Thoughts on bay/river/creek fluke fishing

[bulletbob]

All we see these days even from fishermen that fish in their own boats or party boats is reports on oceanside deep structure .. I am wondering if some guys that fish the old way in sheltered bay waters or tidal rivers and creeks would tell about how they are doing this year and perhaps how they fared past few years fishing in areas that guys in 12 foot aluminum boats or even land based fishermen can access. Not everyone can run his boat 5 miles up or down from the inlet, and a mile or two out in the ocean. Baits, techniques used , would be great info.. No need for revealing private hot spots but maybe a few guys can mention if they fish say Great Bay, or Barnegat Bay, or Sandy Hook or whatever without giving exact locations . I dunno, I just thought it would be a good discussion topic to start members here contributing and discussing again , as opposed to simply reading party boat reports... bob

[june181901]

Shrewsbury has been better this year than the past three years. White Gulp on 1/2 ounce jigs and believe me I did not want to stop drifting with killies. Evidence became overwhelming so I switched, influenced by John Skinner, Cooking and Fishing and a neighbor. 14 foot tin boat mostly staying east of the Oceanic, north of the Rumson Bridge and seldom past the mouth of the Shrewsbury.

[Duffman]

I’m out of mid bay in the Raritan/SH area. Although I have the capability of heading out “Oceanside deep structure” I so much prefer the skinny water and feather lite tackle to target fluke.

From what I’ve noticed, the first few weeks early season has always been great. Keepers 18”+ in real tight to the beach. Once the water warms and the brown grass starts in June the bite dies off.

The spots in tight then go dormant until late August early Sept and start up again. Especially around the sailboat flats.

Rain plays a big part too. Tons of runoff staining the water kills any bite IMO.

I strictly bucktail but always deadstick a rod. A simple 2/0 Gami Octo on a plain Jane rig with a live killie is killer early on in May.

[Jigman13]

My back bay spots have been atrocious this year. Filthy water. Tons of weeds but an insane volume of spots/croaker EVERYWHERE

Ive been doing better in the ocean surf

[hartattack]

My crew, the Alta Kakers on Jakesdad's Honeybee, fishes the Shark River regularly. These guys know the River better than the fish, they used to run party boat Silver Swan in the 60s/70s. We started preseason Scouting trips in early April. and thru mid June we caught approx 10 shorts for every keeper. Keeper ratio now has improved but the number of River fluke has decreased in July. However every less than average ocean fluke trip is still salvaged with River keepers on our return. Our biggest 2025 River fluke was 25".
The River is somewhat shielded from strong winds, making unfishable ocean days fishable in River. You can tuck out of gusts and at times we even anchored and got em.
Early season the fluke prefer meat over Gulp. With Spearing shortage and costs exceeding the price of Lobster , we've been thrilled with the results of using a new type of bait for us: Salmon bellies. Wegmans sell Salmon Trim for $3 a pound!
Another plus is the 1 minute run to the fishing grounds. This allows us to fish short duration trips which ocean fluking cannot do. And party boats don't drift the river!!

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Duffman

I’m out of mid bay in the Raritan/SH area. Although I have the capability of heading out “Oceanside deep structure” I so much prefer the skinny water and feather lite tackle to target fluke.

From what I’ve noticed, the first few weeks early season has always been great. Keepers 18”+ in real tight to the beach. Once the water warms and the brown grass starts in June the bite dies off.

The spots in tight then go dormant until late August early Sept and start up again. Especially around the sailboat flats.

Rain plays a big part too. Tons of runoff staining the water kills any bite IMO.

I strictly bucktail but always deadstick a rod. A simple 2/0 Gami Octo on a plain Jane rig with a live killie is killer early on in May.

When you write about the bite dying off, do you mean larger keeper size fish, or total numbers?... For years and years when I lived on the bay, and even after I moved up here and drove down to fish in NJ, there were always tons and tons of small fluke in the bay to the point of being ridiculous.. You could catch a hundred a day if you wanted all summer, but a 15 incher was a big one. I used to bounce old style hair jigs with a small strip of squid alongside a dead stick on the gunnel and the amount of fish was astounding, but even in those days, as summer progressed the fish seemed to get smaller. Also the 1 to 2 pound Blues were sometimes more abundant than Fluke and you had to watch your dead stick as many disappeared overboard, before you could even react... I imagine the Blues aren't there in those type of numbers these days in the Raritan/Sandy Hook complex.. Kind of a shame, as when we talked of going fishing back then [80's] we didn't say "we are going for fluke".. It was always- "We are going for fluke and blues".. You never caught one without catching a lot of the other .. As you went further into the Shrewsbury Navesink, fluke were always there all summer but numbers dwindled as summer progressed, and blues became less of a "problem" although they would still come charging through on certain days.. Sometimes without warning BIG blues would come charging into the rivers as well, and it was fun watching a kid with a Zebco hook a big Bluefish.. Not sure that happens anymore..

