We've been very busy the last week or so, and it's been hard to keep up with the reports.  In general, fluke fishing has been good both up north and on our local reefs and hills, while bluefishing for the cocktails 10 miles NE of our inlet still is very good, wit some bonito mixing in.  ALL PICS ARE IN THE GALLERY!

Here are the reports: 

Monday 8/19:  Had Joe S's 5-man charter on board today for some light tackle bluefish jigging. Left the dock @ 730 and Ran back to where we and the fleet have been catching the smaller blues the last month and read the motherlode - dropped the jigs and had immediate action with cocktail and taylor sized bluefish.
We basically had 1-4 fish on at a time for the rest of the morning - the action was as good as it was when it started a few weeks back and we held the fish on all morning long. The only time we didn't catch was when we weren't reading them.The fish were spitting up 3-4" sandeels, some were alive when they got spit up on deck. There are LOADS of sandeels in this area.The guys wound up boating well over 150+ bluefish in the 1-4# range, with a most being 1-3#. Sanjay got our only bonito of the day, a nice 4#er that put up a great fight on a trout rod, and Vinny was high hook landing over 50 himself and he also hooked into a cownose before the hook pulled.Wound up keeping the crew's limit of 75, + the 1 bonito. Great morning - the guys were done by 1230 and we were back to the dock by 1. Great trip with happy anglers!

Sunday 8/18:  Had a full 6 man crew for a fluke trip today. Ran right back to where we left them biting Saturday afternoon and had fish on immediately. First 2 drifts - 4 keepers. Thought we were gonna have another good day.After those 4, things went downhill fast. The NE wind picked up, seas got a bit sporty, and drifting conditions got a tad bit fast. We bounced around, rockpile to rockpile, tried a few hills, tried some spots in on the sand, and we had nothing but shorts.
Later in the day we got a call of some fish being caught a bit north of where we were, so we headed there, and caught even more shorts.  One last stop on a hill to the E of our inlet put 1 more keeper in the boat along with a few more shorts. At that point the wind again started getting some more teeth and most of the crew had had enough.  At 2 we headed for the dock a little early with just 5 keepers and maybe 30 shorts for the day - SI Frank led the way with 3 keepers (real good job by him on a day like today). Very tough day - yesterday was one for the books, today (sunday) was the polar opposite! Great crew of mostly new guys to the boat, hope to see the guys back again in the future!

Saturday 8/17:  Had the FSOS tourney today with the regular crew of Larry, Fred, Ryan and Brian along with Kenny and I.  Broke the inlet early and had lines in around 6 am. Got a great sunrise to start the day Fishing to start off was a pick, and we had some nice fish flying over the rails early.At around 7 Fred decked a personal best, 8.55# fluke - congrats Fred!!! We continued to pick, slowly, and were putting a nice catch together. Once we stopped getting bites, we moved to another piece, and got a few more, and it was that way until around 10 AM.At 10 we made a move to deeper water offshore, but that simply stunk as we had just a couple of shorts.  So, we moved back inshore to finish up the day. Got some more keepers, quite a few more shorts, and finally got a real good bite going at the very end of the day before we had to shoot in for weigh-ins where Kenny got a nice 6# fish + 4 more keepers to top off the box. 
When we weighed in Fred's 8.55#er was 3rd, but since then I believe that has changed. Either way, great fish and congrats to Fred. Ryan, Brian and Fred all had limits +, Kenny caught his limit, while Larry and I also put some nice fish in the box. We wound up easily boxing a boat limit of fluke + (probably had ~36 keepers for the day) keeping only our legal limit.  Great day fluking with some great friends. Back at it tomorrow, hope it holds up!!

