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We sailed both days this weekend, however, there will be no report for Sunday because of the weather. It blew hard and rained on us all day and we hit the dock early.

Just a reminder that we are fishing daily, but there are two dates that we will not be sailing. Tuesday, May 21st and Tuesday May 28th there will be no trips.

OPENING DAY!!!

Saturday, May 18th

Location: Sandy Hook Bay
Tide: Low – 8:00am
Water Temp: 63.7 degrees
Wind: ESE 5 knots
Moon Phase: 53% Full

Conditions
We will begin the day on the start of the flood tide. The wind is light out of the ESE.

Pregame Talk
OPENING DAY BABY!! The early word is that there are some fluke in the bay. We will find out very shortly. . . Just a reminder that we will be sailing daily as of today. Our magic hour fluke trips will begin tonight as well. Those trips will run Wednesday thru Saturdays from 5pm to 9pm.

Flukemaster Pool (May/June)
Since the season opened in the middle of May, we are going make May and June one month for the monthly pool. The total collected on day one was $120.00.

First Drift
Wayne Smith caught the first fluke of the 2013 season, however, it was released back into the wild. Not much on this one. Making a slight move west.

Second Drift
John McGuire officially started the season by putting the first keeper in the boat. There were a couple of other keepers caught as well.

Third Drift
A little bit of magic. We headed out into the ocean and had some very good condition with the current just beginning to run. We will only have a little window to fish here because the drifting conditions will become too fast with the current and wind together. On a side note, the water temp is 57 degrees on the beach.

Fourth Drift
The conditions have become unfavorable. We are going to head back into the bay and give the Coast Guard Ledge another shot. Only a handful of shorts caught on this one.

Fifth Drift
Not so hot. And the weather is falling apart also. We are going to completely change up the area and head west.

Sixth Drift
Like I said at the beginning of the report. We found fish where they should not be this time of year, and finished the day with a little shot in the arm.

The fluking wasn’t great, but it was not bad either. We had a change of tide bite in the ocean and finished the day with a pick of fish. The water temp is still pretty cold with the bay in the low 60′s and the ocean in the mid 50′s. The weather was not a big help either with an east wind and some rain, but it was opening day, and like I have say every year, you can not have a bad opening day! Ricky D was todays pool winner with a 5lb 3oz fluke.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

The recon boats are back and the word is . . . . they are here!

Tomorrow kicksoff the 2013 Fluke Season. We will be sailing daily at 7:30am. Our magic hour fluke trips will begin tomorrow night and the schedule for those will be Wed, Thurs, Fri, and Saturday nights from 5pm – 9pm.

We are back in Keyport and ready to start the 2013 season. Our opening day will be next Saturday morning at 7:30am for bass. We will follow that up with a Saturday evening trip at 5:00pm and will be back at in on Sunday morning at 7:30am. We can’t wait to see everyone and are looking forward to making 2013 a great year!

This past Wednesday marked the end of another season. We would like to thank everyone who sailed with us this year. Whether you joined us on one of our daily fishing trips, came aboard on a charter, or celebrated Independence Day with us, we enjoyed spending the time with you and thank you immensely for your business. Without you we would not be here. Thank you again!

This will be the last weekend to come on down and try to capture the fluke of your dreams. The season closes next Friday the 28th.

We have changed our schedule and are now only sailing Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday’s.

Fluking over the weekend wasn’t bad. I’ll have some pics and report up on Monday.

The fluking has been very good this week and all signs point to a great weekend! Pack you big baits and sinkers and head on down. There are only 14 days left in the season.

This could be you!!

o0Wednesday, September 12th

Location: Offshore rough bottom
Tide: Low 11:38am
Water Temp: 73.4°
Wind: W 6kts
Moon Phase: 15% Full

Conditions
We will have very good conditions with the wind and current together.

Pregame Talk
It’s been a few days since we last sailed, but today we are Gung Ho set on having a successful day. We  are locked and loaded on some fish that are offshore and refuse to be denied a good day! It may be a while before I post the first drift update, but I am very confident that it will be a good one!

First Drift
WOW!!! POW POW!! BOOM!!  . . Amazing drift! 2 limits and quite a few with keepers. No pics yet. Reloading for the next drift! WOW!!!

We made five drifts today and the fishing was fabulous! I was running around too much to post an update, which by the way is an excellent problem to have! We ended up with three limits and eight people with 4 keepers. It was just tremendous fishing. Wayne Smith won the pool with a 4 pound  fluke.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

We haven’t sailed in a few days, but tomorrow looks like a winner. We will be out on the hunt to see if we can throw some flatty’s in the boat before the season is through. There have been fish caught this week, and on Wednesday hopefully you can join us for some beat ‘em up success!

