Last night after work I drove an hour to fish for Striped bass in the Manasquan River. A cool calm night as I begun at the drop in. Its not all that often I get to fish on water so calm its like a sheet of glass. The same area fluke are targeted in the summer where hundreds of boats pass through daily. The non rocking and rolling was odd along with the dark sky. I ended up with 2 bass over 21 inches and lost what was probably well over 30″. I wish i could have fished longer but when you live an hour away and have to work early in the morning theres no way to get alot of fishing time in. The tide could have been better also. Dead low tide was at 7:30 PM but the tide didn’t run for a good 2.5 – 3 hours after dead low. Once the tide started to move the fish started biting. I am definitely going to give it another shot next week.

The fluke tournament had a great weather this year!  A big change compared to previous years. Along with a decent turn out of registered anglers. The fishing was ok on Friday but was much better Saturday. Firday I went fishing with Lunchbox & Yakman at Sandy Hook Horseshoe Cove. Managed a few croakers. Fishing just wasn’t good and the north wind was just brutal. Besides the wind it was a nice day!. Saturday had to stay close so fished with Lunchbox at the MRI. Yakman fished further up the river with no luck. Lunchbox and I had a lot of short fluke. I lost 2 one was in the 20″ range and a massive one that snapped my leader was easily in the 24″ area. It was an incredibly rough day fishing there due to immense boat traffic. I must say it was the first time my back was wet due to taking boat wakes over the side of the Cuda.

Back getting ready for the awards at the HQ at 2:00 weigh-ins were open. This year we actually had a tie with two entries at 26″ being legally entered. The third place fish came in at 24″.

First place Chris Baggott with a 26″ fluke Awarded a Jackson Kayak Coosa Kayak 100 dollars cash & a 50 dollar Jersey Paddler Gift card.

Second Place Judy Segar with a 26″ fluke (by time) Awarded a C-Tug Kayak cart and 100 dollars cash.

Third Prize Brian Pickard with a 24″ fluke Awarded a Scotty flag & light and 50 dollars cash.

The Calcutta was also won by Chris Baggott with 3 separate fluke not entered in the tournament totaling 61.75″