Fluke'nNuts Tourney Results and Analysis

We had our annual mid-week fluke tourney on Thursday, June 3rd. There were 42 participants in the tourney with only 39 keeper fluke. No suprise there since very few people have posted good results this year. The Tournament did however give a good cross section of our area and how futile it has been this year. With a 9:30 high tide all of the boats had the opportunity to fish several hours on both sides of the tide. We had boats fishing in the Delaware Bay, the back bays of Avalon, Sea Isle, Wildwood, Somers Point, Margate, Ventnor, Absecon, not to mention the G.E and Wreck Inlets. There were what I consider to be some pretty good fisherman in the group using every lure, live and dead bait available. The winning crew of the "Bent Hook" traveled from Margate to Black Point in Absecon to find no fish, then made the long move to Kennedy Park in Somers Point to finally land The three winning fluke (total weight 9.28) and heaviest fluke at 3.54. Last years tournament with 20 knot winds, rain and an unfavorable tide produced several fish over four pounds and two over five pounds. Not to mention the ratio last year of 3 fish per man compared to this years less than one per man. All in all though it was a beautiful day and a great opportunity to leave the house at 4:00 AM and not return until 9:00 PM. For those interested the entry was $75 per boat which included a great hat, four cash prizes, and a happy hour and buffet at Schooners in Somers Point. The weigh-in was at the Dolphin Dock. Next year I hope to have a few Barners in the Tourney. This years representative was the crew of "On The Rocks" although they forgot about fluke fishing when they ran into the striped ones.