If the summer flounder season were a football game, we’d be well inside the fourth quarter. Fortunately, it looks like the fluke have finally decided to play.
For the second weekend in a row, the improving fluke bite was interrupted with some nasty, windy weather.
However, it looks like the blow actually helped the bite.
Since the start of the week, the reports all indicate more and bigger fluke being caught with plenty of big fish landed north of the Shark River Inlet.
Capt. George Bachert on the Angler out of Atlantic Highlands reported Monday’s fluking was the best of the year so for.
Monday’s pool winner was an 8-pound, 10-ounce fluke caught by Ray Slodowski of Toms River and it was worth $1,360 in the monthly pool. Capt. Bachert said there were plenty of limit catches on the day along with a few fish in the 6-to 7-pound range.
Anglers also landed limit catches of sea bass.
Capt. Bachert said the fluke were waiting with mouths open at the first stop on Tuesday’s trip.
The pool winner was an 8-pound, 9-ounce fluke caught by Bill Karg from Millington. He and his brother Tom caught 12 keepers between them and kept their legal limit. Joe Jacob from Old Bridge got his limit, including a 7 pounder.
Capt. Ron Santee on the Fishermen said his fares are also taking advantage of the better fishing, pulling fish up to 8 pounds since the start of the week. He also said the bottom is paved with sea bass and they’re chewing up plenty of Gulp!
Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet has been getting better reports on the fluke, especially from those willing to travel to rough bottom a couple of miles offshore.
The hot bite, he said, remains the porgy fishing, with anglers filling their coolers with the non-stop action.
Sciortino said they are biting all over the place and mentioned the Tin Can Grounds, the Knoll and Chapel Hill as just a few of the spots where the fishing is on fire. It’s great family fishing, Sciortino said, with plenty of bites and loads of fun for the kids.
He also said the snappers are everywhere in the bay, creeks and marinas along with blue claw crabs.
Mel Martens at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright called the crabbing fantastic in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers. They haven’t been able to keep traps in stock. He also mentioned the great porgy fishing.
Small bass are in the rivers at night, hitting shads, bucktails and small plugs.
He, too, is getting word of better fluking, both from the boats and in the surf. A buddy of his caught well over a dozen from the beach. Unfortunately, all were short.
The surf is holding plenty of snappers and I caught one on a popper in Ocean Grove on Wednesday, then livelined it off my favorite jetty. A few minutes later, the snapper got whacked pretty hard by a 24-inch fluke that made for a delicious dinner. I’ll be trying that again.
Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said the fluke fishing came alive after last weekend’s storm and the fleet out of Belmar has been limiting out with fish in excess of 9 pounds.
Jigs baited with Gulp! white 5-inch swimming mullets and 6-inch pink shine grubs have been favorite baits.
Capt. Pete Sykes on Parker Pete’s Sportfishing out of Belmar reported excellent fluking since Monday. The boat limited out on two of the trips with anglers ending up playing catch and release. Many of the fish have been in the 6- to 7-pound range.
Capt. Sykes said the bucktailers have been getting the best of the action. There have been some nice sea bass in the mix as well.
Parker Pete’s Sportfishing still has some open dates and the clock is ticking on the fluke season.
Back in the Shark River, Matthews said the largest fluke caught there this week was 6½ pounds. He also said the snappers are thick so bring the kids down for some fun with the small blues.
Capt. Rich Falcone on the Golden Eagle out of Belmar has been splitting his time chasing bluefish and bottom fishing for fluke and sea bass.
He reported Wednesday’s trip brought a super day of fishing with a terrific sea bass bite, with bluefish, mackerel, fluke and a few bonito in the mix.
He said he didn’t have to go far to find the fish and it was non-stop action all day. All of the fish were on bait, he said, except for the mackerel. They were hitting bare hooks.
Bob Caracozzo at the Reel Seat in Brielle said the fluking definitely picked up, with very good reports coming from boats fishing to the north. The bite has also been good at the Axel Carlson and Sea Girt reefs, but the fish are just a little harder to find.
He also said the tuna bite came back to the south in the vicinity of the 28-Mile Wreck with a mix of bluefin and yellowfin tuna being caught.
While the bluefish have been hard to pin down, Caracozzo said big ones in the 12-15-pound range invaded the Manasquan Inlet on Sunday and stayed all day. Small stripers continue to hit shads and plugs in the river at night and the snappers are starting to show there as well.
The fluke bite is much better, said Greg Bogan from Brielle Bait and Tackle. Boats fishing out of the Manasquan Inlet reported lots of limit catches with fish from 6 to 9 pounds.
He also said the ling and winter flounder fishing at the Mud Hole continues to be excellent.
Porgies, he added, can be found south of Raritan Bay off Elberon and blues and mackerel are starting to appear, but not with any great frequency.
Folks fishing local ponds in the Wall area are also catching plenty of largemouth bass and catfish.
The freshwater bite farther north has been a mixed bag, but generally, the fishing has been good.
Steve at Garden State Bow and Reel in Stockholm said he’s been getting reports of good small and largemouth bass fishing in area reservoirs and private lakes. One of the bigger fish was a 6-pound largemouth landed from a private lake.
Canistear Reservoir is giving up a lot of smallmouth bass right now but there are some largemouth in there, too.
He added the musky anglers are fishing Echo Lake and while not a whole lot of fish have been caught, there have been a few up to 53 inches. The channel catfish are biting well in the Delaware River as well, he said
Timmy at Tackle and Field in Wanaque said the action has been a little slow. The walleye have gone deep in the warmer water, so he hasn’t heard much in the way of them.
He did say the large and smallmouth bass fishing has been good in local ponds and lakes and Lake Hopatcong is giving up some nice bass. The catfishing has been good there as well.
Jim at Behre Bait and Tackle in Lebanon reported that the lake trout bite is good at Round Valley Reservoir. Meat Heads and flutter spoons fished on the bottom, around 80 to 100 feet, are the way to go. Jim said bait hasn’t always been easy to find but strip baits are working for the Meat Heads.
Boats trolling small Rapalas are picking up rainbows about 20 to 35 feet down over water 60 to 100 feet deep.
At Spruce Run, it’s all about the stripers. He’s been fishing there almost every night and it’s been good. Some nights, he said, he’s caught up to 20 fish.
Slow trolling shiners or herring at around 1.2 miles per hour on naked rigs about 100 feet behind the boat has been very productive, he said.
Martin at Fins & Furs in Newfoundland said the landlocked salmon at Lake Wawayanda continue to bite on shiners.
The smallmouth bite at Clinton Reservoir has been good and the pickerel are hitting there as well. He did hear of some walleye still biting at Canistear Reservoir.
Larry at Newark Sinker Company in Pine Brook reported good pike and catfishing in the Passaic River, but a lot of his customers went south in the last couple of days to get in on the better fluke fishing. He was on the Angler last Monday and said the fishing was great.
Fishing Forecast for Northern New Jersey
There aren’t many weekends left in the fluke season and now that the fish are biting, it’s time to go. Fish up to 10 pounds were taken since the start of the week and the weather looks good for the next few days. Jump on a party boat or head to the beach. They’re in the surf hitting bait and Gulp!
The sea bass are still thick and that season closes on Aug. 31 with no word forthcoming on the fall regulations, so who knows what will happen there. There have been some big ones, so go get your two for the day.
You can also get in on the very hot porgy fishing and fill your freezer with these tasty fish.
Plus, it’s snapper and crab time. The snappers are everywhere and the crabs are hanging on the pilings.