(Saturday) Fluking on the pale crustacean

[Capt. JJ]

Got the call from GDUBS I was waiting for: "Its ON! Tuna at Manasquan inlet Sea wall!"

Knowing that with that news it was NOW OR NEVER, I loaded up my car with fishing tackle and went fluking because, well, I never trust GDUBS for any fishing intel.

ANYWAYS, forced Mrs. JJ to get up at zero dark "youre F%^$%#ing crazy" thirty hours and drove down to meet our crew of die hard fluke boos in Neptune. Boarded the boat with Capts. Jimmy and Steve, jigged up small infant king mackerel for bait in the harbor, and our crew consisting of Nick "Jimmy Page worships at my feet" and Jill, Chris "where are my dry flies" Martino, and of course Bradley Cooper (who gave up clamming for slumming with our group), and set sail for the fluke grounds.

After sorting through 6 gallons of assorted gulp, settled on nuke chicken and chartreuse and made the first drop into crystal clear waters the likes of which I havent seen in many a year (no wonder GDUBS saw yellowfin chasing bergalls in front of the condos in Brielle!)....Took us a bit of dialing in but Capt. Steve channeled his inner Wicked Tuna mojo and put us on meat all morning.

No cobia or tarpon were spotted, but we did see harbor seals attacking our jigs as they came up, and Brad swore he saw the entire cast of Baywatch swimming under our vessel at one point. (Brad is also a "trustee of modern chemistry" so Id take anything he says with a grain of salt).

Everyone jigged up a bazillion shorts at 17.5", but between bouts of watching Nick catch a brand new, Jersey shore record of 63 shorts with only one keeper, Lynn, Brad and I managed to keep the fishbox filled with multiple ORL's, of course releasing all but our legally qualified limits. We also practiced a solid conservation practice of catching and releasing several dozen other keepers, albeit while still 60 feet down in the water! I mean, why make the crew work by forcing them to remove deep-hooked jigs when deep-water catch and release saves time, and effort!

"Deep water catch and release", kiddies. Ive copywrited that line so if you use it please send me $1.50......

Great job by the crew....wonderful charter team....lets do this again, provided Im not banned from the boat!


Tight Lines!

JJ