The storm last weekend produced days of north east winds. At the time only surfers jonsin’ for swell rejoiced. Right now anglers can look back and see those weather days were worth it! The onshore winds created a downwelling event. The sun warmed surface waters pushed into the shore and down into deeper areas of the ocean. This ignited the inshore fluke fishing in the local Long Beach Island area and the surrounding waters.
Fish are actively feeding on the local reefs and open bottom areas. Were these fish present for the past month, sluggish due to cold bottom temperatures and just not biting? Very well possible!
Two things came together; time and temperature! Time – August is when most of the summer flounder local biomass move out of the bays. On their way out fluke move into the inshore areas that offer structure or forage. Sometimes this is on the reefs and wrecks or open sandy bottoms where bait like sandeels and crabs are easy pickings. Temperature – August is the year’s warmest combined air and water temperatures. Fluke in warm waters actively feed with a quick metabolism. Best of all they are aggressive.
This receipt is something all anglers love and can really use more of! Looking at the forecast it might stick around… North winds Tuesday, then east Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. A lot can change so now is go time! Get out and catch fluke!!!
Yesterday went down as the Fishiest Fluke Friday of the 2017 season. All day the shop was filled with anglers raving on the solid fishing. Literally selling boxes of fluke rigs, hooks, bucktails, teasers, Gulp and bait! ***Make sure you stop in and get a free Flounder Sample Pack of hooks! Thanks to Eagle Claw and the NJ Fish & Wildlife for the public awareness campaign “If you can’t keep it save it!” We all need to do our part to help protect undersized fluke.fishinglbi.com/2017/07/27/come-get-free-hooks-supplies-last/
Now today backs up yesterday with another solid set of reports. Here’s the low down from various anglers who shared.
Jacob Bowles was on the water on Friday. He reported it wasn’t the best day out there for us but managed to get a 23” five pounder! We got out a little late in the morning and fished three hours. We worked over hard structure and managed to catch ‘em. Got the largest on a Magic Tail rigged with a big grub.”
Kevin Hughes was also on the water fluke fishing Friday. He reported solid fishing “We hit a two man limit in just over three hours of fishing. They want snappers!” Look at this fluke!
Chris O’neil got two 20” fluke yesterday with the old school high low with live minnow. He reported fishing Little Egg Inlet.
Many other report flowed in from the reefs and Inlet.
Today was the 23rd Annual Jersey Coast Anglers Association Fluke Tournament. Since the early days, Fisherman’s Headquarters has been a proud sponsor of the event and honored to be the Port Long Beach Island Weigh Station. Founded in 1981, the JCAA is one of the country’s best groups fighting for the recreational saltwater anglers of New Jersey. The JCAA offers anglers a strong voice on the state and federal level. The hard working group is responsible for many major accomplishments in fisheries management issues. One of the most important wins was achieving game fish status for striped bass in New Jersey. This fight continues today at the federal level. The JCAA also helped control commercial overfishing of menhaden, a vital forage in coastal waters. More recently and crucial to this summer’s fishery, the JCAA pressured the Mid-Atlantic Council and NOAA to reevaluation the way summer flounder are managed. The group defended NJ’s regulations and is one of the main reasons we have the season and limit this year. We encourage all anglers to learn more about the JCAA and fisheries new by checking out their website atwww.JCAA.org
Weigh-In log for the…
