Observation re fluke reports

[John D.]

Earlier in the season all I saw on this board was how great the fluking was..and it was very good with some nice fish around.

The past 3 weeks, the fluking has tailed off a bit. It's still good, but not "limits all around....reports of guys limiting out by 8:15am...(yes, boats were reporting stuff like this....). And that's ok, fishing was still decent and conditions were not always ideal with wind/tide etc and fish might be starting to move to the ocean side.

But....and this is a new one in my 30 years of fishing Raritan Bay....I am constantly reading reports of how the cargo ships are suddenly, almost mysteriously, shutting off the bite. Now, it's,one thing when you have to move off a good drift because the cargo ship is coming (and I would think gps helps you get back on the drift plan.....) but it's news to me that the cargo ship affects a bottom fish 60' down in the channel even though these ship have deep drafts. Never seen it in the 30 years fishing the bay. Ever. And, never saw the need to include in EVERY report how the cargo ship hurt the fishing...even including pics or estimated weight of the nefarious culprit ships which scared all the skittish fluke hugging the bottom 60' down.....omg...is that the dreaded Seastreak ferry coming as we speak?....

Sometimes, it's just ok to say fishing is good, even if it's not limits all around or limits by 8:15am....maybe I am missing something here but never have experienced a passing ship shutting down the fluke bite and certainly didn't see mention of it during the hot start start in the first month and a half of the fluke season.

It's been a great year for fluking in Raritan bay. Looking forward to the rest of the season.