Fishing Journal:

Left the house at 5 am to drive an hour to the Manasquan River Inlet to target Fluke (Summer Founder).

This inlet divides the beach towns of Manasquan and Pt. Pleasant Beach also Monmouth and Ocean Counties. It is a haven for many species of fish. This inlet produces spawning grounds perfect for these fish. The ripping tide makes it challenging for kayak anglers to fish here. The extremely fast drift and the added boat traffic creates a very dangerous area of fishing there.  I cant stress kayak anglers whom fish here should be experienced  paddlers. Therefore a PFD should always be worn.

1. Dangers include the Low Train bridge. In the main channel you cannot squeeze under it. You will flip and loose gear and need to be rescued. Use caution when fishing here.The only way through is pass through the draw bridge. The draw bridge channel pass through is very narrow. Stay to the right and watch for boat traffic. If you are paddling with the tide watch for boats behind you as they loose control with a following tide when not in gear.

2. Tide flow in the inlet where it narrows between the jetty’s can be un-manageable. It is possible to be sucked out to the ocean on an outgoing tide.

3. Boat traffic can be constant. Especially on holidays and weekends boat traffic is constant and many of the boaters are under the influence running wide open. Be extra cautious on weekends and holidays. I will not even fish here on these days.

So new species for me on this fishing trip! Although referred to as a trash fish the searobin is actually a great eating fish. Landed atleast 10 of them. I have caught them in the past from a boat. Never from the kayak. So added another species to the kayak catch list. The photo to the left which i have submitted to the Googans Trash Fish Trifecta tournament a 16.75″ Searobin. Actually a beautiful fish this rockets me up to 3rd in the running.

It was a Yak Life Day!! Met up with Scrapes and Capt. Jim after a rough time getting rigged up. The valve stem on my C-Tug tires broke luckily at the water. So no dragging of the yak was necessary.  I need to purchase the hard wheels asap. These guys are great fishing company. Capt. Jim was making age references to Scrapes all day over the radio. Funny stuff!  Turned out to be a really good fishing day! A lot of short fluke and some real nice ones over 20″. I ended up with a 19.5″ at the end of the day. Last day of vacation well spent! Cant wait for the next vacation which will be the Point Pleasant Beach Elks Fluke Tournament!!

The Point Pleasant Beach Elks Fluke Tournament is coming up fast. The kayak division is 2 days of fishing. Please register at http://www.newjerseykayakfishing.com. All cash prizes this year!

 “Not sure how were going to top this one!” – Matt Williams NJ Chapter Coordinator

HOW NJ event at Coast Guard station No.1 Sandy Hook NJ is to date the largest # of both veterans and volunteers participating at one time in an event. A special thanks to the US Coast Guard Auxiliary and David Guzman for hosting us. David gave me a tour of parts of the facility also showed me 3 of the boats that are currently stationed there. After Hurricane Sandy the CG Cutters were relocated to the NY command center which remained operational as it was not completely shut down by the storm as CG Station No.1 Lost its floating concrete piers where the cutters moored.

David also showed me a display within the CG operations building which had old lighthouse lenses which were serviced by the coast guard years ago. He told me why portions of the lenses were chipped because as the lens was being cleaned the large belt buckles the CG used to wear would bang against the glass therefore chipping it. over time. Pretty neat.

Anyway back to the outing.

When i arrived at 0700 the CG Aux was manning the gate to let us onto the station grounds. My job on this one was video and photo for a chapter video. It was a cool overcast morning looking like rain at any minute. A few areas across the bay were getting rain.

Pretty soon after that Capt. Jim arrived with the kayak trailer. I set up for recording using my tripod and Gopro and the other Gopro on pan time lapse.  Once everything was set up we had a captains meeting and then awaited all of the vets arrival.

Once everyone was signed in and had their PFD Rickey presented his on the water safety demonstration. Paired off with their guides for the day they paddled away. At this point i unloaded my yak mounted my cams and went out as camera and refreshment boat!. I tried to get as much video and still photos of everyone but those that were not in the fleet i was unable to get their photos. Overall looks like i captured some pretty cool shots. 

The wind started around noon time and it was a strong east wind so pretty much everyone went in for lunch at this time. I saw a few nice fluke caught out there. Apparently there were many fish caught and nice sized fish too. Couple nice weakfish and a few nice fluke!.

Lunch was nice! Burgers dogs and sides!

Thanks to Capt. Jim for being the Event Coordinator!

Check out the photo flip of our group picture!

HOW NJ Outing #4 Sandy Hook

Location: Sandy Hook Coast Guard Station

Time: 9:00 AM for Heroes 7:00 AM for Volunteers and Leadership Team

Directions: Exit 117 off Garden State Parkway to RT 36 south. Take to end follow signs for Gateway National Recreation Area and Sandy Hook. Once through the pay stations proceed straight follow signs for US Coast Guard Station.

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