2017 JCAA Fluke Tournament Port LBI
*** UNOFFICIAL ***
PORT LOG – 2017 JCAA FLUKE TOURNAMENT – 08/05/2017 | |||||||
Port: Long Beach Island – Weigh Station: Fisherman’s Headquarters | |||||||
Place | Entry Number | Registered Angler’s Name | Caught By Angler’s Name | Caught By Angler’s Hometown, State | Weight (lbs) | Length (in) | Weigh-In Time |
1 | 244 | Werner, David | Werner, David | Manahawkin, NJ | 6.720 | 24.875″ | 4:32:00 PM |
2 | x?x | Howell, Martin | Frazer, Rob | Tuckerton, NJ | 5.880 | 23.75″ | 4:40:00 PM |
3 | 134 | Wolfberg, Jack | Wolfberg, Jack | Fort Washington, NJ | 5.790 | 23.25″ | 4:32:00 PM |
4 | 94 | Hooven, Christopher | Hooven, Christopher | Medford, NJ | 5.390 | 24.25″ | 3:14:00 PM |
5 | 66 | Rust, Edward | Rust, Edward | Cherry Hill, NJ | 5.050 | 22.25″ | 2:50:00 PM |
6 | 106 | Cliver, Kevin | Cliver, Kevin | Sellersville, PA | 5.000 | 23″ | 4:15:00 PM |
7 | 124 | Schell, Dr.Paul | Makitra, Gene | Barnegat, NJ | 4.960 | 22.75″ | 4:25:00 PM |
8 | 104 | DePalma, Vito | McKinnon, Gordon | Lewis, DE | 4.840 | 22.25″ | 4:25:00 PM |
9 | 217 | Paolella, Dean | Paolella, Dean | Springfield, NJ | 4.790 | 23″ | 2:00:00 PM |
10 | 95 | Phillips, Richard | Phillips, Steven | Pemberton, NJ | 4.340 | 23.125″ | 4:30:00 PM |
11 | 253 | Vitale, Bruce | Vitale, Bruce | Toms River, NJ | 3.830 | 21.25″ | 4:35:00 PM |
12 | 24 | Partyka, Bruce | Partyka, Bruce | Manahawkin, NJ | 2.900 | 20″ | 2:55:00 PM |
Dave Werner of Manahawkin fished the BL Inlet with live bait and caught 7 keepers today. His largest weighed in at 6.72 pounds and was big enough to win the JCAA Port Long Beach Island.
Martin Howell and Rob Frazer of Tuckerton were out on the Garden State South Reef today. They caught five keeper fluke on the bucktail and Gulp combo. Their largest weighing in at 5.88 pounds. The crew mentioned they were fishing right beside George Poveromo aboard the Marc VI. It’s nice to see George fishing our local water. Hopefully they were filming! It would be great to see another episode of George fishing the waters of LBI.
Christopher Hooven of Medford reported the BL Reef produced lots of shorts as well as four keeper fluke (largest 5.39 pounds) and one keeper sea bass. He said live snappers were the hot bait.
“Captain Flattie” Ed Rust of Cherry Hill and Bill Rust fished the BL Reef and did good. Bucktail rigged with Gulp did the trick for the guys, catching about 50 fish with 7 keepers.
Dean Paolella of Springfield, NJ got six fish drifting Spro bucktails off of Seaside’s open sand bottom. His largest was 4.79 pounds.
Most of the weigh ins were caught in the ocean, but a couple good report came in from the bay. Kevin Cliver of Sellersville, PA got six keepers on live minnow fishing the bay. Bruce Partyka of Manahawkin caught 28 fluke with three keepers up to 2.9 pounds. Bruce said he focused on the north end of LBI’s bayside waters. He fished Double Creek and the Inlet with natural and artificial baits.
Here’s some reports from offshore anglers fishing bluewater.
Captain Jeff Warford reported an awesome trip to the edge. “On our latest canyon trip (8/3/17) we saw some of the best action in years. It was EPIC!!! It’s the only way to describe the trip. 20+ tunas in the 55-75 pound class, 36 mahi and 33 tilefish up to 21 pounds. The troll was just on fire. They were smoking spreaderbars. While hooked up the cleared lines dangling lures from the riggers were hanging yellowfin that were leaping air born. They were hanging themselves.
Another solid report came from Steve Fernandez aboard the Five Seas. “A bunch of yellowfin to 70 pounds some huge tile fish two makos and some mahi and a lone monkfish! It was an action packed trip.”
Store staffer Dan D split out of town to head up the Mass to get into the solid tuna bite. He went up and had a great time. He hooked an 88” slob and said, “These feeds are sites you can not even dream about!”