Fluking 7/16

[whale]

MJ what was the upper end on size out of all of them?

[macojoe]

The largest in this bunch was 6.1 pound and we got 6 Jumbo's, (over 4 pounds) and over.

The day before my nephew got a 6.8 and the largest this year was 7 on the nose.

[BigDaddy]

Wow!
Heres to being a professional fisherman
Go MJ

[Blue_Runner]

MJ do you use a net on the larger fish or bail em?

[billfish16]

Wow!! What is your comercial min, 14"? NJ has an 18" min and yesterday 7/19 we only scratched one 18" keeper out of 20+ fish brought on board. Two weeks ago not one keeper out of 40+ fish caught.

Is that a Winter Flounder in the corner of the cooler?

Very jealous in NJ

[macojoe]

All summer flounder no winter! Yes 14" is the min for commercial, recreational is 17 1/2 we get pleanty of them also!!

[whale]

17 1/2" is pretty good considering what the other states in the area have (up to 20.5" in NY).

I picked up a few keepers Friday and a few Saturday but yesterday a guy at my marina had a 28 1/2" 9.75 lb slab! What a monster! The tail was curled up the side of the cooler!!!! He was fishing about 100 yards from me when he caught it....UGH!!!!

[willy]

Billfish, fish the channels, your looking for 40' of water plus. Don't know why but that is where the larger keepers are at right now. Im talking inside Raritan Bay. If you are fishing Barnegat good luck, good fisherman down there are pulling in 1 keeper for every twenty fish.
Also if you have a source for live herring that is the bait to use, all the larger fish we are pulling in on them.
Set up an appropriate size Spro Jig with the weight needed to bounce bottom and set up a stinger hook about two to three feet behind. You will get them 50/50 on one or the other. You can use the a dropper loop to rig stinger or tie right onto hook of the Spro. I have had better luck with the dropper loop set up.

[billfish16]

Willie,

thx for the reply. I fish Raritan Bay. We usually start at the Bug Light(Sandy Hook) or TC Channel then move out to the Sandy Hook Channel, Fynn's Knoll or the Reach Channel. Next month will start Fishing Ambrose Channel(edges and deep). You make a good point about the deeper water. I usually like to short drift the channel egdes avoiding the deep if possible. We also have youngters on the boat about 1/3 of the time so long drifts on the flats is commom. I will have to start laying the law down with my dumb *** buddy, Lefty, who likes to aimlessly drift around while scratching his *** and telling me what a great fisherman he is. No herring but Lefty is good at thowing a cast net. As soon as the peanut bunker show in numbers in the Shewsbury and Navasink we will sart using them Live. As far as Bucktails we are using them with a teaser above them. Thx again. Where do you keep your boat?