The Scotts Bait and Tackle Weekly Bulletin

The Scott's Bait & Tackle Weekly Bulletin

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Scott's Bait & Tackle Weekly Bulletin for Thursday, June 11, 1998
I think a lot of anglers got spoiled by the excellent Fluke fishing we had in Great Bay the last two weeks of May. Almost anyone that made a trip into the clam stakes on the North West side of the Fish Factory, Grassy Channel or even into the Inland Waterway from 134 to 139 marker buoys, caught plenty of keeper size Fluke in a short period of time. It just hasn't been that easy the past couple of weeks. The wind has been blowing from a dominant direction of West and the ocean water temperature dropped as low as 51 degrees. A few days ago, it was reported to be 58 degrees in Little Egg Inlet. Fast drifts, caused by wind and slow moving fish, due to the water temperature decrease, are the main causes of reduced catches. How can we increase the productivity again? Anglers that have still been catching plenty of Fluke are using very light spinning tackle. Lighter rods and reels lined with 8 pound test line allow smaller lures like an 1/8 to 1/4 ounce bucktail or shad dart to get down to the bottom easier. The light tackle also enables the angler to feel very soft taps on the bait, giving him/her a chance to release a few more feet of line, allowing the slower moving Fluke to get the bait and hook in its mouth. The water closest to Little Egg Inlet and the ocean is the coolest, so the best Fluke fishing has been in the back areas of Great Bay where the water tends to be warmer.
Today, there was some good Fluke fishing between 139 Marker buoy and Oyster Creek on the West side of Great Bay. There isn't much in that area to give you for a reference point other than that. Long slender strips of Squid soaked in Shedder oil, with a Minnow hooked on the Shad Dart or Bucktail lure should boat some Fluke for your fish box. A common question I hear is, "how big of a sinker should I use?". In most cases, but not all circumstances, you want to use as light of a weight as possible to get your rig or lure to the bottom. That means changing sinker weights is a constant battle with changing water depths, tide and wind conditions. If the weight is balanced evenly with your drifting and depth conditions, the fish you're trying to catch will be less likely to detect the weight and will not be spooked off the bait. The variation comes with Top & Bottom Rigs: a T&B rig should be fished with an unusually heavy sinker for the water depth you are in. To allow the T&B rig to function as a high and low hook rig, it is necessary to fish the rig vertically and real close to the boat. If too much line is let out, the T&B rig then becomes a double bottom rig and you loose the T&B effect. So, this weekend grab an extra rod, preferably one of your heavier boat rods, and put a 5 ounce sinker on a T&B rig and bait each hook with a combination of Squid and Minnow. Put the fishing rod in a rod holder out of the way (this is the angler that many refer to as "Rodney"). Let the line out until the weight is dragging on the bottom. Crank the reel in so that the weight taps the bottom every second or so, but not dragging on the bottom all of the time. Check the bait periodically, and see if "Rodney" outfishes anybody on the boat.
There are some large Weakfish around. A few anglers have caught them by trolling small Clarke Spoons along the West Bank of Great Bay, from Oyster Creek to Oyster Bed Point. A couple of anglers are catching them from the Fifth Bridge on Great Bay Boulevard by casting and retrieving 3/8 ounce jig heads and Fin-S Fish plastic lures. Bait fishing with Bloodworms, Sandworms, and Shedder Crab is the way to go in the mouth of the Mullica River. In the mouth of the river, it is necessary to be anchored on the ledge that runs from Graveling Point to Deep Point, in about 8 to 12 feet of water. Locating the fish along the ledge with a fish finder helps the action get started faster. Some days this area produces large Weakies, and the next you have to catch ten fish before you are able to catch a keeper.
There are still plenty of Striped Bass around for the patient angler. The catch of the day page this week had quite a few, with the largest fish weighed in being close to 25 pounds. Action is in Little Egg Inlet area, but more along the banks from 120 marker back toward Big Sheepshead Creek drifting right past the mouth of Little Sheepshead Creek, tight along the bank. Daytime and evening anglers fishing from Pebble Beach are landing quite a few keepers for this time of year. Mackerel bait has been working for the surf anglers and the boat anglers are finding that live Eels are the best bet.

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