South, South, South – it’s been the wind lately and has definitely affected the fluke bite. You have to fish very hard to put keepers in the boat – meaning working the lure and checking it often. Lots of grass and weed to foul your baits – fluke are not vegetarians so you need to keep the baits clean. On the incoming I’m still reading low 50’s – which surely puts the kabosh on the fluke bite.
Early in the week, I had Nick Gennari and his son Michael on a 4hr bay fluke trip – the two did a pretty good job jigging them up – unfortunately all of the fish were short. Again, same story a few in the 17.5 inch range, but still not legal to keep so back they go. We fished some of the usual spots but the key was to finding cleaner water – the bay water was pretty dirty. We tried for some blues in the inlet area, but the tide/swell made it too dangerous for safe fishing.
I had a chance to make a few drifts solo later that evening – I ended up with over a dozen short fluke and a nice 25.5inch fish weighing 6.3lbs. There are some keepers there, but you really have to work for them.
Later in the week, I had Eric Johnson of Yardley, PA and his son in law Cesar Olmos of Yardley, PA fishing our backwaters. From the week of southwinds – the incoming water temps were a chilly 53-55F at the inlet – which made for some very thick fog. The duo threw soft plastics hoping for weakfish or striped bass, but could only muster a hit. So we headed to the fluke areas and the team jigged S&S BigEyes nailing close to 30 fluke with two fat keepers (18, 18) to show for their efforts. Again there are a lot of fish in the 17 1/2 to 17 3/4 range, but unfortunately all have to go back. Towards the end of the trip we were going to try to score with some cocktail blues, but unfortunately were chased in by thunderstorms.
I will be available to run charter fishing trips up to 7 days a week (weather permitting) until September. We will start running our ocean fluke trips as the temps warm up. In the bay, our trips will focus on fishing around the tide – we use light tackle gear and quality tackle on all of our backbay trips. All gear, tackle, bait, ice, fish-cleaning, etc. is included on all chartered trips. If interested in booking, give me a ring 609-290-7709 or book through the website.
Capt. Brett Taylor ~ Reel Reaction Sportfishing ~ 609-290-7709
www.reelreactioncharters.com
nice fish