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Jigman13

My back bay spots have been atrocious this year. Filthy water. Tons of weeds but an insane volume of spots/croaker EVERYWHERE

Ive been doing better in the ocean surf

Any size to the Spots/Croakers?.... or are they the little "silver dollar" size fish? catching a bunch of 12-15 inch Croakers would help make up for a lack of Fluke in my opinion.. I know some years only little ones are abundant.

[Duffman]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

When you write about the bite dying off, do you mean larger keeper size fish, or total numbers?... For years and years when I lived on the bay, and even after I moved up here and drove down to fish in NJ, there were always tons and tons of small fluke in the bay to the point of being ridiculous.. You could catch a hundred a day if you wanted all summer, but a 15 incher was a big one. I used to bounce old style hair jigs with a small strip of squid alongside a dead stick on the gunnel and the amount of fish was astounding, but even in those days, as summer progressed the fish seemed to get smaller. Also the 1 to 2 pound Blues were sometimes more abundant than Fluke and you had to watch your dead stick as many disappeared overboard, before you could even react... I imagine the Blues aren't there in those type of numbers these days in the Raritan/Sandy Hook complex.. Kind of a shame, as when we talked of going fishing back then [80's] we didn't say "we are going for fluke".. It was always- "We are going for fluke and blues".. You never caught one without catching a lot of the other .. As you went further into the Shrewsbury Navesink, fluke were always there all summer but numbers dwindled as summer progressed, and blues became less of a "problem" although they would still come charging through on certain days.. Sometimes without warning BIG blues would come charging into the rivers as well, and it was fun watching a kid with a Zebco hook a big Bluefish.. Not sure that happens anymore..

Both. I fish a particular hole very close to my dock. From the start of May until first week June it is loaded with 18-22” fish. By middle of June when water temps creep up its shuts off like a light. If we get heavy rains it’ll turn off even sooner.
Raritan and SHB have changed drastically since Sandy. Pieces that used to hold fish no longer do and vice versa. Back in the 80’s 90’s and early 2000’s catching a smooth dog was not exactly rare but seldom saw them. This year I have yet to see a sea robin but have put close to, if not over 100 dogs this year on deck. Same with cow noses. Can’t remember them at all as a kid and this past weekend I saw thousands.

[bulletbob]

Yes, we would see smooth dogs only very occasionally.. I moved out of NJ in 1991 and had never caught a cownose. I had been spooled by huge unseen unstoppable fish while fluking though that I now attribute to a huge ray.
Then when we would come down and fish several times a year, especially after around 2000 cownose rays seemed to be everywhere, As a kid, right until i moved from the jersey shore at the age of 37years, they were unknown in the bay.. I imagine they were there, but not in the kind of numbers we are seeing today. Interesting... Its very hard for me to even imagine fluke fishing in raritan bay without catching dozens of those big dark red sea robins.. I remember guys would murder every one they caught, but i always released them, as they gave a pretty good account on light tackle.. Like many others, I realized they actually were pretty good to eat, and started keeping a few.. Maybe someone realized they were good to eat raw and thinly sliced with wasabi and soy sauce, and they are now a sought after commercial fish.. Never saw a lack of sea robins at any time in my life.... bob.

[tautog]

Pressure has a lot to do with the bay and river fishery. I was at the Heroes on the Water event at the Sandy Hook Coast Guard Station on Saturday and numerous keepers up to 27 ins were caught on all sorts of baits. Anyone who knew how to fish and stayed out at least 2 hours had a limit or better. We had several keepers right off the beach while waiting to help kayakers in. Almost all the keepers were caught in the restricted zone. Those who paddled to the tip of the hook didn't do well even though it was deeper and had better current. Lack of fishing pressure was the game changer. Also I would like to thank Cancun Pete for his donated gear, water, and ice.