Fishing Friday: Sharkin’ On a Fluke Rig

Bob Wilson’s thresher shark, caught on a fluke rig from Pell’s Fish and Sport in Brick. (Photo: Pell’s Fish and Sport)

One of the best things about going fishing is never knowing exactly what the day has in store for you. On an otherwise routine day on the water, you might catch a rare species or something totally out of the ordinary for the area you’re fishing.

And sometimes, you’ll hook something pretty unexpected. On Wednesday this week, Pell Fish and Sport on Mantoloking Road posted a photo of a six foot thresher shark caught earlier in the day on one of their fluke rigs. Specifically, it was a Pell’s “Slider” rig. The six footer was caught and released by customer Bob Wilson, the shop said.

Fishing this past week, in general, has been somewhat slow between one rainy day followed by a particularly windy day, but anglers who made it out found plenty of snapper blues in Barnegat Bay, especially in the area behind Island Beach State Park, a report from Murphy’s Hook House in Toms River said. Crabbing was still going strong in the bay, and especially in the local rivers.

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Fluking in the ocean – suds and reefs – was still strong, the folks at Reel Life Bait and Tackle in Point Pleasant Borough said in a report. But warm water temperatures kept the number of keeper sea bass to a minimum during the current mini season, which ended last week. Sea bass season reopens Oct. 18 and run through Dec. 31 with a bag limit of 15 fish.

Fluking from the “the wall” at Manasquan Inlet remained strong, according to the folks at Alex’s Inlet Bait and Tackle in Point Pleasant Beach. Fresh mullet and peanut bunker were baits of choice for anglers who scored the big ones, the shop said in a report. As striper season was poised to begin in the coming weeks, the shop is now stocking eels. A 300 pound order just came in Thursday.

At Island Beach State Park, surf fishing was still yielding fluke and blues, the folks at The Dock Outfitters said. The southern end of the park seemed to be the most productive area in recent days, so air down those tires and make the trek down the sand in a beach buggy to get in on the action.

“Just about anything that moves or gives off sent seems to be drawing the attention of the hungry fluke in the surf right now,” John from the shop said.

There haven’t been many reports of early season bass being hooked, but days when there is rough surf could be the ticket as the bass will often go after baitfish that are churned up in the waves, John said.

In other action, the Queen Mary party boat ran an open boat bonito trip Thursday with good results. Anglers picked away all morning before the action slowed in the afternoon, a report said. Jigs, bait bucktails and some on Tsunamis all worked at times, the report said, but the customer with the high hook was using a “variety of smaller, shiny lures.” The boat will continue the open boat bonito trips every Thursday for the next three weeks, sailing at 6 a.m.

As usual, I’ll reiterate my invitation to send in your catch photos to have them featured in this column. Shorebeat’s system allows for multiple photos to be posted within each article, so let’s make this weekly column look a little busier! Send those photos to daniel@shorebeat.com.

Tight lines, and see you next week!