A last minute decision to blowfish on Monday 9/14 turned out to be the right decision. Alan Goracy and I headed up towards the BI buoy after a leisurely 8:30 departure. We anchored a few hundred yards off shore and it didn’t take long for the puffers to find our chum slick. We kept 40+ large ones and left them biting. The bonus was three large kingfish two of which were almost 14″. We just had a few small blowfish and kings and only two dogfish. As tasty as the blowfish are, the kings were even better. Unfortunately they were already gone by the time of the photo.

What a fun filled weekend for the Leary family. Brian and I took Sean, Stacy, Bryson & Owen (kids in training) blowfishing. In addition to many blowfish, they caught 2 bonus keeper fluke and a blue fish in the mix. You could actually see the bottom in 5 feet and watch the fish actually take your bait including the fluke – what a beautiful sight! Later that day, Grandma cooked us a delicious batch of fish.

Sunday the Jen-Jen team of guys went fluke fishing and kept 5 nice fish. Monday I was invited (on my boat) on another blow fishing trip and a snorkeling trip. All snorkeled except Pop who watched the boat. Tyler actually got a blow fish with a spear gun!! Awesome weekend. 

On Wednesday 8/19, we left @ 6am on the Kev n’ Ash charter with Captain Greg Carr from Barnegat Light. The weather was threatening but was supposed to be good until early afternoon. It wasn’t, but more on that later.

The seas had been messed up for a few days and the fluke were definitely not interested in biting. Greg tried several spots but all we were able to catch was a 19” keeper and a 4-5’ wreck shark. All of a sudden the radio announced the storm warning around 10:30. We immediately started back and made it just as the skies opened up with a deluge. We normally leave and return to Bobbies boats. However, if you can picture a boat version of Rt. 72 traffic with all their rentals, pontoons, center consoles, etc. trying to get in at the same time, you can imagine what it was like. Instead of docking there, we went to another marina and unloaded.

                            Friday It Was Totally Different
Since we were a bit frustrated, we decided to make another try on Friday. Definitely, it was a wise decision. Greg took us to a different spot and we caught our boat limit just before the seas started getting a little rough. My limit included a 7 pound beauty that went 25 1/8”. This trip certainly made up for the poor biting and bad weather day on Thursday.

Brian, Tyler, Carter & Addison went out today Saturday 8/22 for a day of fishing. They started at the Barnegat rocks and Addison caught a 25” Striper. They then went 18 miles off to a wreck and limited out on Seabass along with 15 Tog (no keepers). After that they caught 6 keeper Fluke all over 20”, several Chub Mackerel and 2 blues. We have had exceptional fishing this year!

With my boat in the shop for replacement of the hydraulic steering pressure sensors, I took my grandson Nick fishing on the CAIII. Despite the perfect weather and drift conditions, the fluke were not ‘jumping in the boat”. We fished an area about halfway to Barnegat reef along with several charter / head boats and a hundred smaller craft.
We only had the two fish in the photo and that was considerably better than most others on board. Mine was 22″ 3.8 lbs and Nick’s was his personal best at 23″ 4.4 lbs. Still a great time on the water!

Today we left the dock at 6:30 for the Garden State South on a nice relatively flat ocean. Unfortunately, that changed before noon and progressively got worse. In spite of the rough seas, we were able to box 6 keepers to 24”. Tyler never ceases to amaze me with his fishing skills. Hopefully he is a contender for fish of the month once again!

Thursday August 20 was a really nice day on the ocean but a bit rough on the way out to Garden State South. We had a nice variety of fish – 5 keeper fluke, 2 blues, 3 chub mackerel and 3 sea bass. Great day out fishing!

I fished near the Barnegat Light reef on Monday with fellow member Dave Ludwig for about 3 hrs. Everyone was bunched up on the area just south of the reef, including both party boats from Barnegat Light, as this seems to have been the most consistently producing area so far this season. An interesting thing considering there are very few areas with structure, compared to the reef at least.

