The most asked question this week was: "How's the Fluke Fishing?"
Well that's the second most asked question. The first is: "When is this wind going to stop?" I am only able to answer the Fluke question. First of all, there is a new size restriction and quantity limit on Fluke this year. It's 10 fish per person at 14 1/2" in length. For a complete listing on all of the 1997 regulations, pick up a copy of the New Jersey Fish & Wildlife Digest, which is available in our store. Fluke fishing is OK. A few anglers actually limited out this week. Most anglers caught 10 fish, but some were throw-backs, so they didn't actually bring ten fish home. If the wind would have given us any kind of break we would have seen more fluke, I'm sure. The fish that were caught were mostly in the area of 135 to 139 marker buoy in the Inland Waterway. Anglers caught fluke with spin & glow style rigs, weakie wacker beaded rigs, but by far, caught more fish with small bucktails and shad darts. The bucktails and shad darts were baited with shoestring thin strips of squid and mackerel. When squid bait was used, a minnow was usually added. Other than the Inland Waterway, a couple of areas to try this weekend would be to drift in the area of the clam stakes on the North West side of the Fish Factory, or try drifting the area in front of Great Bay Marina. These two spots also produce some early spring Fluke.
Wreck fishing this week was good for the charter boats out of Oyster Creek. Both the Evelyn Ann and the Barbara Ann had good Sea Bass catches on several trips. The Tautog were not biting well, according to Capt Joel Mick of the Evelyn Ann. He feels that the fish are there, but since it is the time of the year that they spawn, that they are just not feeding. So stock up on more clams than green crabs if your planning a wreck fishing trip this weekend.
A few weakfish are being caught by Graveling Point surf fishermen in the evenings. It's now time to try a few of your favorite secret areas for Weakies. I would recommend the mouth of Oyster Creek and the mouth of Motts Creek in the early morning or try fishing Deep Point in the Mouth of the Mullica River at about an hour before high tide. Long strips of squid soaked in shedder oil, bloodworms, and frozen shedders(no live ones yet) would be the bait choices. Don't expect too many fish yet, but the fish have been getting larger, aprox. three pounds.
Crabbing in the lagoons has really started. If you have a house on one of the good lagoons, you will catch crabs. The only way to tell if you have one of the good lagoons is to throw that trap in the water this weekend and find out.