Henri fluking

[hammer4reel]

Headed out with Rob and Rocky to fluke before the storm .

‘Wish the bite was as good as the seas were all day .

hit a lot of turf with Rob catching his limit early .

we didn’t put another keeper in the boat in many more hours of fishing .

just lots of shorts everywhere we hit .

‘North to south had same results for us .

 

Robs nicest 2

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by hammer4reel

[Buckeyes11]

Honest report as usual. Way to grind it out. 

[BowhunterNJ]

Tough day, def gonna happen! 

[tpr1921]

Great catch!

[JHbowhunter]

So-so day for @OMC, and I, joining @Buck154 on his boat at 6:30 am.  We got the most amazing sunrise you would ever see (only pics we took) , then met some decent 5 foot swells that seemed to back down by time we headed in 2:30 pm.  With zero wind and drift we decided to target the acres of busting fish scattered about. Saw lots of nice false albies busting but no matter what we threw at them - no bites despite the frenzied action.  So frustrating.  Shoulda been reel screaming fun based on what we were watching.   Headed out to a wreck for a quick sea bass limit. Then worked our way back with fluke in mind but that was beyond slow hard to find many chewing.  Ran into insane surface action again and we spent a lot of time on them but other than a 3# bluefish it was all Frigate Mackerel of which we caught many on very small metal.  They were spitting up tiny bluefish and other tiny bait.  We did see pods of larger forktails like more false albies and occasional spanish mackerel busting but again - no takers.     Often you could hear the water boiling 1/2 mile away but just not worth chasing. 

We also had 2 small cobia (30" appx size) swim right to boat at different times but when saying "holy sh@t Cobia" and pointing they bolted.  I did have one take a swipe at my fluke rig close to surface. 

after boating shorts with slow to moderate action overall - 1pm we got a very slight SE wind (very slight) and we boxed a 23" and a 19" and landed more "quality shorts" in the 17" range were chewing but even that was slow by prior trips standards.   Off by 2:30 bite completely stopped.         Seas were not bad at all but I am sure its coming at some point. 

Edited August 22, 2021 by JHbowhunter

[JD48]

nice catch

[Buckeyes11]

Nice. Shame you couldn’t have got the albies!

[JHbowhunter]

5 minutes ago, Buckeyes11 said:

Nice. Shame you couldn’t have got the albies!

thought it was gonna be like shooting fish in a barrel based on the absolute boiling pot we were tossing into most of the morning. ..   That's why we call it "fishing" and keeps us going back for more!

[Farmshine]

Heard rumors of BFT boiling off Sea Bright North to the Sandy Hook Channel. Just curious if you guys saw anything of the sort?   
 

 

[electric10162]

Sounds like a fun day regardless.

[SoxFan]

Nice catch!!

[hammer4reel]

7 hours ago, JHbowhunter said:

thought it was gonna be like shooting fish in a barrel based on the absolute boiling pot we were tossing into most of the morning. ..   That's why we call it "fishing" and keeps us going back for more!

We had thought they were albies also , but wouldn’t touch a thing .

Rocky threw a snag and what they actually were was super fat chub mackerel .

by us they were crushing schools of small 1” bait that looked like look ups 

[JHbowhunter]

2 hours ago, hammer4reel said:

We had thought they were albies also , but wouldn’t touch a thing .

Rocky threw a snag and what they actually were was super fat chub mackerel .

by us they were crushing schools of small 1” bait that looked like look ups 

Majority of fish were Frigate Mackerel and would strike a tiny deadly Dick. Some spit up tiny bluefish. Definitely were much larger 5-8 lb Albies breaching here and there especially first light by inlet  

[JHbowhunter]

@hammer4reel this is a chub mackerel. Not what we were seeing. Chubs are green. 

[OMC]

Definitely not Chum Mackerel unless they get close to 8 lbs. Talk about frustrating we were getting great shots at them and nothing. I normally have some of my flies with me that I could tie in as a teaser but forgot them this trip. Small rainfish epoxy flies we use for ablies. Didn’t really expect to see them this early.