Left Keansburg Sat. at 0700 with Fluke pullers Dibbs and Ross.. on what was likely Ross's last chance at Fluke for the season... as on Sunday, he kicked off his year selling peaches on his pick-ur-own fruit farm (Strawberry Hill Farm in Chesterfield, NJ
).. We again started in the bay, hitting spots around the Navy pier and the Hook.. Had near constant action on short Fluke, but only a few keepers for our efforts.. ran up the river for fuel at the slack, and then headed outside to fish the incoming.. Fished areas of structure in 30- 50' with a pretty steady pick as soon as a drift started.. Ross made his last day till after apple season count.. with his usual hot hand, he accounted for the lion's share of the day's 9 keeper fluke, including a beautiful 6+ lber near the end of the day.. Both Dibbs and I caught fish all day, but added only a few to the box... Sunday, we sadly left Ross to his peaches, and after a couple last minute bails, it ended up being just Dibbs and I leaving the dock at 0700.. Seeing the slick conditions already in the bay, we opted to seek out a breeze on the ocean.. Ran south of the hook, and fished hard until about 3..not much of drift most of the day.. despite that we had a fairly steady pick of fluke, and seabass, although mostly short. .. tragedy struck around mid-day as Dibbs, slipping on some fresh slime, went to brace himself on the gunwale and snapped his favorite fluke stick..
I sold him the GL3 Loomis back in '94 when I was working at Sportsmens Center. Having bested countless Fluke , Stripers, and any other critter unfortunate enough to swim across it's path, it had come to be called "Excaliber" .. very sad
Shortly after I noticed something drifting alongside the boat that I first thought was a baby turtle,
but it turned out to be a latex glove.. closer inspection revealed that it seemed to be giving us "the finger" as it bobbed along.. it was then closely followed by the classic "Coney Island Whitefish" running the same school..we figured that was enough signs for us, and we headed for the barn with our 3 fluke to about 21" , and a few nice C-biscuits.. for what we hoped was an early escape up the parkway.. well the omens proved true, and we missed the close of the K-burg flood gate by about 2 minutes .
having jettisoned our leftover bait at sea, we spent an extra couple hours feeding Italian food to the flies , while we waited for the re-opening and contemplated the mysterious Finger... Still a nice couple days out with the boys
Ross's fattie:
Dibbs and Rossie workin it like a well oiled machine
