NJSALTFISH.com

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

Captain's Focus

Though the weather didn't look good when I left home, the light rain stopped just as I started casting lures from shore in Shark River. The north wind was light, and conditions looked good on a strong outgoing tide. I had caught from one to three school stripers or bluefish during my previous seven trips there, but there wasn't a bump to be had. However, I spotted a killie bucket washed up in the rocks and was surprised to find it to be full of very lively killies. I figured that was an omen that I should try fluking. I was sure the surf would be too rough and dirty, so I cast for fluke in he south end of Point Pleasant Canal for the first time this year. I was just hoping to break the ice, and made a quick rig consisting of a light jig head at the bottom of my casting leader and a #2 freshwater leadered-hook looped into the swivel. Both hooks were baited with a killie that I cast and retrieved with my Canyon 3500 spinning reel and 7-foot Bogey custom rod.  There wasn't much doing on the end of the ebb, but as the current slowed the few anglers on hand started catching very small fluke from 7 1/2 to 8 inches. It seemed that was all there was until I hooked something a lot stronger on the first of the incoming. There wasn't a net available, but I managed to lead it over to a lower portion of the dock and pulled up a very fat 20-inch fluke which was released. I figured that was all the excitement I'd see, but another angler decked a 19 1/2-inch fluke from among the tiny ones -- and a woman was shocked by what looked like a 6-pound bluefish before it bit through her fluke leader. After a couple more tiny fluke, I was making my last couple of casts when I hooked something much bigger. That fish started running, and a bluefish in the 15-pound class cleared the surface with its gills flared out. I did a lot of scrambling to get around other rods, and fought the jumbo for about 10 minutes before it was exhausted alongside. A youngster tried to net it with a fluke net that was really too small, but I told him the trick with a big fish and a small net is to let the angler steer the head of the fish into the waiting net held just under the surface. Unfortunately, the blue was too heavy for him to lift and it slid out of the net while tangling the loose jig. After the head was in all that would have been necessary was to pull the net hoop just out of the water to secure the fish before two people could then pull it straight up hand-over-hand. Never try to swing a big fish up in any net as the handle will probably collapse.  An older youngster leaned over and removed the jig from the net, but grabbed the casting leader to try to get his hand in the flared gill when the light freshwater leader to the #2 hook holding the jumbo finally broke -- providing the release it was going to get in any case. Lots of unexpected excitement for routine fluking from shore! There's been a lot of that going on as the Seaside Park tackle shops report several big blues have been caught off local docks -- some by snapper fishermen. Grumpy's reports Eric Leby was at the shop when they opened today with one of four blues he caught last night in the bay on bunker chunks. His blue weighed 9 pounds.  Tony Arcabascio of Tony Maja Fishing Products was fishing with his grandchildren off the dock behind his house in Bayville when he ended up catching a 10-pound blue on a killie after a long fight on light spin. The last two days of northeast wind kept the fluke fleet in, but they'll all be at it on Thursday. The Golden Eagle from Belmar and the Queen Mary from Point Pleasant will be sailing for blues, bonito and little tunny. The summer by-catch sea bass fishery for two fish at a 12 1/2-inch minimum closes on Aug. 31 -- and doesn't reopen until Oct. 22 through Dec, 31 with a 15-fish bag at the same minimum. 

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