Today, 31 July, was a dynamite day fluke fishing on The Jen-Jen. We went to Axle Carlson in the morning but not much was happening there today other than shorts. We started heading back and fished several spots along IBSP. The crew of 6 members – Brian, Bryson, Sean, Tyler, myself and one friend all performed exceptionally well. We limited out with the largest caught by Tyler went 24-3/4”.

My last report mentioned there were still fish in the bay. So what do we do – we go to the Barnegat reef. Dave Spendiff and I departed around 6:30 yesterday 28 July and first stopped at the horn buoy where just 10 days back we limited out. After several drifts without a touch, we headed to the reef. For the next 3 1/2 hours we caught one short and birds, birds and more birds! Fluke belly and Gulp were ripped off the hook in no time. We fished the Tires and the middle of the reef with identical results. The drift was slow but my trolling motor moved us along at ~1 kt.

Finally we decided to head back in and try the north cut off DC. The first drift gave us more action than we had in the prior several hours. We ended up with two nice keepers (Dave), one nice one lost at the boat and several shorts. An added surprise was the 3 ft. needlefish Dave landed. BTW, when returning near the shallow water where DC and High Bar meet, stay to the right of the white shallow water marker.

When we arrived at my dock, my wife asked, “How come Dave always catches the keepers?” To quote Rodney Dangerfield, “I get no respect!”

My grandson Nick and his friend Pete were down last weekend (7/24) for some fishing. Dave Spendiff joined us and we fished Little Egg Inlet out by the island off the channel. With few greenies annoying us, we caught 20 shorts, two keepers, a bluefish and a large ray that Nick battled for 10+ minutes until I could gaff it and remove the jig. Later that afternoon, the boys went foraging along the bank on Mill Creek Road and caught 4 soft shell crabs which I cleaned and fried up with the fluke!

On Monday (7/26) after I returned from a car appointment, Alan Goracy joined me for a late morning quick trip to Double Creek. We fished the North cut but only caught a dozen shorts. The one lone angler fishing there, reported he had 2 keepers at 19 1/2″ each. We moved to the South cut which is just a short distance along DC heading away from High Bar. We caught another dozen shorts until Alan caught a nice 21″ keeper and I followed on the next drift with one at 18 1/2″. Great day with nice drifting conditions.

I fished the bell buoy and the tires on Friday July 23 with my friend Dave. We even had to use the trolling motor to slow the drift as the wind was moving us along at 1.8 – 2 mph. We picked up a lot of shorts at the bell buoy and I managed one modest keeper at 18.5. We then moved up to the tires (along with the fleet and the Miss Barnegat Light) and had a pretty steady run of shorts and sea robins. But I was able to pull up a really nice fish which measured just over 24′ and weighed in on my digital scale at 5 lbs 8 oz. I have to say it’s the biggest fluke I’ve caught since moving my fishing trips ten years ago down to the Barnegat area from the Shrewsbury/Raritan area. Let’s hope this is a good sign for this year’s fluke fishing.

FYI, on the way back, we were stopped by Fish and Wildlife in front of the lighthouse. When the officer boarded and opened my fishbox, I was rewarded with a “Wow, no need to measure that one!”. But he was diligent with the other one, which was just over the minimum.

The Jen-Jen Team – Brian, Carter, Tyler and myself left the dock @ 3AM headed for the Resor wreck, a WWII victim of a German torpedo. It was a rough ride out and Carter got drenched. Upon arrival just before sunrise, we started jigging. We saw one good mark on the screen and Tyler hooked up with a beautiful bluefin tuna! What an exciting catch for him as that Tuna saw the boat several times and made another dash away. The remainder of the day was spent trolling and jigging. We saw some other fish caught, but we were one and done. Long day but definitely worth the experience with my family. Great memories and a smooth ride home!

Yesterday July 20th was a beautiful day with a calm ocean. The tires are loaded with tons of short fluke and I hope the ones we released survive cause they were fat. We finished the day with 5 nice keepers to 23” and 1 sea bass. If you eat sea robins, there are plenty of them as well.

