Back to Saltwater . . . .

Croaker! 

Average 10" norfolk spot

I hadn't fished much saltwater during the months of June or July. I finally got out on two 3 hour morning trips last weekend. The first day I targeted fluke at Rockaway Inlet. The second morning, I headed east into Jamaica Bay to do some backwater scouting for weakfish from some of my GPS locations from the prior season.

The fluking was excellent in the inlet. I found a deep slough adjacent to the channel and caught a limit of keepers with the biggest fluke at 25". The big fluke got off my grappler so I did not get a picture but I got a nice pic of a 23" that I caught. I caught all the fluke on Spro bucktails near the top of the flood.

The second day, I found weakfish in the backbay along with a variety of other fish, including the exotic croaker. The croaker was a surprise as I have only encoutered them occasionally in Florida. It was a small one at 11". The day started out well. I drifted into a 20' flat and caught a really nice 22" fluke. It took some drag and gave me a dogged fight. I also caught a couple of nice weakfish at 26" and 27". Another surprise was a 13" sea bass. There are also tons of spot, but of the bigger variety. It seems to be same population as last year, but they have grown about 3 inches. The average size was 10", and I caught 11" spot as well.

In total, I caught 5 species: weakfish, fluke, sea bass, croaker, and spot. I caught 7 total weakfish, which is very good for July, a much better start than last season, which was the best summer run I've fished. The spring fishing was really good as well, so I'm encouraged about the rest of the season. For the next two months, most of my saltwater fishing will be targeting weakfish around Jamaica Bay and the Great South Bay. There was a strong run last year and I anticipate that this year may be better. Off to a good start!