Location: Raritan Bay
Tide: Low 8:15am
Water Temp: 72.7°
Wind: NW 16 kts
Moon Phase: 54% Full

Conditions - Another day with a stiff NW wind up against a flood tide. We had VERY good fishing during last night’s charter. Probably the best fluking of the season. We found some fish during the day, and when we set back up in the afternoon it was on! Pure fluke gold! . . . During yesterday’s morning trip the fluke preferred Jigs and Gulp, however, when we headed back out in the afternoon it was ALL about natural bait. Just goes to show you that things are ever changing in the fluke game. There was a tide change while we were at the dock, and when we came back out they wanted plain spearing and that was it. . .  The conditions today will not be the same. We had the the wind and tide together last night. Today the are opposite of each other. We will get set up and see how it goes.

First Drift – We had three on immediately and a pick to follow. Jeff Lukowich, who is here for the first time this season, started off with a bang by putting 2 keepers in his cooler on the first drift. Jeff also lost a would be third keeper on the way up. Rumors of sabotage began to swirl once his line broke. Could it be a jealous member of his group? Hmmmmm….

Second Drift – Just a slow pick on this one. Joe Mattis put two fish in his box right off the bat, and there were a few more fish caught early, but the bottom kind of fell out. . . We are hardly covering any ground. We do move out with the wind, but it is slowly. Going to make a slight move to the east and see if we can find them.

Jeff putting his third keeper in the boat.

Third Drift – We were asking for a west wind for a few weeks, and we got it here today. Easily blowing 20+ right now. . . The fishing on this one was not good. Only managed a few shorts. Going to make a little shift to the north.

Fourth Drift – We are fishing some flats to our north and had a pick of fish. Jeff Lukowich is high hook with 4 keepers, and there are 2 people with 3 keepers. Natural bait is winning the battle of the bait today. Spearing, Smelt, and tinker mackerel are all doing the trick.

Fifth Drift – Slow pick of fish. We go through an area and get a shot of fish, then nothing for a while.

Fishing was at it’s best before the change of tide. Once we got the flood water the fishing slowed up. We did pick all day, but the first two drifts were the best. Jeff Lukowich and Ray Dowzycki were high hook with 4 keepers, and there were 3  others with 3 fish. Dot Jancola won the pool with a 4 1/2 pound fluke.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Magic Hour fluking has been very good this season. We sail Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings from 5pm to 9pm. The fare is $40 for an adults and $25 for children 13 and under.

Location: Raritan Bay
Tide: High 1:42pm
Water Temp: 74.7°
Wind: NW 14 kts
Moon Phase: 29% Full

Conditions - We  will have incoming water for the whole trip. The is a decent NW wind that will push us against the tide. Not very good conditions, but we will work the problem. . . The past few days have been hit and miss. Yesterday we were clobbered by thunderstorms for the first hour of the day, and it took some time to get anything going. High hook was Bill Burnett with 4 keepers all caught using Spro/Gulp combo. Over the weekend we caught them for the first few hours of the day, then it was like a someone just turned out the lights. . . We will get set up here today and see how it goes!

First Drift – A good shot of fish to begin the day, however, only one keeper.

Second Drift – A few shorts and a couple keepers. Not good, but not bad either. This wind has come on now and is blowing 15 – 20 kts.

Third Drift – We are currently picking away at the fluke. The keeper ratio is not very favorable though. Running up to make another one.

Fourth Drift – Dried up. We are going to make a move to the west.

Fifth Drift – This isn’t working out anymore. Going to make one in the channel.

Sixth Drift – We found a little bit of fluke gold. Well, for 2012 it’s gold. . . We slugged away at the shorts and keepers up to 5 pounds.

Seventh Drift – Boom!!!!  As I was walking around with what was going to be the pool fish, Matthew Smith hit a walk off home run with a 5 1/2 pound fluke which took the money.

Considering the conditions, today was pretty good. We caught fish just about all day, and hit a little bit of gold at the end. Natural bait and Jigs both worked well today.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Location: Raritan Bay
Tide: High 10:05am
Water Temp: 73.7°
Wind: W 5 kts
Moon Phase: 2% Full

Conditions - Going to be a while before we have any kind of drifting conditions.

