Tom Godfrey invited me to join him Tuesday targeting striped bass.  After getting a good report from charter captain Bill Haluska on Monday, I was chomping at the bit to go.  I met up with Tom at 6:00 am and we headed out.  As soon as we hit Barnegat Inlet, we saw boats loosely lined up and in close off Island Beach State Park.  We also immediately noticed large pods of bunker but they seemed mostly unmolested by predators.  Tom worked us Northward along IBSP fishing as we went but we had no luck.  Along the way we saw a few fish caught but things were generally slow, so we decided to push further North.  When we got to the wheel in Seaside it was dead, so we kept going.  Finally, at Bay Head we found the fleet and the action.

Tom and I spent the next several hours chasing huge early migrating fish which were moving Southward at great speed.  Tom expertly leap-frogged groups of boats positioning us ahead of exploding bunker that signaled chasing bass below.   The bunker pods were so thick and seemingly stretched for miles so it was easy for us to snag, transfer to a circle hook and drop bunker on a weighted rig.  Or in Tom’s case, use a circle hook snag and drop (similar to the one pictured in Jim Freda’s presentation) to do it in one step.  We ended up catching six fish: two 44”, two 42”, one 39” and one 33”.  In addition, I hooked up and lost two.

Aside from having an epic fishing experience, my biggest take-away from the trip is optimism based on observing what must have been millions of mature bunker.  It’s a key indicator that we are in for a great fall season.

Due to a late cancellation, Alan Goracy and I jumped on a Brett Taylor Tog / Striper combo trip on Monday, November 2nd. Brett already had a third angler, Dave from Hainesport. We arrived at the inlet jetty rocks at 6:30 with no one else around and perfectly calm seas. We made multiple drifts with live Spot and landed 5 of 7 hookups plus a few bare hooks. Alan had 2 keepers – 29″ & 30″, I had two just over and Dave had one.

As the tide slackened and the bite waned, Brett moved just north of the pocket where a school of bunker were being netted by Andy from Tony’s B&T and two other boats were fishing. Every cast snagged a bunker. Several went missing as we live lined them, but Alan finally connected with a 42″ beauty.

We then went to the tip of the North jetty for Tog where it was lights out drop and crank for mostly keeper Tog. We quickly had our 4 fish and traded up a few for 16″ and one 17″ fish. Great last minute trip with Captain Brett!

Bob Dodds had a Sea Bass Trip on the Kev n’ Ash with Ed V, Caesar Pesarini, Boston Bob and friend Paul planned for Monday October 5, Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate, and we were able to move it to Tuesday with a later start at 9:00. Capt. Greg even pushed that to 9:30 to let things settle down. Once we cleared the inlet, it was obvious things were a little gnarly out and a radio call from Capt, Sam on the Mary M confirmed that.

Our first stop was the Bone Wreck close to the beach where we boated short Tog for an hour before pushing off for various wrecks. We had to work hard through the many shorts but ended up with a 47 count of Sea Bass – three short of our 5 man limit. Of note was a real nice one by Caesar at 18″ followed by a better one from Boston Bob at 19″. Bob Dodds had a few Porgies including a beauty at 14′.

The late start was nice but we didn’t get back to the dock until 6PM!

On September 16 ,  I had the gang all out with me – Mario, Wil, and Paul. We started off fishing a wreck with 1 keeper fluke and 1 nice sea bass plus quite a few shorts. Then we moved off to the Garden State South Reef where are we caught 6 more keeper fluke and several more shorts and 2 nice Sea Bass. Mario had the largest Fluke at 23 1/2″. It was a good day

Friend Anthony and I departed his dock at 8:30 to catch the 9:30 tide null at the BI north jetty. The plan was to fish for Tog and then try for Stripers with Spot before the winds picked up.

Tog fishing was really slow and to make things worse, Rig a Tony was catching while I couldn’t get a bite! It was just a matter of time before he got a 15″ and a 17″ keeper. With the tog in the live well, we hoped to get a replacement but everything was short. Finally, I had a decent fish on and called for the net. After several brief runs, I had a nice 16″ Triggerfish!

With the winds starting to crank out of the south, we headed for the sod banks looking for a Striper or Fluke on a Spot. The outgoing tide and strong winds made it near impossible to fish so we headed back. Great day with out third limit of Tog at the jetty and a nice bonus Triggerfish!

Left the dock today with fellow club member Rick and friend Larry. We decided to go fluking in about 60 foot of water off of LBI it was like a washing machine out there this morning. We picked our way through a few shorts and six keeper fluke with one keeper Seabass, Fluke were 18,19,19 1/2 , 21 1/2 , 22 and 28. Sea Bass was 14. It turned out to be a great day in the end and a nice ride back!

Fished on Tuesday with member Mike Almasi. Went out Barnegat and saw some birds diving on small bait fish. Took some blues and a small bonito. All the bonito chasing bait were small so we decided to hit a couple of local wrecks for fluke. Plenty of action with smaller fluke but we managed to find 3 nice ones. Nice day on the water!

Headed out for a canyon trip on Sunday. Water was clean and blue at 75 degrees.  Found some life with pilot whales and surface feeding Skipjacks. Heard via radio chatter that there were some Yellowfin mixed in. We unfortunately only managed to find a small 24″ catch. But we kept fishing and were eventually rewarded with a 62″ wahoo. An amazing fish to catch!

John Stuebing took me, Ed, and Glen out on his boat, the Salty Dog last weel.  We fished a few wrecks just outside the Garden State South reef.  It was a slow pick which gave us only 2 keeper Fluke (19″ & 21″) out of 40 fish caught.  We all enjoyed this leisurely day of fishing.

