9/2 Surf Fishing Report

[JMSurfFishing]

Got to Island Beach State Park around 7:00 am, high tide 9:45 am with winds SW at 3 mph. The waves were absolutely pumping from the remnants of hurricanes Franklin and Idalia earlier in the week. These were the biggest waves that I can remember seeing in NJ in a long time. Surfers scoped out the waves to start the morning and the usual assortment of fisherman filtered in and setup their camps.

Target species was Fluke and started off at my go-to spot using a bucktail and teaser rig. Worked a stretch of beach for about 30 minutes with no bites before picking up and moving to the second spot. Found some deeper water and a little more life picking up a few very small fluke. Landed a 17" keeper on a pink and white bucktail tipped with a chartreuse gulp and 6" pearl white Gulp jerk shad on the teaser.

Made a move to my final spot while the high tide was really filling in. The first 10 minutes were slow with some bites and missed hooksets as I consistently jigged until I felt the unmistakable weight of a solid fluke tugging back on the line. It felt like the fish I was looking for and I made myself slow down and maintain pressure on the fish while reeling it in. Kept the line tight and worked the fish up onto the sand using the breaking waves to my advantage. Pulled it up on the sand just outside reach of the waves and the fish spit the hook. Ran down to the edge and quickly pushed the fish safely away from any rogue waves a few more feet up on the sand, wasn't taking any chances. Took a minute to admire the beautiful 21" fish, felt great to land it. Caught on an orange and yellow bucktail with a pink shine gulp and 6" pearl white Gulp jerk shad on the teaser.

Called it a day and stopped at Grumpys on my way home for a weigh in, 3.75 lbs. Made a nice dinner for the family baking one of the fish with tomatoes and peppers from the garden and topped with breadcrumbs. A perfect start to Labor Day weekend. I've been trying to use bigger baits for fluke this summer to help weed out some of the shorts and so far, it seems to be working. Tight lines!

[clevinger]

Fantastic! Great details.