Post your 2019-2025 Fluke Pix & Trip Reports Here!

[Leprechaun]

Headed out with my regulars, Ken and Kevin - right to my offshore office. Nasty early morning NW breeze, requiring the use of our trusty drift sock. Fished hard for a good long amount of time, moved here and there, but nothin' but shorts 'til 9:30. Wasn't looking great, I was really stressing out - and then Kevin belly-hooks a fat 6.5lb beauty, which gave a weird sorta skate-like fight. The best fish on the boat so far this season - go figure. See pic. Then I belly-hook a 3lb fish. Geez, this is fluking the hard way.

Continued to pull short after short, until the last 1.5hrs of the incoming - when the better fish came out of hiding. In "short" order we pulled another 6 fat keepers - things were looking up.

The drift died on the slack - and so did the fishing. With 8 fish on ice, we (meaning I) elected to stay out late for the first hour of the outgoing, which turned out to be a solid decision. Once it got rolling, the breeze came back up and we quickly put another 4 in the box on a very tight drift line, completing the boat limit.

It took some doing, and I have to admit I was pretty beat once we got back to the dock, but hey, we got it done, and that's what counts. Kudos to my sharp-shooting crew, who are probably the best fluke-jigging pair that I've ever had on my boat. Not to mention excellent at general "on-the-grounds" deck maintenance and after-trip clean-up. Very lucky to have found these guys.

 

[george]

You guys are killing it!

 

[Snapprhead27]

Nice job guys!

 

[george]

I almost forgot . . . Nice shirt Kevin. ?

 

[longcast]

You guys are killing it!

Yeah man!! Great Captain put us where they dine!!!
Awesome group of guys!

 

[longcast]

I almost forgot . . . Nice shirt Kevin. ?

It’s my new one! ?

 

[captmike28]

Another masterful job for Lep and crew!

 

[hartattack]

Fished the Pt.Pleasant Elks CLUB fluke tourney on Sat.. With ~ 175 boats registered this is NJ's biggest and most lucrative fluke event each year. I've been fishing with same guys for nearly 10 years now - we charter a 38' Henriques and fish hard but comfortably, the air conditioned cabin was a life saver. Although we got nothing bigger than 24", we did get 8 person boat limit. Top spot was shared by two 7.3 lbers, rest of leader board were all > 6lbs. Shotgun start for nearly 200 boats at 6am in dangerous Manasquan Inlet is mind-boggling.. we fished long and hard and thoroughly enjoyed the post tourney BBQ.

 

[george]

Fished the Pt.Pleasant Elks CLUB fluke tourney on Sat.. With ~ 175 boats registered this is NJ's biggest and most lucrative fluke event each year. I've been fishing with same guys for nearly 10 years now - we charter a 38' Henriques and fish hard but comfortably, the air conditioned cabin was a life saver. Although we got nothing bigger than 24", we did get 8 person boat limit. Top spot was shared by two 7.3 lbers, rest of leader board were all > 6lbs. Shotgun start for nearly 200 boats at 6am in dangerous Manasquan Inlet is mind-boggling.. we fished long and hard and thoroughly enjoyed the post tourney BBQ.

Sounds like a blast!

 

[Rocco23]

Couple of excellent trips in moriches past week.

One excellent charter where they had a few nice ocean fluke and sea bass and came back in for the incoming and boxed an almost limit for a group of 4. All 20-22 inch fish in the bay. 1/2 ounce jigs and Tommy teasers of course.

* I have a sign my son made that says no ?*
One the group did not see and once he tossed it over the side he got 3 keepers lol

Another trip with Billy and TJ and we had nice fat fish in the bay on the light tackle again. Plenty of shorts as well.

Trip with my son of course he outfished me and had the pool fish. Just under 5 lbs.

 

[Snapprhead27]

Nice fish!!

 

[george]

Couple of excellent trips in moriches past week.

One excellent charter where they had a few nice ocean fluke and sea bass and came back in for the incoming and boxed an almost limit for a group of 4. All 20-22 inch fish in the bay. 1/2 ounce jigs and Tommy teasers of course.

* I have a sign my son made that says no ?*
One the group did not see and once he tossed it over the side he got 3 keepers lol

Another trip with Billy and TJ and we had nice fat fish in the bay on the light tackle again. Plenty of shorts as well.

Trip with my son of course he outfished me and had the pool fish. Just under 5 lbs.

Those damn bananas ?

 

[hartattack]

Henry's Honeybee Hits another HomeRun

---

West is best and Jakesdad and crew did it again, 3 man limit this morning in perfect conditions. The drift was due west and easily repeatable. Our overs were all thick 21" triplets, the slots were harder to find among literally 100s of 16" fish. We left from Belmar and didn't need to travel far or deep. The action was constant, in fact the 3 of us were often hooked up at same time.
Apologies for attached lame pics, this crew is photographically challenged.
Hey DUFF , the hat pic is for you....

Fyi - NJ allows 1 fluke over 18" per person. And 2 between 17-18".

 

[Leprechaun]

Had Capt. Mike aboard today for a run to the offshore grounds. Fished one drift line the entire trip for a 7-fish near-limit, to 5lbs. Had the limit fish alongside the boat - a real nice one too, but he shook off the hook as Mike was bring the net. Sooo close . . .

Anyway, this season the better fish appear to be hitting ONLY on the change, for maybe an hour or so - therefore its important to capitalize once they decide its time to feed. The rest of the day, near-keepers beating the hell out of the GULP!

 

[george]

Had Capt. Mike aboard today for a run to the offshore grounds. Fished one drift line the entire trip for a 7-fish near-limit, to 5lbs. Had the limit fish alongside the boat - a real nice one too, but he shook off the hook as Mike was bring the net. Sooo close . . .

Anyway, this season the better fish appear to be hitting ONLY on the change, for maybe an hour or so - therefore its important to capitalize once they decide its time to feed. The rest of the day, near-keepers beating the hell out of the GULP!

View attachment 66056

View attachment 66057

Those are some quality fish! And a great smile!!!

 

[longcast]

Some good fishing guys!

 

[Snapprhead27]

Another quality day for the Lep!

 

[longcast]

Snuck out early for the top and some wind drift. No bass. No blues.
Settled in for fluke. Well. I have 3 to show. Had a heavy hit and lift. Thought “here we go” a big bay fish. Ended up being a “big” short on the teaser and a good looking keep on the bucktail. That teaser fish dove at boat side giving Mr Keep just enough slack to gain his freedom. Little cursing and whatever.
Weather was interesting. Bright morning LOL.

 

[george]

Tho

Snuck out early for the top and some wind drift. No bass. No blues.
Settled in for fluke. Well. I have 3 to show. Had a heavy hit and lift. Thought “here we go” a big bay fish. Ended up being a “big” short on the teaser and a good looking keep on the bucktail. That teaser fish dove at boat side giving Mr Keep just enough slack to gain his freedom. Little cursing and whatever.
Weather was interesting. Bright morning LOL.View attachment 66171View attachment 66173View attachment 66174View attachment 66172

Those look like some "Lep Quality" filets.

 

[Leprechaun]

They DO look darn clean to me!