Never made it to the Belmar Seafood Festival as the wife was in no mood for the heat.
So that gave me the chance I needed to do some afternoon fluking on the Misty Morn.
A steady 15 Kt. SW wind made it comfortable on the water. Jason and I were 2 of 14 fares. First drift was on the fast side as we still had a good amount of outgoing water with the SW wind. Really didn't do much for the first 20 minutes then we found a few patches of fish here & there. Needed at least 5 ounces with braid so at this point BTing was not in the cards.
By the end of the first drift it was slow enough to try bucktailing on the second drift. I was using a 2 ounce white Spro and Jason went even lighter with a 1 ounce white Spro and a 1/4 ounce white Spro as a teaser. We both got pretty steady hits and started putting fish over the rail. Jason was fishing the stern and I was on the pulpit. My second fish was a nice 21" fluke. Jason was putting on a BT clinic but not producing any keepers. He started off with a #2-3 bluefish, followed by a double header of the same class bluefish. Next he was bailing sea robins and fluke in the 16.5-17.75" class. He even bucked up a short weakfish. Meantime I was doing a number on the same size fluke as Jason.
We ended up with just my 1 keeper. High hook had 4. 14 fares put a dozen fluke on ice. All the keepers but one was over 20"s. Pool was in the #4.5 class.