Thats great news Fred! Can't wait to drop a hook.
SUMMER FLOUNDER.......YES.
Put a rental out yesterday for back bay stripers. They had a few hits but didn't hook up. About 3pm it got quiet so I jumped in the rental and headed just off the dock to make a few drifts.
White one ounce bucktail. Cut the hairs off just behind the hook. One inch piece of herring that was caught and salted last May. (refrigerated, not frozen)
Ran the motor and controlled my drift. Fished for 45 minutes on the last of the incoming tide. Four summer flounder up to 21 inches.
Hope this is a sign of things to come.
White one ounce bucktail. Cut the hairs off just behind the hook. One inch piece of herring that was caught and salted last May. (refrigerated, not frozen)
Ran the motor and controlled my drift. Fished for 45 minutes on the last of the incoming tide. Four summer flounder up to 21 inches.
Hope this is a sign of things to come.
1 - 20 of 29 Posts
So that were you were, stopped by with coffee at 3pm.
No body home...
No body home...
a free coffee and he missed it i'm sure he is dispondent.Originally posted by Eric G:
So that were you were, stopped by with coffee at 3pm.
No body home...
Good goin Fred! That is good news for the bays.
Capt. Block, it's still early & every year is diff, as fluke generally don't return to the same waters each year. They say after migrating straight out in the fall, prevailing northerly currents in the spring take fluke further north each year in their spring migration. This is based on the fact that the biggest & oldest fluke are found in the most northern waters of their range, but I'm not sure it's ever been proven..I know they get some bigguns in RI, MA, etc.. Regardless, based on my observations of our NJ fluke fishery, I've allway's beleived that colder Ocean temps w/out a doubt bring the fluke into the bays in greater numbers and they will stay there as long as the water temps remain to their liking. I've also made the generalization that some years if temps remained colder than normal we'd get more fish in the southern half of the state..we'd do great in the DE bay while our buddies up north in the Raritan do squat, and vice versa w/ warmer than normal spring water temps. Once the fish are where they are comfortable w/ the water temp, bait will dictate their movements, but never over water temp!
What the heck, I'm bored..reminiscing on old times, things were different. Could be winters were colder, fluke were more abundant, the ecossytem was differnent, competition was certainly less, etc.. but back in the 80's & early 90's we'd have no problem making good catches in the back bays every spring, in the DE Bay or the inshore lumps and rips throughout the summer, then once the mullet run started right around labor day, the fluke would pour out of the inlets and off the inshore lumps to waters w/in a mile of the beaches and limits would abound! I caught my biggest fluke ever just off Diamond beach during one of these runs. Then come October, the lumps out to 15 miles would hold fluke that would gorge themselves on sandeels before heading offshore. This was the most furocious fluke fishing got, one did'nt even need bait, I would certainly bring sand eels along, but they were so aggressive, you could jig them up w/ metal!
Here's hoping for a good year, if so, don't tell the NMFS about it
[ 04-18-2005, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: CaptG ]
Capt. Block, it's still early & every year is diff, as fluke generally don't return to the same waters each year. They say after migrating straight out in the fall, prevailing northerly currents in the spring take fluke further north each year in their spring migration. This is based on the fact that the biggest & oldest fluke are found in the most northern waters of their range, but I'm not sure it's ever been proven..I know they get some bigguns in RI, MA, etc.. Regardless, based on my observations of our NJ fluke fishery, I've allway's beleived that colder Ocean temps w/out a doubt bring the fluke into the bays in greater numbers and they will stay there as long as the water temps remain to their liking. I've also made the generalization that some years if temps remained colder than normal we'd get more fish in the southern half of the state..we'd do great in the DE bay while our buddies up north in the Raritan do squat, and vice versa w/ warmer than normal spring water temps. Once the fish are where they are comfortable w/ the water temp, bait will dictate their movements, but never over water temp!
What the heck, I'm bored..reminiscing on old times, things were different. Could be winters were colder, fluke were more abundant, the ecossytem was differnent, competition was certainly less, etc.. but back in the 80's & early 90's we'd have no problem making good catches in the back bays every spring, in the DE Bay or the inshore lumps and rips throughout the summer, then once the mullet run started right around labor day, the fluke would pour out of the inlets and off the inshore lumps to waters w/in a mile of the beaches and limits would abound! I caught my biggest fluke ever just off Diamond beach during one of these runs. Then come October, the lumps out to 15 miles would hold fluke that would gorge themselves on sandeels before heading offshore. This was the most furocious fluke fishing got, one did'nt even need bait, I would certainly bring sand eels along, but they were so aggressive, you could jig them up w/ metal!
Here's hoping for a good year, if so, don't tell the NMFS about it
[ 04-18-2005, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: CaptG ]
Way to go Fred, Great news!!!
CaptG, thanks for the info, very interesting. I hope we will see a large number of fluke in the bay. I guess it is a wait and see game. I just hope the fluke find plenty of bait in the bay and that the whale did not eat all the bait. Maybe the whale in the river is a good omen, it was following the bait. I hope other big fish will follow the bait in the bay also.
Maybe the whale in the river is a good omen, it was following the bait. I hope other big fish will follow the bait in the bay also. 
You and me both Fred. Here's hoping for a real good fluke season. Thanks for the report!Originally posted by chunking:
Fished for 45 minutes on the last of the incoming tide. Four summer flounder up to 21 inches.
Hope this is a sign of things to come.
BTW water depth
shallow?1 - 20 of 29 Posts