Thursday, August 30th

Location: Ambrose
Tide: High 7:59am
Water Temp: 78.4°
Wind: NW 8kts
Moon Phase: 99% Full

Conditions
The wind is out of the NW at 8 knots and we will begin the day on the tide change. It will get fast as the current begins to run because of the direction of the wind.

Flukemaster Update
Jeff Freirich is the current leader in the monthly pool with a 7 lb 4 oz fluke. The pot is up to $350.00

Pregame Talk
We had a decent day of fluking yesterday, but today is different. We might only have one or two shots at them in Ambrose because it will eventually become too fast with the wind and current together. Race to the bottom and fish hard! Time is of the essence!

First Drift
It wasn’t great fishing, but just about everything we caught we kept. Tank Matraxia owned it by putting 3 keepers in his cooler up to 4 1/2 pounds! Now that’s how you start the day!!

Second Drift
The same as the first one. Just about everything is a keeper. Tank is now up to 4 keepers, and John Lipari put 3 in the cooler on this drift. The key is keeping it simple here. This isn’t the jigging grounds. Just sinker up and put on a big bait. Get it done!!

Third Drift
Much like yesterday we are scaping away with each drift, and they have added up for some. Tank is on the cusp of limiting and there are a couple of people with 3 in their coolers. It is starting to get a little fast now, but you just have to adapt. Put the big sinker on and hold your ground.

Fourth Drift
We got the two drifts out of this and the third one was just too fast. The secondary current came on and was just too fast combined with the wind. We are going to make the next one in some holes to our southwest. We will see what swims.

Fifth Drift
We caught some fish on this one, but they were all undersized. Making the next one in Chapel Hill.

Sixth Drift
Highlight of the drift was Tank finally catching the ever elusive limit fish. Nice!!!

I said at the start of the day that we would only get a couple of drifts in where the fish are, and that was all we got. Luckily they added up for quite a few people early on. Tank caught 4 of his 5 keepers there and Don Freeman caught 4 in the channel. There were several people who pulled up 3 keepers in the first two drifts. The ratio between the shorts and keepers was extremely high in the channel, however, we found that not to be the case everywhere else we tried. Tomorrow looks to be a great day weatherwise, and we will have at least another hour of fishing in the trench. There are some big fish there. We will see if anyone can knock Jeff off the leaderboard on the last day of the month.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Wednesday, August 29th

Location: Ambrose
Tide: Low 12:56pm
Water Temp: 77.9°
Wind: NE 12kts
Moon Phase: 95% Full

Conditions
Another day of east wind, but today it has some north to it which is going to make for some fast conditions with the outgoing water.

Flukemaster Update
Jeff Freirich is the current leader in the monthly pool with a 7 lb 4 oz fluke. The pot is up to $350.00

Pregame Talk
We are going to get set up where we have had the most success over the past week and let it ride. Will it be a fluke safari? I don’t know. It’s going to be a difficult day with this wind, but you never know. It could end up being an ok day. We will see. As we get started here 10 oz is the norm with mono. Braid is holding with 4′s and 5′s. The money rig for this area has been simple. Put the heaviest sinker you can on to ensure that you are on the bottom with a single hook topped with a 6″ Gulp grub. That rig has been golden. You won’t catch as many shorts, but the keepers have pilled up for anyone who uses it. We just dropped our lines in a few minutes ago so we will see what swims! Stay tuned!!

Money in the bank! Not only because it’s a Yankee rod, but because of the rig.

First Drift
Like I said earlier, you need to sinker up with this wind and current together or you won’t be in the game. I know people do not like putting on the weight, but if you sinker up you have no chance. It’s like going up to bat against Nolan Ryan in his prime and using one of those thin yellow wiffle ball bats. No chance! . . . We caught a half dozen keepers on this drift. Not a bad start!

Second Drift
It’s going to be one of those grind it out kind of days. We know where the fish are, but the conditions are not favorable for the area. We are just going to keep hitting the spot over and over and scrape up what we can. There were another half dozen keepers caught on this one too.

Joe Mattis with his 2nd keeper of the morning.

Third Drift
Scrape, scrape, scrape! That’s the deal right now, and they are adding up for some. Joe Mattis caught his 3rd keeper and Mike Skerchek put a 5 pounder in his cooler which makes 2. Running up to do it again.

Fourth Drift
The fishing is not great, but we do put some keepers in the boat each drift. Barbara Bertram caught her 3rd keeper of the day which weighed in the upper 4′s close to 5 pounds.

Fifth Drift
We are nearing the bottom of the tide and it is showing. The bite that we had has slowed, but one thing is evident. The fluke are still here.

