Pictured Above: Capt. John Contello of Just Sayin Sportfishing Charters caught the fluke of a lifetime, a 14-pounder, over the July 4th weekend.
There’s plenty of fish to catch, just not big enough to keep.
It’s a familiar lament when it comes to fluke fishing, especially at this time of year. Keepers have been hard to come by.
But there were some encouraging signs this past week, chief among them was the 14-pound doormat caught by Capt. John “Johnny Bucktails” Contello of Just Saying Sport Fishing Charters out of Keyport. Other party and charter boat captains reported an improvement in the fluking with a better ratio of keepers to shorts. However, it’s still not enough to keep everyone happy.
In the meantime, the tuna fishing remains red hot, anglers fishing the bottom are getting all the ling they want, sea bass are plentiful and there are triggerfish, kingfish and other species around to keep folks occupied.
Rick Hebert at Tackle World in Rochelle Park was among those having a hard time finding fluke for the cooler. He fished with three buddies on the Fourth of July and boxed a total of four keepers among them.
No one, he said, is having a problem getting their limit of sea bass, which is just two fish. His offshore customers, he added, are having a great time with the tuna.
Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet reported lots and lots of short fluke around but there are more keepers in the mix.
Sciortino said porgies are starting to show up on the local rock piles and there have been some nice weakfish caught in Raritan Bay. Zoom baits soaked in Fin-essence shedder crab oil have been getting the weakies.
He also reported kingfish, blues and fluke in the Sandy Hook surf.
Mel Martens at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright reported short fluke in the surf with the odd keeper coming ashore now and then.
The fluking has improved in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers, he added, as has the crabbing. The blue claws are starting to hang from the pilings. Small stripers continue to bite in the rivers as well and snappers have appeared.
There are lots of triggerfish on the beaches, Martens said, hitting worms and clams. Brian Beidinger and his sons picked up a couple of nice ones off the sand earlier this week. For the freshwater guys, Martens said the bass fishing at the Manasquan Reservoir has been very good for the past week.
Mike Gleason at Tak Waterman in Long Branch said there are plenty of short fluke in the Long Branch surf with a keeper showing up now and then.
The striper fishing slowed up some, but there are still shorts being caught from the beach on plugs and sand crabs.
Spanish mackerel are around, too, but it’s hit or miss for those. If you find one, he added, there should be more around.
Blues and kingfish are in the surf as well, with the blues hitting metal and the kingfish going for worms and clams.
There have been loads of kingfish in the Ocean Grove surf. I’ve been catching them on small bits of clam on store-bought kingfish rigs for the past couple of days. When they’re biting, it’s one after another with a few double-headers.
One double-header on Tuesday was a small striper and bluefish that hit the clam baits. There were also snappers chasing spearing in the wash.
Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said a lot of his customers have been having a lot of fun targeting the abundant triggerfish and kingfish.
He, too, reported an improvement in the number of keeper fluke being landed with an 8-pound, 10-ounce fluke caught in the Shark River. The angler was 9-year-old MacKenzie Lose who was fishing with her grandfather.
Capt. Bobby Quinn on the Ocean Explorer out of Belmar reported finding better fluking south of the Shark River Inlet on Wednesday with keepers up to 7 pounds. Sea bass helped fill out the catches.
Capt. Pete Sykes on Parker Pete’s Sportfishing said there are keeper fluke around, you just have to work hard for them. The rough bottom is holding the bigger fish, he said, and he’s got a shared charter for Monday, July 15 that will specifically target those areas.
In the meantime, he’s been filling the coolers with ling, sea bass and the occasional keeper fluke.
Capt. Rich Falcone on the Golden Eagle out of Belmar took an offshore trip on Wednesday and scored big on bonito and bluefish. He reported double- and triple-headers on both the blues and bonito with everything caught on jigs and teasers.
Capt. Jay Richardella of Side Job Charters out of Belmar has been spending lot of time offshore as well catching bluefin tuna, mahi-mahi, Spanish mackerel and bonito in the vicinity of the Atlantic Princess. There have been some big blues out there, too, he said.
The canyon fishing, he reported, has been excellent as well with yellowfin tuna, mahi-mahi and white marlin being caught.
Dave Arbeitman at the Reel Seat in Brielle said the fluking in the ocean is getting better on a daily basis and everyone is getting their allotted sea bass.
There are keeper fluke being caught in the Manasquan Rivers as well and the short bass are in there at night hitting shads and plugs. There are also lots of triggerfish at the inlet and on the beaches.
He’s still getting excellent reports on the bluefin fishing with the tuna being caught on jigs, big poppers and on the troll.
Arbeitman added that the tilefishing has been very good as well and he’s heading out to the deep on Monday aboard the Voyager out of Point Pleasant.
Greg Bogan at Brielle Bait and Tackle said the fishing is pretty good right now with lots of choices. The boats out of Bogan’s Basin are doing very well with ling, sea bass and winter flounder.
He, too, reported keeper fluke in the Manasquan River and good crabbing in the river as well. Small snappers have also showed up.
There are Spanish mackerel and small blues off the beaches and he’s had several reports of houndfish being caught from the sand south of the Manasquan Inlet. They’ve been hitting metal and epoxy lures.
Bass and blues are also being caught in the Point Pleasant Canal at night on live eels.
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Best bets for the Weekend
There’s lots of choices this weekend with better fluking in store as the water warms. Boat and beach anglers have been reporting plenty of shorts with an increasing number of keepers. Gulp, killies, bucktails and squid are all good choices.
Beach anglers can fish for fluke, triggerfish, blues, bass and kingfish. The best bet is the kingfish. They seem to be all over the place right now and will hit pieces of clam and worms. They’re excellent table fare. Have fun.
like, good info