Took the new boat out w my buddy and his dad today. Broke the inlet in Belmar to beautiful calm seas and headed north. Boat ran great, very stable, lots of room, plenty of rod holders in the gunnel up top and in the boat, rocket launcher coming soon for the TTop.. We set up and started catching fish quickly...weeded through a lot of shorts. Fished out a ways from beach and then in tight. Pulled some quality keepers up for the box, keeping only our limits in between the shorts and the Sea robins, even had a huge trigger in the mix. My buddy hooked up on a very, very nice fluke, pulled drag, had lots of head shake and bent the rod significantly. Cranked on it steadily for a while bringing it up, it gave that one more good head shake and it was gone....I was waiting with the net with a smile knowing, this was going to be THEE big one for him that he's fished hard for...wasn't meant to be . We'll be back out there for them soon......tonight, fresh fluke broiled with jalapenos from the garden and old bay...yummmm
