Fellow Anglers,
Well, it looks as though spring Stripers has run it's course, as most of the charter fisherman, me included, and the party boats in the Sandy Hook area are now finding bass fishing very sporadic and picky. Running all over the Monmouth and Ocean County seas hunting for a few Stripers is just not worth it. In what has to be a carbon copy of last year, the early spring Striper run in Raritan Bay, by my standards, was a bust! Not enough fish and much too short in time. Back in 2007, we were clamming Stripers up the ying yang for weeks and even months, now it's a 2 week or so run and bang, it's running outside looking for bass down along the beach by following schools of bunker. And just because you found bunker schools, didn't mean you had bass under them. Crashing along the beach one day, and nothing the next. Some really good days, and a slim pick the next. Tough fishing.... especially taking out charters like I do when Bill on Tuesday bangs fish and Pete on Wednesday just picks. Consistency, that's all I want. When some of the areas top bass guys are advertising what great Fluke they caught, then you know the bass fishing is in the tank! Time to move on to Fluke.
So, on to the Fluke story. Based upon the results of the JCAA Tournament, it's very encouraging that the average size of fish entered were much larger than 2008. That can only mean that we will be having, I think, a very good fluking year. Come on guys and gals, we are in the prime fluke fishing time of year. We've been catching some really nice flatties and it would be a shame if you didn't get in on the action and all that great tasting fillets you can have for dinner. Remember, the bag limit is 6 fish per angler, and add to the fact that the captain AND mate are included in the total fish count, that's a possible 36 keepers for your days charter.........that's a lot of fillets!
Just think...... fluke fillets skillet cooked in bread crumbs along with a pot of steamers and a few ice cold beers. Oh brother, it doesn't get any better than that. Give me a call and let's go fishing.
Capt. John