Sixth Drift
We are picking away and they are adding up for a few people. Mike Skerchek is one away from the limit and there are 3 or 4 people with three keepers.

LIMIT!!!! G.T.D.!!!

Well, the good news is that there are still some fish around. We found a few in each area we tried. When we began the day we were fishing in the channel with modest results. The ratio was well above average and a few people took advantage of it. As the conditions became too fast we tried a few different areas that we haven’t hit in a while and pick the fish on each stop. Mike Skerchek was the star of the day. Mike caught his limit and split the pool with a 5 pound fluke. Barbara Bertram was the other half of the pool. Barbara ended the day with 3 keepers up to 5 pounds.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

The fluke gave us an old school 80′s style knockout. It wasn’t good anywhere we went. The wind was blowing out of the east just enough to shut it down. It’s blowing pretty good as I type this so we will see what tomorrow bring.

The day started extremely slow, but improved as it went on. Lou 2 caught his limit and there were two beasts that came over the rail. Jeff Freirich took the lead in the monthly pool with a 7 lb 4 oz fluke.

Thursday, August 23rd

Location: Ambrose
Tide: High 12:53pm
Water Temp: 77.7°
Wind: W 3kts
Moon Phase: 38% Full

Conditions
We will have the flood tide for most of the trip with a light west wind against it. The wind is not hard enough to stop us from drifting, but it will slow us down just a little making for very nice conditions.

Pregame Talk
The fluking on yesterday’s trip was top notch. We caught a lot of fish and had a lot go in the coolers without much in the way of drifting conditions. The evening trip didn’t go as well. The wind came up out of the south around 15 kts and shut down the bite. There were only a few fish caught on the boat which made for a disappointing trip. We are starting the day off today right where we left them biting yesterday, but you know as I have said before, you can’t catch yesterday’s fish. They’re dead and have been on someone’s dinner plate already. Today is a new ballgame! So let’s bait up and see what swims!

The quote of the day came from 7 year old Alex who was one of the more fortunate anglers on last nights trip. When asked if he was going to eat his keeper fluke for dinner, Alex replied, “I don’t eat ‘em, I just catch them!!” . . . Awesome!!

The bow crew was almost at full staff yesterday, but that didn’t stop them from having a great day of fluking!

First Drift
Not bad. We had a couple of moments of fury. Pete Swolek started us off with the first keeper of the day, and  Tank Matraxia caught the largest of the drift weighing in the 5 pound range.

Crime scene!

Second Drift
We do not have the slaughter that we had yesterday, however, we are catching some slobs!! I haven’t officially weighed any of them yet. That will come later. Today is the day that you should be dragging the largest Gulp you own or the biggest bait you can get hold of because there are some beasts here.

Third Drift
The flood current has increased considerably and it has affected the fishing. We are are going to make a shift to the other side of the channel and give that a shot.

Tank caught this 6 pounder on the first drift.

Fourth Drift
On our way over to the other channel we encountered the whale from the other day.

The whale schooled up some bunker and came up from underneath them. If you look at the picture you can see the bunker jumping out of the way. AWESOME sight!!!!

He was turning around and heading back to the bunker here.

Here it is swimming past us.

Fifth Drift
A few shorts and no keepers on this one. More whale watching than anything.

The Pennsylvania Crew got it done early today!

Sixth Drift
Wow. What a difference. The wind shifted a little and came out of the south and shut everything down. Only the sea robin want to eat now. It looked like we were going to get them going earlier and the bottom fell out.

Thursday Recap
I was a little disappointed with the way the fishing went today. The first couple of drift were good with some really nice fish being caught. It was starting to look like it was going to be one of those rare days when all we do is catch beasts. There were 3 fish caught that hit the 6 pound mark, and there were some others that were in the 4 to 5 pound range. You could just sense that a real beast was going to be landed, but as we were telling people to put on the biggest Gulp that they had on their hooks the wind came around out of the south very lightly and helped shut the fluke down. The drift did get a little faster, but not too fast where we couldn’t fish. The fluke just stopped feeding. We moved over to the other channel south of us, and were fortunate to see a humpback whale feeding on bunker which ended up being the highlight of the afternoon. High hook was Steve Ashon with 4 fish.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Wednesday, August 22nd

Location: Ambrose
Tide: High 11:57am
Water Temp: 78.1°
Wind: 0
Moon Phase: 27% Full

Conditions
As we make our way across the bay to Ambrose Channel to begin our day of fluking, I notice that the wind is non existent. Which means that we should have very nice drifting conditions with the flood current carrying us in. We will get set up and see what bites.

