Slow afternoon fluking (Please read to end)

[Cuz]

Jumped on the Sea Tiger, AH, this afternoon. The fishing was incredably sloooow. The last drift, not far from the TC bouy, yeilded quite a few bites. Mostly shorts. I caught five fish the last 15 minutes at this spot. Seven total for the trip. One 18 inch keeper.
I read all the other bay area fluke reports this evening which were not very truthful. The morning bite was even worse today than the afternoon trips according to other fellow fishermen I know that fished other boats from the same marina. Several private boat owner friends told me this evening it was one of the worse days this year. Anyone who is saying different on this web-site should be castrated. I hope this doesn't become the norm on this web-site because I rely on it for some of my information.
We do not blame the captain, mates, or boat if the fish don't co-operate. Keep the BS on the dock. Nothing worse than reading how great the fishing is than finding out from the people who are down at the docks everyday that the fishings really off.
Honesty is the best policy in the long run. Keep NJ Fishing.com real or the web-site will suffer like a few before it. Look what happened to Assbarn. No one believes anything coming off that web-site. And that was once a bigger web-site. Thank you for understanding.

[Rick-D]

I was on the Atlantic Star this afternoon and it was slow also, picked up a bit at the end. There were a few customers with 1,2,3 keepers.

I think njfishing reports are pretty accurate, and no captain I have fished with has outright lied, but you have to be familiar with the reports. I can understand why a sponsor captain wouldn't want to post, "full boat and we had 2 keepers." Why would they want to chase customers away?

On other occasions I was out where it was a large crowd and a dozen or two keepers were filleted with a few large racks. Report may say something like "we are catching some larger fish." That is the truth. The keeper ratio may be crap or the keeper ratio is great, but the only caught a small number of fish. I wouldn't expect that to be advertised. The biggest tell, is when there is no report at all.

I go out about every two weeks, usually for fluke. I haven't cough a keeper this year, but I will keep fishing. Luckily today, my daughter fished with me and was able to take a fish home.

[Bucktailboys.com]

Cuz,

Well said :)
Honesty is the best policy. And honestly fluking has this year has not been great for me.

[SplitShot]

Very true Cuz.... there has been a lot of play on words in reports this summer and I wind up having to dissect them to see if it's a good report or just trying to sound like a good report.... be it good or bad, I just want to know what is really happening each day:confused:

[bulletbob]

I really don't know what to believe any more.. Same thing happened last fall..
I kept reading about the great sea bass fishing up and down the coast.. however in 3 separate trips, myself and fishing partner totalled 3-3 and 5 keepers between us in the 3 trips ,, yes some guys had more, on one trip one guy had 8 or 9, but some guys also had none or one... Yet when I posted about it, many on this board staunchly defended the captains, and either called me a liar, or told me I didn't know how to fish... I know what I saw, and do know how to fish, as I have been fishing well over 50 years. whatever...

To be fair I have seen really good fluke reports here the past few weeks, not only from head boats, but from charters, and from many private boats as well.. The charters and private boat pics don't lie.. If there were 2 guys fishing and 10-12 big fluke and a few sea bass on the dock in the picture, you know their fishing was good.. Like I said, I really don't know what or who to believe these days.. Some reports have me thinking its the best fluking in years, others have me thinking its been dismal..

I got one keeper this year in my only fluke trip on a rental skiff in the Navesink, so I guess I shouldn't complain.. or should I??... bob

[makosnax]

I fished sandy hook yesterday and did very well. There are days on my boat when a guy might catch one keeper and the other two guys are bailing keepers. It happens to everyone. If a few sharpies on a head boat get their limit and the rest of the fares dont do so well then who is at fault. The captain did his job by getting the boat over the fish(which is evident by the few guys with limits). Watch what the guys who are catching fish are doing and adjust your technique. Some days the fish want a dead slow moving spearing and some days they want a bucktail with a specific bounce. The fish are there. I would bet money that half the weekend crowd on a headboat were not even on the bottom with yesterdays current.

[nutleysigns]

You have to fish the ocean now, 1/2 day boats out of AH don't have enough time. I fished a 3/4 day boat out of Belmar on Thurs & came home with 5 nice keepers. Guy next to me had 9 keepers (released 4) & pool winner. AH boats are great in early season (Bug Light, Ammo Pier) But now it's ocean time MY OPINION

[Capt. Debbie]

I think he was discussing honest fishing reports- not opinions on how to catch more fish and why some dont catch fish.
.

MIsleading reports have been around forever. Few PB captains are going to publish lies, since the fars that day would know he lied. And in turn they would NEVER trust a report by him again.