Friday 8/16:  Today we ran another FTYP marathon trip with Mr. X, Ryan, Fred, Bill H, and Pete M - we had one fare back out last minute because of an emergency work commitment. I felt bad for him.Since we've been fishing the same general areas for weeks, I decided to take a look in a different direction today (with 2 slow trips in a row) and took a loooong run up the beach. First drop just had a handful of shorts. Second drop the same. Third drop, a little further up the line, more of the same.Finally made a move to deeper water, and found very good action with shorts and keepers. Drifted this area, "carpet bombed" it for about 2 hours, and pounded out 17 keepers with 3X as many shorts coming up. Once we lost the drift, the bite slowed, so we made a move to deeper water where there was some current, and again found a bite again with shorts and keepers in the mix.  Once that dried up, we made another move a little northeast of where we were, and it was game on again. For the last 2 hours, we plucked 2-4 keepers per drift until it was time to go home. Lots of nice quality fish on that last drop, topped by Fred's 7# er and a couple other 3-6#ers. Fred also decked a 24", ~5# seabass which was released unharmed. God was that fish lucky the season's closed For the day, we wound up boating well over 100 fluke, and the guys easily boxed their limit of keeper fluke for the day. A good portion of the keepers were in the 17.5-19" range, but we also had enough of those 20-23" fish to make it interesting. Fred was high hook again today, finishing one fish shy of a triple limit (he had 14 keepers!) and took the big fish of the day. Today was simply a great day of fishing with a great bunch of regulars - and another day of 30 + keepers for the boat!!! Back at it tomorrow for the FSOS tourney, looking for a slob

Thursday 8/15:  Had the guys from the SWABC on board today for one of their annual charters. Great group of guys as usual led by Dennis and Frank.
Ran back to where we've been catching, and found shorts and still a 1 knot drift early. Bounced around, finally got our first keeper when we went offshore around 8 and got a couple more.  By 930 the wind laid down enough for us to work off a bit more on some rough stuff, and the first piece we hit had good life when we had a drift where we picked a good amount of shorts and some nice keepers.  Second spot was dead, third was loaded with shorts, and the fourth offshore had a few shorts and 1 keeper.We then shot back inshore to finish up the day and got a couple more keepers and a couple more shorts.  Overall, it was a tough day. Lots of short fluke, some keepers, and just another grinder of a day where we had to hunt and peck to scratch up a catch. We wound up with 10 in the box - biggest went 5# by Dennis Jr. All but one of those keepers was over 20", so we did have some quality fish but just not enough of them.  

Wednesday 8/14:  Had another FTYP marathon trip today with Fred, Bill H, Eddie, and Tom K. Ran back to the same general area where we've been catching them, but inshore to start to explore a bit with the already cranking NW wind. Had lines in by 620 and had our first keeper by 625. Next 2 drifts each produced a keeper and shorts, so we stayed at it. By 715, that bite we had completely dried up and by 8-830, the NW "hawk" was truly in town as it was BLOWING.  Fished in tight, tried the deep, moved to a few different areas, all we caught were shorts and 2 weakfish.Finally got a call my buddy had a good bite going on back where we started, so we got there, and the bite was OK - picked 4 more keepers there and then it again dried up.Tried a few more spots before we went home but that was it. At one point we were dragging bait with 16 or more ounces. That was a true delight LOL   Wound up with 7 keepers to 3.5#, 2 weakfish, and a couple of very lucky seabass. Overall a very tough day with the conditions, as the wind was truly relentless all day.

Monday 8/12: Had Hurricane Dave's charter on today for a fluke trip. Ran out to where we've been catching them and had good life right away, picking away at keepers and shorts. Our third keeper of the morning was Silent Don's personal best, just shy of 8#. Real nice fish!  Bounced around most of the morning, picking a few here and there, nothing spectacular though.   We then made another move later in the morning and got into some more life with more nice keepers coming up and some good short life, and we continued with a slow but steady pick throughout the rest of the day.  For the day, Craig, Barry, Don, Randy, and Dave all had limits of fluke -- we had 6 fish over 4#, with several in the 3-5# bracket, and 3 over 6#. Top fish was Don's which was mentioned earlier. We wound up with a real nice catch of 26 keepers + 1 ling. Real nice day with a great, fun crew!

Saturday 8/10: Had Paul's charter on today. Ran out to where we've been catching the fluke and had a very slow pick -- the swell definitely had them off. The guys decided to try in on the beach for croakers - NG. Then we switched gears again and headed up the line for bluefish... Bite wasn't as good as it's been but the guys still wrecked them and we held 2-4 fish on at a time. In 2 drifts, we were done! Boxed up a load and landed about 75. Finished up fluking, and got a few more. Wound up keeping about 30 blues and had 4 keeper fluke to 4#.

Sunday 8/11: FTYP trip today with Tom, Scott, Steve, Andrew, and Pat Sr and Jr. Slow pick all day, till we got into a bite later. Ground out 19 nice keepers to 5#. Scott was on fire all day landing his limit + and getting the biggest fish of the day. Tough day, but the guys definitely worked hard at it and were rewarded with a nice mess of keepers.