It has been a little bit of a struggle the last couple of days. Maybe today we can break that trend!

Confidence – A belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities
Confidence is what you need when you get on the boat! You can not step up to the rail and drop your line down with negativity or you will have already been defeated. Confidence breeds a winning attitude! . . . Now let’s drop our lines down and make it happen!

The bow crew destroyed it today!!

First Drift
POW POW!!! The best drift since Friday. Steve Scarmazzo started the day off with an absolute immediate lemon, and Wayne Smith lead the way with 3 keepers. There are too many people to list that put 2 fish in their coolers. Conditions are the name of the game when it comes to fluking and so far today they are super!

Second Drift
Not as fast and furious as the first one, but we still catch them well with a good number of slobs being caught. Wayne Smith “went the distance” and caught his limit on this one. There are two others who are one away from the magic number of 5. John Lipari, who was skunked for the first few hours of the trip, showed why you never give up by catching back-to-back-to-back keepers in a twenty minute span. It has been a very good day so far. Let’s see if the magic will continue. . . If you are coming out fishing anytime soon and are planning your strategy on how to dominate the fluke grounds I can give you one recommendation. A single hook rig tipped with a 6 inch Gulp grub. Put an 8 oz sinker on the clip and drag that thing all day. Money in the bank!! This is deep water we are fishing in and it’s a different ballgame then the bay fishing. You have to be a chameleon and adapt.

Wayne and his limit fish!

Third Drift
We still catch them very well. It has not been 10 on at once fishing like the first drift, but we are putting a hurting on them today. Steve Scarmazzo is the second person with their limit and there are 4 or 5 more people waiting for that ever elusive 5th keeper.

What a great day of fluking we had! We caught them  at the first whistle and left them biting on the last. There aren’t many days like that. We did have a little lul in the action between tides, but it wasn’t enough to take away from the day we had. If you sinkered up and kept your bait on the bottom you caught the fish. This is deep water fishing, and the 2 oz blucktail is not going to cut it. If you want to catch them, put the weight on! . . . There were two limits today, Wayne Smith and Steve Scarmazzo. This was Steve’s first trip of the season and he showed no rust at all. Steve put two keepers in the boat in the first 10 minutes of the day and had his limit by noon. There were 4 people on the cusp of limiting out, but just couldn’t get that last one to measure up. We will be back on the same grounds tomorrow to see if we can recapture the magic.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Tuesday, August 21th

Location: Ambrose
Tide: High 11:04am
Water Temp: 77.5°
Wind: NW 10kts
Moon Phase: 18% Full

Conditions
The wind is out of the NW at 10 knots and we have the flood tide for half of the trip. Not very good conditions at all.

First Drift
The first 2 fish were keepers, but that was about it. A few birds and some shorts followed. We drift in very slowly with the current.

Second Drift
Not very good. We do not cover much bottom with the wind holding us up against the tide. Going to make a small shift for the next one. It’s going to be a while before we have any conditions. We will have a small window to catch the fish once the current eases off at the top of the tide.  The wind, which has diminished slightly, will take over and push us out. Hopefully, once we get the outgoing water it doesn’t become too fast with the wind. We can only wait and see.

Third Drift
Still no conditions, but we do slow pick at the fluke. The were a couple of keepers caught including one slob up in the bow. We will spin the boat around and make another. . On a side note, we do not have the sea robin takeover that we experienced the last couple of days. Today you can keep your bait on the bottom for a little while without it getting attacked by birds every 20 seconds. . . We are at the top of the tide right now, and the lines are basically straight up and down. The current usually turns on the bottom of the channel first and will begin running out before the surface current changes. We should expect that to happen soon. I’m hoping for some magic to happen when it does. We will see!

Fourth Drift
Caught a few fluke and some birds. We are going to get set up for the outgoing water. . . It’s time!!!

Fifth Drift
Almost like a small fluke gold nugget!! The wind laid down,the current started running, and we caught the fluke. The ratio is terrible, but what else is new. At least we are catching the right species.

We made one more drift which was the same as the last one to end the day. The best action of the day came after the tide changed. Was it fireball fishing? No, but we had a moment there were the fluke were coming over the rail consistently. The ratio was a factor again today with most of the fluke being undersized. Looks like tomorrow will be a beautiful day, and we will be back on the high seas looking tho capture the some fluke!

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Monday, August 20th

Location: Ambrose
Tide: High 10:15am
Water Temp: 78.3°
Wind: ENE 5kts
Moon Phase: 10% Full

Conditions
The wind is out of the east at around 5 kts. We will have incoming water until 10:15. Yesterday the fishing was good until the tide change. Once that happened the fish shut down. We will get set up this morning and see how it goes.

