The JCAA Fluke Tournament is just days away as per the following release from Paul Haertel:   JCAA Fluke Tournament 8/5/17  Win $50,000!      On August 5th, 2017, the Jersey Coast Anglers Association will hold its 23rd Annual Fluke Tournament. Once again we will have a doormat fluke category with a $50,000 cash prize for the largest fluke over 12 lbs. There will be nine ports (weigh-in stations) with identical 1st to 10th place prizes for each port. First place for each port will be $1200 cash which is guaranteed regardless of the number of entrants. For 2nd - 10th place, valuable merchandise prizes will be awarded from Canyon Reels, Costa, The Fisherman Magazine, Fuel Ox, Tica, Tony Maja and others.       Ports will be located at Liberty Landing in Jersey City, Gateway Marina in Sandy Hook, Fisherman's Den in Shark River, Hoffman's Marina in Manasquan River, South Harbor Marina in Barnegat Bay, Fisherman's Headquarters on Long Beach Island, Great Bay Marina in Great Bay, Fin-Atics Marine Supply in Ocean City and Jim's Bait and Tackle in Cape May.     Additionally, there will be $50 and $100 port Calcuttas and $50 and $100 Overall Calcuttas.      The awards ceremony will be held at 7:00 PM on August 10th at the Clarion Motel in Toms River. Rooms will be available at a discounted rate for tournament participants provided that reservations are made in advance. There will be free cheeseburgers, hot dogs, mozzarella sticks, soda, coffee and tea at the ceremony. There will also be plenty of door prizes at the ceremony and a huge 50/ 50. To top everything off there will be a Grand Prize Drawing for a Starcraft boat, Yamaha engine and a Yacht Club Trailer.     Entry fee per boat (up to 6 anglers) is $160. You may sign up online until midnight on 8/4/ For complete details and/or to register online visit www.jcaa.org or call the JCAA office at 732-506-6975. Details will also be available on our Facebook page where tournament results will be posted as soon as possible after the conclusion of the tournament. Paul Haertel JCAA Board Member/Past President Bob Mathews, at Fisherman's Den in Belmar Marina is excited about the improvement in ocean fluking since the northeaster. He says boats fishing out of the marina have been limiting out and even releasing additional fluke. The best bets have been the 5-inch white Gulp Swimming Mullet, and the 5-inch Gulp Pink Slime Grub on 2-to-4-ounce Magic Tail jigs. The biggest fluke so far this week was 6 1/2 pounds. Matthews also notes there are lots of small stripers in Manasquan River. Those bass are mostly from 14 to 20 inches -- and are best caught from small boats or kayaks at night on small shads or poppers. There are loads of snappers at the docks for young anglers. The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported a non-stop bite today from sea bass, fluke, bluefish, a couple of bonito, and especially chub mackerel that were hitting bare hooks. The Big Mohawk from that port had a fine day of fluking with many limits and a pool fish of about 8 pounds. They sail at 6:30 a.m. Thursday. Capt. Stan Zagleski has been fishing in moderately rough bottoms offshore with his Elaine B. II from Bahrs in Highlands and doing well with keeper fluke plus sea bass. Anglers had to work harder yesterday in a calm sea, but there was a good drift on Wednesday. Casting in Shark River was slow this morning, though Vinny D'Anton of Wall caught a mini-striper on a Zoom jig tight away, and then added a small blue on a Chug Bug. He later moved to the Spring Lake surf to release a small striper on the Chug Bug. After getting the tail clipped off my jig by snappers in the Spring Lake surf, I moved further south and got away from them to catch my first stargazer of the year --a fat 14-incher on a 1/8-ounce Storm Searchbait.