First Drift – Back where we fished yesterday, but we just do not move. Going to change it up, and maybe come back to it later after the tide change.

Second Drift – Not to bad. We made a move to where we would get the wind and current together, and we are  picking away at the fish. Two people are 1 fish away from their limit.. The keeper ratio is probably around 3 to 1 today. Very good, but not as good as yesterday.

Mid Drift Update!!!
The Duke has hid limit!!! POW POW!!!

Third Drift – We are benefitting from a very good keeper ratio again here today. There is one limit, one person with 4, and three people with 3 keepers. Running up for a redux!

Fourth Drift – More of  the same. It isn’t super beat them up fishing, but we do have a good pick going, and the majority are keepers. Unlike yesterday where they preferred bait, today the Jigs/Gulp is doing the trick!

Fifth Drift – Had to make a quick because of an outbound tug, but we did throw some more fish in the cooler, and put another limit in the books! The conditions are PERFECT!!! Running up to bang ‘em up again!

Sixth Drift – This one was a dud. We let the tug and barge pass and jumped back into where we were fishing, but it was no good. Setting up just a little differently for the next one.

Seventh Drift – The fishing slowed up somewhat, but we  did get another limit which makes 3 on the day.

We had another good day of fishing. Unlike yesterday, today they wanted jigs and Gulp. We also benefited from a very good keeper ratio. There were 4 limits on the boat, and Sean Vitale won the pool with a 5 pound fluke.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Location: Raritan Bay
Tide: High 9:15am
Water Temp: 72.2°
Wind: WNW 8 kts
Moon Phase: 1% Waning

Conditions - Well, I decided that I wasn’t going to do a live report until the wind stopped blowing east. Today, after what seems like forever, we finally have a wind out of another direction. The conditions will be perfect today with the wind out of the West and outgoing water. It’s going to be hot, but hopefully the fluking will be just as hot!

First Drift – We have a change in the weather and a change in the fishing. The west wind has sparked a little bit of fluke attack. This is easily the best start in a couple of weeks. Bill O’Connell was high hook with 3 keepers.

Second Drift – We have a nice pick of fish coming over the rail. The ratio is around 50/50 with some quality keepers mixed in. The conditions are shaping now with the first of the outgoing water carrying us along with a light westerly breeze. High hook is Artie Razillard with 4 in the box.

Third Drift – Not bad. We slowly pick away at the fluke with a good keeper ratio. There is a ton of bait life on the bottom which we read on the machine, and the majority of the fish are spitting up grass shrimp which proves what we read. There are tons of bunker constantly swimming past the boat also. This is some aquarium we fish in! . . . Today bait is outfishing the Spros and Gulp.

Fourth Drift – It seems to have dried up. We are going to make a move to the west.

Fifth Drift – Pretty good fishing.  Lou Hornberger caught back-to-back keepers to get his limit. There were also a couple of 5 pounders that came up side by side. One caught by Judy Shuta and the other by Bob Althausen. . I take back what I said about the fluke not hitting the Spros/Gulp. They are now in assault mode with the jigs!  . .  If you can handle the heat, the fishing is good.

Sixth Drift – We ended with a good pick of fish.

Today was the best day of fluking in a couple of weeks. We finally had something other than east wind and the fishing shaped up. There was a TON of bait in our area, whether it was the bunker swimming around on top, or the bait life on the bottom. It also seemed like every time we went through one of those schools of bunker we would get a shot of fluke. As if they were following the schools and eating whatever fell their way. Plain bait easily outfished the Spro/Gulp combo. There were 3 people with their limit, and 4 others with 4 keepers. Bob Althausen was today’s pool winner with a 5 pound fluke.

You know what? I still have the computer on and we are out on our evening trip. I will just keep the updates coming for you throughout this trip also.

5pm Evening Trip Conditions

Location: Raritan Bay
Tide : Low 3:15pm
Water Temp: 73.4°
Wind: N 8 kts

We are back on the same grounds we fished this morning, however, this time the conditions will be a little different. The wind is out of the west holding us up against a flood tide. The drifting conditions will be terrible, but maybe the jig anglers can pick up the slack. We will see!

First Drift – Not bad, but not great either. We benefited from a very good keeper ratio. High hook had 2 keeps on the first one.

