I went out to the walkway this morning for day one of tog season. The bite was non-stop from 6am to 9am, and I left them biting. I went through 100 sand fleas and landed over 30 tog and one 12″ fluke. I harvested this 15.5″ tog and released 2 others that were the same size.  

Our First year in the Tri Club Challenge is now in the Books. As a club we came in second place behind the Forked River Tuna Club. As a Club, our top 10 fish weighed in at 27.93 pounds.
Top individual honors went to our very own Cheri Hebert with a real doormat weighing 8.05 lbs.
The Forked River Tuna Club did a great job hosting the event – a good time was had by all! Next year we will be hosting the event – hope to see everyone participating.

Jim Healy took me, Doug O’Brien, and Mike Woodrow out on his boat Monday morning.  All of us are members of the club.  We fished a few spots including Oyster Creek, High Bar Harbor, and the inlet.  We were out for about 5 hours, and between the 4 of us, we boated about 40 fish.  Mike was definitely high hook boating close to two dozen.  They were mostly shorts – 8″ to 14″, but Doug and Mike (pictured) each got keepers, 20″ and 19″ respectively.  Jim, Mike, and I will be fishing together on Jim’s boat in Saturday’s tournament.  Hopefully we will score some points for the club.

Despite a little bit of fog this morning, July 20th turned out to be a good day. I had my fishing buddy Wil who is a member now and my neighbor out today. We fished off the red Tower again and put a catch together with eight keepers plus numerous throwbacks and skates, Wil had a nice 24 1/4″ flounder that weighed 5.9lbs. The rest were 18″ to 20″ but we just couldn’t catch that last fish to limit out!

Wednesday July 3rd, I went out on the Great Bay on a friend’s boat for fluke.  It was a slow bite but we found a few fish in the deep water behind the stink house.  Bucktails tipped with pink and white Gulp jerk shads and live minnows were getting it done.  All four of us were picking up short fish and two of us got keepers, but not me ?.  My buddy Tommy limited out, one of which weighed 5.09 lbs.  Even though it’s been slow lately, there are fish out there.

I took my 87 year old grandfather out for a brief trip on Friday (7/5). We only spent a couple hours on the reef, but we managed a nice keeper sea bass and one keeper fluke. It was nice just to get him out on the water and fishing again.

We headed out for fluke on Sunday and were greeted with dense fog on the way out. But we pressed on, and the fog began to clear about a mile from the reef. We started off with a good bite and had four keepers in the boat quickly. One of them was 23″. We continued to pick throughout the day and managed a total of 8 keepers! Not many shorts were caught, only somewhere between 6-8. We also got a nice sea bass. We attempted to catch more, but even with plenty of marks on the screen, and spot lock holding us on structure, we couldn’t manage anymore sea bass. We were happy with our fluke haul, so we called it a day.

Another surprise in store for us on the way in was an approaching thunderstorm. We made it back in time though thankfully.
Water temp in the morning just outside the inlet was 62 degrees. Out on the reef it was 64, and by the time we left, it was almost 67.
All keeper fish were caught jigging with white bucktails and pink shine gulp. On the top teaser, squid strips and minnows were used.

After loading my boat for tuna fishing Tuesday evening, my slip neighbor convinced my buddy and I to join him on his 40′ sportfish for a trip out to the canyon. The last minute change of plans worked out, as we ended up with a total of 3 yellowfin for the day. While we were out there, whales, dolphins, and bait were all around. A great day on the water!

I took my neighbor and his grandson out for some fluke fishing in Great Bay on July 5th. They had a banner day as they both limited out with multiple 20-in fluke and one 5 lb beauty! Our total count was 8 fluke for the trip with me the low man.

I joined John Stuebing on the Wednesday before the 4th for an ocean fluke trip to LER. Weather, winds and drifting conditions were near perfect, but we really had to work for the fish. Total count was about a dozen shorts and three keepers – two at 19″ and one at 20″. Sadly, that’s our best fluke outing for 2024!

Wednesday I went on a friend’s boat fluke fishing in the Great Bay.  It was a slow bite but we found fish in deep water.  Bucktails tipped with pink and white Gulp jerk shads and live minnows were getting it done.  All four of us were picking up short fish and two of us got keepers, but not me ?.  My buddy Tommy, as seen in the photo, limited out with one fish weighing 5.09 lbs.  Even though it’s been slow lately, there’s definitely fluke out there.

We headed out Saturday to try for some keeper fluke. I decided to try the ocean but on the way out the inlet, a buddy radioed that the water temp near the beach was 52 degrees. I was originally going to fish shallower but decided to try the reef instead. Upon reaching the reef, the water temp was slightly better, 54 degrees. We did hit a fair amount of fog on the way out as well.

