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Captain's Focus

Boaters encountered a rougher ocean than expected today, and were also surprised by light rain at the same time the Weather Service was predicting a zero percent chance of rain. Much nicer weather is forecast for Sunday as the fluke season concludes. I kept my feet on the ground by fishing Point Pleasant Canal with light spinning tackle and sandworm scraps from Tuesday. The outgoing current continued long after it was supposed to slack, but I released four blackfish that included a legal 15 1/4-incher which took me into bottom -- but came out when I slacked the line. I thought I had hooked a bigger tog when a fish started running when hooked. That turned out to be a 21-inch striper. It was a variety hour of fishing as I also released very small sea bass, a bergall and a toadfish. The Ocean Explorer from Belmar cancelled today due to the rough ocean, but will be concluding Sunday with a Marathon from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. They'll be fishing deep water rocks and wrecks to give fares a shot at beating the seasonal pool leader of 9.12 pounds for about $5,000. There were no fluke reports from the north, but the Fishermen out of Atlantic Highlands reported full bucket catches of porgies after a hot afternoon bite when the ocean calmed a bit. Grumpy's Tackle n Seaside Park reports small blues are taking mullet baits in the surf plus lures at times. Justin Carl cast a darter to catch a 29-inch, 8.15-pound striper. Ed Zakrowski got his last minute fluke on Gulp -- a 24-inch, 4.85-pounder. Matt Slobodjian reports from Jim's Tackle in Cape May that "The fluke fishing ended just about the same as it has been. The boats who did the best were running to the wrecks on the 20 Fathom line. That's tough fishing unless conditions are perfect. There have been a few more croakers showing up. Some are just outside of the inlet and some are in the rips. There are also plenty of small blues and weakfish in the rips . The mullet run is on. It was a little slow during the week, but with the cold front moving through Saturday it picked right back up. There are mostly small blues on the beach front. The Point also is loaded with blues and weakfish, and a few small bass are in the mix. Offshore the white marlin bite is still very good for the boats that could get out. There were plenty of fish in the Baltimore and Poorman's Canyons. Still not hearing of any good tuna bite in our canyons. The best is still to our south. Don't know how long our boats will be running."

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