Second Drift – We have no conditions at all with the wind against the tide, but the jig guys are getting it done. The fishing is not great, but just about everything we catch is a keeper. And much like this morning, when one of these giant schools of bunker swim by, we get a shot of fluke. High hook has 4 keepers.

Third Drift – It’s almost like someone shut off a switch. One keeper and a few shorts, but for the most part not good.

We ended the night with one more uneventful drift. The closer we got the the top of the tide, the more the fishing slowed. We had some good moments early, and some of the jig fisherman were able to take advantage of a very good keeper ratio. High hook had 4 keepers.

day as far as where to fish. So, we will head to the normal east wind hiLocation: Sandy Hook Bay
Tide: Low 10:04am
Water Temp: 71.2°
Wind: NNE 11 kts
Moon Phase: 31% Waning

Got to love the weather this season. Another day of east wind. We need this to end and have a stretch of normal summer weather to get things going. . . We do not have a lot of options todeaway and see how it goes. . . Flood water until 10am this morning.

A friend of mine found this video of a guy jigging fluke. It’s shot with an underwater camera. I do not know the guy in the video, but it gives a good look as to what is going on below.

First Drift – One fish on at the opening bell which was a keeper caught by Andy “Doc” Sokol. A couple of shorts followed. It’s a start!!

Second Drift – A few shorts. Some birds. A couple of slammer blues. We are fishing! . . .Going to change up the area for the next one.

Third Drift – We found some fish on this one, and we didn’t drift 100 feet the whole time. The wind was holding us up against the last of the outgoing water. It looks as if once the flood current starts to run we will be able to put a nice catch together. We will see. Going to have better conditions on this next one.

Fourth Drift – We had good conditions and picked away at the fluke. Ratio was extremely low. Making a shift for the next one.

Fifth Drift – We go through areas where we get a good shot of fish then it’s like a desert for 4 or 5 minutes then another shot of fish. The ratio today is very low. We are catching, but keeping is rough. There are three people tied for high hook with 3 fish. Jigging with Gulp is outfishing bait.

Sixth Drift – The rain got us, but Gene Zielinski perked everyone up with his 7 1/4 pound fluke! Wasy to go Gene!!

Seventh Drift – Not much came up on this one. Only a couple of shorts. Andy Sokol is high hook with 3 keepers. We are heading to the west to end the day.

Andy Sokol tied for high hook with 3 keepers out of 25 fish.

Charlie Zeilinski also had 3 keepers on the day.

Check back tomorrow for more live updates.

Fishing was inconsistent today, but some people made out better than others. Steve Kerry caught his limit and Jason Haber was next in line with 4 keepers.

We also had a couple of young first time flukers with us today. Miguel Reveira and Sahil Parksh both brought their first fluke over the rail.

Jo Sho was the big money winner with a fluke that was just under 5 pounds.

Carm Patulla, who was Wednesday nights pool winner, was a close second in today’s pool with this 5 pounder.

Ken McLean, Lisa Bottles and young first time fluker Sahil Parksh put a nice catch of fish together.

Saturday’s pool winner was Mike English who caught this 4 1/2 pounder.

Location: Raritan Bay
Tide: 10:06 am
Water Temp: 68.9°
Wind: WNW 4 kts
Moon Phase: 94% Waning

What a BEAUTIFUL morning. We will get set up with a light NW breeze up against the flood water. We have a tide change coming up in a couple of hours to look forward to. Going to be slow until then.

The current Mr. June in the Flukemaster Pool is Wayne Smith with a 5 lb 4 oz fluke. The pot is currently up to $210.

First Drift – Not good. We have terrible conditions to start, and nothing wanted to bite. We are changing the area. It will be a little while before the 2nd drift.

Second Drift – We made our way east to Sandy Hook and had a very good drift with shorts and keepers!

Third Drift – It is shaping up to be a good day of fishing. This is a new body of fish that moved into the bay with the full moon. The only downside is that the keeper ratio is low, but that isn’t a bad thing. It is good, and a relief, to see these fish come in here.

Fourth Drift – The bite is on, and the good fluking continues! Artie Razillard is high hook on the keepers with two. . . Everything is working right now. Natural bait. Gulp. Spros. They are hungry and hammering anything that is down there. . . We lost the current. Going to make a move to catch the first of the outgoing water.

