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.

After all the days of strong winds, Monday June 2nd was finally fishable. I went out with Anthony on his Steiger, aptly named Rig a Tony, for a multi species day starting with Sea Bass on the GSN reef. The ride out was tough since the waves had not yet quieted down from all the windy days.

We finally made it and the fish were hungry. My first fish was a Cod – but that season is closed! My second fish was a Tog – also closed. The third was a Skate – open but no thanks. Finally, a Sea Bass! Anthony also had a Cod and between us we had ~20 Tog. Eventually we had our limit with some really nice Sea Bass. We then headed to the inlet for Stripers.

Unlike a few days ago, there were no Bluefish to bite our Spot in half. Only Stripers! Anthony positioned his boat alongside the jetty so we could cast our spots right onto the rocks. He had a pickup on almost every cast. Twice, we even had two fish on at one time. We probably had a dozen pickups and boated 7 – 8 Bass yielding two slots and one bonus tag fish. What a day – great weather, beautiful green water and biting fish!

Sean & I did a morning bay trip on Monday June 2nd. We left the dock at 8:00AM and limited out by Noon with fluke to 22”. We also had several snapper blues which we released. One of Sean’s fluke spit up a spot! It was still alive, so he tried fishing it with no takers. Winds were weird – first morning wind was out of the west then after several drifts changed to east. All in all, a great day with no shorts!!

When my neighbor Anthony (aka Rig a Tony) agreed to fish the inlet on May 30th, I jumped at the opportunity. Armed with 20 Spot, the plan was to fish the North jetty for Bluefish and Stripers with Fluke as a fallback position. When we arrived at the jetty, the inlet conditions were barely fishable, but we persisted. Anthony landed a 22″ Striper but then all we were doing was feeding the Bluefish $3 snacks.

We then went to the sod banks and after a few lost Stripers, once again the Bluefish were having their way with our Spots. With the Spots gone, we then went to Double Creek where the drift was decent but not great. Once again, the Bluefish also liked our Killies and Gulp. We tried High Bar but the drift conditions were awful, so we returned to Double Creek. To my surprise, I hooked a heavy fish that I thought was another Bluefish. But it was a 26″ Fluke! Shortly afterwards, Anthony got a 20″ Fluke. That was it for the day.

When weighed at the Elks, my fish was 6.96 lbs. for my personal best in NJ. Two years ago, I had 2 near 10 lbers in Nantucket, MA.

Having been out twice on the Mary M – once for the Elks on 5/18 and once for VHFC on 5/20 – with only 2 keeper Sea Bass each trip for me, I didn’t have the highest expectations for my third trip with the Shillelagh Club – a fraternal group dedicated to boosting the sales of Irish products like Guiness and Bushmills. And the weather forecast didn’t help with 4 – 6 footers forecast and delivered!

But off we went for a sporty ride out to some wreck which only the captain knew its location. Once anchored, it wasn’t too bad as long as you held onto the rails. But the fishing was fairly decent for most of the 21 members and really good for 5 of us. All together we had 110 Sea Bass, 10 Ling and one lone Boston Mackerel. High hook was new club member from West Marine, Dave Gering with 18, I had 16, John Barrett (trip organizer) had 15 and John’s nephews had 15+ between them. We all fished the port side near the stern. Did that matter? We all used bait, but Dave added a piece of cooked shrimp to his hooks. Did that matter?

Anyway, everyone was glad when we passed Ol Barney and returned to the docks. A nice bag of fish to take home was also nice. Note: The photo is my 18.5″ fish that weighed 2.7 lbs when weighed at the Elks for the May Sea Bass lead. 

I went this past Monday offshore for Sea Bass with Wil and 2 other friends. We caught our limit in about hour and a half with many shorts in the mix.  I had an 18 in fish.  I went out again on Tuesday with the nice flat seas with Paul and another friend. This time it took a little longer to get our limit since we were only keeping larger fish. My biggest was 19 1/2″. Truly a great day on the water!

Good trip today. Brian, myself. Sean & grandson Bryson went about 7 miles out of Barnegat to a wreck called Shipara (Sp?). We kept 20 nice Seabass 17-18”, 1 nice Hake and plenty of tog that were released. All and all a great day with a nice ocean in the afternoon. Note: we came back at low tide through Double Creek and it was e extremely shoaled over. Someone needs to dredge ASAP.

Tuesday, May 20th was such a day for me, along with club member, Caesar, John, Gene and Bill. We were on a Sea Bass charter with Captain Greg Carr, also a club member, on his KEV ‘n ASH.

Being cautious due to the conditions, Greg held off from our scheduled 6AM departure until 9:30. The conditions got better but not great until 1 and only lasted until 3. We fished hard and finally caught the last fish of our boat limit of 60 at around 3:30.

Caesar caught the largest at 17 ¼”, but we had several in the 16.5 – 17” range. Hopefully, the conditions will get better for all of us with what is left of this portion of the sea bass season which ends on June 19th.