I went out with a friend on his boat from Waretown Thursday August 21. We departed Barnegat Inlet at 6:15 AM and stopped on a nearby wreck, flat water, no drift. I hooked up with something big on my ultra light bait casting rod, I thought I had a 9 pound fluke but it turned out to be a big skate.
We motored to the Garden State North and even though there was a light drift we were able to catch 35 fluke. The fish were on the bite, probably because of the coming bad weather. I caught the only keeper at 21 inches and 4 pounds on Gulp green swimming mullet on the high hook. The secret was to stay near structure and use high low jigs with Gulp and keep them moving. Surprisingly, I also caught a small ling on the Gulp.
We stayed until 12 PM, only 3 other boats on the reef and no party boats.