Fifth Drift – We went through a little lull in the action, but once we started moving with the outgoing water the bite was back on! Artie Razillard is high hook with 3 keepers. . . Like I said a few drifts ago, the fluking is TERRIFIC, just the ratio is not so favorable.

Sixth Drift – Another very good drift with a few more keepers coming over the rail. Running up to do it again!

Seventh Drift – Well, I have been telling myself that I need to start running all spring. Today is the day that I start! I have been doing the fluke sprint around the boat all day. The conditions are absolutely PERFECT with a light southerly breeze pushing us along with the current, and these fish just keep biting.  Everyone is getting in on the action. There is no bait discrimination whatsoever!! . . Running up for another one.

Eighth Drift – POW POW!! What a day! . . . Running up to make our final drift of the trip. Artie Razillard is high hook with 4 keepers, and Joe Mattis is next in line with 3 in the box.

Ninth Drift – Made a quick drift and caught another keeper and a few short to end the day. On a side note, everyone has at least one keeper in the box!

Today was a great day to be fluking. The weather was perfect and the fish ate all day. High hook was Artie Razillard, who had a Flukestar type day, with 4 keepers including the pool winner which weighed 4 pounds.

Location: Raritan Bay
Tide: 9:32 am
Water Temp: 68.3°
Wind: NE 8 kts
Moon Phase: 98% Waning

Ahh. A nice brisk morning! One of these days the wind will lay down. . . We will have good conditions in the back of the bay with the end of the flood water and NE breeze. Going to get set up and see what swims.

First Drift – 100% keeper ratio!! One fish, one keeper!! Joe Illuzzi got us started with the first fish of the day

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Second Drift – We did better on this one. Al Skowronski put 2 in the box and Joe Illuzzi added one to his cooler. Running back up for another.

Third Drift – Good conditions and put another one in the bucket.

Fourth Drift – We lost the flood water, and didn’t catch much on this one. Going to change it up just a little.

The day did not get any better as it went on. We did not catch much after the tide change. We really need the weather to break to get this fishing going.

Fluking was not the greatest on Sunday. We were hampered by the wind, and were not able to fish many places. High hook was Doug “The Duke” Kay with 3 and Wayne Smith won the pool with a 5 1/4 pound fluke. Bill Venizia was runner up with a 5 pound fish. Wayne is the current leader in the June Flukemaster Pool.

The Duke with a couple of his beautys!

Wayne Smith is the new June Pool leader with this 5 1/4 pound fluke.

Bill Venizia holding his 5 pounder from todays trip.

Location: Raritan Bay
Tide: 12:00 Low
Water Temp: 72.3°
Wind: E 14 kts
Moon Phase: 87% Full

Congrats to Steve Kerry on winning the May Flukemaster Pool !

The first “Live Report” of 2012! . . We had a northwest breeze yesterday and it sparked the good fishing, however, today we head out with a stiff east wind blowing around 13 kts and outgoing water which is making the seas angry. (If your a Seinfeld fan you will get it.) We will get set up and see what bites.

First Drift – Not bad! Newly crowned Mr. May Steve Kerry put 2 in the box. There were a few keepers and some shorts. A pretty good start.

Second Drift – A couple more keepers and a few shorts. The conditions are tough right now with the east wind up against the tide. We are rolling around pretty good, but we do pick at the fish. Mr. May put his 3rd keeper in the box!

Third Drift – Another keeper and only a couple shorts. Going to change it up a little.

Fourth Drift – We made our way to Sandy Hook to duck out of the wind which has really come on here blowing 20 – 25 kts out of the ESE. Despite that we are still picking at the fluke. Jay Tomlinson brought 2 keepers over the rail on this drift.

Jay, who is a little wind blown in this photo, with his 2 keepers.

Fifth Drift – We are tucked in Sandy Hook Bay because it is basically the only option right now with this wind. We are catching fish, however, the ratio is low. Jay Tomlinson put his third keeper in the pail and is now one of three people with 3 keepers.

Sixth Drift – The wind has really come on here, and it has effected the little bit of fishing that we had. No keepers on this one, and only a few shorts. We are going to head west a ways and try one more.