Drum Beat

Captain Mike reports a steady bite on croakers and kingfish with a mix of weakfish, fluke and even the occasional triggerfish! The fishing has been good for the novice angler learning what ocean fishing is all about. We are bottom fishing on mostly open bottom. This means few snags and hanfs to loose gear. The ride to the grounds is shorter than trips to the reef so you can maximize fishing time on a the foir hoir trip. Many of the croakers are smaller. You can keep them if you wish, but many folks throw the smaller ones back and pick through them for the right ones. It provides action for younger anglers and families alike. The fluke and weakfish are present though keepers legal in the state of New Jersey can be tough to find. They are there with some recent catches of 18-21” Fluke. We also have seen Triggerfish starting to bite which are a welcome sight. Triggerfish are also delicious. The croakers do cook up well for fish tacos!

We had an almost boat limit of Sea Bass along with a good mix of Ling on our first 10 hour sea bass trip of 2026! Way to go Captain Adam. Sea Bass over 3lbs is aweosme fishing ?.

We had a great opening day with a good keeper to throwback ratio on Black Sea Bass.