Weekend Update
Saturday we did not get out. On Sunday, like I said a moment ago, we had some fairly good fishing to start the day. It would be short lived however, because once we were on the top of the tide the fishing went south. There was just a general shutdown for whatever reason. They did not want to eat on the outgoing tide. Rich Herbstsomer won the pool with a 4 1/2 pound fluke. We also have been catching a few sea bass and porgies each day.

The highlight of the day was a whale feeding next to us first thing in the morning. I was only able to get a couple of photos as it swam past.

Flukemaster Update
Mary Ann Grossman  is the leader in the August Flukemaster Pool. The pot is currently at $300.00.

First Drift
Sea robin fest with a few fluke mixed in. We have pretty good conditions to start the morning.

This is called fluke preparation!

Second Drift
60% sea robins. 39% fluke. 1% shark. . . We had a pretty big shark on the line, but it broke off before we could identify it. Was not a thresher.

Third Drift
Wayne Smith caught the largest fluke of the day on this drift weighing around the 4 pound mark. Wayne’s fluke completely engulfed a 4 oz Spro. There were some other fluke caught as well, and of course we caught a few of the rare and exotic sea robin. . . We are at the top of the tide now. We will see if today is a repeat of yesterday with the fish shutting down on the outgoing water.

Fourth Drift
Only a few birds, and some shorts on this one. We are just starting to see the first of the outgoing water. The current on the bottom is running out, but the surface current is still going in very slightly which will make for a few tangles, but we will work the problem!

Fifth Drift
Boom!!! An immediate 5 1/2 pounder caught on jig by Mike Burnett. That was the highlight to an otherwise poor drift.

Sixth Drift
Like fishing for fluke in the Sahara. Much like yesterday we catch next to nothing at the end of the incoming water. There is still no outgoing current on the surface, and we are basically sitting like  a rock.

Seventh Drift
This is exactly what happened yesterday. They just don’t seem to want to bite on the outgoing water. We are going to go back to where we has some success this morning and see how it goes.

Eighth Drift
Changed up the area and found some activity, however, it was mostly sea robins.

If the sign said “Deep Sea Sea Robin Fishing” we would have had an outstanding day. It was a total takeover of the birds. We picked some fluke, but it was not very good. We did not catch many after the change of tide. Mike Burnett was today’s pool winner with a 5 1/2 pound fluke.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Friday, August 16th

Location: Ambrose
Tide: High 8:11am
Water Temp: 79.0°
Wind: W 4kts
Moon Phase: 0% New Moon

Conditions
Outgoing water for the whole trip, and a very light breeze coming out of the west. 

Flukemaster Update
Mary Ann Grossman  is the leader in the August Flukemaster Pool. The pot is currently at $300.00.

First Drift
A good start to the morning. A few shorts and some keepers.

Second Drift
We just made a 3 hour drift and slaughtered the fish the entire way. We would go through stretches where we would catch mostly sea robins, and then there were times we would have 8 to 10 fluke on at once. Jack Mullety, who is fishing here today with his son John, told me that he caught 42 fluke on the drift with 2 being keepers. A couple of other anglers had more success with the keeper ratio. Alan Abramson and Jeff Freirich both have their limit of fluke. The weather is great, the conditions are perfect, and we are catching the fish!

Third Drift
Much like the second one. We catch the fish extremely well. The ratio is not favorable, but you can not deny that the fishing is great.

We ended up with two limits, and three people with 4 keepers. The fishing is top notch right now. It has not been a great fluke season overall, however, this past week and a half or so we have experience the best and most consistent fishing of the season. These fish are already on their migratory path to the continental self. I’m not saying it’s over by any means, but if you are looking to get into the action there is no better time than now. It will be over before you know it. Pete Swolek was the Flukestar today. Pete won the pool with a 5 pounder.

Pete!! POW POW!!!

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Wednesday, August 15th

Location: Ambrose
Tide: High 6:48am
Water Temp: 80.8°
Wind: SE 1kts
Moon Phase: 5% Waning

Conditions
Outgoing water for the whole trip. There is no wind right now.

Flukemaster Update
Mary Ann Grossman  is the leader in the August Flukemaster Pool. The pot is currently at $300.00.

First Drift
We had a pretty good start to the day. There were a few keepers and shorts caught, and the sea robin take over continues. We have to move for a couple of inbound ship, but once they pass we will jump back into the action.

Second Drift
A lot of action is how 87 year old Ken Ashton just described the fishing, and that about sums it up 100%. We catch ton of sea robins and shorts with an occasional keeper mixed in. We are drifting out very nicely with the current, and 6 to 8 ounce sinkers are the norm.

