IN THE SUDS SURF REPORT
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/1/06
BY JOHN GEISER
CORRESPONDENT
Admittedly, the best fluke fishing is experienced from a drifting boat, but the surf angler can put some fillets in the frying pan as well.
Ray Bukowski of Pell's Fish and Sport, Brick, said his customers frequently come in with reports of keeper fluke caught in the surf.
Jason Szabo of Brick fished the Mantoloking surf and caught 32 fluke, six of which were 16 1/2 inches or above.
Bukowski said Szabo's approach was to cast out a Gulp swimming mullet and retrieve it slowly along the bottom. He also caught fluke on live snapper blues that he snagged.
This has been a good year for fluke in the shallows, and boaters have enjoyed surprisingly dependable fishing in close most of the summer. Surf anglers were able to take advantage of this inshore buildup as well.
Fall is typically when the surf angler catches the most fluke, so beach anglers can look forward to even better fishing in the weeks ahead.
The fluke are foraging in the cuts, inside the bar and outside the bar, all within reach of the surf fisherman.
The offerings most often presented in the surf for fluke are a strip of squid, a bucktail or a Fin-S Fish. All have to be retrieved slowly.
The 4-inch Fin-S in all white, pink or yellow and a lead head ranging from a one-half to three-quarters of an ounce, depending on the surf, is a good start.
Beauty point of the Fin-S or the Gulp or other look-alikes is that stripers, weakfish and blues will all hit it, as well as fluke.
Fluke are aggressive fish despite their habit of lying lightly buried in the sand and appearing to be disinterested in their surroundings. Instead, they will explode from the sand to attack prey.
A good approach is to cast the fluke offering outside the bar or on the bar, and then reel in very slowly. Most of the hits will come near the beach, but it is all prime territory.
Surf anglers frequently find that the fish are congregated in the drop, and they hit just as anglers are about to pull the lure out of the water.
An 8 1/2- to 9-foot plugging rod that will handle a three-quarter-ounce jig head and a quarter-ounce Fin-S Fish is fine for fluke fishing.
A beginner looking for an outfit with fluke fishing in mind might consider an 8-foot, medium to medium-light action conventional rod. It is harder for the beginner to get used to, but has an advantage over a spinner because it offers more control in throwing bait, dropping back on hits and making small adjustments.
A spinning outfit should not be ruled out, however, for those who prefer the fixed spool or have trouble learning to cast with the conventional outfit. A spinning rod with enough backbone to cast 2-ounce sinkers is fine.
Twelve- to 15-pound line, such as Stren or PowerPro, is good for fluke fishing. A lot of anglers have turned to PowerPro in the surf for spinning or conventional because there is no stretch, it is great for set-up, and ultra sensitive, allowing the angler to feel every pebble, bump or touch from a fish.
It has its drawbacks, though. It can cut your hand, if you are not careful in trying to pull it free from a snag, and it has a tendency to tangle more than monofilament.
The choice for a rig for bait fishing is a simple three-way swivel, 4-inch monofilament sinker loop with or without a sinker snap, 2-ounce or heavier (as needed) sinker, 35- to 40-inch monofilament leader made from 25- to 30-pound monofilament line and 1/0 to 2/0 English bait hooks.
You can fish for fluke on any tide as long as there is enough water for the fish to swim in, though the higher end of the tide is usually preferred.
(PHOTO: COURTESY MONICA OSWALD)
Monica Oswald, Neptune, holds the pair of weakfish she caught last Friday while fishing aboard her boat, Remedy, in the ocean off Asbury Park. The weaks weighed 18.1 and 15.5 pounds. The fish were weighed at Scott's Bait & Tackle, Bradley Beach.
(PHOTO: COURTESY JOE KWIATEK)
Sean Kwiatek, 12, of Toms River, caught this nice bluefish and a keeper fluke while fishing with his father, Joe, outside Manasquan Inlet aboard the Reel Fun on Aug. 21. The blue hit a diamond jig.
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