By Capt. Robby Barradale
Hello, fellow fisherpeople! We wrapped up last week with me exhausted and needing to sleep in order to arise for a porgy trip on the Double Down II with Capt. Dan, so I figured that would be our first report this week. This one was a fun trip with Dans’ former coworkers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Marine Division (he has retired). Mike, Ed, and Jack arrived at the boat on time (always a plus) and we steamed off to the grounds. Upon arriving in the general area, we noted other vessels picking away at the porgies but we really were not too impressed with the quality of the fish we saw. Dan and I are old, getting lazy, and did not want to bother having to measure every single fish, so we decided to look around a bit before choosing our spot to anchor.
About 1/2 mile from the fleet we found some interesting readings on the sonar and decided to give it a shot. Well, it worked. The New Jersey size limit on porgies is 9 inches, but we were in NY waters so it is 10 inches. Every porgy brought aboard was between 13 and 17 inches so no measurements required. After putting enough in the cooler for a bunch of meals, we enjoyed the rest of our time releasing the feisty critters and everyone had a great time. I have mentioned it before but for those of you with kids, I really recommend you try this fishing, if the weather and conditions are decent the action will be good and the youngsters will not be bored. If you need help setting something like this up, contact me, I’d be glad to steer you in the right direction.
Well, we started out with how my week began so we might as well continue along this line. Dan kept me busy. We did a day trip Friday, two trips Saturday, and another full day Sunday, and as I am sure you guys know, it was hot outdoors. Sailing from Keyport we are limited in our range, so on all of these trips we basically scoured the bay from the Knoll to Old Orchard Light, Belford, Keansburg, and everywhere in between in search of the elusive keeper fluke.
Callie outfished her dad and brother, landing numerous short fluke and a couple of keepers but she really enjoyed tussling with the sand sharks. This was probably her fifth one and I finally got her to touch it.
We found assorted life at all locations consisting of sea robins, sand sharks, skates, cownose rays, short fluke and a smattering of keeper fluke. Some trips (not sure which ones, they all blended together from the heat and tiredness) we were able to treat our clients to mammal shows as porpoises and whales would materialize magically on the calm bay. I am always surprised when this happens and this year we seem to have more of these cool creatures around to entertain us.
Serious flukers are putting mileage on the boats and bringing in fair sized flatties along with some sea bass (we are only allowed two sea bass per person for now) from rougher bottom areas in the ocean. Traditional rigs with longer leaders and natural baits do not work as well for this type of fishing as they tend to snag on every craggy chunk of bottom you drift over. We would recommend bouncing a bucktail jig of enough weight to maintain contact with the ocean floor and adorn it with “fake bait” such as Gulp or Plug Bait to entice a big fluke to strike. A lot of pros will add a teaser hook a foot or so above the bucktail but I feel this is just another unnecessary attractor to hook into structure and lose the whole rig.
Tuna fishing has been on fire this week with schoolie bluefins, along with some yellowfins, dining on the sandeel schools at the Middle Grounds. Most captains begin by trolling a spread of lures including sidetrackers, daisy chains, cedar plugs, deep divers, and anything else they think might draw a tuna from the depths. At times the tuna push the bait-fish to the surface and casting a popping plug into the melee can trigger a vicious, shoulder wrenching strike that will definitely increase your heart rate! Other times the fish are content to feed in the midwater range and here is where a rapidly worked metal jig replicating a sandeel can pay big dividends.
A pile of nice porgies along with a couple of sea robins waiting on the cutting table to be filleted. We had a fun day on Double Down II.
A bit farther out in the canyons the yellowfins are joined by brutal bigeye tuna that can range upwards of 250 pounds and for my money these are the toughest pound-for-pound fighters in the sea. Just when you think you have a bigeye beaten it will rip off another blazing deep diving run and now you have to painfully gain back all the line you lost.
Swordfish can be tricked into biting deep baits during the hours of darkness and they too are very powerful fish to tangle with. If you hook up with a 200-500-pound sword you will be in for a very long fight.
Entrenched in the muddy walls of the canyon tilefish will avidly devour fresh baits dropped near their dens. These are some of the tastiest fish you will ever eat and are well worth putting a little time in before returning from your tuna trip.
Closer to home some fluke can still be found in the rivers; switch to light tackle to get the most out of this fishery. Currents are not too strong and the water is not very deep so you can go light to maximize your chances of acquiring a savory dinner.
Who likes stuffed fluke fillets? The best stuffing possible is crab meat, and you can get the crabs in the same rivers as the fluke. Skiff renters at Oceanic Marina in Rumson have been doing well scooping and trapping the crustaceans and I believe you can rent the boats for either a half or full day. After the last couple of days of triple-digit heat index numbers, I think I would do the half day and retreat to air conditioning for the afternoon.
If you manage to get out on the water I’d love to hear about how you do! Don’t be shy, tell me and send me pics, especially of kids fishing/crabbing.
See you here next week. Till then, Hook ’Em Up!
The article originally appeared in the July 23 – 29, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