We immediately started catching some shorts which was a good sign. We managed a total of 10 shorts and 3 keepers. Two of the shorts were only an 1/8″ short. Oh well, back in they went. We also caught a couple sea bass, with one of them being a very nice fish. It was a shame to throw it back. The bite died off quick though , and we headed in early happy with what we were able to get. Baits included pink shine gulp, white gulp, squid strips and minnows. The fish seemed to be going after the minnows. Two guys were jigging, while the other two guys were just dragging rigs. I’d say that both methods worked equally well.

Took my son-in-law and two grandsons out for Fluke with Capt. Bret Taylor on 6/21. Action started off hot with Braden landing two keepers within the first half hour. After weeding through a lot of shorts, I landed an 18 1/2″ keeper. The south wind picked up and we had to fish hard, but no more keepers. Ended the day with approximately 3 dozen with the three keepers. Great day on the water and lots of fun. Taking my son, grandson and his friend out for another shot on Tuesday.

John Stuebing invited Pat Presutto and me for a day of Fluke fishing on LER. Despite near perfect weather, the recent spell of southerly winds has cooled the waters and the fluke have gotten lockjaw. John had 5 shorts and a nice 22″ keeper, Pat had a few skates, a dog, and one 21″ keeper and yours truly had a skate and a short!
Maybe I can’t catch a keeper, but I take a great photo! Still a fun day on the water.

Me and my crew went out yesterday on The Jen-Jen for a last shot at early season Sea Bass. The fish were biting and we kept 40 nice sea bass, 1 red hake (Ling) and several short fluke which we released. A notable high point was my grandson, Junior Angler Bryon Wyatt who caught the 16” blue fish pictured
What a great last day!

I decided to run out for sea bass all by myself on Father’s Day starting a little late just before 9. I headed to a wreck about 11 mi. out and it was non-stop drop and reel on a jig. I had my limit by 11:30 with quite a few doubles on the jig. It was definitely worth the trip.

Tim Naples

We headed out Father’s day for sea bass. The forecast called for NE wind with 3-4, but we were greeted with nearly a flat calm ocean once we left the inlet. First stop was a wreck about 12 miles out from LEI in about 70′ of water. Unfortunately, not much life on this wreck, and we only managed a couple shorts. Since the ocean was so calm, we decided to make a big move and head out another 13 miles to a wreck in 110′ of water.
On our first drop, everyone hooked up with keeper sea bass. Within ten minutes the keeper count was up to 10 fish, and the bite quickly slowed. We kept at it for a while trying jigging, using gulp, and even drifting the wreck, but the fish just went off the bite and we left the spot with a total of 15 keepers.
We decided to head back in to GSS and hopped from structure to structure which yielded us another 10 keepers for a total of 25 on the day. Would have been nice to get more of course, but it was a fun day on the water. I’m looking forward to the next trip.

I was bored on Saturday and my boat is waiting on a part. So, I figured I would hit the back bay shoreline for weak fish on light tackle. When I got to the Barnegat Bay bank, there really wasn’t much going on. While casting with my ugly stuck ultra-light with 20lb braid, I saw some cownose rays. I figured I’d give it a shot to see if I could land one and 25 minutes later, I landed the monster ray.

I was totally unprepared and had the Tesla instead of my truck. It definitely would not fit into my 5 gallon bucket. So… I cleared out the trunk and put it on my plastic liner mat. When I got it home, the butchering was rather easy, but bloody. Pulled up the first recipe the internet gave us, and my wife and I cooked it up for Father’s Day. It came out like a gourmet meal you would get at a Portuguese restaurant. It would make a great addition to any paella!

When Bob Dodds asked me to join his bottom charter on the Kev n’ Ash, I knew it would be a fun trip. The group was fellow club members Bob Dodds, me, Greg Camillieri, his son Dave and friend Bert. The weather was perfect, and the sea was super calm.

Unfortunately, the fishing was tough as we hopped from wreck to wreck picking up keepers as we went along. Captain Greg Carr really put the extra effort in to get us close to our 5-man limit even extending our trip almost two hours! The final count was 43 quality Sea bass, two Ling, two Skates, many Sea Robins and Blackfish, one Dogfish and a nasty Silver Eel caught by yours truly.

It was a wonderful day, and I can’t say enough good things about Captain Greg.

Joined my charter captain friend for Seabass and Striper fishing near Shrewsbury Rocks Tuesday afternoon. We managed to get our Seabass limit and then with dusk approaching, we headed closer to the beach to see if the Stripers were hungry. We went 3 for 5 with eels and I managed to get this one for a quick pic and release.