Wonder Rig - Fluke Opening Day Success Stories (and Contest)

[Arbutis]

River rats. . . It's time to get your Wonder Rigs tied up and wet. I'll be heading out tomorrow for the opener. I'm curious to hear any success stories this season. Post here with photos of your flatties!

Biggest fluke caught on a Wonder Rig gets a $50.00 Visa Gift Card! This Contest will end June 30th. More to follow. Need photo evidence of length and rig including jig and hook. Honor system in place people. Open to all NJ Fishing members from New Jersey. Fish size goes by length only - not weight. In the event of a tie, winner goes to best photo.

(no negative posts on this thread - save your complaints for your girlfriends):D

[joetheplumber]

Where do you get Wonder Rigs? Or can we use our own rigs?

[NoLimit]

You tie your own
It’s easy
Google images wonder rig fluke

[Blind Archer]

Very nice Doc. I will be on the grounds tomorrow. Any life today?

[Blind Archer]

I drug the rig around an inshore snag last season and got a double header of biguns
On two occasions.

[Arbutis]

My entry - - - so far the length to beat is 22 1/2 inches. The bar has been set. Good luck!
We managed 7 keepers in 2 hours before the wind got nasty and blew us home.

Wonder Rig Challenge Entry (https://youtu.be/pmi1SD2s1CI)

[Arbutis]

Where do you get Wonder Rigs? Or can we use our own rigs?

How to tie the Wonder Rig (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMDJ0xJTcgU)

[Fortunate Son]

Caught 1 short fluke today in Great Bay on the wonder rig during a scouting mission, having never fished there before. Used gulp instead of a live killie. That's more than I caught all of last year, so I'm happy.

[bulletbob]

if you can't get killies, try a nice big Spearing... Almost as good...

[NoLimit]

Yes sparring works too if no killies

[Blackfish Bobby]

Here is Scotty's 23 incher from Saturday.... This won't last but nice fish !!
I should have photo'd before it getting beat up in the cooler...

[Arbutis]

New leader! Nice fish guys and good report. 5 ft of water??? I may have to expand my search area. So, the WR works in the Navesink too?

I gave it a couple hours before work today and picked up my limit 19, 22, 22 with about 10 shorts. Steady action all morning until the FOG rolled in bringing about a 15 degree temp drop with it.

Get out there while the bite is hot.

[Blackfish Bobby]

DARN.....Just realized I did not compress the tail.... pushing the outer edges of the tail can sometimes buy you a LEGAL quarter inch on the board. :D:rolleyes: I once taught a CO that trick when he decided to have a nice chat with me at the dock. He actually "fanned" the tail out.

As information...... I used to use the ruler on the top of my igloo cooler and later found it was off by a quarter inch. Check them out.... they could give ya costly mis-read on that 18 inch keeper fish..... Fluke's mouth has to be closed as well.

[Grateful Dad]

Got out on Saturday, June 1, and managed this guy on the Wonder Rig. 25" on my measuring board, 5.4# on the digital scale.
I've been using the wonder rig for about 2 years now, and never fails in the back bay or shallower water.

[Arbutis]

Nice fish! 25" is going to be tough to beat...

[IrishAngler]

Atta boy, GD!! Nice flattie!

[Blackfish Bobby]

My buddy Tom had an 8 pound fluke in the Navesink on the Wonder Rig on Sunday !!!!..... He did not know about the contest and measure the fish in a pic.
Fish hit the jig which he refuses to cut the hooks off..... I saw this fish. Absolutley awesome achievement on extremely light tackle..... Congrats Dupes !!! Maybe you can post the fish pic on top of that cooler and estimate the length. The cooler has the ruler and the fish is hanging off of both sides...WAY TO GO.

[Blackfish Bobby]

.....I forgot to mention....Tom is an Engineer and that is why he will not cut the hooks off of something that was designed to "catch" fish in his opinion....
It paid off !!!

[Fortunate Son]

Hit Barnegat Bay today and had my best fluke day ever. 3 shorts hit the teaser on both killies and bluefish strips, from 12-17", but the 20" keeper hit the jig with gulp. My buddy got 2 shorts at 16". With a long history of skunkings, 6 fluke is a good day for me.

[Arbutis]

.....I forgot to mention....Tom is an Engineer and that is why he will not cut the hooks off of something that was designed to "catch" fish in his opinion....
It paid off !!!

That's a nice fish - 8lbs is about 28 inches. But we gotta have photos of the rig (jig and hook) plus the fish length to count. Everyone's got a camera and video camera in their pocket so no excuses on no photo evidence!

