Bob Matthews of Fishermans’ Den, Belmar, reported that things are about the same in the Shark River, lots of fluke but not a lot of keepers, with anglers reporting one to three keepers an outing. One Den regular, Mo, and his grand daughter, Ashley Benyola, 8, and her mother, Allison, from Brick, went fluking and Ashley outfished them all, catching 35 flatties and a couple of keepers up to 3 pounds. Matthews also said the party boats are doing real well with sea bass with fish up to six pounds being caught. They are also doing pretty well with ling. He’s received reports that the bluefishing is slowing down somewhat and he suspects they are on the spawn. He hasn’t heard much from the bass guys except the fly rodders are picking up schoolies at first light. The snappers are getting bigger and are now bait size. He’s got green crabs fro blackfish and the porgies are hitting sandworms. Capt. Ron Kish of the Captain Cal said the fluke fishing has really improved and he’s concentrating in deeper water. Dan Retelle, Philadelphia, landed an 8.8 pounder and he’s getting one to three keepers per drift. Capt. Ron said he’s going to stick in 60 to 70 feet of water where there seems to be a lot of life. Capt. Joe Bogan of the Jamaica II out of Brielle reported respectable catches of fluke and sea bass this past week when conditions were favorable. He’s been fishing in deeper water which requires a proper drift. Some notable catches this week were Ryan Bogan Jr., Brick with a 10-pound fluke, Pete Talevei, Trenton, with four fluke up to 8 pounds, 12 ounces along with six sea bass and Alex Pilewski, Trenton, who had a limit of fluke up to 8 pounds, 2 ounces, plus five sea bass. Some of the sea bass were up to 5 pounds, Capt. Bogan reported and most of the fluke caught were keepers. Greg Bogan at Brielle Bait and Tackle reports that the The Manasquan Inlet is alive with fluke, blackfish and hickory shad. Guys using Gulp!, killies and squid are catching fluke in the Inlet and throughout the Manasquan River. The hickory shad bite at the inlet every night around 8 p.m. on Sabiki rigs and shad darts. He also reported big blackfish in the rocks hitting crabs. On the freshwater side, Lake Riviera in Brick is red-hot in the evenings for largemouth bass hitting top-water lures.

Courtesy of APP.com

John Oswald