Fisherman's Den

Marty at Fisherman’s Den told us things really got exciting after the midway point of August as schools of small bonito blitzed the inlet on a couple of occasions. Mixed size bluefish also made runs at the inlet. Rental boats caught a lot of fluke however keepers were few and far in between. Anglers fishing off the rocks had triggers and some tog, as well as occasional mixed size blues. Boats fishing out of Belmar were into mixed size blues with bonito, false albacore, Spanish mackerel and an occasional cobia. Bottom fishing boats enjoyed a nice mix of sea bass, tog, croakers, triggers and some ling, while fluke fishing was also decent but heavy with shorts. There has been a lot of baitfish and gamefish to feed on them as we look ahead towards September.

It was an interesting week of fishing in Shark River and inlet this past week according to Marty over at the Fisherman’s Den. On the fluke front the shop got reports of some nice fatties being taken to the north of the inlet off sea Bright, however rental boats saw mostly short fish with occasional keepers. Divers were telling of seeing plenty of triggers and some sheepshead in the inlet but they seemed to have lockjaw for anglers. Morning bluefish runs at the inlet were seen on several days. The top fish weighed in at the Den this past week was an 8-1/2-pound sheepshead taken from the canal by Marty Westerfeild. Party boats also did well with fluke and bluefish with bonito and albacore mixed in to the north of the inlet, we were told.