On Wednesday August 26th, I set out with a full crew of four to go fluke fishing on the Garden State North. It was an active morning with many short fluke but only two keepers there. We also managed to catch four Legal Sea Bass. We left the reef early afternoon and headed toward a wreck on the way back home. There we managed to get three more keeper flounder which ended our day with five fluke, 4 sea Bass and lots of shorts – not a bad day!

On Tuesday, August 25th I took a friend of mine out fishing.  We stopped at one wreck in 60 ft of water and started bailing short flounder with an occasional keeper. We also had about 10 doubles of shorts! By 11:30, we ended up with our six keepers – one 19″ and the rest over 20″ with the largest 23″. It was a good day!

I did something a little different for me. I took a solo trip today from Belmar on the Ocean Explorer. It was a nice day and I got my 3 keepers before 11am. Fish were from 19 to 20 inches. Not a lot of shorts in the mix like a few times in southern waters. But it was a crowded boat for a Monday!

On Tuesday August 18, Wil. Paul and I went out on a fluke trip. We got three keepers with Wil getting a nice 21 3/4″ fatty. The bite was slow with a minimal number of shorts. Then I had a trolling motor breakdown, so we switched to LE Reef. We started drifting but all we could catch were short flounder. I was still a good day!

Last week I had the opportunity to join Bill Dabney and his son Bill, along with Bill Figley and his son Nate and Brother Dave on a fishing trip to the Nantucket Shoals. We left on Monday and drove to Hyannis, fished Tuesday and Wednesday then returned on Thursday.

I have heard and read about the Fluke fishing on these shoals but you have to do it to believe it. Over the course of two days, we boated close to 60 Fluke and about 20 Sea Bass. By noon time on Tuesday, we were only keeping fish that were at least 5lbs. That’s right, several times I boated a fish that were between 21 and 23 inches only to see it released. In one day, I boated 5 fish that were over 5lbs!

Nate Figley caught the “Toad” of the trip, a Fluke weighing in at 11.4lbs. When I got home, I weighed my bag of fillets, 22.2 lbs. of fillets! I will be returning to the Nantucket Shoals.

Thank You to Bill Dabney who put together this trip together. Also want to thank the captain of the Fish Hawk who put us on fish and showed me how to catch in these waters. All in all, a great rip with great people.

A late morning phone call from Anthony aka Rig a Tony on Thursday August 13th asked if I wanted to make a quick trip to the North jetty for Tog. Of course I did! We arrived after the start of the outgoing tide and anchored about 8 – 10 feet off the monument but still inside the line of submerged rocks. This minimizes the impact of the outgoing tide allowing us to use jigs down to 3/4 oz.

My first drop yielded a frisky 14″ Tog despite the 78 degree water temps. After that, it was game on with bites and / or fish on almost every drop followed by stretches where everything shutdown? Anthony got his 16.5″ fish on green crab and I caught my 16+” keeper on sand fleas I froze back in December!

BTW, the West wind brought hordes of biting stable flies that contributed to the memorability of this first Tog outing!

2026 has been a tough fluke fishing year for many of us including me but as with much in life if you keep at it good things eventually will happen (or you go insane per the definition).  Anyway, I’ve been on several action packed outings catching shorts but keepers have been elusive for me until last week when my brother, Chris, and nephew, Jake, came to town.  They only had a few days and were chomping at the bit to get out.  On day 1, Tuesday, conditions forced us to stay inside so we fished the sedge islands at both ends of peak tide and lighting it up with lots of action and my first two keepers. Wednesday, we were able to get outside and headed to Seaside on the strength of an outrageously strong report from someone working at one of our local B&T shops (several packages of gulp were sold in the process).  Fishing there was good but not great and worsening conditions curtailed my plan to cruise to Axel Carlson.  The guys left Thursday with doormat dreams on hold for next Summer.

Dawn and I went out Saturday for a short bay trip.  Another rough outside day and the clicking August calendar brought out boats in droves and made fishing in and around the channels nearly impossible but I was lucky enough to connect with a 23” fish over by the dike.  Things are looking up.

Ran out to the ledge again yesterday.  We picked up two nice yellowfin, a 44″ and a 53″.  Water temps were mid-low 70s with clear blue water.  Both fish hit purple side trackers with a zucchini stinger.

On Friday July 17th, I set out on my boat with Paul and Mario. We headed out to one of my previous wrecks which had been holding a lot of fluke. Unfortunately, most of them were shorts but we managed to get four keepers up to 22″. We had a lot of action and I never had seen so many short fish in one spot. I even caught a double header – one was a keeper and the other was just a quarter inch shy. Still, it was a good day of fishing despite a lot of short fish!

Ran out of little egg inlet this morning. Caught Bluefin tunas on spreader bars!

With my daughter Lisa, grandson Nick and Nick’s girlfriend Liv visiting and wanting to go fishing but not wanting an all day outing, I opted for the Middle Grounds. My first stop was right off the channel markers running down to the ICW. Black Stable flies immediately swarmed us and none of my three sprays had any impact. I decided to try the ICW – guess what – there were no flies and the incoming tide with a southerly breeze made for a perfect northerly drift.

A few hours of fishing yielded ~25 shorts, two keepers including the 23″ keeper Liv caught and a 19″ fluke that I caught. For extra fun, Lisa had a short on the teaser and a cownose snagged on the bucktail. Lots of fun on a bay rod! Overall, a wonderful day on the water. BTW, Nick is now 19 but was our first Fluke Tournament winner 10 years ago. First place was $100!