The Oceanic Bridge region of the Navesink River typically holds very large fluke as they come into the river every spring to spawn. As the days warm up fishing gets better and better. With its high cliffs and extravagant mansions overlooking it the area is a very unique place to fish. Arrived around 8 am to meet up with a fellow kayak fisherman. Reports for fluke in the river were strong the week before and we were searching for a good result. Dropped in on a small sandy beach at a local park in Rumson New Jersey. Started a drift fishing a small channel on the south east side of the bridge. Choice of rig was a 1 oz white Spro bucktail with a 6″ white gulp swimming mullet and a high dropper loop with a 5/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook tipped with a Power Team Lures Chartreuse Grub.
Fishing was slow all morning a few fish 16″ and under. In New Jersey 2014 Regs is 18″ and five fish. Soon after 9 AM there was a police boat that showed up and was boarding everyone. They actually didn’t bother me or even stop by. They boarded just about every boat checking their catch.   After about 8 hours of fishing was able to land a 19″er finally! Really glad I didn’t decide to give up for the day. At this point in time i was just tired of being rocked all day by boat traffic and the wind had become stronger. It was time to call it a day. It was great to get out and use my new Aqua-bound Spin drift Carbon Paddle. I was able to really put it to the test! The performance is amazing. Paddling the low angle style I have found causes less fatigue. Meaning longer days on the water fishing.

I would have never thought it in the past to actually target these fish with my freshwater rod and reel!. As a kid i had caught porgies but never really targeted them. The Croaker is new to me as i had never caught the species in Raritan bay. It is actually very tasty. Better than fluke I must add. Just bony your not making a fish sandwich out of these fish. Their too bony and filleting them i hate wasting the meat with the pin bones. Theyr just way too small to get out by pulling the meat and them staying in the fish.

The photo to the left is a trophy. a 15.5 inch 4.5 lb Porgie. Amazing! Personal best for porgies! That one was foil packed and grilled. Excellent.

The rest of the fish were smoked in the smoker for 3 hours. Perfect!

Porgie

Little Puffer fish

Little sea robin

A Days Catch

 Fishing Journal:

Left the house at 5 am to drive an hour to the Manasquan River Inlet to target Fluke (Summer Founder).

This inlet divides the beach towns of Manasquan and Pt. Pleasant Beach also Monmouth and Ocean Counties. It is a haven for many species of fish. This inlet produces spawning grounds perfect for these fish. The ripping tide makes it challenging for kayak anglers to fish here. The extremely fast drift and the added boat traffic creates a very dangerous area of fishing there.  I cant stress kayak anglers whom fish here should be experienced  paddlers. Therefore a PFD should always be worn.

1. Dangers include the Low Train bridge. In the main channel you cannot squeeze under it. You will flip and loose gear and need to be rescued. Use caution when fishing here.The only way through is pass through the draw bridge. The draw bridge channel pass through is very narrow. Stay to the right and watch for boat traffic. If you are paddling with the tide watch for boats behind you as they loose control with a following tide when not in gear.

2. Tide flow in the inlet where it narrows between the jetty’s can be un-manageable. It is possible to be sucked out to the ocean on an outgoing tide.

3. Boat traffic can be constant. Especially on holidays and weekends boat traffic is constant and many of the boaters are under the influence running wide open. Be extra cautious on weekends and holidays. I will not even fish here on these days.

So new species for me on this fishing trip! Although referred to as a trash fish the searobin is actually a great eating fish. Landed atleast 10 of them. I have caught them in the past from a boat. Never from the kayak. So added another species to the kayak catch list. The photo to the left which i have submitted to the Googans Trash Fish Trifecta tournament a 16.75″ Searobin. Actually a beautiful fish this rockets me up to 3rd in the running.

It was a Yak Life Day!! Met up with Scrapes and Capt. Jim after a rough time getting rigged up. The valve stem on my C-Tug tires broke luckily at the water. So no dragging of the yak was necessary.  I need to purchase the hard wheels asap. These guys are great fishing company. Capt. Jim was making age references to Scrapes all day over the radio. Funny stuff!  Turned out to be a really good fishing day! A lot of short fluke and some real nice ones over 20″. I ended up with a 19.5″ at the end of the day. Last day of vacation well spent! Cant wait for the next vacation which will be the Point Pleasant Beach Elks Fluke Tournament!!

The Point Pleasant Beach Elks Fluke Tournament is coming up fast. The kayak division is 2 days of fishing. Please register at http://www.newjerseykayakfishing.com. All cash prizes this year!