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.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Not sure what your point was but based on my experience, a big oil tanker or cargo ship coming through the channel does shut the fishing off. These big ships draft 30 or more feet and push a lot of water so it only stands reason it can and often times does shut down the fishing.

[John D.]

Gerry,

Not trying to stir the pot but have never once seen this mentioned before, nor experienced it while fluking. Yet it seems like every post makes mention of the tankers every time the fishing is off starting 3 weeks ago.

Like I said it my initial post, maybe I am missing something and the barges do suddenly need to be made a part of every report like wind against tide now.

[Jerseydix]

The more info in the report the better? We all use info a little different.

[Duffman]

I remember as a kid in the 70's while fishing Ambrose channel on party boats, captains mentioning inbound/outbound traffic were going to shut down the bite.

Don't think it's something new as far as I remember.

[tautog]

Ship traffic has done that for at least 35 years that I have been fishing there. Weakfish would return on the bite quicker than fluke.

[John D.]

Looks I stand corrected. Still haven't seen this myself or it posted here until this year.

[broken bobber]

John...guys who regularly fish the channels know of this.... especially in the reach channels which are only 43-48 ft down the pipe..... Prop wash from these ships reach and stir the bottom... i have jumped back in and caught a few but generally waiting a half an hr works for us

[John D.]

Again...stand corrected...just saying I have never experienced this (although I have usually fished the edges rather than the deep) and don't ever recall seeing the constant references to this which started a few weeks ago or anything mentioned while fishing a party boat in the deep of the channel (other than having to move and reset). Learned something new.

Bobber--assume you have been putting a beating on them this year. Haven't seen your reports, hope all is well.

[makosnax]

Has always been the case but people are more vocal about it this year. It just means a better play by play report. Somebody even asked if an empty ship with less draft would turn off the bite,why did they ask? Because the detailed reports put another variable in their decision making. I was actually fishing when that empty ship went by and I was looking at the draft lines on the hull, 23'. I figured what the hell, can't be as bad as a full ship and jumped right back in the channel without missing a beat.