!

After 2 1/2 hrs of action, we agreed to save the third chum log and second container of clams for another day. Final count was 60 puffers with Nick probably catching 50 of them including 6 double headers!

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