8th Annual Point Pleasant Beach Elks Kayak Fluke Tournament Wrap Up:

The 8th Annual Point Pleasant Beach Elks Kayak Fluke Tournament was held on July 25th 2015. Both relieved and happy that we had great weather and a great turn out! For me the tournament started back in February when the planning begun. I feel getting everything going early really helped make the tournament run better although the absence of Pat Whooley made it more of a challenge as Paddler still wanted to stay on board as the main sponsor. I would like to sincerely thank John and Wendy at Jersey Paddler for the time and the prizes they donated to support the winners of the tournament this year. Also would love to thank Crhis Mckee for the help on JP’s side and donating the really cool canopy this year. Also on display there was a Jackson Cuda LT, Jackson Kraken, and a Jackson Superfishal which was being raffled off at the awards dinner.

Arriving Friday morning and literally threading a needle backing the camper trailer to its home for the weekend my decision to go fishing since it was a day off work and also beautiful weather.

I went over to Glimmerglass as its an easier drop in with the Big Rig. It was already busy in the river and the inlet. After a few hours fishing and landing only one thirteen inch fluke dealing constant boat wakes was getting old. There were a few other kayak anglers out there and none of them had any fish.

Back at the Elks Lodge getting ready for the captains meeting which was to begin at 7:00 PM. There were a few late entry’s. Some guys showed up to camp. Gary ward and got everyone checked in and entered in the Calcutta’s.

There were some great prizes this year. Including a 65 qt Cooler from Orion Coolers! A nice paddle from Bending Branches some gear from Yak Attack, and a really nice S&S Bucktail prize pack containing 14 bucktails! The only thing I hoped for is that the fishing was to be better than my experience pre-fishing.

A total of 38 anglers were registered and ready for the 5 AM start the next day. Gary Ward Sean Gavin and myself decided to fish in the Manisquan River back by Treasure Island while most were fishing the Atlantic Ocean and Raritan Bay.

We covered alot of water only to catch short fish. They were mostly close to 18″ keeper fish but none were had in the River. We fished from 6am – 3:00 PM. There was a ton of boat traffic and we were rocked around pretty much all day. It was great to get out fishing although Gary and I did not fish in the tournament.

Around 3:30 the anglers started to arrive with the intent to submit their catch photos. It ran pretty smoothly besides forgetting a USB hub so i could use my keyboard mouse and the camera card reader simultaneously.  In all the guys who fished at Sandy Hook and out in the ocean did well. Chris Baggott ended up cleaning up again as he did in 2013. He took all of the prizes and calcuttas besides the most unique combined species.  See the tournament results and photos here.

The BBQ was great as always and the Elks even had some micro brews on the beer truck this year which was really cool!!

The new date has been set next year  for July 23rd 2016! Hope to see everyone there!

Fishing Journal 2015_07-11:

The Sunshine Foundation Fluke Tournament 2015 came upon me with no real warning. I had my dates off although my calendar displayed the correct date. Along with other big changes going on at the moment in time it was easy to mess up the dates.

The plan was to stay at my friend and fellow kayak anglers camper which is located 20 min from the tournament spot. Leaving Friday afternoon after 5 hours of work. The decision to take all back roads to Egg Harbor proved to be a good idea and also was nice to take roads through areas in NJ I have never been. Most people think New Jersey is an entire state of industrial companies and polluted but there is a higher percentage of Jersey that is farmland and old colonial style towns.

Going straight to the captains meeting since being unable to get there until 6:30 Eric Chamberlain and his son Brandon were there. I went in and registered and received a T-Shirt and a captains bag. Then it was back to Ricky’s camp. Eric made dinner in a dutch oven consisting of beef potatoes carrots and broccoli calling it cave man food. It was decent. Someday I will own a dutch oven.

The alarm went off at 4 am. Ricky had coffee going and he made us all an awesome breakfast with scrambled eggs bacon and potatoes!. Great way to start a day of fishing hard! Then we were off. We drove down a pretty much single lane road through all of the marsh and over wooden bridges. I had never seen anything like it in NJ.

At the drop in we just backed our vehicles to the water and dropped the kayaks right there. After launching i decided to try a little jigging right at the ramp. First cast fish on! It was a short fluke coming in at 15″.  Fishing wasn’t really that great. It was pretty windy all day.  By the end of the day Ricky had 6 shorts and i had the same of 6 short fluke landed. Nothing close to a keeper.

On the way back I caught a few blue claws of really nice size just hanging on my jig! We fished 7 hours and the outgoing tide and part of the incoming.

Around 2:00 PM we headed in. Drove back to camp and hung out for a little while before heading over to the awards BBQ. The food was decent. It included Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Burgers, Dogs, Corn, and watermelon. They were selling a nice beer glass for 5.00 which included free refills of coors lite. The awards were handed out and no kayakers all 13 of us entered drum roll. No Fish! The tricky tray prizes were insane!

After the awards dinner we went back to the camp and I hung out with Ricky and his wife Becky. Ricky and I took a walk around camp. Showing me around  some really nice spots. The sunset photo is from a point on the Mullica River. Chips Folley Campground is a really beautiful place. Its one of those hard to find Gems of New Jersey. 

Ricky and I had planned on going fishing again in the morning but he was pretty spent. He had a guide service on Friday and now had fished all day Saturday in the tournament.

I feel this tournament was well put together. I was surprised there was only 13 kayakers registered in the tourneys 4th annual. Its fun to fish new areas and especially with good friends!

While planning my next fishing day I have a few techniques for research. My first rule is to try to stay out of the weather. With weather forecasts of strong storms in the late morning to early afternoon and a stiff S-SW wind my plan was to stay close to shore and the launch with in an area the land blocked the wind. This day was to be the calm before the storms.

Arriving around 6 am in Keyport I dropped the big rig down from its truck top dry dock and loaded gear for targeting multiple species. This time of the spring there are 4 different fish typically targeted.  This means bringing more rods than typical but also need to carry a landing net. Fluke or Summer Flounder tend to spit the hook more than most fish because the way they naturally swim. Netting these fish is the safest way of landing them.

Once out on the water making the decision to fish back in the creek. Marking fish I set up for jigging whatever it was that I was marking. It looked like large bluefish with bass under them. Some fish were breaking the surface and I tried a popper for a few casts using my new Bull Bay Rod and Abu Revo Inshore. Around the 20th cast and adjusting the reel casting got backlash in the reel. It was not so bad at first but kept getting worse and worse. An hour later and about 150 yards of brand new 20 lb power pro cut and stripped it was time to go fishing again. I should have just put the rod down this was the first time  ever cutting braid on a reel due to a backlash and it was a bad decision. Never again will that happen.

The tide by now had dropped a foot or two. Paddling out more to the open bay. Using a 1/4 oz bucktail with a white teaser and 3″ white gulp on both my first drift was successful with a 21″ fluke! IT was a great fight and an excellent first fish of the season!

I kept making the same drift but the bite was slow and so was the tide. I managed loosing a fish at the boat that was borderline and missing a few hits. I decided to call it a day when the NW winds came in and the tide was at dead low. A successful day bringing home dinner. I regret not fishing the area I typically fish this time of hear due to the forecast. The storms however did settle in around 7 PM and they were pretty heavy duty. Lasting for 4 days and over 2.5 inches of rain.