Surf Temperature

[Gumada]

Well the South S/E wind has once again delivered. Surf temp is down 7 degrees since morning. Back to the drawing board…��

[AndyS]

Wait, it only gets better. They are now predicting (I know well in advance) that the spin now out in the Atlantic should be near the coast of NJ by August 6th !!

[foggy notion]

A few years ago, I measured the water surface temperature as well as the temperature of the water down at 50 feet off Spring Lake. On that date, the bottom temps were 14 degrees colder than the surface water temperature. So when you hear the temperature of the water, you can deduct an average of 14 degrees in the area where the fluke of shivering.

Just sharing this observation.

[Togfather2530]

Every summer we have south winds predominantly. The fluke fishing just sucks and the fishery is done. Everyone needs to stop looking for excuses.

[NoLimit]

Every summer we have south winds predominantly. The fluke fishing just sucks and the fishery is done. Everyone needs to stop looking for excuses. The season used to start Memorial Weekend at the Buglight at Sandy Hook while striper were still running strong

[bulletbob]

Every summer we have south winds predominantly. The fluke fishing just sucks and the fishery is done. Everyone needs to stop looking for excuses.

The south wind doesn't help but I get where you are coming from... The south wind is simply there all summer here in the NE, and always has been, always will be... When the fluke populations were good, no one noticed the wind, we just caught fluke, and sometimes they were cold to the touch.. We didn't really get it, but they bit.. Later on the party boat caps let us know why the piles of fluke in the bucket were cold when they came up.

There were years I can remember spectacular fishing well into late october, and still pretty good till mid Nov.. Who hasn't caught a fluke or two in Dec on a piece of crab meant for tog?... I have seen them caught in January, still around, still active, and still feeding. Many many years ago, a party boat captain from AH told my brother that many Fluke never even left the bay, that quite a few wintered over right in the deep channels in the bay.. Never had a reason to doubt that statement.

Years ago we never heard the phrase "Jumbo Ocean Fluke". The vast majority were caught in rivers, bays, and in close in the ocean right along the beach.. I can still picture in my head the days when the Belmar boats in summer were drifting in close off of Deal, Elberon, and Long Branch, and if you had a good arm, you could hit them with a skipped rock.
The AH and Highlands boats didn't even fish the ocean much in summer, except on days where they needed to find some current or a breeze to drift on, and then they still stayed close to shore, or along the channel edges in the bay, or crossed closer to NY some days.. Going out to deeper rubble bottom, where Ling and sea bass are typically caught???.. Thats pretty recent ,- just the last 20 maybe 25 years?

We never needed the "cold water" excuse for a lack of fluke... I agree with those that feel the answer is very simple.. the reason fluke are tougher to catch is that too many have been caught and eaten, and the breeders are being decimated before they can breed. I fear that we may even see a day, when there is a total collapse, and all fishing for Summer Flounder will have to be stopped the way Canada had to do for Cod... The seas do NOT have limitless production, and we have proven time and time again that we do have the capacity to eat a species into virtual non existence.... bob

[AndyS]

Years ago when I had my little 19 Ft Grady White there was no questioning which way I was going to turn going out the Manasquan inlet, always made a right no matter what. The summer mornings would be calm but I knew all too well by the afternoon the South wind chop would come up in the afternoon, a "sea breeze" they call it. Instead of being North and fighting the chop in a little boat, we had a following sea back to the inlet. Many days never went much further than Bay Head for fluke, and often saw party boats in the same area.

[NJ219bands]

Years ago when I had my little 19 Ft Grady White there was no questioning which way I was going to turn going out the Manasquan inlet, always made a right no matter what. The summer mornings would be calm but I knew all too well by the afternoon the South wind chop would come up in the afternoon, a "sea breeze" they call it. Instead of being North and fighting the chop in a little boat, we had a following sea back to the inlet. Many days never went much further than Bay Head for fluke, and often saw party boats in the same area.

Back in the olden days Captain Blackie Walsh would always fish 🎣 south of Manasquan Inlet with the party boat Piper.

[AndyS]

Back in the olden days Captain Blackie Walsh would always fish 🎣 south of Manasquan Inlet with the party boat Piper.

My dad would take me on the Piper, I could barely see over the rail.

[Togfather2530]

OK. So back to My previous post on this thread, I guess we can all agree that the fishery is done and we don’t have to blame the south wind anymore, which is bullshit. We all have state of the electronics, at least I do. The water is not all that warm. Like the previous poster said, when the fishery was good, the cold fluke would bite. I have a beautiful boat that will be for sale soon

[AndyS]

I've been finding some interesting stuff:

I’ve been in communication with some oceanographers and marine scientists on this topic for the past couple of weeks. I’ve shared some info on both my blog and report videos. Yes we have had a run of upwelling events, one after the other with little time for rebound. We have also had some clean, clear water which is normally not the case with upwelling here on LBI. I can’t speak for other areas as all I know is LBI and LBI is possibly the upwelling capital of the NJ. Nothing new here. This year the water is cold, clear and has had a very low salinity. Normally it is salty. For this reason I believe and experts agreed it is a possible hypothesis that the Labrador current is slightly stronger this year. Current data shows the low salinity and also a warmer bottom temperature that previous years. Yes the bottom is cold as it is always cold but I was told there are areas that it is 3-6 degrees above average. The upwelling (Ekman Transport - Ekman Spiral) has mixed the ocean which during this time of year is normally stratified.

Found this also:

Upwelling is nothing new. I'm a 55 year old fisherman/surfer and it has happened every single summer I've been alive. Has it lasted for days, or weeks on end. No, not as consistent as the last two summers, but I does happen . Any time the wind blows from the south the water is going to drop 3-5 and as much as 10-12 degrees depending on the duration of that southerly direction. And here locally on LBI the summer seasonal wind direction is generally S/SW. You know what else happens that many don't know about? The last few years as the summer water temps remain high offshore, as soon as we get more of a seasonal wind switch into the predominant fall W/NW pattern, that warm offshore water has pushed into the beaches. As recently as October 8th 2020, the surf temp in Holgate was 74.8 degrees! October surf temps locally should be 59-64 max. The historic fall fishing run has been pushed later and later in the season due to this phenomenon of warm temps running well into November. I'd bet good money that it's going to be the case this year as well. In the early 90's and 2000's the striper and bluefish were here locally like clockwork in early October. Now, I don't ever start looking for good fishing until the week before Thanksgiving. My best two days last season with probably 20-30 stripers caught on December 8th and December 18th in 53 degree water. In the 90's, the surf temps were in the upper 30's and 40's in December.