Saturday August 30th, I set out with my crew of fishermen headed for the Garden State South Reef. It was a bit gnarly in the morning but finally laid down by late morning. We ended up with 2 23″ fish, one 22″, 5 over 20″ and 4 fish under 20″. Plus, we had 2 Sea Bass. Certainly, a good day of fishing with our four-man limit of flounder and two sea bass. Ended up a great day after a tough start!

All club members were fishing today – me, Brian, Sean, grandsons Brendan, Bryson and friend Jimbo. We ventured out early this morning to fluke fish some ocean wrecks, or so we thought. Instead, we were greeted by a very nasty ocean. We moved inshore and fished the Bone wreck for a short time and caught several throwback Tog and a few Triggerfish.

We then decided to move inside the inlet where the tide and current were good for a few hours. We kept 4 nice Fluke to 24-1/2”. As a special treat, we had some nice donuts from Ferrara’s Island bakery as shown in the picture. Once the boat traffic got out of control, it was time to come back to the dock. Still a nice day considering the conditions.
Happy Labor Day!!

On Sunday, August 17th, I joined John Stuebing on the Salty Dog for some wreck fishing for Fluke. Even though Hurrican Erin was not directly hitting our area, she was bringing significant waves from Monday evening through the week. So much so, that our club outing on the Mary M and our week long offshore tournament were both canceled. And who knows how long it will take after Erin passes us before our fishing returns to normal

Anyway, following the counterintuitive approach of finding a wreck, anchoring alongside it using your engines or a trolling motor and jigging straight up and down absolutely brought us great success – thank you, Greg Cudnik! John stopped at a small unknown wreck ~6-8 miles outside Little Egg Inlet and we caught fish. We had our limit by 9:00 with several nice keepers at 22″, 23″, 23.5″ and 24″.

Ed V’s Note: That’s our 2024 Melanie Boytos winner Tyler Leary with a magnificent Golden Tile. No, it doesn’t count for MBA points and there isn’t a FOM for it either. Tyler will just have to be content with the memory of such a phenomenal catch and some great eating!

My grandson, Tyler, and a friend ventured to the deep on Tuesday, August 12th to fish for Golden Tile. It was a very successful trip with this 42 lb Golden Tile and several others. Tyler certainly loves to fish!

On August 11th, I had a four man crew to go out and catch some Flounder. It was a slow start in the morning and I had to jump around a little bit.  But once we got going, we hammered them and had our limit by 1:30. The biggest Fluke was 4.5 lb.

John Stuebing , Pat Presutto and I went out on August 11 on the Salty Dog with two objectives: 1) Find Bunker and hopefully there will be a Cobia nearby and 2) Follow Greg Cudnik’s advice from last Friday’s meeting about using your trolling motor or engine to remain close to a wreck and slowly jig for Fluke.

John had some unknown wreck that was “Off the Red Tower” and we followed Greg’s instruction with great success. Now I will admit that hovering near a wreck with no drift is counterintuitive to everything I know about Fluke fishing – but it worked!! We did make some small moves but we were always near the wreck. Final count was 9 Fluke with several in the 21-23 range, 20+ shorts and several Sea Bass but I had the only keeper at 15 “

As far as the Cobia, we looked on the way out for bunker but found none. On the way in, we saw a slick and managed to snag a few but there were no takers. While looking at a popper lure’s action alongside the boat, a small 20 -25″ Cobia came up to the lure but did not take it. Oh well, still a great time on the water!

Brian, Tyler, Sean, Bryson, Tyler’s friend Josh and I left the dock at 6:15 heading North. We ended up with 11 nice keeper Fluke. Brian had a 24” Fluke and Grandson Bryson had a 22” fish.

In an addition, we had a lot of short fluke, one nice Seabass, one Bluefish (released), a Bonito and several unwanted skates! Great day and back to dock at 1:30!

My good friend Mike, joined me for a fishing trip on Saturday, August 9th for some non-stop fluke action on Barnegat Reef. We went to the club meeting on Friday night and Fish head Greg was great! Greg talked about using your electric motor around structure and it paid off big time for us.

We worked the electric motor around structure, and it was drop and reel fluke. I got a nice 23” and 22” on anchor – go figure! Greg sure knows his stuff!

Tyler & I left the dock @ 7AM and headed North on a beautiful ocean. We limited out with 6 nice Fluke to 21”. Both of us had a 21” fluke to log in. I also caught a 17” and a 16″ Seabass. We continued to fish and release several keeper Fluke. What an awesome day!

My Brother, Chris, and his son, Jake, came up from Virginia for a visit this week.  They had two objectives: 1) eat as much NJ Italian food and bakery pastries as possible; and 2) fish like crazy for our summer saltwater species.

We went out Monday and Tuesday focused mainly on the Barnegat Inlet and the Tires with plenty of action in both areas.  Based on some reliable intel (see member reports), we decided to cruise up to Seaside on Wednesday to fish for fluke.  Conditions were excellent for a couple hours until the wind came up and we could no longer hold bottom.  Fishing was fast and furious but all shorts until Chris and Jake hooked two keeper size fish simultaneously in a father/son double up.  Things got very hectic but fun while the net man (me) did his best to get both fish safely into the boat.

