Good Fluking / Great Sharking by Ed Valitutto

Posted on July 6, 2018 by VHFC

If you read my earlier report, Nick, my grandson, still wanted to catch a shark. Since we had chum and bait from two days ago, Dave, Nick and I decided to do a repeat trip on Thursday July 5th. We returned to Marshelder Channel with a nice south wind and incoming tide. The fishing was still good with Nick catching three 18-19 inch fluke!

We then proceeded to the same area behind ‘little beach’ where we went last time. However, we had trouble finding deeper water so we continued to grassy channel and set up our balloons and chum slick. Almost immediately we had a ray on the line. After resetting the balloon, it was one brown shark after another. Seven browns in the 4-6 foot range were caught and released. Dave and I let Nick do all the reeling except when a shark was under the boat, heading for the anchor line or ready for dehooking by Dave. We left at 4:30 hot, tired and sore. I want to personally thank Dave for making the experience for my grandson possible! What a great memory!

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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.

There’s something fishy about beer these days. Fish Tail Ale is popular as ever, and New Jersey’s Flying Fish Brewery is one of the state’s largest specialty breweries. There’s also Washington’s Wild Salmon Organic Pale Ale, Florida’s Land Shark beer, Delaware’s Dogfish Head beer, and two versions of Stingray beer—a lighter version from the Cayman Islands and a dark beer from Canada.

The triangle fly is probably the most unusual of saltwater flies. It’s one of the few, if not only, flies tied to a treble hook. It’s also barely a fly at all, because hardly any material is used. It is complete after tying the two straw pearl twinkle flashes and the tiny tuft of natural squirrel, leaving an entire hook fully exposed. Incredibly this barebacked treble fly is a knockout when it comes to sea trout.