When I first put out the Wonder Rig I did cut the hooks off the jigs. I did state however that this was mainly to avoid snags and seaweed accumulation. That year we had particularly dense seaweed in the river and it was causing problems with jigging. If seaweed and snags are not an issue - keep those hooks on because as you can see, some of the big girls prefer a big meal.

Additionally, when the killie size is small I've been hooking 2 and sometimes 3 on the hook. As long as they can still swim and squirm around they are going to get eaten. Good luck. Sure would have been nice to see that 8 pounder caught on the Wonder Rig. I'm heading out tomorrow to see if I can top the 25 inch mark. . .

[Arbutis]

Tough fishing day today in the Shrews. We had strong wind against tide all morning and then wind across tide all afternoon. Crabs really took advantage of it. Difficult to say the least. Not to mention that it was really tough to get any killies for the past couple days because high tide was a midnight. Anyway - enough complaining...

Between three of us we caught 32 fluke, 1 bluefish, 2 crabs. 7 keeper fluke - biggest was 20 inches. Ran out of killies and switched to gulp. Despite a below average fishing result, it was a beautiful day to be on the water with friends. Fished hard from 9 to 4 and covered a lot of ground despite burning only 5 gallons of fuel. That's pretty efficient.

The GD 25" fish is still in the lead. Couldn't get a fatty flatty today.

[Dupes]

My buddy Tom had an 8 pound fluke in the Navesink on the Wonder Rig on Sunday !!!!..... He did not know about the contest and measure the fish in a pic.
Fish hit the jig which he refuses to cut the hooks off..... I saw this fish. Absolutley awesome achievement on extremely light tackle..... Congrats Dupes !!! Maybe you can post the fish pic on top of that cooler and estimate the length. The cooler has the ruler and the fish is hanging off of both sides...WAY TO GO.

Bobby, thank you. FYI, it was 8.5. I measured it at 26.5”. The cooler in the pic is 23”. I had read this post but didn’t think of taking the pic with the ruler. It was fun on the light rod.

Caught a bunch of short fatties but only a couple keepers. Nice day on the water.

[Dupes]

.....I forgot to mention....Tom is an Engineer and that is why he will not cut the hooks off of something that was designed to "catch" fish in his opinion....
It paid off !!!

I get the same feeling cutting the hook off a jig as I get when I’m drilling holes in my boat to mount a transducer. Just doesn’t feel right.

[Arbutis]

Dupes - can you give us some more details about your GREAT catch... Can you show a photo of the rig you use (including the bucktail and the hook section).

You don't have to spot burn but give us some idea what body of water you were in and depth and tide if you remember.

If this was truly a Wonder Rig fish - you're good for the contest with that 26.5" doormat. Like I said in the original post - honor system. Just need some WR photo evidence. Thanks Dupes!

[Jay F]

Got this 25inch Fatty yesterday.

[Arbutis]

I thought I saved myself 50 bucks today when I hooked this beauty! Put it on the ruler and I couldn't stretch it a millimeter over 26 inches. Great fish and great fight on light tackle. But 26.5 is still the leader in this contest (for now).

26" Doormat. Caught on the Shrewsbury River, Sunday June 16, 2019 around 2pm (high tide was 12pm) in 11 ft of water in the "dead zone" as I like to call it (not so much anymore) west-southwest wind approx 5-10mph.
Caught using the Wonder Rig (on medium size male killie) on #4 Gama - Octo hook (red) with 12 pound test fluorocarbon leader about 30 inches long.

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/64549811_10218778643447931_339200002888826880_o.jp g?_nc_cat=102&_nc_oc=AQlr_gWPT1lHvtWPSj4DL-cQ4iQgPI9Ln2lNtszsDLYSYJcuyA7qvXldCMl-4lqvXww9VyFig8r_FiNoqsFt5ED1&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=9437062dd0963db634d11ab1362b982c&oe=5D89B1CB

[Grateful Dad]

Nice fish, Doug!

[Arbutis]

Thanks. Whoever says you can't catch a 7 pound fluke on 12 pound test and a tiny #4 hook is wrong.

[Arbutis]

Bobby, thank you. FYI, it was 8.5. I measured it at 26.5”. The cooler in the pic is 23”. I had read this post but didn’t think of taking the pic with the ruler. It was fun on the light rod.

Nice job Dupes! You're the June Wonder Rig WINNER. PM me when you get a chance and let me know where to send your prize. (Name and address)