July 13, 2025 – A Visit to the (Replenished) Beaches with My Son in Search of Some Evasive Keeper Flukes – Ocean County, NJ

The old (almost in) college try this morning.

Well, we gave it the old (almost in) college try this morning.  The Boy and I were on the beach at 5:30 AM near low tide, scouting for some holes in the clear but choppy water.  Clear does not mean clean, however.  With all the swells from weather system after weather system, things are still stirred up.  Grass was so bad it got annoying, especially since it tends to accumulate in the holes!  I have not been on the sand since December of 2024, the tail end of striper season, so I had no intel but my ability to read water.  It did feel good to be out there.  Sadly, due to all the sand pumping to please bathers and to protect homeowners’ investments, holes are hard to find in some of my old haunts, and I was tortured by beach replenishment at every turn (more on that below).  We fished the front beaches until about 8 AM, and we caught maybe 7 short flukes, all under 14 or 15 inches, a couple like 10 inches.  Thinking the little ones in the wash were a sign that there are fish in the bays and inlets still staging to come outside, I suggested moving to the back of the inlet for our second and final stop of the morning.  We took a relaxed attitude towards this move, towards the day really, which is sometimes against character for me.  No rush today.  I figured that if fishing was going to be mediocre, then I wanted to make sure my son and I had a good day together, either way.  We actually pulled into a park that had bathrooms and outdoor showers and refreshed ourselves before continuing our drive.  Pissed in flushing toilets, not the dunes.  We even had some food and water before driving to the second spot.  Civilized.

A lot of smalls in the wash right now.

A couple other pairs of fishermen and dog walkers were at this second spot, one of the more unique public access spots to the bay and a place where I have had decades of fishing success.  Despite folks using the park this morning as intended, the boy and I found some space by taking a couple longer walks, but I was disappointed that all the pipes and barges, and eventually the large working boat/tug that hauls this stuff out to the ocean to pump sand, are still being stored back here.  We are talking over 200 yards of stuff just anchored parallel to the shore in 10 feet of water.  I know no one wants this nonsense behind their houses, but if beach replenishment is going to happen for perpetuity, then all this industrial equipment sitting in prime water with public access is going to be here for perpetuity too.  It also hurts the common folk like me and the many others who visit this state park land for free beach play and kayak launching and even temporary party-mooring.  The boy’s pic of me with our only keeper fluke burns the spot if you know it, but you can have it these days 😉 It’s surely been in decline since a severe hurricane washed away hundreds of yards of sod banks, but without the barges obstructing, it still allowed land-based anglers access to prime fluke and weakfish holes.  It is frustrating to say the least.

Nice fluke and that grass out front AND in the back.

I actually caught three fluke, including a nice one over 21 inches, in the moving water between the barges and the shore, but I would have loved to have waded out waist deep and hit some of the channels where the boats drift—this was possible back in the day.  I have fond memories of boaters warning me that “the water drops off right there,” as if I wasn’t wading out there for that very reason!  Thanks, Cap’n….  The boy was getting tired and tired of challenging fishing with all the grass even back here.  You can see in the pics all the grass piled up on the beach.  When the SE breeze died out, the greenhead flies were pretty bad too.  The fishing was not worth the frustration after a nice morning outdoors.  We saw porpoises, multiple ospreys, and a working team of pelicans out front.  Even in the back with all the human industrial machinery and noise, we saw hummingbirds, a sea turtle, mating horseshoe crabs, and a working pod of cormorants.  The weather was comfortable, and the water was perfect for swimming.  It was a good day despite my ranting!  At some point when I sensed The Boy was done, I promised we’d quit after 5 more casts, and the big fluke came on my 4^th one.  I kept my word and took another cast, of course, but I was happy to end on a high note and not torture him with the never-ending one last cast.  We returned to the showers and bathrooms and changed clothes—again, real civilized and all—and we even sat down and had lunch at a pizza shop on the way home, not just a $6.00-dollar Hoagiefest special!  I hope we can get out for fluke or maybe some smalljaw one last time before he leaves for college.  Only five weeks and counting if my math is right.

Sort of an East/Southeast start to the day, but sunny by noon.