Subject: Mouth of Sandy Hook Bay & Plum Island Area, New Jersey

Submitted by Jim Balicki (ip 96.242.134.19)

• Fished on 7/24/2010

  Water Temperature: 79
  Water Clarity: somewhat brownish
  Seas: choppy
  Weather: Sunny, HOT, brisk W wind mostly against the outgoing tide.
  Fishing_for: Fluke
  Boat: Rental
  captain: Jim
  

  Report:
  Cliff, Tom and I got an early start with high hopes of fluke action at the mouth of the bay. As usual, Cliff and I used combinations of bucktails and teasers tipped w/ Gulp, while Tom used killies w/ some added Gulp. Some short fulke came up early on, but then we realized that cow-nosed rays had moved in. Both Cliff and I lost bucktails and teaser rigs to these creatures that would eventually find a way to wrap the line around the outboard motor. After the first two outboard motor encounters, all 3 of us dedided to quickly break off on the succeeding hook ups. We expanded the area we usually fish, hoping to avoid the rays, but it was not to be. So we moved back into the River, drifting off Plum Island. Slow pick here, but no rays. Our only keeper came from this area in @20feet. A rough boat count was 40-to-50 fluke w/ only the one keeper @21inches. No sea robins or bluefish. The prolonged heat wave probably has raised the water temperature to the point that the rays have moved in. There were rays in the summer of 2002. The previous winter was exceptionally mild. I remember catching bluefish from the beach in Dec., 01, and stripers from the beach in early March, 02. The water started warmer that year, and rays appeared in late July. Now we hve a very hot July, and again a problem with rays.

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