Posted on July 22, 2019 13-pound doormat eludes capture in Grandpa Savino Memorial Despite the intense heat Saturday, fluking was good for anglers entered in the Grandpa Savino Memorial Fluke Tournament. Walter Fisher of the sponsoring Staten Island Tuna Club said he and his wife stuck it out all day and caught about 40 fluke including keepers up to 5 1/2 pounds — which turned out to be a little too big for the Joey’s Custom Fluke Rod awarded to a 5-pounder. There was a doormat that won a lot o money, but that 11.45-pounder on Wandering Lady was still short of the 13-pound standard which would have payed off $25,000. Frank Noto’s crew won the three-fluke total prize with fish of 6.95 and 5.55 pounds added to the doormat for 23.95 pounds. Arthur Waldheim was the angler on all of those fluke.  Just a Fluke with Robert and Tommy Glynn was second with three fluke for 18.85 pounds, just ahead of Flatties & Fatties with 18.70 pounds. Frank Romano hit the 5-pound mark on the button to win the Joey’s custom rod while fishing on Joe Mattiolli’s Reel Life II. Bob Matthews reports from Fisherman’s Den in Belmar Marina that some 5-pound fluke have been caught in Shark River, while bigger fluke are coming from the ocean — including one over 11 pounds on the Big Mohawk. Kingfish and small stripers are in the surf, and snappers are at the docks.  Exciting news from Fisherman’s Den North in Atlantic Highlands was the weighing of a 67-pound cobia. All I could find out this afternoon was that it was caught offshore. Kingfish are so abundant in the surf that even I was able to catch a couple as Jerry Lasko and Maren Toleno were fishing for sharks at Bay Head yesterday evening. Those baits produced a small sand tiger release for Maren, and this morning she used a piece of kingfish to catch an exceptionally large cownose ray the Jerry estimated at 65 to 70 pounds after a long fight on the shark rod. There was a large quantity of bait in Bay Head this morning, but there were no predators on them — and nothing was being caught. Just what the bait was is still mystery. Bob Correll reports it was back in the evening, though he only saw one Spanish mackerel caught. Jim Hutchinson Sr. reports for the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association that the  “Starfish” under the captainship of Carl Sheppard has been finding some very good action on the inshore reefs and structure. On Monday the Howell family had an action filled day of bottom fishing. A calm day produced non-stop action on black sea bass. The crew caught over 40 fish with 6 large keeper sea bass and a ling for dinner. On Tuesday Captain Carl and mate Marlyn fished with a family of 8 from New York. The group caught over 50 fish and kept 19 bluefish, 1 Spanish mackerel, and 4 black sea bass. A goodly number of short flounder were caught and released.