Big Mohawk Fluke Report

[Duke of Fluke]

Pops and I headed out on the Big Mohawk for another round of fluking. We got to the boat around 5 am and secured our positions in the bow with all the regulars and then went to work trying to make bait. Unfortunately the snappers were not present and an hour of jigging a sabiki rig produced zero baits :mad: About 20 minute b4 our scheduled sailing time an older gent dropped his sabiki right beside me and yanked up a bar jack and pinfish! You know the water is warm when you are catching these species in Shark River! Capt Chris was taking a day for himself so Capt Steve of the charter boat Skylarker was acting as a fill in. This week we headed north to the traditional rough bottom spots. The fishing was not exactly on fire and the volume was way down from last Sunday but there was a marked improvement in the keeper ratio. I think the fishing would have been better, but as usual the conditions sucked and made the fishing tough most of the day. We found a spot early in the morning that had some real nice fish on it but had to abandone it after one drift because the drift was too fast. The conditions improved in the afternoon but we had burned up most of the day by then. Fortunately Steve gave us an extra hour which added two keepers to my take for the day. I managed to box 4 keepers up to about 4.5 lbs along with about a dozen or more throwbacks, a stargazer, and a few juvenile seabass. Pops who put a hurtin on me last week struck out. The poor guy managed only a single short all day. The average guy had 1-3 keepers. I'm not positive but I'd say I was probably high hook or close to it in terms of boxed fish. The pool winner was around 7.5 lbs and nudged out the runner up by 1/8 ounce. It was a great day on the water for sure. Hopefully the conditions will be better Thur and Fri as I will be back at it looking for my first Joisy Halibut!

PS

Pics to follow

[Talapia]

Man, sounds like a blast! The guy got a
pinfish? And a jack? That's what I
catch for bait down in Florida....interesting.
What did you end up using for bait? squid
and spearing? It's been a strange year,
Capt Monty has been tearing up the flounder
this year...go figure :D I am still hooked
on tog though, its turned into a year round
addiction for me. I go on Monty's boat
and basically just fish for tog...It's sad.

[Duke of Fluke]

I went out again yesterday and today. Yesterday we had very poor conditions with wind against tide most of the day. There was a lot of this going on :--| Even so I managed two keeper fluke and a seabass for the box. Most fares had 1-3 keepers with one of the regulars known as "uncle Mike" having close to a limit including the pool winner of 7-8 lbs. Today was a little better...well sort of. Instead of being rough and a fast drift it was like a lake with zero drift. Why is it that you are always moving too fast or too slow? Once again it was an average of 1-3 keepers per man although the guy next to me has 5 or six and Uncle Mike had about 5 including another pool winner(this guy is a pro! Next time I'll just give my pool money to him upfront and cut out the middle man, lol). There were quite a few seabass in the mix today including a number of 3-4lb fish. I think the seabass bite might be really good after fluke season closes. They get minimal pressure in NJ during the summer so the rocks should be loaded when fluke closes in Oct. My tally for the day was 1 keeper fluke and three seabass for the box. Overall I'd say the fishing this week was only fair compared to this time last year. From what I hear the bite in Raritan Bay was phenomenal all summer so it makes sense that the ocean fishery will break wide open any time. Last year when the fish started to move out the boat put up big numbers with several guys getting their limit each day with some true jumbos in the mix. I guess I should have taken my vacation a week later :( I still had a great time and I now have plenty of fluke fillets to last quite a while.

Henry,

The boat provides squid and sand eels. Normally they provide spearing but there is a shortage this year. To be honest, I think the sandeels work better in the ocean as there is an abundance of them this year which has not been seen for several years. The fluke are feeding on them naturally so it makes sense to match the hatch. Almost everyone on the boat fishes exclusively with fluke belly in place of the squid, sometimes in combination with the sand eels or sometimes alone. Squid works, but can't compare to fresh belly which is damn near indestructable and has the scent and taste that fluke can't resist. A few guys have been doing well on whole squid which have also been abundant on the inshore grounds this year. I caught a few snapper blues to use either live or butterflyed(sp?) but I did not put them to use. Last week I saw a few fish caught on whole snappers, but I won't use them until I have several keepers in the box. They are strictly for trophy hunting so unless the bite is hot I won't use them because it greatly reduces the number of fish you will catch altough the ones you do get will be large.

I hear ya about the tog buddy! I only went about 2x last year due to the divorce and my finances but I guarantee you I will make up for it this year. I have been getting out regularly and I don't anticipate slowing down until after tog season. You really need to give the Mohawk a try for blackfish. I know you are probably well aware of their reputation as a tog boat. Fishing with Capt Chris during blackfish season is a real educational experience, this boat brings out every dyed in the wool tog junkie in the area. The boat fills up early and most of the crowd are regulars and believe me they can fish! The only thing that sucks is you have to get there really early because the boat gets packed long b4 the others in the marina. That alone should tell ya something ;)

Sorry to be so long winded folks.

Jamey