Third Drift
We have our first limit of the day.  Smiley just put the ever elusive 5th keeper in his bucket. Way to get it done Smiley!!! Next in line is Kyle Eidson with 4 keepers. Do not say, “Go the D*******!!”.

Fourth Drift
We caught a couple nice fish on this one. They weren’t doormats, but you could say that maybe they were  country style place mats. . . So far all the rain we were supposed to have has not arrived. There is a band northeast of  us a ways, but not here. It is a beautiful day and the fishing is good.

Fifth Drift
We lost the bite at the end of the tide, but it doesn’t diminish the day we had.

The “action” was top notch today, and some people made out well. We had one limit, one person with 4 keepers, and two with 3 in the box. I would give the fishing a 5 star review, but the keeping would be a 2. All in all it was a great day to be on the water. Nick Martini won the pool with a 5 1/2 pound fluke.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Location: The Knoll
Tide: High 7:41am
Water Temp: 80.7°
Wind: SSW 1kts
Moon Phase: 10% Waning

Conditions
The tide was high when we left the dock this morning which means we will have outgoing water for the whole trip. The wind is currently very light out of the SSW. We are going to get set upon the Knoll where there is a strong current and let it ride. We had some fish there yesterday. We will see if they are still there.

Flukemaster Update
Mary Ann Grossman  is the leader in the August Flukemaster Pool. The pot is currently at $300.00.

First Drift
Stan Mitnick started us off with the first keeper of the day, and there were some more that followed. No one can complain about the quality of the fishing to begin the day. It was fast and furious, however, the majority of the fish were sea robins and shorts. We are going to run up and make it again. Very good conditions right now with the outgoing water pushing us into the deep blue sea.

Second Drift
Not as good as the first one, but we still catch fish. It is a sea robin takeover today. There are fluke here, but you have to get around the birds in order to have a shot at catching them.

Third Drift
Not bad. We catch a good number of fish, but the ratio is terrible. High hook has three keepers.

Fourth Drift
A nice shower to end the day.

The fishing was very good today, but much like it has been all season, we suffered from a poor keeper ratio. There were four people who tied for high hook with 3 keepers, and then there were some that were not as fortunate and ended up with the skunk. Even if you didn’t put any in the bucket, you can not say it was a bad day of fishing. Mary Ellen O’Brien was today’s pool winner with a 4 1/2 pound fluke.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

The weatherman got us again on Saturday with the warnings of deadly storms. It ended up being an absolute beautiful day with us being tied to the dock. On Sunday we had some dull moments followed by some moments of decent fishing. High hook had 4 keepers and Bob Doty won the pool with a 4 1/2 pounder.

MaryAnn Grossman is the current leader in theAugust Flukemaster Pool. The pot is currently up to $290.00.

Our 5pm trips were a little lackluster for a week or so. We are not finding any fluke in our neck of the woods, so on Wednesday of last week we decided to change it up and take a ride. We ended up fishing Ambrose Channel which would be a great choice. We put fish in the boat Wednesday and Thursday of last week up to 6 pounds. We will continue to sail in the evenings from 5pm to 9pm for a few more weeks.

I hope that I didn’t give anyone fluke anxiety. I took a few days off hence the lack of updates. With that being said, let’s get to the good stuff! (And some bad also)

Evening Update
I’m not going to sugarcoat it. The evening fishing has not been good. I should get better. It is just a matter of when.

Weekend Update + Monday and Tuesday
The fishing over the weekend was very good. The keeping was not. Don’t get me wrong though, there were some people who made out well. Killie Man Tom caught his limit again on Saturday and was high hook for the weekend. The biggest fluke was taken on Sunday by Rich Hansen and it weighed in at 6 pounds.

There is also a new leader in the August Flukemaster Pool. Valerie Bruno caught a 4lb 15oz fluke which was big enough to put her on top of the list. The pot is currently up to $270.00.

Monday we did not sail. Tuesday we were out and had very good fishing again, but the same old story with the keepers. Bronsen Dhume won the pool with a 5 1/2 pounder.

Now that we are caught up with the events that took place over the past four days, lets get rolling with today’s report!

Wednesday, 8/8/12 Trip

Location: Ambrose Channel
Tide: High 1:09m
Water Temp: 82.1°
Wind: NW 1kts
Moon Phase: 62% Waning

Conditions
We will have flood tide for the whole trip. A very light NW breeze to start the morning.

First Drift
Chalk one up to the mighty fluker! One of the best drifts of the season with next to non stop action, and a VERY good number of keepers! High hook on the drift was MaryAnn Grossman and Walter Petka with three keepers each. No pictures this drift. Too many people reloading there ammo!

