After bugers and rootbeers at Stewards we my friend Bob and I jumped on the Gambler for theirs Thursday night Wreck Trip. The boat had a good crowd but not too crowded to make the fishing uncomfortable. We had about an hour and 15 minute ride to Shark River reef. Once we got on anchor and drop down we had a steady pick of fish all night. The Capt made a few wiggles as the night progressed. We ended the night we a nice cooler of ling and my buddy had a keeper cod that won the pool. 6 to 8 oz of lead, simple ling rig and no gulp. There were sharks, squid and a couple of Mahi Mahi swimming in the lights. Note to self: Bright a light spinner with some small bucktails for Mahi’s next time. Very enjoyable trip, the Gambler is a great fishing platform.
In bed at 2am and back up at 7. Ran to Wa Wa for coffees and such, to the tackle store of spearing and jumped my buddies boat to look for some big fluke. Ran to Manasquan Ridge, Nada. Hit some wrecks around the area, Nada. Ran to Alex Reef and finally found a good line and worked it hard. First fluke, 6.2 lbs and then a 4 at end of the drift. Each drift after resulted in a couple of more keepers and a few shorts. A 5 we called it a day and ran back to the dock to clean up and fillet fish. My tally for the day was 13 Fluke, nine of which keeper size. (Only keep my limit). Biggest was 6.2 with the rest going the 3 ~4 lbs range. Used my standard bucktail and teaser rig dressed with Squids strips and X Trigger Shrimp. All but one taken on the teaser. NE wind shifting the East as the day progressed.