When I ran charters in Belmar, ther would be a few that put reports in the Ledger with Al R, and I knwo they boat did not leave the dock that day. I asked how they did it. They said it was accurate but from another day.

The classic PB Captain line while hawking fares on the dock line was: YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE YESTERDAY.



I fished sandy hook yesterday and did very well. There are days on my boat when a guy might catch one keeper and the other two guys are bailing keepers. It happens to everyone. If a few sharpies on a head boat get their limit and the rest of the fares dont do so well then who is at fault. The captain did his job by getting the boat over the fish(which is evident by the few guys with limits). Watch what the guys who are catching fish are doing and adjust your technique. Some days the fish want a dead slow moving spearing and some days they want a bucktail with a specific bounce. The fish are there. I would bet money that half the weekend crowd on a headboat were not even on the bottom with yesterdays current.

[Harpoon]

Keep in mind that not a lot of bad reports will NOT get posted. So while I don't think capts are downright lying some will only post up positive reports...while some will post up all reports no matter what. Take it for what it is but more importantly anything can happen on any given day.

Worry less about the reports....fishing and NOAA!

[BWhaler23]

Hey Cuz, how come you didn't say anything about the one boat you were on that everyone limited??? The Ginger??? And her highly productive captain???
Thanks for the plug. and you better get another trip in before I'm off tuna fishing!!!

Capt. Pat

[O'Connor]

Mates count the fish out here everyday, report number to captain, captain calls report into landing, landing posts online. I have never been on a boat in So-Cal where I thought the numbers were inflated. Example of yesterdays run in Oxnard, Ca. This system works well.




Channel Islands Sportfishing Center Fish Counts
as of July 21, 2013

Boat Trip Type Anglers Fish Counts

Speed Twin 1/2 Day Twilight 40 36 Barracuda

Pacific Islander Overnight 26 260 Rockfish, 2 Lingcod

Sea Jay Full Day 10 3 Yellowtail, 3 White Seabass, 8 Barracuda, 10 Rockfish, 5 Calico Bass

Aloha Spirit Full Day 21 1 Calico Bass, 15 Sheephead, 1 Whitefish, 2 Cabezon, 35 Lingcod, 3 Halfmoon, 208 Rockfish

Mirage Overnight 24 1 Calico Bass, 5 Sheephead, 7 Lingcod, 167 Whitefish, 240 Rockfish

Cobra Full Day 11 50 Rockfish, 1 Lingcod, 7 Opaleye, 4 Sheephead, 3 Calico Bass, 1 Sculpin

Speed Twin 1/2 Day AM 58 1 Sand Bass, 310 Rockfish, 1 Halfmoon, 1 Sculpin, 1 Whitefish

Island Tak Full Day 8 1 Halibut, 2 White Seabass, 18 Barracuda, 21 Calico Bass

Gentleman 3/4 Day 53 3 Sculpin, 10 Opaleye, 300 Rockfish

Erna B 3/4 Day 17 1 Lingcod, 170 Rockfish
Seabiscuit Overnight 24 52 Whitefish, 5 Lingcod, 162 Rockfish

Coral Sea 2 Day 16 225 Rockfish, 54 Lingcod, 8 White Seabass
Boats Anglers Dock Total

12 Boats 308 62 Barracuda, 1935 Rockfish, 105 Lingcod, 3 Yellowtail, 13 White Seabass, 31 Calico Bass, 24 Sheephead, 221 Whitefish, 2 Cabezon, 4 Halfmoon, 17 Opaleye, 5 Sculpin, 1 Sand Bass, 1 Halibut

[emcjim]

See Cliff's report on the wmidotorg website. Accurate report, I was there. Sea Hunter, AM trip, 7/21. Cliff: 4 keepers out of 17, yours truly: 1 keeper (pool winner) out of 8. All bucktail and teaser w/ Gulp. Best action was oceanside, down the beach w/ light N wind with the outgoing tide. When the wind switched, the next drift was not nearly as good.

It is not unusual for the AM and PM trips to have entirely different wind and tide conditions. For 7/21, AM was outgoing tide, PM basically incoming.