Second Drift
Can I get a POW POW! BOOM! BAM! Whatever word you want to describe the ballet of fluke we are witnessing today. It is easily the best day of the year. It is 1:05pm and we just finished our 2nd drift of the day. Unbelievable fishing!!!! I have a lot of pics to put up, but it’s going to have to wait till later. I need to get a jump on the filleting. As of right now we have 5 people with their limits and maybe 6 or 7 more with 4 keepers, and some real nice fish. MaryAnn Grossman has one that may be close to 8 pounds, and Wayne Smith caught two that are 5 to 6 pounds.

Third Drift
3 more people caught their limits making it 8 on the day! What a day!!!

Today was as good as it has been all year. I would call it total domination. We had good conditions for where we were fishing, and if you weren’t stubborn and put enough sinker on to hold the bottom you caught fish. There were 8 limits and a few people stuck on 4 keepers. Mary Ann Grossman, who was one of the limit holders, won the pool with a 6 lb 12 oz fluke. She is also the new leader in the August Flukemaster Pool.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Friday, 8/3/12 Trip

Location: Ambrose Channel
Tide: High 9:18am
Water Temp: 79.9°
Wind: NW 2kts
Moon Phase: 98% Waning

Conditions
Wind and tide will be together after the tide swings the other way. We  will be in Ambrose where we have had the most success over the past few days.

I had a day off yesterday and the word that I got is that the fishing was not so hot. We will see if we can change that today!

First Drift
Made our first one on the Knoll with little success. Going to make our way to Ambrose.

Second Drift
We caught a ton of fish only 50% were birds and 49% were shorts.

Third Drift
Same as the last one. All shorts and birds with a couple keepers mixed in.

Fourth Drift
It has become too fast to fish where we are. Going to change up the area. It is still going to be fast where we are going, but hopefully the results will be different.

Fifth Drift
As we were changing up the area the wind shifted and came around out of the south, so we decided to stay in Ambrose, just a little north of where we were fishing. We catch some fluke, some sea robins, and every now and then there is a keeper caught. . The conditions are nice right now with the wind holding slowing us against the tide. We drift out at .7 kts. Before the wind shift we were doing 1.9 kts. Too fast!

We ended the day with a pick of birds and some fluke mixed in. This is the most sea robins that we have seen on one trip. We could not  get away from them anywhere we went. If you were able  to keep your bait down for any amount of time you would catch a fluke. The only problem with that was the ratio was terrible. John Birritteri won the pool with a 3 1/2 pound fluke. As I was weighing his fish and the final results were sealed, he could be heard saying, “Eat your heart out Cosmo!!”

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Location: Ambrose Channel
Tide: High 7:41am
Water Temp: 78.4°
Wind: SW 7kts
Moon Phase: 100% Full

Conditions
We will be on slack water when we set up in Ambrose where we might only have a short time to fish before it becomes to difficult with the conditions, but we will see. Hopefully we can get a full day in the deep because there has been some very good fishing there!

First Drift
Excellent first drift!! We have very good conditions for fluking in the deep of Ambrose, and we put a few very nice fish in the boat. Walter Petka started us off with a 4 pounder, and Grandfather/Grandson combo Frank Grossman & Kyle Edson simultaneously caught a pair of 4 1/2 pounders. Great way to start a morning!!

Walter Petka started us off right!

Second Drift
Made a quick one because we had to move from the channel to let a couple of outgoing tugs and barges pass through. After they clear we will jump back into the action!

Third Drift
The fluking today has been super. We made our way back into the deep and let the conditions float us across to the north side of the channel. There was an inbound ship that came through, and once it passed we blew the whistle and are heading back into the deep. Kyle Edison is high hook with 4 keepers, and his grandfather Frank is right behind him with 3 in the box. We are catching the fluke all around the boat with some keepers in the mix as well.

Fourth Drift
POW POW! BAM! BOOM!! Whatever term you want to use. Super duper fishing. We have 4 people who are one fish from their limit, and a couple others with 3 fish. We were due to have one of these days. Actually we were overdue! . . . The conditions are tough right now.There is a band of storms coming through our area, and the leading edge has some good wind with it. We are still holding our own though. We’ll see what happens on the next drift. Do I hear the whispers of the phrase, “Go the distance!”?

Storms rollin in!

The front is getting closer!

Fifth Drift
The rain finally got us. The fishing was fantastic before this front came through. Even if this puts the kabash on the day, we got ours! . . Making a move.

Sixth Drift
The rain continues and we catch some shorts. Nothing like it was earlier in the day. Maybe the term, “Go the distance” put the whammy on us?