Dave Spendiff and I went fishing on Tuesday 20 July. With the low wind forecast, we decided to go outside the bay and fish the ocean. We left my dock at 5:30 and my plan was to fish the north jetty at the tidal null (~7:00 AM), fish around the horn buoy just outside the inlet and proceed to the Tires on the BL reef.
That all changed once we got to the north jetty and saw birds working just outside. The seas were boiling with tiny bait fish being savaged by small bluefish. By small, I mean 12 inch fish that followed our lures and kept smacking at them. We hooked a few and landed a few and then decided to go fish the buoy.
We started out as the only boat there but by the time we left at 11:00 with our limit, I counted 15 boats plus the Miss Barnegat Light! Our fish went from 18 to 21 inches and we each caught three keepers and 6 to 8 shorts. Most fish were caught real close to the buoy.
Of special note, when the drift died at 10, I used my new trolling to move us along and we caught the last two keepers and a few shorts using the motor to move us.
Overall, you couldn’t ask for a nicer day.

My grandson Kevin and I fished a charter with Brett Taylor on Thursday July 15th. We caught four keepers with Kevin pulling in the fish of the day – a nice 22 inch fluke. On Friday, we went fishing on Great Bay on my boat. We landed five fish with my 21 inch keeper in the mix. What could be better than fishing with your grandson and catching fish! 

Two friends joined me fishing and we had another good day outside the bay. We caught our 3 man limit while fishing on a broken up wreck. The largest fish was 20″.

On July 13th, I fished 2 reefs with a friend: the GSN and GSS but only caught 1 keeper. It seemed like the fish had lockjaw! The water temps were 74-75 degrees. I also stopped off at the red tower and things were different there. Right away I caught a 23in keeper and then caught a double. One was a keeper and one was a short. I ended with 4 keepers in all – one at the reef and three off the red tower!

On Monday July5, since we were not having any luck in the bay, we made our second trip to the ocean. Water temperatures were up now to 68 / 69 degrees at the Garden State South reef. I had my buddies Wil and Paul and it was a slow bite but we still managed 4 keeper fluke (largest at 19.5″) and 5 sea bass. We also had several short fluke and short sea bass.

The Leary crew fishing The Jen-Jen got off to a slow start this year due to weather and crew availability. But the July 4th holiday provided us with 6 keepers to 22” and a ton of shorts.
On the 5th, a half day trip fishing between the BI & BB buoys produced 3 keepers to 23” and another ton of shorts. The highlight was my granddaughter Addison who caught the beautiful Weakfish which we released & Fluke. We all forgot to measure the fish and submit them for club FOM. I guess it’s age related. LOL

Dave Spendiff joined me and grandson Nick for some fluke fishing on Saturday of the July 4th weekend. With brisk NW winds and the threat of rain, we headed to the nearby Middle Grounds for a morning of fishing. Both the wind and tide were aligned, so we drifted along the channel to the ICW at 1.5 kts.
Final tally was Nick – not a touch, me – 4 shorts and Dave – 3 shorts and 4 keepers from 18.5″ to 20″! What can I say? The man is either lucky or very good. Of course, the thought that Nick and I stink at fluke fishing never entered our minds.

We left Greg Camilleri’s dock early in the morning and headed for the end of the South jetty of Barnegat inlet in an effort to catch some bluefish. By the time we cleared the end of the South jetty it looked like we had time warped back to 1942 and were a part of a Victory at Sea film – the waves were enormous! It took us very little time to reverse course and head for the safer, more calm bay water. As it generally happens when you enter a shallow part of the bay without any GPS tracks, you hit bottom. We did! More than once before we got some history recorded getting into the north cut off of the DCC. Once comfortably in the cut the fun began – we caught plenty of shorts, lost a few keepers and Greg’s “hot stick of the day” boated our only keeper. We made a few drifts in DCC before calling it a day and headed for home in Greg’s well kept 21’+, 6 year old blue Sea Chaser.

The plan was for Alan Goracy and his daughter Lauren visiting from Vermont to join me for a day fluke fishing on 29 June. Unfortunately, a late arrival the evening before resulted in only Alan showing up at my dock at 6:30 AM. We departed and went to the North cut off DCC that had been a hot spot for us recently. Fishing was slow and I got one that just made it. We then headed to the area near the BI buoy where the SW wind and outgoing tide pushed us along along Oyster Creek. We each had a few shorts and again I caught a keeper that was 18″ on the nose! We then fished the flats between the BI and BB buoys with a group of 12 -15 other boats but caught only shorts. Any day on the water is a good day and this was no exception!

