Hi Flier Bonita-Fluke-Tog-Blowfish....and More!

 

  

 

 

 

We are catching a lot of fluke in Barnegat Bay, mostly shorts, but enough 18 to 21 inch fish to keep it interesting. Most of the action has been between the BI and BB Buoys in 8 to 12 feet of water. We are using 10 pound spinning tackle, 3/8 oz. jigheads tipped with 3" white or chartreuse Gulp! Swimming Mullet or Swimming Minnows.  Drifting and vertical jigging on the days with good wind, otherwise we are power-drifting with all the rods out behind the boat while I bump the boat in and out of gear, maintaining about 1 to 1.5 mph on the GPS and just keeping the lures in on-and-off contact with the bottom.  When that slows up we have been picking some fish on the channel edges throughout Oyster Creek Channel all the way to the Inlet, where you get a good tide drift most of the time regardless of the wind.

I am packing the chum pot, clam logs, squid, and winter flounder rigs to target the blowfish invasion that is currently on in the backwaters of Barnegat Bay. We are even snagging some on our jigs intended for fluke. Blackfish become fair game this Saturday, though, only one per man, we will do our best to lite tackle a few right from the Inlet jetty on slack water, to sweeten the cooler a little bit.

I have not been out to Barnegat Ridge in a week and a half, so I will be looking to run there in search of bonita and other bluewater fish. The forecast, so far, for Fri-Sat-Sun is for a 5 to 10 knot wind, which makes offshore fishing for us a strong possibility. If the ocean is flat and the Ridge doesn't produce, we will push further out as conditions dictate, possibly even in range of some bluefin tuna.

So there you have it, the typical July transitional schedule, we will be running Bonita-Fluke-Tog-Blowfish combos. The boat will be running open every day Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, July 15 to 18, 5:30 AM to 1:30 PM for the offshore species and anything else you guys want to combine. Sailing again each day from 2PM to 7PM for fluke and the mixed bag. We limit the boat to 3 passengers, the 8 hour offshore trips are $200 per person. The 5 hour afternoon trips are $130 per person. All fish on all trips are shared among the passengers. The boat is also available for private charters on any of these days.

Capt. Dave DeGennaro
Hi Flier Sportfishing
732.330.5674
www.hiflier.com