Striper fishing kind of goes away around the 4th of July in my neck of the woods, and I don't really like to run offshore to any distance in my 20' Robalo. I mostly fish for fluke, aka summer flounder, in the summer. I took yesterday afternoon off as it is pretty hot around here, and had a great trip. Flounder fishing for me is meat fishing, so I keep most of the legal sized fish that I catch. This year has been very good for flounder, with everyone at the marina I am in that fishes for them doing pretty good. Here is nice limit of flatties that were all between 17.5"s(minimum size) and 22"s.
View attachment flouder july 2.jpg
Many people think that flounder don't really fight hard, but that is because in the ocean you sometimes need a heavy weight to get to the bottom. I try and fish a light spinning rod with 8lb test and and use 1 oz jigs with a trailer hook. When you properly match your tackle, you find that fluke are one strong fish that can pull the drag and give you your money's worth.
Live bait is always best, and cut bait is good to, and a Berkely bait called a Gulp! has become very popular in recent years(saltwater Gulps outperform the freshwater ones in salt water). My ultimate bait of choice is small baby bluefish when I can get them(I caught three yesterday and caught two of the fish in the picture plus three others that I threw back with those), after that is spearing(a small bay anchovy),baby bunker(peanuts), then salt minnows(killies). There is something about bluefish that these things can't resist, they will keep hitting a bait well after it is dead and until there is nothing left. If I am using cut bait I try and catch 2-3 lb bluefish and cut that in strips. I really like to catch all my own bait, because catching the bait is at least as much fun as catching the bigger fish. I will use a circular throw net, a seine(if I have a partner), and an umbrella net, depending on what is around and where I am.
One of the great things about fishing the bay and working the tides is figuring out what stage of the tide is best at a particular time depending on conditions(water clarity, temperature, and tide height) and the fact that since the water is almost always moving, you can get radical shifts in structure every year and sometimes month to month, which makes figuring all that out half the fun. Channels and their edges, cuts in sand bars, skinny backwaters can all hold fluke. Lately the incoming tide has been better, mostly because with all of the rain we have had the outgoing tide carries all of the runoff with it and the water gets turbid, and since fluke are primarly sight feeders, you want water clarity which the incoming generally brings from the ocean. The top of the outgoing tide has also been good before the water starts to get cloudy, but that will change as we hit a dry spell. When the outgoing water is clean, fluke will hold at ambush points where the marshes and sand bars empty out and where various bait fish come through. I find that is the better tide in August and September, while the incoming is better in June and July.
Here is my fishing machine. It is a 1981 Robalo R200, which I have had for about 10 years. I have done a lot of work on this boat, and have really enjoyed it. I still have some cosmetic stuff to do in fixing some dings in the fiberglass and spider cracks, maybe next winter and spring I will do that and maybe some people on this board can help me with how to do it. It could also use a paint job, although I have gotten it pretty good looking after a big compounding job last year. I enjoy the teak that is on it, you don't see many boats in this size range come with that anymore because of the cost. But mostly what I like about this boat is the sea-worthiness of the hull. Barnegat Inlet, where where I fish out of, can get very rough and I have come through it in 6-8' standing waves, and it is no problem in this boat, although a bit uncomfortable. It is a deep V design and heavy, over 2000lbs without a motor or fuel, and was built for coastal fisherman to be able to run offshore in something small. It is self-bailing and foam filled, so it won't sink, and if you take one over the bow, no problem, the low transom and scuppers will let it all run right back out.
View attachment may 2011.jpg
View attachment flouder july 2.jpg
Many people think that flounder don't really fight hard, but that is because in the ocean you sometimes need a heavy weight to get to the bottom. I try and fish a light spinning rod with 8lb test and and use 1 oz jigs with a trailer hook. When you properly match your tackle, you find that fluke are one strong fish that can pull the drag and give you your money's worth.
Live bait is always best, and cut bait is good to, and a Berkely bait called a Gulp! has become very popular in recent years(saltwater Gulps outperform the freshwater ones in salt water). My ultimate bait of choice is small baby bluefish when I can get them(I caught three yesterday and caught two of the fish in the picture plus three others that I threw back with those), after that is spearing(a small bay anchovy),baby bunker(peanuts), then salt minnows(killies). There is something about bluefish that these things can't resist, they will keep hitting a bait well after it is dead and until there is nothing left. If I am using cut bait I try and catch 2-3 lb bluefish and cut that in strips. I really like to catch all my own bait, because catching the bait is at least as much fun as catching the bigger fish. I will use a circular throw net, a seine(if I have a partner), and an umbrella net, depending on what is around and where I am.
One of the great things about fishing the bay and working the tides is figuring out what stage of the tide is best at a particular time depending on conditions(water clarity, temperature, and tide height) and the fact that since the water is almost always moving, you can get radical shifts in structure every year and sometimes month to month, which makes figuring all that out half the fun. Channels and their edges, cuts in sand bars, skinny backwaters can all hold fluke. Lately the incoming tide has been better, mostly because with all of the rain we have had the outgoing tide carries all of the runoff with it and the water gets turbid, and since fluke are primarly sight feeders, you want water clarity which the incoming generally brings from the ocean. The top of the outgoing tide has also been good before the water starts to get cloudy, but that will change as we hit a dry spell. When the outgoing water is clean, fluke will hold at ambush points where the marshes and sand bars empty out and where various bait fish come through. I find that is the better tide in August and September, while the incoming is better in June and July.
Here is my fishing machine. It is a 1981 Robalo R200, which I have had for about 10 years. I have done a lot of work on this boat, and have really enjoyed it. I still have some cosmetic stuff to do in fixing some dings in the fiberglass and spider cracks, maybe next winter and spring I will do that and maybe some people on this board can help me with how to do it. It could also use a paint job, although I have gotten it pretty good looking after a big compounding job last year. I enjoy the teak that is on it, you don't see many boats in this size range come with that anymore because of the cost. But mostly what I like about this boat is the sea-worthiness of the hull. Barnegat Inlet, where where I fish out of, can get very rough and I have come through it in 6-8' standing waves, and it is no problem in this boat, although a bit uncomfortable. It is a deep V design and heavy, over 2000lbs without a motor or fuel, and was built for coastal fisherman to be able to run offshore in something small. It is self-bailing and foam filled, so it won't sink, and if you take one over the bow, no problem, the low transom and scuppers will let it all run right back out.
View attachment may 2011.jpg
