Hit the south jetty of the Barnegat Inlet on Saturday to see if I could bucktail up a few flatfish. Spent 4 hours on the rocks and lifted 11 fluke up to 17" on to the jetty, with most in the 14"-16" range. All fish were taken on white 4" Gulp on a teaser rig followed by a 2 oz bucktail also tipped. 100% of the fish were on the teaser.
While I was fishing, a guy came up to me and asked what I was catching on. He was fishing for a few hours with no luck. I showed him what I was using. He wasn't prepared, so I hooked him up with a bucktail and some Gulp, and had the beginner catching some nice cookie-cutter fluke. He offered to give me 10 bucks for the stuff. I denied it and said watching him catch was payment enough. Dude had 3 by the time I left and was still fishing. That's what it's all about right there.
Returned to the jetty by 7am on Sunday morning with my buddy. We were a little early than where the bite has been, as we wanted to get some time in before the forecasted rain rolled in. I managed 3, with one of them being a keeper that I lost trying to hoist over the rock, that was in the 18"-20" range.
(My first keeper from this spot) Also had a few small sea bass on the inlet side. My buddy ended up with 6 up to 16" and lots of seas bass as well. Seems like there were tons of the CB's around. All you had to do was throw a small hook and a small piece of bait. There were lots of hookups on the blowfish as well up and down the jetty. All in all a good weekend, regardless of keepers. Didn't matter much, as I don't carry a bucket or cooler onto the rocks, so it's strictly C&R out there for me.
Back to sharking the beach this week with this beautiful forecast, and possibly a few after-work fluke runs. Who knows? Maybe it'll rain all week anyway.