The fishing was slow but steady, with mostly shorts and sea robins coming over the side. However we each managed to land a decent fish, Dave’s measured 21.5 inches and mine went 22.5. Back at the dock, my fish weighed in at 4 lbs 13 oz. We took pics before leaving the reef, and the folks in a nearby boat wanted to know where we caught them – we just pointed down to the water!

Sunday I decided to take a trip up North to fish the deeper waters of the Garden State North reef. We didn’t do too badly as the water was nice and clean and there were some nice sea bass out there. My buddy will pulled in two at a time – a 14″ and a 16″! That’s a real nice catch! Unfortunately, we just caught two fluke  – 19″ and a 20″ but they went nicely with the 4 sea bass.

I had my friend Chris out to fish with me today on August 1st and we decided on Little Egg Reef. The fish are definitely starting to show out there! We had five nice keepers; 4 fish from 19 to 20 inches and one 24 inch that weighed 5 1/2 pounds! It was a beautiful day on the water.

Another great day – actually we only fished a half day. We left the dock at 6:30 with Carter, Tyler, grand daughter Addy and Ryan Mollicone. Carter had a 24″ and Addy had a 19″ & a 21″. Together we kept 11 keepers total with an additional 3 nice sea bass. Made it back by 1:00 to be greeted with heavy rain and lightning.

Went out yesterday to the AC Reef. Caught this nice sea bass that went 16 5/8″.

Brian, Sean, Tyler, Carter and myself left the dock at 3AM headed for Barnegat Ridge and eventually further out.  What an experience going through Double Creek in the dark! We hit the inlet before 4am to be greeted with some large ground swells. Once outside, it was pretty calm most of the day. We boxed a 30lb Bluefin early then several hours later released a short one. Long beautiful day with family and a calm ocean.

The Jen-Jen crew has had an incredible several days of fluke fishing. 5 Guys – not the hamburger place – included members Brendan, Carter, Tyler, myself and friend Jimbo. We had non stop shorts with 15 keepers to 25”.  We also caught 4 nice sea bass as well. Great season so  far and I hope it continues.

On Sunday, 7/19, I was invited to join a ling charter with Gene, Lucas and Bob on the Kev n’ Ash with captain Greg Carr. The ling were certainly biting! We let the little ones go and kept 63. We also limited out on sea bass which included a beautiful 19″ for me.
In addition, we were able to catch 3 legal fluke from 19 – 21″ A great day but with constant fog.

We left the dock at 6 AM undecided whether we were going North or South. Since it looked like we were going to have a foggy day, we decided to go south and fish the reefs. It was foggy all day with limited visibility and we had 6 family members on the boat.
What a day it turned out to be!  We limited out with 18 keeper fluke to 24” and without exaggeration probably caught 60 shorts. In addition, one nice keeper sea bass went into the box. The ride in was rough but the day was well worth it.

My son Brian took the boys out yesterday on the Jen-Jen and kept 6 nice fish off the tires section of Barnegat Reef.
Seas were rough but they worked through it to bring home a nice catch. Ryan Mollicone on the left had the door mat measuring 26 1/4″ and weighing 7 1/2 lbs.

On Thursday 7/9, my friend Bob Long and I went on a “skinny water” fluke trip with Capt. Brett Taylor. Because of a slack tide, it was a very slow start. However, when the tide changed, so did the bite. We ended up catching over 50 fluke which included 8 keepers from 19 – 22″.

My first weakfish for 2020 was caught in Beach Haven while going for fluke. I had lots of short fluke but only one keeper besides the weakie.

I took my son-in-law, Eric and granddaughter, Hannah on a “skinny water” charter with Capt. Brett Taylor. Since there was a threat of rain, we left early 6:30 and fished an area he knows well. Within minutes, Hannah had her first ever fluke. She followed this with 10 more of which 3 were almost legal. She is hooked, thank God!!
We ended up with catching over 40 fluke and 7 were keepers. I caught my first fluke limit in a long time. Hope it continues.