The last weekend in June was a good one for fishing. On Friday, I wanted to gas up my boat so I took a ride over to Morrison’s. I also took a rod with a few killies I had. My first drift along the channel running through the Middle Grounds to the ICW – also referred to as the Fantasy Island channel – resulted in the 19″ keeper shown in the photo. A few more drifts yielded a several shorts before I went and gassed up my boat as planned.

On Saturday, Dave Spendiff invited me to fish on his boat. We left at 5:00 AM and headed for the North Cut off of Double Creek. Despite the ongoing tournament, we had the place to ourselves. We caught several shorts and the three nice keepers shown. I had one and Dave had two the largest being 20+”.

On Sunday, my neighbor Chris was down with his cousin. He likes to trailer a small boat and hit the skinny water but this year he hadn’t caught much. He asked where the North Cut was and I said if he had the time, I would take him in my boat. We left at 7:30 and went directly there. In three hours, both I and his cousin had 6 shorts each. Chris had the hot had and had three keepers to 20″. We headed home before the winds got too strong and all the weekend warriors were out!

Dave Spendiff and Alan Goracy joined me for a day of fishing the north cut off Double Creek channel. We started at High Bar but a strong current and a brisk crosswind made fishing the narrow channel difficult. We then moved to the north cut.

Fishing was good but not great. Water temps were 64 degrees which was 5 higher than High Bar. We also discovered after several drifts that the fish were in the shallower 3 -5 foot areas in the bright sun rather than the 8 – 12 foot deeper areas. I had 2 keepers at 18.5 & 19.5 and Dave had a 20.5. All were caught on Gulp with a fluke belly on mine. Yes I remembered to bring a fluke carcass with me! Alan had a slower day using his go to killies. Overall we had ~20 shorts. Interestingly, no fish hit the teaser with a Gulp shrimp which had been the killer for the last several weeks. Also, the two fish I cleaned had several small crabs in them.

Despite a brisk NW wind and cooler temps, it was still a fun day fishing!

Is there anything worse than a day where the only thing you caught was a short belly hooked fluke? Yes there is! It’s a day where the guy next to you catches four keepers and four shorts!
Dave Spendiff and I left my dock on Sunday at 6:30 and started in Double Creek. After 2 fast drifts with lots of slime weed, we headed to High Bar. The drift was even faster and it was super crowded. After just one drift of hitting two sticks and one red plastic buoy, we headed to the North Cut off Double Creek. A slower drift, very few boats and no weeds made for pleasant fishing. We fished hard and Dave caught three fish 18.5 – 20″ and three shorts on a jig with a 5″ Gulp New Penny mullet. Then the bite completely shut down.
We eventually went over to the flats south of the BI buoy along Oyster Creek near where the new man made island formed from last year’s dredging is located. Dave caught his fourth keeper and one short and I had a foul hooked 10″ fluke!
We both fished hard and enjoyed a beautiful day on the water. I received lessons on using my new trolling motor and Dave insisted I keep two fish!

On Thursday, May 27th, I went with my friend Bob Long (will be joining our club) on a bay charter with Captain Brett Taylor. Brett knew the right shallow water spots and could get us to them with his low draft skiff . We caught our boat limit of 9 with the biggest @ 5 pounds. They ranged from 18 – 22 3/4″

Caesar Pesarini and Phil Kaplan joined me for a day of fluke fishing on the Thursday before Memorial Weekend. We started in Double Creek but the wind against the tide was too much. I went into High Bar where fishing the narrow channel was made even more difficult by all the boats. There were fish but you really had to work for them and most were throwbacks!
I had 10 shorts and one keeper. All but one was on the teaser with a white Gulp shrimp with a yellow tail. Same as last week when my only fish was a keeper on the Gulp shrimp. Both times, the fish were spitting up large shrimp! Caesar and Phil had much less success using other Gulp products.
On the way back, we drifted DCC and I thought I had a FOM winner for sure. Nope – just two healthy shorts; a 16″ and a 17″+. Oh well, it’s a long season.