Things are getting a little weird around here.
First, we got news the snapper blues, while still on the small side, are showing up in the bay. Our own Scott Wefish called in to let us know he found some up in the Toms River. Spearing is the bait of choice for them, and we have all the rigs and bait you will need to target them in the shop.
The fluke fishing in the surf is still unbelievably good. Here are some photos to prove it.
Matt had a couple fish up to 19 inches from the surf. S&S Bucktails and Berkley Gulp! once again did the trick.
Nick Apice showed up with his personal best surf-caught fluke, taken out of the IBSP suds on an S&S Bucktail and Berkley Gulp!. The fish was 23 inches long and weighed 4.85 pounds. Nice fish Nick.
Liam came in with an IBSP limit, the biggest being 20.5 inches long and 3.1 pounds.
Not all flat fish were fluke however. We had a couple anglers come in who were spooled by rays. Steven Reynolds, however, was able to land his, as evidenced in this picture submitted by Scott Wefish.
Scott also reported seeing schools of bunker off the surf on IBSP, just 2 yards out of casting distance, with something big blowing through them. What were they? He doesn’t know. It was a little late in the season for it to be large striped bass, but anything is possible. Same thing for larger bluefish. It could be large brown, dusky or blacktip sharks having a little feeding frenzy, as Tom Lynch from AngryFish Gallery filmed back in 2012. Or, it could have been bluefin tuna. But this close? Possibly, why not, because the day gets weirder.
When Liam from above topped in to weigh his fish, his father showed us a video he took of a marlin in the surf. Now I know some of you are thinking that there are houndfish around and it was likely one of those. It’s a solid theory but the video shows a small dorsal that looks and acts like a marlin. Judging by the size, it is a likely a white marlin. We shared the video on our Instagram account. You can check it out by clicking here.
Some of you may have missed Ray this weekend. Even though he constantly gets calls on Sunday, he never works that day. And this past Saturday he took the day off to go to a birthday party. Ray loves birthday parties. It makes him feel like a kid again. He especially loves birthday cake, where, to the chagrin of his poor wife, he acts like a kid again…