[Flukinator]

Jumped on the Sea Tiger, AH, this afternoon. The fishing was incredably sloooow. The last drift, not far from the TC bouy, yeilded quite a few bites. Mostly shorts. I caught five fish the last 15 minutes at this spot. Seven total for the trip. One 18 inch keeper.
I read all the other bay area fluke reports this evening which were not very truthful. The morning bite was even worse today than the afternoon trips according to other fellow fishermen I know that fished other boats from the same marina. Several private boat owner friends told me this evening it was one of the worse days this year. Anyone who is saying different on this web-site should be castrated. I hope this doesn't become the norm on this web-site because I rely on it for some of my information.
We do not blame the captain, mates, or boat if the fish don't co-operate. Keep the BS on the dock. Nothing worse than reading how great the fishing is than finding out from the people who are down at the docks everyday that the fishings really off.
Honesty is the best policy in the long run. Keep NJ Fishing.com real or the web-site will suffer like a few before it. Look what happened to Assbarn. No one believes anything coming off that web-site. And that was once a bigger web-site. Thank you for understanding.

I was on a boat that fished areas that "Bay Area" headboats frequently fish (even saw one or 2 in that general area while we were there), and we got our boat limit of big fluke. I guess you could come castrate me or the captain or whoever posted the report, but it's not BS. Just because you and the guys you know didn't have a good day doesn't mean no one had a good day. You can try to read between the lines, and you can go out and fish hard and learn some tips that might help you catch when no one else is catching (I've seen it enough times to know fishing is not all luck). Otherwise, you're just whining and threatening to cut people's privates off. That doesn't help anyone.

[Fisherman120]

You gotta read inbetween the lines with reports. I was out yesterday too, and the fishing all around was "slow", but a lot of keepers and nice sized fish were still caught, from sharpies to weekend warrior's. Still is a good day to me.

[MrAC1980]

You have to really do your homework and put all the reports from the head boats, charter guys, and private boats together in order to really see how the fishing is. If everyone is catching then you know the fishing is good. If only one boat caught good, then fishing is slow/sucks. Like bass fishing this spring, it was easy to see fishing was awesome from all the guys fishing up north and reporting and posting pics, etc.

[Urban Angler]

Reports read'em between the lines...but fluking has picked up and its all about the time, place, position and the guy holding the rod...Saw lots of big fish last week... 11 solid from Darren while I'm standing next to him holding my Co**..just keep plugging..you'll get'em

[NoLimit]

You want to know when the fishing is red hot so you don't waste your time?

Wait till Johnny Bucktail gets slammed for two pages for keeping too many fish

[Joey Dah Fish]

The hottest day of fishing is always yesterday. Oh you should have been out yesterday. Here's the deal the boat next to me yesterday was banging fish most of the day in fact the guy standing right next to me was banging the fish yesterday. But not me!!! This is why they call it fishing. I was fishing and other guys were catching. So please done feel offended because you sucked as bad as I did yesterday. Hey man shit happens. Chin up and keep on fishing. You just have to put your time in.

[unclegary47]

One of the best stories I can remember happened years back when a picture of a Brielle boat appeared in Star Ledger with everyone holding giant fluke when fluking was VERY slow for everyone else. I looked at the picture a few times and then realized my uncle was in it holding 2 very big fluke. So I called the boat and asked when the picture was taken and I was informed it was yesterday. Well that was really funny because my uncle died 2 years before! :confused:

Good Luck ALL Unc

[Flukemeister1]

I once was anchored on Shrewsbury Rocks fishing for blues. A party boat from Belmar anchored near us. Fishing was picky but if you worked at it you could catch some fish. Report comes out in NJ Fishing Mag. that they had fished south of the inlet that day and slammed them. I just laughed.

I have been out on a couple of party boats and a charter and some days were very good and others I could not buy a keeper. Fact is it's fishing and there are guys that are VERY VERY good at it and there are guys that are like many, average fishermen. Even the great fishermen have off days where it just does not happen despite trying everything that should work. The captains I respect the most are the ones that will tell you that it was terrible when it was and will tell you it's hot when it is. I can tell you there are days when I just did not have it and others when I could do no wrong. My reports will tell you either way.

[makosnax]

I was fishing the same general area on Sunday and this is what me and two friends caught. The fish were there , you just had to work for them.


http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g379/makosnax/2013-07-21161214.jpg

[Honger]

Get with the program dude and join the crowd.

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-13942113699170_2272_10394562

[Cuz]

One of the best stories I can remember happened years back when a picture of a Brielle boat appeared in Star Ledger with everyone holding giant fluke when fluking was VERY slow for everyone else. I looked at the picture a few times and then realized my uncle was in it holding 2 very big fluke. So I called the boat and asked when the picture was taken and I was informed it was yesterday. Well that was really funny because my uncle died 2 years before! :confused:
.
Good Luck ALL Unc
Now THAT'S truthful. Great funny story which is believeable. LMAO on this one. Glad to see you are carrying the family fishing genes. Hope you are passing them off to other family members.