Subject: Ambrose Channel, New Jersey

Submitted by Bill K (ip 76.116.198.219)

• Fished on 8/21/2010

  Water Temperature: 76
  Water Clarity: Good early, poor later
  Seas: Choppy
  Weather: East wind, high overcast, mid 80's
  Fishing_for: Fluke
  Boat: CinSan
  captain: Bruce
  

  Report:
  There was a nice breeze as we crossed the bay only to find a rather steady East/NE wind as we rounded the Hook. Our first stop on the Knoll was unproductive as the wind against tide made drifting less than perfect. Since Ambrose was the "hot spot" yesterday, we headed out there with the rest of the fleet. The wind against tide affected the drift but I compensated by jigging a 3oz. Spro tipped with squid. It was important to stay right on the edge of the channel since the small concentrations of fish were there. The shallower flats held a few but not that many. Very few "net" calls could be heard from the party boats which lined the green side of the channel. Fish were being caught, though, by most of the customers but not in the numbers that were advertised during the week. As the morning wore on, many party boats opted to fish farther back in the channel but did not stay long. The ship traffic at one point was steady and the wakes from the ships had everyone holding on tightly. The ocean was not calm by any means and the east wind was churning up whitecaps throughout the area. We moved in along the beach to catch shorts in close to the wash but no keepers and no relief from the chop. Finally, with the tide now changing, we moved to the top of the Reach with both wind and tide in our favor. The fluke couldn't care less because they were tight lipped or not there in any numbers, but the drift was great. Quite a few of the party boats were now spread out in the bay across from the navy pier, by the TC buoy, and even back toward Belford. The wind forced everyone back inside. The excitement for me was to again slug it out with a cownose ray in Ambrose. The first run almost had me into my backing as the Power Pro peeled off the reel. I was able to get the ray to the boat and use a long dehooker to free the jig and let Mr. Cownose swim off. Our catch today was not that good by our standards but we did manage to cull six keepers out of about 45 fish. Most of the fish came on "meat" of various types including squid,killies and spearing. A few did come on the Gulp teaser. Some of the keepers had mantis shrimp in them along with spearing. Less wind could have changed the day for the better and with only a few more trips ahead before the end of the season, I have to hope for good conditions in order to put a few more fillets in the freezer.

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