I think the guys had a great trip; I know I did.  Species caught were fluke, black seabass, bluefish (Jake), one Atlantic croaker (also Jake) and lots of pesky sea robins.  Thankfully, not a single spiny dogfish came up.  Results were tallied and Chris was the run-away winner of the high hook award proving to both his big brother and the young gun that he can still bring it.

My friend Smitty, my good friend Ed and his grandson Jamie, joined me and Tyler for a Fluke fishing trip. We left the dock at 7AM on July 29th and headed up towards Seaside. We enjoyed calm seas for the entire trip.

There was a strong undercurrent, so we had to use the engines to control drift speed. Although we caught lots of shorts, we were able to box 10 nice Fluke. We also had a 3 foot shark pass by so Tyler hooked it with a Spot and let Jamie reel it in to safely release. That’s Jamie with his fluke. Great day on the water but retuning to face the sweltering heat was a chore!

Pat Presutto, Bill Bond and Glen Minor joined me on a Tuna Trip aboard the Salty Dog. We left the dock in the dark and headed offshore on a gorgeous day. We headed to Cayru, then to Lemkes and then to the Cole. We found beautiful blue water that was 81°. But no life. On our way out and again on our way in we found a floating pallet. Under the pallets were Mahi, Jacks and Triggers.

I pulled up to the pallet, threw a hand full of Butterfish and Sardine chunks around the pallet to get the fish started. The guys then threw hooks baited with chunks around the pallet – Game on!

Everyone went home with Mahi fillets for the grill. It was a perfect weather day and we had a great time offshore. If only the Tuna would have cooperated!

I decided to try some crabbing to see I could get dinner. Loaded 10 traps in the skiff, baited with Fluke carcasses. I headed to Dinner Point Creek and planned to get there at the change of tide.

For about an hour I pulled the traps a couple of times and managed to get 8 decent crabs. I threw back twice that amount. Perfect for a Dinner for Two.

I was joined by the “Weigh master Pat, Bayside Dave and Bill 006 3/4 for the VHFC Fluke Tournament. Having received some good intel the day before, we headed to Great Bay. Out first spot did not work out do to the current and weeds so we headed to spot #2.

When we first set up we were using the trolling motor to control the drift speed and direction. The first couple of drifts only produced shorts. Decided to stow the trolling motor and just let the boat drift naturally. That was the trick. In the next couple of hours we boated 9 keepers. Several of the fish were over the 20″ mark. We noticed some of the fish were spitting up small croakers. Most effective rig was jig with gulp and a bare hook with a minnow for the teaser The biggest fish we caught was on the bare hook and minnow. Go figure!

Best of all, on Sunday we had Fried Flounder Sandwiches with Creamed Corn and Coleslaw. Does not get an better than that!

I had the whole family out for the club Fluke Tournament. We started out in the Ocean but like so many others we caught nothing other than rough seas. So, we headed back to Barnegat Inlet and joined the fleet fishing just off the lighthouse. Not an easy place to fish dealing with the current and boat traffic. But we caught a total of 11 Keepers with lots of shorts from the crew.

The Sponsor (me) bringing up the rear with only one!! That’s Bryson in the photo with a 22-1/2 Fluke and Brian had a 23-3/4. All in all, a great day!  No reports for a week or so as the whole clan is off on a cruise to the Bahamas!

I left my dock around 7:30 headed out to Little Egg Inlet with friend and fellow club member Rick. We had a pretty steady bite as soon as we started drifting, pulling up a few shorts at first but then the keepers arrived. We ended up with 3 fluke between 18 1/2 to 20 1/2.   Also in the mix were Sea Bass, Sea Robins and Dogfish. Great morning and we were back to the dock by 12:30.

We headed out for another tuna trip.  Had to hunt around a bit for signs of life but were rewarded quickly once we found it with a double hookup. We ended up with three Yellowfin for the day.

Water was 72 and clean.  The fish hit green dial trackers and a white machine chain.

Until next time!

I went out on July 4th trip with Marty and Will on Marty’s boat.  It was a little rough in the morning and slow fishing. But then it calmed down and we found fish.  We fished a wreck and made a good day of it with fish from 19 to my 22 3/4″ Fluke that went 4lbs 13 oz. All together we had 8 keepers overall making for a great day!

On Monday June 23, I took my grandson out on the Hobie 2man Kayak. We launched from Taylor Ave in Beach Haven and proceeded about a hundred yards out to the channel. We rigged up with 1 1/2 oz jig with a teaser tipped with 4″ gulp tube bait and tipped with killies. A minute in and Tyler had a 19″ that went in the box. After that he had numerous shorts just shy of 18″. I landed two 18″, a 22″ and a 24″ over the next hour. I caught an additional 18 3/4″ that would give us our six fish limit, but I threw it back hoping Tyler would get another nice keeper. That wasn’t to be and we returned with 5 nice keepers. All were caught in drift no more that 200 yards. 

Headed out for tuna this past weekend and ran out about 60 miles from LEI.  We dealt with fog in the morning and the afternoon.  The good news is we ended up with 3 yellowfin and 1 bluefin. This was also Bayside Dave’s first ever tuna catch.  What a fun day for his first trip.

Water temp was 70 degrees. The fish hit on green side trackers and a white machine chain. And we forgot to measure for FOMs!