Jason and I joined Capt. Frank Tenore and his daughter Chrissy board the Fins On Feathers for a full of fishing. Our goal was to put fish in the box.
Started off by the Fisherman's Buoy and had a pick of sea bass. Managed to box 10 keepers (to 16"s) and 3X times that amount of shorts. Also got a bonus keeper tog of 16". Moved closer to the Mud Buoy but that area was dead. Ran inshore to the Sandy Hook Reef in hopes of finding some porgies. Again, dead bottom.
Found a nice patch of fluke in the dredge holes off the Highlands Bridge. First had the fish at the bottom of the hole but as the incoming tide pickedup we had better action on the slope. Had close to 50 shorts between the 4 of us but we also managed to box 8 keepers to #4. They didn't want big baits; sandeels, large strips and Peruvian smelts went untouched. Best bait was a single spearing with or without a 4" chartreuse GULP. The other 3 were dragging bait except for me who
able to get down to the bottom with a 1.5 ounce bucktail. I caught fish on both the bucktail and the trailer hook.
One more thing, the area off the Highlands Bridge looks as if it about to come alive with action anytime now as there numerous pods (big pods at that) of rainfish. At one point we counted 6 different pods.
