NJSALTFISH.com

1000's of NJ Saltwater Fishing Reports, Dozens of Sources, Maps, Wrecks, Historical Search

Posted on July 15, 2019 Whale provides more excitement than fluke in Raritan Bay. Scott Leadbeater did pretty well with fluke yesterday in Raritan Bay, but that was nothing compared to a relatively close call with a whale. In trying to copy his account, I ended up with duplications and boxes. Please scroll down and over any duplications I didn’t get out. As you know well, there no telling what you might see or find during a fishing trip at sea.  Well I had an amazing moment yesterday. Now I might expect this somewhere off-shore, or at the Rocks.  But where I was and with the activity around on a Saturday morning, is what was amazing to me. I was fluke fishing, and actually putting together a decent catch.  Location the Knoll.  Drifting the mussel  beds in roughly 20ft depth.  On the outgoing tide drift I was working my lines, facing to the west as the drift was to the east.  Suddenly I heard what sounded like a high pressure hose let loose behind me.  I turned and there was a whale surfaced and blowing it’s air spout, only 60ft away.  I say 60 ft because my boat is a 20ft cc and I swear it was only 3 boat lengths away !  It was huge !  3 other boats near by suddenly were hollering excitement also.  The whale appeared to be 6-8 ft across at it’s back. I saw maybe 20 ft of it at mid section.  So the thing might have been 50-60ft.  Water rolled off the brown-black whale like it was a submarine. (I used to see subs a lot when fishing at Jax Fla).  It was stunning.  It went under water directly beneath my small boat, I know that because it’s next surface and air blow was maybe 100ft on my port side.  It stayed there for a moment, blowing another time near the same area, and then disappeared.  I had a few words with the other boat closest to me and to the whale.  They were as shocked as I was. Do you have any idea what kind of whale this might have been ?  And what was so surprising was where this took place and at 9:30 on a Saturday morning with boat traffic and fishing lines all over the area. Never know what you might find when venturing out on the sea.” Scott Leadbeater had surprisingly good fluking yesterday. but was more excited about a near-encounter with a whale on his Aquasport from Atlantic Highlands. s detailed below:   As you know well, there’s no telling what you might see or find during a fishing trip at sea.  Well I had an amazing moment yesterday. Now I might expect this somewhere off-shore, or at the Rocks.  But where I was and with the activity around on a Saturday morning, is what was amazing to me. I was fluke fishing, and actually putting together a decent catch.  Location the Knoll.  Drifting the mussel beds in roughly 20ft depth.  On the outgoing tide drift I was working my lines, facing to the west as the drift was to the east.  Suddenly I heard what sounded like a high pressure hose let loose behind me.  I turned and there was a whale surfaced and blowing its air spout, only 60ft away.  I say 60 ft because my boat is a 20ft cc and I swear it was only 3 boat lengths away !  It was huge !  3 other boats near by suddenly were hollering excitement also.  The whale appeared to be 6-8 ft across at it’s back. I saw maybe 20 ft of it at mid section.  So the thing might have been 50-60ft.  Water rolled off the brown-black whale like it was a submarine. (I used to see subs a lot when fishing at Jax Fla).  It was stunning.  It went under water directly beneath my small boat, I know that because it’s next surface and air blow was maybe 100ft on my port side.  It stayed there for a moment, blowing another time near the same area, and then disappeared.  I had a few words with the other boat closest to me and to the whale.  They were as shocked as I was. Do you have any idea what kind of whale this might have been ?  And what was so surprising was where this took place and at 9:30 on a Saturday morning with boat traffic and fishing lines all over the area. Never know what you might find when venturing out on the sea.” Fin whales have been most common in our area, and it’s surprising that there aren’t many close calls when striper fishermen are drifting in the schools of bunkers they feed on. They used to be unheard of in the bay, but have become fairly common there in the last few years.   To avoid any confusion about party boat tuna trips listed yesterday, the Jamaica’s Monday trip is in July 21 at midnight. They did well Saturday with blues and bonito plus a Spanish mackerel — but not as well as the previous day when there some bluefish limits. Kevin Brown of Manahawkin won the pool with a 5-pound blue. Dan Rothman reported that the bay was a bit rough in a stronger west wind than predicted and he only found some short fluke off Officer’s Row for the kids aboard before heading up to the Navesink where there was a weed problem in a fast current. I tried all day to get results from yesterday’s Raritan Bay Anglers Club Fluke Tournament , but had no success. Same thing last year. The Sandy Hook Bay Anglers Fluke Tournament wound up at 6, but calls for info haven’t been returned as yet.  Hopefully, I’ll have that info in tomorrow’s blog. At Belmar, the Golden Eagle only got into only some blues and bonito offshore, possibly because bluefin tuna were in the click. A 70-pounder broke off and 4 or 5 others were spotted. All the action was on jigs. The Big Mohawk reported fluking was a struggle today after two good days. There were some limits yesterday. They sail at 6 in the morning. The forecast tomorrow is for north winds at 5-10 knots shifting to southwest in the afternoon. F

Report Conditions

Tides

Ocean Temps

Moon and Sun

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Web Analytics