Saturday, Debbie M was on board the Debbie M with Shannon Behre fishing in the Forked River Tuna Clubs 25th annual Ladies Catch of the Day Fluke fishing tournament. The ladies rocked it with Shannon taking first with a 5 pounder and Debbie taking second with a 4.2-pound flattie. Debbie also took first in the fun category of trash fish with a 4.1 pound clear-nosed skate. Debbie competed for the first few years this tournament was held and took first in fluke and first in bluefish. That is three first places out of four and the year she did not win a category she placed. Not a bad recorded. Now if she would learn to clean her catch…..

Who let the dogs out, who, who? Or should I say who let the cow-nosed rays out. I have seen squadrons of up to a dozen or more were cruising the inlet for the two hours I was there. The other day I had WoJo (Andrew) on board, and we doubled up on cow nose rays. Both fish were landed and released thanks to some precision boat handling on my part. The inlet has plenty of 2-4 pound blues around and schoolie stripers when the temperature is favorable. My go-to is poppers at dawn and BKDs when the sun comes up. With the schoolie bass being somewhat dependable as far as feeding, a Barnegat Bay Slam (striper, blue, and fluke) is not out of the question. In fact, I had a slam the other day and before that Matt Rozzi’s two young boys, Matt and Andrew, both had a slam. I like it when I can teach kids how to fish plastics.

Crabbing is stella. I do not think I have seen so many mummies before (adult females) which is a great sign. Snappers are starting to make a showing and are as ravenous as snappers can get. With snappers making a showing I wonder if any big fluke would be interested, hehehe

Still, have times available and will customize trips to target whatever species you want to go after. Don’t forget about my off the beach shark trips where we catch hard fighting 40 pound + sharks on light tackle. These trips are a blast and I usually have multiple hookups without sliding to the right LOL.

Screaming drags,

Capt Alex, 609-548-2511

Author: Lighthouse-Sportfishing

Fishing Barnegat Bay for close to 40 years, Capt. Alex runs Barnegat Bay's premier light tackle and fly fishing service with his custom 203 Dusky Center Console (Debbie M). He knows the back bay, inlet or inshore like no other. 609-548-2511 View all posts by Lighthouse-Sportfishing