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!

Club member Bill Bond and I decided to switch things up today and fish the beach for Fluke instead of from the sod banks. Bill was rewarded with a nice 18-1/2″ fluke. BTW, Bill is the VHFC walking billboard always wearing his club shirt went out fishing!

We both had quite a few shorts in the early AM and plans are in the works for tomorrow. Today was a much nicer day than our first beach attempt last Friday when we noticed Ed and John walking down the beach to discuss the conditions. We all decided the weed and wind made fishing too difficult.

On June 23rd, Wil and Paul fished with me at LE Reef. We each had 2 keepers. I managed to catch a 23 3/4″ fluke that weighed 5 lbs and was 11″ across! Despite the heat, it was a beautiful day on the water.

On Tuesday, I took my son-in-law, two grandsons and one of their friends on a fluke trip with Northend Fishing Charter. Capt. Tom Duralek gave us a memorable trip. We caught 58 fluke with 9 keepers – all in the 19 to 21″ range. Capt. Tom worked hard and was patient in teaching my grandson’s friend who ended the day with 5 shorts.

Doug O’Brien, Mike Woodrow, a neighbor and I headed up to the inlet early Tuesday morning. We immediately found Bluefish in the inlet. It was amazing, but they wouldn’t hit metal. Instead, they were devouring bucktails and sometimes top water. Overall, we probably boated 30 or so blues. We also tried fluking inside and around the inlet but only managed 1 keeper among approximately 30 or so fluke. Still a great day out!

On June 21st, I made my first ocean fluke trip, I headed to Little Egg Reef on a beautiful day. My first drop only took about a minute or two before I had something big on the line. Wow – a 19-in sea bass and after that a nice 22-in fluke. Over the next couple hours, I got my other two keepers – 19 1/2 and 22 1/2. I also had about 12 shorts in what turned out to be a very good morning.

Here I am showing off the 21″ fluke I caught off the beach today.  I tried a good stretch of beach on the north end first thing this morning and ran into a lot of weed.  Ed Valitutto and John Steubing showed up and tried their hand at picking through the weed.  I left that area and found clear water mid-island during the last hour and a half of outgoing tide.

After catching a couple of fluke, I called John to tell him that I found a good spot, but he and Ed had already left the island.  I caught a total of 10 fish, including this 21″ keeper that slammed a 5″ pink shine Gulp grub right in the wash.  The bite slowed down after slack, so I called it a day.

When the fog finally lifted Wednesday afternoon, I decided to shoot out to Double Creek Channel to fluke-fish the outgoing tide.  Virtually no wind so my drift exactly matched the current.  The water was loaded with suspended seaweed but I connected with this nice 21″ plus a couple “large” shorts.

Fishing with family and friends is the best but sometimes it’s nice to tune everything out and fly solo. And yes, it was delicious!

Club member Bill Bond 006-3/4 and I hit the sod banks this morning. Bite was slow but Bill got a 20” plus fish. We moved to another area, and it was still slow. Right before dead high I caught a 22 and a 19 inch fluke before the switch to outgoing.
Bill caught on 5/8 oz jig with gulp and teaser. Mine were on a simple killie rig under a slip bobber.  We each had a short or two.  Anyway, it’s what’s for dinner!

I fished today with member Alan Goracy. Like earlier in the week, we started in Double Creek but not a touch. We headed over to the BI buoy and noticed a line of boats fishing south of OC near the man-made island. So we headed over and I quickly had a short followed by a 19″ keeper. Several drifts, I had a few more shorts and a 20+” keeper. I was jigging pretty hard while Alan was mostly dead sticking. That was the only difference. He had a few bites and one short.

After lots of wind and rain, the skies finally cleared, and Wednesday 6/11 was fishable. Fellow member Alan Goracy and I ventured off for a day of Fluke fishing. We left my dock at 5:30 and we were drifting in Double Creek by 6:15.

Unfortunately, the incoming tide brought in lots of weed making fishing all but impossible. We then tried High Bar, and I could not believe my screen until I looked over the side and saw masses of slimy weed as far down as I could see! We then tried the new channel that runs parallel to the dike without a touch – unbelievable.

We moved to Oyster Creek and finally had two decent shorts and added two more shorts near the BI buoy. We then moved to the Rutgers buoy between BB and BI but by then, the wind had totally died. I engaged the trolling motor and almost immediately Alan had an 18″ keeper. Shortly after that, I had an almost 21″ fluke. We continued until my battery was near dead. We caught 12 fish with two keepers. Not the best catching but a welcome day on the water after all this ugly weather.

Went out on the Seabass trip today with club member Rick and my friend Larry. We left my dock around 6:30, but we turned around because we forgot the trolling motor remote. We went about 14 miles out towards a wreck on the Atlantic City reef. We arrived out there about 7:30 and got on the fish right away. We had 25 keepers from 13 to a little over 17 inches and probably had 100 throwbacks. We caught some really nice sized fish including a Bluefish, Ling and an eel. It was a great day on the water with the calm conditions making for an easy trip out and back.