Seventh Drift
Finished it off with a pick off fish. There were quite a few people that were 1 fish from there limit, but just couldn’t get the ever elusive #5.

The fishing was top notch today. We had seven people with 4 fish. ( I guess saying “Go the distance” really did put the jinks on them from getting their limits. ) . .  The fluke were devouring everything that was thrown at them. Jigs, bait, it didn’t matter. We did lose an hour or more when the heavy rain and lightning came through, but we did get another chance at them before the trip was over. The forecast for tomorrow shows a north wind which might not be the best with the tide we have for tomorrow, but we will see in the morning what Mother Nature has in store for us. Walter Petka is the first leader in the August Flukemaster with a 4 lb 2 oz fluke.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Location: Ambrose Channel
Tide: Low 1:09pm
Water Temp: 78.4°
Wind: E 12kts
Moon Phase: 91% Full

Conditions
Surprise surprise! East wind again. When we left the dock it was blowing a good 20kts, but as we made our way across the bay it diminished to a little over 10. We will get set up in Ambrose where we had the most success yesterday and see what bites. You do have to remember though, you can’t catch yesterdays fish! They have already been cooked!

Flukemaster Update
Today is the last day of the July pool in which Anthony Rullo has had the lead for the majority of the month. Have we caught bigger fish than his 6lb  8oz fluke? Yes, but they did enter for the big money which is at $560? No! You have to be in it to win it! . . . There are a few heavy hitters here today who are looking to deny “The Barker” the chance of becoming the first back to back Flukemaster winner. Anthony also won the June pool. We will see. As they used to do on the show 24. . . . 4:32:07 and counting!

First Drift
We do not move much with the wind against the tide. There was a slow pick of fluke on this one, but we had to leave it because it became too shark infested. . . July Pool Countdown: 03:29:17

Second Drift
Very good fishing again with a few 4 to 5 pounders coming over the rail. Barker and Steve Kerry are tied for high hook with 2 a piece on this drift.
02:28:56 . . . tic tic tic

Third Drift
The fishing is still good, however, this east wind is increasing which is not good.

Fourth Drift
We had to leave Ambrose. Made this one on the Knoll, but very few fish were caught. Heading into Sandy Hook Channel for the next one.

Fifth Drift
The conditions are difficult now with a good east wind up against a very strong outgoing tide. We drift out slowly with the current because the wind is catching us, but the lines are screaming out even faster with bottom current. Going to have to give up on this and make the next one in the bay.
01:25:02 . . .  tic tic tic

Sixth Drift
Caught three keepers at the whistle. Dropped the lines back in and caught a few more.

Seventh Drift
Caught some shorts and a keeper. Not a great finish to the day.

We began the day with excellent fishing, but as the east wind increased, the fluking shut down. Wayne Smith and Anthony Rullo tied for the pool with matching 5 pounders, and Wayne was high hook with 3 quality keepers. Honorable mention of the day is Neil who took home the charity fluke.

Anthony Rullo made it through the month with his 6lb 8oz fluke making him the first back to back Flukemaster champion! Congrat Ant!!!

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Anthony Rullo won the July Flukemaster with a 6lb 8oz fluke. Way to go Ant!

Weekend Report
Saturday’s fishing was terrible. No sugarcoating involved. It was just bad. We had a hard east wind with rain that made the day miserable and the fluking lackluster. Sunday was somewhat of a bounce back day. We caught a good number of keepers and had a steady pick of fish for most of the day. We have an east wind again today, but we will see if we can get them going like yesterday.

Location: Raritan Bay
Tide: Low 12:13pm
Water Temp: 78.8°
Wind: E 6kts
Moon Phase: 91% Full

Conditions
East wind again blowing around 8 kts will be up against an outgoing tide. We are going to get set up where we had our most success yesterday and let it roll.

July Flukemaster Update
Only 2 days left to win the monthly pool. Anthony Rullo has had the lead for the majority of the month with a 6lb 8oz fish. The pot is $560.00

First Drift
We moved 15 feet for the entire drift, and caught a few shorts with some sea robins mixed in.

Second Drift
Sharkfest! We were like Frank Mundus hunting the great white. . . Moving into Ambrose for the next one.

Third Drift
Super duper fireball fishing!!!! We beat them up for two hours and threw some very nice keepers in the coolers!

Fourth Drift
We beat them up again. Excellent fishing again on this one. Running up to do it again.

As of  late, when I give up  on a report, it typically means that the fishing fell apart. Today that was not the case. We had super fluking for the majority of the day in Ambrose. There were moments with 5 to 7 fish on at a time. Hopefully the conditions will allow us to get set up the same way tomorrow!!